Plant propagation part XX based on my own experience

JB, sorry we cross posted.
I ship 98% coleus cuttings and they ship best fresh cut and dry.
I also ship on Saturday morning and my box of goodies arrives on Monday. Just because the PO isn't open all week-end, doesn't mean those trucks and planes aren't busy.
The only plants I have ever received bare root were Hosta. The roots were in a plastic bag with nothing else, but air. The bags did have condensation, but nothing else. The Hosta were spectacular.
Hope that helps and good luck!
Sidney

Hello peeps!

Just a brief post now ... longer one later.

I have done most of my watering .... while gathering some JM seeds out front .... a religious couple stopped by .... we chatted and shared .... I was not interested in the literature they had to share. I think they left with some food for thought.

I thank the Lord for them stopping by .... because it seem like the Lord was using them to remind me of something I have been extremely negelent in doing for some time.

That is to praise and thank Him in all circumstances.

So for right now I shall start.

Thank you Lord for leading me to this wonderful web site. Thanks for the lack of rain. And thankyou for my new eyesight.

Please watch over my family and friends.


Mary

Thank you Sidney. When I ship bare root, depending on the type of plant, I ship with the roots wrapped in moist spagnum moss wrapped in paper towels. The I put a small plastic bag only around the roots. the plant is wrapped in dry paper and bubble wrap, depending on how much protection they need.

When I ship in pots, I water the pot and put papertowelaround the pot and on top I put shredded paper and something over it to keep it in place. This keeps the soil from coming out if it dries out. I also put the pot in a plastic bag and then wrap the plants in paper to protect them. I put bubble wrap around the edges and never allow for any bouncing or movement at all. I have only had one problem and I knew when I shipped it there was a problem, but I was in a hurry. Ended up replacing the plants. Learned a lesson on that one. Take your time and do it right the first time. LOL Actually the customer was pleased but concerned about how they arrived. I wanted it to be a 100% feedback so I replaced them even when she did not ask for it. Customer relations can either make you or break you as you know.

Thanks for your input. I ship only tropicals and they are a bit more tender and fragile than most of the outdoor plants. Yet, I know from receiving trees bare root that if they are not immediately watered , the way they are shipped, there is no way they would survive over the weekend packed the way they sometimes pack them.
Have a great weekend, stay safe and dry. We are under a Tropical Storm Warning, no big deal, but I wish it would rain. I am afraid the storm is too far off the coast to even bring rain to me. I am 20 miles from the coast. Later. JB

You guys have all been so busy chatting over your morning coffee.

Sharon - wrap green tomatoes in newspaper, single layer==== got it.

Avianut - googone -- got it.

Sidney (Sugarweed) - Murphy oil soap = got it. LOL, actually I do got it. already.
Sidney - chow chow for green tomatoes = got it.

guys, I have talked to Sidney for several years now and she is always here and then there. LOL, never knew where she was when she responded. So it is FL for retirement in a year!!

Guess I got caught up!

Going to get Bob painting while I water the plants. It is 48 degrees out there at almost 10 o'clock.

I took some Rudbeckias to a lady in response to her post on Craig's list yesterday. Amazing. I hardly ever look at CL and just happened to and she was on my way to Spokane 100 miles away. She gave me some tomatoes!

Hope to send your seeds off today Dawn, will let you know.

Gotta get busy. ttyl,

Good afternoon:
ok who besides sharon wants the whole story as i don't like to post it on the open thread. dmail me an email address so I can send out 1 email. its a long one. short and sweet story is that untill my condition get a lot worse they are just maintaining me on pain meds. I have a grest pain management dr and a great general doc who is an internal medicine dr. Its not a question of if its when will I have to be in a wheelchair. lots of surgeries and lots of recoveries I am hopeing will never come to pass.

I am back up and moving so far so good. we have a low front sitting on us poised to hit this evening with heavy rain fall. Missouri (or how ever its spelled) had flash flooding from the one that hit us yeaterday early am.

well I won't be on for a few days Kim has us schedualed to visit her father on the plane at 6:00 am (I swear there is no such time only a pm for 6's). not sure where the lay over is but we hit eugene tomorrow afternoon (I think) then back on the red eye suday night. Its a fast visit but we have not seen him in 8 years. Luckily her sister visits every now and then. she is in seattle.

siding is going up as I type. windows are next along with new front door and mandoor & garge door in the garage. I am hopeing we will come home monday to a new home, so to speak.

I was hopeing to get out and do some propagating on a few things I still need to do. I have a lot of stuff needs cutting but its the energy and time to do it. I am hopeing the honey do list is going to be short next week so I can spend a couple of days propagating and bumping up plants. lots of cells need to go into 3.5" pots.

ok who was wanting creeping phlox? I am asking this because I am considering ordering plants from a wholesaler who sells trays of 32 cells per flat (I think and its actually a 1/2 flat) they were $43.36 this last spring. dmail me. of if you are willing to wait I have bought a few starts for my garden and they should do well next year and I am hopefull there will be some cuttings next fall. they are really small plants right now.

oh yea I chatted with linda. she said to say hi and she misses everyone. she does lurk when she can and she hopes to post soon. like the rest of us she is having some health issues so please include her in your prayers like I have.

Not much else to say stay dry and hoopefully we can say good bye earl soon.

Dave

Dave .... so good to hear that you are up and about. Please take it EASY! I think the upcoming trip will do you and us good. We will not have to worry about you overdoing it again until next week.

Be advised, I will really YELL at you if you do anything physically demanding.

I am the one that wants creeping phlox ..... no big hurry .... I can wait .... next spring is fine.

Dawn your seeds arrived today .... ty very much.

I have had a very busy day .... had to go to postoffice ....... since I was close to our local Salvation Army Store ... I stopped and did some browsing. I found a beautiful Alfred Dunner knit top for my daughter ($2.99), a nice short sleeve Somona cotton top for myself ($1.99) and a brand new leather Stone Mountain laguana handbag (also for myself ...$19.99).

On the way back I stopped at Big Lots .... left with 4 bags of potting soil, several containers for winter sowing, and a new coffee maker.


Since the local garden center was a hop, skip, and a jump away, I browsed their offerings..... purchased 5 bags of pine bark mulch ..... 2 cu ft/bag .... total cost $10.00 + 6% sales tax.

Forgot to stop at Micky Ds

Went to Dollar Tree ..... needed to buy a birthday card ..... they have a terrific assortment and they are only 2/$1. The card I purchased just jump right out at me .... it was so much like the grandaughter who will receive it. Stocked up on Tony's frozen supreme pizza's (they are soooo yummy).

Arriving home, I discovered wilting plants out front .... so put away frozen goodies .... put one pizza in microwave and went outside to water desperate plants.

It is amazing how quickly plants will rebound if one is fortunate to water them in the nick of time. When I went to check on mail, they were nice and perky.

well... still need to water plants on back deck

Love YA ALL

MARY

over do it ...who me naaa won't happen (crossing my fingers) ... lol

I like dealing with the little stuff like liners and 4" pots. I think I have 10 plants in big containers but thats because they are my tropical babies to bring in each fall. I use my niece and a dolly to wheel them inside.

well its nap30 so I will see you all (y'all) next week. don't get in any trouble now.....
Dave

hey I was curious about the zone I am going to so I went to the arbor day website and spotted a neat little history tab. it shows how the zones have changed in the last 15 years. we went from zone 7 to 6b another 15 years it might be zone 5 ... boy I hope not cause I will have to rethink the garden. ouch... here is the link

http://www.arborday.org/media/map_change.cfm

so what is the difference in your neck of the woods?

enjoy
Dave

ooops got it backards ... looks like we warmed up a zone

I'm still Zone 7

ok peeps .... can anyone provide an explanation for what could have happened to this elephant ear plant?

This is a picture taken on Aug 1st.

It appeared perfectly fine on Tuesday evening.

Then when I went to water it yesterday before leaving to visit my daughter I found damaged leaves.

same leaf

Different leaf with damage

My grandsone claims a caterpillar did it

What do you think?

Are you sure you didn't get hit with a little frost?

Hi Everyone,
It looks as if Earl has missed us and is headed your way JB and Merrymath. I will keep you all in my prayers. I too was hoping for a good soaking rain from this storm.
I am glad to keep up when I can. Like Dave, I have struggled with spinal and asthma issues this summer and it was so unbearable hot most of it that I was relegated to the indoors. Thank God that DH watered plants for me and kept everything alive. I didn't get to do any of the propagating I had planned mostly because I just haven't had the strength. If all is well, next week will be cooler and maybe I can get out to do some cuttings. I think I still have time as we won't get a killing frost for a while.

Merrymath, that does look like either a caterpillar, or slugs. hope it rebounds.

I hope all is well with everyone, I will check in when I can, but most of the time I am pretty much out of commission ( thanks to pain killers) or I just don't make any sense. Sometimes it is funny, but... you get the idea.
Take care everyone,
Linda

Dawn you are not goin' to believe it but I was finally able to send your seeds today. BUT, I had several things to do on the way to the car so I laid them on the fender of the car and went over, turned the hose off, got the things out of the lawn mower basket, found my keys in there, went back and locked the door, got in the car and drove up to get Bob at the North end and proceeded to town. Went to the post office first thing, reached for your seeds, and, you guessed it, no seeds.

Then it dawned on me what I did. Or, didn't do. Yes, I had to have left them on the fender of the car. Sooooooo, when we came back, Bob was driving and he swerved at the driveway for me to pick up the seeds, and there was a big logging truck behind us and we were not all the way off the highway. Fortunately there was no vehicle coming towards us and he was able to go around us!!

They do not look like they were run over, I have another appt in Spokane tomorrow and can't send them Saturday 'cause the post office is not open on Sats. So, here I go again. Next week for sure. It's amazing. Those seeds were just not meant to get to you. But we will persevere.

Do any of you grow Platycodones? I never have but got some seed in a seed swap last winter. I put a few seeds in a small pot and here is what I got. Now I have to google them and find out how big they are suppose to get etc. Growing in a little pot is not a true picture of how they normally grow.

Linda I hate to ask you, but has it helped any to have the birds out of there? I know how it hurt you to have to get rid of them, but are you breathing any better? I sure hope so.

Good to hear from you. How is your mom? Good I hope.

Take care, and do get better. I think you and Dave are taking turns having us worry about you.

Good to hear from you Linda. Sorry you are having such a tough time. I will add you to my prayer list each night for all my friends on DG.. For some reason, all are on this thread but one.

Dave, hope you have a great trip. I screw up my back every time I get on an airplane because I cannot get comfortable and slouch.

Merry, that is not caterpillar damage. Look like a fungus wilt or pesticide wilt.

JB, praying you and Merry are safe this weekend.

I got my new rain lilies and another batch of irises planted. So I have about 40 NOID irises left to plant and then I am done with the irises. They are planted close together so will have to be moved next year but that will be OK. By then I will have the cannas thinned and given away and have plenty of room.

DH wore the monitor today and he has another test tomorrow. This one was not scheduled but the first test results brought on this test. It is called a MUG test. His blood test came back and showed he was not dehydrated. That is good. He is finally taking in fluids as a habit. I no longer need to nag. And he no longer snores. He used to rock the windows.

Jnette, that plant is adorable.

Sidney, yes I do remember. We lost a bunch of good people to the other site over hurt feelings. I have beautiful coleus this year but the first two months were totally frustrating. Cold, hot, cold, and then hot weather so they got planted in hot weather. They just sat there for about a month, grew their roots and then just took off.

Sidney, another thought. Retiring is not easy. More than 50% of retires fail and return to work. It just takes time. You can not go from 100 mph to 0 without your brain getting confused. So do expect to enjoy it the first day. If you do, good for you. Just keep a diary and then also keep us updated. Let us know the date so we can send up balloons to celebrate your first day of retirement. I had a very large retirement party given for me by my company. I was very nervous during the whole party and shaking. I retired because of illness and was just was not ready for the big crowd. But it was fun. People from all over the United States came. But their expenses were paid by the company. They would not do that now.

The reason they came is because we started out as a small company and the first 8 branches all got to know each other extremely well.

The next month in the SW is a busy gardening month. But the weather is beautiful. The gardeners did the initial pruning on the roses today so all I have to do is fine turn, feed and mulch. In November I will again have beautiful roses. In February we do the final pruning. This pruning is just to clean out the inside so the sun can get to the heart.

OK, Evelyn, Lee, where are you.

Love you all and you will all be in my prayers tonight. Later friends.

CAT PEA???

Hi again,
Thanks for the welcome again. Today seems to be a good day. Since the storm has moved on, the atmospheric pressure has gone back up and I don't seem to hurt so badly today.
J'nette, I really haven't noticed that my breathing has improved very much since the birds found a new home. I do miss them terribly, but I am adjusting and things are more peaceful here (DH and DS didn't love them as much as I did.) Thanks for asking about Mom, she is doing better. I am going to spend the day with her today, she needs some help cleaning and wants to get out so I am heading that way.
Sharon, all of those iris sound beautiful. I have been in my home for 17 years and this is the first time I have ever had more than 1 iris bloom. I was beside myself this spring. It has truly been beautiful. I have 3 roses that are survivors. LOL we have so much humidity and get some many icky things that I usually don't grow many roses. I don't use any pesticides or fungicides and roses seem to need the help.
Hopefully, I am going to get a few things cut to root this weekend. Our temperatures are supposed to drop into the 60's at night and early mornings, so now is a good time.

Thanks for the prayers. I really appreciate them. Sorry if I make you worry. Dave and I do seem to be on opposite times as far as the pain days. LOL it isn't intentional. I promise.
Anyway, hope you all have a great day.
Linda

Jnette- I grow Platycodones- they range from dwarf (6") to tall (3-4 ft.) I do love them all, though the tall ones sometimes flop over. Read this year that the tall ones can be pinched off in spring to stay shorter/stockier, so I am going to try that next year.

I wish I could tell you I am "singing in the rain",. but, there is no rain. we are having the calm before the storm and no storm is really expected. I am too far inland to get rain. I can not believe they are not calling for rain here. The shore area is about 20 miles as the crow flies and you would think as big as this sucker is, he would drop us some water. WAAA!

I can only hope a gust of wind brings some showers.

Dave and Linda, God Bless you both. I am having issues with my anxiety and depression and I honestly think it is because I have been so housebound with this heat. I just could not function the past three days. I wanted only to sit and do nothing. I made myself work and then yesterday I hit the pits. I finally got the darn sewing machine threaded with the help of my neighbor (who is related to my kids). she was so funny. Even she had trouble reading the stupid directions. I went online to "How Do" and my machine was not listed. So, now I have it done and am sewing sleepy hut covers for my birdies. Slowly, but I am doing it. I really do not like to sew.

Today I am hoping to plant some cuttings if I can get up the energy. I took a walk, fed the cats, checked the GH and took some orders. Now I am having coffee and answering my emails. I am amazed at the number of plants I am selling. I planned on shipping Sept. 7th because the cold front comes after the storm. Well, now they are saying it will be 90 here again on Sept. 7th but I am shipping anyhow. If I can get them out of NJ without harming them, they will be fine.
Then, I must get your black pussy willows out to you all because I need the room in the greenhouse. Whatever is left will have to go in the field. God help them without rain.
They are almost a foot high but getting straggly... I need to get them out of the GH for sure. Once you plant them they will be fine.

I had a customer today telling me not to ship her plants bare root because she preferred they were shipped in pots. HUmpf! She is telling me how to ship now. Well, the dumb bunny lives in Michigan and does not get shipped bare root anyhow. Duh! Some people just must be bossy. I wish people would leave me alone so I can do my business my way. I have regulations I must follow and nothing else I can do. So there.

I am cranky today because I feel cranky. I took a Xanax hoping it will change my attitude but so far, NOTHING. Oh well, I guess I will feed my birds. Linda, you can have my birds anytime you want to start not breathing again. My Amazon is making me crazy. He needs a female big time.

Took cuttings of the reversed varigoated Spider plant yesterday. They were from the young plants I reaised. Really nice looking babies. Later my dear friends. JB Here is an enormous HUG FOR ALL OF YOU.

Got it JB!!

LOL, I was reading about your Amazon and my sister has a female that keeps building a next and laying eggs with no male. She is very frustrated. The bird, not my sister. Too bad your birds are on the opposite sides of the country.

They named the bird Henry for years and then when she started laying eggs, they had to change it to Henrietta.

Linda, aren't the Platys perennials? I think I read that somewhere. I will have to google it.

Hi Jen,
Just finished in the GH. First time I been in there working steady for weeks. Usually I have to come in the house and get cooled off. It is spitting drops of rain but nothing exciting. Rain dance is next.

I finally got the hibiscus cuttings in the pots. Only had 10. I would love to put that plant outside for the winter. Darn thing is so big and I keep cutting it back but I just do not have room for it inside. Wonder if I could keep it in the barn for the winter. Maybe I will suggest to my SIL to put it in his workshop at the window for the winter. He no doubt would forget to water it. .............for a nurseryman he sure forgets to water potted plants. LOL.

Did a few gardenias that rooted in my little testtubes. It is just amazing how quickly they root in those test tubes. I wonder if you put poly in the test tube if that would help keep the water in them. They do require weekly checking in order to keep the water level up and fresh. Some of the cuttings tend to get green on the bottom of the tube. Then I have to wash them out. Green not good. LOL.

Must feed dogs, eat lunch and pay bills. See you later Jen

Storm passed us. No wind, no rain, no nothing. We sure could have used the rain.

Sun is out now, this is really crazy. JB

I sure wish I could make it rain for you JB. But at least you got to spend some time out there. Where did you say you got the test tubes? How about a holder? That would be kind of neat.

I got a waste basket to day to bubble some brug cuttings. Going to bubble the tops and throw the rest away this year. Maybe that will make them bloom faster.

It is finally 73 today. 46 low last night. Sure wish it would get up in the 50s at night so it would ripen my tomatoes. I got some stuff from Canada that I am going to try tomorrow on them to see if it will help. LOL We'll see. I will lt you know.

Linda ~ Glad you are back. I have the same issue with barometric pressure. Even though I welcomed the cooler weather we had (last week!)...it has been back into the upper 80's and probably today up to 90°. still it is not as bad as most have it here as it has either been with humidity or in the 100's! Way too hot for anyone. I do not know how Sharon or Dawn can take it, or even JB, though it has affected her usual cheery mood. I suppose your humidity can be an advantage when it comes to cuttings, huh? What plants are you doing right now? Is this a good time for boxwood and spirea? I am late on cutting them back. The deer are cutting back the asters as they do every year. I need to switch repellants...but that is like locking the barn door after the horse has escaped....LOL!!! I had better do that tonight!

JB ~ Glad that you are back in business. Don't let one customer rattle your chain...it's not worth it. Is Jeanette a bird matchmaker now?? That could work out. Send your bird away for a month and then have the bird and his lover stay with you for a while...LOL!! It will be fall soon...I know, not soon enough...same here. I can hardly work outside but for a little while in the morning and then some in the late afternoon/early evening.

Sharon ~ Thanks for your prayers and good wishes...I am here. I just have not had a chance to get to the computer. We have been cleaning house. (Ugh!) Also I am working on sorting my seeds.

Mary ~ Next week, not this week, OK? Best not to plant them until fall anyway. I need to start my cole crops. So much to do. I programmed my light timer for the basement. I just have 2 shelves and I hope that the lights will be adequate. There isn't a way to put a fan on them, so I will just have to brush the seedlings every day. I do not dare start anything in there now as I will be leaving for a week in October, so I might as well sow outside...hmmm...I can put them under a water timer that way, if the weather is warm. Otherwise I could just cover them....I will cross that bridge....

Dave ~ Yes, please D-mail me, OK? (On Tuesday) I am sorry about the intensity of your pain. I know how frustrating it can be as I live with pain everyday, some more than others. Please enjoy your weekend with your family. Still, you are too young for all of this.

Jill ~ Thanks for the tip on the platycodons. I need to trim mine back. (Way too leggy...) Oh, then I can take cuttings and make more...oh why did I not think of that before? Have you done cuttings on yours?

Dawn ~ Thanks so much for the seeds. I will be starting some soon. I just need to figure out what I need to do so they will not dry out, once I leave...I will figure it out. It will depend on the weather.

Well ~ Everyone, please all have a wonderful weekend and I hope the weather will be nice for all of us!

~ Evelyn ^_^

Golden Vicary Privet....

JB .... is it possible for you to post pictures of the test tube plants? It is just so interesting.

My big leap in propagation will be winter sowing .... wish me luck peeps.

Linda ..... nice to meet you .... I am kinda the new kid on the block.

They are so nice on this thread .... I am learning so much from others.

Love you all.

Mary

Evelyn ... so good to hear from you .... take you time on sending the seeds

and congratulations .... you did it ..... a nice long post .... and it did not get lost!!

Jeanette I am so sorry, really that is not worth this kind of stress for you, but it is appreciated. Please just give up on the seeds, it is probably true, they are not meant for me. If you ever rid yourself of those Brugs, feel free to take on the additional stress of sending those to me. I will send postage. lol

Dave I was zone 8b and they changed me to zone 9a. Yeah that is good for me though.

LOL, Dawn, I really do have the seeds in my bag ready to mail to you. Just can't do it until next week. Also, my daughter is coming next week and I am going to have her help me decide where to cut the brugs to bubble them. This one is 10 feet tall now, that is including the pot, but I am thinking to cut them about 3 feet long. Now, do any of you have experience in shipping 3 or 4 foot long plants? What kind of box would you use?

Dawn, I don't know about sending unrooted cuttings. What do you think? Dave wants roots on his. LOL actually Dave wants me to winter his over. He is crazy. I don't have that kind of room. He is going to have to settle for rooted cuttings.

Have either of you, Dawn & Dave, ever seen brugs rooting? Well, prior to getting any of the white roots they get little nubby things all along the stem where they are in water. A lot of people plant them at that time because they think rather than have "water" roots they would start out with "soil" roots. That might be the thing to do and once they have the nubbies they would ship better than just a plain cutting.

Would like any suggestions from any of you guys.

Here is a dinner plate dahlia in a container:

Hi. Just wanted to introduce myself. I finally bought a membership to Dave's Garden, and I love how all of you share your wisdom and secrets so freely. I'm also looking forward to trading seeds, though I just started collecting them this year.

I live in the gorgeous Appalachian mountains. I have a small (1/2 acre) yard, but it joins woods behind the other houses on the east-facing mountainslope, so "my" woods appear to go on forever. The bad thing is that I get little direct sunlight, but I think I get at least six hours a day in my "sunny" garden. My woods are filled with the sweet little woodland plants I love, and I hope to learn how to share their seeds with others (and myself--I want more!!) and learning how to propagate others that need that. Some plants I have growing wild there are carpets of violets--common blue and a delicate variety of white I've ID'd but can't remember, wakerobin trillium, jack-in-the-pulpit, false Solomon's seal and "true" Solomon's seal, fern varieites, wood asters, tons of different types of moss, stinging nettles (and I sauteed some this spring--they are sweeter than spinich, so I'm going to tolerate having them just for that), among others. Plus I have a sunny patch with many goldenrods, some introduced (by me) New England aster, and other wild plants that like sun. I've added to the wild mix with things I love such as hydrangea, obedience plant (another weed, actually, but it's so beautiful), bleeding heart, foxglove, etc. etc.

Anyway, I'll stop now--but I'm really looking forward to learning how to propagate my plants from seed and cuttings.

Marydell

Hi Marydell, welcome to our thread. We do discuss propagation on this thread but other things also as you probably noticed if you have read the different posts.

And no matter what Evelyn says, I am not a matchmaker for parrots. LOL. It was just an observation that my sister's parrot Henry was laying eggs so had to be called Henrietta instead. JB's male parrot is h- - - - y but I can't help him.

We all have been waiting for JB to post pictures of her test tube babies, errr plants, for a long time. Still waiting.. . . . . .

Anyway, we do discuss other things here, so feel free to jump in whenever.

Welcome another Mary. Several of us are new, including me. I like these guys but for the life of me I don't know how to propagate still, which brings me to Jeanette. For the life of me I don't know how to ship them in a long package and I would probably kill the unrooted cuttings. I keep trying though. Maybe we should scrap that idea too, till I master rooting cuttings.

I looked up my zone and it is not even true...zone 9?? I don't think so! It was 17° last year, for about a week. That is officially zone 8.....10° - 20° minimum temps, right? I don't think it even snows in zone 9. And that was for Grizzly Flats proper...a zone even colder. So it should have been zone 7. Still, I have a couple of zone 9-10 plants live over...I did not say "thrive"....the blue cape plumbago, one of my favorites from SoCal. I was bored of it then, however, since they were everywhere. Plants seem to always be in bloom there. I really like having seasons here, well, except for summer...LOL! We always had summer there too, especially if you worked or went to school in the SF Valley. I have it up front by the kniphofia by the road. It did not bloom this year. I have a back up in my small nursery area. I think I will use row cover this coming winter again in the "small nursery area". I also need to heel in some of the plants I have in pots as they are not liking it all season. I suppose I can use one of the square foot gardens...again...LOL!! I dug them out this year and put them in pots, intending to plant them in my "Peach of a Garden", the daylilies, that is. I really should plant them there but the garden really needs work...a lot of it! I am not really quite up to it just yet. So...back to the beds...LOL!! (SFG's, that is..)I still have tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, basil and carrots growing in them. There are a couple that I can clear as they had the cool weather crops in there, and it is almost time to start them again as well as more carrots.


OK, Happy weekend everyone! Have fun!


~ Evelyn

This message was edited Sep 3, 2010 7:09 PM

This message was edited Sep 3, 2010 7:20 PM

That is what I say about here. We get down in the mid 20's for a month worth of the nights in the Winter.

Well, Marydell, welcome. You will learn a few things. Mostly about not getting old because it hurts. We have some great gardeners on this thread but we all garden in different time zones and zones. I would love to see photos of your forest ground flowers.

Dave's zone checker showed we had not changed. Still in zone 9.
It was 107 today and suppose to be 108 tomorrow. Then the jet stream is bringing in cold weather. We will be down in the 90 Sunday. We were in the 90s earlier in the week and it was beautiful.

I found a true prize today. I plant many pony tail palms. I get them from a local nursery for a very small start for $5.98. I went to the grocery store today and they had very large pots with three good pony tail palms for $14.99. SCORE.

Yes Merry, I will send photos. I was out shopping all day so I would not have to leave the neighborhood the whole weekend. Tomorrow I am going to cook and stay inside. I will garden Monday and the rest of the week except Tuesday. I have the tree service for the greenbelt, my nails and DHs review of tests with the cardiologist.

JB, I bet if you put a little peroxide in those tubes, that would help prevent the green in the bottom.

Evelyn, I can clone some plumbago for you. I can hold them over winter because they do not freeze here. We cut them back and they look ragged but I just plant something around it. I only have one bush but it is very large. Actually, I think I am going to keep everything for you and Jnette u til spring for both of you. What day is that? LOL

This year I had my little pink garden. Next yer it is going to be blue. I did it just on the spur of the moment. It has really been "cute".

Dawn and I are used to the heat. Our blood is thinner. What is bad is the air conditioning cost. Power bill this month was $4 less than $500. Water was $321. It is a good thing I do not have bills or a mortgage.

When I received my Mexican oleanders and Hardy Hibiscus, which were all about 2' long, they arrived in a very narrow (about 7") by about 2.5'. Then each plant was first wrapped in plain white paper, all one piece and then wrapped with very thin corrugated brown paper, same length as the plants which was about 2'. All plants were sent dry. Nothing was wet. But big letter on the outside of package said, open and water immediately. They were all absolutely perfect and some were receive in the early summer.

Well I got on late so I have to go to bed. I will be back earlier tomorrow. Love you all and you all are very special to me.

Sorry, I forgot you ask to see the test tube babies. You can laugh all you want, but this is the quickest way I have found to root tropicals. The test tubes come in different sizes and you need to keep them filled with fresh water, but it is worth the effort. I need more racks. I have one wooden rack that holds 10 tubes that is my favorite but it only holds the smaller tubes so I use that for just certain cuttings. You actually learn by doing with this method. At least I do. Here is the first picture....this is the smaller of the racks;

On the previous picture, near the bottom about the second tube from the left, you will see yellow behind the tubes, That my friends is Gunny, looking at me trying to see what I am doing. I put the rack on the shelf beside his cage to take the picture. He is such a nutty bird.
Here is the rack that holds more tubes, but it is not easy to work with.