How cute!!!!!!!! Congrats to you.
Deb

Beautiful baby ,lucky you. I planted seeds in peat pellets just for trial, boy do they grow well.
{{gwi:1076181}}

what a beautiful boy, you must be thrilled.

We are chomping at the bit for spring to arrive. I have started a bunch of seeds and the rose cuttings are doing well. Sure would be nice to see the rest of the snow melt so we could have a look at how things did.

cathy

Hi everyone!

Thanks for the comments on Corban dkline, clairdo2 and cathy...*S* He sure is keeping his parents busy....LOL He's up over 9lbs now.LOL

The snow is still here,,, it melted a bit yesterday and today, but we still have 5 ft of the stuff! *ugh* We had a bit fall today but it pretty much all melted as it hit.

I took some geranium and impatien cuttings a few days ago and the impatiens already have some roots starting to show! I haven't started my petunia seeds yet though.

clairdo, those nasturiums sure are doing well growing in those pots! Good for you for trying that out!

Cathy, u took rose cuttings? How did u do that? I couldn't get at my roses...and even if I could they are under 5 ft of snow.....LOL Did u put them in water? Or did u put rooting hormone on them and stick them in soil or vermiculite? What kind of gardens do u have?

I love lilies, have a few roses and lots of hostas too. *S*

Take care

Debbie :-)

Debbie,

I pretty much try to almost always have rose cuttings going. Mostly I do cuttings after the spring flush so that they have as much time as possible to grow by the following winter. This past fall though we lost them all and most of the house plants after a medical emergency took us to Wpg for 2 weeks.

In Jan I picked up 5 micro-mini's at Wallyworld and divided them & took cuttings, those silly things root like dandilions and we have about 35 of them blooming under lights in the basement along with the seeds.

There are some really good articles both on this site on the propagation forum as well as on the internet. It does take practice but it's fun. Let me know if I can be of any assistance, but it is too much to post in this reply.

My gardens are new at this address...lol. This will be our 3rd summer in this house and it was a blank slate when we moved in. My obsessions in decending order are:

1) Roses
(35 in the ground, 30 coming in Apr. + impulse buys will no doubt occur... i'm hopeless)
2) Lillies
2b) Daylillies
3) everthing else

oh and clematis... almost forgot them, a rose without clematis is like toast without jam.

Cathy

Hi Cathy,

Will u plant those mini roses outside in the ground or will u place them in planters? I have read articles on rooting roses by bending the branch over and laying it on the ground,,covering with a bit of dirt and sticking a brick or rock on it to hold it down. It takes a year for it to get roots though.
I have pretty much run outta space for anymore roses and have been cutting them back hard to keep them in their spot. A few like to spread out and I'm having a hard time with controlling those ones. Why is it always the ones with the most deadly thorns that do that? LOL

You must have a big property to grow that many roses....what kind of roses do u grow? Mine are mostly Explorers.

I have a few daylilies, but asiatics do the best here. And I like clematis too...mine seem to throw seeds all around as I have a few vines growing that I didn't plant. Which I don't mind at all. *S*

I have started my petunias and I hope I didn't wait too long. I have them going under the lights 24/7 until they germinate. My Christmas cactus is blooming again so that is nice to have some flowers in the house. *S* Still five ft of snow here though.

Take care
Debbie :-)

Debbie,

The mini's will go outside in the ground. Probably a row of them beside the driveway. Since they are grown from cuttings (even the one's you see in the store) they are essentially "own-root". They also stay small so with good snow cover I find them about 50/50 on the hardiness scale. I got the original 5 for under 10 bucks so a very small investment. In the fall you can take cuttings again and start the whole dance over just in case some don't make it through winter.

You can root by bending the branch over to the dirt. I think that is called "layering" I haven't done it because I find our winters too cold and the growing season too short for it to work. I start everything from cuttings in pots and that way I can bring them inside for their first winter.

I don't have a big property at all typical city lot about 50x100 I think. The hardy ones (explorers, parklands, rugosa's) are in the front yard. I don't think my neighbours should have to look at the strange winter protection that I need to use to keep the tender one's alive through winter. Some of these can get pretty big I guess. If you are talking about spreading & deadly thorns in the same breath I bet you are talking about Rugosa's...lol

The tender one's, mostly Austins, climbers & OGR's are in the back yard, as protected as possible. Often they can survive with good protection but die back almost to the ground. The canes die but the crown survives. Then they re-grow throughout the summer. This way they stay quite small so that means I can cram in more of them...lol

I have quite a few asiatic and oriental lillies and seem to add more every year. I have always loved them. Daylillies, I only have about a dozen so far. They are fun to propegate from prolif's or seed. I planted some asiatic "cola" from seed last year and buried the pots outside, will see this spring if they made it.

You are so lucky to have clematis coming up from seed, they are a real challenge. I have some seed that I haven't sown yet but they can take up to a year to germinate...I just don't know if I can be THAT patient.

SURE WISH THE SNOW WOULD MELT!!!!! can't wait to get out there and see how things did.

cathy

Hi
Sorry it took me so long to write,, I have been under the weather.

Cathy I have never tried growing the mini roses,but we sure get enough snow to cover them up well......LOL It might be something I should look into!

Your lot is a forest compared to ours...I wish we had a bit more space. I'm not sure if the prickly roses I have are rugosas......one is called Hazeldean and it has beautiful bright yellow flowers that bloom just once and it is hardy to zone 1 and it has the thorns that jump out and grab you! Also one called Beauty of Leafland,, a yellow one that spreads quickly and has lots of thorns.

I would love to be able to grow the tender ones here, but I tried years ago with all the babying that they need and they still didn't survive for me over the winter so I gave up. What are OGR's?

I didn't seed the clematis on purpose...they did it themselves........LOL

We got another snow storm today,,,gee doesn't the weather man know it's April already? So all the snow that had melted we got back...... LOL

Take care
Debbie :-)

Hi Debbie,

No problem, sure hope you are feeling better though.

Ahhh Hazeldean and Beauty of Leafland.... I should have thought of those with your description, but they are quite rare compared to standard Rugosa's so they didn't spring to mind. No they aren't Rugosa's they are Hybrid Spinosissima's and are from the Scotch or Burnet roses. Originally from Scotland I think. You are quite lucky to have them as they are not easy to find.

OGR's are Old Garden Roses or some call them Anitque roses. Some of them are far too tender for Canadian locations (the original tea's, noisettes, the old ramblers and climbers) but some of them like the Alba's, Gallica's do well. Some like the Bourbon's Hybrid Perpetuals, Moss, are more tender but will survive with protection. Some are once blooming some repeat. It is a very large group of very old roses. Most are wayyyyy better scented than anything modern & hardy and that is why i grow them. Plus I kind of love the history of them. To hold a bloom in your hand and drink in the scent and know that Napolean gave them to Josephine or that they grew in the gardens of the Roman's & are linked to Anthony & Cleopatra. I just find it really interesting that we still have these plants available so many years later.

Many of the Explorer and Parkland shrubs are hardy but there is not enough variety with many of them looking very much like many others. They also have very little scent.

We also got a major snowfall last Friday, thankfully it has almost melted off.

Cathy

Hi Debbie -

I apologise for being away for so long. There just doesn't seem to be enough time to keep up with everything lately!

Congratulations on your new little grandguy! What a little sweetheart! He looks so tiny, too, but i imagine that's changing rapidly. Darius, my little grandbaby, is 10 months old now and walking! She is such a joy and a real ham - loves having her picture taken. She's a smart cookie too and can point to things in books already. That's precocious, isn't it? LOL Of course it is! (i really don't remember how old my kids were when they could do that) Anyway, i'm expecting lots of help in the garden from her this summer. LOL

It has been such a long winter, hasn't it? Our snow is going now and some of my crocuses are blooming, and there's lots of green showing in the beds. Trouble is, i can't get at some of them because of the snow! We're expecting rain on Monday, so maybe that will get rid of it once and for all. I have a bunch of winter sowing done, and am starting to sow annuals now. My impatiens are doing great this year but the petunials aren't. I'm not happy with them! In other years i've tried planting African daisies and haven't had much luck with them - tried again this year and everything came up, so i have a bunch of them! Go figure!

Our Horticultural Society is hosting the Annual District Meeting for Northwestern Ontario, so we've been busy meeting and planning and making things for the meeting. Well, i have to admit that i haven't been in on a lot of the making, but i'll be doing some planting for it - some things for decoration around the hall and others for draws and giveaways. It's a lot of work and some people are getting pretty tense about it. I'll be glad when it's over!

Tomorrow i'm hoping to get outside and do some spring clean-up in the gardens. That's something i'm looking forward to! I've taken some of the protection off my roses and most of them look good so far. I have a few projects lined up for this summer, the major ones being moving a couple of roses. Poor Hansa is in the way of a deck dh wants to build and i've been wanting to get it moved for two years now but it never seems to work out. Last fall, i asked his friend with the little loader to come as soon as he can in the spring so that he can move it for me. Hopefully that can be done in a couple of weeks. Then dh will have no excuse not to build the deck, so he may get it done in the next three or four years. LOL The other rose is Blanc Double de Coubert - the place i planted her ended up being too shady. She's way smaller than Hansa, so i can move her myself.

Hi Cathy! :) I'll be emailing you soon - next weekend is when i'll be in Thunder Bay, so hopefully we can get together with some others for a nursery run.

Anyway, that's it for now - almost bedtime here, even for a Friday night! :) Enjoy the grandbaby, Debbie!

Hi there!
Cathy, I got the Beauty of Leafland and Hazeldean thru Roses for the North,,, many years ago. I think they are closed down now. In fact that is where I got all my roses. I needed to find a place that grew their roses on their own root stock for northern gardens. I have been trying to sort of "kill" Hazeldean for a few years. I redid my front garden a few years ago and dug up the rose and moved it but it keeps coming up in places I don't want it too! LOL

Your OGR sound lovely! I have seen pictures of them in gardening catalogues and I would love to be able to grow them, but with my health being not the best I just don't have the strength to baby them like they need. I didn't know that some roses have such a history and can certainly understand why u love to grow them!

The bunny is still around outside, I saw him again tonight. I know he has eaten some of my tulip leaves and I can only imagine what he is going to do with the hosta fingers! I am trying to get him to eat the food I put out for him in the dish, but he seems to like the self serve type. LOL I figure once I start sitting outsie with the dog he might go somewhere else.

We still have to figure out how to build a fence along the side where the garage was, so the dog doesn't get out onto the street.

Marcia, hi there! I thought u got buried under a snow pile.......LOL Corban is 3 months old now but is still pretty small. I hope he is going to have a bit of his father's height and not a shrimp like his mom. Dad is 6'6" and mom is like 4' 10" ........and all of her family is short!

Darius is walking at 10 months already? Yikes! That is great she is pointing to pictures already.....she is a little smartie!! Corban is just starting to smile and trying to giggle.

I have gotten into the front garden, but it is still so wet in there I don't want to walk around too much. I have yet to do any clean up and I'm not looking forward to it. My back is hurting already. LOL

Are u sure u want to hurry and move your roses? You know it might take hubs another few years to getting the wood bought........LOL

We are waiting for our contractor to come around and start on the roof. I'm not looking forward to that as I'm worried about my plants. Plus we still have a bunch of wood and siding laying down in the front garden that was in the garage and there is no way I can move it into the backyard. So somehow I have to figure out where and how to get it back there. I sure wish we didn't have to take down our garage it sure is making life more difficult.

My petunias are growing pretty fast now, since I figured out I wasn't giving them strong enough fertilizer. OOPS LOL I had fungas gnats around the plants and I think they killed 2 of my rooting geraniums, but i've been using soap so hopefully that will get rid of them.

Well that's it for now. Take care
Debbie :-)

Hi,

Don't have time to check out the forum often, but I couldn't believe this one has not been used since March.

Hope all is well with Debbie, your new grandchild is beautiful.

After a rainy spring things have improved here, if it wasn't for the black flies I could actually get out. I seem to run out for 30 minutes and run back in to try to loose the bugs.
Is anyone else having a problem with ants this year, my whole yard has turned into an ant hill, they are under every rock and board I pick up. They are red ants, if you are, how are you fighting them. I have been using bleach and it seems to be working but it is an on going thing.

Hope all is well with everyone

Janet

Hi Janet! *waving*
How are u? Do u have any pics of your gardens to show us?

I guess everyone else was having a lot of rain this summer like I was so they didn't have anything to post. LOL But we've actually had FOUR DAYS in a row of sun!! yeeeehaww LOL We have a weather warning now for t storms and heavy winds, but I hope that is wrong. It has been 28C 33C with the humidex the past few days so that is nice. *S*

My first lily bloomed the other day, the peonies are all blooming now and I hope the storm doesn't knock them over. They smell so wonderful! My water lily has it's first bud which is great!

The Japanese Lilac tree has buds on it so should be blooming in the next few days. It is late this year like all the plants are.

Now that I have been able to get out in the garden I have been weeding like crazy, I have even hired a girl to help me as my back just can't take it anymore cause of the arthritis. I can stand for about 10 minutes then I have to sit down for 10 minutes,,very frustrating and very sloowwwww.

The black flies are really bad here too! They are just loving the wet weather and the mosquitoes too, but it is the black flies that seem to drive me nuts. Janet, I use pic and also the Off lanterns and they seem to help keep the bugs away the most.

I have ants here too, not as bad as a couple of years ago. I tried to find the recipe I use but wasn't able to. I think I can remember it though, it's a Jerry Baker recipe.
Mix 1 part laundry Borax powder and 3 parts white sugar. The sugar masked the taste of the Borax. Put it in a covered container with holes cut out in the sides so the ants can get thru. You don't want birds or animals getting at it as it will hurt them. Put it where u see the ants a lot. The ants will pick up the grains of mixture and bring it back to the ant hill and feed it to the other workers and even the queen. Eventually they will all die.

Hope this helps.

Take care
Debbie :-)

Morning Debbie

Thanks for the info on ants, I will pick up Borax today and try that. They are just every where this year and I am not the only one around me having problems. They are red ants and they bite, between them and the nasty black flies I am going crazy. I do use a pics and an off lantern in the evening but just can't seem to carry it around with me.

I don't have any pics. of my garden right now, but I am real pleased with every thing this year, so now that everything is starting to bloom and come together will take some. I tried things this year that I have never grown before, like trumpet angel. spinach vine, hyacinth bean vine. I am going for a kinda tropical/cottage look and it seems to be working.

Any way off to start my day, glad to see some one here.

Janet