I can't believe that you could have so many plants blooming , Brenda, when you still have such cold weather. That Charlotte is a real beauty.......never seen one that soft in color yet still have a lot of color.
I promise you all that I have nothing to do with the pictures. It is set on automatic and the only change for me would to set it from auto to the little flower which is macro. That is it...............for dummies like me. He asked me if I wanted to watch the two videos sent on working the camera and do you think I said yes????????? Wrong...I don't want to learn anything about a camera. Like Lin, I just want to point and shoot!
**one more thing about the camera......if there is not enough light the flash (not really a flash I don't think) automatically pops up and the picture is taken. I didn't have to decide anything.
Tomorrow I am going to show you Brenda how big my Silverglade Oysters are and they still won't bloom. I have repotted them about 3 times..........
Share something new about growing AVs!
Digital camera's are just so much fun and we can see the photos right away and share. LOVE having great cameras! We have all see so many gorgeous photos!
Hello Sally!
That is pretty plant with great foliage.
Shall we confess that we have all changed to Volkmann's wicking mix........I don't have many plants in it yet. I am just using the new mix as I go and pot up. It is very very light and wonderful. I don't have any plants in it long enough to really know what the difference will be.
Have to find a picture of something when I post...........this was taken on March8th and she is still blooming great. Cicada gave her to me in a trade last fall and she spent the winter out on the front porch with poly wrapped around the porch.
That is a pretty orchid. I think I have one a lot like it!
Oh, how funny!!! I was really lucky that Cicada sent that one and there is another one getting ready to bloom........can't wait.
Wow, everyones pictures are simply stunning!
Brenda......your shelf of semi minis is BEAUTIFUL! Can I ask you, where did you get that metal A frame thing that holds your light ballast? I have a couple shelves in my kitchen that would really benefit from something like that but I wouldn't know where to start looking for something like that. I think it's really neat!
That Charlotte is just stunning with her big yellow mouth! What a beautiful strep!
GREAT growing my friends! What an awesome way to wake up this morning.
I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!
Kim
Those orchid blooms look very similar to the one I am trading to Raingazer/Amy:
This photo makes the bloom look darker than it actually is.
It is fun, Gail! It is so wonderful how LONG they last. Gorgeous.
That is a pretty plant, plantlady!
well, that was not the photo I meant to post. I wanted the one close up of the bloom!
Here it is.
Not my favorite ... I think I bought it just because I had a coupon from Home Depot for 1/2 off any orchid! LOL. I really, really love the one Raingazer is going to trade me for it. Her's has purple flowers which I love!
Mornin' Kim, That metal A-frame came from Park Seeds with this first grow light set up I got. Of course it is much more reasonable to put your own grow light set up together. Is your hubby one of those handy guys that could figure something out like this for you? Mine rolled his eyes at me when he found I had paid for such a simple thing! :))
The set you see in this picture is what I have done over my fridge (prime seed growing spot!!) and then here in the laundry room to get the last bit of usable space on top of my chrome stands from Costco. DH says the holes from the hangers are an easy fix if we ever need to patch them.
~Brenda
Oh those Orchids are awesome.....wish I could grow them..I can't but I sure do love seeing how well you all can grow those beauties..yummy!!
Well after seeing all gails perfect pics from here new Nikon.and everyone elses perfect pics....thought maybe I better check my camera out a little closer..hubby got me a new kodak one for christmas but I hated it..lol..actually I never took the time to actually turn the little dial on top to see what all the settings were for..lazy me...heres my 1st pic ..think I am finally figuring out how to use it...I found out Sylvia looks much better when the camera captures her real colors..lol..live and learn.....
Brenda..I Love how you have your stands and lights set up...ooo you have awesome plants!!
Lin that is a great close up on that orchid!!
I thank for the compliments on my photos and I'm sure you think I post plenty of them! LOL But I have a lot more that I would send pictures of if I could get a decent shot!! Especially the lighter colored ones with apple green edges etc. Those never turn out!
The ones I do get to turn out have been put into adobe photo shop here on the computer and then resized and enhanced and cropped etc to get them to look halfway decent! I'd love to be able to do all that with just a camera plus get the details that are missing.
On this note, Gail ?? Do you have any light colored violets like white or lavender with details in the centers or on the edges that you could take some pictures of for me?? I'd love to see what that camera can do with that color range!! Maybe some of those whites with apple greens in them?? Or pure white with ruffled edges, that kind of thing. Mine are always just whited out blobs! Please!!
~Brenda
This message was edited Apr 19, 2008 8:55 AM
Nancy, Sylvia is one I have been wanting, love those yellows and the ruffled edges. Her shape and color combination is just beautiful!
Kohlerias are another plant that I have that are sad specimens in the foliage department. Long and straggly and if I pinch them back trying to get them to bush out they die back to the rhizome! I won't be getting more of them but I have had some beautiful blooms at the ends of these poor straggly things!
Notice I'm not showing the plant itself!! LOL This Marquie de Sade
~Brenda
Brenda
By chance did you get your stand at Lowe's I did this winter, can you see I haven't even made my bed I was so excited to get on Dave's LOL ^_^ I got my lite at wally world they are not that long but it does the trick very nice
Dimmer
Wow, Nancy ... Strep Sylvia is absolutely beautiful! Oh, I love that color combination! That just screams "Spring" to me ... very pretty!
I have really gotta make more time to get on DG... I miss out on so much when I don't get on here for a few days and there's no way I can catch up with everything I want to say. Of course, according to my family, I never shut up, so there would be no chance of catching up anyway, but still. LOL
Lovely plants, everyone! I'm still learning to grow Kohlerias, Brenda, but you sent me several to learn with. I'm sad to say I killed Nicole's Smile that you first sent me, but all the ones you sent in the fall are still kicking right along. They're small because I didn't know what to do with them, being rhizomes, and was afraid to rot them, so I hardly watered at all. I'm thinking they would have liked a little more moisture than I gave them, but almost all of my plants would say that... LOL
The Orchids are gorgeous! Lin, I'll dmail you today about us swapping. Since the one you're sending me is so much bigger, I want to send you some extra things. I've got a small division of another Orchid that I think would LOVE to come and live with you. ^_^ It's just one pseudobulb, but it has three new growths and lots of new roots. It's Miltassia Dark Star 'Darth Vader'. How cool is that name?? LOL Here's what the mom plant looked like in bloom when I bought it. Actually there are two plants here, both of the same type, and one of them is the mom plant of the division I've got.
I am loving all these pics! Isn't DG fun? yes, that Strep Sylvia is a 'die for' plant!
Brenda, I see trouble coming my way as I am going to copy what you did on the ceiling to add more space. I even have old knotty pine ceilings in this old house which have been painted and they would allow fixtures to be hung for the top shelves..............oh no! It is such a good idea.
Let me look and see if I can find a purple and white av. I grew a lot for the show in February (Iceberg, etc) but let me look around.
Be right back in a minute
Dimmer my shelfs are from Costco but it looks like they are the exact same ones. They are a great set up especially with being able to adjust the shelves at different levels! I'm grateful that Gail turned me on to this set up when I was brand new at Dave's last year!
I could fill the shelves up and have them look nice and full like yours if I'd give up on my determination to have just natural light on certain violets.
I think it's time to turn my experiment around and to see how much better the AV's may do by filling the shelves and adding lights!! Which would mean taking this whole set up of mine apart and spacing things differently, something to consider! :(
But I love how full and really well used your shelves are!
I found a couple of mini greenhouses on sale at Lowe's last fall and I used the same lights you have on your shelves and they have worked well. The top shelf just gets natural light but the other shelves have those lights from Wal Mart and they provide a nice warmth in the greenhouse too!
~Brenda
Oh my goodness Amy ... That is one Gorgeous Orchid! Wow! I do love it and would love a little plantlet of that one!
Great Lin! ^_^ I'll get a picture of it and dmail you later today! It's just a little thing right now, so I don't know that it would bloom for you this year, but they say a division blooms much sooner than a seedling, and I don't know enough about Orchids to say I know anything, so maybe it will bloom in the fall...
gosh, I even miss out on Amy when I run to take pictures playing still with camera.
Brenda,
I learned one thing and you will see in these pics.........this camera does not like fake lighting on my shelves........guess I will have to start taking off the shelf if I want to take a picture............Look at all those baby streps growing...........looks like my shelves!
Beautiful orchid, Amy!
I know I am boring you all but I just have to play with my camera and see what works and what doesn't. I can't decide when to use the flower (macro) and when to just leave it on auto. I am not convinced that every bloom has to be taken on macro that close up although you do get details.
Sinningia 'Flair' cutting started by Jan
Hey, should I post all my pics on the new blooming thread that Amy started.........this was to be "I have learned something new"...........I have learned that african violets love to be pot bound. Some of my biggest avs are still in 3" pots.
You didn't miss me, Gail! I'm still here! LOL I've commanded that today be an off day for all of us! ^_^
Don't apologize for posting pictures! I love seeing them, even if it's the same plants and you have to practice to learn a new camera. I got mine for Christmas and I still haven't figured it out yet. I have learned that on mine, to get the colors right, I have to set it to do the custom white balance. I put a white piece of paper where I'm going to be taking pictures of plants and push the button to set the white balance. I guess that just tells the camera what is actually pure white in that area and it adjusts the color accordingly.
I've also learned that the Shoshone you sent me that I potted in a self-watering pot is doing better than any AV I've ever grown. Maybe self-watering pots are the way I'm going to have to grow AVs.
Wow, where does one start to comment?
Brenda, your growing area is simply beautiful!
Nance, I LOVE your Sylvia....what a stunning strep!
Kim, your plants look so tucked in and comfy :)
Everyone, keep those pictures coming.....you ALL are doing a FANTASTIC job!
What green thumbs we have in this group and what BEAUTIFUL plants :) Goes along with all the beautiful people here.
I'm SO grateful that found all of you last October :)
Kim
Ditto what Kim said! This is the friendliest forum in the garden!
And, we are such enablers aren't we? I see everyone's pic's and find myself rushing for a pen and paper and saying in my brain "Wow, I gotta write that one down to remember" ... or, "Wow, I really have to have that one!" ^_^ Most of the time I lost the piece of paper my notes are on, or they get shoved inside a magazine or my file box somewhere, not to be found for many months or so! But, I so love seeing everyone's photo's and hearing about what they are doing with their plants.
You know, awhile back a few folks were trying to get a National DG Convention type thing together so that anyone able could meet in a central location to meet and greet etc. I would LOVE it if we could have a DG Gessie group meeting somewhere for a few days ... preferably where there are a few GREAT nurseries! ^_^ and of course a post office so we could ship our newly acquired babies back home! But, even if we didn't buy plants someplace, a "Girl's Gessie Weekend" would be such a blast!
PLEASE come to Texas.........we have great nurseries and also av nurseries..........Oh, I wish we could make this happen! Gotta go water or my plants are going to die. The reservoirs are empty..........
Brenda..........I am going to post later the pics on Amy's thread 'What's blooming in April IV"
Gail ... Oh how much fun it would to visit Texas, but only in the Spring or Fall when it isn't so hot! I know I would go broke fast shopping at those nurseries you have posted photo's from in the past! I guess it's a good thing we don't have nurseries close by that sell great plants! The two nurseries here in town only sell landscape plants.
I wish I could come to Texas! Gail, you post pictures of nurseries the likes of which I've NEVER seen! Maybe one day...
Here I am at Ken's Nursery last week. I love to get at his violets.
How cute, Sally ... both you and your puppy! I think it's great that they let you bring your dog to the nursery to enjoy all those beautiful plants too!
Sally..what a wonderful picture of you and your puppy.I just love when I can put a face with a name....
Brenda...I may have an extra leaf of Sylvia for you if you would like..and possibly a few others..I know you have a leaf or 2 or more like a baby plant or 2...lol..I'm not as good at growing from leaves as you all are..hee hee I would love..putting it mildly...lol..perhaps a trade in the future??
Oh wouldn't that be the ultimate experience that would be getting to meet some of you.Wish someone could come up with some type of space zapping machine so we all could just zap to a central location to all meet eachother in person..shop til we all drop..and then just get back in our zapper machines with all our new plants and zap back home..LOL
This message was edited Apr 19, 2008 2:24 PM
I am all for a leaf trade Nancy!! I still have about a dozen Maassen's White plants and nearly that many Space Dust plants from the leaves I did turned on their sides. I'm going to be using those for trades here as soon as ( IF ) my weather ever warms up!! So think about those too.
I told my daughter that I had already given away 3 dozen young streps this spring between friends and relatives and my shelves were still full. She recommended a 12 step program for me. LOL
I too would be so into a TX DG gathering close to a couple of those fabulous nurseries Gail has shown us. I'd need to drive pulling an air conditioned u-haul behind me for everything I would want I think. LOL
Here is the last plant growing set up I've got going. A four foot crafts table with a light on the cross bars underneath so I can grow on the floor beneath it! I'll soon have a chrome shelving unit to put in this space and make better use of it but this set up worked well all winter!
~Brenda
Ladies, tentatively.............let's be thinking about a fall trip.........maybe end of October or first of November. It is still not cold here then. The weather should be great that time of the year. We could have so much fun together and shop 'til we drop at the nurseries. I could arrange to rent a Winnebago once you all got to Texas and travel the nurseries that way. Then we could ship your plants back home.
I have done that Winnebago with my friends many times............I am tired of trading right now, Brenda, but since you vacationed away from DG, I have ordered more than 75 leaves of streps and they are producing babies everyday and I am potting them up. I also ordered a big order from Brennan's Orchids..........but much later in the summer and I would love to do a leaf trade with you (and I won't kill them now like I did yours last year) (I am holding on to two big King of Kings for your son)
Woo Hoo ... Do I hear ROAD TRIP?? A Gessie road trip at that? Maybe I will start looking at hotel's in Corpus Christi area ... oh, is there an airport there? I would be flying ... not driving that far! LOL.
Ok ... just popped back in - my friend is here to pick me up. We are going to Target and shopping. Nope, not for plants, she is not a plant peson!
Later Y'all ....
Hubby and I stayed at Escondido in the hill country this week. Wonderful place. I was able to get lots of rest that I have to have AND look at plants! Went to Fredricksburg, Boerne, Kerrville etc. I have a wonderful doctor I see in Kerrville. She is an MD that actually knows about CFS!
Brenda-
In the first pic you posted of your shelves- What is the white/silvery leafed plant on the top right that is dangling down? Episcia? Very pretty...
Road trip? Did I read road trip?
I'm in! LOL.
jannich, you have a dmail
Diane you are right, that is an episcia! The first one I ever got and it is a small grower called Silver Skies. It grew along as a little bunch forever, with not one stolon produced, and then I cut the top of it off and it went every which way. Now it's a bit straggly but I like it!
Here is a close up I went and took...
~Brenda
