It's beginning to look like the tropics,5,wintering in!

Well 2 days of digging and re potting,and haven't even made a noticeable dent in the garden.
Not all the plants go into the ground,some I can hide in the landscape among the bushes and such,as in the fishtail palm,when I went to lift it up,it wouldn't budge,so I tugged harder and harder and harder until It finally gave with a big heave ho!!!
Holy Cow,pardon my French,but the roots on this palm was incredible!!!
So I dug out a new 20 gallon container and 3 cubic bag of potting mix and went to work.

15 minutes later a new looking palm ready for the greenhouse.

TM is that a bird cage in the background?

Yep,when Spike comes out to watch me garden!!

Oh man! You have a few weeks of hard work ahead of you! Don't strain anything getting all the garden put to bed for the year.

Take a nice long warm bath ....and relax tonight (when ever that is)
Looking forward to more hunkering down for the cold weather...in no.,5 :)
chrissy

I did I soaked in a hot tub for a few minutes!!!!
I have to most of these digging up on the weekends,just have time to do the watering after work,and if I don't get most of it done by October,I'll take a week vacation just to finish up.

So glad you are continuing for us.

Oh, Spike, you are lovely!

What sort of plants do you get to leave outside .....or does it all look empty in the cooler weather? I can't imagine your beautiful garden bare........

All the leaves are brown.....and the sky is grey................... California deaming....

Boy the roots on that palm were definately a contending bunch! I have tried to move some things that have rooted into the ground through the pots, and man-o-man! Always got to get the DH and SIL to help....and still they may not want to come up! That's an awful lot of work Don! But your garden is so gorgeous, that it must definately be worth the trouble!

Well Old Man winter!!!!Just got his foot in the door!!!
Strong winds and cold rain came while I was work today,when I pulled into the driveway,a dozen potted plants and palms where blown over,and oh my 15 ft bananas,were all on a 45* tilt!!!!
The ground was so wet ,the roots different have a foot to stand on,every thing is leaning from the strong cold winds,57* right now,and it feels like freezing outside,people are running around outside in jackets and coats!!!! Looks like a couple days like this and then back to the 70's and 80's once a gain for a while.
I got the nanners standing back up with stakes and rope and there still leaning about 30*
or more!

Aawww geeeee, Tman. You work so hard and still mother nature gets ahead. Been gradually pulling pots closer to the house myself. If you are getting a change, we can't be far behind. Very dreary here for the last two days. Rained some last night but not enough to count. Mosquitos are once again in fine shape. Went to feed the fish minutes ago and was covered with the boogers. How do you handle them....bound to have them in a tropical garden such as yours.

We didn't get the rain, but man it sure cooled off around 3:30. I normally drive with my windows down and the wind was blowing so hard I rolled them up. Then when I got home I had to shut some windows to keep it reasonable inside. Supposed to be in the 40s tonight. A bit coooold. lol

I'm so sorry for you guys....but then you will have the beauty of the winter snows...well maybe not all of you. And the spring buds, bulbs and blossoms that I can't grow. So then you can feel sorry for me. But take heart Tman - you will prevail!

Even our evenings here are getting cooler (nothing like yours, though!), but the days are still pretty warm. Everything's relative.

Isn't it odd. We had a big rain storm here late yesterday afternoon and all through the night. But it never really cooled off. And today is just steamy. So some of us get rain, some just get cooler, but the results of the rain and the chill are so different because of the miles.....ain't it a funny ole world?!

Yes it is. Best thing is we have a way to communicate that was not even imagined 50 years ago. How blessed we are even with all the problems of this planet.....it has never, ever been better. Our responsibility to take care of her.

Shari, you can grow bulbs if you are willing to stick them in the fridge for a couple of months to *chill*. Of course I don't have to worry about that. lol.

I hope we get a big snow. I want to go sledding.

Oh no.....The wind does so much damage ....I hope everything is ok ...and you watch your back! ........was there any loss?

Chrissy, I need to dig out my pics from the 02 ice storm. You wouldn't believe the damage we had. Couldn't get out of the driveway cause of all the limbs everywhere.

Last year, we had a strong wind come thru and knock a branch out of a tree and onto my mom's car. She had alot of damage though it was easily fixed.

Chrissy - if you were talking to Don, I think he managed to save most of it...lots of work though! That man is dedicated!!

Of course......our very own Super Hero!!!! :)

Did you ever know...... that your'e my hero........la la

No Loss,just a mess to pick up,oh well I was going to dig the bananas up last.now it looks like they will be next!!!!

Pepper,hope you get all the snow!!!My drive way is 18ft wide by 80 ft long,even thou I have a snowblower it's a lot of work!!!!LOL

Funny Lou,it is so coool out,not a mosquito in sight!!!LOL

Funny Shari you mention the temperature of the rain water,it has been very warm rains all
summer,and today it was down right freezing to the touch,I know it wasn't freezing,but it sure felt like it was!!!!

It normally takes all of September and October to get everything dug up and into the greenhouses,but since I put off cleaning the pots this spring when I planted everything,it' s
taking more time as I'm having to clean the pots before I can use them again.
By the end of the day my hands are white and shriveled form the clorox and soapy water

You are amazing!......yes you're amazing.....la la

I want the snow but not the ice. Not again. lol. I have 4x4 and a gravel driveway so I don't have to worry about traction most times.

Wow!! This is the first time I have come on here and not seen any posts since early morning. That is weird.

I think we are all going back to 9/11 and contemplating our own lives, Pepper.

Were looking at 48* tonite,50* this morning ,felt even colder than that!!!
Back in the 80's during the day,50's at nite for next few days,fall is here to stay!!!!

Heavy dew was on the windshield this morning,had to turn the defroster on,too cold to have the window down!!!!

Same here. I'm not looking forwards to 80s but it is better than 90+.

How are the bananas going? will you have them back in the shelter in time?...it must be a big load and worry...can't even imagine it....I think you should be given some sort of floral bravery award.......and
a nice hot cocoa ...well deserved...what do you think?.I can just imagine all your darlings just sighing with relief to be in out of the cold.....and I am sure they love you for it!

Good news warm up next week,back in the mid 80's.but I think I'll start digging them up anyway,because it won't last very long,and the cooler temps will be on there way,and like always it's a run to the finish line trying to get everything in before the first hard freeze,but love the hot coca,and drink lots of it during the cold months!!!

Tonite as I was watering thousands maybe millions white little moths were everywhere,it lookes as it was snowing out,they were all over me,like I was there dinner,flying into me and just everywhere,never seen this many before,I wonder if there is a sort of myth about the moths this large in numbers,maybe the sign of a cold winter,ot maybe even a warmer winter than the norm!!!!

OH no, Tman. We have just gone through a seige of army worms, ie. web worms.....worst ever. They come from small, white moths. I pray that they are not the same.

Yuck....does not sound good! One thing I do not miss about Colorado is the horrendous amounts of moths! In the spring, my gosh....they are everywhere! You see them coming out of wheel wells as people are driving, and you see people batting them away from their faces while they are driving. Nope, don't miss that! Sure hope your moths are benign Don!

Connie said she was having a problem with little white moths. She sprayed the devil out of the affected plants with insecticidal soap several times and last I heard they were gone. She was worried they'd lay eggs, so sprayed more than just the once.

Good Luck Tman. We're all rooting for you!

Janet

The white moths are are devils!!!!

That must have been the eggs I saw on the back of some banana leaves,well everything I dig up I give a big dose of bayer tree and shrub liquid insecticide,last for 3 months,kills them dead,and I mean like right now!!!!
I also sprinkled some bayer complete,granular on the top of the soil and water in real good,says last for 12 month bug protection.
It's the mealy bug and spidemites,That I fight the most during the winter months in the greenhouses.use to be whitefly was the worst .
But now I'm not sure there all buggers now to kill!!!
I might buy me one of those bug snappers,they fly into and get zapped by electricity!!!!

whew you be careful with all that poison...TM.....I think a bug zapper sounds like a good idea.....white oil is pretty safe and affective have you tried that?

White oil????
Have tried neem oil,but smells like strong garlic!!!!

T-man, this "Mite" be of interest to you.... I know I ordered some today!

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/770336/