Alright guys and gals I have been out of things for a few weeks but thank goodness things are slowing down now. So we can use this thread for this week and next!
I do want to thank Josephine publicy for a wonderful gift - Thank you so much Josephine...!
Anway what are you going to do about this cold we have coming? and the other question I have is if your Iris are blooming are you going to cut them and bring them in or are you going to let them stay outside in this weather...
Come and sit a spell -
You are welcome Mitch, and thank you for my beautiful St. Rosa of Lima,that you made, she looks great in my garden.
I don't have Iris blooming yet, but I do know that the flowers are delicate, I would cut the blossoms and bring them in, they do open inside in water and they wouldn't be wasted.
You could leave some outside for a test, to see how cold of a temperature they can take.
I will be bringing my little potted plants into the garage tonight.
I am spreading hay over my coleus and I've taken cuttings just in case. I think I will wrap my African tulip tree, it does not like the cold wind.
I can't decide whether to cover my Purple Prince alocasia or dig him up and bring him in. It's supposed to be mid to upper 30's for one night.
I am going to be cutting them then - I would hate to lose them after waiting two years for them to bloom! (These were all found and unwanted... had to bring them home!)
Here is my best one - just cut and brought in 15 stalks!
I thought just to be different I'd have a new central AC system put in tomorrow. Ought to be fun testing it!
lol - we are going to have to get one of those.. ours went out last year and we made it on borrowed window units but sure did miss it... maybe with if our tax check gets here...
Mitch, that is a pretty Iris. I love that color.
DMJ, you will have to turn it way cold to make it kick on, lol. Reminds me of when we test the heat unit for FHA inspections in the middle of summer.
I thought maybe I'd get the house ice cold and then turn on the heat and warm it back up......only in Texas!
edited to add that I caught this thread on the "weather" forum...ok I admit it, I was bored at work, lol and the first poster has an interesting link--readit--it's real short.....we may be in for a repeat of last summer very hot and dry.
http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/573297/
This message was edited Feb 10, 2006 9:05 PM
I hope we get more rain then last year.. almost no tomatos at all with the heat and dry weather...
Who besides me has popsicle toes today???
I took some daffodils to Starbucks last night.
Every employee there was approximately 12 years old (have you noticed the 12-year-old cops & lawyers & the 14-year-old judges & doctors?
We have a judge named, so help me, *Chad*!
can't wait to see Dr Tiffany & Officer Nicole..).
The Starbucks crew members were thrilled to get flowers in return for coffee grounds.
And I think they were blown away to realize that the coffee grounds helped to *make* the flowers!
On one of the roads I drive every day or so, there's a big bag of leaves lying in the ditch.
It's been there for about a month, but every time I go by there, it's dark, or I'm in a hurry, or there's too much traffic.
So I stopped & got it last night.
Pitch dark, freezing cold, what the heck, that's what blinkers are for.
This morning I spread out a bunch of cardboard in the back-garden-to-be & added teabags, coffee grounds, & then autumn leaves.
So now, not only are my toes popsicles, but my knees feel like they belong to the Tin Man:
rusty squeaky creaky joints badly needing some WD 40!
You are just too funny Sylvia, but there is a lot of truth in what you said.
Keep up the good work.
Josephine.
Is this the newest one? I have weekly mixup disorder but thought I'd be a "good soldier" and boot it up! Also a good supporter of Texas "hides" alas the boot it up not bump up the thread! lol
This is the newest one.. .. .. we will talk to ya on any of these!
ok--where's my favorite thread this week? lol
I'm considering putting crop circles into the st augustine to attract some rain here....I don't consider 3 days of fog to be real rain.
Would methods to attract aliens be considered organic practices? I'll have to think on that one for a while.....
Lol - If it would work I would keep crop circles on my lawn...
Get this at 2:30 today they come to my classroom out of the blue and tell me at 5 tonight they are ripping out my carpet and all day Thur putting down new - sounds great right? I had to get everything boxed up and moved into other teachers rooms by 5!! And I had to keep everything I will need for the next two days - where are we going to go to you ask - we are going to share rooms with two other first grade teachers... here is the funny part, it is my week to be observed so I am going to have to go between the classrooms and keep the kids busy. . .. like the song says "Why? Because we love you!"
How is your week stacking up? Don't tell me us teachers are having all the fun!
Funny you should say that but they came to me right after TAKS Tuesday (yep...they kept the bad news from me as long as they could) and told me they were abating my room for asbestos and I had to be ready by Friday afternoon to move to a shack out back (a temp building). I'm gonna be out of my room for about 5 weeks...just in time for national Stanford testing and the 8th grade Taks I have worked so hard on.....Yeah I doubt anyone else is having this much fun!
Maybe I'll need those crop circles to attract that nationally famous merit pay we got going on in HISD...sounds to me like a way that can insure enough disruption that they won't have to pay it....lol
I hear you there - how to teach kids in two hallways for two days for PDAS.... and they are moving you to a temp to get read to test... ... .... yep sounds like good schoolboard planning to me!!
But I love it and would not trade it for anything.. ... ..
You know 1st grade would loe to make crop circles... there is a TEK in there somewhere.... we could make some big ones and see if the rain came...
redbuds by moonlight anyone? can you say spring in Houston?
Spring in Houston!!!!!!!!!!!
my goodness; are those stocks blooming from winter sowing? must be an "amethyst" kinda night.......time to go out!
I miss redbuds!
DMJ, that is a pretty color. I don't think fog counts as rain, but I guess a little moisture is better than none! The fog was condensing on the palm fronds this morning and dripping off. I hoped it was rain, but no such luck.
I just looked out the window--I'm kinda of a night owl when I don't work--and the pavement is dry as a bone. I'll get out there when there is some light and see what else is happening and blooming...just haven't been home before dark in a week...pretty pitiful huh?
I can tell by these winter-sowed pots when I walk in at night that everythings growing like crazy thanks to the longer daylength and mild temps.
Cala--when do you cut back your rangoon creepers? The tops of mine look pitiful but I know its still alive. So is my Panama rose--I cut it back already; couldn't "bear" to look at it nipped by frost any longer. lol
dmj, pls tell me about your panama rose. how you grow it, how hard/easy, what you like about it. can send me a dmail if you prefer, but maybe others might enjoy learning about this plant
DMJ, my rangoon creeper is still kind of small. It is two years old and hasn't grown much. I must not be doing something right.
I noticed my Blackfoot Daisy has buds on it. There's also a good patch of Dahlberg Daisy about to bloom (came though the last freeze without a blink.)
Josephine and Mitch, after the rain yesterday, every one of those web things were gone. Before the rain started in earnest I did see a small spider in the middle of one of them, so I think they weren't sinister after all.
That is wonderful Mary - I looked for the thread but cannot find it - whole bushes covered in the things really nasty buggers. Spiders now those can be good in your garden.
Did you mean this thread, Mitch? http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/513713/ I've been meaning to ask Equilibrium for an update.
Yep thats it!! I knew it was on here somewhere - I was looking in the ID forum, should have guessed it would be over there instead!
Ewwww! That is disgusting up close!
Oh, I meant to say that I noticed leaf buds on the River Birch and Trident Maple today. How exciting! Some of the buds at the top of the Trident are actually small leaves opening up. I also trimmed back the awfully freeze-burned Mexican Milkweed, was glad to see that it is still green towards the bottom and has some leaf buds. Whew! I really didn't want to lose that nice large stand.
My Mexican plum tree is just starting to bloom. It smells wonderful with just a few blooms, but it becomes overpowering VERY quickly when the rest of the blooms come out! They are pretty, though. :-)
Kipper, the sedums I got from you at the CTRU are blooming in my container. They look wonderful! Thank you again!!
Mexican Plum tree??? Sounds like something that would grow here!
It probably would! LOL Mine doesn't fruit... I suspect you need two trees for that. Here's a pretty picture in the PlantFiles: http://davesgarden.com/pf/showimage/67638/
I need to find one of those. I like it. The birds would probably like it too, lol.
We have two Mexican Plum trees, but ours are not blooming yet, we are a little behind Houston.
Ours smell like honey, and the bees must think so too, because they flock to them by the thousands. They are really pretty, and bloom at about the same times as the Redbuds, so they make a great combination.
Vossner--mine got nipped by frost; its in a huge pot--but the stems are still green--I hacked it back. Will let you know if it comes back to life, sure hope so it thrived on total neglect. Here's a pic--I also posted info about it on the plant files (I think? I know I posted a pic). Sure love it; hope it comes back--its that last frost thaat got it.
Mitch, did you see this daylily named Malachi? http://davesgarden.com/pf/showimage/84483/ It's a natural for your garden!
Gee, you know those seeds I started last Sat? The zinnias were sprouting the next day!!! Lots of the other stuff is starting to come up, just hope I don't lose everything to "damping off", or whatever that's called. I read last year that it helps to add some Dr Scholl's foot poder to the potting mix (anti-fungal agents). I forgot to add it before I'd already planted, so I added some to some water and watered them in with the mixture. It's been plenty warm during the days and the nights have only been in the upper 50's. Could I put these things outside in a bright shade spot?
Hehehehe - see it ? It was one of the first I bought!
Mary how are you going to transplant the zinnias? I cannot get them to transplant for anything... so they have to be planted little seed by little seed. .. .
I planted them in peat pots, I'll just put the whole peat pots into the planter. I also planted some seeds in cardboard egg cartons (basically the same thing as peat pots.)
As fast as the zinnias came up, I may just try casting some of them in a couple of pots. They're part of my butterfly attractants.
So what do you think about letting the babies outside?