Time to start a new thread. We came from here>>> http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/837856/
Everyone is welcome. : ) Jump right in. : )
Paul, go back to thread 19 and edit some of those n's out of the word long. It has stretched the whole thread, and no one can read it now. Thanks. : )
Good Morning everyone.
~Lucy
Thank you so much for starting this Lucy.
I was getting a headache reading the other thread.
You're welcome. I had a time trying to read Jeremy's long post. : ) I kept losing my place. lol
I've got to run over to Parrish/Ellington area this morning. My DD's car broke down yesterday afternoon, and my DH and I have to go try to see what is wrong with it. Hope it's something simple.
Talk later. : )
Here's my (long, but shorter than usual LOL) post from the last thread, in a more comprehensible format.
Jeremy
Morning, all! I have seven glorious days ahead of me to stay home and do my own thing (well, actually, I have to do some of what the city wants me to do to straighten up my "public nuisance" garden, but even that will be enjoyable). I took next week off from the zoo to handle the noxious weed citation mini-crisis and deal with other more important personal business.
The week off without pay I requested from the zoo happens to come at the right moment. After being at the zoo for a year with happy working relationships, I am now truly annoyed with my immediate supervisor at the zoo and started searching online last night to see if there might be some other job out there in the universe I can do.
I thought it would be a mostly automatic thing that I would get the 20% raise after I completed the Florida Certified Horticulture Professional exam last week. However, my supervisor is blocking the promotion because he says I am too often late for work and have also taken too many days off lately. It is true that I don't always punch the time card right at 7 AM (quite often I get there around 7:15 AM or sometimes a bit later). And I was sick a lot over the past few months (an entire week back in late December/early January with that gawddawffle flu stuff, and some other recent problems), but I have done the best I could. Also, when I first started with the job, I discussed with this immediate supervisor the possibility that I could work on a flexible schedule outside of the exact 7 AM - 1:30 PM routine. Because of the nature of gardening work, tasks could not always be completed to correspond with quitting time. I was often staying past 1:30 PM to make sure the job was done. He agreed that I could stay late, come in late, and modify my schedule to correlate with the actual work needed, so long as it worked out to be around 30 hrs/wk as per the part-time job. I have been doing that all along -- more on the end of staying late for hours whenever we were in the middle of the project that had to be completed that shift. I put in long hours (up to 6 PM several nights last year and 60 or more hours per week when we were planting "my" garden in the mad rush to get it completed before the ribbon cutting. I have come in on weekends to water newly planted trees, have been there on holidays as the sole representative of our department, and just recently came in on a Saturday for the large annual fund-raiser to be on hand for any horticultural emergencies (and there were non-stop things that had to be done that day, I worked my butt off until the moment the gates opened for the guests to arrive). It seemed to me that my supervisor could state, "Jeremy has shown complete cooperation in adjusting his work hours to meet the demands of the job tasks." rather than "Jeremy is often late and absent from work."
The meeting with my immediate supervisor at his request and to my total surprise to discuss my tardiness and absenteeism went calmly. We agreed I would now work a schedule of 8 AM - 2:30 PM, which will help me quite a lot to have an extra hour to see if I am actually am alive and able to function somewhat normally each workday morning. Since I have learned over the years to keep a professional demeanor, I didn't have or show any emotions at the conference. However, when I left the meeting, I realized how angry, resentful, and disappointed I was. In fact, I was fuming mad! I went on with my work, but was really roiled up. At lunch break, I felt I was calm enough and had processed my feelings enough to be able to sit at the computer and type out a cogent E-mail (refraining from any expletives or accusations) to my three supervisors about this situation, and reminding my immediate supervisor of the casual agreement we had made early in my employment that I could sometimes come in late to balance out the times I was frequently required to stay late.
I did state that if my supervisor wants me to stick to a rigid clock-punching 7 AM - 1:30 PM schedule, then that precluded me from staying on for any time after 1:30 PM, regardless of the dire need. To that end, I was leaving a task unfinished that day which I normally would have worked until 3:30 PM to complete, and I canceled the slots I had offered to work today and tomorrow from 9:30 AM - 4:30 PM because I felt it was inappropriate for me as a part-timer to work past my 30 hours per week (time which my co-workers would receive overtime for while I would only receive regular pay for most of that time).
So, my supervisors have a week to mull it over and provide me some response. In the meantime, I am looking around for a job to be the personal, live-in gardener for a private family or corporate estate. I am specifying that I want to live in a cottage or other quarters on the estate year-round so I can provide optimal care for the gardens. This would be a good arrangement for me. I could sell my house, downsize to a few necessary possessions, have a wonderful garden at someone else's expense, and probably have enough peace and quiet to be able to paint and write. I have previous experience as the personal gardener for the artist, Lowell Nesbitt, in his huge house and studio in NYC. I worked for Lowell for several years, taking care of his indoor three-story atrium of cycads and tropical plants, greenhouse, and roof garden, and was also his gardener when he built his country home and had me do the landscaping there (earning me a mention in the Gardening section of the NY Times).
If you know any rich (and/or famous) persons that could use a dedicated and trustworthy live-in traditional gardener for their estate, please give them my name. I can be ready to relocate on a moment's notice. I'd like to stay in Florida since I'm familiar with the plants here, but could to to other southeastern states or possibly Texas.
Off to wrangle the unruly weeds!
Jeremy
Good luck to you. At least you have a plan. Do you only want a personal gardenr job if it is live-in?
I just spent from 8 last night until 6:30 this morning in the emergency room at shands with my daughter. Talk about 'roiled' up. I can get right there with you! The things I saw...darnn. Scared me to death, we have no insurance ( luckily my daughter that get hurt did). Makes me want to take a little better care of myself. GOSH I dont want to end up there sick and really needing attention.
Sorry about your daughter, GGlory. Yes, it is a very sobering, frightening, and humbling experience to spend a few hours in an emergency room and watch all the agony coming and going.
I do want to be able to live on an estate as a year-round gardener as a contracted employee (salary per year -- no more punching the time clock) rather than have an apartment or something and go in to work someplace else.. It sounds like a cop-out on personal responsibility, but I'm looking to unload unnecessary burdens (house, car, relationships, possessions) and just be able to relax in a nice environment where I can garden, write, and paint without having to deal with so many day-to-day aggravations.
Jeremy
I have mulch & grass questions. As I mentioned earlier, I'm new to FL. I live in a neighborhood where no one seems to do much gardening - or they are all behind fences.
My house has many gardens but they were neglected for the past 10 years. I tore out hedges and found some plants. Now I have lots of sand. What type of mulch should I put down?
And although sod had been put down 10 years ago, all I have now is 90% weed & a few pieces of grass here and there. I have lots of shade. Any grass recommendations???
Jeremy, if I had an estate (or $$$$) I'd hire you!!!!!
And another question - I have 6 hibiscus that are long and leggy, not nice and bushy. When do I trim them?
Thanks for all help..........................
Qwilter, I like to use oak leaves in my flowerbeds. I usually don't have enough leaves, tho.
Sometimes, I go and get a truck load of pine mulch from a nearby nursery.
I trim my hibiscus just about anytime, except fall and winter. And, I don't know enough about grasses to recommend one. Sorry. : )
Hi Elaine, I know you are around. heehee : )
Thanks Phicks for fixing thread 19. : )
Gardenglory, hope your daughter is doing ok.
This message was edited Apr 26, 2008 10:22 PM
Yes,, I was posting some of my irises and my cute little cat. Do you know what kind he is?
I knew when I got on this thread, I would be here a while.
Cathy, I would like that 3rd pack of salvia seeds if noone has beat me to it. I have several salvias I can trade. Here is one I bought last week at Lowe's. It just jumped right in my buggy..
Lucy, did the white snow nymph salvia grow for you?
Jeremy, sorry about those work problems. That is a poor supervisor who doesn't recognize all your extra effort.
Elaine, I have never seen a salvia like that, so I have no clue what it is. Yes, the white salvia is in my front flowerbed next to the roses. I put it there, so I could just look out the window and see it, every day. It's a very pretty one.
Hello all!!!Jeremy hope things work out for you. I need a full time gardner but lacking in the $ territory.
Lucy hope you were able to get your DD's car fixed. I worked in the yard a bit today not a lot but i ache all over tonite for some reason.
I wish you could see my brugs today they are beautiful.
Qwilter I like oak leave in my flower beds also. I have lots of them but could still use more. I am also like Lucy I trim my hibiscus anytime and lots of times the deer trim them for me.
I have the same problem with grass you do.
Hi all
Hope everything works out for you Jeremy , good time of the month for you lunarwise re: credibility and self promotion. esp April 28-29. You need to show your practical, competent and responsible side. Do your best , show them what you are made of.
Rough time around the 20th of this month re: personal relationships , time to compromise and listen, be supportive.Don't feel you are being ignored or unoticed by your partner. Be reflective rather than expressive.
GG hope your DD is o.k.
Quilter I bought a shredder/chipper so make my own mulch now plus it is feeding the soil. coffee grounds, tea bag contents* also go on there and any peanut/nut shells/husks. I have a roof drip line in one area I am filling with mussell shells .
I heard pine mulch attracts termites
* re: the tea bag contents I poured the remains of my linden tea ( relaxing) on one of my tomato plants the other night and then when I awoke in the early hours I thought omg what if the tomato has wilted . It was o.k. though
Hey Elaine had dinner at Iris's with your mum tonite. Yum!!!
Hi Linda, no we did fix DD's car, and it's sitting in front of Albertsons in Ellington. I hope no one tows it away. My son is going tomorrow afternoon late, to see if he can figure it out. He is the mechanic in the family.
We went to Sam's while we were over there and ate at Bob Evans, so I didn't get alot done outside today.
Elaine you have to really watch those plants some times they are spring loaded and they do just jump into you cart. Lucy and I had some do that just yesterday.
Do you have anything planned while your mum and all your favorite aunts are there?
You did??? well I will be having dinner with her Mon. nite...
that salvia is purple volcano. I had never seen one either. must be a new kind. I noticed it from a distance because of the color. I thought it might be a heuchera. When it gets bigger I will be taking some cuttings and rooting them. It is full of little flowers right now, so should have seeds.
Lucy glad snow nymph is growing. Mine is a little sluggish from being in the greenhouse. should perk up.
Just fun is all I plan. Maybe go to a daylily place, Craft fair over in Newnan...
Elaine never heard of that salvia, looks good. Haven't heard of the white one either. I love the hot lips one that is beautiful. Have black and blue just blooming
Been looking at Salvia coccinea @ $4.99 for one and one called East Friesland @ $1.95 , oh and several agastaches (sp) . I am addicted!
Hey Fleur : ) yes those salvias and agastache are addictive, aren't they. If you will remind me, when me white one gets alittle bigger, I can root you one. : )
Yawning here. All the fuss with Walt's heart really made me tired. Plus I spent last 2 days digging and planting and I'm still not through.
Got to go to bed.. I was so tired last night I went to bed at 9.
Streak
Elaine, we went to one nursery yesterday and Linda wanted the huge display pot outside that was fully planted. It have several holes and flowers growing out of them. I mean, a HUGE planter/pot. lol I thought she was gonna buy it.
Ole sleepy head Elaine. You can rest after you die. lol Sweet Dreams. : )
Thanks Lucy that would be great.
I know I mentioned it before I must list which ones I have so I can root them also to share .
Has anyone heard of Lakewood Jasmine ? I received a freebie plant of one in with some others I bought and I cannot find it in the plant files I wondered if the name was wrong/slightly off etc. Can post a pic of the plant/ leaves tommorow.
Well goodnight all, I have to go
Nite Fleur, Sweet Dreams.
(wow, they're dropping like flies, tonight. (breaths in cupped hand) lol : )
Thanks Lucy I am short of breath, need to get some antihistamine or something had some bad bites today.
Take care everyone.
o.k. gone.................................
Hope you get to feeling better, Fleur. : )
Lucy I am headed to bed tonite also. I ache all over for some reason. Nite sweet dreams.
Ok, Linda, hope you get to feeling better, also. Sweet Dreams, and have a wonderful Sunday. I might drop your wagon off at your house tomorrow.
Ok Lucy I will be home all afternoon after 2:00.
Ok, more sweet dreams. : )
fleur, it's probably Lakeview Jasmine.
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/search.php?q=lakeview+jasmine&Search=Search+PlantFiles
Wow Lizzette, I was looking and tried to find it for her, and was having no luck. You found it. : )
I have some that's how I knew. It's a great plant. Wonderful fragrance.
I just finished planting 100 seeds, some of which I have no clue what they are. I am always collecting seeds. Of course I always forget to label them. LOL so half of what I planted were labeled unknown.
I have a bunch like that. I knocked over a whole tray of seedlings, and all the labels got jumbled up, and I don't know what is what, anymore. Some, I recognize, but others I don't, and I have no clue what color anything is.
Here is another mystery. This is a vine I got at Molly's RU. Any ideas?
Hang on a sec. I think I know what that is.
This message was edited Apr 26, 2008 11:56 PM
Here it is, and you probably got it from me.
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/1317/
Thanks Lucy. Now that I know what it is I will plant it tomorrow. How big does it get?
I don't know, mine is just now starting to flower, and it probably is a foot and a half tall. I wouldn't think it would need much room, by the looks of some of them in plantfiles, but I don't know that for a fact.
