Tropicaholic!

I know how that goes! :)

Yokwe to our new Tropickids! Sorry I am so lax in the welcoming department...but I have been gone, then returned to Holiday Chaos!

If I were going to recommend a tropical for which you have GH's...I would probably go with the above mentioned Plumeria...but they can get big. For something smaller and fragrant, white ginger, pikake (jasmine), and gardenia's can't be beat. For color, Ixora, orchids, any of the Clero's and of course my beloved Hibiscus. There are some Hardy Hibs that I grew in Colorado that get dinner plate size, and they are definately hardy! I cut them back in the late fall, and then by summer they were six feet tall again. But if you have a GH, you should be able to grow any of them. Good Luck, and again - WELCOME!

This message was edited Dec 23, 2007 9:03 AM

Hang in there it will be Spring before you know it! plant things near warm walls it reflects heat ,plant more delicate things as understorey plants ...that way the hardier stuff will act as a natural greenhouse. Most thing will come back if protected. I think you will do just fine.
LouC the indoor plants can't handle the dry air, in the 70's where indoor plants were all the rage we misted them every day in the Winter (I had gas heating) and you place little bowls of water here and there, or stand the pots on pebbles in trays or containers of water. Every now and then I would give them a luke warm shower in our bathtub (you know with a handheld shower nozzle) drain well and return to it's usual place ...that removes the dust and allows the leaves to breath. Of course different temps need different things ...I don't envy anyone trying to overwinter stuff in snow, just can't even imagine that.
chrissy

Thanks, Chrissy. Will try that.

Thanks Islandshari, and welcome home! I cannot believe I have fallen so hard for things I am not suppose to have! I will have to be careful what I do or there won't be enough room for the plants and all the green houses I would need to overwinter everything! I want one of everything you mentioned, so that in itself will get me in trouble! LOL I do have some orchids, but they were very poor when I bought them and aren't doing a lot yet. I have some seeds for some Hardy Hibs, so theres a start at least. :)
Chrissy, Spring is no where near close enough! LOL I have been looking at a lot of the tropicals and checking the lowest temps they can handle and was thinking of attempting them since I have the seeds for some and can always collect more, just in case. The underplanting is a great idea, so I will have to try that.
Thanks to all of you for the ideas and encouragement!
Happy Holidays!
Tammy

Tammy, if you really, really want to get in the tropical mood, do as I have. Go to iTunes, download a couple of cds of Isreal Kamakawiwo`ole. I am hopelessly in love with islands. We have couple of wireless portable speakers and I take them to the garden with me while I try to create my tropical paradise. It is wonderful to engage all the senses in the attitude of the islands. uuuhhhmmm.

DH and I are going to visit Braveheartsmom in Kihei mid February. I may not be able to come back to Texas.

LouC

Thanks Lou! I donno much about doing that kinda stuff on the puter, but will ask DH to do it for me! I have a little boom box in the wood shop I can set outside and listen to it while I am playing in the dirt. :)
OHHHHHH lucky you for getting to go to Hawaii! She is gonna send me some cuttings in the Spring, I can't wait! And I can imagine it will be very difficult for you to come back! Would be even harder having to come back to Missouri! LOL
Tammy

"Sokay though...she's gotta go back. I need her there to visit when I go to Texas! And she's doing so much with the Garden Party! 'Sides...she will visit my island one of these days, and THEN she will stay!

Maybe she will just have to bring back a little piece of the Island till she can go and stay! :) But of course, she still needs her place in Texas so you can all come back to visit! LOL I don't see myself ever having the money to travel, but then again, I also can't see myself getting on a plane unless someone knocks me out and carries me on! ☻I will just have to settle for my little pieces of wonderland here in Missouri, well, once Spring comes and they come in the mail! LOL

What a wonderful life I have here on DG. We all know the movie with Jimmy Stewart? Every time a bell rings, an angel is born. Have lived within 13 miles of the hospital in which I was born all my life. Big extended family here. I love to fantasize of how all of you live in paradise. We are responsible for our own paradise. Each time one of you posts with your pictures or your descriptions of your plants, greenhouse, job, garden, family..I join you in my mind. Such a very special group of people. The magic of the internet and the wonderful intelligence of our Dave has made such a difference.

God bless you all.
Christi

Next week we will be really hyping the Dave's Garden Party. Be sure to stay abreast of the plans. Love you.

Awe Christi, you brought a tear or two to my eyes!

AAAwwww, Tammy. Have you been to RED LETTER DAY IN HOUSTON. on our tropical gardens forum. That's our special, special day with Shari, JB, Randy, Jeanne and her son.

I sure haven't. I will go check it out. Now that I dried my eyes, I will tell you that I agree with you wholeheartedly about DG being the bestest place in the whole wide world for friends! It has been more than I could have ever imagined it would be when I first found it!

It was a RED LETTER DAY! That was sooooo much fun! Thoroughly enjoyed it!
We had such a good time, didn't we?

It looked like you all were having the time of your life! Thanks for leading me there so I could share in it! DG is a wonderful place!

Hi I left to pull out snail creeper triffids after my last thread, must of crossed with you Shari didn't see what you recommended ...oh yes beautiful choices, m I came to my home 16 years ago and all it had were two she oaks and a murraya and 6ft of wild grass (forgot 2 acres of cabbage.:))
Now it's like this ...due to various reasons some of us won't travel physically but can travel in cyber space which means you just have to call out and your garden friends will be there to help,you can peek into their gardens ...I truly believe this ... we were given the gift of being able to create our own little Eden if we want to.If money is tight reach out to other gardeners or friends /relatives for seeds and cuttings.If you can't afford books search the net ,haunt the library ...talk to "older garden lovers" and learn from their experience we have some wonderful people here and you probably have some older folk in the family who will talk to you about things too.I believe if you want it you can have it. Just look at TM ... anything is possible if you can't afford greenhouses grow quick growing shelter plants, enclosures can be made cheaply, with vines over chicken wire etc, you can do it! Look at your Calender and mark the first day of Spring (or the first warm day ) and note "Bring it on" off you go on your big adventure!
chrissy

Hi Tammy, Welcome over here! Everyone has made me very welcome on this forum.
If you get a chance, pop into my tropical Island for a brew! Aloha Terri

snail creeper triffids??? and 2 acres of cabbage, wow! I love the little 'peeks' into other peoples gardens! I get to see the beautiful pics, and learn that there are even MORE plants out there that I THINK I must have! :) Since I haven't worked for over a year and a half, the money has been tight, but I hate to just outright ask someone for something just because it is something I want. If I see someone is posting that they have extra to offer, then I might chime in, but I always offer extra postage and money if needed. I had already felt that way, but when I came across a thread ranting about people asking for stuff, I really hesitate to ask, even if it is being offered. I do feel as though I have found a wonderful family here at DG, and have enjoyed learning, and hope I can continue to do so! I really don't have family around that does much gardening, so I am pretty much on my own. I am the one who offers seedlings to them. DH's sister gave me some hardy canna, and our dear Shirley that passed away let us dig up some Dutch Iris, Stonecrop and Day Lilies, and the rest we have purchased or I received from the wonderful and amazing people here. :) I am actually hoping that the family will allow me to care for her plants in the Spring, as I know she was wanting to move some things to make an actual garden and everything not just be here and there. She always called me the water witch because I was always out playing with my flowers! I called her the dry witch cause she never watered hers! It would be such a blessing to me to be allowed to do this for her, even though I know she is gone. Tearing up now, better stop.

hey there terri, I will pop in sometime, but I better get that tea pot ready first! :)

Look at this, I've been gone for a couple of hours and everyone has popped in and given such excellent advice. I'm almost speechless. Misty we definately have to get together this spring.

My son and his wife to be are going to Hawaii for their honeymoon in May. I told them to get a trunk and not to take suitcases. (psst. the trunk is for me to travel in) I will have to give them a shopping list of plants.

What is snail creeper triffids? crazy .

Misty, I read that forum and I try not to be like that. I like to exchange things that I have, it isn't much and I have been turned down, which is fine I understand. Dgers are the best and I don't ever want to be considered one of those people.

Don't forget the hardy gardenia!! I need someone else to also try to grow it here in MO.

Yep, you sit here half the day and nutting, leave for an hour and BOOM!
Better make that two large trunks! I wanna go, too! Oh, I forgot, it still requires a plane ride! Darn, was a nice thought anyway! And yes, we MUST get together in the Spring! We are close enough, and no air plane involved! HA HA HA I hate even remembering about that thread, but as they say, stuff happens, and I know I won't be that way! I enjoy sharing what little I have way too much!
I donno who all has seen my thread about supermarket bulbs, but I got out and planted my ginger root and horseradish today. Was it ever cold! But, I just found this interesting info on the horseradish, so I may have to learn to like it cause it sounds like it could be extremely beneficial to me.
http://health.learninginfo.org/horseradish-sauce.htm

pepper, are you gonna send me some? LOL I will try it if ya send me some! :)

Be tough on that horseradish. It will spread to places you never dreamed of if you don't trim the seed heads before they pop. Same goes for garlic. Other than that they are great to have.

LOL. I am hoping I can grab one at a decent price. If I can get them cheap then I will try to get a few. One for me, you, and a coworker. :~)

It is in a 5 gallon bucket for now, so we will see how it turns out. It does look to have some neat foliage on it, though.
I wouldn't know what I was looking for unless someone just pointed it out to me! LOL

LOL. The seeds will form on the tip of the foilage. Can't miss it. When you see them, whack em!! Otherwise forget a real garden and just have horseradish. My grandma has this problem with both the radish and garlic. But because she is cutting the seeds off she is getting it under control.

Yours should be ok in that bucket but still watch it like a hawk. :~)

And when they grow up I would like to try some.

I love horseraddish, I eat it all the time. My affection turns more towards Wasabi. I use a lot of horseraddish in cooking and when I get a bad cold or sinus infection I put a teaspoon full on a cracker and eat it 5 or 6 times a day. (not the sauce but the straight stuff)

HR is very prolific, we used to have it and it was very hard to control, not just the seeds but the root can take over the garden too. I won't grow it again unless I can put an underground crate in to hold it in place. No chance of that here in the ozarks.

lol. All clay and rock down there. Here it's just clay.

Maybe I should put a HUGE bag under it just in case! LOL My garlic is in a teeny little pot in my mini green house, so it should be ok. But I plan to plant into a large pot one day cause we use TONS of garlic! Oh, reminds me, we have some green onion in the fridge I need to go whack on! HA HA HA
When they grow up you will be sure to get some! Maybe they will be good by Spring when we get together, who knows. You will have to help me on harvesting it, though, as I will have no clue! LOL I really should have him buy me another one now just to use since my allergies and sinus' are so horrible!

or you can get you a jar of HR from the store. not the HRsauce but the real thing, it works better. sure I'll help ya harvest it, it's not hard to do though.

I have officially told the family I want plummies this year. they just looked at me kind of strange and asked don't you already have it in your jungle. I want to try the gardenias, I'm also trying oriental lilies and I want more hibs the tropical ones too.

Hey Robin, have you looked at my list lately? I enabled some cause I know I won't have room for everything since I am GOING to HAVE lots of tropicals come Spring! I may have some oriental lily seeds, will have to look, if I ever get done with tropicmans pics, WOW!

I knew it wouldn't take you long to drool over his pictures.

I got so overwhelmed I had to take a break! LOL He has an amazing assortment there!

LOL. Yes, he does! It's amazing what he has.

Now that I have calmed over my hot blackberry tea, I guess I will go back and look some more! :)

Ranting about asking???!!! Where??!! Who??!! I'll go give em a poke!!! Only thing we rant about in this forum is people ranting!!! Ain't got time for all that nonsense!!!


Stick with us kids...you'll be glad you did.

Hugs to all...I'm off to Christmas Eve festivities...

Yokwe,
Shari

Thanks Shari. Sometimes the ranting people almost scare me away. I wonder how they got all their plants and seeds.

Yes, thanks Shari! I was totally shocked when I seen it! It does almost scare you away, then you think of the other MANY good DGer's and know it is worth sticking it out! I think Robin and I both are tropical gardeners at heart! I can say I love 99.99 % of those I meet here, so that other small percentage isn't so bad when you think about it. :) I, too, wonder how they got their start?!
Shari, what does Yokwe mean?