How to Spot an Avid Gardener

Good luck. Enjoy!

I really enjoyed reading all of your posts and can say I relate, and even sang along.

Getting back to the topic, I do give directions based on trees. The border guards didn't know what to make of it but I had to remember that Arbutus in Canada is Madrona in Washington. US Customs asked me when I brought across 63 lbs of palm seed, how the seedhouse knows its coming from me without a "bill of sale". "I'm the only one who'd harvest, pick, hand wash and dry this much palm tree seed and lives in Canada."

Gloves? Why gloves - you need the dirt under your nails to show you've done something and it's just your "character".

To me, the first letter of the cultivar name being capitalized IS important and the split-up of the Liliaceae family IS bigger than Brittany Spears or Paris Hilton.

Socializing at the bar is tough for me when all I can think about is where I can get that new variegated Tibouchina and all they think about is how much money I make, where I live and what I drive. Words like "acreage", "greenhouse", "farm" are must-have "husband" terms.

pic: I want this plant and it just might be hardy. I wanna cutting from that ritzy restaurant!

This message was edited Nov 6, 2007 3:34 PM

I sense an opportunity for the Plant Rescue Squad!! Don your clippers, folks! Get your black outfits out! We'll make a pass at that restaurant just after closing, walking in a group, singing the worm song. People will think we've had too much to drink. The cutting is yours, Growin! The restaurant will never know it's missing! Plant Rescue strikes again!

Dressed in black, Pruners at the ready, Where do we meet up?? Ha Ha
"Midnite raid on local restaurant" head lines will read. The plant squad strikes again.

Location: Joe Fortes Restaurant, 777 Thurlow at Robson http://www.joefortes.ca/ almost kitty-corner to Banana Republic on Robson and one block from the new 61 storey Shandri-La Hotel in downtown Vancouver. I'll supply the post-snatching martinis and japanese finger-food. The plant is Duranta erecta 'Golden Edge'. It doesn't feel so criminal as a "gang".

OOOO NO, I forgot one miner detail, I don't have a passport, How can I sneak in?

Wish I could come too-- can tillysrat and I fit in any one with a passports luggage????

That will work, but it better be a trunk.....LOL

Okay, growin', you're making it sound like a lot of fun. I need to get my passport anyway. How long do you think we have?

You don't need a passport to visit. You're just "visiting" and when you return, they're just "houseplants".

How can I over winter Double Red Gernaniums without having to keep the whole HUGE thing inside? Please help me out here. If someone can help me with it, I will see about saving seeds so I will have something to trade! Thanks, Misty

Grown
I have a idea this is what you do,
Wear a long coat with a large pocket sewn inside and a very small pair of pruners hidden in the cuff of the coat, go to the restaurant, locate the plant, drop something and act like you are picking it up, out come pruners, clip, then put cutting in the large pocket, have lunch or dinner go home with prize.

This message was edited Nov 6, 2007 5:57 PM

Good idea Tilly! I can just picture it!

I like that idea than trying to stuff myself in a trunk. and when would I get to go anywhere anyway.

Sheesh! Haven't you gals heard of long fingernails?? You just casually 'finger' the plant and... whoopsie!!... a piece comes off in your hand!! It's so completely innocent!!

Misty, can you put the pot on a porch or somewhere undercover until the first light frost? If you've already had a light frost, you can just stop watering and cut the plants back a bit (not too much, really), and keep them in the garage or a shed. See that they stay just barely moist, not wet and not bone dry. They'll start leafing out in the early spring and you can gradually set them out. Also replant in fresh soil. I assume you are referring to pelargoniums, the ones we generally call geraniums that are sold as 'annuals' and have all the pretty colors, not hardy geraniums, right? I've overwintered my pink ones for three years in a row. They just keep getting bigger.

Yep, frost done hit, but they still look beautiful. I believe they are the pelargoniums from the pics I just looked at. I would love to find the hardy ones, though, if they are this pretty! We do have a garage and a wood shop, but neither are heated, and it can get pretty cold here in zone 6. It usually don't stay under freezing for very long. Although, it is showing 28 degrees out there right now, and it isn't even winter yet. How do I know how much is too much if I cut them back? These things are almost like a bush! Oh, these are pink with red, I am so impressed with them! Thanks for any help! misty

EWWWWWWW just dropped to 25! BRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!

Brrrrrr is right. Our rain is back now, and that means it's warmed up for us - maybe 40 at my house right now.

I started a new job at a large wholesale nursery a month ago. We received this conifer shipped as a Monkey. We were coming up with names for it and talking about where we'd place it in our own gardens. I called it "Curious George".

You know you're an avid gardener when you find a giant conifer monkey amusing.

Misty, you might want to put some horticultural fleece over your pelagonium tying it loosely roung the base/pot. This will often take care of plants that border on hardiness, especially if you are keeping it under cover of a garage/woodshed. I am trying to remember if you have a greenhouse? Its always worth taking a few cuttings inside and begin rooting them for next year as back up (I always find if I do that the parent plant left outdoors does just fine - seems to be one of Pix's fairy tricks)

I love the image of the Plant Liberation Group - especially those stuffed in the trunk. Funny thing when Pixy said get out your black outfits - I pictured all these gardeners in cocktail dresses swinging secateurs - long slinky sparkly - boas hiding the pruning shears! Too good - Growin you are a lucky man to have this kind of support for your plant yearnings.

Morning all!
Laurie1, no GH yet, but I figure if I keep bringing plants in the house it will have to get done sooner rather than later! LOL
Gotsta have coffee! :)

Excellent plan!!!!

I have a forest in my kitchen right now, so keep your fingers crossed for me! LOL

For three days I have been cleaning windows - for seven years they have not been touched except to open and close.. you would be amazed at how much brighter the world looks through them now (I was).

Five down, eight to go, (no use getting in a hurry now).

LOL

You know you are an avid gardener when you give yourself a bad muscle strain near the rotor cuff because you simply cannot get a clue that you are hurting yourself and put the shovel down. Then you go out the following day, ignore the pain, and begin digging out a dead stump by using a huge crowbar. :( No digging for me for awhile. :(((

You mean gardening is not supposed to hurt? Huh. Whoda thought.

Yep, I think you are an avid gardener, then! :)

Either an avid gardener or a gardener with little brain.

LOL :)

Lately I find myself weeding by feel in the semi-darkness after I get home from work. I have informed my family that I need a headlamp for my birthday ( I am usually happy with just a cake and candles).

Last Valentine's Day, my husband's co-workers were razzing him because he had just loaded his truck with horse manure (the gift I had requested) and tried to convince him he must go out and buy a bouquet of roses. I had to reassure him that I had no desire for dead roses and would have wondered if he had forgotten who I really am. I got him a blueberry bush, because every time I plant something, his first question is, "Can you eat it?"

Pixy, Ow! Or a high pain tolerance.....

This message was edited Nov 7, 2007 8:09 PM

Hmm, headlamp. I've got one of those. That's not a bad idea at all. Now, where on earth IS it. sigh.

I had a similar issue turning compost last weekend. None of the "usual" aches and pains, but my right wrist and my left shoulder are protesting. It used to be my left wrist . . . argh. But there's no time for rest.

Yeah, Katie, that's what I thought, too. No time for rest until it is enforced by the chiropractor. The shoulder is taped, the ice bag is on the shoulder. I did manage to get many amaryllis potted for the holiday season. It's a 'light duty' task.

Pixy,
Why where you digging a stump when we could of used the "wrap it and yank with big mantruck method!!?" Sorry to hear about your shoulder, makes mine ache just thinking about it. That's one of those injuries that keep nagging if you don't let it heal completely. Hope it heals quickly. I'll send my fairies to help out :0)

Pixy - have you tried arnica (both cream on the ache and a homeopathic tablet) - I find it absolutely vital. Can clear the achiest everything for me, but also promotes fast healing - this from someone who constantly overdoes it (although I've not been taped up yet). Talk to the fairies, it may be what they use when they over do the wings.

Yeow, dear gardener, heal.

Oh my gawd - now how avid do you have to be to make up a song about your compost bin - this is too weird even for this avid:

http://eclectech.co.uk/compostbin.php

The link was posted on the composting thread - weird weird gardener. Thank goodness he isn't one of my patients.

This message was edited Nov 7, 2007 9:01 PM

I love it! The three-headed cauliflower was my favorite.

That is funny! I thought he was saying "in my momma's compost bin" until the words popped up on the screen and I saw that it was "marvelous compost bin!"

Great!!