East Texas RU Buddies

I've decided just to make this chatter last indefinately until the posts get high and then switch to a new one maybe monthly or so....No sense really in changing it weekly. I am still learning and trying to provide a place for us without changing it too much. I will keep the picture the same so that it is easy for you to find. We are now the East Texas RU Buddies, yee haw! LOL!

I am wondering if anyone if the East Texas area has successfully grown or even kept alive a store bought Lavender, either French or Sweet. I buy one every year at the local herb farmer and kill it within two weeks. I would so love to have this in my yard! Any tips or advice?

Good idea, DMD. That will probably make the thread easier to track.
I visited Blue Moon gardens yesterday. Came away with 2 lantanas, a red and a pink Turk's Cap, and another shade plant I can't remember the name of . I'll have to go look at the pot.
Need to get these planted but enjoying coffee for a while this morning.
It felt good to see that Blue Moon had some of their beds suffering from the heat, also. These new plants will take a lot of babying to make it through transplanting in mid-July.
I'm trying to learn to propagate from cuttings so I'll have things to share in October at RU.

I was doodling around last night and went to Ken and Maggi's website and learned about my Brugs and Daturas....I am really envious of their lush shade garden! That's about all I'm working on right now, trying to keep some ferns that Emmagrace gave me alive in this heat. My little shade corner looks rather pitiful. I guess I need some better ideas for full shade lushness...

Everything I have planted since the Ru is getting watered twice a day once early am before the sun is out and then in the evening before the sun is totally down but I am soaking the ground not the plants themselves.
my rain water tub is getting low so I will fill them up and add some of my EM1 to it and let it sit a day before using it.

Hey Phyllis! Have you finished your pond yet?

well uhhh yeah kinda sorta the pond itself is running but I am working on putting plants in it now
I'll take a picture in a lil bit
I went to LouC's yesterday and meet up with her and Sheila and Sheila gave me some plants and a couple of extra pumps she had and some lights and got some plants from LouC.
Dh has got the lights set up and in the pond and finished today making a lil "shed" to cover and protect the Electric set up for it so I'll take one with the lights on LOL
Still want to get cat tail and lily ..... is too late for lotus?

ok here ya go a picture of it with the waterfall running and the lights on

I still owe you the jap. umbrella and waterlily I promised. I will get them to you later on.

From what I understand, lotus tubers can only be shipped very early (like in March) and needs to be planted asap.

There was a co-op that is closed now but it closed not too long ago. Nut it was not march. this is the second yr. you may want to wait till another one or see who they ordered from here in tx. Beautiful pond.

Thanks for sharing.

Sheila you owe me ...hehehe..I know you said you would get them to me...and I think I owe you something not sure what but with everything you have given me so far I should owe you something *S*

P that is what I was thinking from the sites I looked at but I've also learned in TX things are not always as you think they are LOL

ilovejesus I saw that I was thinking of asking the person that did it where they got them from for future reference.

Thanks

Both of the coops have been from Texas Water Lilies. Great prices. I ordered several things in the first coop and have been very happy with them. But, they are the ones who will only ship lotus in March. If you can find seeds, I hear that you can germinate those in late summer.

I have some seeds that I pulled off my double rose that I'm going to try to germinate next month. If they sprout, and I can keep them alive over the winter, you're welcome to one. But I've heard that they don't always bloom the first year.

I was at that water lily farm with a friend years ago. I am sure it is bigger now but boy was it something to see. It is somewhere east of me. Not sure if they are open to the public but would be a great place to tour if they let that.

I did not look sorry I thought the co-op just closed within the last month. I did not look at it because no pond. :O( boohooo waaaaa

:O)

ahhhhh that place I've been drooling at the site LOL

Your pond is beautiful! Just like I pictured it flowing down on to the next level! I'm happy for you, running water brings alot of peace to you. Keep praying I can get the things I need to rebuild mine, wahhhhhhhhhh... LOL! p.s. Tell DH he did a great thing!

Phyllis your pond looks great. I never did get mine to clear up in the summer.
Made it too big for trhe filter system it has.

WOW, Ted! You're pond is dynamite! I love a big pond, mine is similar to yours in size. Yes, you do need alot of filtration for one that big.

Thanks Ted .....funny how much Dh got into doing ti all too .
Yours is wonderful so peaceful looking!!

Oh, they did just have another coop. Who's doing those... um, maybe Moodene? I didn't order in the one that just finished up, because I'm out of room. But they are great coops. She just arranges the prices, and you can go to their website and look, and then e-mail them directly with your order. I also ordered a couple of things that weren't included in the coop, and I think they gave me a small price break on those too.

Could be wrong, but I think I saw them selling here on the DG Auction site.

Does anyone here have an answer to the Lavender post I made at the top of this thread? I would just die to have some in my yard that would live :)

Sorry Karen,like you, I have never found one that would live here. I once had a little stick of French Lavender that held on for a couple of years. Thestick got a few leaveseach year but finally gave up the ghost.

I had to find my packet but I bought some seeds this last winter and started them inside ...I have 2 platns one is small and the one next to the green house that gets sun and shade it is to get 24-30 inches tall and I think this one is, but I think with amending my soil it will grow better LOL
The seeds I got were True Lavendar - Lavenula angustifolia

Karen, I had a large stand of lavender for 8 years. I had to replace some of the plants yearly. They wouldn't all die at once, but not all of them would live through out the year either. Some of the things I noticed and learned along the way. Lavenders like well drained alkaline soil. Most of the best beds I've seen are grown along walkways or drive ways. The concrete provides the alkalinity and I would amend the sandy soil with chicken grit or pea gravel. They must have well drained soil and air flow around them. They also hate humidity so you can't plant anything else around them. Be careful of getting the foliage wet and don't raise the humidity by getting the concrete wet around them. The longest lived tend to be those with silver foliage and the Spanish lavenders. Use Stone, not wood mulch and clean up wet leaves in the Winter. HTH

I've finally given up, the last of mine died a few weeks ago and I had quit replacing the dead about two years ago. They were worth it, probably the longest attention span I've ever given to a single plant.lol Good luck, have fun.

I love lavendar, but as the rest of you, have had no long-term luck with it. I saw a mention of Fat Lavendar one time that allegedly does okay in our area, but I have never found it.

Wow Cocoa, that's a mighty impressive amount of time you gave to the wonderful Lavender! LOL, I'm like that when it's something I want real bad, I'll keep trying. There is a man near the Love's Lookout park where we had the RU that has an Herb Nursery. He sells HUGE lavenders each year, just doggone big ones. I have no idea how he can live in our area and grow them like that unless he is buying from another state and driving them in to sell. I guess I will just be content to maybe buy one from him every year or so and enjoy the few weeks I have, picking the flowers and crushing them, rubbing under my nosie, LOL!

Y'all think Ted's pond is great in pictures, you should see how good it looks standing up by the berm of cannas....His newest project will flat knock ya over.....Keep up the good work, folks...

"eyes"

no no no LOL I can't look at anything else I am having a hard enough time dealing with the fact my pond area is so sparse right now with it just starting out LOL...but I bet it is wonderful.

Karen, that's too funny about trucking in the plants. I've thought the exact same thing about delphiniums. I'm sure they're both greenhouse grown for the trade locally, but I'd love to know how the commercial growers do it so well. I looked up "fat lavender" and could only find a cultivar called Fat Bud from High Country Gardens. I didn't realize lavender is a xeric plant, which makes a lot of sense why they don't do well here. East Texas gets too much annual rain fall for most xeric plants to thrive. I wonder now if it was last years rain that did the last of them in. No, I'm not going to think about it or I'll be out there planting more.lol



I love the ponds too! I'm not sure if it's proper pond etiquette, but I would love to dip my feet in there! I mean that as a compliment...it looks so refreshing!

I'll let ya do a dip saturday ROFLMAO

Ok, you thought you hid from me, but I found you!! I'm nothing if not persistant!!

Now, ya'll gotta help me. Since I've never done a fall ru, (and only one other one, lol) what sort of stuff are we going to bring? I'm lost. Do we bring things to leave in pots till spring, what can go in the ground then that won't freeze to death. Anywy, you can tell I need help.

a fall one is just like a spring one just plants for fall or to winter over til spring if they are not hardy enough to plant in the fall to get a head start , seeds that you have saved from your spring summer flower or plants.
whatever you have you are willing to trade with someone.

And that does not include spouses that we sometimes think about trading off when they have cut down a plant or something that was to be kept ....hahahaha

How bout kids? Grandkids? (Nah, we like them, grandkids and grandparents have a common enemy.)

Thanks for the help. I'm determined to have lots of stuff this time. Thanks to all ya'll who were so generous with me, I bet I do. !!

Hey ya'll. Pam and I are going to do a really quick Daylily co op. They are on sale, most $1.66 and free shipping from the supplier.

They'll ship sometime in Sept - Oct., so we could probably deliver them to you at the Oct co op. That way, no shipping at all.

Only problem, we only have until next Wednesday, July 30, to get the order in and get the sale price, so we gotta move fast! lol

We wanted to post here, thinking we might be able to get most of the orders from ya'll, cause when it hits 100. we'll close the orders.

I put it on the co op forum so that we could get it out there, but your orders will be first. Please go here and see the l ink to them.

We also have 2 HOSTA'S on the list just in case someone wants hosta's (like me)

I hope I didn't hijack this thread, but it was such a good deal!!

http://www.bloomingbulb.com/cartProductDetail.asp?ProductKey=94&bulbs=Hosta&flower=Sieboldiana%20Elegans&parent=2589