Your Neck of the Woods Chat Summer # 2 Count Down to Fall

LOL Gita I love it!. A little humor about the not so funny,having streets gardens and walkways in disrepair while being repaired is no where near as fun as the humor. This week they dug up the street here replaced a pipe and were gone and done in about four hours ,like zoom!!
Found a plant growing in my garden this week that looks like a Oak-Leaved Japanese Maple wonder if is? I'm fair at plant ID maybe next year I will know . I think it is neat to get to guess once in a while.
Weather here makes one feel all wet and gooey and soggy, while working outdoors ,yes indeed fall begins.

Oh Gita. I just googled that plant with the white stripped orange leaves! Evidently,..." it spreads by a series of undergound runners or overhead vines from densely populated areas to cul de sacs where once it becomes 'established and after the leaves disappear a single very tall straight flower stalk appears, seemingly overnight!

Much like its distant relative NBC it too is said to bloom at night and is fairly unremarkable during the day. Most notable about the bloom is the selfcontained glow which is said to rival the moon in brightness. mostly white or cloudy white but some with a blue or yellow cast The bloom is sterile and without scent, yet attracts many insects. Under the right conditions the bloom and stalk will persist for many years. They are drought tolerant. "

Hope you enjoy the unusual orange leaves before they disappear and let us know if yours blooms!

juhur--

Take a picture of the plant and go to the Plant ID Forum. You will have an answer before you can sneeze....

The work they are doing across the street from me is installing a street light. We have never had one here
in this block--in all 43 years.
I was instrumental to get the County to install two. One will be pretty much across the street fro me....

Beautiful days we are having here--for almost a week. Cool, cool nights and awesome days....

Stay well--Gita

And, here is some more from another site,,,
"Occasionally. prior to the appearance of the large cone shaped leaves, often mistaken for flowers, a random series of uneven lines and cross hatches will be observed on lawns and sidewalks with in a radius of up to several hundred feet of the emergence. These 'lines' are bright florescent colors of orange, or yellow."

And later in the article, "There have been several reports of thin yellow streamers running between cones. If any of these streamers remain after the substantial cones disappear they should be promptly and properly disposed of and not composted. No part of this plant is at this time considered edible."

This message was edited Sep 21, 2012 6:52 PM

Gita; I will get there eventually(the ID forum) all have is a little camera (novelty really) makes it difficult to photo small plants.
I can't remember ever living anywhere that didn't have street lights, maybe a few farms where any lights were at all where I had stayed a while with family . Good luck to you, with your new lights maybe all the invasive wildlife will subside and you will get to watch the bats, moths and other insects flying around the street lamps.
Life is usually a little more busy than that, but I once got to see a large albino bat flying around a street light
Thunderstorms going here now, finally decided to rain a while like it means it.Makes for a cold Friday night.

lol

Got my jollies this evening for sure. V E R Y funny!!!

FALL HAS ARRIVED--RIGHT NOW, AS I WRITE THIS!!!!!

Below is a c/p from the Rawlings Newsletter. The Mum Show will run from Sept. 27--Nov. 11th.
If you have never been to Rawlings--you are missing a GEM!

****************************************************************************

Fall Mum Show and Preview Party Fundraiser

Mark your calendars! You will not want to miss the spectacular Chrysanthemum Display. The Dragon's Garden: Elements of the Chrysanthemum runs October 27 - November 11. The Preview Party will be October 26, 6 - 8 p.m. W
We will be sending out invitations soon with information about how to purchase your tickets.

Lets continue our chat over on a new Fall thread here

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1281153/


See you there!

What is happening in my neck of the woods is that as of yesterday, the Stink Bugs are baaaacccckkkkkkkk. God, how I hate them. I killed as many as I could and had a real blast blasting with the jet setting of my water hose. They tend to congregate on the end of my house on the screened porch. So far they seem to all be outside having only seen a very few that have made it indoors.....for now at least.

I have had my camera sitting on my desk for several days now. I got it out when spying a blooming Swedish Ivy that I received from Gita some time back. I haven't seen a Swedish Ivy take bloom much, so I wanted to snap a photo of it. I also wanted to take pictures of a couple of African Violets and Streptocarpus I received from donnerville too because they are definitely putting on a great show currently. Heck, like Juhur, I hope that hearing about these will suffice for now....I am really bad about taking pictures.

I am hoping that today and tomorrow will be the beginning of bringing house plants back indoors. Have you all done that yet? I have a new three shelf, quite good size lighted plant stand that Becky gifted me with some months back. I am anxious to get some plants on it because I have drooled over this sort of shelving for years now.

Hubby is at Farmer's Market this morning, first time since June. He only had Caryoperteris and Aster to take along with a dozen or so of my houseplants. Not sure how he is making out. There are only about two or three more markets this season.

Anyway......hope every one is having a decent enough weekend. Take good care all.

Ruby

Birdie,

Sorry to be so late answering you. I have been quite busy,,,

--Rooting Lavender?

NO! I have never done it, Yes! spring is the best time to take cuttings of anything as the
plant is "waking up", full of juices and ready to grow... In the Fall--plants are ready to snooze.

--Why do I trim the larger leaves at the top on a cutting?

When you take a cutting, it has no roots and no means of sustaining large leaves, blooms or fruit.
It takes a lot of energy for a plant to keep all those going. You take a cutting--and it just cannot do it.
Removing as many leaves as judicious and trimming, smaller, any large leaves on the top of the cutting
relieves the plant from this stress. Same goes for removing any blooms as well as any flower buds that may be forming.
Growing new roots is all a cutting has energy for in the beginning. Once it is rooted--you will see new leaves
and stems starting to grow. New growth is a sure sign your cutting is rooting.

Hope this answers your question. Gita

Our new fence is up!
Hooray!

I don't have to worry about that @#$*&% dog anymore. Yesterday was the first time in a long time that I went out to my own backyard, all by myself, without a weapon for protection.

Now it's looking *awfully* empty. I know I need some tall vertical accents, but I have no idea where to begin...

And there's a huge mess to clean up. I knew the planting beds would be disturbed by the workers, but I had no idea to what extent. There's sooo much work to do...

I'll get a picture asap and will be accepting any planting/landscaping advice you have. :)

Woohoo!!!! Glad you feel secure now. That must have been awful feeling trapped in your own yard with inconsiderate neighbors. I could hear your sigh of relief all the way into Jersey.

ssgardener Great news!

Come on over to our new chat thread over here
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1281153/#new

Thanks, Judy

Sorry to have been absent.

I could not find the cable to upload pics. After I finally asked my son where it might be, I wast old that he could not tell me where to find it - but assured me he could find it when he next comes home. :-) So, I decided to fight the (I think, several) nasty grasses rather than worry about what they are.

Some weeks and many poison ivy reactions later, I have decided to check in and see what is happening.

DEATH to poison ivy and evil invasive grassy weeds!