Ravages of Fall

Well... it's been pretty good... I'm just giving myself something to work up to.. get myself moving...so I'm not out on the sloped roof in the middle of an early ice storm...dancing large pots about on the ice and down the ladder in the dark .. like one year.. in my frivolous youth.. of two years ago..
Here's Dark Rosella... although not real dark.. this is the part hanging over on the other side of the fence.. there's an equal similar part on the inside...
Gordon..

well.. another..awaiting raviging... going to send some pollon as soon as it fluffs out to the flava lilac cross.. this is a gigantic flower.. and 30 mintues later.. it's veen bigger..one bloom so far.. got to get a close up of it in the morning sun to show it's great color..
Mon amoure de Muriel X Susanne... [Hybridizer .... Brenda : she scores again]

WELL..Day Dreams to be sure... just streaching out..

Flava Lilac X .. a breath of blue with the pink.. polonated with Painted LadyX Peanut ...
{ which spent the last month on the street...with 4-8 blooms every night for a month...
since 9-11 when it went down and out }

this is the same Flava LilacX.. awaiting a pollon visit [ ravaging..from MAdM X Susanne
love the shapes before opening... as much as the wide open flower...

another one ravaged.. ravaged here by time... and next to the ravaged... Mountain Treasure..

Hi Gordon,
these are beautiful pictures. Men aren't ravaged by time - they just get 'craggy good looks.' ; )

your plants are awesome and I hope you continue to post as I have learned alot from them..Debra

Mate ...was it good for you ....Lol.
You should make a calender of your beautiful pictures ...not a picture a month but one for every day as it surely put a smile on all of our faces! ...beautiful as always!
I wonder if I could ask you a question please ...in your opinion is it ok to ravish our Spring Angels? ...we get up in the 100F plus in Summer and I was wondering if the heat is bad for the pods ...I have only started with seeds last year and was quite successful ...but a few pods in a hot position were empty while the pods in morning sun afternoon shade were all full of seeds ...it is possible because I was learning that I did not do the first ones correctly ... since you do so well with yours I was wondering what you might think ...I also found everyone one crossed in Autumn were successful.

Lovely pics Gordon, have you lost buds on yours because of the cold spells we've had? I've had quite a few buds on he ground lately, so devastating!

Your blooms are gorgeous though!

no.. Clemen...I did knock a bud off the hibiscus the other day... but I gave it quite a bump first..no brug buds droppping .. but the place is so littered with spent flowers...I might have missed it..
sorry you missed getting here... Gordon
MAdm X Susuane and NightFire..Gordon

WOW what a great pic and beautiful flowers!

Hey Mr. Gordon, it will happen one day, ok, anyway that shot is lovely, the angel looking down and the hibiscus looking up, almost like a dat! Just gorgeous!

Gordon,

All of the pix are just wonderful, I would have loved to see it in person unfortunately life dealt me a different hand for the week I had planned to visit. I know my recuperation time will be too long to plan another visit this season. I can only hope to get better and look forward to visiting your gorgeous rooftop and meeting you in the spring.

So sorry I missed out on the fall flushes,

Donna

Well...Donna..
Thanks... you're welcome to visit anytime... but I'm glad you're up and fighting ... it and the medical professionals.. A few hours sitting on the train..relaxed and gazing out the window is an easy time of it..... but whenever you think you'd like to be able to make it .. it is fine here..
If you find in the middle of winter ...with the ice and snow on the ground.. that you'd like to instantly step into a steamy fragrant tropical garden.. full of blooming jasmine and lemons... you might consider a restorative trip to Logees... [ have you ever been ] they are real close to you up there.. and it's such a delight to walk through their three or four greenhouses.. it's always one of my winter expeditions ... and such a lovely bridge to spring... expecially if I'm not having a tropical winter trip...
so get yourself strong and healthy.. and we'll pick you up at the train... and give you the tour whenever you are up for it.. you'll only be missing out on the ones blooming you can see right here.. [although I bet I must miss posting many 100's somehow ] on Dave's..
This picture is the other side of the fence from the one in the first picture.. if you combine the two photos... you'll see the well over 200 blooms on my Dark Rosella..about all open together.... today..I did actually count 34 blooms on a16" bit of limb... and there must be 6 or eight little limbs like that one.. All the best there,,, Gordon

Jackie... well thanks.. on all counts...no it's not the looks that are ravaged.. ( yet ). HA HA HA ;)
Debra...... thanks so much...glad that anything is a help... ... now that's all I need ...an invitation to post more pictures... ya'll are in for it now.... thanks..
Chrissy... well thanks... yes it is still great.. thanks.. it's really starting to cook now...got to keep stirring ..
It sounds like youre having alot of success getting them to seed there... I'd say it's great to start in the spring.. ravinging..the sun might havie something to do with the difference in the seed production from any pods.. or it might be the available water / humidity ... and it's also types of flowers... some are great pollon donors.. and some less so.....the interface between any two will also varry between any other groups of two.. and be definately shown in the seed formation...and success.. some are better than others... I'm tickled if any work.. and dispite my wishes for any particular result for any particular cross.. I'm so happy to keep in the game.. getting some things to work.. and mostly enjoying the flowers...
Fall brings other flowers also... trying to teach my brugs .. something about color.. from other examples... through proximity growing... I'm looking for a brug to look over and say .. HAY.. I'll include a bit of yellow in my pink...like my rose buddy does... ( another unscintific experment by the unknowledgeable )

This message was edited Oct 11, 2008 8:44 PM

Gordon,
Thanks so much for the well wishes, I don’t feel I will be able to make the trip before frost as just walking out into the yard is exhausting. I have never been to Logee and it is only a 45 min drive from where I am in RI. I’ve only just gotten into tropicals in the past year so I will be visiting Logee over the winter. I love roses in the above pix, the color is incredible.
Donna

Yes...Donna...do get into Logees... give yourself and them 3-4 months... by then the difference will be astounding.ice on their parking lot.....0 * outside...and 75* and humid in their flower factory... in one they have a 30 year old lemon a wash with blooms covering one end.. and you can buy things not offered in their sale brochures.. a trip to the garden...with rooted cuttings already available..
The rose is Alpine Sunset... hope it flowers tlll the snowflies..
Inthespirit of other flowers then..plumbago.. so you don't miss anything there Donna..
Gordon

OK..Back to it.. anotherone chocked full of blooms.. and awaiting raviging... very soon Cherub...who gets to ravage Cherub.. well with her 50 blooms comming it will take some doing.
Gordon

Gordon, I hope you do post a lot more pics... I sneek a peek at Dave's on my lunch 20 minutes (if I don't work straight through it) and the pictures help me de-stress a little so I am more centered when my students roll in. I'm a special ed teacher, and work with a variety of students (learning disabled, emotionally disabled, autistic, Downs, mentally retarded) so my students need me to be centered and focused. Plus, in today's world with the financial and political chaos going on who doesn't need a serenity break?

Love the idea of colour by osmosis Lol ...the other flowers in your paradise set off the beauty of the Angels as does the artistry of your lovingly snapped pics ...sighing ^_^

Gordonhawk----I may have missed it before, but have you ever given your fertilizer program---I mean, what kind and how often. Your flowers are just spectacular!

Also, I don't understand how you list yourself as Zone 7b as I do here in Starkville, Mississippi.

Thanks for all your advice,
Shirleyd

Shirleyd...Yes..I've given my programany number of times.. but I'll run it downagain for you..I'm all in containers..../potting soil.. which has NO nutrive value at all..something akin to useing shredded cardboard.. only it doesn't wet out so.. and it actually consumes nitrogen as the moss breaks down..
I start in the winter with a blanket of alfalfa pellets covering the soil.. to breakdown and become folded into the mix during planting in the spring.. when I mix into each hole a generous portion of decomposed and dehydrated cow manure.this is all manuer not the stuff most places sell which is blended with a bunch of dirt with which it is decomposed.. these are the base for soil building for my used potting mix.. this has built up over a decade... occouring every year..
I put in a time release rose tone... flower tone when starting off the year..
perhaps some osmacote also..
this year in the spring I start off a weekly/five day regimen of MG... the balanced 20-20-20 type in the water..
I use Spray - n - Grow ....about every week after a month or so of growth...every three weeks I substute a messenger spraying for this..
as I get flowering I change the 20-20-20 for the bloom booster type ferts ..every five days...
in the early spring thisyear..before putting anything out..I started spraying the Recipe every evening...at first it has a bunch of 20-20-20 in it... then I switch to including the bloom booster type in it..again this is sprayed on evrything every evening or early morning..
thisyear I've also about eliminated my insect feedingonmyplants... this has helped their food uptake..as they aren't depleating their growth...
This year I've also tried useing a couple of Russain sold.. US developed hormones.. sold only by top tropicals...can't say as yet what their ultimate benefit is... and I've used them a couple of time through out the season.. they did no harm... so they qualify by medical standards as OK
yes..sorry..I should be listed as7A.. it is the same here as north MS.and my mother in north Alabama .. REMBER....the zones only look at how low winter temps are ...not the quality of the weather.. or how long it is that low... and no consideration to how hot it is in the summer... as you know microclimates trump zones.. I figure I'm in Zone 4 - 14 .. as everything is up off the roof.. in the air... I freeze solid in the winter... ala zone 4... [ remember the road signs... bridge freezes before roadsurface ] .. now... I'm also over a hot black rubber membrane.. when it gets to be 80* in thespring... myroof is usually at about 145* F... the winds blowing offf this heat increase the temp andwinter zonesconsiderably... as doesheat lossthrough my rof into the above plant areas.. so I'm not far from a7B.. if I start at 7 A.. http://www.growit.com/bin/USDAZoneMaps.exe?MyState=NY
see..a little sliver of long Island is listed as 7A..
Thanks for the complements... all thebest there... Gordon
OH..as a delta born lad... [ Bolivar Co] I carry alot of that zone love with me...
Georgia Peach pictured

Gordonhawk-----thank you so for all the time you spent in giving me the information. I will save it and do my best to imitate it. Unfortunately, I do not dare use cow manure that is not in a bag------as I will be putting it in flower beds, and I have never found any that didn't come with lots of weed seeds. In another section I have asked the question on whether brugs are poisonous or not. Of course, in your situation you would not be dealing with deer-----but, do you know if the brugs are supposed to be poison to them. I believe that for the first time I have some damage from deer!

Shirleyd

this cow manure is decomposed... it's broken down then dehydrated it's turned into little pellets......so there's no seeds... it does come in a bag .. just not what is usually seen... and believe me.. when I leave home and plant.. I have to look again for my usual items.. and I'm left trying new things..
Poison is a new way of saying psycoactive ... and not have to explain anything.. other than instilling the thought one shouldn't eat it...although enough of anything is poisoneous..Brugs aren't generally poisoneous .. or folks in the jungles wouldn't have been eatting it or making a paste of the leaves and making a compress for the leggs and such.. deer will eat anything
Gordon

thisis my manure... I use about 100 lbs/year.. perhaps some is for clients too.
.http://www.espoma.com/content.aspx?type=p&intCategoryID=2&id=15
most manure is .5 - .5 - .5 this is 4-2-2 it's hotter... Gordon
Night Fire included

This message was edited Oct 12, 2008 5:05 PM

OH.. on Fertilizers..a couple more pictures of Dark Rosella... as I said..well over 200 blooms..

perhaps one more... a bit closer... As I said.. I'm a firm believer in regular [ constant ]feeding..

Gordon...Beautiful!! I am in the process of digging and packing everything away for winter. Always a sad time. I just took a look on here to remind me of why I keep Brugs over winter. Thanks for reminding me. LOL

Betty

Hay..Betty... OH..it is difficult... everything there looks so grand...I'll get you a hunk of this Dark Rosella.. it blooms like gang busters..... just what you need there
.. do you have it??
I'm .. looking foward to getting downto mothers sometime this fall.. to help her put her dozen or so brugs . somewhere...she had 3or4 she left in the ground and they came back in the spring... no mulch or anything ..I haven't been by to see how they did..
is it really cold enough to start putting your brugs away..got to get myself going..
Gordon

Gordonhawk----again, thank you for your informative reply. When you do venture down to Alabama, I hope you find your family well.

Shirleyd

Gordon thanks for post the feeding information; I will keep it for next season. Dark Rosella is stunning, but the last picture you posted of the rooftop in incredible. It’s like a dream in the middle of the city. I hope you are entering so of your pictures in the contest, they are awesome.

Gordon, I would love a Dark Rosella cutting. We are getting to the time of year that we can have a sudden frost. Have already been down to 34 Berrrrr. Hope you can stop by on your way to see your Mom, save room in your car. No telling what might "Hop in" LOL have you discovered the Pipevines or Snail Vines? One of those may crawl in your car. LOL

I had a party yesterday and wanted to leave some of the "bloomers" out for guest to see. I have about 20 more this size to move in and room for maybe 3 more. LOL This is Snow Cone, She has bloomed well all season. It had just finished a beautiful Flush and I didn't mind cutting back to the nub.This was just before the major prune. I had shoulder surgery in the Spring and my Gardens have really suffered with out me. Wonder why I had to have surgery?? I just dug this one up and about to repot for winter. LOL
Betty

Thanks Shirleyd... yes...they seem fine..I like to go every now and again.. just to help some..I'd love to get away to the ..MS folks but I don't know that I'll take off enough time to do that also..
well... glad to see you're up and on so much... seems you're doing well now.. take it easy though..
Donna...well I'm flattered.. Thanks... OK..I rstand that's your desease talking .don't usually enter..but I posted the picture you liked here to their container contest...
Oh Betty.. Sure... I'llmake that trade you asked about.. and I'll save a bit of Dark Rosella for you..
Your SnowConelooksgreat..looks like you ahd the pot in the ground...or you'd never been ableto squeeze all that in to that pot..Yes... I'm always thinking I have room for about three more... you understand that's just part of the illness..
.I don't believe I'll drive. down... it's now cheeper to fly and I save a day on each end ....so unless I change the thought.. maybe I'll get to stop and see you on another time through... Thanks though...
well maybe 300 blooms open now... and the humming bird moths were out in force... they were so close you could about feel them flying by..
This picture is of PeachParfait [ renamed Maya I'm told ] a branch broke off during the last flush as I was tuneling into the plant.. I rooted it full of leaves... and now two weeks after the next flush... the cutting is blooming also this is ...how to grow 10" flowers on a 10" ..plant
Gordon

Gordon I’m glad you entered the contest we need some Burg pix there. I did not have enough blooms this season for a good pix. I love your potted baby Peach Parfait (Maya). It is so amazing to see a Burg that size flower. My burgs are all new this season and I only had reasonable flushes on the EP’s, also my New Orleans Lady gave me one small flush of 5 flowers and she is a knockout. They are all in the basement now because we had some nights that went down into the low 30’s and a frost was predicted. Here by the ocean we did not get one yet and now the temps are back up.

Great pictures, Gordon. It must feel wonderful being up there with all those flowers and other plants. So pretty. I don't envy you the job of bringing them all inside, tho.

Wish I could help you bring in your plants, I am about done, Love the plumbago , I have a ton of it outside, hope it winters over, I have cuttings of the imperial blue and the alba if not thank goodness.