Plant Propagation part XXXIV based on my own experience

I did nothing today except take a shower, do my hair and read the paper. I did cook Halibut for dinner. I did not sleep well last night.

I have been downloading my photos out of I-Photo to Picasa for over an hour. I want to get rid of some and you can create a link and you can post more than one photo for DG with the link..

Tomorrow boxes are getting mailed. I will d-mail or e-mail everyone. I also need to get some herbs planted and some plants dead headed.

I discovered a way to buy less plants. Take Vern's sports car. My daughter borrowed my SUV so I took the sports car to PT and then dropped by the nursery. Really liked a new tree they had that would go beautifully in the courtyard but it would not fit in the car. There are many trades going on on DG and the "C" site. I am not participating in any. I have enough plants.

Vern and I took the dogs for a walk and we have two large trees in the front entrance of the neighborhood that have major wind damage.

This is the red cactus that was a gift from the landscape company executive that I do a lot of work with. Came from the mountains behind us where they were moving the soil for some new road to Red Rock Canyon. He got me two. You just cannot go to the mountains and pick cactus.

This is a cactus I purchased to blend with the two Red Cactus.

This a sedium I found the same place I found the multi colored cactus in the prior photo. I broke off a couple pieces and they look like they might be rooting. Those free cactus are costing me a fortune. I am going to bed. See you all tomorrow.

I'm home safe and sound. I'm kind of shakey - feel like I'm still driving. Got home before noon and Tony and I got the van almost all unpacked.

I'm still recovering from relief at the doctor's news and the fact that the night brace is helping a lot. I was tired so the trip took longer than usual due to rest stop but I didn't have any trouble with anyone or anything and my old van was wonderful.

I'm real tired. Have my four dogs plus Scout who used to be mine but was adopted by friends Jon and Sharon who are now both in the States. Jon should be back in a week or so. Meanwhile Scout and I are glad to see each other but I haven't trusted my other dogs not to try and kill her so she is segregated.

Think I need to sleep.

Glad you're all here.

hugs, katie

Glad you are back Katie...........safe and sound...........get some rest and something to eat. Hope you feel better in the morning.

I spent the day packing plants and taking them to the P.O. I sold out of Jasmine. I am going to have to take more cuttings and see if they grow. I usually wait until August but I really need some NOW. LOL I found three one year old Jasmine plants that I had put aside to use as stocks. They are old enough now to take a couple cuttings but I need to get them ready. I ordered more of the liquid iron because they need some nutrition big time. Then I will put them outside for a few months and by August they should be ready to give me a few. The old girl needs some food and sunshine too. I had to have the heat on again in the GH last night. She is looking better but she is far from the pretty green plant she usually is this time of year.

The news on the killing of Bin Laden has taken over the TV today. I heard it before I went to sleep last night and then today the man who really did most of the work, John Brennan spoke.He was hired by Bush and Obama kept him on .He is the White House Advisor for Homeland Security and had actually started this manhunt during the Bush administration. Obama was smart to keep him on. He had a news conference today and I would imagine it was because he was the only one who knew the answers since it was his "party" to begin with. It was so secret no one else had any answers. LOL Bin Laden used one of his wives as a human shield. But that did not stop our Navy Seals. Justice was done. I would have hung his body in Time Square and left the buzzards eat him, but so no one would make a martyr of him, they threw him in the ocean and said they gave him an Islam burial. Whatever. Our people did good. I love this United States of America. Did you know some of the people who were in the Towers in NYC on 9/11 are still not accounted for. Their bodies will never be found unfortunately and closure for the families will never come. This is one man who deserved to die. They tried to take him alive, but he resisted. And to think he laughed and made a joke of the death of all those people on 9/11. Who has the last laugh now.....except most of them are not laughing, they are still crying. Some were on the local radio station today. So sad.

You all have a great evening. I worked in the GH most of the afternoon and I am tired and ready to call it a day. Good Night. JB

Hip hip hurray
Good news for the USA.
I do AGREE with JB. Best wishes to him down there with Hitler

Welcome home Katie! Hope you can rest well now. The hardest thing to do is heal if you can't sleep. It is a vicious cycle...hope you are out of that cycle now.

JB ~ This is my broom...yes, a different kind...not for flying...they are just beginning to flower...

You're right on JB. It was a great job by all. That was one tense session they had there at the Whitehouse. Did you see them? Hillary had her hand over her mouth. Bet you could have heard the pin going toward the floor. Didn't even have to wait for it to hit.

I can't even figure out what they should do about Pakistan. Bob says we should be giving all our aid that we were sending to them, to India. Guess that would really tick them off.

That is a beautiful Scotch Broom Evelyn. I had a red one but it was just in the wrong place so pulled it out and threw it away. Those, like yours, are all over Seattle. They use them on some of the freeways like California does the Oleanders.

Yes, Jeanette, we have the Spanish broom all over the place. I think it is Spartium junceum. It is 10-15' tall and very bright yellow. Well, I should not say anything bad about bright, since I am having to live with "bright"...still no bright Spanish or Scotch broom in the new bed...LOL!! Those bright yellow ones are considered weeds and I do not think that they are sold, and if they are, they should not be!

Instead of putting in a broom at the back of the bed, I am trying a bush lupine. It is supposed to get quite big and it is drought tolerant. I had to do a lot of soil amending when I planted it as it likes it well-drained. (Seems like all the plants like well-drained soil in this bed...just my luck!)

Yes, the oleanders...they are everywhere in SoCA. When we went there in Oct. for my HS reunion, we saw oleanders in bloom... some smaller pale double flowers, really not the "freeway flowers". Still I really appreciate the seasons here, it is so different, living in the hills at 3500' in elevation 20 "mountain miles" from the nearest town (Placerville). I did miss the bougainvillea and the jacaranda trees, but that is all I can think of right now. Well, the beach. I do miss the ocean breeze in the summer afternoons as we did not need A/C there. Many people assume if you live in CA that all of CA is tropical...Dawn lives in the desert (I think), and there are those who live in colder areas and in the higher mountains the snow never melts, but I will not be living there. And there are the hot inland valleys and of course, Death Valley. So many different climates here, not just mild and tropical....

So now you might understand my desire to put in some different kinds of plants than what is usually planted after living in SOCAL all those years.

Oh good grief yes, California has about every zone from 2 up to 10. I am in 8b.

I never have luck with broom. I over water or under water. Don't know. It is cold and really hot, here, windy and clay soil called Caleche, hardpan/clay mix. Sucks in the high desert.

Yeah Sharon. I am so excited now. With your box and the bulbs coming, I will be good for this year after all my seedlings too. Now just keep them alive throught summer and wait for another show in Fall.

Bin Laden needed to go down, the timing is a bit funny to me. I think the guys running for re-election all have to come up with something good when they are low in popularity.

Dawn, my understanding this mission has been under the radar for over 5 months. I really do not it had anything to do with the re-election.

The seals had been training in a similar building complex, in the US, to get it right. But then a helicopter lost power and had to go down in the courtyard. We are so lucky that the Seals were unharmed.

I got some packages completed today. More tomorrow. I will d-mail you when yours is on the way. Takes longer than I thought. I have PT at 9am.

JB, what kind of Jasmine do you grow? I have Arabic and yellow Jasmine and the old run o the mill white. The old run of the mill is all over the front landscape and the garden smells wonderful. The yellow is new this year and the Arabic is in it's second year. I love the flower on the Arabic but it is frost sensitive.

Katie, it is good you are back and safe. How do you keep 4 large dogs in your home? And know you have another one. You are a Shepard at heart. When you go for a walk the animals probably follow you. Animals are the true judge of a person. Animals know ood from bad. Good for you.

I saw a bunch of ladybugs this morning when I took the dogs for their morning walk. Had one crawl onto my finger, with a little encouragement, and then watched it fly away. Saw my first "blue" dragonfly Saturday. Weather is beautiful but 90s are on the way.

Evelyn, I went to California many years ago and spotted Mexican Primrose. Pink and white. I purchased one of each and brought them back to Las Vegas. Soon it was everywhere. It spread by roots and seeds. It would even grow in the concrete. It was sold here everywhere and now I do not think you could find it. It is beyond invasive. Sound like your broom?

I had a great night sleep last night. But I am hitting bed about 10pm because I have a busy day tomorrow. God bless all of you and God Bless America. Sharon.

Good morning everyone:
well the garage sale was a success ...sort of. it was worth the time and energy. I had hoped to sell out but no such luck. I noticed the $1.00 plants flew out and then the $2.00 ones sold. I sold a lot of hosta's also. I ended up hurting for 2 days after the massive operation.
I am thinking next spring i will do a sale in the driveway. much easier to do than pack them in the truck and set up then vist with everyone all day and then pack it up and go home. I think i will put an ad in the newspaper as well as on craigs list. I am sure I will sell out with that.
Its good that the evil bin laden is gone. did not sleep well last night so i am going to try for a bit more sleep before my helper get here thismorning.
Have a great day
Dave

Good Morning. Hope you are all o.k.

Glad your sale went well, Dave.

I didn't sleep well either. Now that my foot is better I want to do all the work I didn't get done in the last year - today! If not sooner. I also have a little bit of a runny nose and it makes it hard to sleep. If I manage to stay awake today I don't think I'll have any trouble tonight.

I have five baby cherimoya trees and may get more now that it's warming up. One box of mystery plants cause the label flew away.

We are dealing with summer water shortages. The city turns the water off from morning until late afternoon. Then iti's often just on a trickle. I have a tank and we keep a couple of tubs close to full so's to have water for the plants but it can be a pain in the neck.

Scout, the visiting dog, is staying very close to me. So far there have been a few growls and a snap or two but I've been on top of them.

Back later.

hugs, katie

Katie you better catch you nose if its running... har har har

That really sucks having to do watering that way. do you have drip lines set up????

Well, the second cat finally got brave enough to come out of hiding and they are like 2 monkeys. What one doesn't think of the other one does. When I went to bed last night I didn't know if the house was going to be in tact this morning or not. But, they must have settled down right after we went to bed 'cause I didn't hear anything else and this morning everything looked fine.

Actually last night we were debating about taking the shy one back because we were worried he wasn't getting anything to eat. But after seeing the 2 together I don't think the one is stopping him. He probably eats at night, or when we don't see him. Don't know.

Well, gotta get busy. I had a list of storage places to call for prices but can't find them. That is my problem. I am spending too much time looking for things I need. Mostly paperwork. I never was a detail person. That is why I always made sure I had a person working for me that was.

ttyl,

JB, glad you did not leave- there aren't enough of us guys to go around here! Besides, this is deja-vous on another thread years ago...Right Jeanette!!!??

Back from Colorado- was there to enjoy the cold front that blasted through and even saw some snow, but not before a couple of nice 70F days.

KB- I'll never complain about watering again, glad your foot is feeling better!

rj

welcome back rj.
well I peeked in on cubits to see what was up there. it seems hard to navagate too much openess and not knowing where to go. what I did find was kind of a retail passing itself off as wholesale co-op. ok in all fairness I am not sure if they are marking everything up or not but it did look like a better deal than pure retail.

managed to get a new helper. we got 4 flats of boxwood stuck and she is coming back tomorrow. I have a list of about 12 different things to propagate so its going to be a busy day again tomorrow. prowis castle,and emerald gaity euonamus (or how ever its spelled). I am really excited as I seem to have needed the push to get it going again.

well time for a shower and a nap. lol
Dave

LOL you're right there rj. Amazing how time flies isn't it?

Just saw the first hummer of the year. They are almost a month late. That is how cold it has been this spring. The weatherman said it was the coldest April since 1917. Last year June was so cold the plants just couldn't get going. Not one ripe tomato other than the little guys. Sure hope this year isn't that bad.

I can't seem to get going on this moving thing. I am trying to get rid of the stuff I do not want to move and get it to the landfill, still have to make arrangements for a storage to rent, and Bob is dragging his heels. He just does not want to move. That really makes it tough for me to get anything done.

I guess it will come together sometime. Haven't found a house I want. Other than the one that already had a deal on it.

Don't be in a hurry, when it is meant to be, it will be!!!
What a beautiful day today, hope spring is finally here, but I won't hold my breath. So I cleaned beds and got them ready for the plants, so by the time they are ready, I can get them in the ground right away. The reports are looking much better.

I have started some more seed, and a couple have peeked at me, so maybe the rest will follow. The dahilas are the ones that are up. But nothing from the coleus as of yet. Who is watching too closely???? Later all, Lee

Most of my coleus are up. I put my dahlias out on the deck because they were growing too fast. It doesn't seem to hurt them out there and they are continuing to grow. My petunias are really going. I have got to get them transplanted. I repoted a bunch of lobelia yesterday. But really have to get at other stuff.

Can't do both. Guess I shouldn't have started the seeds and just bought plants. Oh well.

Ya know we had a freeze 2 and 3 nights ago, way past our freeze date. Good grief. Mother Nature take your Lithium for goodness sake.

Sharon, I am excitedly waiting patiently. I was kidding about Bil Laden, sort of. I am deep thinker, too analytical and mistrusting of politicians and watch too much Conspiracy stuff, now I think they all suck the big one. Though I am registered Republican, I really am somewhere in the middle between them all and could easily be a Tea Party person, but don't trust them either. lol

Today was Mad Hot. My seedlings mostly faired well.

Katie feel better, it is going around for round 3, I think it is now, this year. Bad cold/flu season this year, really really bad.

Dawn I am right there with you. I registered republican so i can have some say on who they run against the dem.'s Personally i feel anymore its the person n ot the party. imho
sweet dreams all
Dave

Well I finally have some packages in the mail. Lee and Evelyn's are on the way.. I am so slow and because I am doing this in my garage with the door open, the whole world dropped by.

Jnette, do you want me to send you your Red leafed canna or hold it for you?

Dawn, I will get yours moved to the top so you will not wait anymore. And besides, at least you have some heat. I did get 6 packages out today.

Jnette, are you putting things in storage for staging? My Realtor came into stage our home and when I got everything into storage, I thought we should just stay but the home was already being built. Vern moved here kicking and screaming (lol, he does neither) but now he loves it.

I had PT this morning and my shoulder is getting great. She is also working on my balance. She does the same thing your chiropractor does JB. I never realized there was anything that could be done before JB's comment.

I was on a thread just before cubits formed and fists were flying. Admin shut it down and kicked off two people.

I will return tomorrow. Got on here late. Be safe. Sharon.

Sharon, I am so glad you are finding some relief. You will see how much better it is when you get it back to normal and then keep the maintenance on it. I seldom have days when I am unable to function anymore. Keep an eye on your sinus because if your sinus gets active and your inner ear gets affected, the balance can go off. That is what is my problem today. The constant pollen and drastic weather changes affect me. Good luck.

I took Barney for a walk after we fed the cats and we got soaked to the skin. I had to change clothes when I came in. My slicker was wet into my shirt. Never have I had that happen. Oh well, something new daily.

I am no longer watching MSNBC except Morning Joe. The other journalists are so one sided in their political crap that I do not think it is fair to give our President all of the credit, when there are others he himself would admit share the wealth. It really took years of team effort, both democrats and republicans (not the politicians, the workers) to bring down that SOB. But, I have to admit, and I am not a fan of Obama, this man really stepped up to the plate and all by himself, knowing his political career could have gone down the drain if this plan had failed.....said go get him. God Bless all of them. I was never a Bush fan either. I thought he was just a cowboy at heart and nothing really bothered him.. He deserved more credit than I gave him I am sure. But, having said that, I think if we all remembered that we are not republicans, democrats or liberals, we are AMERICANS.....that is the bottom line. If we work together, nothing can stop us. We just proved that this past Sunday.

Dave, I am not sure about cubits either. I have tried over and over to set up my store or whatever they call it, but I get too confused and quit. Wish I could get it moving.

Katie, hope your are recovering. Don't go getting yourself run down again.

Jen, how is your Aimee responding to the Iron? I just ordered more liquid iron because that stuff works miracles.

Off to town, in the rain, chiropractor, bank and hair cut. Then cemetery with a Mothers Day planter. Back later if I can. JB

Good morning everyone.

It is a nother lovely day here. I slept, off and on, for quite a few hours last night. The dogs barked a lot and I'm having some trouble sleeping with the night cast one but it's helping so much that I am making myself adjust to it even if it means a little less sleep.

Scout the visiting dog wants to be a lap dog. I know she misses Jon a lot. I'm glad she remembers and trusts me so she's adjusting. I know she'll be trhilled when Jon gets bak. Meanwhile, the other dogs are behaving - Scout wanted to be the only one in bed with me last night and growled at the others (while saffe on my lap). It was funny. So far no big fights and I watch closely.

I did a lot yesterday. Will maybe just pot up some plants and plant some seeds today. I still have a little bit of a cold and really need to recover from the trip.

Six little cherimoya trees are up. My miniroses which are under the brugs are blooming. They were from the 99 cent store. I also have dichonra (sp?) - the green kind - coming up. I hope it will survive the summer here. I'd like to use it to disguise the tires on the rock tire paths.

It's very quite here. Dana and Tom have guests. They (Dana and Tom) will be leaving in about a week.

I need to remind myself that if I take it easy for a couple of days to recover it doesn't mean I'll never be active again. I can be hard on myself. I think we're all here to help each other get through it.

hugs, katie

Morning:
JB you have to admit bush was good for some humor.

well we got 4 trays stuck yesterday but it was orientation day. today should be about the same because I am giving some of my stuff new homes. my helper is setting up a greenhouse and nursery and I am consulting/helping. Its a good way to move some of my stuff and I know there is now way they can grow everything. no one can.
I will try my remote watering controll today as it got soaked and shorted out the batteries in the monsoon we got. I tossed the batteries I hope it still works because it was one of my faves. every hour mist in the greenhouse and twice a day water for the rest of the nursery. oh well i will find out later today.

Katie its good take some time to recharge. just because you take a day or 2 to get back the energy you lost dose not mean you quit. I am glad you are recognizing that.

I agree jb cubits is too disorganized and confusing. I did find a co-op to get some buddleia plugs for stock plants. I got a pink and a dwarf blue. as far as i can tell the blue is not patened and the pink one I know is not patened because its in bluestones catalog and they are good about putting the pattent info on them.

well got a get moving
Dave

I still think it is the guy at the helm that makes the decisions. The workers, as JB said, were ready if given the word. They had him in their sights several times but never finished the job.

So JB, if you don't watch MSNBC except for Joe, who is a "former" Republican Senator or Congressman, who do you watch, FOX? And they aren't one sided of course. LOL CNN tries to be in the middle because of the other 2, but can't seem to swing it.

PBS news is probably the best except for the smirk on Lehrer's face. And not too sure about Gwen Ifel.

Sharon, what do you mean by staging? I am going to put most of the stuff in storage, hopefully, but at what point do I have to buy a house? I don't want to "have" to buy. I applied for a loan, but if I could sell this house I wouldn't need it. I did make sure there was no prepayment penalty tho.

Sharon you can send me the plants now because I will put them in containers on the deck. If I have to, I have plenty of places I can take them until I move.

Gotta get Bob out of his chair to see about having it rebuilt and recovered. I had it replaced once but he sneaked around and told the guys not to take it. They left it in the yard.

Jen, Joe is more conservative and Mika is Democrat. They give really a good mix and seldom make snide remarks like Cris Mathews and the other guys in the evening. In fact this morning Joe praised the President for his gutsy decision, that he made on his own after listening to several of his aids give their opinions.
I have CNN on most of the day and they give you a lot of news. No, I do not watch Fox unless I watch the ball game which only comes on there, or Nascar. LOL I guess the fact I was raised in the newspaper business, we were taught to tell the news as it happens, not as you see it or feel it. I do not care to hear the opinion of the journalist, I want the facts of the news they are reporting. Therefore, I have a problem when they bring their comments about the individuals involved. I do not really give a fat rats rump who was responsible for the death of Ben Ladin. I am glad he is dead. I do think the people who got the job done should be given credit not criticism Now they are saying "Ben Ladin was not armed". He was shot and he was not armed............so, the people in the towers were not armed either and that did not stop him from killing them. Enough of this.

Just got back from the chiropractor and feel good. But the rain is coming down like crazy. I must pick up my planter plants tomorrow and plant them before Sunday. I hope my old bod holds up to get it done.

The pink dogwood and pink and lavendar lilacs are blooming and they are beautiful. The Iris are starting to bloom . Cut the last of the daffodils yesterday. They are finished now.
It was a good year for them but the poor things had a rough start. The e is no sign of any veggie plants in the farm market for sale yet. It has just been too cold. And, we never put ours in until the middle of May anyhow, it could be later this year.

Back some time ago someone ask about my jasmine. I propagate and sell Jasmine Sambac 'Maid of Orleans'. I love the yellow, but it will not live for me. The Royal or Star does well in the GH but I have never tried to take cuttings of them. The like the sun and the deck in the summer.

Jen how are your kitties, what did you name them? If you told us I forgot. Senior Moment.

Must get busy. Have a good day and stay well. JB

JB, what do you plant in your planters? And where do you put your planters? I am sure everything will go in late this year in most places. It is still really cold. At night.

Anyone know how to get rid of ants? 2 of my alfalfa bales have tons of them. I sure don't want to go thru the summer fighting them. For the little ants we had on the kitchen counter one year I put a mix of powdered sugar and borax and haven't had any since. 4 or so years. But I don't think that would work for the bigger ones. These are red in the front half and black in the back.

My cats are Tiger and Spooky. Both names were earned by them. When we got them, the Pet Rescue had named them Andy and Tina. LOL, Dumb. Guess they have too many to be creative. This place does not euthanize any animals. They just keep them until they are adopted. The woman that helped us had 16 cats at her house. All volunteers.

The dogs are fostered out to homes in the area. When we got our dog from them she was at a farm with a half a dozen other dogs. They were treated like they were just another part of the farm.

I think pouring vinegar down the ant hill works, at least sometimes. If it doesn't work at least it shouldn't hurt.

kb

JB thank you for then end.

amdro is a big ant killer but if you use it where your tomatoes are I would be a bit carefull amdro is a chemical food where they take it back to the nest and it kills the coloney.

Staging is where you remove all the clutter and excess furnature so the home is shown in the best light. they say to remove the famly wall of fame/shame also. you want the people to concentrate on the home not haw wierd the paint was or how many family pics are on the wall. Most realator's know all this I am suprised they have not gone over this unless your home is really clean and ready. I know we had to rent a big storage shed just for the overflow.
Another hint is if you have flowers you can cut for an arrangement from the landscape and its obvious they will have a consistant supply of flowers do so and put it on the dining room/main eating table.

well we managed to get another 4 flats stuck so not bad for 2 crippels. my helper has similar back issues Like I do. She is a few years behind everything I went through. She has asked a lot of questions that the general public doesn’t think about.

well its time to buckle down and get the house picked up.
Have a great evening
Dave

What is with the ants..............my GH is full of them. The stones outside has ant hills on it.
It is like someone planted them there to annoy me. I spray them with soapy bug killer since many of them are on the plants inside. I have never had that many. I use those sticks you stick in the ground with the round top with poison in when I can find them. I think they have them at Lowes or Home Depot....they come in packs. I stick them in the large pots where the ants can eat it and take it back and kill the colony.

I am going to have my exterminator put something down in the GH when he comes the next time.

Ii am planting a tropical geranium that is salmon color and a purple tiny flower with that along with another plant that will survive plenty of sun and not much water. I will give you the actual names when I pick them up tomorrow. My friends grew them and I am going to try them this year. I have never seen these so called geraniums before. They have beautiful deep green leaves and the salmon flowers. Stunning plants.

Off to watch TV. Survivor is on. I know it does not take much mentality to watch that, but then I do not have much. Happy evening to all. JB

I think the ants love the heat. When I was in Seattle I put down a black plastic about 30x30 ft to plant my tomatoes in. It worked great for the tomatoes but when I took it up in the fall, I had morning glory roots as big as my thumb, and red ants. Huge red ants. Everywhere.

Never heard of a tropical geranium. Be sure to take pictures!! What do they call those things you are talking about JB? Don't think the vinegar would be good for the tomatoes Katie, and I probably could try the sugar and borax Evelyn. I will see if I can find Amdro Dave and read what it says.

Thanks for the suggestions everyone.

Forgot Dave, Yes, my sister did tell me about staging. Just didn't call it that I guess. Or, maybe she did and I forgot. But, yes, she did tell me all that.

We had a lovely large mater bedroom but it was dark. Only one large window. Built in the 70s during an energy crisis. She put a plant in the corner of the bedroom with a small light behind it. OMG, made an enormous difference in the room.

By the front door outside, which was in the shade, I planted about 8 indoor plants. It looked so great. Cookies baking in the oven. Old trick and buyers are probably on to that one.

I had ants all over a tree and I sprayed them with Windex. It killed them but they came back. Bug guy comes once a month and he took care of them the next month. Have not had them in the house.

Got my new lamps today. I thought they were manufactured wrong. The cord comes out of the socket. I went on line and read the description. French Wired. I goggled that and found out that is how a french wired lamp is manufactured. Did some thinking and fixed it to my liking. I have looked for lamps for years. Finally found them. So be sure you read the total description.

Our youngest son, Brian is living with us for a week. We are having the upstairs bathroom totally stripped and redone in his condo. He has a half-bath down stairs and we are having that redone also. He has no where to shower so we moved him up here. Even though he is my stepson, I get along with him better than his dad.

No boxes done today because we moved him. He was going to stay there while they were working but realized how noisy it was going to be. So we got the call this morning he needed to move. So he and his cat moved in this morning just before noon. I did tell the contractor he was on the clock. Everyday after next Monday, Vern will be on his back big time about finishing. Brian is a recluse and except for working nights at Walgreens, he seldom goes anywhere except to workout with his father occasionally. You need to remember many stores here are open 24 hrs.

PT went great today. And I also went to visit my friend Esther Mae because Mother's Day is Sunday. She is about 10 minutes from PT. It was a great visit.

Talk to you all tomorrow. Have a great day. Sharon.

Howdy: I found ants all over the artamesia they were going after the apids that had decided to set up shop. Most of what I use is BT, some slug stuff and soap thats about it. i guess my days of breaking out the clordane are out of the ole system
and whats wrong with amdro. I happen to get a bounty for every container I sell ....lol just kiding

I have a good red ant killer and combo fertilizer for grass, but can't use it in my other plants or they will not bloom, but it works great if I put it on all over in late winter. I have little divits all over the ground where my home must be on some type of hive. All my plants were dieing one year, I did everything I could do, finally I dug them up to move them and see if that would save them and those darn fire ants, were smothering my root balls of all the dieing plants that I had. It sucked. I had to hire an exterminator 2 years, now I battle it on my own, but those years were dark. My May Nights Salvia is blooming. Yippie. I see buds forming or near to blooming soon. Some stuff is in bloom but those late cold snaps hosed me of blooms. Froze them dead. Now I am all of kilter. Last weeks frozen nights did not help.

I can't wait to get Sharon's package. I have several areas now to put stuff in. A xeric area, several lasagna beds, fence areas and some new area that I need hubby to till since my shoulder won't let me do it this year. drats. I am use to moving very heavy stuff myself. I feel so broken down now. My DL should be coming soon too, maybe monday. I got unnamed so I hope I have nice surprises in colors. My Irises are almost all up now. My Mystic Merlin Malva is starting to bloom, some poppys, Status, blue flax, calendula and a couple of other things are blooming.

Hello everyone,

I Googled "killing ants outdoors" and there are lots of ideas out there.

I crashed early last night slept about three hours then was awake until about 5am with foot pain. Finally slept a few more hours.

Just as I was about to lie down again to give my foot the rest it apparently needds my mechanic Polo showed up with his wife. There's a fuel leak in my van. While he and Tony conferred on the van I gave his wife a tour of the garden. She gardens, too, and was extrremely complimentary about what we've done. My ego is feeling good. She was here just after I moved in so she knows how much we've done. I gave her some fruit and some cuttings. Also a small adenium and a promise of one of the red pomegranitees when they get a little bigger. She doesn't speak any English and my Spanish is limited but we had a great talk about all the plant and trees and birds.

I am now going to lie down with my bags of seeds around me and do some sorting and deciding what to plant first. I'm still coughing and dripping.

Almost no foot pain now but early this morning it was bad. I toook a pain pill - hardly ever necessary for sleep but it sure helped.

It was fun to tour the garden with someone who hasn't seen it in several years. My Temple Godess cooperated by having two big white flowers and I gave her a big cutting. Nice to have plants that are big enough to share and quite easy to root from cuttings.

I'm doing to lie down now and dream of flowers to be.

hugs, katie