Need some company!!!

No pretty, delicate spring flowers here unfortunately, I wish I did, all the flowers here seem to be very bright and bold. I am enjoying all your beautiful blooms with envy! I did notice flowers on the Michelia Alba (I think it is) as I drove in yesterday. It is doing well considering the guys have felled big cypress trees in that area, and are constantly tramping passed as they are building a lava wall for me with all the rock we discovered when excavating for the septic system. Smells very nice...

Occurs to me that we haven't heard from Heavenscape or Tropicman lately, perhaps they are chatting on another forum? I hope all is well with you both...

BHM;
I was concerned of Heavenscape's absence. I've dmailed her couple times, next step. Snail mail. It's unlike her to be away from our group of gardening friends for an extended time.

Chrissy, I don't have acid soil but do have the stuff needed to help make it acid. I intend to also dump all acid type foods like peppers on them too to help. I am hoping they do well.

I always dump coffee grounds on my acid lovers.

Pretty flowers Jeanne!!!Sorry haven't been around much,been working overtime,spring coming on,everything needs more water,been cleaning the beds and I fell,and have to have a MRI Tuesday ,I've always had a pinched nerve,and now I think it's stabbing me in the back too many times a day,and I lose feeling in my right leg,where I have trouble standing and fall down,Doctor thought I might have herniated disc,or something like that.anyway it's taking me a little longer to get things done and need to rest more,other than that things are a ok!!!

Good idea Shari, thanks! Once I am able to plant them I will save the coffee.

Tman- don't overdo it. And don't say that you don't either!!

Don, listen up mister! I have had some major injuries to my back, and sort of just sluffed them off saying "I'm okay"...now I am nearly 54 years old but there are times when I feel more like a badly deteriorating 80! You only have one back, so you durn well better take care of it! Take a few days off and be still! Do what the doc says! Or, believe me buster, if you can't take care of those glorious plants - we will desend on you "en mass" and baby you to death! Tammy may be used to your bluster, but we are seasoned, hard hearted, gardeners...and you will be pampered till you scream for mercy!

Be warned!!!!

LOL!! Way to go Shari!!

Oh Tm ...I was just about to say that this likely to be a very busy time for you ...gee sorry to hear about the disc mate! I had a pinched nerve a while back after lifting my sister in law up one time too many ...it is awful ...I did not know what it was ...the closest description was given by the Doc on the radio ...he said it feels like that horrible feeling you get in your arm after bashing your funny bone only in your legs (and that is no fun )...I am just telling you this because it did settle down after a while and I hope you have that result too ...all that crouching while welding and all that lifting of big plants hmmmm I can only hope you get a lot of help to do that so you can heal. Take it easy as you can mate.
BHM I love that Michelia give us a cyber sniff!
Pepper coffee grounds are great ...tea leaves too.
Heavenscape .....COOOO EEEEE!
77 grandma's love their dear granddaughters even more than their tulips :)
Shari see you all you have to do is just call!:)
Rj I would never have guessed one of our treeferns would warm your heart ...that is so cool!
Don't be shy folks (all you quiet ones) pop in and say G'day
Well enjoy the rest of the weekend everyone ...
chrissy

Don, I am so sorry to hear about your poor back. Sending you lots of Aloha for a speedy recovery.
Jen

Yes, Don, I can be tough if need be! :oP

G'day!

Tropiman, we haven't met/typed before. But I whole heartedly supporting everyone comments above. We have ONLY one back. Please slow down and take things easy. Wishing you a speedy recovery. Hello everyone.
Kim

Hiya Terri. How are you doing?
Kim

Hi everyone,
Hiya Kim, I'm fine thankyou, enjoying seeing your garden in springtime, it looks great.
It was quite nice here today 54degrees!
Rj wheres my peeps! funny!!
Lovely pics all, still waiting for my garden to start blooming.
Here's some underwater tulips!

Terri, thank you, I love your creativities with flowers. Love your garden too. Glad to see you, and learning that the weather has let off some there.
Kim

Thanks Kim!
Did you see the fabulous arrangements our other Kim posted from the flower show? that is something to see!

No, but I sure will surf and check it out. :-)

oooowwweeee, Don. Back hurts are no fun. Been battling really hard for last 5 years. Damage done over a period of my whole life has caught up. The pinched sciatic nerve just about put me down. Have a really good doc and we are not going to talk surgery. Doing pain management for now. 4 epidural shots in a year has calmed things down considerably. Only this , I don't lift pots anymore. Have been planting as much as possible in the ground and giving Mitch the pots. If it makes it ok, if it doesn't ok. My back lets me know.
Go to a spine specialist. I'm sure Wichita has a spine center in one or more of the major medical facilities. Already tried a really good chiropractor and physical therapy. Doesn't work. Listen to your body. It tells you no lies.

Just got a movable greenhouse for next year. Will move it over the plants instead of vice versa.

night,night all
Christi

LOL !
Don't know which would be worse,Tammy's whopping,or Shari's babying!!!LOL
I lose either way!!!LOL
Well I've had this back stabbing pain for years,it usually only hits once a twice a year couple weeks and everything is alright once again,but here lately it's been once a month,then once a week,now about every other day,so it's time to slow down and use the tools to help me,no matter how slow it is!!!!
Hi Mate,glad to hear your doing ok!!!!
Well bed time,need my beauty sleep!!!LOL

Christi, so glad that you got a GH! That is wonderful!

Don, so sorry to hear about your back! Do take it easy! I have a herniated disc as well, and sometimes it gets pinched. It causes sciatica pain, and believe it or not they gave me a knee stabilizer, plus I slept on pillows to elevate my legs and take the pressure off of the disc, it finally eased up. That was a little over a year ago. Sometimes it kicks in, but hasn't been as bad as that one time for two or three weeks. The knee stabilizer actually helps believe it or not. I wear it most of the time still. Last year I was on crutches for awhile also for about two weeks.
Had to stay off of it for the first week. No FUN at all! Our prayers are with you and Patti!

The MRI should show whatever is happening there. I had to go back again so they could zoom in on the actual disc closer once they found it. But Thank Goodness, no need for surgery just yet!

It is good to hear from everyone else!

We had a beautiful day , so went ahead and pulled open the curtains on the canopy and hut, and put the plants back outside. Still alot of work to do out there, but will have to do a little at a time. I'm going to be paying for today for a few days, I can tell now!

Fortunately Chrissy, it is true, "Grandma's do love their granddaughters more than their tulips!" She was an extremely loving Grandma....a true "Saint" if there ever was one! She basically raised me, and lived with us, except for the time we were in Hawaii. She was a joy to be around! She lived to be 85 even tho she had heart problems from her early fifties. She would "do a little, then rest" and repeat!
Learned alot of lessons from her that have carried thru to this very day!

Aloha and Yokwe Y'all !

Hi Jeanne,
Well I hope they find something,every morning,it's a struggle to get out of bed,it seems the less I stay in bed,the better off I am.Although I walk around tired all day from lack of sleep,but it makes me feel better the sooner I can get up and get around,seems like stretching the body,keeping it loose ,once I get going the better I feel,but soon as I sit down,the pain comes back,hmm my knee hurts like a bad toothache all the time,seems to never ease up or go away,maybe they'll give me a knee brace too!
I hope to start taking a few plants out in a couple weeks or so,48* here now but the cool north wind makes it feel a lot colder.
Don

Good morning everyone ...so sorry to hear about the back touble everyone ...what I learned about this from the nun (an nurse) who used to visit my sister in law ...it helped me a great deal ...make sure your bed/chairs and drivers seat are all very firm.Sagging matress/lounges and car seats can cause a lot of aggravation to pinched nerves as they throw your back alignment out. Your feet should rest on the floor and not dangle (I am fairly short and that happens) so if you cannot adjust that, place something under feet so they don't dangle. Don't spend hours on the computer it is not so good for the back ...so if you have to (or want to :) take frequent breaks and walk around for a few mins. This also applies to folk who work at desks or drive all day ...you must take breaks and walk around ...gently stretch if you can. Lift (if you must very carefully and with bent knees ...never brace the knees! ) Well I took her advice and it helped me a great deal, I hope you all take good care like Shari said ...we only have one spine ...please look after it.
look the Strelitzia has opened it's pods (sorry can't zoom)
Happy gardening everyone!
chrissy

Hey Don...I got a present for you!!! And it's FREE!!! LOL!! Just look at the picture!!
Oh...and now you know why I walk on that blasted treadmill!!!
Seriously, I sure hope nothing bad is wrong....and hope you get some relief. Let me know what the MRI says.

Edited to say...Sorry this is slightly used stuff...but it's cheaper that way you know!!! And I know it's broken...but heck...still looks usable to me???

This message was edited Mar 16, 2008 7:11 PM

Hi Mate,
Are the seeds also blue like the travelers palm?
I just planted a bunch of travelers palm seeds that were blue.
Don

Well glad you got new rods now,those do look a little used!!!LOL

Don the best thing you can do for your back till the MRI is rest. I herniated a disc about 14 years ago. A piece of it went through the sciatic nerve. After the workman's comp decided it was their responsibility to take care of it I had surgery and they got the piece out. I still had trouble the doctor decided it was female problems. I then had a hysterectomy and pain was still there. 2 more back surgeries and now I have 4 screws where the disc herniated along with the one that deteriorated (because they took 2 years to fix the first one the right way) My left leg still goes completely numb sometimes, but most of the time it is only half the leg that is numb. The arthropod aid not to do anything while you are waiting for results because it could mean paralysis. Please be careful.

Wow,you went thru a lot also,I hate to sit still,when I know there is something that needs to be done,but I'm not working very hard just a little here and now then rest a little.
Yep my whole leg goes numb,but for just short periods of time.
After all that were you able to go back to work?

When you have reached the stage where the leg is numb (as I have) it is time to get real serious. Be sure you go to a spine specialist. I am going to the Spine Center at Baylor University Medical Center. A reknown hospital where people come from all over the world.

Yes, I work, but not what I used to do. I used to clean condos and houses for tourists for a living. Can't do that anymore, sure miss that money. So I went back to doing a couple of other jobs I used to do. I manage the kitchen for a lakeside bar and grill and I do the plants for them too. Heck of a lot easier on the back, unless I stand too long at one time and not move around.

I just get my bad parts replaced! LOL. If I hadn't told anyone, no one probably could guess that I had both of my hips replaced. Fortuneately the garden really keeps me fit, and still hefting things around that make me wonder later on how I did. But ya know, when your in that zone moving, shifting planting...your mind set is - I will prevail!

Yes, Christi, ever since seeing a fern tree for the first time, they really struck me as beautiful, and Jurasic looking. It's almost as if I can imagine dinosours.
Oh and how naive I was after visiting Costa Rica...The fern trees are everywhere - and when the folks who sell seeds, make no distinction when labeling packages "Tree Fern" Of course I greedily bought seeds while there, completely short circuiting the logic of "fern" and "seed". Needless to say, while the Tree Ferns propagated nicely, they certainly weren't living up to my expectation. Live and Learn.

Here's fern today. To give you and idea how fast it's growing - I'll post a photo from last March 16th 2007 in the next post
I planted a Tasmanian Fern Tree this weekend, and have to other C cooperi pups that I'm nursing along.

march 2007

*peeking in before heading back to the bus*
WOW I want all my flowers to bloom so I can post picutres to share with y'all
I've been working at getting the bamboo roots out and planting a veggie garden that I haven't posted a whole lot anyplace then my puter didn't want to play nice sat. night so I ended up doing a recovery so that put me off almost a day *ack withdrawls*
I know I can always pop in and at least look at all the lovelies blooming and think someday mine wil be too*S*

You're right, Randy. You haven't shared that bit of knowledge about new parts. Would never have guessed. Looks as though the fern is going to live up to its name as a tree. No matter how hard I work, do not the same results.

Robyn, sorry about your predicament. I fully understand having to cut back from all the things I used to do. It is the pits!


with the hard work you are doing, Phyllis, there is no doubt whatever that your garden will rival the very best. You do know you are in the heart of the best plant nurseries in Texas. Got to be something in the water. As for Randy, I still think he has magic. aaaahhhhh sigh.

Christi

Somehow managed to sober up again, hi all.
Seriously, been walking around taking pics, and walking into people and stationary objects and things...
and pics of plantings of a public nature and other peoples stuff in a mega-urban environment, that you should enjoy, will post soon.
I ended up in the hospital again for a couple days, OK now. Had a string of bad luck the last year and a half, but things are improving.
Hi Shari, I would love to go to the Marshalls!!! Thanks for making me realize my mistake! Imagine all this time I have been putting acid on my coffee ground loving plants. Boy is my face red. They really didn't like that pool acid, I can tell you!
Hi JRudd! The Australian tree fern is still the most popular and still the most beautiful of the tree ferns!!! AMAZING definetly! IMHO
There are some things that are seen alot but are classics you cant go wrong with. Bottle Brush, Canary Island Date Palm, Hibiscus, Bird of Paradise, Bouganvillia.
Then there are the things that you think why the hell are those new neighbors planting those darn things in their yard, but to remain positive, there's no use going into those, as we all have our opinions, although I will say that if all the Junipers on the face of the earth vanished overnight without a trace, I would whistle a happy tune and skip down the street.
Take care, you all.

Hi all! Randy you had told me about the hip replacement. It's amazing...they did a great job! One would never know!

Hope everyone is doing OK! Seems like we are all "falling apart"....must have something to do with the age group here!!! haha

Love hibiscus, LA! Can't wait for mine to start blooming!

Have a great day!

Randy, by the looks of your plants and yard that I've seen, no one would know that about you. I love that Tree Fern.

Sorry for your troubles LAPalms. Praying things get better for you.

Christi, I don't think it's our age, just the hard work we all grew up doing because we knew it had to be done.

Hey Randy....all those broken 'parts' that I sent Don...came out of me....lol!!! As of last year, I now have new rods in my back...and my whole spine is fused. Doesn't slow me down much!!! I have a friend with two new hips too...and she is doing very well. She is only 83!!! And she still gardens!

I know what you mean about the junipers LA! When we moved into our house in Denver - many years ago - there were 8 large shaped junipers. They looked good where they were, but visitors hated them, I hated them (cause I'm allergic!), and the guy I had to hire to keep them trimmed up hated them. I lost one to a visious snow storm, and had one pulled out....but still have 6 there that are still hated!