Yardening along merrily soon into November

Looking forward to it Jeff, 'coarse I still want to see Cams'.

where is Cam these days?

Cam has been absent, hasn't he?
I arrived back home after dark today after having been gone for 12 days, which is a record for me; I don't like to be away more than 5 days. It looks like most of the leaves have fallen, and my husband cleared them and left them bagged ready for compost piles. Yay!

What a good hubby. Welcome home! How is Mom doing?

I thought I haven't seen CAM around the MAG. I wonder what he's up to.

CAM is MIA at MAG...! OMG!!

Yeah I often have wondered if something happened to me and I couldn't post, how would people find out what's going on?

you could give a phone number through Dmail to one of us. Someone ( or all of us) might have Cam's number from Swap. Jeff, you want to text him to check?

Maybe cam finally found a woman that suits him?
Busy...Busy...Busy.....

CAM has definitely been missed. Terri and I were commenting on that recently.

CAM may be relocating soon (work considerations). The prospect of moving after all that landscaping and other work on his new house must be discouraging, and maybe that's why he's been awol. I saw him a couple of weeks ago, and he's OK.

Some years back, there was a suggestion to include a way to get in touch with you on your DG member page, like the username of a friend here who would have your phone number and/or know what's going on with you. For me, I think if somebody were to post in MAG looking for me, one of y'all would be able to call and let me know, as quite a few of you have my number.

If anybody contacts me wanting to get in touch with somebody here, don't worry that I would just give out your address or phone number... I would contact you with their name/number, not the other way around.

Oh, man! Thanks for the update, it is enough for me. That has to really (...insert words and phrases I don't consider nice enough for a lady...)

My mom isn't doing at all well emotionally or physically and resists everyone's attempts to help her on those scores, but I was at least able to figure out her finances and make sure her gas, electric, water, phone and other bills would be auto-paid.

Glad you were able to get all that set up for her. I'm sure it is difficult for all of you. Praying for your comfort.

Thanks, Jan; I appreciate it.

aw, Muddy, I'm sorry. Auto Pay is a certainly a help.

It sure is! I collected all of the scraps of paper they had lying all over their house with multiple, conflicting user ids and passwords for the same accounts and tried to piece together what they actually had meant to write down, then logged onto their accounts to set up bill pay for everything. I can't/don't want to live down there, but at least I can make sure her lights stay on!

Edited to add that this process was made difficult by the fact that my dad had an account in his name from which many of the bills were paid and, even though my mom was a joint owner, that account was frozen when he passed away so I had to figure out what had been paid out of it and how to transfer payments....all this without being able to log into the account.


This message was edited Nov 19, 2015 10:23 PM

ugh what a mess.
A bit scary- we operate the same way (joint acct, Mark in charge.. )

Yikes, a mess indeed. Glad you're getting things figured out though Muddy.

Glad to hear CAM is alive too. Too bad if he would have to move. Sometimes I think about that and it's like a nightmare to me.

Muddy, my sister-in-law Bonnie was in the same situation when her husband passed away unexpectedly last spring. It took her several months to get everything squared away in her name. In her case, I think all the things that had to be taken care of kept her grief at bay, but now that that part is over and done with, she is having a really hard time emotionally. Sounds like it is hitting your mom hard at the outset. I don't think there is a straightforward answer for anyone going through a loved one's passing. The best advice I can offer is what I'm trying to do for Bonnie, which it to just make yourself available for whatever it is she needs when she needs it.

My BIL had just turned 59, Bonnie was a widow at 55. It is just so sad that he is gone already, and after 35 years she is on her own without him. At least she has family that she can lean on if and when she wants to, and I think the same can be said for your mother. Keeping you in my thoughts and prayers.

All the time you are trying to deal with your Mother's needs you are trying to deal with your own grief as well. Thoughts and prayers with you.

I'm so sorry about your loss Muddy, thoughts and prayers also go out to you and your family.

Echoing what Holly said... doubly hard to have to work on all those things and try to be of comfort to your mom, all the while grieving for your own loss. *hugs*

Beautiful day today!! Cold nights look like they have finally arrived, frost/freeze all this next week at least. I'm hoping the ground stays diggable a little longer... otherwise I'm going to be doing a lot of potting up and up-potting!

Muddy, when you're up to it, let's raid CAM's garden together. Rumor is he's moving.
Does anyone know what this plant is?

That almost looks like tulip leaves.. ?

Raiding CAM's garden sounds like a good idea, LOL. I picked up a couple of lovely Malva 'Mystic Merlin' and some tricolor sedum from him already...

Death is terrible and there's such a vacuum when someone goes. I can't imagine how hard it is to lose someone you've loved for so many years. It's very sad.




Critter, is CAM moving out of the MAG?

Lisa, your mystery plant could be Convalaria majalis.

Ahhhh--"Lily of the Valley"........

Had to Google the fancy name to find thisout.......:o

Don't think it's Convalaria. Planted that in another part of the garden. Besides, the stalk (right term?) on mystery plant is too chunky and leaves too broad for Convalaria. Shall take another snap tomorrow.

It does look like tulip leaves. That would be really odd.

I agree--that it looks like Tulip leaves--but there seems to be just one stem--
and then--this big bunch of leaves??????Hmmmmm...

Talking of weird--here is my one iris with buds opening. Whassup?

Maybe they will just freeze in this stage--as we WILL have serious freezing T's.
on Sunday--Monday--and Tuesday nights. Temps. just in the high 20's.

Get in--whatever you have to get in before Sunday night.!!!! Or--let it die....

Lets hope it is not a killing frost..yet...BUT--3 days in a row.....never know.

1--Here is my wayward iris.....looks like it would e yellow??? I don't remember.
This one is growing, all by itself, at the edge of one of my beds next to a peony.

2& 3--On the lighter side--I was cutting down the stems of 2 of my Autumn sedums,
and spotted a Praying Mantis egg-case on one of the stems.

4--Went back where this sedum was growing--and saw another egg-case
wrapped around the wire fencing. Boo-Hoo---I cut away all their protective stems
they were hiding behind.
I will take it to work and show it to people. maybe some have never seen one.
Then--If one of our "garderers" wants to have it--they can take it away.
I will tell them that they can tie this egg-case to a stem of something in their
garden and it should follow any hatching schedule it normally would.
Before all the homes were built around here--I used to go walk in the "brush"
and look for these cases. Then i would tie them to a stem of something in my beds
and watch them hatch. They come out in a "chain"--one crawling out and hanging from
the previous one.
I have heard, though, that even at this stage--they will eat each other.

5--Lastly--Here is HALF OF all the racking the Guys built that will hold the thousand-
somethings of Fresh Christmas trees. They have already ARRIVED.

I will try to take more picture Sunday to show you the zillions of trees we have
already received. And the wreaths--and the Swags. and....etc..etc..etc...

AND--THE SEASON HAS BEGUN!!! Ho--Ho--Ho-----

The Season has begun...Oh Oh Oh!

Your iris bud is ahead of mine. I think it will open if you cut it. Mine is also yellow, I think. I'm assuming it is Harvest of Memories that I know Ruby and John from Crozet gave me

OK! I will cut it off tomorrow. No sense leaving it out with all the frost coming...

I did not add, in the above series of pictures, that many, many tight flowers-to-be-buds
are already formed on my Camellia bush. It does this every year--starting in the Fall--
and the buds just last and last until they bloom around March.
They just, slowly, get plumper and plumper until they pop.

These buds are on a branch hanging almost to the sidewalk. Perhaps it radiated
a it more heat...not all of them are this big and round..

Thanks for all the kind wishes, everyone.

Someone told me that about 5 of 70 tulips he planted are coming up. This weather is crazy! I haven't had enough daylight to take a good look around my garden yet so I am looking forward to seeing it tomorrow for the first time in 2 weeks.

This message was edited Nov 20, 2015 10:55 PM

I had some tulips come up last fall, leaves were up all winter but they didn't bloom until spring. Bulbs just do what they want, whether or not it makes sense to us.

I wonder if you could cut a fat camelia bud and force it inside... would be so festive!

Two more snaps of Mystery plant. It does resemble a tulip but I didn't plant any there. Beats me.

Talk about camelia is it still at your house??? Didn't mean to dump it on you.

I've been thinking what I want to do with my Chicago Hardy Fig and decided to build something out of some scrap boards and scrap lattice I had. I then stuffed it with leaves and wrapped it in a tarp. There are 2 bed frame pieces of angle iron driven in on opposing corners. I have also considered staking it to help in case of extreme wind.

This message was edited Nov 21, 2015 5:25 PM

Lisa, I have no idea on your mystery plant.

Ric, what a contraption. How creative you always are. That fig should survive the winter now :-)