She's about to...54

Joeswife, I am wondering what happens to all those leafs in the spring? It seems to me like they would just be a wet gooy mess after winter left??

Happ it is fully open tonight and I just noticed that there are 3 more small buds coming. I hope it keeps going. I don't have a lot of light for it right now since all the leaves are still on the trees,I have it butted up to one of the light carts, but who knows.

Oh that is BEAUTIFUL! do you know I have been growing one of those for three years and never seen a bloom???
In Fact, none of mine have bloomed so I am about to give up. Maya is blooming again, s is Kaitlyn, Dola, and well u know. Prolly every ones is right now.
Mableruth, my leaves do become wet, but they break down into compost while providing insulation. We get really cold here , as I am sure it does up there. I really pile them high and pack them down, then as it starts to warm up, I lift a few layers so the sun can get thru to the plants. By May they are all broken down or taken back to the compost pile.

Your ginger should keep setting new blooms from that bud for a while.
I don't put mine in sun, it is on the east side of the house under a maple tree. Debra, I can't remember how long it took to bloom when I got it. Mine will bloom during the summer and then bloom again in the back of the solar room. The house smells wonderful when it does that. My brugs in the solar room are still blooming and on the downhill side. Suppose to be 85 today....wowzer. Getting ready to go play and plant some blubs and water.......


Still no resolution to our watering problem.....I really think this is going to be my focus this winter, there has to be an easy resolution. One thought for me was to get a small water garden pump (like the ones that do the frog spitters) and see how that works. Gonna have to get DH to help me think about this, he is good at this stuff if I can get him to focus on it....LOL

joeswife thank you for your reply. We never rake up leaves here, although I have done it in other houses, because we just do not have that many leaves. However some friends of ours rake up at least 80 garden trash bags full. During this season we do not see them as much - they are always raking up leaves. I will give them some bags and ask them for their leaves. They will think I am totally nuts.

Like this Happ??

Neener that is so pretty! I bet she smells heavenly?

Welocme mableruth, glad to have you here!

Happy Birthday neener! Hope you have a great day!

Neener is it your 21st Birthday! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU,,,,,,,COME EVERYONE HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!!!

Look at all those blooms, it did it for you on your birthday, how nice was that. I have two green buds forming on my butterfly ginger now. I want to downsize it but quess I will wait until it blooms first.

I rake some of my leaves others I leave if they have gathered around the plant, I think that gives them some protection. Besides I can't get everything done....LOL

LK please send that cake to me RIGHT NOW!! Thanks for the birthday wishes everyone. Yep 21 for the 31st time. :0)

Happ when that ginger is finished blooming can i cut it back then?? It is pretty tall and I don't need it to get any bigger this winter.

Oh dear, I didn't know it was your birthday! Happy Birthday!!!! now, share some cake.. I am starved.
That ginger is just fantastic. I have cut all of mine back and re-potted to bigger pots now. Been busy all day. Heck, I am even saving some annuals. Call me nuts, but If I started them from seeds, I am gonna try to keep them going.
DH and I going to the movies for our regular Sat Nite Date. Son came over and mumbled he was getting behind in his bills. I asked him when he moves back home is he willing to sleep in the garage, cuz his room is now a plant room. LOL I am not helping this kid again. He is 34, dammit.

Mabel, did you get some tropicals for your location up there yet?

Neener you are just a baby!
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/1297/
Read down until you see someone from zone 6 who left it outdoors.
I have little experience with the ginger because I have just let it grown. I will do some looking because I want to downsize mine and I still think I read something about the old stalks won't rebloom, but that could be my imagination also.

Debra, don't these kids know once they leave the plants just sprout in those spaces...rofl and the plants will not move, they will just engulf whoever tries to live in that room again, kind of like the
Body Snatchers (for those of us who are old enough to remember which does not include Birthday Girl....LOL.... ;D One of my big fears is if DSS were to lose his job, cause I am knowing in my heart of hearts there isn't much savings to fall on. Poor thing if he thinks his inheritance will get him thru his old age, he is really gonna be in trouble..... LOL

Happ I don't do the math thing really well. I'm not such a baby. Fruity called me an old coot this morning, but she is the one that is a few months older than me. Today was 52 for me. I remember the Body Snatchers. Now Debra, that girl looks like she is about 40 so how can her son be 34? :0)))))

Six months older to the day, Neener. You could pass for 31 for the first time any day. And so could you, Debra.

Don't quote me on this but think I read somewhere that Gingers bloom on at least 2 year-old growth. heavenscape sent a Butterfly White to me last Spring and it was tempting to cut it back before I brought it in this week, but if the blooms are going to smell anything like you're describing, there's no way I'm cutting it back and will wait to see if it blooms next year.

Orange King Humbert Canna from a Spring trade is finally blooming. Is there such a thing as a late-blooming Canna? My regulars have been in full swing since July are just starting to fade.

Tomato Soup Coneflower is flushing again after I collected seeds and gave it a severe pruning a few weeks ago.

Today was one of the most beautiful Fall days, one like you wish you could bottle and open on a crappy Winter's day.

gorgeous blooms you guys. I spent all day outside, and it was perfect here.
You are right, fruity. wish we could bottle it up for later.
We went to see Preditor tonight. Remember the Alien and Preditor movies? That kid from that 70's show was in this version and I laffed my butuksi off.

Morning everyone! Plenty of cake left, come and get it!
Beautiful blooms everyone!

Debra, it is called tough love. A few years ago, both of my boys were always calling me for money for this, and that! Well, I finally put my foot down, and told them, if one job is not enough, maybe you need two of them. They have not called for money since, and they somehow get through to the next month!
Now they pay bills instead of going out and getting the next newest game!

Morning all, beautiful blooms as usual. fotv, you do have a late bloomer...LOL but it is a pretty.

My pledge to me is that all these pots will be washed and put away by the end of today! LOL Told you I had a mess, DH came around he corner of the house and just stopped dead in his tracks.....I am so lucky I have no neighbors on that side of the house so I don't have to worry about them, thank goodness. It will all be cleaned up tho. See my dying pine tree, so sad. I think I will have DH cut it down today as soon as I get everything up. Actually about 3/4 of the pots are already cleaned up. Was afraid to leave them out with my sweet little black lab...rofl. He is just too helpful... :D

Blooming outside I just have some mums, some cleomes, dahlias are going crazy, and one reblooming iris and that is it that is blooming. Got some daffs in the ground but have lots more to get planted. Just seems if you have one reblooming iris blooming the rest should be also.....strange.

Did you forget a picture?

I GOT DONE! 7:45pm I got back in the house. Everything is watered, washed, put up, and cleaned. I am exhausted! Wish I had tomorrow off to rest but may be a fed holiday but not for me.

Uhm, can I have some of those pots? LOL I am running out. Do you need some plants for those pots? LOL

G M Happ I Have some also that need washing Would I Be able to BRIBE You ???? I hope to go around & get some of mine all in a pile so I have them all in one spot for next year :)

Well you all have a great day I Hope to chat later .
HAPPY COLUMBUS DAY
susie

Finally get in the garden room last night for the first time in two days and guess what, my night blooming cerus bloomed and did it without me! First bloom. Course it was buried in a jungle and didn't see it until I watered. Two brugs blooming in there and my plumeria, this will be the first bloom for this plant. I have 8 of plumerias. One bloomed white right after getting it, was suppose to be red. So hoping this bloom is another color than white. Can't tell yet.

Deejay, I was amazed, I had pots scattered all over the place. That was the first task was to get them all in one place so I could spray the crud out before I started washing! I thought at one time if I find one more pot stuck behind something....what a mess. It does feel good to get it all cleaned, you should see them all organized in their little stacks in the shed! I am missing a the size I usually do starts for the plant sale, which is why I don't have any..course alot of those I have starts in already.

Debra, I have pots to share, I think I have plenty...LOL do I need plants for pots.....yes of course BUT I don't have any room for plants....rofl, the solar room is full and the garden room is bursting at the seams. I can barely go in there cause I am getting claustrophic so I need to figure out what move around trim, etc. Good cold or rainy project day.

I am going to pot up different plants in one pot I think. Kind of like a living bouquet....LOL I have lots of little plants here and there and fotv came up with the idea of sticking them together.

Rainy today.

Well maggie looks as she is old enough to learn to cook , vac., mop, dishes , & show her No matter if she stays or move out this is life unless she marries a maid :)) Hehe I was working BABYSITTING When I Was 8 yrs old but doing House work since i was 6 all of us had chores to do & We learned it didn't hurt us in any way for we had lots of love in the family :) Back then we could watch Saturday morning cartoons but By 11 am T V was Shut Off
then we all had to work together , Really do Miss those days .

Beautiful day here today & I feel as someone is pounding on me so just doing as little as possible but getting a few things done :) just had to take a brake .. so now i guess i need to go read the chats had to put my 2 cents IN :))

happy gardening .
susie

I found a Mothers Day card one year for my Mom and it touted all the great things she did for us when we were young, then open it and it said something like IT WAS SO GREAT I AM MOVING BACK.....ROFL. My Mom laughed, cause by then my 2 sisters had both taken turns moving in and out and I think Mom had enough of us....rofl, she said cute card but don't try it......LOL

See those pots in the second row, happ, those are about the size I need, just a few ya know...LOL Just kidding. Actually I have a lot more than I thought too and am in the same boat gathering, cleaning and storing. There's a pile on the side porch, another on the back porch, and the real pot ghetto lives behind the utility building that will one day be magically transformed into my potting shed. Not holding my breath too tight on that one, at least not this year. The crazy part about consolidating plants was having a bunch of smaller empty pots but am pretty pleased with how the ones I finished look. Still have a few more to go and have no clue where I'm putting the sprawling philos.

Here's a shot today of Christmas Cacti from you Faye, and Cathedral Cacti from you Neener :)

Holy Heck Batman!! That cathedral cactus is getting big. Don'tcha just love the way some of those things try to take over the house? :0)

It's easily quadrupled in size! Didn't you tell me it'll turn to mush if I leave it outside? That was somewhere in the back of my mind when I put it in the middle of the Christmas cacti Faye sent me.

Do baskets count when we're consolidating plants? If they do, here's one with a prickless Cactus Pear cactus and a start of a Hoya, along with a Euphorbia and Cast Iron Plants.

I like baskets... I filled them up this spring with stuff and I love putting more than one thing in pots too.. Love that cathedral cactus. wow

Okay so I have boxes and boxes of seeds... everywhere.. it is getting bad..
I have cans and pots and containers of cuttings.. everywhere.. DH is getting worried there might be some plants in his side of the bed eventually.
DH wants me to not cut this tall thing down, or the banana either. He wants them just they way they are right now inside the house.. good thing that tall thing from Joyce is in a tub.. the banana has to be dug up, tho

Deb there's lots more of that cathedral cactus here if you want some. :0) It is actually not a true cactus. Sometimes called African Milk Plant because it is a euphorbia and weeps that white sap when cut.

debra is that a ginger plant in your pic ?? Some one send me one this spring & I don't know if i can just plant it out
side or if i keep it inside But it looks like yours & I'm in z5 , also like to know is it a underground runner type plant ?

Aslo anyone here tell me if you can root cactus in vermiculite as you can other cutting? got to go get an old age shot in the arm today so back later for answers :))) you all have a great day .
susie

susie, yep thats a ginger, and nope, I don't leave it out side, but if Hap does, I will, since she is in almost same zone, so lets ask her. ;D I have yet to see one bloom..
the coffee is on, I have to go to work, help your selves to the cinnamon rolls there..

Debra are you talking about the Egyptian Papyrus, the umbrella tall looking thing? It sure did good for you. I leave mine in the watergarden all summer and haul it into the garden room in the winter and now I have a much smaller variety I got at home depot. LOL can't imagine how many seeds you have, that underground storage place in some cold horrible place has nothing on you....LOL

Love the basket, and the topping on the pots, makes them look much better than just dirt. Glad you all have ideas I can borrow.

The more decorative pots in the picture I got at dollar general one year in the late late fall for like 2.00 a pop, I hit every dollar general within a reasonable driving range....LOL

deejay, I don't keep my ginger outside, I believe as low as they can go is around 50 degrees. If it is too big just keep one good growing root of it and by spring you should be good to go again.

http://montanawildlifegardener.blogspot.com/search/label/Greenhouse
I found this website when trying to find plans for a greenhouse built from old windows. I just love this guys website and he explains alot shows before and after pics. Is testing a compost furnance. I finally figured out he had dug I guess a pit under the floor of the greenhouse and put some slots in the floor for the heat to rise. Just an exceptional web site I think. Early summer our local lumber yard was discarding bunches of stacks of redwood lumber and I bought two stacks. So I have lots of lumber for a potting bench and a greenhouse.....now to figure out how to do it. I like the idea of this guys solid wall on the north.

Wow, they really did a lot of work to the yard, and that greenhouse is nice!
Morning everyone!
Thanks for the breakfast Debra!
Love the blooms everyone!
Now you all have me thinking I can put several plants in the bigger pots, and save a bunch of room???

I do.. all the time.. Bonnie made me pull a bunch out tho when she came here, from the big brugs on the patio, she said they were eating all their food and drinking all their water.. so I emptied out those three big pots of the big brugs..and gave them their food and water back..
I stuck my impatiens in this frosty tho.. they needed some place to stay in for the winter.. I have deleaved everything that looked like it had spidermites. If I see any signs of bugs, off the leaves come and then spray and watch. They can regrow leaves.

Question After bringing the brugs in for winter you do not need to feed as often right ??? what about watering
should you still water weekly ???. we are haven some really great Fall days :) Just beautiful Just right for playing out side & Here i'm with one arm right now .

Got a cortizone shot yesterday but the pain has not let up any Isn't that the way it gose when you have things you want & Need to do something just seems to get in the way .

Another Question About House Plants this is my 1st time Bringing in Plants .
I Bought some "Ecosense" Insecticide soap Will this HELP Keep The Bugs Out OF the plants ???

I Also BOUGHT Some EE's Should I Just plant & Keep in the House or should i Store the Bulbs as I Do Dahlias ??

Sorry for all the Questions but inquzive minds needs to know :) HEHE Please help .

Sure will be happy when my Brother get 's home I really need his help around here but so glad he had time to go on a vacation out there in VA :) He's With His OLDEST Son & DIL ,

well daddy is getting up so got to go ,I'll be back in a few.
susie

store the EEs like you do the dahlias. I use that eco sense bug spray too for the soil and base of the plants. Do not be upset if you get leaf drop or yellowing leaves, that is plants going into dormancy.. have a grand day with your family!