She's about to...62... Summer is here and it is HOT!!!!

Hi Fruity! hay do you want a live vine? LOL

Umm, Faye, that plant does not look like a hibiscus plant! It looks like your growing your own whacky weed???
Love the dragon fly pictures!
Debra, slow down, your working too hard!

Wonderful pictures! I will gladly take the wind if it comes with rain! Guess you heard about the piece of the shuttle exposed by the dried up lake... the lakes that supply our city water are less than 1% full now. Getting scary. My house is on city water.. I sure wish I had put in a well when I bought this house 20 years ago. My parents have a well so they are OK.. plenty of ground water for those with wells. I am trying to figure out a way to bring water from thier house to mine to water my yard if they increase restrictions more... my front yard is looking bad. I have managed to keep the back alive because it gets more shade in the afternoons... only half baked. LOL OH, my two inch brug now has two leaves! I still can't believe that is all it has grown this year.

Hotty Tots.. LOL Frootz you are a hootz! Moon vine bloomed last night for the first time. I hope to get some pics tonight. I never had the white one before and the blooms are huge!

Linda Kay, lol, I've been told that before, and I cannot prove what it is. The seeds were sent to me from one of you dear ladies last year and it was marked "Red Hibiscus" Hope it will bloom soon, want to see for myself. From the looks of it, it will not stand the Winter outside, so depending what it looks like......may find a spot in the garage for "IT"
Keep it cool ladies, and have fun!

Ahhhh, Linda Kay how do you know what that weedy plant looks like....hummmmmmmm ? rofl.

Geehz, Debra, you guys can't get a break to say the least with the weather.

I did see that shuttle piece that was found in the lake......scary when the lakes get that low, course wells are great but you don't always know if they are going to go dry or what is in them....I have been really really lucky knock on wood our well is great as far as it being full, what's in it is another question. My neighbor his basement floods and the well goes dry, talk about insult to injury....

Who was getting after their girls for hanging with those bad spider mites? I was thinking last night, I water mine every night during the 100 degree weather and I make sure to spray water up their skirts...rofl. I spray on top the leaves and the under side of their leaves which helps.

I had posted about spider mites when it is hot and dry and someone said something about humidity but I don't think that counts, hot dry and no rain and especially on the leaves. My garden room is always humid but without the water on the leaves I think those bad spider mites love to hitch a ride.

Crit I am watching the ee in the city the spray is working.....yes!

Faye I think I have one of the same aforementioned "Red Hibiscus" too. Started it from seed, but so far no buds. Started some Mary Poppins and they are getting big buds on them. Can't believe I grew them from seed. Blows my mind when that works. LOL!

That's an inviting scene, Debra. You'd never know it's 110 in the shade there.

Wasn't it you Faye, talking to her girls? And no, your mystery seeds didn't come from me...LOL

I'm ripping a bunch of plants out of my hanging baskets over the week-end and filling in the gaps with whatever looks good on sale at the nursery. Poor leggy Million Bells and Petunias have already had severe haircuts which has made a few of the Coleus unhappy losing their shelter. Oh speaking of hair, the "Silver Falls" Dichondra is only a couple of inches off the ground. Love it and think those gave me some of the best results out of the whole shebang this year. Last year it didn't do squat, go figure.

Not sure if this is the pot of Caladiums or another one that has the bulbs from you, happ and LK, you shared with me last year.

Ummm, I watch a lot of programs on TV, and they show the plants all the time. Actually my brother grows it foe his own use.

Fruity, those caladiums are so pretty!

LOL, yes Susan, and I'm still talking to my girls, and they still not listening. That sure is a pretty whatever plant, should be blooming soon.

My White

what great Plants fruit They had some caladiums BULBS at lowes for $1.00 so I bought 2 bags planted them thought it was to late but they are really growing I'll take pictures of them tomorrow .
here is what I was up to today putting in a couple New BEDS still more work to do on them But i have help coming tomorrow :)
right now I'm off to the shower :) good night all

I JUST SAW THE FALL TROPICAL PLANT SWAP, DANG IT.

I sent out a ton of hibiscus seeds all kinds to people last year. I have several growing and one bloomed from seeds. I really like them. I also started some ros seeds and have about 6 small trees. got the main rom ( sons old bedroom) al cleaned and shelved and lighted, so good to go to bring in what I am bringing in before I leave. Not bringing evrything in tho..

You have time to join don't you Debra, I thought the cutoff was August 31 or something like that.
Love the caladiums fruit, every year I leave the caladiums in their pots and let them dry then start to water in spring. None of those have come back. The caladiums that are in pots with ee's, voodoo plant, and all those have come back, how strange is that. The ones with the voodoo plant didn't get water until probably July before I cleaned out the garden room and found the pot. So I lost all my whites that I loved last year. I am sure costco will have them next year so I will get some more I sure loved my 3 tier planter.

Happ I tried that overwintering in the pot thing too and lost every single one. I love the caladiums. but they take so long to get going. I think I will buy one already started next year and spend my caladium money on daylilies and asiatics. more bang for the buck!

a close up...

Look at my new pretties I picked last week.
pretty variegated purple Bougainvillea...

And a white one, some of the flowers are a really light soft pink...

afternoon everyone : caladiums are so pretty but I Have never bought them before till just a few weeks ago while at Lowes or menards ?? they had them, the BULBS for $1.00 a bag so i said what the heck & came home put them into Planters & Look here what I Have .
no idea as to the names didn't pay tention to that but they are growing anyone tell me if they need shade or not for these are on the west end of my North deck & seem to be doing ok so far.

Wow, they sure are pretty!

Deejay I think caladiums do best in shade, their leaves are so thin, that they burn with much sun.

Well while weeding the west side which I never get to cause it was so hot, something ate my lilies! Weeded a little farther and there are vole holes! Son of a gun...... everything I read the only good way to get rid of them is with bait, bait, dogs and cats don't work well together! dag nab it. The voles need to feed on the bait for 5 days....geesh.

Jooyce I'll lend you a cat. My guys are heck on voles. :0)

voles? whats a vole? LOL trade ya a vole for baby rabbits, mice and squirrels? They keep eating my stuff or digging them up, take your pick. Found the bug that was eating thousands of tiny tiny holes in my datura and tomatoe leaves.. it is a pin prick sized black beetle that can be squishe. putting seven out tonight.
I over wintered my caladiums, they all came back up, everywhere in all the pots and tubs they were in last year. Had sme pure whites, gave them to Bonnie, she is supposed to save me a tuber or two this fall.
Linda I have tried bougies and failed. I am glad you have those, They are beautiful. My sis in law grows them like crazy.. I on the other hand, can grow begonias aok..Joe keeps asking me why I don't have a Bougie, I keep telling him I can't grow them.

Debra, they Re easy to grow. They love the full sun, even in our hot temps!

gomphrema is blooming now..
my sis in law has five bougies, one is over ten years old. She has a porch room with double sliding glass ansd she sets all her tropicals in there after cutting them back severly every late fall, and her brugs I gave her are doing well , too. Her spiral ginger I gave her has bloomed, even. Dang it, how come mine havn't?
Other sis in law Paula, is doing a good job with her house plant tropicals, and the full sun flower bed I put in is awsome.

Son is having a hard time with his flowers I put in, weeds are over taking them and with his full sun and no shade, some are fried, ncluding the knock out rose. He is very upset over this, but I told him it will all be better next year, given it doesn't do this again. ( heat wise)

Ya'll know I don't have much shade and found the best place for me to grow Caladiums is on our side porch that gets dappled shade from an overhead deck, and down below I hung a cheap matchstick blind on the end of the porch that faces West to give them a bit of shade from the hottest afternoon sun. Most of my pots were planted in early April, like the one above, but these weren't planted til June and mostly used left-over bulbs I gave out at our RU -- photo is mid-July. You can sorta see the shadows the blinds cast.

Beautiful plants girls. Debra,,what is a gromphrema?

those are beautiful, fruity.

gomphrena is a good looking flower that usually is mixed in with my giant white zinnias in the flower bed.. they have little round blooms that are very colorful..
Kaitlyn has the some caladiums at her feet as she had last year.. she has had buds three times and lost all of them three times, poor thing... she has new buds.. the temps tomorrow will make them drop at 103 * sigh* At least she keeps trying..
edited for spelling and a couple links:
I have this one and the fuchia one.. http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/1416/
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/showimage/17056
This message was edited Aug 7, 2011 9:48 PM

This message was edited Aug 7, 2011 9:53 PM

Here is my zinnia bed i got all these zinnia from the seed robin we did over the winter
sorry got to go put on bkf back later have a great day everyone

Debra, those are pretty, and I love the colors they come in!

Sue love your zinnia bed! have tried to grow them here and I guess they don't like our hot temps? They come up, but the never bloom.

Geez LK you should be able to grow zinnias. My understanding is they were developed in Arizona to grow in desert climates with little water.

I tried a few years ago. I plants a bunch of the seeds in my raised bed, and a lot of the came up, got to be a bout a foot tall, and that was it! No blooms!

Wow, zinna's around here won't even start to do anything until it is HOT. Funny how one person finds a plant so easy to grow and someone else couldn't grow it if they try...rofl. I promised myself after this year I will NOT buy another fuschia...nope don't care how beautiful it is or how much it begs me I am not doing it ever never again.....well at least I hope not...rofl. Not this year anyway.

Bougie I think I overwater most of the time, read somewhere they won't bloom if they are watered too much. I have lots of good green leaves but no blooms...;( So far the coleus cuttings seem to be ok, time will tell. I will take some more this week.

Wish I could borrow your Kitty, mine must be too lazy plus that is the west side of the house, no shade and I have a pure black long hair cat...so he doesn't hang much over there. The dogs or something got one the other day and left it on the step to the door.... Poisons are out of the question I found out they will get my dogs and cat, and if I put that out there you know they would go over there. Where is that stupid snake when I need him..... I guess snakes eat them.

Pretty pics everyone, love the caladiums, I don't know what happened this year, I didn't do anything different.....oh well I still have some under growing the voodoo plant, and a big ee.

Don't forget to use a bloom booster for the bougainvillea . They like fertilizer.

same here, fuschias and me, we just do not get along, but Joes mom? hers not only bloom with neglect in Buffalo, hanging in baskets that get neglected and then even throw seeds? NOT FAIR!
uhm, this WAS the tomatoe patch..

Linda Kay, that maybe my problem, I am not good at fertilizing.... I think ok next time I water I will fertilize, then next time I water I think the same thing.....I will fertilize tonight.... ;)

Wow wish I could grow fushia I think they are beautiful.

Ok true confession, I bought the bear that said wipe your feet. It just cracked me up, I found it marked down and then if you opened a charge account you got more money off, so I bought it......he is just too darn funny. I have the perfect place for him, so now I need to go get him this weekend. Probably shouldn't of done it since my 401K now is a 201K with the market dropping, but I did.

LOL! Love that bear!

I first saw him on the water garden tour, and they had a little gnome village setup by a tree and the bear on the edge. Our driveway and the entrance to the house has a path by a tree with mulch all over cause nothing will grow there, so that is where I am going to put him along with a gnome village. I think he is just too darn funny. Here is a pic of theirs, hate to still someones idea but I have no imagination and we live 100 miles apart so..... I am. Course there goes some plant money.....

LOOKS LIKE HE SAYS "WIPE YOUR PAWS" Hehe . back to the gardens it is cooling off here .
back later

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1206712/

This is the link for the PJ/pajama swap. I have added an optional item to add in your box. Please let me know if your interested. Some of the girls want to send socks as well.

bouganvilla will not bloom if you water them too much. If they are full of green leaves, that is proof of over watering. A well blooming plant actully has fewer green leaves. Let them dry a bit between waterings. Don't worry, they are drought tolerant. Mine actually willt a tiny bit before I water them.. Mom has about a dozen big plants around the pool and on the patio and they bloom themselves silly .. they are out in this horrible dailly over 100 heat with very low humidity. They are not watered every day either in fact, when we leave town, she waters them well and they go from thursday to sunday night without any water and do well. Can you imagine any other plant surviving in heat like that without being watered and being in a little tiny pot? These are really small pots with little reserve. She never repots them, just scratches some of the dirt off the top each year and adds new. Some are over 15 years old. They bloom all winter long in the greenhouse.. several are hanging baskets. They only bloom on new growth so don't be afraid to cut back some old wood each year... a little tirm of an old branch here and there will encourage it to branch and cause new growth that produces the blooms.

Now you have had your bougie education for the day. LOL