Just very light rain here now.
First spring plant catalogue and burnt fingers
Good to hear. Such strange Jan weather. Thanks for the update, you guys are more reliable than the TV. It appears that the last heavy bit of weather is about done. But as I typed that line we had another whole sky light up. I swear it looks like a prairie storm. Patti
It's for your birthday - better than candles!
Happy Birthday!! ☺
Victor, It was quite a show and to think it was all for me.
Thanks WaterCan2 for the Nasturium, another old favorite of mine. I know, what plant isn't, but they really really are. I picked DH at the airport, so now I am sitting on my throne awaiting a lovely dinner from him. Its good to be a queen. Patti
Good for you - enjoy! Do you eat nasturtiums? I never tried them. Supposed to be good in salads. You have a good husband.
The best DH, and yes I do eat them. Peppery tasting both the leaves and flower, and I have eaten the buds that were pickled and used in place of capers. Patti
I would probably like them then since I like pepper.
I should had tried them, I had yellow ones too. - Next time... just couldnt bring myself to eat the flower! lol! ☺
Even daylilies are edible. As are most roses. (Not the thorns)
I have told this story some where on DG, but the short of it is once while in Papua New Guinea staying in a very posh Mt hotel for mostly birders I found that the western owners treated their help as slaves. While seeing the treatment and lack of anything decent, I happened to observe that this owner had recently imported to this region the unknown Day lily to his lush gardens He had his help planting thousands of clumps. I decided to teach them by example that they were an excellent food source for their families. After a week I think I had the whole village eating his precious new DL's. I could not show them the joy of fried stuffed ones, but I did show them how slicing the new bud was wonderful on their yams and that they could in fact steam the tubers too. Besides just snacking on them. They found them a bit spicy, but seemed to like them. Yummy. Me Bad. BTW the New Guinea impatience that grew along the road were 4 to 6 feet tall. They plant flowers everywhere as they wear them always. Patti
Wicked thunderstorms here today! Yikes!!
Amethyst, those fruit salad trees are grafts. I've never ordered one, but that's the only way it could be done.
Pixie, you can add to your vision: I am a seed snatcher. I visit the nurseries late in the year, and have scored hibiscus and hosta seeds galore. I'm a good customer of these places, and the seeds will eventually be tossed, so that's my justification. Now you can envision all the crumbling seed pods and chaff in the bottom of my purse, along with fermenting Tic Tacs and used Kleenex...
bbrookrd, I know what you mean, I was going to Papua but decided on Figi instead. I stayed at one of those resorts (acutally the entire island was the resort) and found that the owners there too treated their employees as slaves... so sad. :-(
Amy,
The fruit salad trees are branches of different kinds of fruit grafted onto one rootstock. They have to be relatively close in the family for this to work, such as various citrus, or various apples, or pit fruit, like plums, apricots, nectarines and peaches for it to work. Theoretically, it works, and some people have had success with them, however, the different fruit ripen at different times, so you really can't make fruit salad, and lots of times the flowers open at different times, so they can't pollinate one another (especially the apple one). Also some of the grafts will often grow much more vigorously than another and one fruit will ultimately take over. It is pretty gimmicky, but can work. It might be fun to have one, but don't expect all the different fruit to do all that well.
Plus you have to keep in mind most of the companies selling the fruit salad trees are not really tree growers, and you will probably get some inferior product.
Some of the three in one apple trees can be purchased from reliable companies like Stark, and Millers.
Are you thinking of getting one?
o heavens no - i wouldn't have anywhere to put it. i don't/can't grow food here except herbs... (although from reading recent posts, perhaps i grow more food than i suspected!)
Those trees are just one of those things i see, and i think, "they have GOT to be kidding!" and i happened upon one in the ONE catalog i have received, which seems (to me) to be filled with dubious "miracle" plants at low low prices - eek. (They also have hydrangeas that flower in 3 colors at once...)
i figured i could get an explanation here - thanks polly and jax.
amy
*
I planted a fruit salad tree but all I got was Wiggles.
I have requested several catalogues but have only recieved White Flower Farm. I've never ordered plants on-line but I like them to help me with my planning and dreaming. I can usually get almost anything from the local nurseries as there are at least 6 that I frequently visit. I've found one about an hour away in Vermont that I will be visiting this spring!! Going on-line is alright but when you have a toddler who gets into an un-child-proofed office he can be quite bothersome. It's much easier for me to look through a catalogue to see what's out there!! Eleanor
Eleanor, Which on did you find in Vt that you will visit as I am always on the hunt for a new nusery.
Bothersome and adorable, I bet. My little one about 23 years ago went bulb shopping with me and while I was bagging tulips, he decided to make his own pile. When I turned around he had a nice selection of who knows what varieties on the floor. We bagged them up and planted his first attempt at a garden. They were an interesting mishmash, but the strange thing is that a few of his bloomed for years and my picks only lasted that one season. Patti
Patti - I've been to the Mettowee Mills Nursery in Dorset, Vt. First I went there because of the fairy garden they had made in memory of one of their co-workers who died as a result of domestic violence. I discovered they have a big selection of flowers. I didn't get down to the tree and shrub area but it looked extensive. I'm sure I will check it out this spring because I've been taking notes on what are good trees and shrubs (like viburnum - don't know if it is spelled right). Sounds like your son knows how to pick the good ones!! My little 21 month old grandson is a handfull but I guess he is more adorable than bothersome!!!!! LOL I will have to keep an eye on him when we go to buy flowers at the nursery or I may have to buy his choices also!! Eleanor
Eleanor, Thanks, I will have to check that one out when I am in Vt. It is about an hour from our Vt house and it is a beautiful drive to there. I am will be looking for very little this year except annuals and some shade plants for my new endless stream area. I have already ordered more than enough lilies on the coops plus some glads. I am ordering some roses from a coop too. I do not need DL's or hosta or Iris this year. Do you think if I say that loud enough then I can resist. I got all my seeds already. Too many of those too. But they are a joy to see grow. Oh, I forgot the canna and caladium orders that I have done. But the canna go into just two spots and the caladiums are for containers. I am adding a few shrubs that we have talked about for years. Lilacs and more viburnums. So that would be reason enough to head over the mountain to Dorset. Patti
You're very welcome, Patti!! I don't know what I need this year. I'm hoping to get a new area cleared and ready to plant, but don't know if I'll actually get to do any planting. It will be a big job just to clear the area. We started last fall and I got into a lot of poison ivy. I sprayed the area after that, but I'm sure I didn't get it all!! I'd also like to start some composting down in that area. As for my other gardens I'll have to wait and see what survives the winter and if I have room to add anything. Eleanor
I have massive amounts of poison ivy on the edges of our property too and I am very allergic to it, but, I always, like the fool that I am, get it every year. We have taken to spraying in the woods where we find it the most every few years, which I hate to do. But I have to go on prednisone when I get it which is bad also. .We have been sort of winning the battle as it is no where near as bad as it once was. The worse time I got it was in the fall when I was brush cutting and I got it internally from breathing in all the whatever as I cut it. I was a mess, no rash on the outside, but totally swollen and burning on the inside. Nostrils closed up, not pretty. I got shots that time. I think the best time to spray is when it is coming up in the early summer and then again when it starts to rebound in August. So you may want to spray it again this spring. That way you hit it twice in a season to kill it, if that is possible. Too bad it is so pretty. Evil stuff. Good luck with yours and your future bed which will be worth the effort. i am working on an area that I have been eying for 23 years, always time. Patti
Patti - I can get poison Ivy bad. Never on the inside though!! That must have been horrible. I hadn't been into it in quite a few years and last spring with a lot of precaution I was able to pull the evil stuff in another area where I was preparing a new bed. This past fall I thought I'd try the same approach on this new area. BAD IDEA! I had breakouts in almost every area of my body. My arms from the elbows down to the wrist were covered and the skin still itches on my arms even though the rash is gone - they start burning and itching and drives me crazy. Our yard was originally covered with poison ivy and we have gradually gotten rid of it so eventually I will succeed with this job also. Thanks for the encouragement and advice. I think this pic might show the area I'm working on. Colin and I were out for a walk and stroller ride taking photos of fall color and my DH across the canal waved to us. Our property backs right up to the canal with a tow path walk way and the Hudson river on the other side of that. Our landscaped yard ends at the top of the bank my DH is standing on, but the rest shows from the canal walk way and I really want it to look more appealing for the walkers and bikers. And besides I'm always ready for a challenge. Years ago I didn't know what to do with that part but DGers have given me lots of ideas. Talk about an awful mess!! I could leave it natural - everyone else along the canal does especially since the edges of their property are more like a cliff. Mine is more sloped and if I succeed in getting the area cleared and planted, it will stick out like a sore thumb, but hopefully a nice sore thumb. Eleanor
That pic doesn't do the mess justice so I'll try this one. It is so hard to see the thumbnail pics so i sometimes can't tell exactly what's in them. Eleanor
I fight with PI every year,most of the time I lose and every year I break out. Some years it's bad enough I need to be on prednisone, some years not! I will admit..PI is one tough oponet!
My daughter had a very severe case of it but her husband got on the job and managed to eradicate it, thankfully. The doctor told her if she gets it again she has to remain in the hospital.
Pirl - does your SIL hire out for poison ivy eradication?? Just kidding, I wouldn't ask anyone to do that job for me. I'm just going to be more careful. I think the spring would be the best time for me cause I can easily identify those reddish brown colored leaves. Eleanor
p.s. - hope your DD never gets into it again!! I was on predisone the last time and asked for another dose but the doctor said I needed the "tincture of time" and to be patient as it takes several weeks to peak and then go away!!
He has enough to do at home and does it all competently and with a smile. He is a true blessing.
Spraying the emerging growth is supposed to be the most effective from what I've read.
I'm going to plug Brush -B - Gone again! The stuff is great.
Victor, Do you come with it?
definitely a statement, that when you "Skip to New" and it is the only one, makes you have to scroll up.
Behave, Amy!
well...
Good one, Amy. It should be Victor's motto.
gee... thanks!
Hi all :)
I don't get PI but I do get the Oak and I agree with Victor the bush b gone is great for these, I get the poison oak so bad I have to take the prednisone but I only get it about every other year, go figure! I guess I'm only getting into the weeds every other year? lol Last year I had the posion oak in my front flower bed where does this come from! That was a long ways from my weeds! Darn those birds anyway! I just painted mine with the BBB in the flower bed.
Jax, have you ever checked this catalog out I'm not sure what you paid for bulk coleus but this one has bulk coleus and a lot of other things, I haven't ordered from them before but have been thinkng about it for a few years now lol
http://www.hpsseed.com/sp.asp?c=37
Thanks for the link, Lea. I do like the Nottingham Lace series of coleus they carry.
That is very unusual Bug since it's the exact same oil in both (and poison sumac) that causes the rash!
Your welcome Pirl!
I really don't know anything about the oils in them Victor but I do know I can get around poison ivy but the oak just gets all over me everytime I get around it! And they are those big puffy blisters! Poison Ivy is the small bumps isn't it, anyway that's what the doctors treat me for is the poison oak lol
My daughter has the same reaction, Lea.
She gets around poison ivy and just has small bumps. This year she got into poison oak, and had a horrible time. Three trips to the hospital as her face was so swollen her neck was swelling and affecting her breathing. All three times they put her on IVs, and then she had prednisone for 3-4 weeks after each outbreak. All the outbreaks were from the same exposure, she would go off the prednisone and they would come back..
One thing I learned from her Doctors was that there is a histamine 1 and a histamine 2 blocker. She had to take both. She had Benadryl and Zantac.
I had always thought Zantac was a drug just for the tummy.
I was lucky enough to get the desensitizing pills for the poison ivy/oak/sumac before they took it off the market, and have had nothing but a very few bumps since.