Chit Chat - Everyone is Welcome - Part 104

Good morning y'all
Not much rain yesterday but too much wind. I hope to get the plastic fastened down next week on the green house. 5 pots of epis where knocked off a shelf. One poor dragon fruit plant get smashed. It can be saved but it will not bloom this year . this is about the 3rd time this poor plant had a accident I think it is jinked/

Sandy, sorry about the accident prone dragon fruit. I hope it will recover. One thing good about cacti and succulents and epis -- if they break, their pieces provide the beginnings of new plants. But I know how disappointing it can be to have a nice, mature plant torn apart (as with the tree limb that fell on a lot of my plants during TS Faye).

For holding plastic sheets securely, I've found the 1 inch x 1/4 inch slats of wood do best. They can be cut to fit the end sides of a plastic covered structure and tacked down. Staples alone won't seem to hold up against even fairly light winds. Plus, the wood slats are cheap and very effective.

The rain here was helpful to get everything soaked down good. I thought it had been a light shower, but Christina said she had to drive to work around 8 AM in sideways downpours of heavy rain and wind.

I will probably spend a brief time outside, then continue with all the indoor cleaning and organizing and sorting of paperwork that needs to be done.

Jeremy

I used to have a couple of "boys" who could fix anything on my car - apart from an excellent Chrysler service garage - but that was then and there - not here! I still have Chrysler, but the service department works on a commission basis - now that is asking for trouble.
Jeremy glad you took a shower :-) we only had a little rain - it came and went before I took notice!

Jeremy My green house is pvc pipes so wood will not work. I have clamps but I need more of the 1 inch pipe put up to clamp the plastic to. 2 more pots where knocked off the shelf but did not brake.

I saw a Red Bud tree blooming to day.

Sandy

Sorry, Sandy, I forgot your greenhouse is pvc constructed. I grab all the pvc I can when I find it in trash by the curb -- I can always find some use for it, sometimes actually for plumbing repairs but more often for some fanciful use in the garden.

Jeremy

Hi all ...

Paul you are so bad tempting us with the orchids!.Not even going to go to Lowes, I have $20.00 gift card for HD and have already talked myself into buying some gravel and edgers, a project that has been waiting about a year now. Not even going to look at the plants!.
Love the ears will have to look out for those, the Borneos not the additions stuck where your lug holes are :0),

Hope you both had an enjoyable meal Jeremy.

No problem Shirl, whenever, I haven't even got half my new beds ready yet.Plants in pots that should be in the ground, plants that should have been moved aren't.. etc. What with the weather and this cold/flu/whatever business that seems to come and go I can't get motivated.This to will pass... Managed to take down the majority of Christmas stuff outside but the inside ones are still there. Thinking hibernation for the winter might be a good idea in future..

However my new brugs arrived today and I did pot those up and a Epiphyllum Guatamalense. Remind me Wren at some point when it grows bigger I will get you a cutting going if you don't have it already.

Very windy here too yesterday, a few palm bits down ( wish there was more save me cutting/sawing the darn things )but nothing drastic, sorry about your dragon fruit.

Thanks chubby will take a gander in a few.

Meant to have mentioned for you coleus lovers there are some nice ones in the 'Select Seeds' catalogue. www.selectseeds.com

And Goodnight all. Hot toddy and bed...

This message was edited Jan 8, 2009 9:11 PM

Would love to have a cutting form that epi. I am not upset about the plant-live is to short to get upset specially with a plant that is JINKED!!! I think that this is the 3rd or 4rt accident this poor plant has had . I am thinking maybe it need a new home. LOL

I was going to make a nice light meal today having some friends over who are going through a rough patch, and then I got to the store and they had NOTHING in the way of fish that was appealing so we had pork roast ..... the ultimate comfort food. It actually was exactly the right meal... :-) and amazingly there was a box of chocolate truffles left over from Christmas.... that and the two G&T's before dinner and my diet is shot LOL.

Going To Get Some German Food Sat ow ya And My Mother In law at The Air Port .

After getting a 'full serving' of shifty contractors, incompetent handymen, thieving helpers...lots of money wasted etc....I decided to finally get 'Angie's list' to finish the renovation on the house (in the works for nearly a year now) and boy was it worth it! You can pick the best people for the job in your area, they are rated by the customers, all aspects of their performance and charges are rated. From mechanics to Doctors and everything in between, you can review their performance, awards etcc..it costs $7 per month to access the list and I've had nice, competent tradesmen who accomplished what they said they would do, stayed within their estimate of charges and were a pleasure to work with. NPR often talks about Angie's list

I'm glad there is not an Angie's List to rate do-it-yourselfers like me. I would definitely get a big "0" for leaving projects unfinished and a huge mess behind. lOL

Jeremy

Mmm, Pork roast...

Hope your trip to the airport was easy and quick Paul. What kind of German food did you get?

monschi, thanks for the tip about Angie's List, I'll have it check that out.

Jeremy, I'm right there with you at the bottom of the pile. I am a dedicated Project Queen, always on the lookout for a new one to start, to avoid finishing the last one. Or last one hundred.

Birthday patrol:
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/941384/

Happy Friday!
Cathy

We had a wonderful January surprise. This Iris just started blooming out of nowhere. Guess it is a little confused with the weather.

What a beautiful surprise Rhonda!!! I want to get some of the iris this year and try them along my border path I have planned.

I saw a Red Bud tree in full bloom yesterday. Also early.

My asiatic lilies have broken ground during this warm spell. It is not time yet, too many freezes left for the winter.

Hope it doesn't kill them.

Molly

sure is quiet here today......

All my Hyacinths have also broken ground. I hoping they will survive too.

Irish - do you know what cultivar of the bearded iris you have? Based on the discussion in a couple of threads we've had here in the Florida Forum, some of the bearded iris will grow here and others will not. I want to start collecting the ones that others have had success in growing: http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/921572/

Hope your lilies make it, Molly! My Bletilla orchids in my garden are showing signs of beginning to make buds, but they are pretty much on their usual schedule. I've still not had a killing frost here this winter.

Disappointing news from the foot surgeon today -- I have to stay attached to the WoundVac for another two weeks. He is out of the office next Friday, so I have to wait until the next week for his o.k. to give up the Borg apparatus. He is very pleased with the way the surgery wound is healing, but wants to continue the WoundVac treatment until the skin on top begins to close up (about 1/4 inch to go -- a big improvement over the 1 inch deep well I started with). I've become accustomed now to carrying the pump around and learned the intricacies of how to get the best vacuum seal, so it is not such a big problem. I was just hoping to be rid of the encumberment. Oh, well, two weeks will probably fly by with all that I have to do.

Jeremy

Jeremy, here is the links to the Iris's I ordered. They are all re-blooming. I loved the colors on them. They are very healthy and have stayed green since I planted them in the fall. I will have to let you know on the re-blooming part. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

http://springhillnursery.com/product.asp?pn=13300

http://springhillnursery.com/product.asp?pn=54023

http://springhillnursery.com/product.asp?pn=69469

Sorry to hear about your continued tether. I'm sure it will go by quickly. Look how far you have come already.

We had a really really bad December with family upheaval, so I haven't been online. There didn't seem to be any time left in the day to even get on the computer. Luckily everything settled down by Christmas, so it was a joyous occaision.

I got another picture of Isla, so here she is.

I also have to give my grandsons a showing. Their noses have been a little out of joint.

There is nothing like grandchildren, and yours are adorable.

I think so too, but I'm a little biased

Hi all. : ) Looks like everybody has been chatting away. Took me awhile to read everything. Loved all the flowers, especially that Bromeliad, Dale. : )

Irish, Little Isla is growing like a weed. Soooo cute. : ) And those grandsons are all handsome. How old is Isla now, and what are the ages of the boys?

Not much going on around here, lately. Went out to eat tonight with LeePerk (Linda) and her DH, it will be their anniversary tomorrow. : )

Elaine, I guess we will be seeing your smiling face this coming week. : ) Hope you have a safe trip down. I can't wait to see all of you at your class reunion. There is gonna be a whole bunch of old people there, huh? LOL : ) Should be fun to see who all 'you guys' use to hang out with..... back in the day.

I don't think I have told everyone Happy new Year, yet. I hope everyone has a good one.

Oh, and Molly, I could use some nice soft warm carpet, I jerked all of mine up and put down tile, sure is chilly on the feet, this time of year. I know what you meant about planting a garden from under the old stuff, ours had been in the house for over 25 years before we pulled it up. I thought we were gonna have to use a shovel to get all the dirt out. We do breathe much better now with it gone, so I guess I don't miss it too much. : )

Happy Birthday, Sandy,

Will be seeing some sunny Florida faces soon (again). Will go back and read posts tomorrow night. yawning here..

Elaine

good night all

Sandy

Good morning (yawn)

Isla is now 5 months old. Left to Right: Chase 14, Noah 12, Cole and Cale 10 (they are cousins, but born 5 days apart) Cole is really big for his age. Not pictured is Gavin who is 2 (step grandson, who was not there)

Times like this I hate being short of cash..... I was at a garage sale this morning and they had a huge selection of beautiful, weathered, terracotta garden pots, the kind I love. I picked up the second biggest one, a wide shallow one, almost 3 ft across for $ 15...... probably could have talked him out of letting me have the whole collection for $ 150... but cannot really justify spending that on pots at the moment. Darn!
Nonetheless. getting that one made me HAPPY! Have to start planning what I want to put in it, and where I want it.

Irish - looks like all the reblooming iris at the Spring Hill site are sold out, or they are not shipping now. I will probably wait until next year to order some during the right season. I did come across an excellent value on daylilies at the website -- 10 cultivars for $29.99 http://springhillnursery.com/product.asp_Q_pn_E_71010 As Dutchlady said, though, I have to grit my teeth and not indulge in more plants and garden stuff at the moment.

I'm making great progress toward getting all the stacks of papers and other clutter organized. Christina is finally showing some signs of believing that I will clear away a few of my junk piles and I'm feeling better about knowing where things are (for the time being LOL).

Jeremy

Morning all. : )
Good deal on those pots, Hetty. : )

Irish, Isla is 2 months older than Brady. He will be 3 months tomorrow. Boy, time flys. : )

When I look at Isla, I think about how Brady will be in a couple of months. Do you think she will keep her blue eyes? I don't know if Brady will keep his, since his mother has brown, and his daddy has green. I have blue eyes, DH green, but both my kids got my MIL's brown.

Oh well, it doesn't really matter. lol As long as he can see. : )

Morning all. Lovely pics one of the things I always look forward to seeing here.

Well it's shopping Saturday, but I have also told myself to be good plantwise. I DO have to go to the gardening section though to see if they have any seeds in yet. Nothing last week just all Christmas stuff/lghts/decorations being sold off cheap .

I want to get some alyssum ( sp ) seeds, early last year I grew them around the bases of my large potted brugs, they were fantastic, they went into the ground when the brugs did and they are still flowering . I thought they would succumb to the weather here but they just keep on going. I am impressed.

Dont Forget to go to Lowes ( Orchids)

Paul the tempter!!.

Nope only going to wal mart. I will only go to wm, I will only go to ...

I think I'm going to a local nursery this afternoon. I love wandering around and getting ideas. I may even splurge and bring something home if it reaches out to me. Then I have to paint my finished bathrooms. THEN maybe out to the yard to work.

But Lowe's here now have all their seeds and spring bulbs waiting for good new homes.... must go to Lowe's ... must go to Lowe's....

Jeremy

Thanks Jeremy, I have to go there to to pick up some trim paint. I feel like I'm on a first name basis with some of the Lowe's people. I think I've had to go there every day this week!

lol, we all have it bad!!!. Is Gardenitis the term

I am on a first name basis at my Hall's..seriously they know me. I went yesterday to get horticultural grade charcoal (btw the ONLY place on this side of town I found that sells it) and when I went to check out they said.."what no plants today, did you see our new shipment?". AAhhh..they are enablers too! But I was strong..I didn't even look at the plants.
I did some"indoor gardening" yesterday and got the 55 gallon converted into a vivarium. Today I can add the water after the silcon on the access tube dries. I am already in contact with some one about some White's treefrogs and I am putting some Endler's Live bearer ( pintail guppies) in the water area ( ok so techinically it's a palidium not a vivarium, but it's harder to pronouce that word). I looks good, still waiting on my lemon button fern to arrive in the mail. I will take pix tonight and post after I've wiped down the glass and added water.
I will tackle the 47 gal tall later on after I get all the broms I want first.
Unfortuneatly I didn't get the sago and phil yesterday. a coworkers roommate is going to help me with his truck and for payment he is getting th 100 pound led showerpan we removed from the "bad" bathroom. He is a plumber and it give him sauder for about 6 mths.