What's with the late frosts?

Woohoo, both my back and front thermometers didn't drop below 39, so crisis averted. I probably could have started the sprinkler system - that water would have been warm, good idea.

I know you've got to be excited about the trip - wish I could get tucked into some luggage and come along right now. It'll have been a year since my trip on next Thur; man times just flies. Given how things have gone lately, it might be a while before I make it back - but I will ;) Hope you have a wonderful time - be sure to post photos!

GLad you escaped a frost, K!

Ardesia, wherever it is you're going, I hope you have a great trip!

Thanks, we are really looking forward to this trip.

:-) :-) :-) :-) Hawaiiiiiiiiiiiiii

John gave me some great tips and suggestions on places to stay.

WOW! We definitely want daily reports and pictures if possible!

X

I forgot to add, the year I moved to England, I flew across the pond 8 times in 3 months so you can imagine the jet lag .. My doc gave me the remedy. He gave me 4 sleeping pills called Dalmane (sp?). He told me to take one after the plane was airborne and have someone make sure I was up and eating breakfast hour before we landed and that night to take another at my normal sleeping time, but london time. By day 2 my internal clock was reset. I did the same thing on the way back. Works like a charm.

For you, you'd take one 8 - 9 hours before you arrive in Hawaii.

X

hey, that's an awesome trick, but, even with pill I seldom sleep on planes, just no way to get comfortable.

well, my TB irises are mixed up, but they will be blooming soon. earliest of earlies are blooming now, Footloose and Mariposa Autumn.

anyone is in the Raleigh area, welcome to drop on by. I'm just over a mile from exit 11 on Interstate 540, around Raleigh. It's easy to get to, think it's all 5 lane roads until the last block! just dmail me
Prime bloom should be last week April to first week May.

if you'r coming, ya haveta remember to things, well really 3 :

if it 's a weed , pull it - that's allowed.
if it's weedy, keep your comments to yaself - I'm not blind, but...

if it's an iris, keep your hands to yourself. I'm hybridizing and no grooming of plants allowed.

if you want to know the names, I have a "seating chart" you can peruse. I lost count after 500 kinds.

"no grooming allowed" ROTFLMAO!
Love it, Bon!

Ardesia, RE travel, drink lots(!!) of water starting a few days ahead of time and even if you cannot sleep on the plane force yourself to "get on schedule" a day or two before and once you get there - eat on local time (even if you do not feel like it) and sleep on local time. If you must take a nap, take a short (20 min) one.

You can take Melatonin (a naturally occurring hormone available in any heath food aisle) about 30 minutes before you are to sleep it does help some folds - it helps me but not my husband.

It is harder going west to east (US- Europe, or Hawaii to East Coast) than it is the other way (I have no idea why).

If you can borrow some noise reducing headphones, do get some: they do really help you listen to music without the roaring of the engines - they are my new best traveling buddy.

X., I travel a bunch, but I cannot imagine traveling to UK that many times in such a short time span. Jotting that med. name down for if I ever need to use it, thx for useful info. Your poor body clock must have been so confused!

Have a great time, Ardesia, and get lots of pictures of the gardens and flowers!!!

That is a good idea and I do worry about the time difference. Our flight is in two 5+ hour legs. I am such a sleepyhead I am afraid if I ever took a pill I would sleep for two days. We are planning to just veg out the first day we get there; the next day we head for John's favorite lodge.


We cross posted. Yes, you are right, coming home is a bear. We used to visit our son in Colorado and coming home was always harder.

This message was edited Apr 18, 2009 7:39 PM

Hawaii! Very nice! I stil have fond memories of a trip to Maui waaaay back in 1983. :)

Bonjon: LOL. "if it's weedy, keep your comments to yaself - I'm not blind"

laugh all you want pyromama -

the first guest I ever had into my garden after I started crossing plants took three steps into the irises, then reached out and popped off a "spent bloom" on Chardonnay and Ice that I had just crossed with a $50 plant.

it took from initial planning in 2006 to 2008 to have that cross C&I only set one good bloom for me to cross that year. Now am waiting until 2009, all because someone felt compelled to "neaten" up my garden! she reached out so fast, she had the trimmed ovary in her hand before I could cry out. the plastic tag below it didn't enlighten her!

my sister is so bossy, even though I'm eldest. But boy she was embarassed when I screamed. her husband, with a masters in horticulture, turned green when he saw what she'd done.

it's a common problem, if you invite folks into a hybridizer's garden. we learn to "groom" the stalks, deadheading all spent blooms, so folks can take better photos. everyone thinks this is ok. BUT, if we are crossing, the naked ovaries and arms are left behind, and even with bright colored tags, someone inevitably grooms off a tagged ovary to get a better photo!

"DONT GROOM THE PLANTS" is a very common request.

Yeah that trip home is always very hard - I want to sleep for a day after I get back. Going is never that bad, even though that morning flight leaves at the crack of dawn. I'm sure it also helps that you're excited about arriving.

You'll of course have to bring a few plants home; no Hawai`i trip is complete without some. I brought something like 30lbs of plants home last year from Kaua`i and the Big Island. Most of that was gingers. But my banana is still growing strong in the foyer, and the Xanthosoma EE got huge - even provided me some babies to test in the ground next winter. All of my plants from Hawai`i are naturally my favorites - makes me think I'm growing the islands in my backyard. Let us know what you get if you bring any home.

Boy, Bonj, I would never let my mom in there, she can deadhead faster than a wink!
I, on the other hand, am an incorrigible seed and start thief! But I will certainly mind my manners when visiting someone who is hybridizing.

We are using points for this trip and US Air does not have direct flights from here. We fly to Phoenix and then on to the Big Island. Same coming home from Kauai. I'll probably have to send everything as you can't bring plants into AZ. Unless of course, you have an idea for me????? I already have an order to bring an AeAe back for a friend. LOL

actually, Mel started to argue with me "it's just a spent bloom" but Brad, her husband pointed out the tag in her hand and "didn't you see that?" it was when he acted really pained, and she found out from me that was the only good bloom on that one that she cringed.

I would not have known if I hadn't toured some of the pros' gardens, like Keppel's.

Mail them back - it's the best option. I've taken hardwood cuttings (Ti, small gingers, and such) onto the plane with no problem going to AZ or Cali, but I shipped everything home last time. Had no problems with that method. Most of the airport folks are looking for fruits and other fleshy produce.

There are other reasons to mail things back. Today a friend who was visiting in CA packed a lot of plants to bring home and her bag weighed 57 lbs., 7 lbs. over the 50 lb. limit. It cost her $90 extra. The funny thing was if she had brought a second bag it would have only been $25. An expensive lesson. Naturally she wouldn't dump the plants. LOL

Pack a foldable duffel (about $10 at Wally World). Then you can either ship your dirty clothes back or have an extra bag to bring back souvenirs (ie plants)

Can't bring the plants back because we are landing in AZ and bringing plants into that state without a phytosanitary certificate is a no no, but I am (very) experienced in packing and shipping plants home. The PO used to give out that priority mail tape free with the boxes then they got stingy so now I never travel without a roll of packaging tape in my suitcase and newspapers to stuff the boxes are always free in the hotel lobbies. I have also printed out a page of large labels addressed to myself.
Other handy items include an assortment of zip lock bags from tiny ones for seeds to the humongous ones for plant material. Plant geek? Who me????? LOL

had that same experience coming back from San Antonio in February. my extra 3 lbs in the suitcase cost me $50. I could have priority mailed it the afternoon before for $12. stupid stupid.

Last time, 2007, when touring Willamette Valley OR, I bought a new suitcase for $70 (extra large, wheeled) at Fred Meyers, then filled my old bag with fuchsias. that was before they started charging extra for baggage. airlines tore and ripped destroyed my original bag (fuschias made it ok). so I ended up with such a nice bag that now DH borrows it when he's traveling on business. it's got the wheels that pivot 360 degrees, oh how easy, you almost never have to lift it, it can roll across the floor with a pinky. I'm wishing I'd have bought three of them!

the duffle is great idea if plants are not brittle. I like my harder bag for the brittle ones.

Oh yeah, LOL, Back when we traveled for business and you could check several bags for free I used a very good hard sided bag for the plants. Beinbg frequent fliers, we got to know the agents at the Columbia airport and they used to laugh because I always started out with one completely empty bag. They used to tease DH and remind him to hold on to the credit cards.

yup - and traveling at Christmas time, I'd take a suitcase full of gifts, and then bring it back full of the local flora.

Way to go! IMO, that is good thinking. :-)

Duffle is for your dirty laundry and other unbreakables from the trip (can be mailed, too just be sure to tape the handles down), leaving room in your suitcase or carryon for your plants.

USPS.com will send you free packing material (priority boxes, labels, and tape) just order it online and they send it to your door for free.

Don't tell the plant police but I often wrap plants in dirty laundry. I do have the free boxes mailed here but I won't be carrying them for this trip. They have plenty of PO's in HI where i can pick them up.

Some of us will be going to Hawaii vicariously, so let me echo those urging you to take lots of photos, Ardesia.

Our country certainly is vast, isn't it?

best of all, it's free. it doesn't take much international travel to figure out we have it good here, even when it isn't very good.

When I called there to check on something the call went through faster than it does when I call my neighbor. I wasn't even ready for the person on the other end saying hello. LOL

Another friend told me if I don't want to eat all my meals in the hotel I can always go to Costco and stock the room fridge. I can't even go to Costco easily here (it is in Charleston.) It is amazing to me that what I perceive as so exotic must be pretty normal in many ways.

I am always amazed at some of the stores (the variety of them) I see in HI. Though I have to admit that part of it makes me sad because of all the development.

Funny thing you mentioned the phone call, it's the same with mail. If I have something shipped from HI and Texas on the same day, I will always get the item from Hawai`i first. Go figure.

Well that is good to know. I wouldn't want my boxes of plants sitting in the PO until I got back. :-)