Great Josephine! See ya there.
John
Gardening with Native plants and Wild flowers of Texas.
Hi Josephine. Glad you will be able to make the Roundup. (This is the same one I emailed you about.) I would love one of the purple aster plants, too!
Terrie
Put me down for some too! I have some asters, but not this variety. Mine have smooth leaves emerging. They sure do stop traffic in the fall! I only have 3 by the road, and one in the backyard. I would love to have a few more!
Mel
PS.... and Queen Anne, and frostweed, and Ironweed.... I will come and get them, even!
I can give you more Queen Anne seeds than you can use but, not until the fall.
John
Frostweed is right about the Passiflora not being out yet. I went out and looked, too. I want to rescue the mother plants. I found the location last year, but it's right in the middle of a gigantic patch of Horsenettle and dove weed that's getting sprayed this year. We have the remains of an old wooden corral that I would like to cover. Thanks for the information, frostweed.
BettyDee
YEA ! My Columbine is blooming out. Got to brag since this is the first time I have seen this live and in person.
And a close up of the first full bloom.
Kipper, brag away! I've got 6 plants in the ground...have had them there for a good 2 1/2 months. They are still exactly the same size they were when I put them in the ground as little 1/2 pint cups. I'd be really happy to see some growth happening on mine!
-Julie
Wow! You must bring that indoors, right? It is gorgeous.
Mine are almost that big, but i haven't seen a bud or bloom yet! I DID get some of my seeds that I saved, to germinate, and am watching the little seedlings every day! I am new to growing from seeds and find this a wonderful obsession!
My husband calls me a seed monster!
mel
Wow! Kipper2, that is one lush and beautiful Columbine. Are you into native plants also?
Tell us what you are doing, and keep up the good work. You know, Columbine is another plant that I haven't been lucky with, so go figure the mysteries of nature.
Josephine.
Double wow, kipper2!! Where is Meadows Place? Which columbine is that?
John
Phlox Carolina is a lovely perennial that will bloom all Summer and come back very reliably every year. It also has a lovely scent, I love this plant because on top of being beautiful it will bloom in semi shade.
The plant emerging 2-26-05
Here is a picture of Phlox Carolina in bloom, Summer of 2004.
A close up of Plox Carolina, I can almost smell it.
Now I must have some of that phlox! lol
Yes, me too! Is it native to Texas?
John
Phlox Carolina is native to the U.S. extending to East Texas.
I will save some for all of you.
Josephine.
OH goodie! I can't wait till this summer, and just imagine next year, after we swap all of our goodies and we all have wonderful posies growing!
That would be wonderful!
Those are beautiful Josephine. Such a nice color.
Well, Here is Turk's Cap, Malvaviscus drummondii. This is a Texas native shrub that will take the heat and bloom till frost. The hummingbirds love the flowers, I can always count on finding them feeding there, they are so much fun!
Cut it down after frost and it will come back next year stronger than before.
Emerging plant, 2-16-05
Here is a picture of one clump, hummer's paradise, and gorgeous too.
Close up of the beautiful flower, which stays rolled up and never opens wide, making a perfect nectar cup.
Wow Kipper2, great looking plant. You must have discovered that columbines are hungry all the time and really respond to a consistant feeding. Just like a baby. It is my favorite flower, but takes some attention and is not long lived. They will come back after winter, if they have not had to stay too wet. I have seedlings from a trade that are supposed to be dark purple. Just started them this winter, so probably wont get blooms til next spring. I am bringing a few to the CTXRoundUP to share, so come on over and get some. LOL SEEYA Margie
GOODNESS ! I didn't expect this kind of response. Julie, mel, Josephine, John, Margie. Thanks for the Kudos. What can I say? I got the plant at the Houston Heights Festival back in Sept. (it was 1/3 the size). The Houston Butterfly assoc. had an area that they were selling attractors and I liked the looks of it. After learning about it HERE, I just repotted it with a little of my compost and kept it moist. It spent the winter outside and when it snowed here (SW of Houston) xmas eve it was next to the house under the porch covering with all her friends. I really haven't done anything special that I know of but I guess that I have my Grandmother to thank for a natural green thumb...she had 20 of them. My backyard is nothing but native Texas, butterfly / hummingbird attractors and butterfly cat food plants. I started the back yard @ 1.5 years ago.
This message was edited Mar 9, 2005 11:02 PM
I bought a Turks Cap last year and don't know why I didn't get three! When will mine show new shoots?
John
John, since you live farther north than we do, it may take a little longer, but they should be up soon. That shoot is from this year. I suppose the temperature has a big influence.
Josephine.
Hope so. I think I saw new Pasiflora shoots today!
I just saw my Turks cap coming up, today.
I bought just one Turks Cap, and loved the results so much, I went back and bought 5 more!
Just HOW BIG is that one in your picture? I read that they can get big! I may have to keep some of them pruned.
mel
I just checked mine. Nothin' yet. :-( Last year it didn't grow much but, bloomed through fall. Terrific flower too.
The Turk's Cap in the picture is about 5 feet tall and 4 years old. They normaly don't grow a lot the first year, but they really take off after that. I have one bed with Desert Honeysuckle, Flame anisacanthus, Turk's Cap, and Autumn Sage, all red, that is a hummingbird magnet all summer.
Josephine.
Last Sunday we harvested our compst pile which was started last Spring.
Here is a picture of the bin before sifting. We are starting a new one now, which will be harvested next year.
Here is a picture of my husband Frank sifting, I did some sifting too.
The compost sifter is a wonderful tool, if you want fine crumbly compost, we don't know what we would do without it. We found this at Redenta's Garden nursery.
I made my sifter from 2x4's and 1/4" hardware cloth placed over my wheelbarrow.
John
And here I am proudly showing the beautiful compost. We harvested 5 of those big buckets full, more than enough for all our flower beds and the slope.
This compost was made by what I call the cold method.
Josephine.
This message was edited Mar 10, 2005 12:42 PM
Josephine,
your compost looks great! I love compost. My little garden didn't produce enough 'stuff' though to warrant a cubic meter compost pile though. So I took the wire mesh and wood frame I was using for the compost and moved it to another area to use for something else. In any case, I've been doing some research into smaller bins and I found a site (can't remember the address, but I saved all the info on the site) that has a plan for using big garbage bins like the one pictured in your photo above. The plan calls for 3 bins just like your cold plan. Then the bottoms are cut out using a utility knife so that the contents sit on the ground and are just supported by the bin. Holes are drilled in the sides (1 hole every 12 inches) for circulation and the regular lid is kept on except for loading and unloading. The claim is that the smaller bins are more appropriate for smaller gardens and that the bins with holes drilled in them allow composting of even the things on the outter edges (which doesn't happen in a mesh and wood frame pile ).
Since I haven't actually attempted this type of compost system, I wanted to ask your opinion. Do you think it would really work? I'd hate to spend the $100 on the bins (yes 3 would be that expensive) if it wouldn't work in the end. If it does work, then $100 isn't that much of an investment since the bins could be used for several years. What are your thoughts on this? I really appreciate any feedback. :-)
-Julie
Hello Julie, I think that your 3 bin plan would work just fine. Just be sure that you keep
brown or dry organic matter on hand to cover your kitchen scraps with. These are usually quite moist and if there isin't enough dry matter to absorb the moisture it could get smelly. We usualy save our kitchen waste in a covered bucket for a week, and once a week we put it in the compost bin and cover it with dry matter such as leaves old plants or clippings. That way we layer wet and dry and the pile doesn't get smelly or attact flies. Cutting out the bottom is important, since if you don't all the liquids will acumulate and smell bad.
Wow! $100 for the three bins! I guess they don't have Family Dollar stores in Israel.
We bought our bins there for $5 each.
Are you a native of Israel or are you transplanted? You seem to be a very friendly and busy person, I have seen many of the things you have posted on Dave's and I love
your attitude and your openness. You are an asset to Dave's Garden.
Sincerely, Josephine.
This message was edited Mar 10, 2005 8:42 PM
This message was edited Mar 10, 2005 8:44 PM
That's how I made my sifter too, John. But, then I accidently left it at my old house in the shed when we moved. I need to make another so I can use my compost that should be ready now. I hope my compost looks as good as yours Frostweed.
Ah, Josephine, you really made my day! Thank you so much for your sweet words. You have no idea how much they are appreciated :-)
I'm originally from Oklahoma....so I'm transplanted, but not invasive ;-) LOL
-Julie