Oooo that strawberry flavor angel food cake sounds YUMMY!!!!
No snow here but some heavy flakes mixed in with the rain for about 5mins then switched back to rain, by about 6PM raining on and off and a rainbow appeared but disappeared too fast for me to take a pic of it
I really like my Katherine Hodgkins, realized I need more reticulated Iris
The markings look very pretty in your pic Jen.
Chris I hope today continued as a 'better' day.
Just beautiful Jen. Hey I am finally out of the training room. Spent 4 hours tonight out in the lawn and garden area. But covers over the plants, went around with a regular employee who showed me all the stock and even helped a few customers.
Jen, your picture could change my mind about the Katherine Hodgkins, it shows them off nicely.
Way to go, Holly, you will be increasing sales in no time.
Feeling good so far. Sun is out today.
Holly, what did I miss??? what training??? job??? where???
Chris, a day like that was worth it! Was it the meds that made you feel like cr-p or the day out?
The cake sounds really good! Or maybe it was just the word strawberry, LOL!
Bad bad snow!
Jill, kids do love to be out no matter how cold it is. I can just feel those icy little fingers, LOL!
FlowAjen, a very nice picture and I'm with you about more little iris!
Holly, a new job? In a nursery? I envy you!
Well, we got the boys Thursday because DD Sara was hoping to have an ultrasound after her regular appointment. They didn't have anything open, but could get her in the next day. So we had the boys overnight. Then she had things she needed to do and wondered if they could stay two nights. Yep.
Carly is no longer breech, but now Callun is. They both weigh about 2# which is what a single baby would weigh. They base everything on a single birth. Carly's head is slightly larger. We had some pretty homely ultra sound pictures, LOL! I'll admit they are a lot clearer than they used to be.
We also had the boys over April Fools Day..... Grandma fell for the floating house, dinosaur in the field, bug on her head and many many more silly ones, LOL!
It was so nice out that we got to go to our boring little park, two days in a row, and we played kickball with no coats and bare toes yesterday. Then they went home happy and tired!
I am glad we had them a day early otherwise they would still be here and just waking up. I now have a nice quiet Sunday to look forward to.
I put down my Iris Borer Control and Preen last night, finishing all the bags I had. Now they are back on the grocery list because I won't be without! I sat outside till 7:30 pm becaause it was so nice. Every neighbor but the one behind me, was gone. I love being the only one home. It's so quiet!
There's a chance for severe storms this afternoon and could have been raining at 6:60 am. It wasn't, but I sure did want to get all the poisons down!
Sun popped out and now is gone :o(
We're still supposed to get to 72° and a chance of severe weather. April is here :o)
I picked up a seasonal part time job in the Garden Dept at Lowes. I thought it might be fun and I could use the $$ to pay for my next diving trip to Bonaire this Nov. Not really sure how good of an idea it is though. Here I am at the busiest time of year for me and going back to work. Next week I am missing a breakfast with friends and a small school play at Lily's school because I will be working. I fluctuate between thinking working is a good thing and working is a bad thing. LOL
I fluctuate between thinking working is a good thing and working is a bad thing. LOL
"Truer words " etc etc
I esp like the name Carly for the girl, billy!
Billy, I think it was to much at one time to soon. But I have no regrets, I am just learning how this chemo is effecting me and how to cope with it the next time. Each one has a learning curve.
My favorite saying was, "Money no time, time no money" when I didn't work I didn't have the extra money to garden the way I wanted, when I started working it seems I didn't have the time to devote to gardening.
Now I don't have the energy, can't win. LOL
I did get outside some yesterday and today and got some more of the flower beds cleaned out. It is cloudy today and may rain tomarrow. Hope it's a warm rain.
Just taking a break, I am outside staining the new flats bench Ric built me.
Billy, I love the baby's names. When I had my twins they were a real surprise. Didn't know till Josh was delivered that Jen was in there, too. Bet it is fun seeing an utrasound of twins.
Chris, Save your engery and enjoy the weather and view of your gardens. I wonder if you could find a teenager to help with the gardens. Our Vo-tech has a Hort program. Do you have one in your area? It would be a good place to look for a little help.
Holly, that will be a great job! I'd have to go in an hour early and walk the flower aisles...with a cart, LOL!
I hear you. Maybe just try it this year. The money won't be a bad thing and people have always had to miss programs for some reason or other. There is a bit of guilt, but I think you will like it.
Thanks Sallyg. I do too, and it's Anne for the middle name :o)
Chris, at least you felt good while you were out and you had a great dinner! It is a shame it wiped you out so much, but as you said, next time you'll know.
Holly, isn't it great to have a guy who can build!
They didn't do ultrasound when I was pregnant so it is really something to see them. They are even better than they were a few years ago. Oldest Grandson and I were looking at them and the picture was really up close. I looked at him and said ''look at the schnoz on her." He just giggled :o) (DD said the babies have her nose.)
A suprise twin would have been something! I think I would have fainted then cried with suprise and joy, LOL! What a great story for her! Not many have a special story.
I worked on weeding all afternoon and evening. It was cloudy and breezy and we got to open windows!
I had to wait till after 7:00pm for any rain. What a light show tho! Thick bolts down and sideways. The electrical were really curly rather than fingers. It was something!
There was a chance for ping pong and golf ball sized hail, but not here. I heard hail, but couldn't even see it, LOL! I don't think we got much rain, but at least we got some. Enough to wet the stuff I put down Saturday.
I am still going to water the astilbe. I thought maybe a couple died out last Fall when it got dry. This rain will tell what is still living :o)
The girls at work were talking about doing a gardening day for me. I had Paul help with the raking the other day, so that got a big chunk done. That was the whole side of the driveway with the day lilies and the one flower bed off the driveway. Yesterday I de-burlaped my topiary tree, wanted to get that done so the rain we are getting today will give it a good cleaning.
Like reading about the twins, it is so exciting.
Thinking of getting some more seeds started in the basement today, everything so far is doing well, I had some red saliva seeds that Stormy sent me a few years back, thought I'd try them but so far nothing. Need to look through my stash and see if I have other saliva to try. I am really pleased how well my baby geraniums are doing, they will be pink, planing to do some pink deck boxes for the railing. I have some pink saliva and pink petunias to go with them.
Carly Anne--will bring extra extra special smiles to you, billyp!
Chris, we get by with a little help from our friends. Even non gardeners can rake and bag debris. and pick up little sticks. You seem to have a great group of coworkers! Thats a blessing.
Chris,
It's good to read through your posts and find you continuing toward recovery. Renewed prayers for you.
Have you ever tried internet radio? It's free. One I like particularly is www.pandora.com where you can choose what you want to hear, make your own station for Enya. Pandora will suggest artists and songs that are similar, like Enya's sister for example, and other Celtic artists. It has also introduced me to music I might never have heard otherwise. I love Mozart and Bach, smooth jazz, and Gregorian chant, and just switch from one of my stations to another depending on my mood.
Pam, thanks for the link..... I'll give it a try.
My daughter Jen love Pandora. She has found all kinds of new artists she likes.
Chris, your girls are angels! I can imagine how much you can get finished up with their help. Men are such a big help too!
It really isn't going to be long before the twins are here! Middle of June! (Tiny scream :o)
Baby geraniums! From seed? They are so expensive to buy for pots outside. I used to try and winter over the one's Mom bought, but I didn't have the room or the sunny windows to do them any good.
The boxes are going to be a wonderful color to look at all summer!
Sallyg, I think she will :o)
Pam, I'll have to find time to check out Pandora. Meanwhile I better bookmark it or I'll forget!
I hope it's warmer today than yesterday. I walked the yard, but it wasn't pleasant :o(
I need a nice day we can open the door long enought to bring in the huge, lighted plant stand. How I wish I could leave it in, LOL! The older I get the punier I get!
I'm looking out the window and see one rhubarb that needs to be moved. I might attempt that today. It looks small, but boy can the root ball get large fast! I don't want it in the apple tree roots tho. They are getting nice and curly on top!
Billy, If you have a cool basement try this to overwinter your geraniums. Before a frost hits in the fall, pull up your geraniums, knock off all the dirt from the roots, tie a soft cord around them, so you can hang them upside down, they do not need light. The trick is not leaving them dry out completely, you can mist them a few times a month if the stems start to look like they are getting too dried out.
Around March- April, start potting them up and bring them into the light, If they start growing to tall and lanky, you can trim them back and root the cuttings.
I have keep some of my geraniums for 3 years this way.
Here is a picture of my new babies, I got a bit of a late start and they will probably not be ready to bloom when they go outside, but they will catch up fast.
We are a close knit family at work, and have always been there for each other. It took a few staff changes over the years to get to where we are now. We are not perfect but it works.
The temp has dropped here from yesterday, but looking forward to a warm-up soon. I was glad we got the one flower bed cleaned up, the warm day yesterday made the yellow crocus in that bed pop up. So nice to look out the back door and see that spot of yellow.
Time to get my geraniums going again, I see.
Chris, I have no basement. Only a tiny area under a closet in the coldest room in the house. I have just enough room to store my rain lilies, glads and 4 O'clock roots. Last year I let the calla lilies go. They just weren't blooming and even tho the leaves are pretty, I don't have much room for the ''dig and store'' plants. I also lost the huge dahlia roots I had. They were huge towards the end.
I wish i did have a basement. I sure would overwinter a lot of things. Your babies are sooo pretty!
Workers who are friends at work reflect that back to the people who come it. It's very nice to see friends and friendly attitudes!
My crocus are done, but the (scillia) Blue Flag is going now. I love the deep blue. I dug them from a yard in town after the woman was gone and the house was up for sale. I treasure them!
It's cloudy and we have a chance for rain this morning. I better change and get my walk in. It's been nice and I've been out raking and digging out damdelions and chickweeed. I used up all the Preen :o(
I'm going to leave that typo in, giggle!
I found that typo--thats cute!!
The weather is turning nice again here, I hope it is too for you, Chris. And for billyporter LOL!
I never tried to keep the 4 o'clock roots.. do the plants grow bigger the 2nd year?
You'd suppose they do.. and may emerge faster. The roots look like fat parsnips/ fat white, blackskinned carrots.
That typo is a great one ! Actually I like damdelions. I think the roots break up my soil and helps the rain get into the clay soil, every time I dig one up I find lots of worms around the roots. Which is a good thing. I have one of those narrow weed diggers that works great in removing the weeds. Now dock is a different story, that takes a load of TNT to get that stuff out.
We are having a rain-snow mix today looks like we are in for a warm up 69º on Sunday, looks like Thursday and Saturday will be sunny so I plan on a little more raking those days. The other day we expect rain. Maybe Saturday I can get Paul to till the vegatable garden.
Onewish, I have 4-O'clocks that overwinter on the South side of my foundation, I have not noticed that much difference in size to new seed plants, and they seem to bloom at the same time.
Onewish---
You can dig up the roots and store them, dry, until early spring...
Then--mist them a few times to "remind them" that growing season is close...
I have done this----
Taken the BIG, bulky roots and "planted" them in some shallow dirt and put them
outside when the weather seems OK...The ols stem will have fallen off by now...
like an umbilical cord....:o)
Keep an eye on them--and you will see see tiny, new growths coming up from around
where the old stem was....Slowly--but they will grow....
At this po9int--you can plant them in the beds--leaving the new growths above ground...
YES! The roots will get bigger each year...they even extend far into the area!
Here is a root I dug up last year...These are only 1 years old...from seed!
Get the idea?????
the tuber in one year is amazing.. thanks for the info guys.. maybe I will give it a go this year
Onewish, I keep the Ruby Red, which are a smaller plant, but the roots get bigger each year and they grow quicker after I plant. I also have seed for the fragrant one's and I really need to plant them this year before I lose the. The seeds that do sprout in the garden take so long to grow and bloom. I will always keep the roots.
Chris, I like them too, in moderation, but the whole yard can quickly become a sea of yellow and they get huge here! The grass will die under them, leaving it open for weeds. So, we dig and spray.
Gita, those are nice! I will use your misting idea. I've never done that. I do have the sack of them and the glads sitting in my kitchen. I'll look at them later. I've been keeping the roots for maybe three years now.
We had a nice jeep ride yesterday. I was glad. The wind was a bit annoying. The kind that seems to affect the sinus.
Have a good day all. If it doesn't rain we'll be getting a load of horse manure early.
The neighbor's cat comes in and sleeps here. DH caught him looking out of the sheet shelves after waking up. (I cover the sheets with a rug)
I started my seeds indoors.. give them a jump start.. but thanks.. guess it's worth a shot esp since I grew so many this year
I tried starting indoors once. I nicked and soaked and nothing sprouted. I'll have to try again with the fragrant yellow seed.
I don't nick.. just soak in peroxide for a few hours... some germinate in the soak
My 4 is the "Broken Colors" one....Have had them for a few years now...
I decided last year not to grow the 4's this year. They take up so much room
and the seed-harvesting is a never ending job in late fall.
Another plant I will pass on growing this year are my daturas. same reason!
Time to try something different in those areas....I am so limited space wise!
I am sure I will see some volunteers coming up from the 4's....
They even sprout in the lawn. They look just like MG's when they come up--
BUT--the true leaves will be pointed.....A good way to tell the two apart...
This picture is of a 2 year old root. It was planted as a dug up root the year before--
then dug up again and re-planted the following year.
In this picture--it is now into the 3rd spring....I had it buried, shallowly, in some dirt.
I do not believe this is necessary--as all the stored energy for new growth is inside the old root.
NOTE where the new growths are coming from. Around the are where the old stem dropped off.
This root was massive! At least a couple of pounds!
Onewish, ahhh, I do have peroxide. I've never used it for that.
Gita, they sound pretty! I never had any till a few years ago. I saw them in someone else's yard and liked them. Then Thompson and Morgan had the ruby red color. Then I discovered I could save the roots!
I'm with you. Sometimes you just need to see something different.
WOW! I have a long way to go with the size of my roots, LOL!
We have finally had good weather and I've been weeding. I did all the small beds first. Now I'm tackling the big ones. I have a third of the largest done and most of the next largest. There are so many dandelions! (Wailing!) And grass. All the yard grass blew into the beds and it grew just fine there! Grrrr!
I also found more wild garlic. I so hope I can keep on top of it. If I have to dig the flower to get it I will!
Yesterday I had one Daffodil, one Border Iris and a few Blue Flags blooming. Talk about a slow year, sheesh! I'm almost embarrassed :o)
I'm bringing out my box of seeds later to see what I need to think about planting. I hope I have a place for zinnias.
Lots of blooms popping now
crocus patch(please ignore the meter in the background)
Muscari
Mary Gay Lirette daff
it changes color and I didn't remember that, so I originally thought they sent me the wrong ones
This was 2 days ago
This is from today
77° today and too sticky for April
Jen those are beautiful flowers I especially love the last one.
Well spent the day at the Hosp. with my parents. It was to be a pretty routine 40 minute procedure to change my Dads pacemaker as the batteries were low. The surgeon decided to change it to the type that has a defibrillator which meant that they needed to thread an extra wire into the heart. They had a hard time threading it in and it took much longer than expected. Good news all is well Dad looks great. He had to stay in Hosp over night and I will be back there tomorrow morning hopefully to bring him home. Mom is pretty beat a lot of worry on her.
Chris, I hope you are doing well. I thought you might like to see my seedlings. I have that new flats bench all filled up. All the flats on the bottom are Marigolds about 500 of them. LOL
lovely shots Jen... I saw more starting to open today.. should have taken photos while I had the chance... going to be raining for a few now
looks great Holly... and glad to hear about dad
