Yesterday,as I was sitting at home daydreaming about spring,there was a knock at the door.Lo and behold a huge box had arrived from Susan ^_^. I was amazed! This is February in zone 5!! LOL
I was so thrilled my hands were shaking and scared to open the box,afraid I would find dead plants.Inside the box,very carefully padded with some heavy insulation type material,(help me here,Susan),I saw green leaves!! Each plant had it's rootball carefully wrapped and the the plants were placed in plastic bags.
Oh my gosh,inside there were two huge Kohlerias,one smaller growing one,a large dormant one and I even found a 'worm' and then another half one.
As if that wasn't amazing enough,there were eight beautiful Streps!! The Kohlerias were wilted and slightly cold nipped,but by the time I hurried to mix up some soil,got everything potted and trimmed a little,They were already standing up! The Streps.were perfect.
Susan,dear sweet Susan,you made my day ^_^.Not only that I lost my winter doldrums...LOL.Now if I can just keep everything alive....
I was too excited to take pictures when I was opening the box,but I took several later.My camera skills are non-existant,so they won't do the plants justice,but I will post them when I get home.
Thank you so much Susan,
Hugs,Lynn
Christmas In February!!
You lucky duck!
Thanks,it was wonderful!!
Lynn
You are more then welcome Lynn, I thought it may keep you happy until spring comes and you could get more plants.. You were someone from the beginning that I took a liken to ... ^-^ I gave away so many plants these last couple weeks and my stands still look like I never gave away a thing...LOL I have to start growing some more or won't have anything to send out to others...LOL Ok early day at work today Got there late and came home early... works for me... LOL
Happy you liked your surprises...
Hugs,
Susan
Congratulations, Lynn!
We have some thoughtful, caring folks on this forum ... that's why it's my favorite! Susan is a sweetie and I too have been the recipient of her generosity! We look forward to seeing pictures of your new babies!
I can feel your joy by reading your words, ibrabec, about your package from Susan. Isn't it exciting ? Susan is an excellent strep grower and her plants are both beautiful and healthy. I know you will enjoy them so much and having a bit of spring a little early.
wow, what a sweetheart. Makes my day that people are so good hearted.Now, how does everyone get the little ducks & such to this web site?
mrsbonnie
mrsbonnie, mortswife posts those charming pictures every time she posts a message. I love looking at the victorian ones, and saved a few on my computer to show my daughter. She loves anything Victorian. They remind me so much of my mother during WW2. We had a victory garden and she would cut pictures from magazines to label the veggies she grew. Lots of them were the victorian era style.
Pardon if the pictures all look the same,but I am trying to get better with a camera.
Lynn
Another.
Why, Thank You. This photo is 1890 Maud Humphrey [Humphrey Bogart's mother]. I just love color and design; especially if it depicts my childhood. (NOT 1890!!) LOL
Cheryl
In their temporary new home,until I can set up my new shelves.
Yes,there are so many wonderful people here! ^_^ I am so lucky Susan "took a liken to me'..LOL
OH, MAN!! Ibrabec- We have the same taste in plants, streps, AVs, begonia. I want some streps but I think it's still too cold-it's 34 with a NW wind-whatcha think?
If you look closely,one has a bud.I couldn't bear to remove it.
It's much too cold!! Somehow Susan got them here on a 58 degree day,bless her heart.Tonight it's supposed to sleet and snow.
OK not sure - upper right corner??
You can see the bud in the second picture.I am happy.happy.I just hope they will look as good as this after my hands have been on them LOL.I have to go fix dinner,but I have wanted to share these pictures,however poor they are,since the second I got home.
Lynn ^_^
That is Christmas!! You will love growing streps.
Gail,
I Know I will.I haven't grown Gessies in 20 plus years and my experience with Streps. is very limited.I am much more familar with AVs,Sinns. and Episcia.I have a little experience with Chiritas( the rest I will use nicknames,because I am too lazy to look up the spelling right now),Lipstick plant,Goldfish plant,Petro something,and a few others that came up from mixed seed from the Gessie Society.I used to be pretty familiar with species Sinns.
Although I still have many old books,I know that all of you that grow so many beautiful plants are a much better source of information and help with any problem I might run into.
Lynn
You will love them! I can't wait for your first bloom and then watch you become as addicted as I am to these silly streps. I used to grow everything under lights and now there is no room for anything but rooting hoyas and a few gessies...........7/8 of the space goes to streps, hand down!
The picture is to whet your appetite!
It certainly worked!! Is that one of the Roulettes?
Lynn
Blue azure..............yes........
I know for a fact that Daves has the most wonderful, caring, and sharing people!! I'm so glad that you had your "Christmas in Feb."
whoohoo lynn.what a great box Susan sent you.I bet it put a smile on your face!
This is a great example of want a group is all about(I think anyway) we should all help each other get going.No one should have to go out and spend a lot of money to get started growing.I know I have a lot of extras and I still need to make a list for you to choose from...Glad you had a nice xmas in february.Susan is a sweetie.^_^
I love to grow streps in the winter. It keeps me sane and not as stressed as I use to be... So my joy is when I have extras to share... I love making others happy also...I also have to say others here have made my day when I get things in the mail ... It was not so long ago I came here to play Bingo and look at me now. I can even grow Av's.. That is something I never thought I could do... I have some baby av's with out names and a few with that are going to need a new home down the road...
So I am happy Lynn, you are happy... ^_^
Hugs,
Susan
I am very happy ^_^ and in the future intend to make some others as thrilled as I was! I just hope I will have the knack for growing Streps.Thank you all for sharing my excitement!
Jannich,don't worry about going to all of the trouble of making a list for me.If you have extras,I would be pleased with anything.
I will list as many names as I can of what Susan sent.I have also ordered 14 plants so far.I plan to attend a small AV show at the end of March and will be checking the marketplace also.
It really is too cold to ship here right now.It's a whopping 14 degrees and we expect 3-4 inches of snow tonight.(Susan,you have great timing LOL).By the time it gets warmer here I will have more shelves up and also a wicking system and a prop. area.Most things I buy will be starter plants,so it will take a little time to get them big enough to share,but that will be a joy for me when the time comes!
Thanks for a great forum,
Lynn
I'll be talking to you, Lynn. I want some Nebraska streps; I used to live there in that gread big empty!
OK,I will watch for you!
Lynn P.S. It's not very empty here anymore.
We lived in Dalton-pop 250, Scotts Bluff, Ainsworth [about like here].
(AV is Nebraska) I have leaves
It's very pretty.I think it's an Optimara.
Lynn
Ok,some of the plants can't be identified until they bloom,due to a tag mishap,but in the box were..Kohlerias Laura,Bella,Manchu,and the dormant one and the 'worms' are either one or both,K. Tropical Nights and Ans Dice Dots.The Streps. are Surprise Party,Texas Hot Chili,Rosebud,Space Dust,Happy Snappy and 3 more.What a beautiful palette of color!
Lynn
Those are some good choices in streps. I love love love Rosebud, Happy Snappy...........ok.........I love them all. But then, I never saw a strep I didn't love^_^
Gail,
Judging by my reaction to the fabulous pictures all of you Strep. growers post,I may soon have that problem ^_^. The worst part is I love so many other Gessies,It will be hard to pick which ones to grow.......Big problem,huh....LOL.
Lynn
I grew everything for the past two years until about 9 months ago when I decided to only grow streps for a while. I am sure this passion will end at some point and I will go back to all the other gessies ?????
??? is right ^_^. I have always loved AVs,Sinns,and (be still my heart) Episcias,but I also love many others.I know it's just about impossible......Just about...to grow all Gessies,so I think I need to find my main passion LOL.
With my new found love of Streps.,plus really enjoying Chiritas,Kohlerias and other large growers,I may need to concentrate on growing mini versions of everything else.My biggest problem with mini AVs is, that in my opinion they almost all tend to sucker much more freely than standards.
Lynn
Lynn, that is why I quit growing mini avs. Every single one of them suckered all the time.........I hated that!
Well I am going to try a few again,but all of those little suckers can be hard to keep up with once you have a lot of plants.I guess I'll see if I can keep up LOL.
Lynn
Thats the spirit!!!
Thanks for the support Juneybug! LOL