Weird Weather of '09 #10

These shooting stars are pretty. I need a better back drop for them. White against a white fence..not so great!

Lady bug enjoying herself on a columbine bud.

Do hostas make little babies?

Yes they multiply...

Well what a nice surprise! Last fall I totally chopped away a big bluish hosta that had become terribly infested with slugs. Every leaf looked like swiss cheese and no matter what I did I could not get rid of the slugs so I took it out. Now there are lots of babies and I am so glad because I really like that plant! I will use Sluggo now and maybe I can keep the slugs away....

I must have Corydalis China Blue!

Beahive, Again, love the corydalis. The lady bug is wonderful too...haven't seen any here yet.

I have way too many slugs to even imagine, so things that are prone to them are "toast". I guess that's what you get when you plant tasty little plants in the middle of a forest! I do bait, but not with sluggo as although it works wonders, I couldn't afford to use it over my entire area. Lots of slug patrols have sort of got them under control, but still a long way to go. Need more toads, frogs, and snakes!

Judi, hostas are a slug delicacy! Bait them from the start, and then take the time to kill the ones that you find in that area and you should be OK. Well worth the effort if you liked the hosta!

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE that dodecatheon. No action here on the seeds I put in. Maybe next year.

The slugs have come out here in force. They are muching away. Wish I could have ducks, who eat slugs, but then I'd have all the stuff that ducks leave behind. So Sluggo it is. Somebody on one of the forums was saying that her squirrels were eating her Sluggo - stuffing their cheeks with it. I hope that doesn't happen here.

Judy, your hostas will multiple and then you'll want to lift and divide them, sort of like lilies.

I have found that if hostas have"good substance" which is a heavier thicker leaf structure, the slugs don't bother them. I have such a lot of space to sprinkle sluggo around I find I do better just concentrating on one small area where I grow my lettuce.

I put my lettuce and spinach on large pots this year because of the slugs. However, I am not growing rows and rows like some of you that have lots of land.

The hosta I took out that was infested with slugs was one of those blue-toned ones with thick leaves but the d#@! slugs liked it anyway!

I have 3 African Violets, two of which are blooming away. These 3 are the first ones I have ever had so it's nice to see some cute little flowers.

Weather cooler today but very nice outside. Found a few new things up& out today.


Scilla

Fritillaria acmopetala

Fritillaria unknownus cant find the tagus (very rare!) LOL!

A bearded iris unknownus came out a bit to soon. The stem was only about 3 inches tall at best. The colors are so pretty on this one
took a picture anyway. Won't win best in show..but pretty anyway!

My "mamma" frog was all over the pond this morning try to get away from me as I worked about. First she hid in the boggy area...

When I got to close she swam to the bottom and hid out among the rocks. The Koi of course had to check out the intruder!

BH looks to me like she's 'keeping an eye on you'.

She got bored sitting in the muck at the bottom of the pond so she then swam to the far side of the pond and surfaced for a breath of air! I sat and watched her for about 20 minutes hoping to catch her next move. I was hoping she would climb out and rest in the sun...but she just sat there and I had things to do.

When I returned..I could not find her. She will return I am sure ...but where?

She is always one step or should I say jump ahead of me!!

I can get frogs to talk to me by saying in my deep voice-ribit! ribit!

Nice pictures Bea.....love that frog!

Cooler here today too, and it's supposed to get down to 35 tonight. Here we go again!! Looks like the next week is going to be cool.

BeaHive, It's really odd that you go for the Unknownus cant find the tagus varieties just like I do! I also find it amazing that there are several of those in each genus!!! :o) ! I still love love love your frog pics. Especially like the one with her hiding in with the koi...gives a better perspective of her size! I have big toads that play that same "where's waldo" game with me in the garden in the summer. They are usually somewhere in the garden within 10 or so feet of where I first spot them, but I have never figured out who is more startled when the discovery is made..me or them! My big kids are probably as big as your bullfrog girl, so you can imagine the start that you get when one of those moves as you are grabbing a weed next to where it was sitting!

Sally, cooler here too, but I am OK with that as I am finally getting some color on my tulips, so maybe they won't be gone in two days!!!

But I wanted to put my tomatoes out!! sniffle,sniffle.

The wind has really picked up here tonight. Stuff blowing around keeps tripping my motion light on the deck.

Sally, The ROFLOL was exactly what I was doing when I read Bea's post! Don't you wish that the spring would progress like it is supposed to and get slightly warmer a day at a time so you can move things out as you would like? I have a couple of small rhodies that come out around a week or too earlier than now each year, and then we have an ultra warm day each year that melts the blooms in one day. They are late this year..just starting to peek out..hopefully I can take advantage of the cooling off and see them for a week or so.

A little warmer each day would be wonderful. I missed most of my camellia blooms because of the freezes, rain, sleet, hail, etc. Not to mention all the stuff that didn't make it through winter. And now it's windy and I just thought, my apple tree has just got blossoms on it. Not nearly enough time to set. grrrrrrrrr!

Sally, Last year we got a really warm stretch very early..stuff bloomed really early...apples bloomed before the bees were out. Needless to say, no fruit. Grrrr there too! Is it only gardeners who are so atuned to the little nuances that nature throws out? Can others really go through the wierd weather changes without it mattering?

I had a neighbor who only noticed the weather because it meant she had to wear extra clothes or not. She really hated wearing jackets. We had a bumper crop of apples last year, so we probably won't this year, but if the blossoms can't set the deer will go hungry (or eat my plants instead). It usually happens that we get a warm spell, then it gets cold again, but I think we've already done that. My sis is in so. ca and they're just coming out of a super heat wave, 100 deg. or better. So their plants are frying and mine are going to freeze again. Wish we could even it out. sigh......

Morning everyone! Thank you for the compliments on Bolt and the funny comments about the geese. I figured they were trying to get a better view on where to nest. LOL!

I went out to my pond Tues to turn my irrigation pump on and I thought I had 6 Bullfrogs but counted 12!!! Boy was I surprised to count that many.

Great pics of the all the flowers and frog!

TTYL,
Susan105

RJ..in the fall I caught my big mamma climbing out of the pond. It did startle me as it looked like a swamp monster slowly creeping ..limb by limb then slither under a bush to hide. She is the biggest so far in my pond. The largest Koi are about 11-12 inches to put her in perspective.

BH, you're funny!^_^ Imagine how I feel with 12 of them. LOL!

This is what I woke up to this morning and I got to go out and switch irrigation lines. Lucky me. NOT!!! LOL! All of that white is ICE!!!

Susan105

Here's another pic.

It's 48, cloudy, no wind, and 66% humidity. I think it's trying to rain as last evening it was gusting wind up to 31 mph. Hubby and I were out for an hour and a half looking for a friend's boy who didn't get on the bus after school. This is what I like about a little town. LOTS of people were out looking for him because his dad is well liked. We have several creeks that go through town and they are running high. About the time we got home, the dispatcher said he was found. Thank God. He is a sharp kid, but has issues; for one, he has no mom.

Susan, got snow?

We've had enough. You keep it!

Hi everyone - bbbrrrrrrr cold today. I did put tomatoes in the ground yesterday and today they look just fine, but the one I put in a hanging tomato thingy looks pitiful. It was windy here as well but I'm sure it was not as cold as the rest of you. Hope you all warm up!

Susan, Why would you want to grow a field of ice? Haven't you had enough this winter? Just kidding...and sending warm thoughts your direction! I can't even imagine a pond with 12 bullfrogs in it...crazy!

Bea, You read my mind, I was curious as to what size your koi were. Knew that they had to have some size to them from previous pics. That means that your frog is really huge! What fun to have her sharing your garden with you!

MW, Good that they found the missing boy, and you're right, small towns are wonderful for that and many other reasons!

Judi, Your hanging tomato may look a little worse for the wear because of how you had to plant it. Can't be so nice with the ones that you have to poke through a little hole and then try to fill the planter without smashing it! Hope it recovers! Mine are still hiding in the greenhouse.

Was 35 this am when I left for work. Am really ready for the warmth to come and stay!

We've actually had a spring here. Usually it jumps from winter right into hot, humid stuff. This means the forsythia has made a good showing this year. A man in the neighborhood has two camellia bushes that have been red for a couple of weeks.
Mother's Day is the benchmark for when we put out the annuals and things like tomatoes, cuz we can still get chilly before then. The next few days are supposed to get into the 70's though.

Judi....you're braver than me. I was going to put my maters out, but the forecast scared me off. We're supposed to freeze here tonight, then warm up. Maybe tomorrow I'll get them out. See what the forecast says in the morning. Going to plant one of the hanging tomato thingys too. My neighbor does one and gets loads of tomatoes on hers.

Bea...I can just see your 'swamp monster' It would startle me too.

MW...happy they found the boy. My brother lives in a small town. Whenever I went to visit he would be waiting on the porch as I drove up. Someone spotted me coming off the highway and gave him a heads up. I couldn't have surprised him if I wanted.

It is 31 here with wind chill of 21. We had a skift of snow last night.

Sally - a warning about the tomato hangy thing - the toms I put in the ground look very good (we are warmer here than you are) but I think it is too cold for the hangy thing. That tom looks almost dead. I was going to bring it inside last night but I got lazy. If it doesn't make it I will replace it when the nights are warmer.

Oh mortswife so sorry you got snow! And it's too cold there!!! It rained here a little yesterday and will do the same tomorrow but it's not too cold. I actually had to take the flannel sheets off of my bed and put on the cotton ones!