Maggie, If I'm heading up north via 45 I'll let ya know. I'd like to see what you did to your back yard in person.
Central TX RU 4/23 "afterglow"
Yipee! I would so love to see you guys again, and show you what would hopefully be a decent garden. (I have learned to say, "My garden just peaked last week, I'm so sorry you missed it," pretty convincingly.) ;-)
I'm thinking about trying to get to San Antonio in June sometime, for a day. I'll let you know in advance, hope to meet up with you and Mary Lee.
Well, shucks! Went to see my Mom at the recycling center, and guess what had come in... at least 4 or more 3 liter bottles!!! I left them there, but thought dearly of you all. Hope this is an event I can make in the fall.
Tamara
Donna, I wanted to tell you that the brug bloom is opening. There are atleast 8 more, but they are really tiny. I'm really excited. It never ceases to amaze me when a really neat bloom opens or when some exotic plant does well. I used to have the kiss of death when it comes to outside plants. Now I have flowers. WOW
htop, what is the name of that bleeding heart you have that is hardy here? Does it seed?
Silverfluter, the vine is Bleeding Heart Vine, Glory Bower (Clerodendrum thomsoniae). It can take our heat if given morning sun and afternoon shade. My small one that is in the hanging basket hanging from the oak tree receives some morning sun, afternoon filtered shade and late evening sun for just a little while as the sun is setting. It is not frost hardy and will have to be brought in in the winter. It seeds; but, most people in their comments talk about propagating it from cuttings placed in water or moist soil. The huge hardy calla lily an my side yard flowerbed is Zantedeschia aethiopica:
http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/768/index.html
This message was edited May 8, 2005 2:59 AM
Well if you ever have babies from those I would appreciate some. I wonder though, if those cala lilies would do OK in alkaline soil. Maybe they just wouldn't invade.? Or if I just dug out a hole big enough for their roots and filled with G-V rose dirt, maybe they would stay put and not invade.
Donna, depending on which 30 hrs, that would be enough time! :-)
I "mom sit" on Monday night for some friends who just moved to California. His mother is in a nursing home here, and they have to get all kinds of paperwork done before they can get her a place there. I look in on her, take her Depends, apple juice, etc, and listen to her stories. She's a sweet lady, with a disarming smile, but she's had a hard life and is bitter (and she suffers from a touch of dimentia.) I try to get her to talk about the things that make her smile.
All that to say, Monday nights are taken. Otherwise, I would love to get together with you guys if you're in the area again. Depending on the timing, you could come up here, or I could go and meet you.
When I come to the area I am generally in my truck http://dstartz.com/Truck.jpg that gets 8 mpg of diesel...
Oh yeah! I guess I will come to you, no problem! When will you be in the area again?
silverfluter, I forgotr to put the link to the bleeding heart. Here it is:
http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/506/index.html
When I planted the calla lily, I added acidic soil 2.5 by 2.5 foot area and as far down as I could dig (being limestone beneath this bed, that wasn't very deep). I will be adding pine needle mulch if I can locate some each year to keep the soil acidic. Someone told me to drench the area with water that has had white vinegar added to it at the rate of 1 tablespoon of vinegar to 1 gallon of water when the soil needs acidified, I haven't tried this yet. I wonder if anyone here has ever done this before. It has not been invasive; but, I have only had it planted one year. Maybe hasn't been invasive because we don't have a lot of rain. After it was established, I don't water it any more than my other plants; however it is heavily mulched.
I will be starting cuttings from the bleeding heart in the fall if the plants survive the summer. It is doing well so far. If I have calla lily offspring, I will save you one. I don't intend to divide it anytime soon. I think I saw the calla lily bulbs at Home Depot, but I am not positive about this. I bought mine in containers at Lowe's about this time last year.
This message was edited May 8, 2005 3:26 AM
I bought a cala lily bulb from HD last year, got foliage, but no bloom. I thought it had died, but it's coming up great this year - lots of foliage, but no bloom yet (I am hopeful, maybe the plant has to be mature to bloom?) It's planted in a container. (And I have bought a small one from a nursery, that is already blooming, for instant gratification.) :-)
htop, I bought a couple of bags of pine needle mulch from HD yesterday. I used to have nothing but pines and pine straw in my yard, but nothing to mulch. Now that I don't have the pines, I have lots to mulch! I've asked the neighbors for their pine straw, but haven't gotten any yet.
jThanks htop, I look forward to the fall RU. I have learned soo much from you and other DG'ers. I had been thinking I needed to do something to bring in some surprises to my yard. By this time next year there will be lots of surprises all over. Thanks a bunch.
Hey maggiemoo, I know this isn't the place BUT.... how did you fair through todays storm. My plants took a beating!! Everything is leaning to the south with the gusts up towards 50mph or higher. No damage that I can see so far but did get some water in the house around the kitchen window that was facing the horizonal rain and wind. Hoping that you fair well through it too.
This is what we got via The Weather Channel's web site
http://www.weather.com/weather/map/77477?name=dopplerradar300mile_large_animated&day=1
I'm where the Beltway 8 meets US 59 on the SW side
Kip
This message was edited May 8, 2005 6:15 PM
Our sky just turned green and the Sat. TV quit. It is raining very hard now.
Hang in there, tornado season is here...
I c that!
Yeah, and hurricane season is just about here!
Kip, it was pretty wild and wooly up here, but every time I checked the Weather channel, all the real action was down there with you guys! Glad to hear the house is still standing, if not the plants. Watching the trees getting blown around so much made me thankful again that I had most of the pines taken out. I kept looking to see if the sky would trun green, because otherwise it certainly felt like a tornado brewing. When we get lots of rain like this, my usual concern is how much water is standing in the garden, and how long it will take to drain off or absorb.
Silverfluter, I just yesterday finally got all those irises planted!! I had no idea it was going to rain today, so I'm sure glad I didn't put it off one more day. The bed I planned for them to go in still isn't built, so I went ahead and planted some in another bed, and a lot in several large containers. Poor things have been just kept damp in newsaper all this time, but the roots looked fine and firm. I don't remember, what kind of irises did you say they are? Should I expect them to bloom this year, or is the blooming season over?
Everyone have a great evening. Kip and Trois, stay dry!!
Kipper, I didn't know you lived in SW Houston. Or did I misunderstand? I grew up in Bellaire. Donna also went to Bellaire for awhile.
We had some interesting weather too today. We had almost 2 " this morning with lots of lightning. This afternoon coming home from Mother's Day party at Tom's sister's house near Canyon Lake, I got hailed on. I had to drive about 50mph to keep on the road.
Next weekend should be really interesting. We have a daughter going to college in Missouri and we have to go get her. We'll probably leave Thurs or Fri. Thurs I hope because I want to stop at a place I found out about that sells irises. On the iris forum I started asking questions about irises and somebody gave me a link to the American Iris Society (or something like that). It's a very helpful site for info on iris, where to buy them, and where to see them. Has anybody heard of Argyle's somewhere near Denton? There's a bunch of them up there. If anybody knows anything about these places, I love to hear any recommendations on which one to go to. I'm already excited.
silverfluter, if you have time stop and visit here: http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/487322/
John
Oh, boy would I ever love to do that, but I doubt if I can get DH interested. When we took her up there last fall we went through the southeast tip of OK. I doubt I could get him to swing over to Lake Texoma. We went through Dallas when we went up there but went another way coming home. Thanks anyway.
I can't believe you couldn't get him to stop for some fishing or just some catfish and hushpuppies???!!! Have a safe trip anyhow :-)
Well, in the cloudy light of the morning I have lost 1/2 of my Canyon Daisy which had gotten up to 4' tall and 3' wide and a couple of limbs off of my Flame Bush. Let's hear it for us "Common Name" People!!! ;o) It is kindy funny that all of my Coriopsis's are all facing due South tho and not up.
Glad ya'll are OK silverfluter. I've driven through the stuff and it ain't no fun!
You OK out there trois ??
It turned over some lawn furniture. Power was out for 6 hours. A small tornado passed about 1.5 miles South of us, and crossed over the NW side of Santa Fe. I saw several large trees down.
trois
Oh, I hate to see trees down. Glad you guys are alright though.
Kip, did the Copper Canyon Daisy just split down the middle, lose a few branches, or what? They respond very well to pruning throughout the summer. In fact, the local Extension office recommends cutting them back by half every month up to July, to get them really branched out for a great fall display (also the Mexican Mint Marigold). Since mine were blooming in the spring, I found it hard to cut them back, just finally did May 1st.
This message was edited May 9, 2005 7:49 AM
Kipper, reading about your copper canyon daisy reminded me of the huge tree we saw yesterday on the way to Canyon Lake. Lightning had hit it and split it in half. The sheriff had already been there though and cleaned up the mess and left a flair on the road. The tree was only 30 ' or so from the road
Here at home I don't see any damage. It's nice that I don't need to water now for some time. My brug bloom is starting to open! Can't wait!
silverfluter, that's great to hear. My dad says that the rain is all his fault since he watered Saturday,, blame him.
Oh, my daylillies have bloom stalks all around and believe it or not my columbine has put out two more bloom stalks!!! I just collected the last of the seeds 4 days ago!
There are hundreds of big trees down in and around Santa Fe. It's all your dads fault.
We had minimal damage here. Needed the rain.
maggiemoo, The Canyon Daisy/Mexican Marigold lost three main limbs at the base. I know that I could have dipped/wraped and potted for more but I just do not have room for another large plant. I've got a baby Canyon daisy growing in a pot.
Glad to hear that you didn't have that much weather.
silvefluter, the groundcover that was blooming in my sideyard flowerbed that you asked me about and I forgot its name is golden globe. I have some growing in a hanging basket also. I just remembered that I thought of its name and forgot to tell you.
http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/53706/index.html
maggiemoo, the calla lily should bloom even though it is small. They usually bloom about this time of year. Maybe you planted it after its bloom time last year so it didn't bloom for you. Thanks for telling me that HD has pine needle mulch.
Donna, the bloom was just about to open when the terrific storms passed through on Sunday and it was knocked off of the plant. The petals were pink so I think it was the right one. I tried to locate the bloom, but could not find it. I had anxiously awaited the opening of the bloom and was so disappointed. There is another one forming and it should be quicker to open as the weather warms up.
tomorrow is my third day on the new job. Trying to adjust. I think (hope and pray) this will work out. Keep the prayers coming. Thanks,
George in San Antonio
Go easy on yourself George. It takes 21 days to establish a new habit (maybe less for bad ones?), and a new job is comprised of many new habits and routines. You will do fine! And we are still praying.
Hang in there, George. I always tell my husband when he is frustrated that life is an adventure which provides learning and leads us to new discoveries. Sometimes it is scary, painful, has unexpected turns, seems like a roller coaster ride, calls for adjustments and occassionally creates self-doubt. Being true to yourself and believing in your abilities as well as remembering there is a divine plan for all of us of which we are unaware helps us on this adventure.
My daughter received a degree after a whole lot of work and then could not find a job in her field (4 years with no luck which caused her much dismay). She gave reasons why she thinks her destiny included not having a job for awhile. These included being able to take care of my Mother for a year, taking care of me after I had serious major surgery and not having to worry about work when she had 3 serious illnesses one right after each other. Now that we are all well, the perfect job has been given to her. She just was hired (first day on the job yesterday) in a field in which she has no experience, but for which she is highly suited. She will be paid as she learns how to perform her research duties which are quite complex. It is weird because a man she met 10 years ago predicted that she would end up in a health care field and would eventually contribute to making discoveries that would help 100,000s of people. She told me that she will remember what I have told her ... life is an adventure and we do not know what roads we will travel upon.
I will keep you in my prayers as I have been doing.
George,
What Hazel said.
Really, I am praying for you, for your family, and for your new job.
George, I don't know what you do, but you do have to believe what Hazel said about believing in yourself. If you think you can do it, many people will go out of their way to help you.
Does anybody here know how to prepare an iris for shipping? There are two people I need to ship irises to