Hello from just a tad north of Houston

Hi! I've been wandering around DG for about a month now and finally decided to subscribe. I a 40 something mom of a 14 yo and a 22 month old (nope not a typo LOL) and wife of a real sweetheart. Like many others I have moved and am starting over in a new house and yard. I spent 10 years at my last place cultivating the typical Houston black gumbo into a lush green space. I have now moved to a 1/2 acre lot with surprise! wonderful sandy loam with about 3 inches of leaf mold on top. I started digging a perennial border and was delighted with how easy the soil was to work. Wooohooo!
I love daylillies, gingers, and most flowering perennials like coreopsis and phlox. I am looking forward to wandering around DG and meeting lots of y'all and maybe even see some of the Houston members at March Mart this year!
Joey
Conroe Texas

Hello Joey Welcome to Daves, sorry I didn't see this post. I am in La. so our growing is similar although you are a tad warmer than I. Be sure to visit the Texas forum. You will find a wonderful helpful group at the Midsouth forum. We would be glad to answer any of your questions if we could. Come on over and join us a Mid South. Cindy

Welcome Joey, I'm just down the road from you! (sort of)
Debbie
=)

Hi!
Where in Northeast Louisiana? I grew up in the Ruston/Monroe area, I have tons of family there. LOL you might be one of them!

Hi Joey! No where near you! Snohomish is just north of you! But you will love DG! Great, helpful members with nothing but true hopes for you and your garden, no matter what that might be!
So from one fairly new member to anouther welcome and happy gerdening!
"I work to live, I live to garden."

I live in West Monroe jojo, have for 56 years , Cindy

Wow Cindy, I bet you know or know of my Aunt and Uncle, my Uncle Pat taught and coached at West Monroe High School for many many years. You may have even gone to school with their son Ricky. Pat and Dorothy Riser? In fact I'm going back up there in the next week or so to visit Aunt Dorothy, she is 82(?) and broke her leg and we are going to try and cheer her up a bit. Small, small world!

Hi Debbie! I'm not sure of right where you are in Houston, LOL living in different parts of Houston can be almost like living in different towns. But is nice to know there are others from my neck here!

Thank you for all of the welcomes! I'm already enjoying this place so much! I'm learning so much more than from back in the day when you just had books to turn to!

I'm North of I10 and just a tad west of Hwy 6N. =)

Thats not too far. Have you ever come up to the March Mart at Mercer Arboretum in Spring? It's awesome! I have been looking at all the sale papers from the Houston Garden Center and drooling, but am holding on to my gardening budget until the Mercer sale. They aren't the cheapest, but the selection, plants and advice are amazing! And I know the plants are grown right here not shipped from Michigan or somewhere LOL I learned the hard way that full sun in Michigan is not the same thing as full sun in Texas :)
http://www.hcp4.net/mercer/marchmart/index.htm

Jo I didn't know Ricky but I certainly knew Coach Riser. He was my ninth grade math teacher. Poor man we all drove him crazy with his hearing aides. A really sweet guy though. Sorry to hear about your Aunt Pat though.

I used to go to the Mercer sales years ago--I'm mostly into bulbs now. I grow most everything from seed and have other sources for the plants (not bulbs) that I also grow from seeds. They have the same basic plants every year--but it is fun to go to, even if you don't buy anything.
=)

LOL yeah Uncle Pat's hearing aids. He used to say that is why he and Aunt Dorothy got along so well, he would just turn off the hearing aid when she started nagging. When I was kid they had a little gray poodle named Suzy that was his "ears", she would bark and dance and paw at him whenever there was somebody at the door or if the phone was ringing. He was a super special guy and I sure miss him. I worked with him every summer with his bird dogs, the dog whisperer had nothing on him!
I don't know if you knew it but he was an avid gardener too. I pulled many a weed out of his vegetable patch!
It's nice to meet someone from home!

Debbie,
Yeah Mercer is lots of fun, I always go overboard LOL. I've never had much luck with bulbs, between the heat, and the squirrels I just kinda gave up on bulb gardening What kinds do you grow?

All kinds--I do Rain lilies, crinums, Narcissus, Freesia's, and a bunch of Cape bulbs and South American and Mexican species.
=)

Joey I am a daylily grower too if you can come back in the late spring come by and visit.
Always good to hear from people around home. Cindy

Debbie has a nice site called Solas Gardens (I think) or dmail her and she can tell you. She has some really neat bulbs. Not all that she grows is available yet. She pretty knowledgeable too if you have a question.

Wow Debbie your site is wonderful! I guess I do have a few bulbs, rain lilies and crinium, I've had them for so long I guess I dont think of them as bulbs. Your selection is amazing I didnt realize there were so many types. I'm going to go browse, heehee just what I need another place to find plants I can't live without!

Cindy,
I'll let you know when we head up to the Piney Woods, they keep moving my Aunt from one facility to another so we are waiting until they have her set up somewhere semi permanent.

Thank ya'll for your kind words!! I need to work on my site some more but they (the web hosting co) is doing a yearly upgrade and its hard to work while they are doing that. I do all the work on it, they just host it.

Cindy good to hear/see you--I guess I've been on other threads and have missed your posts. Joey she is a real gem of a person and an outstanding grower/gardener herself and has a gorgeous place on the river! Were you ever able to repair your greenhouse from that storm last year? Somehow I missed how that got resolved.

I think my goal this year is to try to tuck a few more vegetables and annuals around as compared to the last few years in my beds. Are ya'll trying anything new? Or have some small gardening goals for this year?

I do some daylillies too Joey. Did you see this thread on the Texas forum about the annual sale in Houston? I went to it 3 years ago (might go this year too--its been too long and I'd like to pick up a few new ones) the prices are great ($4.00 each then--might be more now, I don't know) and the plants were HUGE and healthy too! Every single one of them thrived and are still doing great. I think you are on to something Joey about being grown locally. This is at a guy's house and let me tell you I never saw one yard with so many daylillies growing and blooming at the same time in my whole life! There is a link to what's available this year too--I haven't checked it out but it usually has the pic's right by the names.
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/815014/

Debbie
=)

Hey Debbie We have been missing each other this year. I have stayed pretty much at Mid South and the seed swap forums. I finally repaired my greenhouse only to discover it is way too small. LOL. We just finished glassing in my side screen porch . Now I have a place to start my seedlings. I am not doing much new mostly daylily seedlings. I have 172 in the greenhouse. My other seedling are perennials I need around this place.
I guess you have seeds going everywhere. Off to bed for me. Cindy

a sort of belated welcome from upstte new york.

wow 172 daylillies--I guess you would not need to make a daylilly sale--LOL
=)

I'm always up late

awe Debbie you know how it is there is always one you don't have that is just sooooooo pretty. 172 is just my babies. I have over 350 different kinds .

Wow! You two are amazing, ya'll are giving me something to shoot for : ) I'm still trying to make the switch from a shady clay garden to a scalped sandy slope. All the plants I'm really familiar with would just fry here, so this year is going to be a trial and error type year somewhat.
Debbie I'm thinking about going to the Daylily sale, it depends on if I can work out a sitter for the day, My little guy is into gardening, but only in so far as if he can dig stuff up, may not be too welcome at a well cultivated yard LOL.

Thanks for the Welcome Herbie, everybody is so nice, I think I'm going to like it here!

Joey I think he would be just fine there at the sale--the guy seemed real laid back and mellow. He is a grower, not a landscaper, so its mainly growing beds filled with daylillies--not a "house and gardens" type place--but amazing, none the less (weeds and all). That's why I really enjoyed going there--he showed real, live, actual Texas growing conditions! LOL

I only have about 10-15 daylillies myself. But I love them. Can't beat them here in the South for a good summer show. I could use 3 or 4 more!
=)

I will definately try to make it, I used to live in the Heights, and I love to go down there, I can visit Johua's and Buchannans while I'm in the area. I also want to try and stop by a couple of Architectural Salvage places. I'm wanting to build a new headboard for our master bedroom and am toying with the idea of an old door if I can find what I'm looking for.
Either way, I would probably enjoy the day more if I found a sitter, my little man is quite active! Maybe I can make it a Mother's Day gift to myself!

A gift to yourself Joey--that sounds like a good one. I may go also this year, would really like to, but don't know the status of the back fence fiasco so can't commit.

I hope you can all come to the daylily sale, even if you don't buy any daylilies. I'm hoping we can all go to breakfast somewhere afterwards and then go nursery hopping. We could stay in the Height area, or venture out... wherever people want to go. :-)

Who all is attending this year Marylyn? I had noticed you had put the general invitation up but had not specifically invited returnee's so wondered if there was a specific reason. :)

I don't know who's coming yet.. I guess I'm not organized enough to think of specific invitations. Mary Lee and Tom are hoping to come from Fredericksburg, and various other people have mentioned that they are thinking of coming. I hope lots of people do. :-) I can't go to the RU this spring, so this will be my DG fix. :-)

Well, its a fun substitute fix!

As long as they try to follow me to wherever we're going next... Getting lost in Houston might not be everyone's idea of a good time. LOL

I'm really going to try and make it.. Looks like my husband isn't working that weekend (he's a paramedic), so I might be able to slip out by myself.
Marylyn, if it would help I can work on some maps and directions from one point to another if you like. I'm pretty familiar with the area, so if you give me a list of possible stops I can make some up and maybe you can help me figure out how to post them for people to print. Even if people are following, a set of directions might help if someone gets separated
I hope they get the plant list up soon!

Thank, Joey! I actually make good maps... I'm just not always very good at following them. :-)

Cool! I sure hope it turns out I can go, a few daylilies would sure help my "ginourmous" border I've got going.