Happy Valentine's Day and chat

Oh, I am in love... thank you.

I aim to please teee heee ;~) !!!!! Hey pirl, are you able to grow camellias in that beautiful garden of yours? How far north can these be grown?

I lost out with my first try many years ago but you are an inspiration so I may try again. We do have a neighbor with a gigantic camellia and if I remember to take photos I will post them.

I bet it's lovely. I'm looking forward to seeing the pics. How are your clematis, are they coming alive yet, and did your Omoshiro take a long time to start growing? I'm surprised how slow it's been, compared to the other clematis from Brushwood, and I curious to know if everyone has had the same experience with this variety. I hope mine is making a mighty root system.

It's too nasty to go out and look but I don't recall Omoshiro taking longer than any of the others to get growing.

Just checked my photos and I had planted the first Omoshiro in 10/27/07 and the first blooms appeared 7/20/08. By 5/21/09 I had a lot of blooms on it for a new "ish" plant:

Looks like my Sunset will be the one to have the first bloom. I went out today to finish painting the trellis parts, it is so windy and the huge oak trees are looking very treatening, making big noises and I took some pictures and came back in. My miniture Iris is blooming and my bottlebrush bush is about to pop. I remember when I bought the bottlebrush, I realy wanted a Jap. maple but would not spend the 60.00 doll. for it. so I bought this 5' tall bush for 18.00. It will be full of bloom in a few weeks and I am glad I got it.

Pirl your Omoshiro is just gorgeous, and it was the main one that got me inspired to start adding more clematis to the garden. I'm going to pray for a mighty growth spurt this spring.

My Omoshiro did nothing last year after I planted it. I still dont see any growth from it. I am very disappointed with that purchase from Brushwood. I just hope it did not die. All the others I got from the box store at a discount price are thriving and the others from brushwood are doing ok.

Kiseta, my reticulated iris are blooming the same time! I would have thought yours would be much earlier.....Pirl, my stepdaughter lives in Commack, & she has a camellia....

I worked in Philadelphia area in the 80's and the Dr, I worked for in his house had grown a camellia inside of the front hall, westebule (?0 and had a bloom one year he said after 7 years of babying the plant. I think you can grow them, but bring them inside before frost. What I liked in Pa. was the rhododendron, I tryied to grow it here but it is to hot for them in Ga. Also lilac trees, oh how I loved them back home.....

Etelka - the iris look so good after being in snow in Maine! Be sure to post photos of the bottlebrush in full bloom. I don't think I've ever seen one.

Thanks, Annette. I did go out to check about 20 minutes ago and the oldest of the three Omoshiro has big fat leaf buds but the other two aren't showing any signs of spring growth...yet.

Marie - keep that chin up! Once April arrives you'll spot new growth. When they start growing they leap into action. The second photo shows Liberation and how it grew from ground level to 5' tall in just 34 days.

Marilyn - I worked in the next town, Hauppauge, for years.

I have seen camellias growing in arboretums inside but not in homes. Maybe that was why the doctor got only one bloom.

Wow Pirl I do have my fingers crossed now. I hope you are right.

Me, too!

I wish I could smell the camelias. They are beautiful. Most of my clems are growing.I see buds on some of the ELFs. I did need to move Omoshiro b/c of changing the sprinkler system. Sadly, it was gone/dead.

So sorry to hear about the demise of Omoshiro. I hope all the others do well for you.

I finally gave in when I was at Walmart (of all places) and bought Venosa again. Between the Venosa's I've bought that were not true to name and those that died a fast death, I'm wondering if these will be true and if they'll live.

My venosa lasted 2 years...it had a ton of blooms....then it was gone! I thought it was something I did......

I am still waiting for my Avant Garde to do something beside take a peek outside the ground. This will be its second year. So I have hopes.

Just looked this Clem up , different places that sell it have different requirements posted. One says partial shade, another says it needs full sun to mostly sunny, another says full sun to partial shade. Some call it lavender some say red and pink. And they wonder why we get so Confused...lol I have it in partial shade, maybe I need to move it to more full sun.

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Now many sites are mentioning colors may appear different depending on climate. I'd go by Plant File photos posted by someone in your own area for more accuracy than online photos. As for sun, partial sun, shade, etc. I'd opt for sun with dappled shade during the hottest time of the day but I know it's not always possible. The tree that offers partial shade can either grow and provide too much shade or can die and then you'd be left with all sun. It's a dilemma.

I planted Belle of Woking and Avante Garde last fall. They're both showing signs of life so I have hopes. Just regular hopes, not high ones. ^_^

I wanted to share buds and blooms from GA today. Clematis armandii is going gangbusters, I'm looking forward to the warm weather over the next few days, which will help bring it's scent out. I checked on Pink Champagne and although it just started leafing out, it already has nice sized buds. The other clematis also now are no longer just pips, and are putting out some nice stems. Annette

Wonderful! Thanks so much for the photos and the great encouragement it gives us. The warm days ahead should give a big boost to our clem's as well.

how very nice

Thanks ya'll. It's going to be warm here the rest of this week as well, 60-70's during the day, and 40-50's at night with more rain starting on Friday. I'm on vacation this week, so I'm going to work on giving the clematis more composted manure, and some Epsom salt before the rain starts. I'm hoping for no more cold snaps since all the plants are waking up here.

Wooohooo! Spring has arrived in our region -- I think. Those are very beautiful a setting you've gotten there Annette. I gave my clems. some composted manure as top- dress last week. Look here, I think this maybe 'Firework' that puts out buds! I think my 'Belle of Woking' is also sending out flower buds as well.

Cem9165 and Lily love...the race is on...who will get the first flower? Your plants look healthy so it can be any of us!

On your mark, get set........ Just kidding, LOL. Lily_love bloomed ahead of me last year, even though we're in the same zone. I'm in that zone dip in GA that acts like 7a/7b. I truly hope we're going to stay warm.

Annette, it has to be due to microclimate. Though, I'm classified as 7b. Being near a lake, it buffers the growing condition somewhat. Here is my Belle of Woking and Niobe 1st week of April last year.

Lily..is that a bamboo on the right side of pix?

Yes, Cathy. Those are bamboos. We've a paved in area to keep them in check. Cardinals have chosen the bamboos grove to nest the last couple of years. It's fun...though, this type spreads like wild fire if not contained in our climate.

Lily_love, that's a beautiful combo, I'll need to see if any of the colors I have coming from Brushwood would work well with the ones I have.

Today was play in the dirt day, good weather and not too hot. I was able to put down the composted manure with bone meal and Epsom salt on all the clematis except m. Maylene and DoA. I found that Comte. de Bouchard which I thought I lost starting to show some growth, and Mrs. Cholmdeley has buds.

It was a good day in our garden as well. I ran out of sunny area to plant. So I transplanted some sunny biennial to some large pots. I'm very pleased with Niobe and Belle pair. They're both in a half-wooden- whiskey barrel. The wood is deteriorating so I'll have to transplant them to a sturdier pot after they bloom this spring-- I afraid. Oh I've some beebalms in there to keep the roots cool during the hot summer sun.

This were the pair last year on April 12th.

Lovely combo!

Just beautiful, and I love the water backdrop.

I got the OK to go back to work on Sunday from Doc. So I figured if I can go back to work I can work in the yard. With these 2 great warm days I want to get stuff done. My first tackle was the front flower bed. Digging and lifting up all the old stone boarder and relaying it in a greater curve ( easier mowing) and extending it all the way to the road.
Well let me tell you , my back and legs were and are so sore. I would sit and move around me a section at a time, rather than stand and lift. I also moved a couple of things to give them more space. But it feels great to be out there and getting my hands dirty.

My question now is, since it is so warm and things are putting out growth, Would you give these plants I moved some food, or just water them.

I'd water them, for sure, but not feed them until they adjust to their new spots. When you spot new growth I'd feed them. Which plants did you move?

You did some hard work there! If it makes you feel better, I do a lot of my outside work sitting on the grass or on my scatter rug.

I moved 2 small hydrangea's, so they would have more space. and I noticed that the aster was putting out new growth after I pulled it up. So i replanted it.
I am looking out the window and thinking maybe I should make that curve a softer curve. Ok more stones to move...lol

Long soft curves work so well for mowing. Definitely water the hydrangeas! The asters would like a drink as well since you spotted new growth.

What a great group.

Lily great picture. You have the touch.

Marie , I'm glad your well enough to go back to work. .....Someone has to support my retirement....And I want to thank you for your part. LOL


Pirl your always on top of the gardening picture. It is a rainy day here, and I am thinking fertilizer. Perhaps some Rose Tone now followed by some of the amonium sulfate and super phosphate . Late spring.

You all have a good day.

John

John - I'll second your thank you to Marie for supporting us in our retirement!

Here we have bright sunshine (and 54 degrees!) but it's way too windy for me so I'm sitting and looking down at the floor covered with packages of lilies, dahlias and the two clematises to plant while I think about more shopping. No wonder they call this time of year "Spring Fever".

This is what I meant by long slow curves in case anyone wondered.