Karen, thank you for joining us. I knew you would understand having just gone though it yourself. Kyle had absolutely gorgeous displays.
Jeri
Disaster strikes .....
How are things going? Besides being real busy.
Very busy inside, monsoon outside, the rivers are rising and the sky is crying. Soon it won't matter.summer is comin.
I hope tro get halfway back to normal with the plants soon, thanks to your and others help. :-)
My knee is getting stronger, Hoping for another great summer!
Kyle
Eclipse, I have been following this thread wondering how things are coming on. Any pictures of new growth or was it all a gonner like you thought?
Mike
Mike, Many things are regrowing from the bases now..these are some of the hibiscus.
Kyle
COOL! I'm glad to see that not everything was a total loss. :) How's the knee?
-Joe
Hey thats not so bad then. If it helps to think that picture looks like here in january.
I'm allways surprised which plants struggle through some how.
If you can get plenty of light and some warm nights you should be loads happier in a couple of weeks.
Cheers and good luck
Mike
Kyle,
Sorry to see what happened...
Even though I mostly deal with HARDY tropicals, most aren't quite hardy enough for your area.... BUT I do have (or know where I can get some close by) that you might be able to use....
Fer instance, there's a nursery (Called Dutch Farm Nursery) in Frederick, MD that has Fargesia rufa "Green Panda" and F. robusta, which are good, hardy clumping bamboos for your area (you can use them as sort of an evergreen foundation planting for your true tropicals, and both F. rufa and F. robusta can even take high heat and can stand full sun), and there is another local nursery that has F. nitida.... I'll also keep an eye out of deals on tropicals in HD, Lowes and other places.... I could even get you some 2 qt containers of Aspidistra elaitor and another Aspidistra with gold speckles on its leaves for cheap, and trust me when I say that a 17 degree freeze would not bother them in the least (My A. elaitor didn't even suffer any damage to the leaves until it dropped below 0 for 2 nights in a row), and possibly some of them Peacock calatheas, too.
Sorry for the loss..
I complain about not having any rain and having to hand water for 2 hours a day after working in the heat....at least I can say that cold temps will never have a bearing on my plants' survival, just lack of water...
I am sorry as you have some great stuff growing there....keep your chin up Wilber!!!
Aurabest,
john
Things are coming back but will be a long road.Things went from 8 feet tall to a few inches.The cutting bench is gonna get a workout this summer.
Kyle :-)
Kyle, sorry about your disaster. It is heart breaking. I am still recovering from loosing a greenhouse during Katrina. If you need anything-just ask and I will see if I have it. Hope your knee is better.
Barbara
Hi Barb, long time, I just couldn't let it get me down,not worth the worry, so every day is a new task to overcome this.I never wanna go thru again. :-)
Kyle
Kyle...you are really a trooper!!!! You have taken this so well and have such a good attitude...probably picked up by your plants!!!!
I can send tons of brug cuttings....big ones....and some wildcross seeds!
da Auntie!
Hope all is going well.
Went to Disney's Epcot, jeez, $75 to get in and that is with the FL resident discount.
Auntie, no brugs........I still got plenty,small but they don't like them downtown in the beds because of our windy weather each summer.And they use tons of water. :-)
Dale nice display, I think if I paid $75 to see Epcot they would have to let me dig some plants for that fee! LOL
Kyle
Why don't they plant a few fewer plants and charge less????? That bed would look just as well (perhaps better) with half the plants!!!!
Plants are cheap here, a #1 pot costs Disney $1.50. Here is one display I saw>
And here is where those Angelonia were grown. I buy plants from one of Disney's suppliers. Disney has several growers.
Here are the leftovers from the order.
This grower always pots up a 100 trays more than what are ordered. Many landscapers copy those planting schemes (like me). They are grown just in case something happens to the displays at the theme parks, like hail, high winds or out of control kids running thru.
Angelonia is one of my favorite year around bedding plants. Stays in bloom for weeks, has a very short rest period, grows summer or winter, has low water and fertilizer requirement, you don't have to deadhead it (it is self cleaning) and no pests or disease bother it.
They only drawback to these big displays is that they can be overused, but, since most people are not as aware of what is being used in the industry not many people notice.
Of the 300-400 individual plantings that I see at the bigger parks there are always a few schemes that are great. I wish I had their budget and the time to experiment.
And here is what I brought home from the nursery>
Dale,
I'm in Brandon, do you know if we can get Angelonia locally? I would love to have some. I've never grown it but would love to try. It's gorgeous, I'm a fan of low maintenance beauties. Especially in these current drought conditions. I'm off to look for more bougainvilleau today.
I'm also looking for red porterweed, have you seen any.
Thanks for any help.
Happy Gardening,
Susan