Happy birthday, JasperDale

You have my best wishes for cooler temperatures, more rain (you asked for it!), and more roses to adorn your wonderful arbors and trellises.

You are the best!

East Coast Blonde

Is that the name of the Lily?
Or are you describing yourself?
Happy Birthday JasperDale
What a great time of year to be borne in.

How funny! I never thought of it when I typed ECB that it would appear as a possible name for the lily! Actually ECB is JD's nickname for me through his West Coast Blonde friend, Michelle.

The lily is actually 'Crystal Star' from Dutch Gardens.

I never preview much of what I send and there are times when Caps appear.

JD, happy birthday. It should be happy now that the heat wave is officially over. I hope all of your eccentric tenants and neighbors leave you in peace for the day, if not longer.

Happy Birthday, JasperDale! Our daffodils are just now in bloom! I'm sending this one your way.

Thank you all. Pirl's wish came true: It's actually chilly here right now,which is perfectly OK with me given the heat of the last 3 days.

ge: That coleus is superb. It would have been toast here on Sunday !
Zuzu: What is that pink rose ?
mamasita: Is that King Alfred? My daffs were done a month ago :(

My mechanic just called and asked when I was going to pick up my spare tire...which he's had for over a month ! I forgot it was even there!
I'll probably get a flat on the way there.

The daff might be King Alfred. It belongs to one of my neighbors, and she planted them about 25 years ago, so it's anyone's guess!

Happy birthday, Mike. May you have the best weather ever for your birthday week.

JD, the name of the pink rose is Grandmother's Hat, which always makes me laugh. I picture a grumpy and exceedingly proper old dowager -- a pillar of the community, to be sure, but someone inspiring no affection even in her relatives. If you had the slightest affection for your grandmother, you'd name the rose Granny's Bonnet or something like that.

I bought it in a 4-inch pot at Annie's Annuals a couple of years ago. Now it's a veritable monster. It might be the easiest rose on earth to grow. I planted the little baby in a raised bed in the former driveway -- no more than 8-10 inches of soil in the bed. It either pushed its way through the concrete or it spread its roots out horizontally. I hope I don't wake up one morning to find that it's eaten the house.

Have a tremendoulsy stupendous Birthday Mike! Hope the weather holds for you, the weeds die and tires stay inflated.

JD!!!!!! so your BD is on Earthday! hope you are having a good one. I was in the mood for a Shiner Bock, now I have a reason. I will drink it in your name.

JD, Happy Happy Birthday, my friend!!
Best wishes to you for all good things today.....

Does this mean you are older than I am now??

I am sending you a KY Lake sunset.


Edited because I forgot every grammatical lesson I ever knew.

This message was edited Apr 22, 2009 6:05 PM

♪♪♪ Happy Birthday To You ♪♪♪ Hope you had a wonderful birthday.

Thanks for all the wishes and cool pictures, everyone ! I'm all margarita'd out at the moment and debating whether to go for the flan in the fridge. (Say "flan in the fridge" ten times without stopping...lol )

I'm going to regret this tomorrow.

Here is a cool iris from weegy...just opened today.

actually, all 3 of those iris are from weegy.
Here's a close up of the orangey one

Oh, go for the flan in the fridge.

At least you can still type after being margarita's out, so it can't be too bad.

LOL !!! The coffee helped !

Polly, the iris in your photo is just incredible! So beautiful.

Thank you, that's Bluebeards Ghost. It's a median. Can you folks in California grow median irises?

I'll ck. and find out ! I'm barely getting the Japanese Iris "thing" down.
This is the 3rd year for the ones pirl sent me, so they should be really good. They did bloom the past two years, but the clumps are much bigger now...so I'm hoping, hoping, hoping...

Polly, what are median irises? Are they the same thing we call intermediate bearded irises? If so, yes, they do grow here.

Median irises are anything between dwarf bearded and tall bearded. They include intermediate bearded, miniature tall bearded, border bearded, and standard dwarf bearded. Supposedly the smaller ones like the standard dwarf bearded need more cooling than the tall bearded.

It sounds like you have the Japanese iris thing down, Mike. They bloomed, they increased, what more do you want? They don't sing and dance, you know, LOL.

NOW she tells me !

That was good Polly !!!

I guess I'm feeling smart mouthed tonight.

Really, Pirl and I talked about how well you were doing with them, and I'm quite surprised. I expected they would bloom the first year, as they set their buds in the fall, and they would have set buds in a cooler climate at Pirls house, but then they bloomed the second year. I really thought you were too warm to grow them. I never would have recommended them to someone in Z10, but I will now.

Pirl and I are doing a hardiness test with JIs. I had contacted the Japanese Iris Society, and no one has ever done a hardiness test that can be found, so we are doing an informal one for our own knowledge, and to be noted with the JIS. I expected them to grow in Z3-9. Plant files says Z5 is the northern limit. We are seeing some indication they grow in Z2. So it's very interesting to see they grow even warmer than Z9. Plant files used to say Z6 as the coldest. I got them to change it to Z5, but they won't budge on any colder.

They are a beautiful iris, and it's a shame people are missing out on them because they don't believe they can grow them.

I always follow pirl's instructions to a TEE and did what she said to do, which was to plant them in a bog-like condition. I dug a trench about 18" deep and filled it with solid peat moss and planted them in that. My native soil is very alkaline, so I always plant hydrangeas and azaleas in solid peat and they do fine.

So, the peat seems top be the key for growing them here. I keep them saturated and feed them acid food.

She said it may take them a few years to get going, so this being their 3rd year, they should be pretty good...but not as good as you and she can grow them...but like I said, I'm hopeful.

They have them growing here in the Japanese garden at the university and they're really nice. I don't know what they do special to them.

see what I mean? it takes 3 years for ANYTHING, lol

It's always good to follow Pirls advice.

I think peat is a wonderful thing for JIs. I tried to convince some people on the iris forum, but they don't seem to agree. But Pirl and I both grow great JIs, and now it seems to be working for you, so I'm sold.

Please post some pictures when they bloom.

I will ! I took pictures and sent them to pirl the first year they bloomed, but I can't find the pictures now...they're tied up in some file that got condensed and it's too frustrating to find them. (The fact that I'm totally inept at computers doesn't help matters any, either! lol )

These seem to be one of those plants which people here immediately say "You can't grow them here"...along with Clematis.

I'm determined to get these things to perform to East Coast standards !

Good goal! I hate it when they say it can't be done, then you just have to do it.

They're just too nice not to try.

I agree 100 % !

Mike, you had a birthday and I wasn't invited???
Are you not listed on the DG birthday list?

Here we were on Tues., enjoying a nice lunch and your gardens and you never even mentioned it...you bad, bad boy.

Please put it on your DG page for next year. Arlene, he listens to you....please make him put it on his DG page. lol

I hope you had a nice Birthday anyway!!!

Donna

We can all equate Mike's birthday with Earth Day. He has created a real paradise on earth out of a neglected area that only came to life with his care and attention. He's living proof that by selecting appropriate plants and giving each one the care it needs can bring beauty from an area that was used simply as a giant path from the building to the garages.

No one has helped me more with my garden than Mike. He's a fountain of knowledge and I'm so grateful to Zuzu for introducing us.

I start my days with my coffee in a mug he sent me. Isn't it terrific?