what have you bought so far? part three

oh, and right around the transformer are several of the couple dozen liriopes they bought and planted all over the place. The famous plants that, when i asked him what they were, i was told, "Um, they're from Florida." When i asked her, she said, "Oh, they are called balloon flowers, and they will put up tall flowers that are either red or yellow."
(Of course i checked PF and learned that they were not those rare red or yellow balloon flowers.)
So i think they thought they'd hide the transformer...
sigh.
(An even smaller asphalted around area - basically where i took the 1st picture from, is where i have my herb garden, and it does pretty well...)

the pot and the dirt. especially for anything big. i do have one big (HEAVY) terra cotta planter that was donated to me, but it is quite a handful to move empty! i have a smaller plastic pot in it now.

You could get some of your stage crew type people to build you something out of wood on your site, maybe? My DH built me some lovely boxes out of stained plywood to hide the slightly hideous garage. xx, Carrie

amy, the large plastic pots could/would work, and relative to ceramic/clay/terra cotta, are pretty cheap. I think I bought my large plastic pots for under $20. And I believe they are 24" around. Also...what I would personally encourage, especially if you, or anyone else for that matter, is to invest in a cube of ProMix. I feel like a commercial everytime I say this...ProMix is a soil less mixture, that has a wicking agent in it...essentially, you don't need to water as much. For 3cub feet...I believe these are the correct measures, average cost is $25-27. Now...before anyone gasps at this price, the cube is actually compressed...I was able to fill 4 18" planters, 2 1/2 whiskey barrells, transplant/repot most of my household plants (except any of the cacti) and several medium and large triangular shaped pots from one cube, and had plenty left over just b/c. I usually buy 2 a season, this year will be more. But a little bit, goes a long, long way. If you have any garden friends in the area, go halves on a cube of it.
Just some food for thought!
Victor-I really like the first one...lol...

And y'all know what the means...

***i just reread that...have no idea how I messed it up...was supposed to read something along the lines of..."I would strongly recommend using ProMix if you or anyone else is going to pot up a lot of things...." something like that.



This message was edited Mar 16, 2008 8:41 PM

Does it pop open like a jack-in-a-box??!

Wow, i will have to look into ProMix. (There is also a major NYC sound rental company called ProMix, so i giggle everytime i read that.)

You must understand, don't laugh, to me $20 for a pot is expensive. Yes, i could probably ask Eric to buy me stuff - but i almost never do. There is a 4 tier plant stand at WalMart for $15 i really want, but have i bought it yet? i keep asking myself - do i really need this..?

Has no one ever used ProMix? lol...when the cube is opened, it presses against the sides of the package, and will rise up a bit, but no, it doesn't give one a big "SURPRISE"...lol. Usually, atleast in my area, all of the garden centers/nurseries that sell hanging baskets, or use plugs to sell at a later date in 4-5"pots, use ProMix. I was finding myself buying bag upon bag upon bag of Miracle Gro, or making my own mix...this is so much easier... especially if you/anyone else does a lot of potting up. I will definitely be taking pictures this year and posting them...since last year everything was up and growing before my life with DG began...lol.

I'll have to get a bag of it. That, plus the polymer crystals sounds like a good combo.

Victor, where are you getting the Cryptomeria from? it's beautiful! I have a little deodar cedar, too.

From here, Jan. I wanted a larger size as these things grow very slowly.

http://bloomriver.com/

We've used ProMix for many years for all of our seed starting.

Amy, I want to know about the space in front of the telephone pole. It seems to me that is where you should be concentrating your planting. You are a theatre person. You need to redirect your view from the garbage dumpster and the transformer to the other area if possible. I think you could do a great deal with the right olfactory correct shrub that meets your budget with some under-planting in that area. I think some big grasses around the transformer is not a bad idea or maybe some bad soil loving sweet fern, which I could bring to you at a RU. Vines growing up those white poles would be good. Ask Victor about hops? Or sweet peas run on twine that you could string between those white posts Or morning glories or autumn clematis which eats everything, but can be cut to the ground each fall. I will start a "help Amy hide a multitude of sins" plant donation party and hope others will join in one the fun. I hope I will have lots of plants to share at the RU's to all. So be bold and tell me what is on your want list. I give away bags of stuff each year that need dividing. It would make me smile to know that some had found a good home. How do you water in that area? I could see one of my propagated Oakleaf Hydrangeas growing in front of that pole. I love it year round for its spring and fall leaf color, the spectacular summer blooms and the exfoliated bark in the winter. Here is a picture. Plus you don't have deer that love to eat it!

I pot up everything in Promix that I buy in NH at an agway except cuttings (half perlite and half vermiculite) and seeds and a few things like cactus and epi's. Patti

Hops are way too crazy. I'm convinced they would break the lock on the transformer. I had to get rid of mine. I doubt Amy can string between the posts since that would curtail access to the transformer. Ditto with the Oak hydrangea. It's too nice a shrub to have these utility guys trampling though.

Carrie yes all those seeds are started inside.... but some I only started a few containers of each not a whole flat... and i still have room to spare for potting up... that's what happens when you don't have kids... spare bedroom.... I also have two racks in my basement... I will admit it's been tough keeping up with everything... but I keep telling myself it's only another month or so and some can go outside in those greenhouse stands I bought... I keep watching the temps go higher everyday... and getting geared up

My thought is that the white posts are there to alert people not to back into them so they can't be covered with plants or hidden from view. I hope I'm wrong.

Nope Pirl, you are exactly right. They don't bother me that much either, honestly.
Patti, i totally appreciate your thoughtfulness and generousity - wow! Thank you! but Victor is right, i can't be putting up fences or even stringing them along. (That said, i'd be happy to talk to you about things you've got too much of - especially those ferns!)

As far as around the utility pole - you can't see the whole "triangle" area, but my garden wall is at an angle till it almost meets the driveway. i really want it to be covered with grass. There are no flat grassy areas out back - it is all either uneven, rocky slope - which will be grassy again if the grubs ever get under control - but you can't set a table and chairs out there. The flat area is a driveway, and people have this distracting tendency to want to drive on it. So even a little triangle of lawn gives a tiny place to sit out, or cook out.
And that little bitty lawn is what i want to screen the dumpster from - i know i can't hide it from everywhere. And i know everyone jokes about trying to get rid of their lawns for more garden space, but if you didn't have one at all, a little one is pretty appealing.

i totally don't mean to sound abrupt, i appreciate the suggestions! People here are wonderful. But i have to finish packing for Houston now. i'll be checking in, and reading stuff daily, but i won't be around much this week, and i don't want anyone to think i am blowing you off or tuning out.

Have a nice trip Amy. I like the grass idea. Maybe you could get some dwarf sunflower or zinnia seeds to grow there too for some color. Not a huge investment but a lot of bang for your buck.

Pirl, I went to garden store-n-more and purchased the following (they just arrived in my mail this afternoon!):
Asclepias incarnata 'Ice Ballet White Butterfly Weed'
Datura 'Purple Queen'
Datura 'Metel Golden Queen'
Datura 'La Fleur'
Datura 'Metel Purple'
Morning Glory 'Blue Tie Dye'
Morning Glory 'Flying Saucers'
Morning Glory 'Cameo Elegance'

Forgot to mention...lol...I'm helping out a couple that are friends with Paul. Doria and Steve, have big ideas, but no garden "know how." They recognize the difference between a perennial and annual, but that's pretty much where it stops. I told them I would be dividing some things up, and would help them rearrange their garden. I know that Doria loves big vines, and creeping plants with large flowers...the reason for the MG's and the Dats. So, I will be giving them a huge gift for their 10th year anniversary, my time, and also, some really great plants!

Plus, it enables me to dig dirt when I get overwhelmed in my own yard...lol.

Is that considered "self-enabling?" lol.

I would say so! How is it your days seem to have more than 24 hours, Thom??

Honestly...Paul can attest to this...I get home from work at/around 7:30am...I weed, and water (if watering needs to be done)...When planting a new bed, I do it in spurts...large chunk here, large chunk there. When I get home and start to tinker, I don't change out of my scrubs...right to the gardens. I'm usually out there until it gets to hot, about noonish, give or take. When I get really "revved up" I'll be out there in the gardens until about 2 or 3pm. I will more than likely do that for a few weeks, or a month and a half, then I taper down. I get "re-enegrized" when tinkering in someone elses garden though...plus, Doria and Steve live in Harrisburg (about 2 hours away) so, if Paul and I both go down there for the weekend, I have time constraints on my mind also...plus, there will be 3 other people helping me...or better be...lol.
I really do get that excited about gardening...some call it an illness (Paul tells me I'm to compulsive...lol) I call it life.

I posted the rest of the tropicals on my DG Journal. Calocasia 'Nancy's Revenge' and 'Diamond Head' and also 2 canna 'Banana Canna' and 'Phaison'. The 'Banana Canna' is Canna musifolia. I just like saying 'Banana Canna'...lol. I purchased them all from Plants Delight. I think my tropical look is definitely underway...and it going to be super uber obnoxious...YEAH...lol.

I had my first MG Class today, it's fun...but some peeps really, reallllyyyy, love to hear themselves speak. I had several Alley McBeal moments in the class today...lol.

Great job with your purchases, Thom. You do have a more jam packed day than most of us, I'd guess. Your friends will love you forever for creating beautiful gardens for them.

True Thom, about many people.

I have ordered so much from so many places I have completely lost track.Had to stop as I will order doubles,I will be frantic when it all starts coming in but as we still have several FEET of snow wher most of it is to be planted hope they wait to send it.
Peter

Welcome Peter! We've all been there!

Peter, this may, or may not help...but it has helped me out greatly.
Whatever email you use, make a seperate folder for all of you "e-receipts." That way, you can always go and check there, and make sure you don't double up...has happened to me twice...lol. I do the same thing when I get the emails from the lilyauction telling me I have won, right into my email folder, nicely titled, "ereceipts." I have a bunch of stuff coming also...won't be the first time, and won't be the last...lol.
Last year I ordered the same order from Oakes. Had no clue until I called them, I thought they were making a mistake...lol.

Don't feel bad - I ordered the same J. maple from the same catalog a year or two apart! Forgot I had it and 'fell in love' with the photo and description!!

I guess that means you really really like a plant if you want to order it twice.

I do the same with my confirmations and e-receipts. I just move them to a folder in the drafts section.

I did not intend to - it was by accident. But it is a great little tree.

I file mine by the year so the 2008 email folder has all my gardening orders.

Love those double orders, Victor and Thom.

Can you blame me??

NO! It looks great with the darkness of the background.

I actually unfolded a packing slip - usually I just put them in the bag to be shredded for mulch - and there was $2 in bills! It was a refund for seeds that they were out of. Guess I will be checking all my packing slips from now on. I am working on a list of all my seeds - that way I will know what I didn't plant because I was too busy chatting on DG!

You may have some expensive mulch, cat! Good thing there were no coins...

Had to laugh about doubles---do that sometimes--did it with penstemons, because I totally forgot what was in the garden. Amy--if you are checking in--I don't live all that far from you & would be very glad to share. We could meet in Cheshire--that's not too far for either of us. let me know. I loved the mini cedar & the JM--wish I was more creative in my planning!

Oh, good Victor, I was wanting that very one and you have an extra. I call "double dibbies"! I cut and paste all my orders in my blog as I do them or I would have many more doubles than I already do. But they make up for the ones I kill. Patti

Ha ha - if it was in a pot I would certainly offer it to you, Patti! It's quite happy in the ground though.

Victor, I have a shovel. No, just kidding, but I am experiencing JP envy. My day will come. It the Taxman cometh through. Can I claim your solar panels too? Patti

Wish I could share the tax credit. (Well, not really, unless you want to share my cost too!) Speaking of the panels - today was absolutely perfect - no clouds at all and they generated 36 kWh of energy.

. . . sigh . . . everyone has such beautiful plants. All I buy is potting soil . . . lots and lots of potting soil.

On the other hand, I now have 238 petunias now potted up! (I must be nuts!)

Seandor, Bare gardens of nice potting soil = a zen garden. Very restful. all you need is a rake. But what are you doing with 238 petunias? Patti