Mid-Atlantic Gardening: Your Neck of the Woods 2015 Part 7

Dover, PA(Zone 6b)

We came from :http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1407107/

Thumbnail by Ric_of_MAF
Lucketts, VA(Zone 7a)

As always, cute giraffe. Love how you find the themed images for this thread :-)

I'm making great progress on my Christmas decorating. Have to say I'm pretty pleased with myself. I broke down this year and bought some artificial trees from Grandinroad - they are supposedly more realistic looking than others and I got great deals on cyber Monday. Never thought that I'd not have live trees, but I've changed my mind as I've gotten older. Hopefully, I'll like the artificial ones that I ordered sight unseen.

Dover, PA(Zone 6b)

I am babysitting. Went up to Jen's house on Wed night. Was just suppose to do a Wed night, Thru morning and evening then Fri morning. The other Grands were coming in Fri evening and staying Sat and Sun but they have come down sick so looks like I have the whole Weekend.
Aspenhill, We always do a big tree about 7ft couldn't even image not putting up a large real tree. Until a few years ago when Ric had his operation. I had to go and get it by myself and one of the boys had to come over and put it up for me. Last year we were back to doing our own work but it is one of those things that all of a sudden I am thinking about. I know we will get one up this year but the future is looking a little questionable. I have a ton of special ornaments, mostly gifts and Ric and I pick one up from our trips. I will be heart breaking when I can't have a big tree.

Dover, PA(Zone 6b)

I've even thought of putting a grid of fishing mono filament over our 4x8' window to display all our special ornaments, but agree that a tree is best for them.Since we no longer have cats the ornament are relatively safe. Hee Hee We started hanging our tree from the ceiling years ago after the cats were playing and knocked one over. LOL The only concern about Alfie is his drinking the water. ROTFL He even has his own water fountain but prefers to drink from the plant saucers and puddles. We usually have a Frasier fur but have had others like a Colorado blue spruce. I think as long as were able we will have a fairly large tree. I just love the scent. When we are done with it we have been putting it out by the bird feedersfor more cover for the hordes of little birds that come.

Anne Arundel,, MD(Zone 7b)

Hope the trees don't disappoint, aspenhill.
Have fun Holly (phew!)

We'll have a real tree again this year. All three kids will be around to enjoy it, and I'm not sure how many times we'll have that again
(snif!)
RIc I like your monofilamnt plan though/. I have some special ornaments that I want to enjoy but fear risking them on the tree. I guess I could invest in a flat wire tree made for ornaments, if it's big enough. Some are from my grandmother's time and they seem to break while sitting in a box of padding untouched. I put a bare tree branch in a vase once for some.

Vienna, VA(Zone 7a)

We always get real trees, too, although this year I want to get a smaller one to reduce the time it takes to decorate and undecorate it. I stuck our tree in a container of water outside last winter and it stayed green and held its needles until spring. I never actually saw birds in it, but I hope they used it for nighttime shelter, at least.

Anne Arundel,, MD(Zone 7b)

We just spent a long time figuring out printing photos on our home printer. LONG story short, just do it online .... took me five minutes to create the order for pickup at Target. I imagine it will go digitally into a queue at the store and be ready very soon

Odenton, MD(Zone 7b)

I have a half-tree, it hangs on a wall. I have to go get it from my storage stuff at my sister's house after work today. Didn't realize I had it until Anna and I went thru the Christmas decorations, gave her most of them. Kept the ones from my parents, will give them to my niece next weekend. My kids don't remember my parents, they were too little.

Dover, PA(Zone 6b)

Sally, The last few years I put all of my 12 days of Christmas ornament balls on a wreath. DDJules gave them to me and there was no way that they would all fit on the tree with all the other ornaments. The first couple of years I hung then from the long shelf in the living room but that was kind of time consuming an then I thought of doing a wreath. This one hangs on the covered front porch but you could hang one anywhere in the living area to showcase your special ornaments.

Anne Arundel,, MD(Zone 7b)

Nice idea!
I might try some monofilament on my dining room light and have a few there. I had mono for sewing once, just haven't found it yet.
reminds me, I never did dust the fixture before Thanksgiving company came, and they didn't seem to even notice (chuckle)

Silver Spring, MD(Zone 7a)

We've decided we're going to do another low-key Christmas this year. I love looking at all the lights and decorations, but time and energy are always a problem for us... So we've decided to pick up some yummy goodies from our favorite international Christmas goodies store, and that will be our holiday ambience-- maybe we'll display them attractively on the kitchen table as we wait in drooling anticipation for Christmas eve! :-D

Anne Arundel,, MD(Zone 7b)

That works!

By the way, you guys have some great ideas- the half tree, the wreath, etc.

I also think, at this time of year, that my whole yard should have winter berrying shrubs and trees, and other winter accent plants.

Vienna, VA(Zone 7a)

If you can't find your monofilament, fishing line might work.

I'm not going to drag out too much for Christmas because, except for my youngest daughter who can't get time off work, we'll be in South Carolina with my mom so that someone other than her in-home caregivers are with her. My daughter can go to my sister's house to see some family on Christmas, and we'll celebrate with her before or afterwards.

Silver Spring, MD(Zone 7a)

Yeah, my feelings about what I'm obligated to do over Xmas have definitely changed as I've gotten older. I'm definitely more mellow about it now.

I really love the winter berries too!

This message was edited Dec 6, 2015 12:07 PM

Silver Spring, MD(Zone 7a)

I'm almost done putting up the lights.

I use an outdoor timer that turns on at dusk. I hate the early darkness this time of the year, so I love coming home to the twinkling of Christmas lights at the end of the day.

But no tree for me! I can't have the real or the fake one around my cat.

Vienna, VA(Zone 7a)

What does your cat do, ssg?

Silver Spring, MD(Zone 7a)

Oh boy. She pretty much chews, eats, and then vomits every green thing she can reach. I can't have any non-succulent near her, because she wants to gobble it up.

Vienna, VA(Zone 7a)

What a pain!

Lititz, PA(Zone 6b)

There was an owl down off the tree this morning and it was missing part of the string that attached it to the tree....

Vienna, VA(Zone 7a)

Was your cat to blame?
Not sure I like this new thread format....

Vienna, VA(Zone 7a)

deleting duplicate post

This message was edited Dec 9, 2015 6:33 PM

Anne Arundel,, MD(Zone 7b)

sigh, I am trying to get used to this. I guess this is it.

Lucketts, VA(Zone 7a)

I certainly don't feel that my experience of this site has been enhanced.

Vienna, VA(Zone 7a)

Who complained about the way it was before?! Lemme at 'em!

Silver Spring, MD(Zone 7a)

I think the "skip to new" function may be broken. The button brought me down to the bottom of the thread instead.

Seq, did I miss a part of your story? Something happened to an owl?

I didn't get a chance to enter either the DG or the ATP photo contests. But I wouldn't have had a chance at all! Check out the winners at ATP: http://allthingsplants.com/apps/photocontest/bestofshow/3/

The overall winner photo is just gorgeous.

Wait, you have to press "preview" before posting? It's required now?

Lucketts, VA(Zone 7a)

A number of years ago Kraft expended a great deal of effort to develop individually wrapped "slices" of Philadelphia Cream Cheese. Then mounted a costly promotional campaign. It was a flop and was discontinued. They had put a large amount of time, money, and problem solving into something that their consuming public did not consider needed fixing. What is really frustrating is that DG blindsided us all. No courtesy of a "heads up", just log on one day and go "Huh?".

Edited to add: What's with the backslash being inserted with quote marks?

Now that I made the above edit the backslashes are no longer present. What gives?

This message was edited Dec 9, 2015 9:32 PM

This message was edited Dec 9, 2015 9:35 PM

Silver Spring, MD(Zone 7a)

Ugh, the slashes are driving me nuts!

Greenthumb, I knew this change was coming only because I happened to see it in the DG Site Updates forum. I don't see how these changes actually *improve* the UI.

Edit: Wow, this is some @#$%@ terrible programming.

Edit again: David, same here.

See you all over at ATP! ;)



This message was edited Dec 9, 2015 8:36 PM

Anne Arundel,, MD(Zone 7b)

ssg, those photos are really fabulous! amazing, high quality. Good for them.

Lucketts, VA(Zone 7a)

Not a welcome change at all, and the 'skip to new' did the same to me. Change is fine when it is an improvement, but it does not seem to be the case here.

Lucketts, VA(Zone 7a)

This is a situation where there should have been a banner or such on the home page apprising users (customers) of the upcoming change. One should not have to constantly lurk on the DG SIte Update forum to find out that a change like this is coming. Just another example of lack of regard/consideration for their users.

Vienna, VA(Zone 7a)

I figure I'd better at least add a photo so I don't show up as a faceless gray person!

Dover, PA(Zone 6b)

WOW This is TERRIBLE. I had trouble with the Skip to New as well just dumped me down to the bottom of the thread not to my last read post.
Took me to minute to realize that Sequoia was talking about an Owl Ornament.
Ric and I missed the DG Photo contest but did pick up a few winners in the ATP Photo Contest but no 1st places.

Baytown, TX(Zone 9a)

Hi! I agree with everything said thus far! I do not like the new changes. It is NOT an improvement! It is very confusing!

Any hope that it will return to the old way???

Washington, DC

Highly recommend Botanical Gardens here in Berlin. Husband took snaps but no clue how to attach them here. Will try when we return home.
Botanical Gardens in Vienna is skippable. It's part of the University and uber-academic. Greenhouses at Schoenbrunn Castle far better for garden enthusiasts.
What is ATP?

Anne Arundel,, MD(Zone 7b)

Hi Texas gal! I do not expect any reversal back to the old format. I'm guessing this has something to do with getting this to work on many mobile devices. There seems to be a push for that. I can live with format changes if I mst, but not thrilled that there are now ads showing up.

Thanks Lisa, will take notes from you for future trips.
Congrats Ric on the photos! You should get bonus points for (I expect) actually growing or creating most, if not all, of your subject matter.

Lititz, PA(Zone 6b)

Does anyone else have a bum Home page? My home page doesn't show there was a post since Tuesday in the MAG. What gives?

Silver Spring, MD(Zone 7a)

I can't wait for the photos, Lisa! To attach pictures, click on 'choose photos' underneath the text box.

ATP is allthingsplants.com. Dave, the founder of Dave's Garden, sold this website and set up ATP. I prefer the ATP design and user interface, but the majority of the Mid-Atlantic discussions are still here on DG.

It looks like long discussions are now on multiple pages, so if you want to get to a new comment, you have to click on the last number and search for it.

Dover, PA(Zone 6b)

ATP is another similar "free" site. It is very nice. To make the story short Dave that started Dave's Gardens started it a few years and is there at that site now. It is very much like this use to be and there is a MidAtlantic group there as well many of us are on both sites. Come and take a look.
http://allthingsplants.com/

Lucketts, VA(Zone 7a)

I just found that, too, SSG, when I went to the fauna thread. Even more irritating than simply being taken to the bottom and then scrolling up to find where you left off.

Sequoia, yes to what you said, too, some of the time. For the last couple of days David and I were thinking that no one was on here since it showed an incorrect last post date/time. Now sometimes an updated thread will show up on top, but often in the watched categories, the incorrect last post will show.

Anne Arundel,, MD(Zone 7b)

ATP- I clicked on the Bugs and Birds Category, from the 1st place phot. Wow, so many more excellent photos. I see Ric's egret and Holly's bird on... crabapple? I forgot sorry but great photos.

The forum page that lists new threads- that looks really hard to look over. I get why they took out the format with boxes (tables) but this open page look doesn't give much help.

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