PLANT ADDICTS CHAT #5

also picked up a
Magnolia 'Betty' ($9.99 4' tall)
http://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/PlantFinder/PlantFinderDetails.aspx?taxonid=249456&isprofile=1&basic=magnolia

and a full in bloom 'Autumn Magic Chokeberry'Aronia melanocarpa ($22.99)
http://www.paghat.com/chokeberry.html

and 3 gal really nice
Delaware Valley White Azaleas ($10 each if buy three or more)


SSG They had 'Lemon Drop' and 'Pink and Sweet' Swamp Azaleas (3 -4 footers...$30?)

Aspenhill, saw a new Turtlehead chelone called 'Tiny Tortuga'...cute!

Oooooohhh, so tempting... Lemon Drop blooms in July! I just planted a hibiscus in a spot that would be perfect for this one.

And that Tiny Tortuga is adorable.

I should take my camera to work tomorrow. We have so many nice shrubs.
The Witch hazel has now leafed out. Such pretty leaves! No catkins yet...

Oneshrub that caught my eye--and I thought of you all--was a compact, green and white
variegated leaves Azalea--with dark red blooms. Very eye-catching.

Bonnie's is on sale again this week. 4/$10 (til Wed. PM). Save time with seeding
all kinds of stuff. Get them fully growing for a couple bucks.
I picked up a "super sweet cherry tomato" today and a "Lemon Balm Mint"
.
We also have 3 trays of Stevia--I ask customers to chew on a leaf--and watch
their surprised faces when the feel the sweetness. I let them taste asst. Basils too.
One that is a tad spicy, but so yummy, is "Spicy Globe Basil".
Tiny leaves--maybe 1/4"--ball shape growth....hence..."globe".

Bonnie's has so many varieties of Tomatoes it is ridiculous. Lots of heirloom ones too.
Many varieties I have NEVER hear of. Maybe 5 varieties of Eggplant...etc.

I went to Chapel Hills Nursery here--they had good-sized Lemon Grass clumps
in 4" pots--$2.49....5 for $10. I may bring one for the Gift table.
People are always asking for these--as well as the "Mosquito
Plant"...
Now there are about 5 things I want to bring for the gift table. Have to whittle it down to 3.
AAARRRGGGGHHHHH....choice....choices.....
G.

Gita, I say you should just go ahead and take the 5. ;)

HI everyone, guess who!? WOW it feels like forever since I've been here, I have no idea where to begin.
It's been SUPER busy at work, (50+ hours a week, I'm pooped), always more and more changes going on. We're packed full with tropicals and annuals, always more and more every week. I finally got to bring some of the babies home with me today, plan to do some installation on Sunday.

One little note... one tree we've begun to carry regularly is the Metasequoia and Seq, that always makes me think of you and smile. :) I never realized before how great those trees are, but now I have a much greater appreciation for them; they have got such great "bones". Even Winter-naked they are gorgeous.

If any of you ever happen to be down in my neck of the woods feel free to drop by the store to visit - my only day off is Wednesday so chances are darned good you'll see me. :)

great finds, coleup!

HellO speedie! welcome back!

went past Lowes today and was bowled over by the skyscrapers of mulch and urban sprawls of plant carts filing their side lot.

HI SPEEDIE!

I was wondering where you've been!

Aldi has garden trellises on sale again.

They're $10 each.

http://weeklyads.aldi.us/Aldi/ListingDetail?ispartial=N&ReturnCircularPageFlag=Y&StoreID=2623678&ListingID=-2034750798

And I like these 3-tier plant stands:

http://weeklyads.aldi.us/Aldi/ListingDetail/Index/?StoreID=2623678&ListingID=-2034750790&ItemDetailClickSource=grid

Speedie--i DID buy 5 of them! You think i am stupid??? Such a great deal!
At the HD the only containers we get Lemon Grass in are 10" square pots
that cost $9.98.

SS--The trellis you are showing is probably the ONLY trellis they sell, as I have
one from about 3 or 4 years ago--the same one....the same price--$10.
I love it--and my "lady Betty Balfour" Clematis lives on it.

Gollly--Geeee----It is so great to see you here again!!!! Gita ♥ ♥ ♥

SPEEDIE!!!!!!!

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

Speedie!! *Big Hugs*

Coleup, good deals on those trees! If you come across another $10 'Betty', I'd sure love it. My 'Ann' is really coming into its own this year, and I just planted a 'Jane' I found at Lowe's (also about 4 ft. tall, but I paid $25)... it would be fun to add a 3rd "sister!"

If you go back to get a 'Lemon Drop' swamp azalea for SSG, would you see if there's also a 'Pink and Sweet' for me? That would make a nice grouping with the White Eyelet one and Sally's buckeye. :-)

Re. teh Allium you liked... ADR has Ivory Queen, which I'm pretty sure is A. kartaviense.. 50 cents per bulb if we get a bag of 50.

I just want to clarify that I haven't said yes to Lemon Drop!

I'm at the stage where I need to move around a lot of perennials to make room for a tree.

***BIG HUGS*** to all! :)

Aaaah, it's so nice to watch the addicts and pushers in action, oh how I've missed it!
Now, time to hit the road to work.

Oh, and Gita, heeheeheee, nooooo, I know you're not stupid, silly girl. I'm just surprised you limited yourself to 5... why not 10? ;)

Coleup, where was the magnolia 'Betty'? Sounds like a great deal. Any chance I can get you to pick one up for me?

Speedie! So good to hear from you! Was wondering how you were doing.

Just got back from Aldi, they will not have the trellises until Wednesday of next week, so don't hurry out now just for that.

Gita, do you have a lemon grass clump available that I could pay you for? I haven't grown that in a long time... and Joyanna and her friends are heavily into making "potions" as well as having tea parties. They'd love it!

Big hug to you too, Speedie. We've sure missed you.

Hey Speedie!!! Nice to see you around again :)

Metasequoia indeed has nice bones and looks good naked...LOL Mine got cones on it for the fires

Hey Speedie!!! Nice to see you around again :)

Metasequoia indeed has nice bones and looks good naked...LOL Mine got cones on it for the first time last season.

Your turntable is skipping...

Jill--
Yes--I can bring you one of the Lemon Grasses.
It doesn't have much of a lemon scent to them--maybe they
have to grow more mature? These are mature enough to me--
over a foot tall and nice clumps. G.

VV that is funny

VV that is funny

I bought a few small clumps of lemongrass last year.

One that I planted in a nice raised garden bed got HUGE. It was as big (wide and tall) as a mature clump of miscanthus. The ones kept in containers remained manageable -- only about a couple of feet tall.

I'm afraid they didn't help much with my mosquito problem, but they smelled delicious.

Did they help with your cooking?

Lol...turntable....what is that??


(an appropriate age joke)

;-P

SS--
Is lemongrass perennial? Does it die off and re-grow after the winter,
or does it just stay as is during the winter?

Now that I have a couple--I would like to know. Gita

Lemon Grass is a tender perennial, zone 9 or so, thus an annual in our neck of the woods. It can be brought in during the winter.

I cooked a couple of South Asian dishes with it, but there is no way I could have used all of that lemongrass. I should have made more lemongrass tea.

Thanks, GT and SS---

I will have to chop it up--dry it--and use it for tea in the winter,,,
Never had it before.....it will be an experiment....G.

I have been a big proponent of lemongrass for years. Not only has it kept mosquitoes at bay 100% since I've been growing it around my house, it really is delicious in all sorts of cooking, mainly Thai. It's also wonderful in freshly brewed iced tea - just a couple long blades in a gallon of tea has been enough for me. Careful not to over-do it with seafood though; I once did shrimp on the grill in one of those flat "baskets", and layered several blades inside with the shrimp.. it was a bit over-powering and gave the shrimp a rather "Fruit Loops" sort of taste. HA! I grow them in 7 gallon sized pots in full sun on the front porch, back deck, and amongst the potted babies out back (where it's bright shade/dappled sun), and they thrive well, (getting to be between 4-5 feet tall), and I have literally had zero mosquitoes since I've begun doing that. I've never noticed much of a lemony scent from them though, unless I bruise some of the blades.
Of course, we're carrying it at work as well - 1 1/2 quart sized pots for ... I think $3.99. The plants are about 1-1.5 feet tall or so, about 2-3 clumps per pot.
One year I tried sprucing up the pots a bit by planting some petunias around the edges...I think it was just too much plant in one pot - the lemongrass thrived, the petunias... not so much.

I really should have frozen some of the lemongrass from last year. All this lemongrass talk is making me crave Thai food...

If your mosquito problem is as bad as mine, or if your blood is as tasty to mosquitos, then lemongrass won't do much to curb this problem.

Freezing the lemongrass... wish I'd thought of that! Will do that this year, thank you for that tip. As for tasty blood - well, I don't think that my blood has ever been particularly tasty to those nasty things, but I do live in a water-front community, so we get mosquitoes BAD here.. and DH is a particularly tempting treat to them; always has been. If ya had a group of 100 people (including DH) and 100 mosquitoes, HE would end up with 110 bites, and all others would have none. He's (sadly) one of "those". On the other hand, I ended up with the lucky end of the stick; I next to never get bit, (maybe one bite per year), and I could roll around in poison ivy for an hour and not have a mark on me. **shrug** no idea why.

Speedie, it is not uncommon for people to lose their immunity to poison ivy as they get older. When I was in elementary school another boy and I would roll in poison ivy to show off. Nowadays if I have any scratch or skin abrasion and it gets direct exposure I get some reaction. I still pull plants by hand, but have to be careful and scrub afterward.

David, you are so right! As we get older our bodies go through so many changes. I don't remember being susceptible to any of the "poison" plants, but these days none of 'em seem to affect me. I should be embarrassed to admit it, but I just can't seem to bring myself to wear gloves when gardening, have yet to find a pair that I'm comfortable in.
I'm sure as I get even older much of these benefits will change, but I guess that's better than the alternative.

I dislike wearing gloves except for protection from the cold as I like the tactile contact with whatever I'm working with. An exception is when working with pavers or wall block because they are so rough and tear your hands up real quick.

I have to wear gloves, no choice with the lymphedema in my left arm/hand... fortunately, I discovered those Atlas 370 garden gloves, a stretchy breathable knit with nitrile-dipped palms. Sometimes I only put a glove on the left hand, though, because there's really nothing like putting your hands right in the dirt!

Lol there should be 'gloves' to put on afterOne gardens or whatever that give the appearance of well-groomed nails and hands.! Soil less mix is so very drying to ones skin that slathering on and working in some cocoa butter lotion pre gardening is mandatory for me.

For every day gardening I like to use the Dr. or Nurses gloves.
Latex ones are getting hard to find--and I do not care so much about the vinyl ones.
They don't 'hug" your hand and fingers like the latex ones do.
The blue Nitrite gloves are a bit better--they do hug your hands.
I HAVE TO wear gloves when working outside b/s my cuticles split deeply and get all dry
when healing. My hands are rough and crummy. Any kind of glove on my hands
helps that a bit.

Here is the best deal for gardening gloves. Pack of 3--for $8.98. ($9'88 ?)
Unfortunately--these just come in med. and large--not too suitable for men.
They are great to use for heavy yard work. They have faux suede palms and fingers.
AND--they come in different colors in the 3-pack. OH, YEAH!!!

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Firm-Grip-X-Large-Utility-Glove-3-Pack-3003/204821677

I have discovered hand-magic in a little green tin - Bag Balm. I give my hands a good scrubbing with a brush and then slather that stuff on, giving myself a good FULL 5 minutes to get it all-the-way rubbed in. Daily use has made my hands, even my cuticles, no longer look as though they have been through a meat grinder.
Critter, we sell exactly those same gloves at work.. and even with the "small" size I still get clown-fingers, very pesky. We started carrying them because you'd mentioned them before so I insisted we had to carry them. They sell really well, everyone loves 'em, I just wish they fit me right. :(

I still haven't found the perfect hand lotion for me. I'm going to have to look into Bag Balm!