Show us your Bloomers #2

I took pictures of what was still blooming in the garden on Friday before the big blow. I still can't believe it is Nov and these kids are making me smile. I didn't even take pictures of them all as there are still other annuals blooming on the west side of the house which I forgot about. All quiet and beautiful today so I can go back to do laying the rocks in my stream after re stacking the wood pile which blew down yesterday. I also have to help DH with chain sawing the big swamp maple that blew over. Yippee. It had died last spring but we had vague hope that it might show signs of life in the fall but no luck so we had hired a tree guy to take it down in Oct. He has not come yet, so that will save us some bucks, but it will take a few hours of heavy work to get it all chopped up and stacked. It came down in the perfect spot by not taking out anything else including the deer fence it was right next to. We just spotted a big cedar that needs to be pulled back up and staked. It blew a good 60 to 70 at our house. And the other good thing is that there will be very little raking of leaves as most of them are now gone.

I will have new stream pictures soon. Yep, I am spoiled with this land 2 1/2 acres. My first garden was on a balcony and the second one was house plants as I had no ground or balcony, and then a few more years of container gardening as I rented and the owners didn't let me dig. I then married and my DH and I bought this land in 1981and began planting in 1983. He had a big vegetable garden before me, but no flowers. Kind of poetic. We both love to play in our dirt. I do admire anyone that tackles the less than perfect spot and makes it their own little bit of garden joy. Amethystsm, Kudos to you and wishing you a better plot someday for you and your monster cosmos. That is one determined plant. Patti

This message was edited Nov 4, 2007 8:51 AM

Patti:

Such an inspiration you and your DH are! I almost have the energy to go outside and 'dig around' today. Almost. Not quite. It's just 27 degrees out there now.

Have fun Patti. You will certainly enjoy the fruits of your labor for years to come!

27 degrees? Farenheit, one must assume! That's cold.

Victor, DH is taking an environmental science course which has him convinced, suddenly, that we need to start producing our own energy. Not we in this country or we humans but we, DDs #1 + 2, DH and I need to produce our own energy. Wind turbine? Solar panels? Too much shade, I think. Someone nearby tried to put up a wind turbine and was outvoted because he didn't match the N E style or some such nonsense. Plus we're at the bottom of a hill. I told him about you and your solar house -- he is SO unhandy he wants to fly you from JFK to Logan to come give us a quote. Maybe we should put a dam at the top of our street and let the water out slowly to run a water wheel.

x, C

I did not install it myself - way too big a job and much more important - no tax incentives for DIYers.

LOL sadly we're too poor too pay many taxes, so we're not looking so much for tax advantages as we are to get out from under the thumb of The Man, you know, the man, right?

In that case it's way too expensive for a homeowner to do.

Patti, Does your screen name come from your beloved brook?

Patti, I love your flower collage - nice varieties!

Hi Everyone! What lovely blooms you are still showing us, especially those from Amy and Ngam! Patti- I loved your little collage and your stream update. It is such a great project. And Amy - you are just as much a true gardener as anyone here! I loved Pixie's definition of a gardener..........really lovely!!

I will have some southern blooms to share with you soon when I have time to do some photographing. For now, here's the hibiscus I posted earlier on a different thread........for some reason, I had lost this thread, but found it again in the NE forum list of threads. I always forget to look there, and just keep up with my watched threads, and that's how I'm often late on wishing Happy Birthday to people. I must try to keep up better! Anyway.......great to keep in touch with all of you and to see that many of you still have blooms to share! Stay warm........spring is just a heartbeat away now that DL savings time has ended! LOL

Patti, the collage is beautiful!

I thought Victor was The Man.

DonnieBrook, we will be in desperate need of southern blooms very soon. don't forget us :0)

Dave47, yes I choose it for the Baker Brook as I figured it would be easy to remember. When I was working in Vt I had my office in my barn which overlooks it. I love running water.
DonnieBrook, I assume your name is not for a brook! Love that Hibiscus. I bought one at Logee last year and I just moved it back into the GH. We have a huge tree that we have had since the late 70's, but it is just plain red. I seem to kill the pretty ones. My fingers are crossed this time. It stays in the GH year round.

I am heading back out to throw more rocks as soon as I water all the plants that I moved back into our GH for winter on Friday before the storm. When we built this house we had it designed around a passive solar heating system. This was just after the last oil crisis. We have back up conventional heat as well as a wood stove, but a huge amount of our heat comes from the GH which was sunken partly into the ground with dark gray parged concrete walls in the GH that are faced with brick inside the house to make them 8" thick that radiates the heat into the house. We also have thick walled planters and brick floors to store heat during the day. We just open the doors and let the warm flow through the house and close it up when the sun goes down. When it is sunny it is a dream to be heated by the sun, plus I have a wonderful GH filled with plants. Much more fun than solar panels, but not as reliable. Though we had an analysis done based on Nantucket's historic weather patterns and we found that our heat savings would be significant. They have been. We also had it made out of recycled cypress wood from Rhinegold beer vats from Brooklyn. Here is a shot taken yesterday.

Thanks for all your stream encouragement. Now I have to make it look good as I have an audience. Patti

Oh, boy (sigh). First stream envy..now greenhouse envy. You have a beauty there, Patti!

Would it be safe to say just 'Patti Envy'?
I love the idea of building a greenhouse that would store and release the heat. Were there any plans that you used to help build it?

Yes, include me in the Patti envy club. Thanks Jan!

Candyce, We read lots of books all from the late 70's and then we hired an architect who was an old childhood Nantucket summer friend of DH who designed the house. He was totally into our wish to have a passive solar house so he ran all the numbers and put together a really good plan. Unfortunately all those great books were lost due to water damage a few years ago, but I know there are some great books out there. I just started to look for one that I had and came across this site which seems very good. http://www.azsolarcenter.com/technology/pas-2.html
I would be curious to know about using the straw bale and stucco technique to build an attached lean-to type GH on the south side of an existing home as I think that would be very economical and could be built by any energetic homeowner.

My stream is nearly done. But lots of tweaking to do and we need to foam the falls. But I wanted to take it for a test flow first. It seems to work great. I want to order some underwater lights too. I need 5 more big flat rocks to cover the spillway. Then I need to finish the fall clean up and plant a zillion bulbs. DH will help with his trusty electric auger.

We can't get the big cedars straighten up by ourselves, so we called for help with a crew and a little bobcat. Here is a bad picture of the stream, but I was too tired to go back downstairs with the camera once I called it quits for the day. I will take down the limb in the picture that blocks the view of the stream from a second floor window very soon, but after the bulbs get planted. I will cover the spillway with those big stones that I will get tomorrow.

There is alway "tomorrow" and "wait next year" when it comes to gardening. Speaking of envy, grampapa, what about that rose garden and pool that I lurk over with total envy that your DH gave to you last spring. Patti

Patti - the stream is looking good! How do you "foam the falls"???? I'm not sure what that means, but it sounds cool.......literally! LOL

Jan - I went out with my camera this morning and took a couple shots of what's blooming here now. This first one is for you!

Before I show you the blooms, I must share an awesome experience we had this morning with all of you. At 6:50 this morning, my DH and I were waking up on our sunporch with a cup of coffee, when all of a sudden, a very large bald eagle actually landed in our yard just beyond our patio. We were stunned to see how majestic and large he was so close up. We see them up in the air over the river often, but they fly so high, you don't really get the concept of how large they are. I ran for the camera, but he was gone (with lizard in claws) when I got back. On our walk, we kept looking for him along the River, but he was soaring elsewhere. That image will stay with me forever!

I planted a whole lot of stuff today. My patio garden is beginning to transform....such fun! More photos to come, for sure.

and another one I planted last spring.......

This jatrophe - also planted last spring - did well in surviving the drought in the early summer.....

This variegated hibiscus has grown a lot since I planted it last winter. Today it was loaded with blooms!

This one isn't blooming, but I wanted to introduce you to Harry the Heron who is always hanging out at the River when we walk each morning......

You are totally cheating here ;)~
I'm sending you some snow - C.O.D.!

Oh, that hurts, Al!!! Last week I would have loved your snow delivery!! But now I have to admit (she says with a heaping helping of guilt) - it is nice here now. Love the gently swaying palms, the tropical wildlife (but not the long "wiggla" varieties). I added some lava rocks and hope I don't see any of those long things! - and love the walks at sunrise and at sunset. I'm researching what to use for a living fence for privacy between our house and our neighbors' on the bedroom side of the house......that will be a bigger project, but we'll need to get whatever we select in the ground soon so that the plants will be able to bridge the dry months after we leave. They removed several big palms from the line between our houses (good thing for us) and now we will have to replace the "screen" the palms provided before.

Sounds like the weather up there is pretty nice too! Enjoy, Everyone!

Nice Louise - sure, rub it in!

Victor - I'd love to share it with you all!

So much to envy! Patti's greenhouse and stream, and then Louise's live blooms! Ahhhh... but I have a lovely messy house, and two mostly healthy children. (Asthma.) And a lovely DH and a nice warm bed with clean sheets!!!

xx, C

This message was edited Nov 6, 2007 11:51 AM

Oh, Carrie - you just reminded me what I was supposed to do today - put the heated matress pad on and fresh sheets. Oh well, maybe between touchdowns.

Well, Deb - I can see you aren't a victim of hot flashes yet!! LOL I have 2 fans going and the windows open no matter what the weather is!!

Carrie - nothing feels nicer than crisp, clean sheets!!

I'm still a little young for hot flashes I hope. We haven't turned the heat on yet, so it gets mighty cool by morning.

Wow - no heat yet! I'm sure you've had frosts already, no?

Be thankful......and enjoy it while you can! Just kidding....it's not that bad to get old!! LOL

Tactful dodge, Victor! :)

We've had 2 frosts already, and this week will bring cold weather probably starting tomorrow. We keep the heat at 58 average in the winter, it bothered me when we were first married, but I've gotten used to it. Just need to wear sweaters. And down comforters.

Ooh - 58 is pretty chilly! Especially stepping out of the shower.

Heat lamps in the bathroom help. And I cook a lot so that helps.

Nothing helps me when it gets that cool in the house. I seem to just stand in place and shiver.

Isn't that what a house is supposed to do? Isn't a house someplace where you can stay warm and cozy? I know that oil prices are going to be through the roof this year, but these old bones need a bit of heat.

Speaking of which, we just had 150 gallons of oil delivered yesterday. Ugh!! Sticker shock!! We will be burning a lot of wood in the wood furnace and hoping that the temps don't get quite so cold!!!

Who needs a StairMaster???

We do use an extra heater from time to time. When it's 58 outside - like this past week, we think how nice it is out, and are out in long sleeve T's or sweaters. I've gotten so that if it is above 65 indoors, I feel too warm. It's all what you are used to. And saving a little money on heat allows us to do other things - travel, eat out a couple times a week, etc.

Had to post this.....'Midnight in Marrakesh' has been blooming in a pot in the house for over a week. I finally captured the true color of this daylily!

Deb --

I thought we were the only people in the world with a heated mattress pad! Sniffle -- all of a sudden I don't feel so alone. It's time for that family fun game, "What did Mommy label the mattress pad this summer?"

x, C

beautiful Pixie!