You all make sure ,, as coming up shortly ,, Santa might be looking for something special for Rudolph ... That you all talk to Santa about the best plants for His Deer ...
Otherwise ,, Santa might have a gift from all of you ,, he ,, he ,,,
Pudding , pies , cakes , with Turkey, Ham, Gravy , potatoes and all the treats ,,, Oh , My !!! I ate too Much this past week , I wonder why ??? .
Lol ,, You all have a delightful time ,,,
CLOSED: 2014 Fall Round Robin On the Wing
Glad you all had a good Thanksgiving! It has been a busy week around here, the Pyrenees had to have surgery on his knee yesterday, to have a ruptured tendon repaired, so I have been busy with that and the Grand babies.
I have a very large, very unhappy dog, because we must keep him confined and he is not used to that. He doesn't understand why he can't go out and play. Not for 10 days. It's going to be a long 10 days...
Oh boy Nanny that's a big big dog to try to restrain, besides the grandkids you must be pulling your hair out. :D
I just logged on to share something only a bunch of seed hoarders would appreciate.
I was tending a mandevilla in a HB that I bought over the summer and brought her in at the end of the season. I'm seeing some new growth tips, would love to get her to bloom indoors - she is the prettiest pink. I'm thinking it's the 'Parasol' variety, but I can't remember off hand - it's the one that costs about $20 in a 10" hanging basket.
Anyway.
While I was pruning dead tips,etc., I saw something and started talking to myself (as seed hoarders do) saying, " ... is that what i think it is?" and then " NO WAY!!!!" and then "HOW COOL!!!"
I've got 6 or 7 SEED PODS from this gorgeous plant. I am giddy because I didn't do Any REAL gardening this season *(which disappointed me to no end) but to have seed pods on a mandevilla - I've never seen seeds posted for trade. To me this is highly unusual. I'll let you know how much/what comes out of it. It's the highlight of my day.
Hope yours is happy too!!!
xox
A.
That is unusual, Amanda. I have two plants a red and a pink in the greenhouse, and I have never noticed any seedpods yet. But they were in 5" pots so they were young plants when I got them last year. Good luck with those!
Bigfoot is up and hopping around on 3 legs, he is very stubborn! But doing well so far. Yeah when the vet tech told me not to let him run or jump, I thought to myself,"Are you kidding Me?!?" The only way to keep him down is to hogtie or knock him out. lol
I've had Mandevilla set seed before when they had been outside all summer. I never tried to germinate them though. Let us know what happens.
Super cool on the mandevilla - hope they're viable seed!
Annette - my Pyrenees is the most stubborn thing too! Supposedly it's a breed trait, since they are livestock guardians they can make decisions quickly, only downside is they don't take to listening to their humans lol. Whenever I have to fuss my Malibu, she makes a squinty smiley face at me. Thought she was showing her teeth but it's just her "I'm sorry" face. Really cute. Hope it all calms down for you soon - and hope you know what a blessing you are to your family for helping out with the grand kids! I only have inlaws for family here and I It's hard to get things done sometimes!
Mitt su dmailed me for my address so it should be arriving sometime next week!
Not address, last name. I really didn't want to send it off to Becky Stillplays with dirt! The box is packed chock full!
I'm living vicariously through your swap, would love to hear what you all find the swap that you take/want to plant. Am going thru a bit of "plant withdrawl" since it's not planting season any more and cant do much else but plan/think of winter sowing :o)
I'm brand new to flowers so it probably took me longer than the others since I had to look EVERYTHING up! lol....there's a whole lotta seed in there! Glad I did though because now I'm pretty excited! Spent an enormous amount of time trying to figure out if a peony poppy was a peony or a poppy! lol. It was a bit overwhelming but there's a couple in particular that I'm especially curious about. One is the passion flower vine and the other is a snail vine. I've never seen anything like them before and they're pretty crazy looking! Oh yeah...and a lion's tail. There's others too. I should make a list of what I got and maybe some of you could offer some tips.
That's a great idea Flo.
flo peony poppy I usually call my PomPom Poppy for they Look like a Big Fuzzy Ball :) I Love them I have about 100 pks & Probable 5000 seeds in aa pk if anyone wants to do a larg piece of field with them :)
DJ
They are beautiful! Are they difficult to grow? I've not had luck with perennial poppies in the past. Is this an annual or perennial?
OK maybe if I post here I'll get this up on my home page. Poppies, I love poppies but I;'ve had such lousy luck with them. California poppies grow like weeds in my yard but any of the others, well I can put out a hundred seeds and get one plant.
I bought some calif poppy seeds on ebay after I read they were a lot easier to grow. So hopefully theywill do well for me
This year I bought some other colors, there are some yellow and white ones. I cleared a new area in a hot spot out back and I'm getting ready to seed poppies and mexican hat back there. Should be beautiful and I'll have lots of seed next year.
Oops - sorry I gave Becky's last name as "stillplayswithdirt". I seriously thought that was her name. :D
Flo - you've picked several that I pulled from robins and trading for the past several years. I've had excellent luck germinating the snail vine/Vigna caracalla and posted how I did it in the comments section on the plant page.
The lion's tail is a very cool, plant - took all season for it to finally bloom for me, even though I had it planted in what I thought was an ideal space. I am not sure if it was supposed to take all season (into September, October) to bloom, but that's how it did for me. The seed pods are prickly! Think I still have some in a bag somewhere around here. Ha ha ha.
Hope everyone's enjoying the weekend. The sun is a welcome sight here today.
xo
A.
Flo - there are several lion's tail plants. I grew one that was a perennial small tree, it died on me last year. I also grow the annual type every year, they are so fun. Last year I discovered another perennial one that grows to bush size and I have a few of those in now. I have seeds for both the annual ones and Leonotis menthefolia, the bush one, if you're interested.
I thank those who donated the sugar snap peas and the waldo peas, I took some of each and have them soaking, will plant in a bucket within the next day or so. We are getting a cool down period, so that is a good time to plant. Also been cloudy and a bit rainy, also good for peas.
O Mittsy I am so jealous you are planting already. hahahahahahhaah
Amanda...do you have a list for route somewhere? (lol, that we can see?)
Kathy,
it's at the top of the original robin thread
I grew Lion's tail from a plant i got at lowe's and it returned a couple of years. Did not bloom this year-maybe because so dry. The 2x mine bloomed it was very late in the bloom season.
It's here! See y'all in a few days! Hehehe :))
Yay Becky!
And Kath - the flight path is listed at the top of this thread. Susie, I think I may not have inserted yours when I started the thread because I didn't know if you had the runway open for the bird to land. If anyone else's name is not up top - don't fret - the bird is now in Texas.
Traditionally the flight path for the Robin in the fall is to the south of the sender and clockwise around the country. :D
So - from TX the box will go to AZ - and then to CO - just two clicks away for WWK.
Then to CA and up and up north where we have to get it to Susie.
Dee - I think that means you will be shipping to MI if I have my geography correct!
Betsy - could you insert Susie's name onto the flight path sheet included in the Robin? I don't have names and addresses posted on the thread for privacy sake. I will DMail her shipping address to you if you could just squeeze her in right there after DEE.
Thanks a bunch! No snow here, but pretty darn cold rain all day. Ack!
Stay warm.
xo
A.
Hooray Becky! Have fun with that box! It is like Christmas morning isn't it? lol I am sure there are people who think we are crazy getting so excited over a box of seeds, lol. But I don't care!
Ya, saw the list but since no states were included above I wasn't sure where it was. Thanks, I'll be looking for it soon.. Was out collecting more seed yesterday, now I need to get them packaged and labeled.
I'll fix the list so it makes a little more sense. :)
LOL, thanks! Is there any Alcea (hollyhock) Creme de Cassis in the bird? Or anyone have any? I know I should have asked before but have been soo busy. Got the plastic up on the greenhouse yesterday and will finish today. Got 2 short cold frames I'll get repaired and covered today. So I'm almost ready for the bird!
O Kathy you always impress me so with your seeding/planting every year. Only a slight bit of green (envy) here. Haven't heard from Pam in a while - have you?
I don't remember if there was A. Creme in there, someone (BEcky?!) have you seen any? Sounds like not your run of the mill hollyhock flavor.
Tired of being hunched over this machine.
Have a good evening everybody.
xo
A.
Hey guys.. Wow that is quite the assortment of seeds in that box! Annette, I do get just as excited as a kid on Christmas morning! I posted a pic on Facebook and one of my friends couldn't believe how packed it is!! I am trying my best to finish getting through it, and would like to have it back out by Friday but it may have to wait til Saturday morning.. this has been a crazy week!
I haven't gotten through the bags of flower seed yet, but when I do I'll keep an eye out for those hollyhocks. If I'm not mistaken, I have one like that from the Netherlands.. I'll look..
Since I looked at every package inside the box, WOW, I do not remember seeing any Hollyhock you are asking for. It was really packed full and I do remember Hollyhocks but they were ones I already had or was familiar with. Sorry, maybe someone has some and will do a private trade with you.
My peas have sprouted, yeah!
Today I had a THRILL of my recent lifetime and career change when I got to sit with and chew the fat with the Nursery Manager of the NC Botanical Garden in Chapel Hill.
I'm not sorry - it couldn't get much better than that, and while I was waiting for him while he was called away to another task, he pointed out to me that one of the native wetland bog plant areas had cranberry growing in it, and so I was eating cranberries today!
What a super duper cool day.
I was there to pick up plants for another non-profit I'm involved with. I think maybe he was testing me (?!) when he came back he asked me if I would like a "gentian." I'd noticed the plant but it didn't have a tag in it. I of course knew what it was and he said I could have it. Maybe he thought I was doing hand jive with what I thought I knew about native plants. But yeah, I was proud of myself when I picked up the right plant. :D
The BEST DAY EVER!!!
All I can think of are the really cool connections/networking I am doing lately. It's blowing my mind. Heh. Could that dang master's degree actually pay off some day?!
Stay tuned.
Thanks for playing - hope you ALL had a mystical magical day.
xo
A.
We had a good day,today. Pretty magical, my daughter passed her Finals and is graduating tomorrow morning. Whoohoo! She will soon be an employed RN, job interviews next week.
They did not post final scores until this afternoon, so she didn't know whether she was going to graduate or not until about 2:30, and graduation practice was at 4:00. We are all glad that chapter is closed. and ready to begin a new one. The one that involves a paycheck. lol
Amanda, what a great day...only us plant addicts can relate to the max! :-)
Congrats Nanny to your daughter! I am sure she worked hard!
Wow, talk about cutting it close! That's mean/pressure for those kids!
Congrats to your daughter Nanny!
And, Amanda, what a great experience! To die for (as they say LOL)!
Sue G
It's nice to hear it's been such a good week for everyone. We went walking on the beach with the grand kids yesterday, 1 and 5, it was magical. We had a huge storm the night before so the beach was a wreck and the waves were huge. The baby was having so much fun running around and picking up icky things and the 5 year old was enjoying being chased by the waves. We hiked all over the dunes behind her and let her lead us back to the car. It's so nice to see them smile, I'm so glad we live somewhere we can spend quality time outside.
Hey Nanny - I'm not marching, but I'm pretty sure today is graduation for NCSU as well. Congratulations for getting her thru the program!!! She couldn't have done it without you, to be sure. So pat yourself on the back and look forward (maybe?) for a little down time for you.
Dee - sounds like a fabulous afternoon. I sure miss the water.
Thanks Sue and Valal - I'm still glowing from the experience. Just have to make sure I keep my nose clean, fingernails dirty, and work hard in the right direction.
Keep you posted.
It's 60 deg. this afternoon - sunny, glorious day(s) today and tomorrow. I think I'll get back to enjoying mine - hope you all will too!
A.
Yay for your daughter Nanny! Tell her congrats from one RN to another and good luck on the NCLEX.
Amanda (see pix 1) Gentiana septemfida, also picked up new from the Denver Botanic Gardens this season was G. dahurica 12-15"^, plus G. cruciata. Sure hope they bloom next year. Which one did you get...? Love'em as they are tough as nails! (Z3 if I remember correctly.) Thanks for the compliment! Yes, was a busy busy season, think I ended up putting about 1800 plants in the backyard now. Yikes!!!! LOL. Just finished covering my grnhs and hoophouse with plastic yesterday. Today I dug babies and mature plants from the garden. I'll be potting those up for sales maybe come spring... At least that's my intent. I'll stick those in the hoophouse for the winter and let them increase in size. If they don't sell I'll plant them out in rows and use them for a cutting garden.. Yes, Pam is still out there..lol. She just started a new thread for 'Seed Germination" (pt5), so any and all are welcomed to participate!!!!!! Also she has a DESIGN thread we've been chatting it up on..
I might have located some Alcea 'Creme de Cassis" seed. Pretty blackcurrant color, singles and dbls... Fingers are crossed... I grew them years ago and they disappeared, guess I forgot to colllect seeds.
Think I'm pretty much done outside now for this season (maybe). Expecting snow tomorrow and then into the 40's. for the rest of the week. Sad to see the season come to an end but I'm ready...
Finished putting plastic on my grhse area and hoophouse yesterday. Got 2 coldframes I might move and cover also...we'll see. LOL! Now I have to clean up the inside grow stands....and gather pots, trays and finish mixing the peat and vermiculite...then I'll be ready to go... COME ON WINTER...lol (ok give me another week). Then it can snow allll it wants! Sorry haven't been around much but outside is done for this year so inside activities begin!
Hey Susie can you save me a packet of your poppy seeds..PLEASE! Thanks. I have a packet of Aquilegia (mixed colors and mixed varieties for you...will put in the bird...(sorry forgot to put them in the last package you got from me..)) Kathy
Thanks everyone for the congrats. We ALL had to work hard for this one! But my daughter is the type of person whop doesn't let anything or anyone stand in the way of what she wants. She is a litlle like her momma. lol Stubborn...too stubborn to give up. She is now thinking of going back to get another degree. I asked her to please wait until after Christmas lol. Seriously I think she is going to wait until Fall 2015 term to give us all a break.