2015 Fall Plant Swap Thread PART TWO

yes, thanks, CAM for hosting--everything was fabulous! :-)

Thanks to everyone who came, it was very nice to have you and to share my home and yard with all of you ! Thanks to everyone for bringing food and all the plants... I'm going to be one busy man for a few days.

And yes, Sally, I am single but some years ago I lost a girlfriend because she would not believe that I wasn't married. True story.

Gita, I have your tote here, still on the fireplace hearth. I'll put it somewhere safe so my two girls don't turn it into their new napping home. :)

And thanks to those who brought a host gift (or accidentally left something behind that turned into a host gift..haha). I won't need to buy jelly for about six months. :)

Hope everyone made it back home safe and sound and without getting lost (Judy!). :)

No CAM, didn't get lost! Made good time except for the 20 min waiting while the Navy game crowd headed out of town while we were trying to get in! Thanks for a lovely day and spot to gather...you were a great host even though I arrived too late to see you at work on the grill.

Speaking of food, how I ever lucked out to still have Donner's dumplings available, I don't know. Jan that potato salad was great and I really like that 'cat cozy' you made for CAM...ingenious.
CAM< I'm so glad you like oysters! Lisa, your wine was quite the hit. Hope to get to know you at another gathering.

Jeff, great job on the parking, seriously, no haphazardness and very presentable as we pulled up...no guess work needed for where we could park...much appreciated!

And dare I say our visiting time was all too short! and the Seed Swap seems so far away....

I guess my host gift was that container of pasta salad. I'm bummed it never came out for lunch. I had no clue I should have gotten it out of the fridge and I had a full plate of good things that it never crossed my mind.

Anyway, I definitely had a good time and it was really nice hanging out with some new friends. It's nice to see fresh faces mixed in with the regulars as well. Critter, you should get Marta signed up on DG. I had a good chat with her and her husband. The food was really good CAM and I enjoyed the garden tour. Your kitties are so pretty. Thank you again, very much!

We cross posted Coleup. I actually had nothing to do with the parking; everyone was really organized on their own :-)

Maybe we should have a Thanksgiving get together the third week of November. That might hold everyone over til February.

"Like" oysters, Judy ? Ha.. love oysters, thanks so much, these look like great ones too. They're going to be dinner tomorrow evening. ;)

And yeah, that cat cozy is awesome. My cats so far are just snooping around it. If they don't use it now, I'm sure when the weather turns colder they'll be fighting over who gets to use it. Thanks Jan !

I also have a bottle of wine, a new pair of gardening gloves, all the jelly I can eat, great plants, and my cats have two new catnip bags. THANKS ALL ! :)

Sorry, Jeff... I should have announced for everyone to get their dishes out... had so much going on it got away from me. Don't feel bad, at my first swap in the Spring, I didn't take my food inside and it didn't get eaten (Rookie... lol). And if it makes you feel good, I tried it and it's really good. :)

Yeah lots going on as the host, even as a guest! No worries, you'll have to take it to work for your co-workers on Monday.

It won't last three minutes at my office. Or what's left of it after tomorrow. LOL

Thanks for hosting, CAM! It was a great afternoon. The kebabs were delicious, and everything worked out so well... it was a treat to see all the work you've put into your yard & garden, too!

I had a great time.. Joyanna and her friends had a ball, also, as evinced by the fact that I glimpsed her every so often but didn't really see her much when we were there LOL.

Marta said she did just sign up and get a screen name but is stuck on some sort of snag trying to subscribe... I'll help her sort it out, and hopefully she'll be posting soon!

And CAM, hopefully your neighbor, Betsy, will sign up for DG. That was kind of cool that she thought it was a plant yard sale. We, all, filled her in about what it is we do. Hehehe.
And we need to get your next door neighbor onboard. Please tell her that her yard is lovely and that we DON'T know all there is to know. Hehehe.. That's why I joined DG...to learn. Still have a LONG way to go.

Yay for Marta!

Special thanks to Sally and Catmint and Gita and Muddy for your help and backup on the Monarchs and the way we have each others backs some having milkweed and others having cats and chrysalids to share and all of us like little kids getting the sacred sillys when they grace our yards and lives.

Tomorrow I will take several older caterpillars and a good supply of Milkweed leaves over to Hazel, one of my newspaper customers. She called me on Friday all excited about the two adults that she had just released. "I'm 93 years old and I've never experienced anything like this before! Do you have any more? Three of my neighbors want to to do one, too." The beat goes on.

And thhen I'll sort out my fabulous plants, Thanks everyone!

Glad it will get eaten CAM.

Looking forward to seeing Marta around the MAG Critter.

I saw your neighbor CAM but didn't get a chance to talk with her much. It was nice that her daughter was able to come over and play with all the girls.

sorry, Gita, did not get the message. I am not good at noticing voicemails, and may have left the phone unattended and never heard the phone.

Jan... thanks for reminding me of her name. Hilarious that I got to meet a neighbor in my development because she thought I was having a plant yard sale. :)

Okay, must get to bed, sunrise will be here before you know it and I'll be out playing in the dirt.

Thank you so much for hosting, CAM! Great food, fabulous weather, and the best company!!! Nothing beats the gathering of a group of gardeners. I had a wonderful time!

Apart from your lovely garden, your cats were also the source for much admiration. Are you sure they are still in the house? I won't be surprised if someone had made off with them, haha!

Was nice to return the favor and have you over, Donner. Yes, we have a great group.... not only a good source of information but really good people too.

And yes, the two girls are still here, hahaha. Trust me, if anyone took them, I'd track them down to the ends of the earth. ;)

Yep, great swap in every way. Thanks CAM for hosting! I enjoyed the garden tour and am amazed that you have accomplished so much in such a short time. The kebabs were delicious and I know I ate way more than I should have, it was just that everything looked so good that I wanted to try a bit of everything. Ha Ha, I agree with Sally too that your house is way too neat and tidy for a bachelor, and I have a feeling that it is always that way - not like mine that only seems to get a little bit of house cleaning attention when I have a group of people coming over LOL. The sun will be coming up soon so I can get out there and do some planting. CAM, I am picturing you out working in your yard already with the car headlights on so you can get everything planted before the football games this afternoon :-)

Haha, Terry... going to be patient and wait for the sun to provide just enough light for me to see. :)

Thank you, so glad you enjoyed yourself ! Yes, all the food was SO good, we have some serious good cooks in our group ! The house... it's always neat and tidy... I just prefer to live that way. I know I'm not the average bachelor but who wants to be average anyway ? ;) And your house... my visit was on short notice and it looked great... you have a gorgeous home !

Okay, I see the sky starting to lighten up just a bit. By the time I have a cup of coffee it will be light enough out to see enough to get going. You guys might not hear from me for days with all the stuff I need to get in the ground. LOL

This morning, was able to plant...

30 bulbs of Silver Shamrock

16 Geranium "Johnson's Blue"

6 Garden Phlox

3 Iris

2 Sedum

3 Buttlerfly Bushes

1 Oakleaf Hydrangea

Put down another 12 bags of mulch, too. Much more to do but that's a good start. :)

Geez CAM your really hammering it out there!

Yes that is impressive for a single morning! :-)

We've had perfect gardening weather this morning and have managed to plant several things--still more to go!

This message was edited Sep 20, 2015 12:49 PM

Yep, perfect morning to work outside. Still broke out in a sweat but nice, cool northerly breeze helped a lot. We should have a very nice week but no darn rain in sight. Some areas up on PA got a nice soaking rain last night but nothing down here.

yes, my garden soil is pretty dry... definitely wish it would rain!
About to head out there again! love this weather.

And thanks to Muddy and others for watering the plants! Some were sitting out in the sun for several hours and really needed that drink of water. I was wondering how it was possible for the containers to be still nice and moist this morning and remembered that muddy was watering them!

I got quite a few plants in the ground this morning. What a gorgeous day!!!

yes, thanks so much, Muddy and all other plant waterers! :-)

how nice of Muddy
:)

Thanks, muddy for being the water bearer.

When I was telling Mike all about the swap this morning at breakfast, I mentioned muddy and how much she reminds me of one of my college room mates. I described how she was out there watering and then at one point I saw her heading somewhere with shovel in hand lol. What a lot of energy! I think that big meal really did me in, because I got so sleepy right after I ate and didn't much move from my spot in one of those comfortable chairs. Ha ha ha, I also told him about sequoia and how he kept sitting in gita's special chair every time she vacated it. Love that kind of humor... Mike also thought it was funny that I neglected to mention the stinkin fritallarias to ssg when she so graciously offered to be yehudith's bulb fairy. Relayed how Jan's husband Jeff didn't realize the punch contained alcohol until he started to feel a little fuzzy. Saw him drinking a lot of water the rest of the afternoon lol. Such fun times with such nice people. All in all, a really great day yesterday!!!

I took advantage of this weather and got a lot planted today too. Wish we had a lot more days with this kind of weather. I need one or two more days to finish up the planting for the year. I still have the ADR bulbs and 3 flats of plugs to get done. I should transplant a few things that are not in ideal spots too.

Oh yes, a big thanks to Muddy for watering the plants!!!! I saw her with a shovel too, just what was she doing with it?

I saw a suspiciously fresh hole between the porch and the side yard, in the back mulched area... did Cam know about this? lol

miss muddy, in the garden, with a shovel.... sounds like the clue game to me

:-D

hahaha too funny, Terri!

Haha, nice :-)

Haha... Good of Muddy to do some watering and to help me dig up three pretty large Hostas so they could be taken to new homes. She's not a lazy person, that's for sure !

You're welcome everyone! I just couldn't stand to see those poor parched plants and heck, it's not like I was going to give my own plants a drink and leave the rest to dry out : - )

Lisa had this little freebie Hosta in her hand, and I remembered that Cam wanted to get rid of 2 huge Hosta clumps, so we dug 'em up. No sooner had we finished those 2 than Marta walked by and started admiring them, so of course we had to seize the moment and get Hosta #3 out of the ground.

Cam has 3 nice holes ready to plop plants in, Marta and Lisa have huge Hostas and I got a little exercise...win win win win!

One of those holes has already been filled with my new oakleaf hydrangea. Well, that and about 3 cubic feet of garden soil. :)