PLANT ADDICTS CHAT #8

We ended #7 on a sad note here: http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1401365/#new

I've spent the last few days in the lily auction on daylily.com. I got an account on there and have spent hours drooling over various DLs. One grower, Blue Ridge Daylilies, has tons of different varieties so I only picked items from them as they seemed pretty reliable and said that all of theirs are hardy to zone 4. If you spend $100 you get a free 2014 introduction, which are $100-150 by themselves. It's REALLY easy to get up to $100 too ;-) Below is a pic of my favorite one I'm getting.

Now starts the winter shopping season. Exciting stuff!

There really are some amazing DL's

Seq, daylilies are plants I *refuse* to look further into, because I'm afraid of falling into the trap!

Also, I love them when they're blooming, but I'm not a fan of their strappy leaves.

Yeah I only wanted 4 or 5 but ended up buying 7 because there was a deal that I got a high priced one for free if I spent that much. So I'm walking away with 8 of them. I liked them a ton when I was a kid but haven't really dabbled in them since we got the house. We have two of them right now and one is languishing due to encroaching shade. The other is beautiful and it has a child, which will likely bloom next season.

I seriously need to dig up my DL's and divide them. I could probably give every member of the Mid-At group some. Mine are mostly yellow or orange just different shades with a few special ones of different colors. Just way too many of them.

I really like DL's too, but between the shade and the deer, I haven't tried many in my garden. I saw this one (Bella Note) on Pinterest that I really liked, but when I looked for a vendor, it was one of the really, really expensive ones. Go figure. I like the one you posted Seq, kind of the same color tones, wonder if it is any cheaper LOL.

The one I posted was the most expensive one I bought. It was 29.99. I felt the need to splurge on at least one. The one I'm getting for free is $150. I'm not sure what makes it that much since it doesn't look super special. You must have to be an insider to know I guess. The photo you posted looks photoshopped. I think they turned up the green highlights on it. Maybe I'm wrong but something looks off about it.

So sorry to hear about the death of Speedie's mom on top of the physical pain she's been having.

Gita, sorry about your girls' dad. I'll be keeping them in my thoughts!

There are some ideas being tossed around "your neck of the woods" as to what we could give/send to Speedie... flowers, or?

Jeff, I think you are right on the photoshop aspect of that one I saw on pinterest. I did more google searches, and the other photos look somewhat similar, but the neon green color looks more yellowy green in the other photos I found. Still cool, but not as cool as I originally thought. I think the price I found was $39.99 for a single fan, so I guess that isn't really at the high end of the daylily cost spectrum either when some of them are in the $150+ range LOL.

Yeah some of those plants are just outrageous in price. I'm not that much of a plantaholic! Haha.

For some reason, I'm drawn more to the older "regular looking" daylily forms (although I do love spiders) rather than the new frilly ones with the "chicken fat" edges etc. With irises, on the other hand, I can't get enough laced, ruffled, picotee, etc., so I love the newer intros!

I love the coloring on your favorite new DL, Jeff! I think sometimes the value of DL breeder intros has to do with their heritage and use in ongoing breeding... bud count and petal substance play a role there, too.

Has anyone had luck growing agapanthus? Have read DG.
In our zone, get nice foliage. Blooms? Nope.

I've had one in a pot for two years. Stays outside all summer, comes in before first frost. Still alive, nice foliage, but no blooms here either.

Terri--

Off the topic of DL's....

If you send me all the colors of the Holiday Cactus i gave you--
I will send you beautiful pictures of them in bloom. So you know what to
look forward to. I have taken pictures of all of them.

OK? Gita

Maybe it's time to bump up or make a new holiday cactus thread...

I doubt if there would be enough interest to keep it going.

Maybe linking all the great threads and info JB shared with us all
would be a lot more productive. And informative. Lots of pictures there too.
Of course, JB is no longer a DG subscriber. D-mails would not work.
Her and I keep in touch by e-mails.

She has given up all the selling and buying for now and also lost all her GH plants
due to an invasion of insects. That saddened her--she lost everything.

Because she has shared so many CC's with me, my collection has grown.
I told her--whenever she is ready, I will replace all of the ones she had
with cuttings from mine.

She continues to make and sell decorative horseshoes to hand on your wall.
I recently sent her a BIG box of all kinds of craft stuff and silk flowers, small
pinecones, and lots and lots of small Holiday deco so she has enough to continue
making her horseshoes.

She also suffers from vertigo which makes it hard to do anything on a larger scale..
I believe she is 83 or 84 now.

Gita

Here is one she gifted me. They are real horseshoes....

Very cute.

That's more what I was thinking, Gita, bumping up one of JB's old threads and adding your photos to it.

BTW, she can follow along on any of these threads, just can't post. At one time I think only first posts were visible, but now you don't have to be a subscriber to see the threads in most forums... there are still a few totally "invisible" ones.

JB has NO desire to be on DG as her parting FROM was very nasty and included
the Administration, certain very rude DG'ers and such.
Her and i would D-mail now and then, ut that also ended.
She moved over to ATP and was pretty active there in the Houseplant Forum, but,
after a while she lost interest in that as well.

I DO think she left am amazing legacy here with her information and knowledge
of Holiday cactus.

I'll see if I can find her posts--but you, Jill, would know a faster way than me, I am sure.

Thanks, Gita

I'm no better than anybody else at using the DG search engine, despite recent "improvements" to it.

I mentioned that JB would be able to view threads here just in case we got a good CC thread going with new pictures and you wanted to send her a link. You're right -- she taught us a lot!

If anyone wants to start a Part 7 Holiday Cactus thread here are links to our first 6 threads.
Part 1
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1146809/#new
Part 2
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1150081/#new
Part 3
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1227023/#top
Part 4
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1232158/#new
Part 5
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1243875/
Part 6
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1284057/

HollyAnnS I could easily do the same with my DL front hill. I have got to split them this spring!

I'll help you split DLs if you help me dig & divide daffs! :-)

OK! We have a new Thread up on Holiday Cactus discussion--#7.

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/140

Gita

Behnkes is having a sale on perennials and Meadows has a nice clearance sale on their shrubs and trees. I stopped by Meadows yesterday and someone was buying their entire stock of pink reblooming azaleas. From a distance, they looked like roses, with beautiful pink double blooms.

I also picked up a large container for $1! Most of my containers are deep, not wide, and I really need more wide containers for amaryllis, mint, and others that have shallow roots.

Amaryllises will fill a pretty deep container with roots... just FYI. I've been putting 3 bulbs in a 12" pot of regular proportions, and the roots fill the pot by spring. Wider, more shallow containers give those big bulbs and tall stalks more stability, though.

I'll have to wait for fall clearance sales next year... too many that still need to be planted, and I was "out sick" and not digging the past couple of weeks. I'm looking for a couple of particular things, but I'm afraid if I go searching, too many others will hop into my car! LOL

SS--
We had piles of the re blooming, "Encore" Azaleas too at my HD. Such pretty blooms...
Being that all shrubs and trees and perennials and Ground covers have now been
50% off for a couple of weeks--there isn't much left.

Talking about larger, wide containers--do you have any hanging baskets you don't use?
They would be just right--after you remove the hangers.
For one or two Amaryllis bulbs--the pots Mums come in would work. as well.

Clay pots, or heavy stone pots, work the best--as they won't topple over like plastic pots.

Have you asked for some empty pots at all the Nurseries you shop at ?
Most Nurseries have piles of pots.

G.

Jill--we cross-posted again...Gita

This was a particularly dood year for 'Encore' azaleas. Past years have been less than impressive, underwhelming I'd say.

I need to get my paws on couple hundred of those extra pots for the caladium fundraiser I'm putting together for the YMCA (lots of $ needed for flood recovery). If anybody spots a stack of them (1-2 gallon for 3 caladiums, 6" pots for a single caladium), PLEASE ask for them! I won't need them until early spring, so stashing them until the seed swap party would work.

We'll be pre-selling caladium bulbs for the fundraiser, but I know there will be "leftovers" in the bulk bags. I can also get some cheaper mixed-color bulbs. Those are the ones I'll start and then sell as plants.

And yes, I'll be looking for volunteers to start a few of those extra bulbs... :-)

We had a couple and they were really a disappointment as far as the reblooming. Also I found them iffy for hardness in our Zone 6. They were really pretty when I bought them but just didn't do well for me. I will also say that I am having trouble getting small shrubs to thrive in the back raised bed of the rock wall bed.

Are you talking basic plastic pots?

Jill, I'm planning to go dumpster diving at American Plant this weekend. I'll scare up pots for your caladium.

I am sure that I can provide you with pots--my shed and basement is full of them.

I especially can give you a lot of 6" plastic pots. The ones I have the most of...

I can also give you some black, trade gallon pots.
I do not have any large amount of 1 or 3 gal. pots, other than the above mentioned.

I may be able to give you some of the 8" bulb-pan type pots--like Mums are sold in
unless they would be too shallow.
Please remind me as February approaches, so can dig out all these pots....

Just FYI--any pots I will supply will have the "Bell Nursery" stickers on them.
These HAVE TO be removed or all print deleted with permanent markers.
They have that request--even when I use their pots.

Gita

Jill, almost all of my amaryllis started forming pups this summer but there wasn't enough space in the pots for the babies to fully form. The containers I already had that were wide enough for the pups were too deep and looked kinda silly with just one amaryllis bulb in them. If they're going to be this prolific in having pups I'll be repotting almost every year anyway. I hope to divide the pups next summer!

Gita, good idea to look for pretty nursery pots. I hadn't considered it because I don't like using black nursery pots indoors but didn't think about the prettier lightweight pots that some plants come in.

I actually need to get rid of my black nursery pots. I have so many that I'll never reuse them all. Jill, are you looking for pretty pots or are plain ones ok?

Pretty pots would be lovely, but I'm happy with plain pots... I think the bright caladium plants will pretty much be all the decoration necessary, although if we get fancy we could either wrap the pots or spatter-paint them. (Probably I shouldn't get fancy. LOL Maybe I can find some dollar store baskets to fit around the nursery pots - and charge $2 for them.)

Gita, those round 6" pots would be great for single bulbs, don't you think? Could you please test one if you have a chance and see if the stickers "soak off" pretty easily? I'll double check with Bill & see what he thinks about those shallow pots -- I think they'd be fine, as my caladiums don't seem to root deeply even when they have room to do so.

I was thinking a trade gallon pot should be OK for 3 caladium bulbs, especially if sold to be planted into a garden bed or into a larger container... seems to me I see multiple plants in trade gallon pots in nurseries. 3 in a trade gallon or an 8" pan-type pot, or 1 in a 6" pot -- that's what I had in mind.

Thanks, everybody! I'll ask again in Jan. and see what our "supply" looks like, so I know if I have to scramble for extras.

Jill--

On the older 6" pots--the tag is really glued on and hard to remove.
On the newer ones--it peels off pretty easily. Neither would "soak off".
Easy solution? Get some [pretty stickers and glue them over the tag. Done!
Craft stores sell all kinds of sticky-backed products. Even red hearts.

Now--what i call a "trade gallon pot" are black--about 6" diam. and deep.
No way 3 bulbs would fit in there. One-OK. Maybe I am wrong on what is a trade gallon??

Clay pots would be the best. HD sells a "Stone paint" in a spray can. About $8/can.
It comes in colors and, when applied, looks like concrete. Don't think it would stick
to plastic--but would e OK on clay pots. You can find this in the Paint Dept.
where all the spray cans are.

The Mum pots are 8" diam. and about 5" high and a nice orange-brown.
Most people that buy Mums toss them when done blooming.

G.

Most labels and their attendant adhesive can be removed with the non-toxic, citrusy Goo Gone.

Plants seen recently are calling my name as they are 'on sale'!

Viburnum 'Arrowwood' 3 gal $15
'Brandywine' 3gal $15

Hydrangea paniculata 'Pinky Winky' 3 gal $15
'Quick Fire' 3 gal $15
'Quick Fire' standard form 5 gal $30

I recently saw hydrangea 'Pistaschio' for $15. That was hard to pass up!