Mid-Atlantic Gardening: Your Neck of the Woods 2015 Part 5

Silly Sally...

Silly Sally said, "So Sorry". < =P heeheeheee
Glad to know I'm not the only one who gets lost from time to time... I'm just usually too embarrassed to admit it out loud! < =D

Oh yes, Silly Sally, the weather yesterday was superb! I had a heck of a fun time at work yesterday... wishing I'd had more of a chance to 'play' outside, but my little sidekick Tori was off, so had to hang out more in the store to take care of customers and answer the phone. Oh well, I did sneak out every chance I could! =)

I'll be sneaking outside here in a short while, to mow the lawn. 62 degrees, YEAH!! :)

Oops! I posted this in the wrong Neck of the Woods thread! Here it is again:

Here's a Washington Post article about the PBS show "Ask This Old House" filming a pollinator gardening segment in the DC area.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/home/lights-camera-asters-ask-this-old-house-makes-over-a-ne-yard/2015/07/28/84371384-3158-11e5-8f36-18d1d501920d_story.html

There's a gif of the front yard transformation and a conceptual plan with a lot of native shrubs and perennials. I thought some of you might find this interesting!

love the title, too: "lights, cameras, asters!" thx!

I like the selection of native plants they chose. That yard will be beautiful!

Yes, great article title! I've never even heard of this PBS show.

I have a couple of more articles to share.

Take a look at this giant colony of hardy begonia! http://dctropics.blogspot.com/2015/08/big-begonia-grandis.html

I bet it's just gorgeous in the fall. But they show up so late in the season that the area would be bare for 5 months of the year unless layered with an early ephemeral.

I really love this article about the original watermelon, before it was hybridized. Look at the pretty swirl! http://www.vox.com/2015/7/28/9050469/watermelon-breeding-paintings

My gosh, how huge is that B grandis!! wonder how old it is.

I'll never look at watermelon the same way again. Placenta!

Wow, that's some begonia!

That begonia grandis is impressive!!! I can't get it to take in my gardens. I've gotten plants several times from Happy, but they never re-emerge the following year. Sure wish I could get some established here.

I planted one in the summer of '13 and it bloomed wonderfully. That winter subsequently killed it but I had many seedlings. Those seedlings survived last winter's cold and are growing nicely. It is my theory that these seedlings are more cold hardy than the parent plant since they were born into their climate rather than a green house.

Happy warned me that hardy begonias self-sow freely, and while the seedlings do beautifully, they don't necessarily transplant well. I can't get them to establish in the exact spot I want them so I let the seedlings dictate where they want to live. :)

Haha...that's a good practice. I like the leaves and the flowers are a bonus. None setting on mine yet though.

I just love my Hardy Begonias they are just beautiful and some of the leaves are just huge. My neighbor works for Hershey Gardens and I gave him some of my plants for the Hershey Gardens and I hear they are doing very well. It was a real coup for him to bring in a new plant to the gardens.

Hey, I just noticed that it is speediebean's birthday today!!! Happy Happy birthday Miss Susan.

Dear Speedie-----
I want to wish you a lovely day on this momentous occasion....:o)

Hope you did something special. HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO UUUUUUU....
Gita
An appropiate bloom for this month....August lily Hosta...smells so good tooo!!!

Happy Birthday Suse!!
you are a rare and beautiful flower!
(Gita's Epi#2)

Happy Birthday, Speedie Susan!

It's still Tuesday so I'm not late wishing you a happy birthday.I hope you enjoyed it.

Oh Happy B'day Speedie!

Happy Happy Speedie, Hope you had a great Birthday.

Happy Birthday, Speedie!!

Aaawwww, Bless ya'll's warm beautiful fuzzy hearts!!!!!! ♥ It was a really wonderful day yesterday, thank you! I got to leave work early, got the chocolate cake of my dreams (with some chocolate/vanilla ice cream to go with it), chilled out a bit until my Darling got home, and then he MADE ME open up presents! =D heeheeheee. (he's such a meany, huh?) You know you're married to a wonderful person who really "gets" you when one of your birthday gifts is The American Horticultural Society's "Pruning Training"; the definitive guide to pruning trees, shrubs, and climbers. < =D That, a couple books, some music, bakeware, and a new Kindle, a lovely loving peaceful evening with my Honey... who could ask for anything more!? =D

Sounds like a great birthday :-)

Happy belated birthday! That sounds like a fantastic birthday present!

A glad you had a wonderful day, cuz you SURELY deserve it. Your honey is a sweetie for sure.

Well, first it was speedie's bday, and now I see that today is Ric's!!! Happy birthday giraffe man.

RIC, happy birthday, man!!!!!!

Ric--I wish you all the best in the next year.
Good health, no pains and aches-and a beautiful garden...

Gita

Happy Birthday, Ric!! I hope it's been a good one.

Happy Birthday, Ric!

Ric! Happy one!

Thanks, I'm doing pretty well of late and appreciate the good wishes.

I had my second cervical epidural yesterday, so I should be good to go at least through our Alaska trip.

We're back to drought conditions with low humidity, so we are dragging hoses most every day again.

Happy birthday Ric! Belatedly, you too Speedie!

Happy Birthday Ric, enjoy your birthday weekend.

Happy B'day Ric! I touched a giraffe tongue once. It was weird feeling.

How did you manage to do that, Sequoia?!

It was at a zoo in Phoenix 4 years ago. They have a deck built that is level with the heads of the giraffes and you can feed them. It's pretty cool.

May I share our son's new job with you? I thought you would appreciate the focus on green technology. We are real proud of him as well as his brothers. He loves his Lord and his family very much, so I would ask you to pray that they find housing with an easy commute. Right now they are living in the basement of his MIL and the commute from Foxboro is HORRENDOUS. They don't want to become house-poor, but the real estate market is cra-cra up there. If you know anyone in that area who knows anyone or a lead on a house, please let me know. They would like to focus northwest of Boston, maybe in the Concord and Lexington area.

http://boston.citybizlist.com/article/289877/greentown-labs-appoints-sam-jackson-as-director-of-operations

what a great job Jan how proud you must be. Good luck finding housing. I have a cousin that lives in Boston you are right the price of housing is very high. The only way she could afford the house was to rent out rooms.

Jan, kudos to Sam, sounds like a challenge right up his alley. I wish him well in his new effort.