Chit Chat... Everyone welcome. Part 44

Time to start another new thread. We came from here>>>> http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/873488/

Everyone is welcomed to join in, you don't have to live in FL. : )

Posting so it'll show on my new post list...

Lib...you were first this time...lol!
Jays at the feeder Lucy.....great shot! I still haven't figured out how to draw the neighborhood Woodpecker in to feed yet. I haven't been concentrating too much on it, will just let him do his thing I guess. I did see what looked like a different type of Pecker tho the other day...no crest on the head.

It's startin to cloud up earlier today than yesterday, maybe it will cool things off for me out there!

Some dendrobiums that started to bloom this week.

Beautiful orchid, Michelle. : )

On the picture of the bird feeder, the top one is a Jay, but the bottom one is a woodpecker. : ) I buy the woodpecker bar from Tractor Supply, and all the birds love it. I've even seen the mockingbird peaking at it, for a piece of dried fruit. Rarely do you see a mockingbird eating at a feeder. : )

I leave craggy remnants of old trees standing whenever I can. That seems to pull the woodpeckers into the yard to eat the bugs as the tree decays. I've not had any experience with coaxing woodpeckers to come to a feeder.

Jeremy

Watsonias link:
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/search.php?q=watsonia&Search=Search+PlantFiles

Some very pretty colors.

Jeremy, hopefully this time you will pass inspection. : )

Quilter, that is a very pretty plant, I don't know if I've ever seen one, or not. : )

Lucy...I couldn't tell from the pic...lol! I need glasses!!! Both for far away and close up now!

Thanks re the Orchid....that was one of my first ones and she has been moved, abused and thru alot! I love those Dends...they are so easy to maintain.

It is very very rare to see a mocking bird at a feeder from what I understand ! Mine never do go to either feeder. I made some bars for the Woody's and the Grackles ate it all!!! Saving the rest for a different strategy!

Jeremy you are right, but due to the close proximity of most parts of the yard to the house I do not keep old wood around very much. We had some and got a bad case of carpenter ants , so that was the end of that!

Sounds like you have made some great progress on your yard Jer.
I love the bit about the "weeds" and native plants...lol!
Good thing you have a friend to help you sort out the electrical on the car...I used to work in the office of an Auto repair place. The electrical jobs were some of the most costly. "Gremlins" love to fool ya when you are tring to trace an electrical problem!

When I worked there all my repairs were free...I only had to pay for parts and at wholesale...best job perk I ever had...lol! The guys kept my old car in tip top shape.
That was a godsend being a single mom with young kids and no other car.

Quilter thanks for the Link! Very pretty!

Best food for woodpeckers, mockers, wren, wablers and others is peanutbutter on a slice of bread. My woodpeckers will fuse if I don' keep the peanutbutter coming. Also you can melt peanutbutter mix in cornbread chill and have a cheap food for all the above birds.

That's what I did wren because you said that before...I made some cakes with the PB , corn meal and a bunch of other stuff I had laying around that was gettin old.....nuts, dried fruit........yum yum.Thanks for the tip!

The PB and bread got eaten by those grackles too...lol!

Not so many grackles or crows now. The tree in the back neighbors yard had some kind of little yellow fruit with bright red seeds they all loved....all gone now. The crows finished stripping that tree last week.

I've never seen any Watsonia before, but they seem right for the climate zone. I hope they will do well for you. Qwilter.

I notice mamajack on DG has Watsonia 'Ivory Towers' to trade. You may be able to work out a plant swap with her:
http://davesgarden.com/community/trading/search.php?search_text=PFPID:96972

and Toxo has W. meriana
http://davesgarden.com/community/trading/search.php?search_text=PFPID:65255

and Annie's Annuals has W. zeyheri, W. tabularis, and W. foourcadei for sale (I usually find a lot of their plants are out of stock, however they will send you an E-mail update when plants are available)
http://davesgarden.com/products/ps/go/112645

and Bulbmeister has W. aletroides for sale. http://davesgarden.com/products/ps/go/65251/

I'm anxious for you to get some and try them so I can find out if they grow here, then get some for my garden. LOL

Jeremy

Thanks for all the links Jeremy!!!! Now to decide which I need.

Somebody mentioned wanting to plant a banyan tree recently. I couldn't find these pictures at the time, but I thought you might to see the aftermath of Wilma and what happened to the banyans behind the condo we lived in at the time.

To give you a concept of size - here's my dh next to the one by our patio. The branches were stripped so badly that it's hard to tell what kind of a tree it is.

Oh my goodness..would you look at that!

Thanks Ginger, I didn't realize they were that fragile. I figured with all those extra roots coming down into the ground it would be more stable. Guess not.

We had dozens of them come down in Wilma - like dominoes. There was a whole row growing along a nearby road.
The bad part was, the roots ripped up sprinkler systems, water lines etc etc. it took ages to clean up and what do you think it costs to remove a tree that size.

I would not plant a banyan unless you had a LOT of space.

Hello all!!! Everybody has been chatting away and i have read and caught up but don't have a lot of time. Guess i missed fleu hope she has a wonderful safe trip.

I have to go get dressed the girls are taking me out tonite for my BD to Olive Garden in Sebring.

Lucy kitten is now perfectly content on the patio.

I will be on line for a while after i get home this evening.

Lib, it's lee-belool

lee-belool
Thanks Monschi!

It's bad when you can't say your own name, isn't it? LOL


Yum, Olive Garden...I love that place. Eat enough for me. :-)

Have a good time, Linda. : ) I just cooked Pork Chops, Lima Beans, and Rice. I'm stuffed.

Talking about names, everyone always ask me where mine came from. I guess, I just pulled it out of thin air. LOL Or, maybe my blue eyes just glance at everything. Who knows. I picked it out a long time ago, when I use to play spades online. Not very creative, huh? lol : )

I always liked your name Lucy, and I alwways assumed it was because of your eyes!

I like your name too. I thought it was a butterfly..goes to show what I know. ;-)

I think there is a dragonfly or one of those bugs, called a Blue Dancer. Alot of people think that is where it came from. But, I didn't even know a Blue dancer existed till last year.

That's right..a dragonfly.

Qwilter -- no need to decide on the various species of Watsonia -- just get them all! LOL I haven't looked at the trade lists to see if I might tempt someone to send me one for something that I have, but may do that after you have secured your Watsonia.

Well, the tire on the Mustang finally split today while I was coming home from my doctor appointment on I-95 going about 60 MPH. Fortunately, even though the outer layer of rubber nearly peeled completely off and exposed the wire mesh inside the tire, the tire still held all the air and I was able to continue home. I took the back roads to complete the journey. That final 5 miles of the trip was accompanied by a very loud "FLAP FLAP FLAP" with lots of pedestrians staring at the Mustang as I creeped along at about 15 MPH. I was very relieved to pull in the driveway at home! I will go in the old van to pick up the replacement tires tomorrow. Our local tire shop is less than a mile away, so I will be able to get the vehicle up there tomorrow and get the tires replaced. Quite a bumpy, loud trip today!

Jeremy

I am glad you get home safe.

Me, too, and thanks to all those here that may have been pumping cosmic air into the ruptured tire! I would not have wanted to change a tire on the side of the road in this heat, and I think the spare in the trunk is probably flat anyway!

We had a light rain this evening, just enough to keep the weeds growing so vigorously!

Jeremy

Libellule - I collect dragonflies! Thought you might like to know that it is the Native American "medicine", called illusion, that you use to remind yourself to look past the surface, that you shouldn't judge people by the way they look, that everyone has beauty inside. I started collecting them when I was going through a divorce and finding myself very shallow! Now, I have 150 pins with dragonflies and who knows how many of everything else dragonfly, including a tattoo!

Wow, lots of chatting to catch up on!

lee-belool -- I'm practicing my French, thanks monschi!

bocaginger, that is quite a collection of dragonflies, that's really neat. Thanks for the interesting background on them too.

Jeremy, sorry to hear about your tire, glad you made it home safely. That was a little too close for comfort!

wren, I looked at epis tonight, I can see why you are addicted. I've decided hoyas and epiphyllums will be my next two addictions, probably next year. This year it's coleus and caladiums. Got to have something to look forward to!

Lucy, you were right, we got rain yesterday- twice! Altogether about 2.5 inches. The late storm woke me up around 11:30, that was a humdinger!

Linda, hope you enjoyed Olive Garden- yummy!

Those photos of the banyans are so sad. What a shame.

I'm sure I've missed a bunch of stuff...

Goo nite all. Need to go to bed. it looks like one of the weeks I have to take dad somewhere every day. They need to replace the excess port or fisualer(?) for his kidney dialayic. Oh well can't spend money if setting in doctor offices or hospital. Tomorrow is pay day. Spend-spend

Night night wren!

Lucy, where did you get the Giant Milkweed? I can't find a source. Do you have any seeds?

BocaGinger,
Thanks for all that info. I didn't know that about the dragonfly. I collect dragonflies too but nothing like your collection! A friend of mine in England sent me a little cut glass dresser 'bowl' with a gold dragonfly on top. That is probably my best dragonfly. The one I cherish most.

SVplant...I've been practicing too..the poodles look at me tonight like I'm nuts and the cat meows at me nearly everytime I say it...myabe she is secretly french. I thought she was just an old north florida redneck...who knew?!

EFGeorgia...Thanks. I think ZsaZsa is the sweetest kitty on earth.

Monschi...I saw the Giant Milkweed (Calotropis gigantea) at Top Tropicals website but it was on backorder. :(

Jackie

Lucy where are you????

Monschi don't know where Lucy is but she/we got our milkweed at my sisters neighbors place. We all got them back in early June. Rene,EFGeorgia,Lucy and myself got cuttings and i think all of us have some rooted and when they get big enough i am sure one of us will share. Mine is rooted but not real big yet.

We had a Calitropa gigantea plant at the zoo. It is a very impressive plant. I'm surprised the caterpillars will eat it because it is a milkweed by common name only (Calitropa genus instead of Asclepias), but maybe it is similar enough that the caterpillars don't know the difference. Margaran in Jax gave me a cutting of her C. gigantea to try to root, but no luck with it.

Jeremy

I didn't have any luck with the Giant Milkweed either. Just as well, that was down south and it wouldn't have lived up here after the move. No electric, no heat, no water.

Jeremy, I'm so glad you and the Stang made it home safely. You really should make sure your spare is ready to use. Even if it's a donut, it's better than having to pay for a tow truck, or worse, ambulance. When I was a young woman, that is what all the all knowing male relatives etc pounded into me. Specially after I drove from Texas to Michigan without a spare tire at all.

Another dentist visit yesterday to re-cement that crown that fell off my eyetooth on Sunday. Enough already!!!!

The pool is almost full. On the un-rainy days I've been out slowly filling it and swimming around. After 2 days of rain, maybe 4-5 inches of water and it's almost to the filter opening. Bet it's cold water by now. It sure does attract a lot of critters. I climbed in a couple days ago and got stung by a bee sitting on the ladder. The day before one of our scorpions was on the step, but I found it before it found me.

Looks like I better get dressed for work. It's getting late an no one but me and the animals are awake.

Wren, take care of your dad, Lucy, hope your pain is under control, we missed you yesterday, and all, have a great day.

Good Morning,
Molly

Good Morning Molly and All,
I feel for you having to go to those dentist visits, Molly. I'm still facing that. Pulling one or two at a time. I'll be toothless but my mouth won't hurt like it has..ever again. Thank goodness!

Well, I've been up writing most of the night so I'm going to take a nap now.
See y'all later :-)

Jackie

Good morning ya'll I have been up an out, had to give the bratt his run and then water the plants that rain yesterday did not get to my house.

Libellule I just looked up Fountain, Fla My GM came from Grand Ridge, Florida. I took her back there for visits a number of times. Love the area. Haven't been back sents she passed away.
Well need to deside where the money will be spent. Back later