S FL Galloping Gardners-8/1/05

Love to have you...we're counting on it, in fact...

Those are beautiful, Sylvain.

I'll be there too. 9:30 sounds good. Carpool is good too. I am open for anything including more Pointer sisters. I love disco, even though everyone else seems to hate it.

Nancy, where did you get the coupons. I still have the paper from Friday.

You can get there from Copans road as well. I-95 Copans. West on Copans. Look for the sign on the North side of the road just past the tnpk. From Sample heading West, you are looking to go South at the sign. It's in Tradewinds park.

Saw a few meteors on Thursday night. Overcast last night. Will try again tonight.

Plant picture 850 above (from Nancy I think) I thought was a bleeding heart vine, is changing. It now has a yellow cluster on top. Here is the latest picture.

Ah ha...Lours is really SYLVAIN! Nice picture and plant Sylvain.

Art

Me thinks you got a yellow shimp plant maybe?????

The coupons were in the "Entertainment" Book. It's a book sold by charities in November that have a lot of restaurants and then in the back all sort of places to go and see. My friend has the book and gave me the coupons. Lucky us.

I have 3, buy one-get one free, so we are all set.

Hap

Hi Hap I think I that plant came from you. I thought it was a white bleeding heart vine, but guess not. Oh well. Perhaps one of the others is a white bleeding heart.

I have a yellow shrimp plant left behind in bird droppings. It's much smaller so it's too early to make a comparison.

Good news on the coupons.

I have some tomatoes in for you girls. I will bring them Friday.

I will make up a list of current plants I have growing that are available for give away.

Art

Sob,Sob,Sob. Corky

Marilynn,

We wish you were here too and Carol and, and, and others.

:^)))

K

Hi Everyone!
Looking toward Friday, I have a listing of plants available.
First off, I potted three of those red flowered weeds Val wanted. We saw these at Top Tropicals and again at Jessie's. Both times they had butterflies on them. These are nice plants with a small attractive (sort of looks like a pointsetta) red flower.
Then there are the tomatoes I am bringing along.
I have 2 Clerodendrum butterfly (blue & white)
1 Clerodendrum Bungii (Pink)
as many as you want of Clerodendrum speciosissimum (Orange)
3 small elephant bush plants (from Nancy)
1 scorpion tail
3 lantana
2 multi green & white Copperbush (one for Nancy)
2 multi green-red-copper Copperbush
Several wild purslane (yellow)
Several cardboard palms
I recently cut my Christmas Cassia. There are dozens of shoots if anyone wants me to pot them. The bush gets 10 feet tall, blooms great yellow flowers in late November and December. It's also the larva plant for several types of cloud sulphur butterflies.
1-two foot Firebush
Three pots of three seeds each of the plant shown in the picture. The flower is fading, but it's a nice purple leaved plant with a purple outside/white inside upside down flower which you girls know the name of (and I don't). They were a gift from my next door neighbor. Her plant (shown)is very young.

Art

Art

The plant in the photo is "Devil's Trumpet" or datura. I was told and it helps to remember is, the trumpet is facing up, like coming from the devil. Angel Trumpet (brugmansia) the trumpets bloom down, like angels from heaven.

Could I have dibs on that firebush? I have just the place for it.

I'll be making a list here later today I think.

Molly
:^)))

Hi Art and Molly,

Here is my lisy of wants, the red flowered weed, and Christmas cassia.
The cuttings of Monarda, Brazilian nightshade and Plumeria didn't make it. I would really appreciate those again. I think the Plumeria cutting was too green because it got moldy and black in just a matter of days.

I don't have any cuttings in pots yet, but if any of you want anything from my yard let me know. Yo can take a look at the pictures posted in the PF. Anybody wants cutting of Mexican Flame vine? Got plenty of that to give away. I also have a couple of Amaryllis bulbs (I think they are red, but not sure), some cannas (reddish orange) and a lot more stuff too long to post.

Val

Hi Val, I'll take a few of those Mexican Flame vine cuttings. It looks like an interesting plant.
I will put in the cuttings for you right away.

Art

Art,I have been lurking on this thread (as usual) and WISHING I could go with the group. As to the Mexican Flame vine, this is my MOST favorite vine in the world! The brilliant color of the flowers and the absolutely scrumptious smell are to die for! Not only that, the butterflys line up and fly a holding pattern to get their turn at the flowers. I put their pot beside a chain link fence and they prompty grew through the bottom of the pot into the ground, climbed up an overhanging Oak tree and held on through two hurricanes! My kind of plant.
Pati

Sob!!!! Corky

Ya'll know what under my unbrella, give a holler and I will bring.

Thanks Art, mine is getting worser and worser...as once was said...LOL

Well Pati, you just made my day with that glowing review of the Mexican Flame vine. I am really looking forward to getting it.
Why don't you join us this week. It's in Pompano Beach. Not that far from Ft Pierce. If you decide to come, check out my other listings of plants for give away in earlier posts of the S. Fla Galloping Gardeners. I would gladly bring anything you find there for you. Also check my plant files pictures. I think I have 44 pictures posted now. I can make cuttings of the one's pictured if I don't already have extra's growing.

Nancy, would you bring me another cutting from the beach Hibiscus. Mine is failing fast. This time I will take that plant more seriously. It looked like it would be an easy one to grow. So I wasn't as vigilant as I should have been.

Thanks!

Art

Sure, no problemo....

Thanks for the invitation, Art, but Hap won't let me come....just kidding!!! I plan on going to the RU this fall so I'll get to meet all of you then. I'm much better sittin' than walking, so that will work out better for me. Looking forward to it!!
Pati

PS Just wait 'till you smell that Flame vine!

Sure, blame poor lil' me.........

Art, no problem. have set aside a cutting of Mexican flame vine. Pati is totally right, the butterflies love it. It is also a fast spreader if you don't watch it. Once the stems touch the ground, voila instant new plant. Anything else you may like?

Nancy, Molly is there anything you want? I'll gladly make cuttings of anything you wish.

Val

Hey Val,

Well, they got me going on that Mexican Flame Vine. May I?

Alrighty, I have some of these to share.

Small Mickey Mouse Taro pups
Autumn Joy "like" sedum
Artillary fern
Pink Frosty Angel Trumpet cuttings, nearly rooted
Yellow Bauhinia Seedlings-Yellow Bell Orchid Tree

Molly
:^)))

Of course Molly, will make a cutting for you too.

Nancy, how about you?

Anybody interested in anything else?

Val

I'll pass.....but I'll come and enjoy yours....LOL

Molly, I will put your name on the firebush.

Val, that's my kind of plant

Nancy, thanks.

Pati, see you in the fall. Don't forget to make your list.

I am experimenting on trying to grow a Jacaranda tree from a off-shoot, or sucker. I tried several last year and couldn't get any to last more than a month. I am trying a new technique this year. I have my own tree now and I can pick the suckers when (i think) they are just right.

A mystery "bird dropping" plant id.
The last time MollyMc was here I showed her several plants in the yard from bird droppings. This plant was one of them. It was under one of my three Sable palms.

It turns out the mystery weed is a Red Porterweed.

With all the large bushes, overhead utility lines, and a few trees and palms, in and around the yard, I get lots of bird droppings. Often these droppings contain seeds that take under the ideal conditions here.

When I see something growing that doesn't belong in that area, I note to watch it and see what develops. Since I have a large yard it doesn't bother me to have a few weeds or unknown plants here.

Art

I forgot to mention in the note above, the three Sable Palms I have all came from bird droppings under the utility lines. I relocated them from seedlings almost fifteen years ago.

Art

I always marvel at God's gifts....

Wow, I paid a pretty penny for mine. Birds do drop here constantly, but stuff that I don't want like Carrotwood, and others. Right now, I have about 4 plants that have been dropped by birds (or wind) that I am watching to see what they are. Two of them look promising, and one I am afraid that is just Phillipine violet (probably from my own bush).

Val

Hi, everyone.

I sure do like reading the goings-on. You guys are a busy group. I keep busy too. Here is a picture of my latest project. I made stepping stones from a petasites japonicus giganteus leaf. It broke my heart to cut one of the leaves out. I'm that kind of a gardener. I almost felt pain as the blade cut into each stalk.

For those that may care: the stepping stone's statistics are: 34 inches wide, 28 inches long, 3 inches thick, made from 75 pounds of cement. I had never worked with cement before. Sometimes, I amaze myself. I'm very proud of the result. This is the first one I have prepared and installed in the garden, 3 more are curing in the shade, by the ferns.

The rocks around it are meant to show the grass contractor that I don't want him to walk over it yet. Once fully cured, it will easily support a man's weight.

Sylvain...that's beautiful...You should go to the hypertufa forum...they do a lot of neat stuff. I have just started. First one's a flop as far as I'm concerned...

Sylvain, you had to post a picture of your leaf.
Now I have to know how to do that.
Then Hap tells me where I can find the forum.
And I have to go there to read how to do that.
I was just peeking in before going to bed around 10. It's now almost 12:30.
I started at the end (fourth page of threads) and worked my way back to about half way through the third page of threads. On that page I found a great link explaining in detail how to do this.
http://faq.gardenweb.com/faq/lists/accout/2002072754010311.html
g'nite

Art

Art.

I started my first hypertufa....was fun but made an error for what I wanted done. Will tell you tomorrow. It was fun.

Hap

HI Hap. It doesn't look like it would be that difficult. I made a bunch of feet from a plastic mold my DW purchased a few years ago.
Whenever I would mix concrete or mortar here I would pour off whatever I had left over into the feet mold. I wound up with about 8 or 9 good one's and 4 or 5 bad one's. Concrete has aggregates vs portland cement which is just cement without the rocks. The rocks, which were required for the projects I was making, caused problems in getting good defination from the molds.
I can see it would be a lot easier working with a lighter material, which this seems to be at a glance.
Now I have to make room in my schedule to try some of this. Jeeeze...for being retired it seems like I do more now than I ever did when working 60-70 hours a week at my job.

Hap and Art, I am sorry if my picture caused your brains to go into overdrive and lose sleep over this. I am an insomniac myself but I respect other peoople's sleep.

I have been at the computer since 3AM, fighting with Norton Antivirus and their web site, trying to figure out when and why the compost hit the fan with Norton Antivirus yesterday. My computer didn't get infected but Norton started acting peculiar on me. I hate that.

Before yesterday, I had never heard of hypertufa. I don't think we have that in Canada. The link you provided does indicate it is not as strong as concrete, so I guess I'll stick with concrete for now. I wouldn't want one of my stepping stones to break when someone walks on it. However, if you're making garden decorations or sculptures, I guess hypertufa is preferable, being lighter than concrete.

I went for my usual walk around the garden at the sunrise this morning with my digital camera in hand. Here is what's blooming in my WIBY today. From left to right, top to bottom, we have: some kind of daisy that grew uninvited 4 years ago, reaches 6 feet tall and is only mildly invasive. Correopsis tripteris (7 feet tall). Yellow and red heleniums (5 feet tall) and chelone obliqua.

Keep well
Sylvain

Hey Yall,

These kinds of projects make great trading items at roundups.

I have 3 very nice stepping stones on the viewing side of my pond that I received in trade up at the Florala Swap last April. They are inlaid with pretty glass stones. They have been outside from day one and have held up very well, even stepping on them.

I believe Jannich made them.

Molly
:^)))

Sylvain, the feet I mentioned above are only about 1 1/4 inch thick. They have been walked on for well over two years now and not one of them has cracked. They are concrete, not just cement.

Because of the grass here I think when I get to try this out I will stick to making something that I can stand up. I wouldn't want to be bothered trying to go around steping stones with a weed eater. I see what it does to hardened concrete borders and stained and sealed landscape timber. I can just imagine what I would do to steping stones made from a much lighter mix.

Art

Yeh, Sylvain, you got me right out of bed.LOL No, I get the "roamers" everyso often so I go on-line to see what other crazy ol' fool is up too. Well, it's surprizing the number of us that are "roamers" for one reason or another. This site is 24/7 for sure.

Were you able to get to the hyptetufa forum at all?

Hap

No takers on any plants from me for tomorrow?

Molly
:^)))

Not this trip Molly, but I will be picking your brains on the other cuttings that are currently growing.

Are we meeting there at 9:30?

Art

yep, I'll be there

Molly
:^)))

Me too....nitey nite....