thanks for the welcome loretta and brinda! brinda i can see why this was one of your favorite threads!
annette, i'm certain your can trade begonias! you must be down in south nj...i'm way north. we just had our springfest! we took second in the window box...using maradukes....not many have seen those type of begonias round here! (that was my very first entry ever!) love them love them love them! and never did until i experienced logee's.
i'm dreaming about a zone 9 bout NOW!
You have too many plants
Hi Tobee... No.. I'm not in S Jersey.. I am actually central. About 15 min north of Princeton. I don't know why it says Millstone NJ.. I'm in Hillsborough. Now.. to find someone to trade Begonias with!! How did you do a windowbox so early? What was in it? Got any pix?
Why are you dreaming about Zone 9? we had great weather today right? And more to come they say!
annettee princeton is way south for me! we are going to rarefind nursery in jackson this weekend to pick some stuff up to save on shipping...it'll take us about three hours!
the windowbox...well i have a friend that owes 8 greenhouses and we used one of her's everything you see came from a cutting or clone NOTHING was store brought like the others. so anyway....i called it concerto in "Seed" minor and the judge who was Ken Drues (spell)....tells me that it took him over 45 minutes to decide because i had the best plants but he felt that the "name" didn't match??? so over dinner that night with Ken i say what do you mean ...didn't match??? i said i did everyone of of those plants you see by seed??? he says...NO WAY.......and i said well that may be true but YOU didn't know that! hehehehe...anyway i this was the first we entered anything and i didn't even think i would place. glad Ken brought me dinner for it!! and a drink too!
the pic is not the best i haven't gone through them all as yet but you can see...it was funny my son and his wife..(and i didn't say we won anything), came to see the boxes and i asked which they thought was mine. they looked and picked it right out....and said we can tell your designs anywhere! which was very cool for me! :)
i dream of zone 9 because i would be able to see flowers all the time. but your right...as much as i complain i love it here for growning because of all the choices we have. and yes, it's be beautiful out....got my order from forestfarms yesterday OMG we have over 30 trees and 20 scrubs to go in...but i still wouldn't dare until may. also i have everything shipped completed dormat so that they can harden here for a few weeks before we put them in.
i wanted to work on my gardens this morning but got a call from another master gardener in the area that they are doing a clean up and have absolutely no one to help....so i'm going to throw t hem a few hours to clean up townhall, then get back and start working my butt off....(don't i wish!). before it gets too hot...shoot we are supposed to hit 70 today!!!!!
This message was edited Mar 30, 2006 8:32 AM
here's one closer.....the marmaduke is in bloom...and you can see the 'bubbles'
This message was edited Mar 30, 2006 8:36 AM
is maraduke the geranium? if not, name pls. Window boxes are simply marvelous
Begonia 'MarmaDuke' "Rhizomatous Begonia"sorry .....i can't type so it also appears i can't spell either!! the geranium is 'mrs. cox'...the taller begonia is 'bubble'...the marmaduke is far left front...if you look carefully you will see little white flowers. there is also a marmaduke in the middle and on the right side.
This message was edited Mar 30, 2006 8:34 AM
This message was edited Mar 30, 2006 8:35 AM
tobee43 where can I get those MarmaDukes at??I love those and your flower box is awesome..
Loretta...
dem....logee's has them i think. check out there site http://www.logees.com...they are a bit pricy but worth every cent!
I can't get the site...Whats wrong???
what's wrong is it has the word THAT in it!!!!!!!! hehehe....
http://www.logees.com
try this is should work!!
oh...and dem...we only had 3 weeks to put it together!!!!!!!!!! it was a last minute thing for springfest...man what a challege that was!
This message was edited Mar 30, 2006 2:23 PM
Thanks I figured that out...I think I better wait to see if I can find them around here,a little to pricey for me...I've been killing all mine with too much attention..I bought 3 two weeks ago at our Garden Show and their looking sick..
Talk about pressure I guess you met your challenge tho..They looked good...
Loretta..
loretta....you know it's really odd about enough attention or not...cuz my friend i was helping her in her greenhouse and she was like STOP with the water! and i'm like what??? mine need a drink every single day?? and what i notice was that she keep her's out in the sun while i have mine in semi shade....yet she likes her's dry to the bone. now......here's the difference i saw between ours. mine were a completely differently color the marmaduke that is....her's was a very light green with dull red spotting while mine was a rich lime color with bright red...interesting. i also notice my china curls reacted differently as well. i don't feed during the winter at all and i don't think she did either...but they did behave differently i guess because of the sun and water???? i would have thought the marmaduke would have brighter color in direct sun.......go figure!
I don't understand are you saying not to water them and let them get dry and not to fertilize in the winter??I did'nt think rex's liked alot of sun just filtered sun..Does you leaves ever get crispy on the edges?Mine do no matter where I put them and then they die...
Loretta...
i don't understand it either! hehehe..that's the point. and no i get no browning on the leaves. however, the one's she had in the sun did get them. and no i don't feed in the winter. mine are in semi shades part of a sunroom...really filtered sun light. and they grow and flower.
it seems like there is just no right way!
tobee and dem,
Your friend is right regarding the water!! Only water every few days when it's warm outside and only once a week during the cooler days. Begonias don't like a lot of water and will rot very easily. Also, do NOT fertilize during the winter either....that is their resting time. You can start to fertilize in Mar or April, when the weather starts to warm up. Good luck with marmaduke...she is a pretty one and I have it too.
Donna
donna thanks so much for the info! however, i still have to water mine otherwise they just wilt. mine take tons of water and i don't know if it's because of where they are or what. i have had them well over a year now and when wintering and in the dark for some reason mine dry completely?? now....i don't drench them daily i just give them a nice drink and a spray. i'm certain the bottoms of the pots are still "dry". they are together with my passion flowers and they seem to need the exact same care during their overwintering period.
the marmaduke has grown so much! i just started cuttings of her! she's a happy camper for sure! the china curls are absolutely beautiful and what i'm so happy about is that i have found a way to overwinter them back here in the freezing! i was attempting to be "polite" about my friends plants...they look really bad, had no growth and are always burning their leaves...that may be a sun issue or not enough water beause of the type of pots she has them in. i find clay pots are the best for them not plastic!
donna also....if i watered every few days outside everything would die here! we get 90 and higher degree, dry hot terrible days when even the trees wilt! many container type items somedays need watering twice depending on the day! it's a lot of work for sure!
Thanks for all the info Donna but I agree with tobee if I don't water them they die twice as fast..My daughter totally ignores hers and they are doing great..She does'nt even want me to look at hers let alone water them..Hers are on a shelf that gets hardly any sun and her soil is bone dry,yet hers are thriving and mine are barely surviving...Lots more to learn here for me...
Loretta..
NEVER too many plants!
This isn't my pic but I love sharing it. :-)
My, my, my!!! That is glorious! I love it...thanks for sharing!
That's insane! How do they water them?
I love it, that is exactly how I want to spend my golden years someday, surrounded by plants and friends and a weiner dog. ;-)
That's exactly how I feel! And I haven't figured out how they water them yet, maybe just stand on the roof with a water hose and let gravity do the rest?
Wow. That is amazing. I don't wonder how they water them as much as I wonder how they got them all up there and in such perfect order. They must love plants like many of us do.
Jesse
This message was edited Apr 7, 2006 12:31 PM
Brinda did Kat change her name??I wanted to ask her a few questions...When to what you suggested and it's a different name and the plants don't look the same...
Loretta..
Hi Loretta,
No, I don't think she changed her name. I edited my post above. I just came across that thread and thought I'd refer to it.
I haven't seen Kat posting in awhile. She is probably out making her garden beautiful once again!
Thanks Brinda...I hope she comes back on to show us how all her plants survived the winter..I really wanna see how here rex begonias did...I sure am having problems with mine..
Loretta....
Brinda and Loretta,
I'm looking forward, to see how the plants
look after the winter also. I never knew that
a container garden can be so beautiful. I'm planning
a container garden this summer, hope mine will be half as
beautiful .
Gale
I have stopped to look at the first image every week, it cheers me while I await this record rain we are having here in Calif. to end. I just made it my screensaver so I can see it all the time while I plan my pots.
I think that's what I will have my son do for me put this on as my screensaver....I wonder where she's at?? I would love to see them once she brings them out of her basement...
Gale... once your done will you post some pictures of yours??This is truly my favorite...it sure got me into more container gardening...lol..Is this ever gonna be fun...
Loretta...
Demstratt, if you are in IE, just right click the enlarged image and select 'Set As Background' and it sets it as your background screen.
Loretta,
After everything blooms I will
Love to post pictures
Gale
This message was edited Apr 13, 2006 9:11 AM
I think EVERYONE who has seen this thread is at least planning more or different containers this year. It's been a wonderful thread, motivating, inspirational, informative, amusing... I think I liked the winter storage pictures best. I could go on but my summer bulbs from Old House Gardens just arrived!
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, Carrie
Tobee... Hi again... been so caught up in work.. didn't forget you~ Ok so then you are from North Jersey. Where in Jackson did you go? What nursery? I am usually down there on Sundays... is it the one on 206? There is a real good one there but I am thinking it's sort of in Indian Mills ...I need to find a good place too. I LOVED your flower box display and can see why you won all your prizes with the combinations you did... sooo beautiful. You certainly have a knack for display.
Tell you what.. if that place in Jackson is opened on Sundays.. I can be your middle woman.. I think I am about an hour and a half from Jackson .. so you must be about the same north.. make a list!!
Thanks!
Annette
Gotta catch up to kattamos!! Gotta try.. after all we ARE the garden state!
AnnetteG....me too have been working my butt off working....well NOT exactly my butt doesn't seem any more off to me! and your entrance its soooooooooo beautiful!!!!!! LOVE it!!! (besides community projects our personal gardens are on the arts and heritage tours this year! ) so i'm going NUTs!!
it's RAREFIND nursery........YOU WILL GO NUTS! they are trees and perennials. ....address 957 patterson road, jackson, nj...off turnpike take exit 7a for interstate 195 east. go 11 miles on 195 to exit 16b. take rt 537 east less than one mile, turn right onto wright debow rod. in 1.3 miles you go over the interstate 195: immediately make a sharp right onto patterson rod about 500f ft, turn left though the iron gates....that's coming from north or south on the turnpike. i'm not sure if they are open on sundays????
and thanks about my flower box...it was the very first time for me to enter anything with my work... and i only had 3 weeks to get it together! whewwwwww!
this was our front entrance last year....i couldn't get it all in one pic! i have designed something different for this year....we will see how it turns out!
Thanks CaSue...I now have it as my screensaver.... Tobee and Annette I love ALL your plantings...I gotta see more of your entrance tobee..How do they get to your front door??
Loretta..
thanks so much for you kind words.......shoot...i don't have one that you can see where to walk! this one you can see a little more and this is a pathway in between all the plants. and that was only in late june...by sept you needed an axe! :)
Tobee.... I'll call first and find out. Rarefind Nurseries. Ok. . that's the name and not just that it's a great place, right? LOL.... Did you pass Great Adventure and then keep going? Heading West? That 195 goes on forever!
Your flowerboxes.. did you make those backrounds as well yourself? They are so creative!! Loved the windows!! I have to agree with Loretta.. your tropicals are incredible!!! I can see your steps in between. Do you bring them in the house in the fall? Being you are in NJ..when do you put out Elephant Ears here? Any idea? Seems to me they look their best in Sept. I wish I could get them going sooner.. like maybe in pots? I had one gal answer me but I am not sure what she meant by a soiless medium to start... vermiculate? I have such thick clay here and was wondering if that was an issue with then. This year I am adding some sand and some gypsum to soften it up a bit....
Where in NJ are you?
Annette
Annette don't put sand with your clay you will really have a problem..it turns it like cememt..Buy you some compost with cow manure..it's only $1.09 at Lowes..ripped bags are 50 cents..I pot mine up in the house then at the end of May put it outside..
Loretta...
I love Rarefind! I have driven 2+ hrs to visit them but only in the fall. I bet the property is glorious in spring!
The folks working there are very knowledgable. The last time I visited, the owner walked around with me for a
while explaining where he got various plants. He's definitely a plant-nut like me. I love the place!
Tam