So today I didn't actually do anything involving my plants, but lots of prep for them. I'm in the process of trimming a tree I have in my yard so I can move all my plant stands to a better position. I also pulled apart a heap of shipping pallets so I can make more stands. We have 5 dogs, so keeping my plants at ground level isn't really an option. During the week I 'saved' (ok I just bought them cause they were cool) about 6 new additions, so I've made the call that I'm not allowed anything new for three months, or until I get all my current plants set up better. Well that went out the window already! My parents went shopping today and got me the cutest cephalocereus senilis, so I have another new addition to make room for lol! Anyway, tomorrow I'm going back on the straight and narrow and I'm off to the dump shop to get someone more timber for my stands. I will make these guys more comfortable if it kills me lol!

I was potting up some baby rebutias for one of my sons, watering indoors, and ordering seeds. I have little room, but I caved in and bought astrophytum seeds on E-Bay - Astrophytum asterias and the 'bishop's cap' one. I still have echeveria seeds to sow.

It's nice to think of us all pottering around the world over at our plants.

What, talk and no pictures. That just hurts my brain.

Hopefully I'll have pictures of my new seedlings soon :)

Scrubbed pots for new arrivals.
Watered then fed chickens and collected eggs.
Watched DH mow lawn. (Ok, supervised)
Karen

Finished my quail aviary and moved them in and now I'm planting sod for the dogs to have soft and cool to walk on! It's only 105 each day this week , yes I'm nuts. lol!

Ponderd on a thought. Now what do I do?

Marguerite, I too looked at ebay yesterday. I should'nt have, it was like torture! But I did anyway lol. Did manage to get too ID's out of it though :-) The attached pic is an Aloe bakeri (I've shown everyone this pic before). Jojo, I love quail. Used to have hem as pets when I was a kid. Now I have a 10 year old cockatiel who is afraid of his own shadow, so no quail lol.

Hi Misselle,
Did you see the seller advertising small rooted pieces of variegated Christmas Cactus? I love looking at the different sales, but am getting better at restraining myself lately.

Well I was only looking on the Australian one, so we may not have seen the same listings. Amazing plants though, it took SO much self control lol

Started today with a trip to the dump shop. Got some decent pine to use for the legs on my plant stand, and cheap too which is a bonus! Told my parent I was not going to the markets, cause I would buy more plants, and I'm not allowed more til I sort out the ones I have. They got me three anyway lol! So much for no more plants, four newbies in 2 days lol. Anyway, got stuck in and cleaned up and cut the timber I bought, so tomorrow I can give them a light sand and start painting. Look out my plant babies, your new homes are coming! lol

Opuntia monacantha monstrose variegata with euphorbia lactea in the background

Other newbie - ID needed if possible. Have been looking for hours, but so far no luck :( euphorbia lactea in background again. A really pretty one with nice green bits

Here you go Stush! Pictures! lol..

I've raised birds off and on over the years and are planning on filling this aviary this fall. :-)
Misselle , what kind of quail did you have? These are Coturnix. I have 4 right now and will be getting eggs to hatch out soon.
My aviary is 8' long, 4' wide and 6' tall and has a 4'square box at the end.

That is my nosy pup "Scrappy" checking out their new grass which is already starting to green up!

It was older grass that Lowe's was going to throw out, so I got it free!

Please excuse the horrible fence in the back ground! It needs replaced and I just don't have $1,000 laying around right now. lol

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Jojo, It's going back about 18 or 19 years, but I think we had some Asian blues as well as the normal little brown ones and the larger brown ones. When I was 8 or 9 my cousin who was only 3 or 4 at the time opened the aviary, and well carnage! We lost all of them to our cats and dogs, the lucky ones we never saw again. Anyway, we gave up after the that :( They are gorgeous little birds though. Scrappy looks adoreable! I'm sure my girls will ends up on here one day. I have two staffy x's whom are my world! :-)

I burned a tree today. Its all a pile of ash.

So today I washed my car :-). Poor thing desporately needed it! Then I set about painting the timber for my new plant stands! Hopefully the weather will stay nice and sunny and I'll be in construction mode by the weekend :-)

Hey, come wash my car please! I... don't remember the last time I washed it. ;)

Planto

I originally saw this thread on Saturday. I actually did a lot around the yard that day but didn't get around to posting about it. Saturday was tree removal day. We took down two trouble trees we've had for years. One was a Tallow crud tree just off thr back porch. It has nothing but drop mess all over the porch so we were happy to rip that one down. The other wqs a large Hackberry on the fence line. Unfortunately my Celeste Fig was in its fall path... I had no choice but to dig it up when it was fruiting or elase it would have been destroyed. :( It's badly shocked now and unlikely to get any fruit from it this year. AGAIN.

But cutting down the Tallow was great cause now I can set up an epic curving garden bed. I'm going to make it consist of lilies, colocasia, caladium, herbs and aloes. Should be great. I'll have to takw pics of the area to show you all.

Sorry planto, enough of a mission just to do mine lol. Sundewd, that does sound exciting :-). Make sure you post some pics of your process too :-)

Worked on setting up a irrigation system for my containers for fun, and to see how well the plants do. I wanted to make a mock trial garden for fun, also so I can grow a bunch of flowers with minimal care!
Grantgarden2

Sorry! Photobucket is being weird, it will not let me copy the links at all! Is anyone experiencing this? Well this is the finished product! Im so excited!
Grantgarden2

Misselle: sure. :) I can start now actually. Took pictures of what I am working with. Excuse the mess, it is an In-progress work area that was always a bothersome weedy spot. The Tallow tree removal is what finally allowed me to do this although the stump will be stuck there for years. So I have to work on/around it.

This is the bed I am starting with. I did it late last year. Going to basically wrap it around to the back of the porch. Lately I have worked on beating the barrier line back further to extend the bed. I'm going to plant more Colocasia as well as Caladium. There is moss rose and ice plant already started in the back corner for ground cover eventually.
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To the left of that and around the corner I want to put lilies and other flower bulbs.
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I plan to leave these banana trees though they are in a terrible spot. No bananas this year looks like. They got too cold this winter. This will end the bulbs and begin the aloes.
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This area is... Ugh. It's going to suck to clean out. There are bits of palm husks, cactus spines and other dead, but dangerous, weeds. Not to mention the size. But I want aloes from the banana trees to the stump. I also plan to put lattice across the gap beneath the porch so that I can plant some of my English and Algerian ivy and let it fill in.

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This small area behind and on the other side of the stump should be a good area for me to plant my cooking herbs I use a lot. Various types of mints, dill, sage... That sort of thing.

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Quite a job huh? All of that has to be dug out 6 inches them raised back up to par plus another 5 inches added in some areas. Just to ensure the St. Augustine doesn't grow back through beyond control and to replenish the otherwise dead soil. Not sure when I will be able to finish it but I will likely work on It bit by bit when I can.

This post was edited by Sundewd on Mon, Jun 23, 14 at 21:29

Misselle,
I understand lol. That would be why mine is so dirty. That, and we have to was Hubby's car too, haha.

Planto

Sundewd, looks like quite the job. It's going to look great when It's done though! Planto, not sure why I bothered. The bats were out again last night, we have massive palms in the yard and they eat the fruit, so turns out I wasted my time :( I'm in the process of making a car port/gazibo, I'm currently painting it, so hopefully it will be up on the weekend and I can wash my car and put it away without it being covered in bat poo! So annoying :(

Miselle,
Oh my. :/

Planto

I know Planto! As much as I like the bats, I really wish they would choose a different flightpath :-)

Everyone has been so busy at this time on their yard, very nice collection of birds and did I read correctly BATS! Wow! I've always been of the I understanding they carried rabies.. :/ I hope not. Well I'm a little out of touch with the conversation on this post so I'll just jump in with the bird post,
I used to have morning doves chickens & 2 Peacocks. Where I live we are not allowed to have birds, I could get away with the doves & chickens but the peacocks blew my cover. If you've ever heard one scream you'll know what I mean. They make a sounds as if you were in the Rain Forest.

I'm thinking of getting a couple of morning doves but no peacocks.

Stush, I'm with you on the "WHAT NO PICTURES!?" Lol..

Well that's my work in the yard today guys, have a great day and keep up the good work.

Greg

Misselle,
Lol!

Planto

I am pooped! Lol. Did 2 more strips of sod yesterday and nothing today! Lol just kicking back in my swing crocheting. Enjoying everyone's posts!

Greg, firstly great work! Progress is slow here. Still just painting the timber for my stands, I could posted so pics, but I'll save you all the bordom lol.Secondly, there was some rabies scares in Queensland last year, but the general idea is not to play with the bats lol. Professionals that work with them are immunised for anything nasty, the general public are told just to not touch. I think it comes down to common sense. If you see one in trouble, call a professional, if you see one in immeadiate danger, wear gloves or use a towel or something. It makes me mad when people don't think then the animals get blamed :( Poor critters are just trying to live their lives.

More painting! Got to tell you all, I'm over this *%$! Lol. I also checked out the Gold Coast Succulent and Bromeliad Society website. Have been umming and ahhing about joining so I can get in with the locals. They are holding their monthly meeting tomorrow and I'm trying to decide if I want to drive the hour and a half to check it out..... Might help me make up my mind about joining. (Yes I know, not really 'in the yard' but plant related so it counts lol!)

Misselle, GO for the drive. You will be rewarded. I find my relationship to my Texas natives group such a blessing. Even more than my garden acquisitions. I love seeing and hearing stories about their travels in the wold. AND I love the few group trips that I have been on.We have professors in Botany and Biology from the University of Texas. Writers, serious committed people without degrees who's knowledge often dwarfs the professors.. It is a great mix. I met a person who studies Indian myths about their Agri practices. The group has taken what I do on my land to a whole new level of understanding. It takes our interest beyond our yards in so many ways.

I missed the really large flare up, I was too busy with the hose to run for my camera. I am burning uprooted trees from a close encounter with a not one but two tornados that skipped over my land. I had 45 minutes of 75 MPH winds that went on seemingly forever. Scary stuff. I am just grateful that my house is well built and sustained no damage. One tree down, 4 more and countless large branches to go. My cactus garden is on the back burner but I did find a Croton incana, a rare (to the trade) native from the Rio Grande.

Did I mention that I love fire.

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Want, so happy you were spared from those tornadoes! Scary!

I love fire too. Going to go burn stuff this week at our place in Vermont. :)

Laura, for you an album of fires after the big the drought of 2011, I had cleared out the understory trees and so many of the 35' cedars so ones could grow stouter. I had done this during the winter during the beginning of the drought and I had lived in fear with 13 huge fire piles in my front field as wild fires were starting up all around me. The county took off the burn ban the day before thanksgiving and this is how we brought our Thanksgiving in . They really were crazy taking the burn ban off so soon after a measly first rain but they wanted all the ranchers around to get rid of these accumulating piles.. The fires were so explosive that day, not like I have ever experienced, but we were in control, I think. It was scary but we got a system down and were advised by firemen the best way to do it.I wanted those huge piles gone. Normally I let most of it sit in the woods, but we took so much out that winter.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/36613107@N05/sets/72157628269337705/

Here is a link that might be useful: My fires, My lovely fires

Finally started my stands! Got one whole leg together today! Lol. I work all day tomorrow, but Friday, I'm so getting the rest of them together! :-)