hummingbird cake just came out of the oven... figured I wouldn't have time to get the truck.. visit dad... bake cake & put icing on tomorrow.. so I had to make it day.. and do icing tomorrow.. hope it's a good as it looks!!!!
More northerly plant swap in Mount Bethel, PA
oh and Randy loves when I make layer cakes.. he always has me keep the leveling off pieces for him .. makes a big moon pie out of em.. LOL
yum!!!!
Please let me know if I missed anyone's food contributions. If you haven't already posted yours, please do so now.
Don't forget your table gift if you want to participate.
We are all set up to have a good time, even in the rain!!!!
Please bring a folding chair if you have room for one.
We are bringing our 10x10 pop up canopy, We will be good sun or rain. LOL
I am checking in to ask if we are still planning on holding the swap tomorrow in spite of the scheduled rain?
I haven't been feeling well and have been out of touch. I am currently trying to fight off a migraine with strong coffee and aspirin. I need to get my plants together before it starts raining - time in the garden always makes me feel better. I will wait to hear for certain before starting baking.
I will check back in later.
Jessica-Gardadore and I have been talking to each others answering machines. If the swap is still on, Terri, I will be coming early with her to help you get things ready.
It's still on. We will be dry in spite of the weather. We have the two car garage all cleared out with 5 or 6 tables to sit at. We have 4 pop up tents set up outside the garage with tables for the plants.
You are fortunate to have such a big, beautiful house and garden!
My migraine is abating and I can finally see straight. It has been a long winter and difficult spring for me.
My winter and spring sown seedlings aren't ready to trade, but I'll check the trade list and pack up the plants I have. I threw some clothes in the wash so that I would have something to wear tomorrow other than business suits and evening dresses. Funny how I wear out my jeans and sun dresses while my "good clothes" rarely need replacing.
My garden looks better than my kitchen at the moment, in spite of the weeds, but I have butter softening for the baked treats.
Hi again!
Yes, directions/address would be great.
I'm still a definite maybe - i feel a little like a party crasher as:
a. I'm not really on this site that much anymore and don't know most of you and you don't know me from anyone...
b. i don't have much to trade... some seeds... maybe a few annuals
c. there's not a lot on my wish list (but i'd take some stuff people want to give away - esp shady things), since i don't plan on being here more than one year
d. i don't have much together, nor prepared food (though i could run to the store) something came up and i wound up in the city during daylight hours today.
e. i know i can't get there till afternoon
I don't want to take advantage of your gracious hospitality, but then again, it would be nice to meet some other gardeners, and to re-meet Allison and Jen (Jen, are the liriopes you're giving away from mine? I tried to warn you!) and to maybe come back with different things than i left with!
amy
*
:)
Yes, Amy they are from the ones you gave me!!! They really aren't that bad, I have them contained to one area....LOL
Amy it doesn't matter if you are empty or full handed... anyone is welcome
I hope that you come amethystsm. My friend lives in Belleville, NJ the drive here takes typically him between 1 to 1 1/2 hrs. You can have some of my pachysandra for your shade. Be forewarned, it has dreams of world domination and doesn't play well with others, but it doesn't need mowing and eventually chokes out the weeds. I think most of us are there to meet each other anyway. No one wanted any of my plants until I posted them on the other list.
Besides, you may decide you like the Poconos so much that you want to move here. You can buy twice the house for half the price of one in Belleville.
wish my truck had room for you Amy... but dad's is only a 2 seater
:(
Er, can someone send me the location info?
thanks!
Amethystsm, you have d-mail with the address!
This message was edited May 14, 2011 2:24 AM
good morning, we need the address too please
thanks!
You have it in your d mail.
oooooohhhhhhhhhh Teri... thanks so much for hosting again.. we had such a wonderful time!!!!
Yes, thank you!
and Michele yelled at me to make sure I get the ramen noodle salad recipe
The few pics I took.
Teri, will have to identify the flowers for us....
https://picasaweb.google.com/jerseyjenflower/RoundUp51411?authkey=Gv1sRgCNK6zb7S_NiSyAE#
nice stuff Jen!!
So glad the link worked
Already posted on the offerings thread but wanted to make sure everyone saw my thanks! Great photos, Jen!!
Thanks everyone for a wonderful day and for bringing so many fabulous selections. It was a true bounty and a real pleasure to just stand back and look at all the offerings. Happily I went home with only new acquisitions - thanks to all who took what I brought off my hands so I had room for the new! I have spent most of the day in between the misty showers deciding where to put things and weeding for new space. I don't know how people actually PLAN a bed. When I do it all grows together anyway or part dies out and I end of putting in new things as I get them and think they will work. So I have been checking out all the "spaces" available for the babies - such fun!!
As usual the great food and company made the day as well. Can't wait to check out the recipe page! Already looking forward to next year's Swap. Since I note you are all such avid "acquirers" I will be more aware of what I can divide and mark it for division for next year! It's certainly a wonderful way to make room for new things - this swap idea is fantastic!
Thanks to Teri for her herculean efforts including the tents and cleaning the garage for us! What a trooper! This is truly one of the special gardening events of the year for me! Looking forward to meeting you all again at another SWAP. Happy planting!!
This message was edited May 15, 2011 11:30 PM
I couldn't have said that better myself so I will just say "ditto for me"! Teri, thank you for opening up your home for us!
And if you wouldn't mind, Jen's photo #22 - I heard you say that it was a malva? Which one is it? It's beautiful. They always are covered with rust in my yard. It's nice to see what a healthy one looks like.
same here Loretta... mine never look that nice... well if I bought a big plant they did.. and the next year they did not
It's a Malva Silvestris . It orginally grew elsewhere, nearby, but died off. The original plant dropped seed in the spot where you saw it growing. I'm going to try to collect seed this year from this plant and several different plants. I usually don't get to do as much seed collecting as I should at the end of the growing season, but I intend to try.
I have tried from plants & seed.. they just don't do well here.. can't wait to see your blooms Teri
Thanks for the info, Teri. I did use mancozeb one year and that worked at keeping the hollyhocks and malvas healthy. I always say I would do that again but I'm chicken with chemicals.
A friend at my local Herb Club gave me this recipe for Hollyhocks which I have never tried but it is at least "organic"! I also found it on a blog at http://ourfrenchgarden.blogspot.com/2010/03/hollyhocks-rust-and-me.html I am concerned about what vinegar does since some people use it to kill weeds but it must be OK here!
1 1/2 teaspoons of baking soda
1 Tablespoon of canola oil
1/2 teaspoon soap (not detergent)
1/2 cup white vinegar
1 Gallon water
Blend ingredients and pour into a spray bottle. Shake thoroughly and apply weekly to tops and undersides of leaves (where rust often lurks).
I also have Neem Oil in my list of rust preventers - don't know it it would work or not.
Thanks for the recipe. I might try it with the one hollyhock I have left. I've tried Neem for other things. I find the smell hard to take and it doesn't fade fast enough for me.
BTW, on my way home Saturday, I saw a real bluebird sitting on post by the side of the road. I thought that was really cool
that is awesome... and I had to pull over for Michele to see the goats at the farm near your house Teri.. she was all excited
Aren't they so cute!! Not far away is a place with some beautiful pigs and piglets. Also a place with some kind of good looking burros (or something) and of course all kinds of horses everywhere.
I received this most appropriate forward from a friend which couldn't fit us all any better if we tried. After witnessing the collecting enthusiasm at our SWAP this weekend I concluded we were all a little "cracked" or "potty" or both. But no worries as you will see from this little story - we have our role to play in the scheme of things!
THE CRACKED POT
An elderly Chinese woman had two large pots, each hung on the ends of a pole which she carried across her neck.
One of the pots had a crack in it while the other pot was perfect and always delivered a full portion of water.
At the end of the long walks from the stream to the house, the cracked pot arrived only half full.
For a full two years this went on daily, with the woman bringing home only one and a half pots of water.
Of course, the perfect pot was proud of its accomplishments.
But the poor cracked pot was ashamed of its own imperfection, and miserable that it could only do half of what it had been made to do.
After two years of what it perceived to be bitter failure, it spoke to the woman one day by the stream.
"I am ashamed of myself, because this crack in my side causes water to leak out all the way back to your house."
The old woman smiled, "Did you notice that there are flowers on your side of the path, but not on the other pot's side?"
"That's because I have always known about your flaw, so I planted flower seeds on your side of the path, and every day while we walk back, you water them. For two years I have been able to pick these beautiful flowers to decorate the table. Without you being just the way you are, there would not be this beauty to grace the house."
Each of us has our own unique flaw. But it's the cracks and flaws we each have that make our lives together so very interesting and rewarding.
You've just got to take each person for what they are and look for the good in them.
SO, to all of my cracked pot friends, have a great day and remember to smell the flowers on your side of the path!
And send this to your friends within 5 minutes and see what happens!
Don't forget the Cracked Pot that sent it to you!!
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
This message was edited May 20, 2011 9:35 AM
nice!!!!!!!
Neat.
There was a story similiar to that in one of my son's reading books from school
You mean we're not normal?
oh it's normal alright