THANK YOU!

SPACE DUST! THANK YOU GAIL!

BIG YOLK! THANK YOU BONNIE!
DALE'S SCARLET MACAW ! WOW! THANK YOU BONNIE!

Today was Christmas in October! Two packages in th mail! I thought this might be a good thread since everyone is so generous!

Kivit: Great photo of you and your horse!

Aaaah .... how nice it would be to live in the country! Whereabouts is Wytheville? I was born in Petersburg, Va. and grew up in Norfolk/Va. Beach area ... my dad was in the Navy. Haven't been back to Va. in many years, my family has been in Florida for almost 42 years!

Kivit..I love the pic of you and your horse..You are a lovely woman with such a wonderful smile..ooo how I would love to live where we could have horses again..wouldn't work too well now as we live in town now..lol..

awwww....you are, indeed, a lovely woman, and a lovely person, as well.

THANK *YOU* for my two new babies, as well as the leaves you sent.
I've SO wanted a variegated Strep...got a couple of baby plants and promptly brought them to their deaths...:(
Dibley's Sally has a pristine PURPLE (my fave!) bloom....good packing, friend!

Brenda recently sent me Space Dust....a GORGEOUS plant and the most fabulous blooms. I need to take a photo and show it off...it's HUGE!
The fantasy blooms really have me 'smitten'! lol!

I also need to reciprocate someday, somehow to all you wonderful folks.

I will, in the near future, get a photo of all my beautiful gift plants soon.

when I was a child, I often asked for a horse.
My mother would say to me. "If wishes were horses then beggers would ride!"
That horse's name is Wish!

plantladylin; Wytheville is an hour north of Bristol & 1 hour south of Roanoke where Rte 77 crosses 81.

Nan; I'm so glad hat your box arrived safely. Jim got his today as well.
I tried to duplicate the way things were packed by the breeder's but i got a few Bristol's from Rob's violets and he went way beyond what I'd seen before!! the streps were individually wrapped as always, but the entire contents were then wrapped in that silver space stuff that the astronauts use to keep warm!

THANK YOU !! My leaves that you sent arrived in great shape today!! You are so generous!! I was expecting 1 and you sent extras ***BIG PIE EATING GRIN*** I had to laugh --I had room for maybe 1 more leaf on the propagation shelf--good thing DH is home-- expansion plans are in the works!! You are a Beautiful lady & a wonderful person!!
Thanks again
tommie

What a nice picture!

such a nice picture, i have always loved horses & have a freind who has a couple,i think they are beautiful, you also took a beautiful picture,
mrsbonnie

You are too kind! The credit for the picture goes to my husband, Will, who is the horse whisperer of the family. I had just finished giving Wish a bath. We were both soaked and the wind was "blow drying" us! He wanted to take a picture.
There are more pretty horse pictures at www.woodwindfarms.com

those pictures are beautiful, what a lovely place, i bet you get alot of vistors. lol it is beautiful.
mrsbonnie

ooh, and look at those portraits!
It amazes me how some people can capture 'life' on canvas'.

There's a lady in my hometown who paints from photographs...the paintings have been printed in the newspaper and you would swear it's simply a photograph....not that easy, though!

Good work...nice place and beautiful horses!
I'll have to show your website to my 9 y.o......she'd LOVE to see your horses!

Beautiful place Kivit..a real paradise the way it looks.

How wonderful.............one thread and we know who you are...............great picture and great ones of your work I suppose..............you don't look old enough to be a retired physician. You must have retired verrrrry early, kivit! (smiling)

I belong to the 60 something club as most retirees!
Spent the day selling streps at the local farmer's market.

Great photo again! Colorful and FUN photo!

wow, look at al those flowers, to cool.
mrsbonnie

kivit, you have a wonderful horse farm. The horses are fabulous and so is your website. With breeding and training horses, how do you have time for flowers? I guess being busy keeps you young.

actually, we are in the process of selling off most of the horses. my husband doesnt want to train any more because (are you redeay for this?) he doesnt want to get hurt on a young horse & not be able to drive his race car! lol

lol!! Men & their toys!
(Not knockin' men, here....we all have our 'thing'! (Ü)

You and DH have a lot going on!

Nan, I remember when he used to look at me the way he looks at that race car!!! LOL

By the way, Nan, how are your streps growing?

LOL! (Ü)

They're doing great! Thanks for asking.
I still don't have the leaves down (but they still look great in their bags)...doing that tonight as I gave my Mom my bag of perlite, so had to get more!

Just got a box of streps from Belisle's Violet House! here's someone you can buy from with confidence! The streps were shipped without a pot-just the root ball. I spent a rainy, cold day potting them up. What fun!
Here is a picture of my new beauties!
THANK YOU MARCIA!!

Those are nice, Kivit...............I have thought about ordering from Belisle's but have never done it.............you do give me confidence............

i have bought from them many times, they have a great asst. of mini sinns also.
bonnie

A great big THANK YOU to BONNIE! Got a box in the nail today with a franken allison & the most beautiful semi blue Russian AV I have ever seen!
THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!

Oooh, Pictures, we need pictures! They sound wonderful kivit! I've only seen a couple of photo's of Russian AV's in the past, never knew there was such a thing until last year when someone spoke of them here on DG.

The blossoms were mail worn, but the plant was beautifuuly packaged & in pristine condition! Have to wait for some of the buds to bloom for a picture! I can only tell you that it is a standard, semidouble true blue like an october sky! It is ruffled and the edges are purple. LOVE iT!
Thanks again bonnie! I am thrilled!

so glad they arrived in good condition, you never know with the po.the av was quite large, was worried how it would ship..
mrsbonnie

A huge ThankYou to Hillbilly Gran who sent me FOUR epicsias!

So ms Kivit,whats the final damage,anything we can do to help?

JIM

things are still dying, but a few are recovering! So far the LOST list is:
Franken kelly F. Stacey, rondall's Jordan (all bought from the UK)
Museum if Art ( my fav) Lost bunches of Falling stars & It makes Scent ,BUT I still have more than 1 of each! Peachy Pink, pink cloud, Mei Lee, Tar Jar Roger, Paper Moon, Neil's Josie, Dibley's Sally, Wintermint, Calico print, Spin Art, Bristol's Daisy Jane, Petticoats, Carolyn Ann ( but Jim just sent me a leaf( thank you),midnight flame, caitlin, spooky, party boy (have P girl) Pajama Party, Dark Shadow & dracula's Shadow, Crystal Ice & C. Beauty, ronja, Targa, gloria, Leyla, Pink Leyla, azure Giant & Pegasus!
Gee! That is depressing! to think that 2 weeks ago I was sending people plants & leaves!

On the bright side, I have the box of leaves that Jim sent, 4 epicsias from Hillbilly gran, & some leaves I just bought on Ebay. Both Bonnie & Syrumani are sending a box. With time, I will rebuild.
I will be happy to be able to send people plants/leaves again!

If Jim sent you as many leaves as he sent me, (and I am sure he did) you ought to be set for a long time.......................he is so generous...................It took me two days to get them all planted.................

I hope you weren't sending out/selling plants infested with all those insects you were talking about on another thread! LOL!

The people on this forum are amazingly generous as I know myself very well, kivit. Jim sent me so many strep leaves lately of wonderful varieties and I want to thank him sincerely.

Of course I was! why do you think i am posting these things? So show everyone how smart I am ? LOL! Not!
The first newbie mistake I made was putting my plants out side for the summer. my streps started setting seed pods. a friend on the AV forum told me that AV s& streps do not self pollinate, so, at the least, I had thrips. I have looked carefully for them, & not seen them, but she said spilled pollen was a sure sign. She was horrified that my plants were outside. I immediately sprayed the entire rack with Malathion & brought them in. they looked wonderful! I told people to "isolate" as I'd had my plants outside.
I started to see gnats & aphids, so I began spraying with cidal soap-Safers, I think. That did in the aphids but the gnats are persistent. Emailed a breeder who said that gnats were from overwatering, but I had already learned that lesson. I dontwater plants until the leaves arewilting.
i read & reread the tips threads- took notes in fact. Then I bought the Bayer Advanced.
You've read the rest of the story! i went back to the tips thread. Sure enough, there was a post close to the beginning about diluting manufactere's concentrations to 1/4 strength for streps! I posted my experience because reading what actually happens when one messes up is a better warning than a " Thou shalt not"!!! I learned from private emails that I was not the only one to have this happen.

I spent most of an afternoon putting the leaves Jim sent me down. I had to ask the cookie fairy to send him some biscotti! Certainly couldnt swap plants! everyone is generous here. I amlooking forward to getting everything bug free and being able to swap things in the spring. People have been so kind!And i have only just joined! I have to say, I feel like an idiot! I am, however, learning! I have changed my soil mix to spaghnum & perlite to avoid introducing anything, I have isolated any new plants I receive, I am spraying every other day with Pyola-a less toxic spray, & I am reading,reading, reading to learn.
If I have sent anyone bugs, i apologize. Please realize that it ws in ignorance.

People are at their best in a community!Whether it be church, a neighborhood, or a strep forum. The members of this forum cetainly prove that!
I am very proud to be a member!

hey we al make mistakes & sometimes it really hurts,lol in no time you will be up & running again with to many plants as all of us have.sometimes it takes awhile & alot of painful mistakes to get it right, but hang in there.jim & myself lost most of our streps one year, because of the heat, but we found out what it takes & now they are fine.
mrsbonnie

I know I can only send about 20 leaves to Jim for his generosity but do I ever have a supply box I am making for him.....................everyone needs supplies............almost a better gift than plants sometimes.........................

Still seeing a few mealies, but i am spraying daily & keeping everything trimmed up and clean. My formerly 3 racks of streps are now onerck of mostly leaf trays.
with everyone's help, I am rebuilding!
A great big THANK YOU to
hillbilly gran
Mrsbonnie,
syrumani
and of course, Jim!
I have been busy!
Be on the lookout for a package!

Finally have a photo of the Russian AV Bonnie bought for me at the show! I love it!
I kept it isolated in a large plastic bag so it is pest free just as Bonnie sent it.
Took a picture of the name tag as well because I sure cannot pronounce it!

VERY Nice!!