Vicarious winter gardening - or Show me da blooms!

Louise:

The news about the BES was just about the best news I could have heard today! Thanks for sharing the great colors and the information that all is well in the sunny, and plantable, South.

threegardeners........I hear you talking!! (sigh)......freezing rain today now.

grannyh:

That's a beautiful photo! I love the contrast!

Very pretty grannyh!

Lovely!

grannyh - That shot has all its own beauty! Thanks for adding it to the mix....isn't the contrast neat! Stay dry and warm!

Allison - don't get jealous yet......we'll be away for 10 days at Christmas, so I'm not sure what things will look like when we return with all this heat here. There's only so much you can expect your neighbors to do for you!!!

Candyce -I hope the BES vines make it while we are away too. I planted up a storm without considering that we were going away for Christmas. Ugh.

Celeste - so glad you enjoyed seeing them!!

Has anyone heard anything from Kassia? I miss her posts!

Kassia posted in the rose forum, but that was Dec. 4th by what I can tell. I'm a bit worried too.....

Maybe she's out of town. I hope she is doing ok.

I d-mailed Kassia the other day and she said she's been really busy. Her shoulder is still bothering her but she is alive!! She's been busy with her research project, Christmas shopping and her family!! Kassia, hurry up and get un-busy. We need you here!! Grannyh - love the photo! We haven't had that much snow yet in Glens Falls. Eleanor

Louise I am a neighbor like that... the lady who lives next door is gone half the year.... on and off... during the summer when she is gone for weeks... I just took it upon myself to water everything for her... I just figured since she is attached to me... might as well keep it looking pretty... and what's another hour during the good time of the day

I d-mailed Kassia as well to check on her. And I did talk to her on the phone about a week ago. Ditto what Eleanor said.

I brought my BES vine in at the end of the summer. It looked dead. Now it's growing like crazy. I know it will bloom indoors because I started it in the house last spring and it bloomed way before I put it outside. I'll post when it starts to bloom.

Louise, thanks again for all the pics. The verbena is my favorite! I don't have any in my garden yet, but got some seeds in an exchange, so hope for the best come spring.

OK. What's up with this iris? It did the same thing last year.

It's confused? Or it has decided to be your Christmas iris!

How lovely!
What a nice thought ~ a Christmas iris!

Thank you, too, for checking 'in' on Kassia. I hope she knows just how much she is missed.

Did that just start, Anita? Is it a re-bloomer? I had re-bloomers that don't normally re-bloom do so this year because of the warm first part of Autumn.

Jan and Eleanor - thanks for the update on Kassia. I was hoping she's just been busy.

Allison - what a great neighbor you are! My neighbors are also so good on this street. I'm sure your neighbor appreciates your kindness as much as I appreciate it here. Gardeners just hate to see plants stressed, huh? I do it here for my neighbors as well, but they aren't gone as much as I am! LOL

Anita - I'm shocked to see your reblooming iris blooming NOW! What a brave one he is! That seems really unusual, but you had the same thing happen last year! Go figure! Nice little Christmas treat - and I very much appreciate you adding to this thread with your photo! Very cool!

I shouldn't have posted so many pics the other day........I've run out of flowers - except for this "next phase" of the famous wild cotton. Celeste said she wanted to see the various color stages, so I'm doing my best. This one isn't terribly clear (sorry!) because the flower was blowing all around, but I think you can see the darker pink. Now, all I have left to get is the cotton boll when it forms.

Louise not only is she like a family member ... and we have only been here 3 years... but we get homemade pies at times.... my honey shoveled her driveway for her.... and before we knew it a wonderful apple cranberry pie showed up at my door

:)

It actually started the end of October. I had two blooms in November and that stalk was from this weekend. I'm off tomorrow for a dryer delivery, so I'll go out and check on it.

My uncle, who is in his late seventies, was driving by an older ladies house one day, and she was stuck in her driveway. He stopped and dug her out, then "adopted" her, stopped often to check on her, and kept her driveway clear in the winter. She passed away last year, and left him her house. A big beautiful farm house. And he didn't know her until the day she got stuck in her driveway.
This is everybody's favorite uncle - full of love and life.

These are mostly just foliage with only a few blooms in a section of our living room where DH has hung grow lights. I think it is so pretty though.

I think random acts of kindness are awesome. It's so nice when someone's motive is completely selfless and then what goes around, comes around. Those are great examples, Allison and Deb. Very heartwarming, huh?

Anita - that's quite a hardy iris!

Bebop - what a lovely little forest nook right in your own living room! That's so neat to have an indoor garden!

Deb and onewish - nice stories of kindness!! Bebop - love the plants. They are colorful even without blooms! Eleanor

Nice indoor garden bebop. There was an ad in the paper for some kind of herb garden using just water and lights - no soil. $150. I was wondering what I could come up with instead. This was cute though.

Debilu... looks like that's a hydroponic system... a bit expensive in my opinion... but a space saver I would say yes... and I agree it's cute..... I am seeing ads all over the place for that.... I saw a chia herb garden at walmart and was wondering if that was any good

I set up my grow light system for a couple of hundred dollars. I bought a wire shelf unit, hung double shop lights and used grow lights in them. I set the lights on a timer. It is working very well. There are different size shelving units to choose from and the shop lights come in 3 foot and 4 foot lengths. The lights are easy to hang with hooks from the shelf above. The height of the lights can be adjusted cause they come with chains. The ready made light and shelf units are very expensive so I got creative. My motto - where there's the will, there's a way!! I still have to get one more light for the bottom shelf and I will do that late winter when I start some seeds. I got everything at Lowes. The lights are in my bedroom (only place I had room - my house is very small) and my neighbors haven't asked yet why my bedroom glows from 6:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. !!!!! You don't have to pay the high prices of some of the kits out there - you can make your own. I did this all by myself so it's not hard. Go to Lowes or Home Depot and see what you can put together yourself!! Eleanor

I do a similary setup in my basement. Isn't it great?

It is great! I'd love to get mine in the basement but it was too tall. I may be able to do some adjustments (like cutting off the legs) so I can set it up down there. To go along with our not so big house, the basement is only about 6' 6". We are all short so it's not too bad and does give us an extra room. Eleanor

That looks like a nice system you devised there, Eleanor! Very neat and attractive and very functional. Nice job! I also like your curtains. :)

Thanks Louise! Eleanor

Louise:

You know? I'm so glad that you began this thread. I miss the blooms in my garden so much already, and it's just barely the middle of December. The photos you show of the plant babies you are growing and have blooming now are wonderful. You did mention that you were growing tomatoes, right? How are they doing?

Hi Candyce. Thanks for your comments on the thread. I really appreciate it when other people show some shots as well so that it isn't a one-gardener thread! Yes, I do have some tomatoes growing in pots. So far, so good.....lots of flowers and some small tomatoes so far, but I'm quite concerned about what will happen to them while we are away with the new severe water restrictions if the weather stays this hot. They really soak up the sun, even with the mulch. I also have a "Big Bertha" pepper, but it is in the ground and even though it has a pepper and some flowers, it doesn't look as good as it should, in my mind. My green beans have lots of little flowers now and the cukes have some hefty nice leaves so far. We'll see what survives with the help of a couple of neighbors. I don't want to ask them to water when it is not permitted, so I'll hold my breath! LOL

Louise, it's so raw here today and we're facing two snow storms in the next few days - do you have room?!!!!!!!!!!!!

HA HA HA Victor, you big chicken!! It's only just begun to be winter here, and it looks like it may be a very long one at that!
DD is coming from Florida on the 22nd and so wished for a white Christmas, i'll have to let her know her wish has come true.

Not afraid of winter - just hate it! As I get older, it gets worse.

pixie:

I hope your DD makes the trip up from FL safely and can arrive between storms. It seems we are having them more often now, and more of them than in the past couple of years. I always hate it when my family members are traveling during the wintertime.

Likewise, Louise ... I hope your travels northward will be safe for the holidays.

And Victor ... I hate winter, too. It's beautiful, but oh, so treacherous! Oh, and freaking COLD!!!

My favorite seasons are fall and spring. I would be very happy with 75° degrees everyday and rain between midnite and 5am.

Same here Anita. I'll take a range of 55 - 75, about 40% - 45% humidity and a 5 - 10 mph breeze. Heaven!

That's exactly how I envision Heaven!!!

And no weeds!

In a way, I hope there are some weeds. I like to keep busy. For me, a lot of getting satisfaction out of gardening is the upkeep and grooming. But then, I also like to just sit back and enjoy the view. I imagine the view will be magnificent!