South Florida's Galloping Gardener's Part II

Anyone who wants to join, we pick the place time and go and meet there to see what "trouble" we can get into.

Next Get-together:

Next Thurs the 4th I leave for Rochester, NY. will be back on the 9th. Except for Thurs the 28th I am free until I go....after that I charge....LOL heheheh

Lets plan on Jesse's...whenever...

Hap

Hi there Galloping Gardener's.

Nice line Nancy. I'd like to borrow that sometime.

I will join you at Jesse's. As usual, I will need directions.

I'm flexible for the hours, but have a suggestion. Think it would be possible to meet late morning instead of our usual 1:30 pm. It's soooo hot at 1:30.

I am cleaning up my nursery area to make room. I should be able to put together a listing of current rooted cuttings in a few days.

Gladly make anything for you I don't have growing.

I wonder why no one has put together a coffee/sandwich shop in a nursery. Some of the nurseries around here are really nice and they have good traffic.

Art

I can't make it this week and the following week looks a bit iffy too. I'm only free Tuesday the 2nd. My DS is coming home from college and I want to spend some time with him.

Art, I second the motion of meeting in the morning. There are some places close to Jesse's nursery where we can go grab something to eat afterwards.

If anyone wants any cuttings let me know now so I can get them started.



This message was edited May 31, 2010 11:54 PM

Tuesday the second is ok with me. It would be even better in the morning. Lunch sounds good too.

I have a want list for you Val.
Can you make cuttings of Simpson Stopper, Mist Flower, Bloodberry, and pink Porterweed. These would really narrow down my "got to have" cuttings list for this summer.

By the way, I noticed at Nancy's Val didn't smoke. Have you quit Val?

Art

Tues is fine for me. Lunch is a "doer" too..Meet there? What time?

This message was edited May 31, 2010 11:53 PM

Art, will do. Which Mist flower do you refer to? I don't think I have anything by that name.

Nancy, could I please have a cutting or 2 of some of your more rare coleus. I forgot to ask you last Friday. You can choose any of your liking, thanks.



This message was edited May 31, 2010 11:54 PM

I have to start an exterior paint job on Monday, however, I believe I can take my DS to work and come away for a little while.

So this is good for me.

Any requests for plants, cuttings etc.? Anyone for some more cannas? Val, I bet if you put some in your patio, since it's screened in, your could have better looking cannas around your pond. Don't you think?

Tuesday, 10:30 is a goodtime!

Molly
:^)))

Val,

What was the name of that stuff you used for snails? I found slug number 2 this morning. 2 in 25 years isn't bad I would say.

I picked him up and put him on a stepping stone, got some salt and poured it on him. Just to see the results. Man, you were talking about SLIME? I had a heck of a time washing that stuff off my hands. YECK!!!

And nope, I don't pull the wings off of flies just to see them fly crooked. LOL

When I was walking on the north side of the house to go up front with the shovel, I got attacked by all those vines that are over growing Annalise's ficus hedge. I started pulling them down to a manageable level. Accidently broke off my red cypress vine that was tangled in there. (I hope it sends off more vines and grows back. Her vines were so thick, I couldn't see the tender cypress until it was too late.) Anyway, after I got those cleared back, you should have seen all the Zebra butterflies that came swarming in! I must have stirred up something they like.

Molly
:^)))

Eeek, I can't stand the slimy stuff. The name of the product is Escar-Go Slug and Snail Bait by Gardens Alive. This stuff really works, I haven't seen one since I used it.

I don't have any luck with Cannas, they get chewed down to nothing by the caterpillars. I gave up on them.

I really shouldn't have any more plants because where am I going to put them Whaaa, but I can't resist so maybe I'll do redo everything to make more room LOL hehehe. For now, just some more of your sensitive plants will do. Thanks anyways.

Ok, so we are set for Tuesday the 2nd at 10:30. It should be fun and I hope we don't melt.



This message was edited May 31, 2010 11:55 PM

Jesse's it is at 10:30.....

Art, are you here???? Will you be there?????? LOL

I remember it's off Griffin, but which turn off?

Molly
:^)))

I think it is the one right before University Dr., but don't quote me because I always use Stirling Rd. I'm sure you'll find directions if you use Map Quest or some other address finder.

5151 SW 70th Avenue
Davie, Fl.

This is southbound off Griffin Road.

:^)))

Hi Everyone!
Nancy, yes, I will be there too. I wouldn't want to miss anything. Besides, could there be a better place to get cuttings than from your friends? You just make up a list and they bring 'em. Isn't that great.

Speaking of cuttings, (it seems like I speak of nothing else doesn't it) Nancy, I took a cutting from your sweet potato on the Lanai. It was between your bar? and the pool. At your place it looked like a bright red vs deep purple I have at home. Am I seeing things?

Val, I don't know where I got this but I thought Mist flower was somewhere in your area here at Dave's. I copied this name into my "notes file" under Val, Mist Flower (Eupatorium) zinnias.
Yesterday at HD I saw they had bunches of the Dragon's Breath plants again. I hadn't seen them there in several years.

Molly, Sure I'll try a canna or two, and what color are they? Oh yeah, you were right about the flash on my camera. It was going off all the time. I squared it away this morning and the results are much better. When indoors you can see the green light it sends out when checking for distance. I was confusing the flash with the green light which you can't see out in daylight.

I will put up a list of what I have available in a day or so. I still need more time to get pictures of everything. One thing you all might consider is my Swedish Ivy. I just posted it in the plant files. I have had mine growing continously for over 40 years. Some of it is available as I have a plant that needs to be split in several places badly.

Catch ya later,

Art

Hi Art,

The canna foliage will be green, but I might be able to get a variegated one for you too. The flowers may be yellow, orange, red or orange/yellow.

I'll get some together for you. Glad the photos are coming out a bit better for you.

Molly
:^)))

Art, I have no explaination. Maybe my water is magic. LOL See you next week..

This is a test message. I tried a feature of my camera's software. I wanted to show plants and their colors in a grouping so I would not take up a lot of space here and waste users time.

Let me know what you think.

This is a Frangipani grouping. I have these colors available if anyone wants a cutting. These plants were from cuttings taken at Key West.

Art

This message was edited Jul 26, 2005 8:51 PM

Last message for this evening.

These are Copperleaf plants I have available if anyone wants cuttings.

Art, I would love a cutting of the first one. They are beautiful, I don't have a Plumeria. I'm going to have to grow it in a container though.

Did you check your mail, I sent you the names of 2 good books on native plants.



This message was edited May 31, 2010 11:55 PM

Art, May I please have a cutting of the Frangipani, one each of the first and second from the left?

Now that you are getting so fancy with the camera, can you tell me how you did that? In little pea brain language?

I have always wanted to do a split pic, like a "before & after" in one photo.

Molly
:^)))

Yeah, I would love to know too. Great idea Molly for before and after shots.


This message was edited May 31, 2010 11:56 PM

Yea! Finally have some interest in my plants.
I owe it all to the software that came with my camera.
It's pretty easy stuff to do. There are several things you can do with the software. You have seen the first in earlier posts. Those are called a panoramic view. You select the pictures you want to put together. As I have done in the panorama attached to this message, I edited the pictures first by cropping them. I didn't want too much foliage in the picture, so I cropped and saved them as cropped images with the same name as the original (so I won't get confused) Then using the software I selected the five pictures I had already cropped, then the software put together a panoramic view by putting the five pictures together as one. I then saved it as the "plant type" and sent it here.
If you send me your normal email address via dmail I will send you a copy of the software.
More in next message.
This panoramic composit is of my hibiscus.

This is a second function the software can do. This is about the "split" you mentioned above. I have used this in several pictures I have submitted to the plant files.
Here is how it works. You select two or more pictures you might want to put together as a "picture within a picture". The software allows you to select several rather than just two. You pick the best of the two and compose that as your picture (foreground) within a picture (background).
In the example attached, I wanted to show an overall picture of the plant and it's pot. Because the leaves are so small, I wanted to include a closeup of the leaves. So the plant & pot are the background with a close up of the leaves in the foreground.
This is an Elephant bush vieragata composit.
Art

That is so cool Art. Ya know I have a couple photo programs in my puter, just haven't played with them much. I'll send a dm to you after I get my van over to the shop.

Can you program fax/telephone machines too?

Molly
:^)))

Remember at Nancy's I asked what you all were doing for data bases on your plants? Here is a sample of mine.
First, I didn't know if Dave's takes word documents as pictures. I will have to experiment with that later on. What I did is something I told Nancy to do in saving a picture of the map to her house.

I brought up my plant data base in MS Word. I went to a page that had three pictures with descriptions that would fit in a single screen. Then I pressed the print screen button on the keyboard. I closed Word and opened MS Paint, a program that comes with all Windows versions. Once opened I used the paste command from the edit menu, to paste the image I had saved to the clipboard, in this case, the whole screen showing a page of my plant data base.
I then cut out the part I wanted, excluding heading, etc. Then I opened a new paint picture and pasted the cut section into it. I saved it as a bmp. It's attached below. Keep in mind, this is a picture now, it's not a document any more so the type is a little fuzzy.
It's good enough to give you an example of what can be done with MS Word. There is probably good software out there to accomplish this, but I am too cheap to buy it and wouldn't have enough time to learn how to use it.
Art

Perhaps one day instead of visiting a nursery we should GT at someone's house who has a decent computer and go over all this stuff.

My place is out of the question. If it were not under construction, which it is, it would still be too small for the four of us. My computer is not that new either. It's a 550mz, which is pretty slow and it's very old.

I just checked the software disk. The program I used to make those composits & panoramic views is called Presto Mr. Photo 3. This program came on a disk with the camera when I purchased it back in May. The program is too big to attach to an email (284 mb), so I will copy the disk for you if you want it I will bring it to the next GT at Jesse Durko's, 5151 SW 70th Avenue, Davie, Fl. August 2nd, 10:30 am

Art

Val, I will make a cutting of the first Frangipani which I call Rouge & Gold. The fragrance is fantastic. I have always wanted to experiment with these. Perhaps now that I am cutting for you girls, I will cut one for myself and try to bonzai it.
I did get your message on the plant books. Next time I get out I will take a look and see if they are what I am looking for. I used to own a Graph's Exotic Plant Manual, but I loaned it to someone and never got it back.

Molly, I will make you cuttings of the first and second from the left. The second one is a tri color who's colors are exceptionally bright.
Once again, the fragrance on these blooms is fantastic. Someone once told me these blooms are the basis for most perfumes. I don't know if that's true or not.
Program fax should be easy if you have instructions. If not, forget about it.

A side note on the hibiscus picture. The first one on the left is my own variety. I spent three months trying to get my hibiscus to make seeds. I polinated any plant that had flowers with my major everyday blooming red hibiscus (picture not shown) I kept a record and tagged each plant I polinated. After three months only two made seeds. Of the two only one produced a plant. That's the plant on the left. It's a good looking flower when it hasn't been sprayed on by my lawn sprinklers. It has nice veins in the flower who's color is a mix of light red and orange with a slight (on some flowers) orange tinge on the edge of the flower. As Molly noted my bush has the features (woody and slightly leggy) of the plant that made the seeds. The flower is about the same size as my everyday blooming red, which I used as my main source of pollen. Molly said it was quite rare for tropical hibiscus to make seeds. With the effort I put in on that project, I would guess she is right.

Art

Last message for the morning. Browsing around this morning before coming on Dave's, I found the following listing for top 10 gardens in S. Florida. Lots of stuff to consider here for future visits. There is enough here to keep us galloping around for months.

Art

Top 10 gardens in South Florida

Take your pick for tropical foliage: From West Palm Beach, where sculptures are the star, to Fort Lauderdale, where Bonnet House preserves a serene spot near the ocean, to Miami, where Fairchild Tropical Garden offers the exotic.

By Brian J. O'Connor
Sun-Sentinel

When Ponce de Leon discovered what would become the Sunshine State, he christened it "La Florida," which roughly translates from Spanish as "land of the flowers." Throughout South Florida, many public gardens show off the astonishing variety of plants, trees and flowers that so impressed the Spanish explorer.

1. Ann Norton Sculpture Gardens -- 53 Barcelona Road, West Palm Beach; 561-832-5328. Historic home on 1.7 acres of natural Florida gardens that include 300 varieties of palm trees and huge monolithic sculptures created by Ann Weaver Norton. Open 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., Wednesday through Sunday, October through May; 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., Friday through Sunday, June through August; closed in September. Admission, $5; call to arrange tours. Also holds a summer arts camp for children.

2. Mounts Botanical Garden -- 531 N. Military Trail, West Palm Beach; 561-233-1757. Web site: www.mounts.org. Palm Beach County's oldest public garden features 13 acres of exotic trees and plants, rainforest area and native plants, a butterfly garden, water garden and more. Mounts is designed to be resource for gardeners. Admission free except during special events. Hours: 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Saturday, 1-5 p.m. Sunday. Free tours 11 a.m. Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday. Closed Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Years Day and Thanksgiving.

3. American Orchid Society Visitors Center and Botanical Garden -- 16700 AOS Lane, (just west of Jog/Powerline Road between Clint Moore Road and Linton Boulevard), Delray Beach; 561-404-2000. Web site: www.orchidweb.org. This destination includes 3 1/2 acres of gardens and greenhouses and a gift shop and offers classes, workshops and special events. Hours: 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Tuesday through Sunday. Admission: $7, free for children under 12.

4. Morikami Museum & Japanese Gardens -- 4000 Morikami Park Road, Delray Beach; 561-495-0233. Web site: www.morikami.org. Features gardens, changing exhibits of Japanese arts and crafts, ceremonial teahouse, snack bar cafe, library, museum store, classes and workshops. Hours: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday. Admission: $6-$9, free for children under 6.

5. Deerfield Beach Arboretum -- located in Constitution Park, 2841 W. Hillsboro Blvd., Deerfield Beach; 954-475-0474. Web: www.treezoo.com. Landscaped display of tropical and exotic trees maintained by Friends of the Arboretum. Tours are offered 10 a.m. Fridays and 10 a.m. on the first Saturday of each month. Seminar programs are presented at 7 p.m. on the second Thursday of each month, in the park recreation room.

6. Bonnet House Museum & Gardens -- 900 N. Birch Road, Fort Lauderdale; 954-563-5393. Web site: www.bonnethouse.org. Self-guided and guided tours of Bartlett home, 35-acre subtropical estate with informal gardens, swans, monkeys and art exhibits. Tours Wednesday through Sunday from May through November, and Tuesday through Sunday from December through April. Closed Mondays and some holidays, as well as the month of September. Hours vary. Admission: $6-$10, free for children under 6.

7. Flamingo Gardens -- 3750 S. Flamingo Road, Davie; 954-473-2955. Web site: www.flamingogardens.org. This 60-acre botanical gardens and wildlife sanctuary features thousands of rare, exotic and native plants, as well as alligators, bobcats, otters, flamingos and over 70 native species of birds. There is also a narrated tram tour through a 200-year hammock, citrus groves and wetlands. Hours: 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. daily. Closed Mondays in the summer. Admission: $6, $12.

8. The Kampong of the National Tropical Botanical Garden: 4013 Douglas Road, Coconut Grove. Phone: 305-442-7169. Web: www.ntbg.org. The Kampong is the Florida garden of the nonprofit National Tropical Botanical Garden. It is the former home of plant explorer David Fairchild, and the garden maintains an extensive collection of tropical fruit cultivars. The Kampong (Malaysian for "home in a garden") is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The group welcomes volunteers and specializes in conservation, research and education. Tours and classes are offered and tours available by appointment; call for times and reservations.

9. Fairchild Tropical Garden -- 10901 Old Cutler Road, Coral Gables; 305-667-1651. Web site: www.fairchildgarden.org. One of the world's leading botanical gardens, Fairchild includes a 2-acre outdoor rainforest, tropical conservatory, tropical fruit pavilion, bamboo collection, flowering tree arboretum, cacti exhibit, palm glade, Keys coastal habitat, sunken garden and 11 lakes. Open daily 9:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Closed Dec. 25. Admission: $10 adults, $9 seniors, $5 children 3-12, free for garden members and children under 3.

10. Vizcaya Museum & Gardens -- 3251 S. Miami Ave., Miami; 305-250-9133. Web site: www.vizcayamuseum.com. This Italian Renaissance-style villa was built in 1916 as the winter residence of Chicago industrialist James Deering. The complex contains antique furnishings and art dating from the 15th through the 19th century, and the home is surrounded by more than 10 acres of formal gardens and fountains. Open daily 9:30 a.m.-5 p.m. with gardens open until 5:30 p.m. Ticket booth closes at 4:30 p.m. Admission: $10 adults, $5 children 6-12, free for children under 5.

I'm ready...I'm ready....and w/o DH yipee.......

This message was edited May 31, 2010 11:57 PM

I've been to every one of them and all I can say is that they are worth the visit. Some look better during the spring, others in the summer and a few in the fall. We have plenty of galloping to do for the next year.



This message was edited May 31, 2010 11:57 PM

Would you mind going again? Maybe you could be our tour director!! LOL Let us know which ones to visit when.......Thanks Val

Wow Art,

You went to a lot of trouble with all the info you gave us today. We sure do appreciate it.

Let me start by saying, I am certainly up for a photo training session here at my house. No construction going on here, I have high stools for sitting around the puter that's on a quarter-round desk. Perfect training setting. Also, as to the fax, yes I do have the book that tells you how to program it, but the book wasn't written for idiots like myself to follow all the steps from Partb on page 6 to part X on page 22 to part J1b on page whatever. You get my drift?

Art, I am suprised that you missed one very important place to visit and one I think you would be most interested in: Butterfly World. Not cheap I know, but they have a large collection of garden critters and all the plants they like to hang out in. They also have a special place where the B'flies are in different stages of life (real live ones, not just pictures) They have a large collection of hummingbirds too. I went there by myself and loved it. At the end, they do have a plant nursery with a large collection of attracter plants.

Molly
:^)))

I know, I know. Since this is the premier butterfly atrium in the world, I am saving it until I have the camera down pat. This past May I visited the butterfly conservatory at Key West. I had just bought the camera to take on the trip with me. I was dissapointed at my results. Although many pictures came out ok, many did not. Butterflies are not like plants. They move about quite a bit, so I need more practice.
Once I have it down and the weather cools off a bit, I will go and make a day of it.

I went through the trouble so you could see some of the plants I have that I am willing to share. I realize I don't have that much, but if you see the colors and variety within the groups, there may be something you want. For example, I am currently working on my bougainvillea group. The problem is they are not blooming yet. They are just beginning to bloom now that it's drying out here. If you see the colors of my bougainvillea, and the way I display my plants before I put them in the ground, you might decide that's an attractive plant growing in a pot like that. I might have room for it.

You girls offer me so much, and I have so little in return I want to make everything I have available. It only takes one right plant to make someone's day. Making the pictures like this allows me to show you a bunch of different colors or plants without taking up a bunch of room in a forum. The butterfly pictures I put up from Key West took up a lot of space on Dave's. They also take a lot of time to look through. This, although not the best shot of each plant, allows me to send up more pictures with less posts.

I will also use the panorama pictures in my data base.

Val, I will get a cutting of Brazilian Nightshade in right away. As for the weed, I don't know it's name. I have not tried to find a weed data base online. Perhaps later on tonight I will give it a try. I do know the weed though. It's not aggressive. It won't spread everywhere. I personally think it travels about via birds. Everywhere I have seen them grow is a place birds could have dropped a seed. In my neighbors yard where I got that plant, there are only a couple of single plants nearby, but all the plants are under her utility lines.

I wonder if since we go as a group, if we get group pricing...laugh.

Have a nice day girls.

Art

I forgot to mention I cut the frangipani's this morning. They are currently drying out in the shade under my nursery. They should be in pots in a few days. I will bring them along to Jessie's.

Art

I have seen coupons in the paper/mail-ads/somewhere for BF World. Will keep my eye's peeled..

Art, you have to "return" is that great smile.....plus so much more.

Hap

Nancy, I will gladly help navigate the parks, but I'm not sure I'm an expert or anything like that. I know that Mounts is really beautiful during the spring, Fairchild is better during the summer or early fall. Flamingo Gardens is worth visiting at almost any time of the year, but again during spring it's at its best. The Kampong in early summer or fall. Morikami anytime. The Bonnet House in early summer because at this time the mosquitos are vicious there. And so on.
And of course Butterfly World is worth a trip anytime, I was just there for Mother's Day and all the flowers and passifloras were in bloom. I got some good pictures that I have to sort out so I can post them in a forum. Every time I go to any of the gardens or parks is a new learning experience. There is also the private garden of Gene Joyner in Palm Beach which is worth a trip. And also the Fruit and Spice Park down in Homestead.

I don't think we'll run out of places to vist anytime soon. Then there are all the orchid nurseries down by the Redlands and Homestead which during the spring offer great sales.

If we put on our thinking caps we can all come up with a great schedule to visit all these places. I'm certain we will have some good fun and come back with goodies on top of that.



This message was edited May 31, 2010 11:58 PM

Here are some of my bougainvillea.

Note, missing from the pictures are dark green leaved with dark purple bracts and dark green leaved with light purple bracts.

I did not crop these images so they appear droopy. It was the programs fault, not mine. I don't make mistakes, laugh!

Note how nice they look in hanging baskets.

Art