S FL Galloping Gardners-8/1/05

Yup, here we are and a live and kicking.

Our next get together will be tomorrow, 8/2 at 10:30am at Jesse Durko's.
5151 SW 70 AVenue
954-792-2297
That's south of Orange and East of University.

Come one, Come all...

See you then.

Hap

Ok, I am here too. About tomorrow, if anyone has extra 4" pots, I could sure use 'em.

Thanks!
Art

Art, I saw a couple out there yesterday. Will look for more when I go out this morning to put tomorrows goodies together.

Molly
:^)))

Me too.....

Hi, future neighbours!

I have reading the posts in recent days and you seem quite active. My wife and I can't wait to get down there.

To answer 2 questions: we should move around November, no set date yet. We have a condo in Lauderhill. Reading your posts, it warmed my heart to hear roads like Stirling, University, etc. mentionned. We just love it down there.

Someone asked if I would take my orchids with me. We are not allowed to bring in potted plants in the U.S. We'll just have to start another collection over there.

I include a few images of what I have growing around here.

That's heart wrenching Lours, but you can catch-up quick with this crew. I just lurk here. Have resources on hold right now, or I'd drive down and surprise them.
sidney

Hi Lours,

Except for the water hyacinth (which is illegal down here) and the bearded Iris, everything else shown in your photo, you can do down here and better!!!!!

Gardening year round, can you even imagine?

Molly
:^)))

Of course, weed pulling goes year round too. :^)))

Art, I wish I had some 4" pots too. As a matter of fact, I had to put all of your cuttings in one pot because I don't have any left. Had I known the amount of trading we are doing I would have kept all those pots that I had instead of throwing them away arghh

Lours, your plants look beautiful. Molly is right, you will be able to have even better ones down here (the weed pulling is also very true) LOL.

Sidney just come on down and join the fun anytime you want. We would love a surprise visit from any of our Florida friends (or anywhere else for that matter).

Val

Lakeland is lurking tooooooooo. Purdy pics. Yup ya can grow just about anything here tropical. I still miss the four seasons tho. We have two seasons here hot and hotter. Lurking Corky

I don't believe there are seasons in heaven....that's where I am....

Lours..you will be between Molly and myself...probably a little closer.. What are your main cross streets....Don't give address....

Hap

To Molly MC: We know about the weather. We have owned that condo for 8 years now and we've been staying there during summer, spring, winter but not fall. Not planned that way, it just never happened. My wife has acute arthritis and the weather there is good for her. I love the sun, the heat and the thunderstorms there; can't wait to live through a hurricane. I can't wait to wield my spade year-round. It will feel funny not to see the perennials go into dormancy in the fall.

To Jnana: Funny you should mention the water hyacinths. Often, when I look up a plant on the internet, I'll end up on a site that declares it forbidden in Florida. I am growing quite a few plants here that would land you in jail in Florida. I once planted heracleum mantegazzanium here, which I subsequently pulled out after looking it up on the internet. I like to refer to that one as "The Plant From Hell". In Canada, we have 2 seasons: Winter, which seems to lasts 8 months and anothre season known as: "Soon it will be winter again".

Happy1: We are in the vicinity of SR7 and Sunrise.

My Inula helenium Goliath will soon be in bloom and I'll post pictures soon. I measured it at 12 feet high yesterday.

Hi Lours,
Nice picture. You will have to tell us how you put it together like that.

You are not that far away from me. I am just West of I-95 off Broward Blvd. Molly is just a bit further East from me.

I feel the same as Nancy about living here. In fact I often wonder why they let me live here at all. It's paradise. However I am here and I love it.

It's been 29 years since I moved here. I feel like a native Floridian.

Art

Hello, all.

The photos were put together using Photoshop 7.0 (Professional edition). It's not the easiest thing in the world to learn but it's made for human beings, don't worry. I can show you how it's done when I get down there.

Here is a lily from my garden we've been enjoying for a few days now. The perennial hibiscus will follow soon. Ah, the joys of owning a digital camera.

EUUUUUu,,,,too kool. You must have a pretty neat camera too. Lucky us, you will have so much to teach us. Sharpen your teaching skills......LOL

Hap

Wow, that was some trip yesterday, guys....I had a ball. Now all that I need is a bigger yard for all the new plants that I saw...

I agree, 10:30 is a good time to meet....that way we get a good start before the heat and the rain. I wouldn't mind meeting even earlier....anyone game?

As I said, I will be in Rochester starting tomorrow. Can you all wait for me to get back before you do something wild and crazy again?

Can you all wait until 8/17? That's a Wednesday and a reallll good day for me. With that beautiful list of attractions that Val gave us, I wouldn't know where to start on selecting a place for our next get-together.....How about someone else picking the spot????? I'm ready for anything.

Hap

Hi all. It's a little after 10 am and I just finished potting the plants from yesterday. I started at 6:45. I used 5 batches of dirt.

Great gt yesterday. The friends, the nursery, the help at the nursery, the prices of the plants, and even the few cuttings he through in were all great. Then there was a swapping of cuttings and seedlings and finally lunch and some chat after lunch. All of this contributed to a great get together. I think it was our best to date, and we have had some good one's.

Sorry I didn't even think about taking pictures, even though I had the camera.

I liked the morning start much better than our previous starts in the afternoon.

Art

A note about the Beebalm you all got yesterday. These are rooted plants. The plants themselves are long and need to be cut. They were growing under a Sable palm, which is a stable place to try new things out in my yard, and they were leaning toward the sun. Just cut the plants back so they are straight. Once they begin to make new growth, put 'em in the ground. They like sun.
Art

That was a great get together yesterday. Had a lot of fun. I'm in total agreement about the early start. Nancy, I wouldn't mind at all to start even earlier for our next get together.
We wouldn't think of doing something without you, so we will wait until you get back from Rochester.

Where to go for our next meeting. Hmm, so many places... What do you all think? I'm sure we wil come up with some other fun place to visit.

This is an open invitation for anyone living in the surrounding area to come and join us on our next excursion. Don't be shy. Art, Molly and Nancy are wonderful, friendly and warm people, you would be glad to get to know them. I sure have and feel really good about meeting these new friends.

Val

It's been a buisy weekend, with repotting all the cuttings I have gathered over the last month. I expect to begin photographing them for your id of them soon. You gave them to me, so your ID should be easy.

I also began transferring plants to the yard. I plant my yard from August through October. I began with several bromeliad into the N. E. corner, the shady area of my yard. I also put in a jade plant and several sweet potato plants for ground cover. This came from my looking at a bromeliad site to id one of my plants. I mentioned to Molly at Jessie's, it's amazing how many plants I keep in pots, others put in the ground. Molly replied...Duh! Where do you think they come from Art, naturally in the ground, or in pots? Boing! It finally occoured to me I was doing it all wrong. It's amazing, I can grow plants but don't know what to do with them.

I have thinned out a firebush and trimmed it to become a small tree, an idea I saw at Val's. I eliminated one Schefflera 'Nova' from the N.E. corner and drastically cut back the biggest one at the East end of the pool area. As the only big one left gets more in bloom, the East plant will be eliminated altogether, as it gets too big for that area and it's blocking my handmade wall area. I have another "Nova" to plant in a different area where it can be "watched" more carefully. This could be a dangerous plant and it needs to be monitored so it doesn't get out of my yard.

I was wondering if any of you tried the photo software yet? Have your cuttings we shared from the guy at Jessie's begun to grow yet?

Perhaps by Monday I will have pictures of my recent cuttings up for your ID.

Art

I'm in Rochester, so I know nuttin and have seen nuttin. Hi to all.

Hap

Hi Hap,

I was wondering if you would check in. My first time writing here since before Tuesday. Been a busy week. Working too hard and worn out for this old woman.

Waiting for the day to cool down a little more before going out to pull weeds and plant a few things.

I really enjoyed out last outing including lunch and still need to plan for where I shall plant the new starts and plants we got that day. Nothing has been planted yet, but I will work on it before the sun sets.

This whole week looking at us is busy for work so will be a bit scarce here. Will do some looking but probably not much talking.

Art I plant to watch the skies at the end of the week. Thanks for the reminder.

Molly
:^)))

I took some pictures yesterday of the ornamental sweet potato vines you girls gave me. Last night I spent some time in the plant files looking for planting information on the four or five I have.
It seems they are all from the same family:Convolvulaceae, same genus: Ipomoea, and species:batatas. The only difference seems to be in the comon name. Isn't this unusual? They all have different shapes and colors. Shouldn't they have different names for the species?
I enclosed a picture. I believe I have a fifth, which is in the ground already. I will check to be sure when the sun comes up.

I noticed for the second time in five days (last Thursday and today) it was not warm when I went outdoors at 5:30 am to see DW off to work. It wasn't cool, it just wasn't warm. I think the seasons are beginning to turn already.

Just a reminder! The end of next week farmers in Homestead will begin putting in their tomato plants. Start looking for that perfect looking and great tasting tomato so you can begin to make seedlings. You should be ready to get yours in the ground the same time the farmers do. Then you can enjoy a long tomato season and harvest tomatoes until June.

Once you have found that great tasting and good looking tomato, pull out a few seeds leaving all the gunk around them. Just stick them in a small pot about an inch deep, cover with soil, water 'em, then wait about a week or so. When I do this, I usually stick three seeds in a single 4" pot in a triangle fashion. Your seedlings will become nice little plants that will need another week or so before they are ready to go into the ground, or pots if you prefer. At this point I transfer the small seedlings to their own pot for the last week or so. The process takes about two to three weeks before they are big enough to go into the ground, so begin soon. If you start right away you will be eating your own tomatoes mid November.

Today I will begin taking shots of the cuttings from the past few outings. I will post them so you might help me ID them.

Note in the picture attached the third picture from the left is a tri-color. Another donation from Jessie's. It's already growing and if you like I will begin cuttings for you as soon as possible.

Art

Hi Hap, what did you expect to see in Rochester?
I know from watching the weather channel it's been warm there.

We miss you!

Art

Hello everyone.

My water lilies have bloomed again in the pond: Joy! That plant is really producing a lot of flowers this year. Here is this morning's pleasure.

The paint contract has been awarded yesterday. The painters will be starting in 3 weeks time. Then, the house goes on the market. Once it's sold: Lauderhill, Florida, here we come. I can't wait! Like the song says: Get ready 'cause here I come.

Reading what this group is up to is the closest thing to being there. Good day to all.

Hi Lours, Nice picture.
Molly and Val both have ponds and lots of flowers in them. I have been considering it due to excess water from my a/c causing me problems. A pond just might be the answer. I will discuss it with them at our next GT.

Art

Ok, here are pictures of cuttings. The pictures are as a panorama and may be difficult to ID using this format. I did this because there are a lot of pictures. To save lots of uploading I thought I would try a panorama and see if you could ID the plants using panorama format vs single pictures.

In these photos they are numbered high on left to low on right. 1st picture contains #'s 855-854-853-852. If you recognize any of these cuttings, just refer to the picture number, or 1st on left or third from left, or whatever, so long as you reference a picture number.

I hope I didn't make this too confusing.

Thanks for going along with me on this.

Art

Another panorama of cuttings. This one contains pictures # 851-849-848-847 again, high# on left low number on right.

If this doesn't work, I will upload them as singles.

Thanks again!

Art

Hi Art,
I'm trying to Id. the cuttings, but I'm having trouble because the pictures are too small. Sorry, even with my glasses on I can't distinguish details.

Val

Art,

My two sons are here plus my 98 year old father. We celebrated his birthday yesterday. Plus I have 3 grandkids. Busy times. This is where I am from.

See you all soon. Home sick, I am..

Hap

Art,

Addressing the Sweet Potato Vine questions, I believe I can help. The tri-color is simply called that. The yellow is Margarite, the purple heart shaped one I believe might be purple palace and the purple, maple shaped leaf one, might be called "Blackie" That's the best I can do on that.

Val is right, the collage photos of the seedlings/cuttings are very small even with my glasses on. However, I recognize one of the being from Hap. Can't remember the name, she will know. I have one of them also.

Well, I was out of the house at 7 am and back in at 6:30pm. My brain has done all the thinking it can handle right now. I'll try again later. heehee

Molly
:^)))

Val, Molly, You girls wear glasses? I never saw you two with glasses. Even in the restaurant you didn't wear glasses. I thought I was the only one.

Thanks for trying to ID the pictures. I will upload a few bigger one's at a time. Think I will crop them first so they don't take so long and so much space.

I really appreciate your doing this for me.

Hap, I have a remote uncle there. His name is Domenic Lagonegro.
I remember visiting there once when I was a kid. I just took a look at a map to remember where it was. It wasn't where I thought it was...laugh!

Glad you were able to log on and keep up, although not much has been going on. I just keep pestering you all for information (as usual). Would you believe I didn't even remember to get the names of the plants I bought from Jessie's.

Ok, here's the first picture. #855

Thanks again!

Art

Here is # 854

Art

Here is # 853 This one came from Nancy.

I bought this camera in May. It's hard to believe I have already taken 856 pictures with it.

Art

This is # 852. That's it for tonight.

This is 850 From Nancy I think, a white bleeding heart vine?

This is 849.

This is 848. It appears to want to lie down as in ground cover?

This is 847.

This is a coleus from Nancy. It's 846.

This is 845. I have several from Nancy. It's a ground cover.