i live in winston salem

flowrgirl1: Thanks for the details about the plant swap. I would love to attend as long as I can come up with some plants to share. I'm on the northwest side of Winston Salem so I guess we are neighbors :)

Tropicanna: Yeah, The Briar Patch has a very small bakery called Sweet Peas. It has home made butters, breads and the best Strawberry cake I have ever had. It's only open seasonally though.

GardeningNC: Thanks for the offer. I'd love a Japanese toad Lilly for my shade garden.

For everyone here, this forum does have quite a few knowledgeable folks, I will call Tom out but no one else (teehee). He is one of the folks that is seriously smart about gardening if you have the pleasure to speak with him

GardeningNC, I wonder what tricyrtis you have. I have quite a few (always want more..lol..and happy to trade as well) that I have identified, but then I have these which I tried to get an ID on last year:
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/776629/

I tried to cross them (with every other blooming tricyrtis I have) when they were in flower, and I winter sowed the seeds. They're coming up now so there's no telling ....lol

rosie...yeah, we've had whole foods here awhile, but I guess because there's so much commuting in the area the Triad market (which is pretty big) is the one..lol. Out here folks sell their veggies by roadside, I have been ruined by the locals and online shopping.

kc--I may have to check it out when they open :)

I'll try and catch the name of the nursery on Clemmonsville Road, I did want to check it out. I know that the first week of April and probably the week before and after that will be crazy for me, so I can't make the local swap. Later on there will be a Roundup in the Raleigh area, but it seems like there might be a few people here nearby and maybe we can plan a small get -together when it warms up

OK, I thought I would jump in here. We live in Stokes county but do most of our activities, friends, work in Guilford and surrounding counties. We moved to NC 6 years ago and bought in Stokes county cause houses are very inexpensive here and we got some land with it.

I have been hoping to meet locals gardeners. We mostly grow veggies but I am venturing big time into flowers. We are hoping to make a small farm here and have been veggie gardening for 4 years now. Our veggie garden is 1 acre big so we grow alot of stuff.

Can't wait to go to some plant sales, swaps.

Hope to chat with all of you sometime.

Susan

flowrgirl and kc - Ill be happy to send some toad lily your way, I guess we have to arrange a small meeting of some of us that have met here. Send me a dmail, I think I can check it, I can always send them out via mail.

rosie - your right about the toad lilies, my mom put some out back of her house and they end up being about 1" tall and no blooms. The mex petunias sometimes get missed, though with the drought they were taken out too. I have never heard anything regarding the orchids and deer... Ill have to investigate. I don't have problems with deer, knock on wood, but have squirrels and rabbits... I didn't even realize the rabbits found my front yard till they almost killed my tiny elm tree. I live right off a farm, if cows wont eat it, I have the perfect spot for the cottoneaster... not inside the pasture but right beside the fence, or if the cows like it - I think I have one other spot... neighbors yard, they don't mind since they get to enjoy without having to care for. I think it holds basically true that what deer wont eat, cows wont eat... wish I knew more on that one.

Tropicanna - That one is beautiful, Ill gladly give you some or trade if you have extra... I have no idea which one I have, it gets about a 1' - 1 1/2' tall and the blooms are similar to 'Sumarai' - actually that might be it.. Ill have to look closer and post a pic.

Susan - welcome, I will admit I tried the veggie garden and the field mice and bunnies ate great! The only thing they didn't touch were a few tomatoes and the hot peppers I planted for people at work... too hot for me :-)

Welcome Susan,
I love to meet new gardeners. Please come to the plant swap. It would be a great way to meet. I love veggy gardening. I used to have a huge garden many years ago then i filled it with irises. Once I have land I plan to do lots of veggys again.

Tom, you really didnt like MI huh! I love it there. Im having a hard time believing I have moved. If it werent for the boyfriend i would be back there in second. I have 17 years of family, friends, and garden there plus the great lakes are to die for. I am moving back for the summer in may. I really love the winter break and I enjoy winter sports. The summers a beautiful, for the most part. Its nice here too but its not home yet for me. I am not looking forward to the heat either. If I coud live here in the winter and go back to MI for the rest of the year that would be great.

Gardeningnc, lets meet! That would be fun. I will send you a dmail.

flowergirl1 send me a dmail so I can find out about the plant swap. Was it discussed inthis thread? I admit when the htreads get long I skim so I may have missed it. I would love to come I can share lots of seeds and maybe some of my seedlings I have going in my greenhouse.

Susan

I have a question for my fellow gardeners in the area. Do you have a favorite place to get your planters? I will be hanging a lot of pots this summer and have a large deck that I want to place potted plants around. Garden Ridge has a great selection and I'm excited to see that Old Time Pottery will be opening a store in Greensboro. We had one in Columbus Ohio and I really missed it when I moved down here. Are there any other places near by that has a nice selection of pottery... at a good price :-)? Lowe's has the standard 10" clay pot for $4.77 which I think is a decent price, but I haven't really shopped around yet.

I cant so for sure but I went to LA Reynolds this fall/winter and they had quite a few pots. I imagine lots more in the spring. Its a huge place. Lots of goodies for us gardeners. Plus there is a mini iris farm near by.
michelle

KC-
I don't have many pots -- I don't water the pots enough and just aggravate myself about the plant loss. But, I want to tell you about something I did that worked out well. My brother has a tile installation business. He visited us when we first moved in and as a gift - tiled the bath and a wall in the kitchen. I bought the tile - and the grout and mastic to stick it down with. He had a lot of the grout left over and it was this great 'clay' color and so I covered a plain black plastic planter --the big pots you buy trees and shrubs in -- I just gooped it on and let it dry. It ended up looking like a nice cement pot and held up very well until I gave it away. I smoothed a 'square' patch on it and pushed some leaves into it and ended up with nice design on it too. If you like, I can ask about the brand. I think we bought it at Home Depot. It was inexpensive and those black plastic pots are everywhere. It's great on the budget.

kc--

I also don't garden in pots often, and usually if I need one I just pick up what's availble at dollar general or get my daughter to paint a terra cotta one for me...lol. but, here's a possibility (maybe?) if you were ever looking for something creative. The Enrichment Center downtown has a gallery, it's a day program for people with developmental disabilities, I know they have ceramics classes and some very talented artists, however I don't know that they have currently done planters. You can commission folks to create pieces for you (they have a guy that does amazing ceramics there) and it is relatively inexpensive. just a thought..here's their site

http://www.enrichmentcenter.org/

Old Time Pottery a chain based in Kentucky has very reasonably prices pots.They have a store here at the beach not far from me and I usually buy my pots there.I will be switching from terra cotta to plastic from now on because of watering issues.

Hi Guys--

I bought several pots recently at Tuesday Morning in Winston (on Cloverdale near Harris Teeter). They have lovely ceramic pots, with blue, tan, green glazes. Also, clay pots, faux clay pots, and a bunch of other lawn ornaments and planters.

I was bad yesterday. I went in to walmart to have film developed and wandered over the the garden area. Ended up spending 50 bucks on dahlias, peonies, soil, seeds. I have over a hundred packs of seeds, surely didnt need more. Hello, my name is Michelle, I am a plant addict!haha
Michelle

LOL...I have boycotted that place for years....

but every once in awhile I get an idea they might have something different

this year I've been so bad....I know I've turned into a complete junkie when I go to dang wal-mart twice a week for seeds

but not next week, nope, not gonna do it---did you see the callas they had? lol

OH, I saw everything for about an hour. I kept looking and talking myself outta stuff. Luckily for me i have about an ounce of self control. I would have bought much more. I dont like walmart but its hard to stay away when stuff is so dang cheap. I got really nice plants for rock bottom prices. How can you say no.
mcihelle

my daughter and I went crazy for the 10-30 cent seeds..lol

I didn't even look at plants, I feel like I might have my hands full as it is when it warms up. Just winter sowing as many seeds as ridiculously possible because it's fun

and those cheap annual seeds come up so quickly...lol...I have to stay out of there, at least I stay in the garden center, but perlite is a bit cheaper there, for sure

my mom is always tryin to get me to stop buyin plants. I cant help it. Last summer about a month or so before i moved here i was still buying plants. pretty rediculous.
michelle

no one tries with me anymore, it's a lost cause. my daughter gives me a hard time every once in awhile, but that's practically her job until she's 18. I looked back through some stuff today and I bought plants in December and January from online nurseries and I can't even tell you what I got....

sick....if you get into trading plants on here it's all over,,,lol

oh, i will be. at least its cheaper. I have been trading online since i was 16 or 17 i think. Mostly irises. I really want to get involved in doing lots of co ops. Im hosting the hellebore co op. Gonna restart it by monday. I think we will have fun when we get to meet. Well have to do some garden shopping.
michelle

...hellebores...just started paying attention to them, I think they're interesting. here I go plugging Myer's again (I don't work there) but they have really good prices on theirs.

hosting a co-op though...whoa, you must be super organized.

that's interesting that you've been trading that long! The South Appalachian Roundup (I think I linked above) has a couple of folks that trade iris

Im pretty organized. I may be jumping in a little soon but I should be ok, i hope. I didnt see any link for south app roundup? sounds neet though.

Perfect illustration of how organized I'm not, I meant to invite you all to the Southern Appalachian Roundup in Asheville on May 3rd...Asheville's not too far :)

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/789409/

funny. I may be able to go to it. I will have to see. I have some friends coming into town around then.
michelle

OK, sorry for my manners again, we're trying to get some folks together for this but nothing's set yet:
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/818616/

I wont be able to do that one. Outta town by then.

sorry, been crazy at work and got preoccupied out in the garden after work... been too pretty not to go out and do something! I am also a victim of Wally World, though not so much - they rarely have anything at the one I go to - I think it maybe a blessing. I must admit though - if you catch the clearance items you can get some great deals... one of my favorite roses was a stick from there (see picture below)
Tropicanna - for me Asheville is a long drive, too much for me. Charlotte is a definite possibility. I agree with you - private tours with a small group are much more interesting and fun... you always get to learn and see so much more, but any garden tour is always great when you get to meet good people!

Jenn

I love tropicanna. That seems really pink. Is it really tropicana?

I have only been on one garden tour and it was ages ago. I think i was 18 or 19. I was a member of a garden club and we went and checked out some fun stuff. I am going to a friends garden on sunday. she is giving Robin and I some hellebore and other plants. Exciting!!! I havent seen her garden yet but Robin says it is great.

I wish i had a garden to dig in. Now at least i have some potted up plants. I bought peonies, sarah bernhardt and bowls beauty at walmart. They were decent sized roots too. So i thought what the heck. The dahlias look good too. I bought four varieites of those. Cant help myself.
michelle

Opps, I think that got posted confusingly - the rose pictured is an unnamed rose I got from WalMart for $2 :-) and yes it does bloom that pink and the fragrance is absolutely amazing!

Your going to be a bad influence on me Flowrgirl... I got the same Bowl of Beauty but they didnt have anything else like the dahlias or other peonies. Im sure you'll have a wonderful time Sunday!

I went out at lunch and unburied my tree peony, it has new shoots coming out of the ground and a new flower bud is def. on it's way!! Last year I had two flowers and the year before only one... hoping for more overall growth than flowers this year as it seems pretty small...

I love tree peonies so much. I have one red. Cant think of the name off the top of my head. It had a bud last year but never developed. Hopeuflly this year it will try again. Someday i hope to have hundreds!

I justify buying plants by saying they multiply and help the environment. hehe. then i go get more.

I planted some mesculin seeds today so that i can pick my own greens in a few weeks. I just stuck em in a paper egg carton. they will sprout fast im sure. salad greens tend to do that.

I use to garden for a older lady who had great tree peonies and herbacious too. She must have had hundreds of them.

I want to go back to walmart and get more plants but i have spent enough for now. I have to savey my money for the co ops!!

If you know of any place with reasonable prices on tree peonies, please let me know. My trip this weekend to logan's is to see if they get in any that I can afford... thats where I got the one I have, $15 or 20 for a maroon... they didnt have any real label at all, but after it bloomed, I fell in love! I looked everywhere last year but never found one with in my price range :-(

...lol....you crowd are worse than I thought, tree peonies are pretty

I have a couple of different kinds of lettuce, green beans and sugar peas coming up in winter-sown containers already so I'm sure your mix will come up soon. The containers were just little styrofoam cups with not much of a top

Hey, how many of you NCers are gonna try and make it to the swap on April 5th??? I would love to meet all of you. Some of are within 30 miles of me. We need to meet at the swap. It would be great to meet more gardeners. Networking, gotta love it. Robin who is hosting the swap has extended her invite to all of you.

Flowrgirl1,
You are definitly a leader! I love it!

I really want to make it to this, I better write it down.

Susan

goodie!!! How is everyone this week? any new plants? Im buying hellebores, peonies and hostas from co ops!

as you know i went to logans to look for tree peonies... :-( well they had one variety and it was over $100!! wow, sorry, cant do that... what if it died... that could have been a few different plants and one could have survived... agh :-(

well despite my disappointment I went looking and found a clearance table with things marked down to about $5 each... most had no labels but I found one hosta 'whiskey sour', an unknown hardy hibiscus and an unknown hosta which has purple eye buds, since the whiskey sour has red eyes shooting up - I have hopes I found a pretty blue hosta, maybe :-)

flowrgirl - still trying to decide if I want to drive that far and if I can find someone to watch my babies while I am gone to go to the swap, i have a house full of animals... hard to leave them for a whole day. I will let you know by next weekend. I am looking forward to my hellebores through the coop :-) thinking about trying the hosta coop as well... :-)

i am going co op crazy. not only am i hosting my own but i keep ordering from others. i just ordered 12 var. of clematis at 4.00 each. Thats a good price though. how can you pass it up? I also plan to order some dahlias if the co op needs filling. Some one needs to stop me!!!!

Its ok if you cant make it. it is hard to find animal sitters.

If you want good prices just keep watching yahoo co op groups. they just closes a tree peony co op bummer! I would have loved to have gotten in on it.

michelle

oh, why did you mention that, I wish I hadnt missed that :-( Ill find them though :-) and until then I have hellebores, hostas, and and and and.... hehehe This is actually the first time i have participated in a coop, so i am hoping for the best :-)

If im goin down, your goin down with me. LOL
michelle

You all will probably have an answer to this question.I have 2 packs of Anemone bulbs, has anyone grown these?

They are small black and very hard with no sign of a shoot comming out of them like some other bulbs I have gotten. Mind you these are about a year old and I found them in a bag in a closet that I forgot about.

Do you think they are any good?

Susan

Good question. Soak them in a bowl of luke warm water overnight and then pot them up. See what happens. Its hard to say. I know you are supposed to soak them when you get them. They are supposed to look dry and hard so that isnt bad at least.
Michelle