She's about to...52

And these are new. I picked them up in San Antonio last week end. All I know is they are variegated brigs, don'r know what color. I need to get them into bigger pots, or in the ground.

Good Morning, ladies. Gosh that Canna is awsome!
I used to take Duke to get groomed. He goes to the vet Saturday , he is not too well, I am sad to say.
I sure love the watermelon in your bed, I wish I could grow some.I will save the tuber for you, Fruity of the gloriosa lilly.

Linda your roses are so very pretty. Mine are struggling this year.
Your light to pink looks like one I have called. double delight. I bet they smell good.
Tose varigated brugs are awsome, you will love them. I can't grow camelias here for some resaon. Those are so pretty when blooming. And your mandevilla is beautiful. I havn't tried those.
That black tube is a water drain to funnell the water away from the corner of the house that USED to leak. Now it all goes to the flower beds. WHEN it rains.

Here is a cuppa coffee, gotta get going.. Loveya sisters. (__)~

Debra, that rose does smell good! Heavenly in fact.

LK your brugs look like Maya to me. Mine is way tall and just stting blooms now. Maybe I'll have some pics in a couple of weeks.

Debra, hold that thought on the wine, I'll be right over.

Fruity we need pics of Mickey when he is all spiffed up. Your gardens are so gorgeous I may have to sneak down there and pick up Pely. :0)

I am just about melted. Please send rain..

Your blooms are gorgeous, LK...keep them coming. I really like that bi-color Mandy and NOID Rose you got at Wal-Mart.

Come on down, Neener.....we could shoot the breeze on the back porch under the ceiling fans & hit a few antique shops. So what do ya'll think about Mickster sporting his new puppy cut? It's still hard to believe that little 6 pound beast will be 5 years old in November.

What a cutie...

awwww Mickey is soooo cute!
Dola has opened tonight..

What a wittle cutie pie...AWWW...

Ohhh, what a precious puppy. He is so cute!

Does anyone know if I can take cuttings from the mandevilla? Do they produce seeds?

From the little experience I have, LK, here's how I rooted cuttings last Summer. Clip several pieces 6-8" long that have at least two or three sets of leaves. Try to get woody pieces if you can. Strip all but the top set of leaves, dip your cuttings in rooting hormone powder, and place them in a well-draining potting mix you've amended with sand or vermiculite. Mist cuttings, cover with a plastic baggie, and secure it with a rubber band around the pot so you're basically creating a mini-greenhouse. The hard part is waiting for roots to form which can take months, no kidding. I took 6 cuttings last Summer from a Mandy happ sent me and was successful rooting 3. Oh, don't let the soil dry out, I think that's where I went wrong. If you don't see condensation in the baggie, just remove it, water very gently, or just mist, and replace the bag. If you decide to propagate yours, you know we're gonna want to hear progress reports.
Edited to add: Place the pot in a bright Sunny location that's out of direct sunlight.

Is anybody else growing Caster Bean / Mole Bean plants? My seedling, so to speak, is easily 5' tall and is still reaching. I don't have moles...lol, just think it's a cool plant.


This message was edited Jul 29, 2010 6:35 PM

That is awsome Fruity. Tropicman has them they are red ones, his are like twenty feet tall. LOL I have a srain of one, but it is a different variety, and I kept it all winter. Now it has a seed pod. Strangely, none of the 8 seeds from last years plants came up. I love them. Very tropical, mostly they remind me of California as a child.
I didn't know about covering up cuttings. Now I know. I will try it on my lilac and rose of sharons.

Betty Marshal Opened, and so did StarDancerX pod 2 , I have to go in early tomorrow so here is hoping they last the day of 99 degree weather. Now I have Dola, Kaitlyn, Isabella, SDxpod2 and Betty Marshall all blooming.

Debra, bet they all smell heavenly!
What is a Mole bean? Never hear of that one.
Thanks for the cutting tip, I will try that for sure. Does the mandevilla produce seeds?

Not sure what is going wrong here, but the buds are dropping off of the Maya brug. There were about 8 on the the other day and now there are 4 left. I've been giving it special attention so I'm not sure what is going on. Probably the intense heat here the last month. It is better today, but trending back to hot in the next few.

Hey Happ, this is that lily I was laying on the ground to smell. :0)

Your Mandies might produce seeks, LK. Do you know their names? Mine didn't and is "Pretty Crimson", so that's why I tried cuttings last year. Mole plants are supposed to deter real moles, they're blind rat-like critters that dig underground tunnels and destroy everything in their paths. Here's the link to Plant Files, the comments are mixed but hope they help:
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/70/

Wowser, Debra, mine have a long way to go to reach 20' tall. Tropicman's must be an awesome site! You make me want to plant the other three seeds I have. I can tell you though, I'll grow these from now on just for their tropical-looking foliage. The seed pack says Green Caster Mole Plant...I'll be saving seeds if anyone's interested.

I posted my brugs opened on my thread on the brug forum. 101 today. no rain for a month. I water three hours a day total. Can't wait to see my water bill.
Stardancer Pod 2 is on it. It is a white flower, very pretty and nice size with tendrils.
Betty Marshall Has flushed.

I love castor beans because they remind me of Calfornia where I lived as a child.
Tropicmans place looks better than the tropical area at Botanical Gardens. He could charge for a tour of his Gardens.
we had Moles in our old house in Wichita, I used to let the kids stomp down their tunnells.
You guys, I am going to start cuttings of stuff and plant seeds of stuff, and I am bagging up seeds from everything I have growing that sets it.
I am going to set up the basement after all, just going to do it nice and slow, and start getting it ready now instead of being rushed and in a hurry.
Tonight I pulled up the bean patch while sitting in a chair. Geeshh!
Then I pulled out 5 tomatoe plnts that were VINING up the 4 o clocks and sunflowers. Now they are all in the bean patch,, which is where I WASS going to put my special morning glory row in and also transplant some seedlings that I have growing. I guess I had better figure this out in the am.

They may all be intertwined, but it looks pretty. Does the monrning glories choke out other plants?

not that one. All the Japanese morning glorys are very compatible with other plants. I dug up a beautiful couple of tubers for you today, Linda.

She is so pretty. Almost looks like my new tattoo!

For any of you that knew of Makshi. This was posted by her son in the plant trading forum...



makshi
Noblesville, IN
(Zone 5a)

Sat, July 31, 2010
10:09 AM
I wanted to let you know that my mother, Diane/Makshi, passed away this morning.
She loved this Forum, and cared about many of you.
She has been sick for a while.
Can you please let me know what my mom was sending you and I would be happy to get it out as soon as I can.
Please e-mail me at masinindy@aol.com.
Thank you for making her life a little better. :)

Her son,

Andy Simmons

LK I wanna see the new ink please! :0)

awww poor Andy.

That's so sad. I enjoyed trading with her.

Man do I feel for any of you having to pay for water. The only time I had to pay for it was when I lived in CA. What part did you live in, Debra? I was just south of San Fran from the late 80's to the early 90's.

Our weatherman sure got it wrong. He said we'd be back to a scorching week-end -- hazy, hot and humid. Instead we've enjoyed numerous gentle showers since early this morning, never made it past 75, and it's still overcast and rainy.

No luck early this morning trying to find large pots at a few yard sales, but did bring home something entirely different for FREE. When my girlfriend and I took our furbabies to the groomer Wednesday, we noticed a litter of 7 pups. That's when the lightbulb came on since hubby and I have been on the Animal Shelter's list for a lab or lab-mix since last Winter. Look at my sweet Girl! She's ultra gentle & curled up in my lap this PM to take a nap. Any ideas on a good name to match her personality?

awww she is so sweet. She looks like she is very young. I am glad you got a new baby.

I took Duke to vet this am. He said Duke was like an old honda civic... couple hundred thousand miles and still good for another 100 thousand miles or more. That made me feel good. He gave hom a shot and some other stuff. I wonder why he was comparing Dukes age to an old honda civic? LOL
in the hundreds here and still no rain for us since july 4th. forcast is 100s all next week too.
This was two weeks ago, when it was in the 90s not the hundreds. My sons place. Love my hat, Linda.

Oh Fruitcake!!! He is adorable. I bet you are going to have a bunch of fun with that one. What does Mickey think?? This little guy is going to be 10 times bigger than Mickey. I wish I had a video camera watching all this. I'll be thinking on names. You know that is my gift. :0) Please send the rain here. Not a drop since that little wind storm a week ago.

Debra! Super fish. Looks like you were having a blast.

Love those fish!

Mickey's not very pleased but he's getting used to the girl:

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1119979/

Here is my new tatto's. The butterfly, two morning glories, and scroll work is new, they others I have had for awhile.
Love the new [uppy. If you have a Mickey already, how about naming her minnie? LOL!

Oh Linda how beautiful! I would not want to ever wear clothes if I had those LOL

Awesome LK! WOW.. Did Andy do those? He does good work!

Andy did the newest ones. The others were done by various artist. One in San Angelo, one in Austin.

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1119994/

birdhouse swap...

FOTV, she is a cutie, gotta love 'em. I always thought if I got another lab, I would name him/her Mercedes, because after figuring the cost on everything Sam ate, I could of bought one.....rofl, just kidding.....sort of....LOL I do like the name Mercedes. If get to name the dog which hasn't happened in awhile, I usually pick a name according to the personality, like we had a dog name "Rags", no matter how you brushed the dog he was always raggy looking. This is "Shorty" he is short....

I just got this sent in an email. She has gained 8 ounces, and is doing very well. She has a small cyst on her lungs, but a lot of preemies do. They will do a cat scan in the morning to determine what it is. Most of them will go away on thier own.. She now weighs 1 pound and 14 ounces! She finally opened her eyes.

awwwwww melt my heart!

This one shows how tiny she is. That is her Momma's hand on her head

What an itty bitty, little bundle.....om. So precious.

If anybody ever says they've got your back, LK, just show them yours! What a precious teeny tiny little girl :)

You wouldn't believe how easy it was moving plants today after several days of rain and much more bearable temps...we didn't make it to 80. Man I wish it would stay this way. How about you Faye, are you doing OK?

Those 8 sprigs of a NOID Ajuga a neighbor gave me last year were starting to take over the border in my side garden and hope they'll be happier planted willy-nilly around a tree among hostas. That's just about the only shady spot I have except very early in the morning. Sure am jealous of you that have mature trees in your yards and close to your homes, almost all of ours are around the perimeter of our property. After a quick lunch break, I dug & moved Spider D/L's from the regular bed to the dedicated area for the Spiders/UF's. Nine of the 15 Dahlias planted among the Cannas are up and this NOID Canna is blooming.

Here's a close-up of the bloom. The foliage is a gorgeous deep purple and the plant is mature at only 4' tall. Does anybody recognize it?

Love that color! So pretty!

Wasp nest anyone? I went looking for the nest, as there were so many flying around. I found 10 nest under the car port!

That is a gorgeous bloom on that canna.
Mine are all red so far. I had ayellow one last year called Lady Di.
I think it froze. Speaking of freezing, right now I could use some cold air. The 108 it reached today made all buds drop or turn brown o the brugs, even in the shade. My big Lady Margurite bud dropped off ( Passion Vine)
When I touched my plants ( I pet them alot) they were still hot to the hand tonite. POOR THINGS! The four o clocks protect them selves by flopping forward and laying down in the sun. so do the EEs. Poor brugs just kinda wilt and wait it out if they get a little sun here.
Oh my Linda.. hornets nest!

We have the digger wasps here, gobbling up the locust ( cicadas)

Us in the midwest are wishing we had your weather fotv, it was 102 with about 90 % humidity. I watered at 5am this morning, before work, Virgil said it poured here for an hour then the sun came out and it just steamed. None of the plants were wet when I got home, so it must of got hot! All of my brugs are browning the blooms also Debra, never had that happen before.

Worked all weekend I am ready for a break, but really don't want to play in this weather..

Pretty blooms, I know the name of the canna but can't think of it now, maybe later...LOL
Debra our locust are so loud you can't stand under the tree in the evening they make your ears ring!

Sorry your losing blooms! It is a shame we wait for them to open for such a long time, only for this darn heat to make them drop!