Garden clubs

Sorry & am not sure how to fix it--will see.

I went to the american Iris society www.irises.org then to regional affiliates & clicked on Iris society 0f Mass. & was able to get it. I must have made a mistake in posting it.

Not really a lot of work. They live inside the big windows in the back of the shelf. I hand the smaller ones outside to my son and hand them back in the same way. I have a few really large ones but they are all on plant stands with casters and so roll outside.
Martha

Thanks Iris, found it.
Pirl, sorry to hear that, hope everything will be okay. Prayers with you.

This message was edited Mar 4, 2011 6:39 PM

So sorry to hear about the skin cancer, Pirl.....I've had a small spot removed on my leg....I'm sure a lot of the damage was done when we were younger.....

Thanks, Dem and Marilyn. I'm glad I kept an eye on the spot (as shown here before surgery) and got an appointment when I saw changes. I'm sure I'll be fine.

best wishes--yes too much sun when we were young.

Pirl, you have joined another club. Welcome but I hope we never have to have another meeting or further discussion. The "C" word should be for Clematis, Calla, Caladium, Coreopsis, Chrysanthemum, Crocus, Ceratostigma and Caryopteris, though, weirdly, the later two always seemed like they should be a cancer term, Happily they both produce such lovely blue blossoms in Aug when we need some blue. So back to the garden for you and may you find no more weeds, pests and disease among your plants and on your body. I will lift my favorite dibble in your honor tomorrow when out among my emerging bulbs.

I sometimes go to the Nantucket GC open garden fund raising events, but I am not a member. Sadly I rarely have a "garden chat" that is meaningful or helpful with anyone officiating at these events, though I know there are an amazing number of very knowledgeable gardeners among the "social" members. Many of them are "pointers" who never dig a hole or pull a weed, but instead just write a fat check for those who do their work. I get help sometimes, and would love more especially as I get older. I have a couple of friends who are serious "pointers" who actually know and enjoy the plants that they purchase and have designed some very beautiful gardens. They just don't do any physical work as it is bad on the Nails, Hair and Skin. When they come over to our home, they really want to see our garden and seem to understand the physical work that we do, which is a nice acknowledgment. Plus they aren't likely to ask when the garden is going to be "done" or say, Are you still working on it? Or worse, not even notice that we have a garden which is what happens with some of our friends. They don't care a hoot about plants. Patti

Thanks, Lucy. It's by the shin bone and that's doubly confusing since my legs are underneath as I kneel and garden, so that portion of my legs never gets tanned and always crushes the grass. It's puzzling how just that one dime sized spot happened but the doctor said the sun was the cause of it.

Thanks, so much, Patti. I've had the same issue on my face and it required two surgeries to get the entire root removed. Now, when I try to search for the spot, I can't find it - hurray! Let's hope the spot on the leg disappears within a year but, more importantly, I hope the root is now gone.

We certainly have our share of "pointers" here! Until last year we only hired help with tree trimming but moving established 15 year old hydrangeas would have been too much for either of us and yet it wasn't a problem for our wonderful Neri, who returned (permanently) to Guatemala in late November.

That question about being "done" always makes me laugh. One neighbor plants just impatiens and begonias so she truly is done after she gets them planted. If it makes her happy it's fine with me and she makes no pretense about being a serious gardener. Many others don't plant a thing and very few can appreciate actual gardens as compared to a plant here in the back and one more in the front.

Sadly, many just walk through the gardens at a quick pace and have no appreciation for anything. I wish they'd stay home rather than do a five minute tour and say, "How nice".

Oooh, Pirl, that looks sore! Hope it heals quickly......I do all my gardening, but not the mowing or pruning.....I don't like getting old & helpless......trying to stay strong forever!

hope, hope, hope that the problem is now at an end. My Mom liked to garden & my Dad cut the grass, although his father had a greenhouse behind the church which he served for over 40 yrs. DH grew up on Long Island, & worked in a school greenhouse. the neighbor behind my childhood home had a backyard which was planted in nothing but TB irises. I used to hang over our picket fence & chat. I think that my dad built the fence to keep balls out of the neighbor's garden. Gardening is best caught while young, but older people sometimes 'come' to it.

My earliest memories are walking in my Gram's garden.....

I'm impatiently waiting for the area to become itchy. That, to me, is the sign of healing.

Nice memories, Lucy and Marilyn.

Lucy - do you know where your DH lived on Long Island? Do you think you got your love of irises from the neighbor's garden?

Marilyn - time spent with grandparents is a great influence on us and the memories really are priceless.

Definately loved irises from the neighbors garden. DH's grandmother had the smaller irises grown before the TB-I. pumila crosses. He lived several places on L.I. The last where I met his family was in East Islip. They had a 'bay boat' , flat bottomed motor converted from sail which chugged around Great South Bay. Both grandmothers were gardeners.

Pirl, zinc (50 mg/day) helps with the healing. Hope it is well contained as my renal cell carcinoma was.

Cannot ever envision with being "done" with the gardening. It is always a work in progress. Also, it is important to extend the growing season as long as possible, and we try to utilize the land for multiple seasons. The shade garden has always taken care of itself since the former owner set it up before we moved in. Since our neighbor took down a dead tree, we probably won't have as much shade. It is more of a spring garden, with celandine poppies, lady's slippers, ferns trout lilies, epimedium, some offensive ground cover, shaded mostly by a japanese maple.

Once the early stuff blooms, it means cleanup and on to the next round.

Gardenmart, love those movable pots. Half of life is a trial and error, isn't it? Will be trying to move some peonies from the northeast side of the house to see if they'll fare better with better sun. Love to see those little red "trees" poke through the soil, but then they don't seem to thrive enough to bloom. I always thought I'd have time in the fall to move these things, but it never materialized. It was summer; then it was winter brrrrrr.

By the way, do we all yearn to see the blooms we remember as children? A few years after my mother sold her house, I went back to find our favorite rosebush, but the areas was all overgrown, and the new owners did not even know what I was looking for.

The flowers I remember best from Gram's garden were the deep maroon Sweet William by the back door, huge bleeding hearts bushes, purple & yellow TBI, and poppies....but my favorites were her Queen Anne cherry tree, & mulberry bush.....delish!

East Islip is very swanky, Lucy!

Cathy, thanks but I can't take any vitamins or supplements until after next Wednesday when I'll have my first surgery to remove cataracts. I'm falling apart!

My mom probably had Sweetheart roses over the arbor, outside the life sized doll house I enjoyed for so many years. Loved the Hollyhocks, Hydrangeas, Daffodils and the sweet Honeysuckle but my mom loved her Magnolia most of all. When we planted ours it was in honor of my mom.

It wasn't swanky during WW II when they moved there. House was an old carriage house with cement livingroom floor. Opened the doors & hosed it down. DH niece went to see it during a trip about 8 yrs ago & found that it had been pulled down. Probably so a swanky house could be built.

There's a lot of McMansions going up all over the island.

The real PIRL was my neighbor and friend. Her house was torn down (much to my dismay) to erect a huge home. They aren't appealing to me.

I saw the East Islip house when I was in HS. We were there for Granma's funeral. It was neat to see where Dad grew up. Sad that they pulled it down.

I hate seeing something unique destroyed in the name of progress.

Our garden club in Mt. Laurel, NJ is pretty good. While we do spend time socializing and eating gourmet luncheons, we also have a plant, bird or environment related speaker, a garden related field trip and we do also talk about garden items in our business meeting. While not everyone participates as much as we would like, we do community plantings, community decorating and other events. We have a porch display in the Philadelphia flower show this year. Some of our members are extremely talented at artistic design and have won many blue ribbons at the show. It's nice to make friends with some other people who like gardening or flower arranging, even though it might not work with everyone there.
To learn more about our club, see our web site: http://www.mtlaurelgardenclub.com/
You are welcome to come to a meeting as a guest to visit. Bruce Crawford is pictured here. He is from Rutgers gardens and was one of our speakers.

Pirle, Your Canadian friend here. We have a Botanical Society and a garden club I was an active member of both.I donated my library of Garden books to the Botanical Society.You have toured our Botanical Garden so you know there are some true and knowledgeable gardeners here.Being a university town has helped.I too am having cataract surgery...mine is on the 15th.I had cancer on my leg and 3 spots on my face. All healed and left no scars.I celebrated my 82 birthday last week with my family. Andy made 4 different pizzas.I have an embarrassment of roses.The grand children are nearly all grown up.The 2 oldest graduate from university this year and the youngest from high school.Say hello to Jack for me.JOY

Hello Joy, from Jack and I. Glad to hear your news and it's lovely to see the roses for your birthday - Happy Birthday and many more.

The surgery went well and today's visit was an easy one.

I had washed all the curtains and matching comforter, etc. in this room about two weeks ago and kept thinking I didn't use enough bleach. Now that I can see clearly I see the curtains are very clean but my bad eye makes them look dingy!

Good luck with the surgery, Joy. It's a lot of eye drops for the day and then for the following weeks but it's all worth it.

Glad that everything went well. You will be able to see the flowers better, also.

Thanks, Lucy. Reds, pinks and purples look the same but tans/yellow and beige look much clearer now and not as muddy as before.

Doesn't red always be red? Shows off.

It does call attention from any garden. After all these years I still love the red rose, Mr. Lincoln, and may buy it again this year.

Red roses are special!

Of garden clubs...the Bar Harbor Garden Club in Maine will be having a garden tour this summer. Come on up and see the garden where I work called, Kenarden. It's very pretty. Here's a photo of the Italian garden taken two years ago. The walls now have cast stone balustrades on top of them, though.

I think that the tour is on July 16 but don't quote me.

Come on up for a visit. There are a few very nice public gardens on Mount Desert Island to see as well.

What a lovely place.....Bar Harbor is one of my favorite places, but haven't been in a few years.....

Stunning!

Directions please? LOL

Pixie, I'll pick you up on my way thru!

OK Dem, I have a GPS so all I need is an address and we're good to go!

Just got the first bid on taking up 60 ft of driveway, need a new planting bed!

Any ideas for the bed? Shrubs?

352 Main St., Bar Harbor . Come on up! Just get on Rt 3 and keep going....

Is it definitely July 16th?

Ken, not a problem...I live right off Rt. 3 ^_^
Please post the date when your positive...maybe we'll make it a DG mini-RU! LOL