Like Honestly?
Anyone think this is a little overboard? lol
Has Anyone Moved To A Tropical Location Just To Grow Plants?
Welllllll----- sort of. My grandkiddos just happen to live here, too, which I love. I moved from Kansas City, Missouri to NW Florida, moved all my tropicals in a 26' UHaul (sold all my furniture, etc), which I grew in my heated basement over the winter, only to discover they grow as weeds here! LOL
I moved to Hawai'i to see the rarest plants on Earth. Now I work with them.
I would, if I could, honestly.. but I kinda have a marriage that I like too.. LOL I grew up in a tropical climate but was transplanted to the middle of the US.
Kansas ? Poor baby !
I really think this is my goal, not only for the vegetation but for the weather. :) We can all dream :)
Missouri
Kansas is just awful I think, I visited a friend in Wichita for a while and the drive there was horrible! Parts looked like what you'd see on MARS! NO plant life, well except for the trees or whatever growing out of the small ponds or lakes! It was crazy!
Actually , I like the north eastern quarter of the state . When I was a kid , 60 yrs. ago , we came through there and it was so hot , Mama had a wet towel to wipe the baby . No air conditioning in cars then . I've never been so hot and uncomfortable in my life .
A few years ago we drove out of Denver and there was nothing to look at except sunflowers .Turned south around Wichita and it got a bit more intresting .
I left Kanarado after a snow storm , going to Lubbock Tx and was stopped in the middle of the road at night with a snowbank across the road . That was a horrible night , tho there were others stopped with me on both sides of the snowdrift . I could see lights glowing in the sky and when we got through , the only motel was full and wouldn't let me park in the driveway to sleep awhile .I think I was on the Colorado side .
Way off topic , so I better justify this by saying , if I could live in the tropics, and grow beautiful , big leaf plants , I'd want to be younger , and skinnier . LOL
I'll give Kansas the *interesting* factor, I really thought it was very different and I enjoyed looking at it but couldn't imagine living there! :)
It's about the same here in Indiana as Denver instead with CORN, at least sunflowers are pretty to look at :)
I love Indiana. They have almost as many deer as Penn . and lots of trees , woods .
I have lived in california northenr and southern, florida in miami and the keys, pheonix, Az, Missouri, Springfield, spent a year in Galveston, tx, and If I could, I would move to the East Coast. New Bern, NC I think. I grow things inside all winter that the southern and warmer Zones grow as annuals. They are prediciting a very hot summer, which should mean a very cold winter. Ugh!
I'm like Joeswife, I have a marriage that I like more than plants right now. lol We did move from North Dakota to Oklahoma to North East Texas, so I'm getting closer. Some day soon though I will live in the tropics or the sub tropics again.
That is a huge move.. brrr up there .. ahhhhh in oklahoma, but have no clue about North East Texas.. is it by arkansas or louisiana? there is a pretty place I went to called broken bow, or broken arrow or something like that. There were very TALL pine trees.
For those of you that are 'knocking' Kansas... unless you have LIVED there... you don't know what it has to offer! Some of us are born in Kansas... and for some, Kansas is born in the person... for me, it happens to be both!! Growing up, I was a 'city girl stuck in the country'...now, after living in Florida for 19 years, I am a 'country girl stuck in the city'!!! Go figure...but Kansas will always be home...I am afterall, the first one of my family to move away and STAY AWAY in at least 4 generations!!
There's lots of reasons people move around, employment would probably be a (or even THE) major one. They try to factor other criteria into the mix, like climate, proximity to family/friends, and even sense of adventure. A lot of these things weigh on the mind when there's thoughts of moving. It's easier though, if it's considered a temporary move.
Sense of adventure and climate were possibly my main drivers and slotted into gear when I found the employment opportunity. Living in a basically sub-tropical climate influenced my change to be equatorial. The gardening part was the 'icing on the cake'.
It's not for everyone though. A lot of people tell me they'd visit but never live here. We're fast approaching mid-winter and our minimum temps have been mainly between 17C to over 21C (62.6F to 69.8F), and the maximums 31C to over 34C (87.8F to 93.2F). That's what I call a "civilized winter", although I'd still like to tweak it a little :O)
Well, there are parts of Kansas I never knew existed. beautiful hills, beautiful woodlands, beautiful native plants.
Sure it is flat out west, but if you drive south and east, it is very much like the tropics .. wait.. isn't the desert kind of tropical?
western Kansas could be considered near desert at some points. The thing is, while some people think dorothy and toto are the most interesting thing about Kansas, you only need to go out to the flint hills, or south to the arboretum in belle plaine, or down the street from here at the older couple that has a pond show every year, to see some really pretty plants and wildlife. Altho I have moved away for short periods of time, I have always come back home, to where I was transplanted to.
The old fashioned southern Magnolia trees are all in bloom and will continue blooming for the next two months. That is a sight to behold! All I have to do , is plant the tropicals I otherwise would not see...
the button bush in bloom covered with butterflys and bees makes one wonder with awe at the beauty of this state.
I just happen to miss the coastal areas, where I spent the first ten years of my life, climbing around on the rocks at the beach.
Debra, I have never heard of beach moonflower - do you have any seeds for this plant?
Tropic,
I can honestly say that if I had the opportunity to move to Australia or New Zealand, I would in a heartbeat. Love both countries. Spent 7 days in New Zealand travelng around and only 3 in Australia (unfortunately). Not sure where Noonamah is, but we were in Melbourne and we went to see the little penguins that come up on shore at night, it was a hour or so from Melbourne. I have promised my daughter I will take her one day. That may be her graduation present. I think we would all love to live in Hawaii or costa rica, somewhere tropical.
Moonflower, I have pulled more of that up this year in my yard than I could ever EVER imagine, it's horrible! They're such pretty flowers but JEEZE are they invasive!
I would love to live in Costa Rica except for the deadly poisonous snakes .
Beach Moon Flower grows on the mounds and hills of coastal shorelines. MoonFlower (Datura Inoxia) is one of my favorite Kansas Native Plants. Yes, Kay I have seeds of the Beach Moon Flower. Dmail me for mailing information. It is 11:45 and everything in the full sun here is wilted, thank goodness for the neighbors spirea and trees to the south of me.
My Daughter has always wanted to go to Australia. I just want to go to somewhere other than the USA sometime before I am in a walker. LOL If I could I would sign up for Survivor Island. Health issues prevent me from doing that.
Datura Inoxia
A cruse along the coast of Alaska is a great get-away . I haven't been but a friend is going back her second year . Used to , you could buy a month long ticket on gGreyhound , get off anywhere you wanted and get back on , go in a different direction , lay over when you got somewhere you wanted to shop or spend some time. Good anywhere Greyhound ran .
Hi, Debra - thanks - I am in the DG address book - let me know if you want me to send postage before you mail the seeds.
Greyhound has a similar scheme here, but it's limited by distance as well as time. You can get 12 months for up to 20,000 kilometres. They also have a range of shorter times and distances.
I took the greyhound back to california when I was 18, it was really fun. The last time I went to California,( in 2001) the beach I climbed around on was trashed, condos stood where my house used to be, and there was not any shells or crabs about the beach area. I was very dissapointed. There was, however, alot of cars 12 lane hiways, and a licqour store at every corner there. This was in oceanside. My love of Sunflowers actually started in california. There was a couple who grew them as large as Platters. There also was a cool orange tree, small with tiny oval orange fruits. And, fig trees grew there , like elm trees grow here. *sigh*
I moved from MN to AZ for gardening:)
I'd love to move to the tropics.. and might have to..
after last winter's southern cold.. there doesn't see to be much far enough south in this country to make it really work
That is why we bring the Tropics to us, eh Gordon?
Joeswife, have you successfully overwintered any sub/tropical plants in your zone 6?
sorry to say YES....i guess my first post i was at a loss for words...LOL...not likely! just came out blank!
This message was edited Jun 30, 2010 7:55 AM
Oh Yes, Josh, If you went to any of the threads I posted you would see my winter greenhouse in the basement in Kansas..
I would move to a tropical climate TODAY if I could (and yes, just for the plants) LOL! The problem I face is that tropical plants are just not available here. I grow what I can from seed, and scoop up anything I can that is being sold as a house plant. So realy, Id settle for Kansas, because at least you can mail order tropical plants there. I LOVE this forum and am so jealous of all the amazing plants you all grow.
you can't get tropicals there? What if we sent you some starts of cuttings? Is that illegal there?
joeswife , I thought burying my pots in compost bed for the winter was work . All your plants coming in is WORK . HA, but they are beautiful !
joeswife, yes its illegal for you to mail me starts, That said, the exact laws are kind hazy...depending on what border official you talk to (and I've talked to many about this) Some believe you can send small packages of starts (5 or less) into Canada as long as they have absolutely no roots, and are not packed in organic mater ( like soil, or sphagnum moss) But others don't let these threw either. Its unpredictable weather or not anything will actually arrive. Epiphyllum cuttings seem to always get threw fine, and I have many...here is a lost ID pink one, that is blooming right now
oh that is beautiful! I have never seen any of my epis bloom. Lucky you!
Logees will send mail order plants to Canada--you have to spend a minimum of $200 and pay an extra $35 for certificates, but if you want the plants badly enough that could be an option (and believe me, it's not hard to spend $200 with them!) http://www.logees.com/faq.asp#outside_us I suspect there are other mail order nurseries with similar policies so if you look around a bit you may find even more options. Chances are you'll always have to pay some extra fees and things though.
thanks ecrane3, I'll check them out.
Joeswife, I was thinking the same thing, I wanna start a greenhouse in my basement as well :)
How did you start it? :)
Gosh, I'm all excited now !!!!!
That epip is beautiful, I really would love one of those !