Yes, we got together! Gale and i went out to the greenhouse and eventually met Kelly Rae out there. We had a lot of fun looking around at things, and though Gale and i had planned to be good, Kelly forced us to buy plants! LOL Actually, they had some good deals on things so it wasn't bad. I came out under $20 for a tray almost full, mostly with things to take cuttings from. And i bought a pretty gerbera daisy for my daughter because she loves them. :) We missed Danni at the one greenhouse but met up with her at the next one. Mostly we just looked there. I bought two purple bacopas that were nicer-looking than at the other greenhouse.

It was a lot of fun and i hope we can do this again. If i can get there during the summer, we're going to do our own garden tour. It was too early to look at anything now, and too cold besides. We've had the rotten weather too. :(

Anyhow, i'm bushed and ready for bed. I'll write more another day!

Marcia,
half asleep again!

Thanks for asking Debbie. Yes, the greenhouse is up and running. I am having trouble with mice in there, they ate 72 tomato seedlings last week!! I have a set of lights in the house so my tomatoes are now restarted in there.

BUT...

Big news for us - we have sold this house and bought another in a nearby town! Our current house is 120 years old, and we have done absolutely everything to update it; it is truly a beautiful home. But it is too large for us now, and very difficult for my husband to keep up. Also he has bad arthritis in his hips and one knee, and is waiting, not patiently, for replacement surgery. He had a terrible fall on the stairs in December, and we decided that we should start looking before it became absolutely essential to go. We finally found a bungalow that is just perfect for us - we had a check list and everything we wanted was there. So...we offered on it, was accepted, and then listed this. To our surprise, a couple offered very quickly here close to our asking price, so we accepted. It was all a done deal in a week and a half!!

I won't have a greenhouse there, but I will have two sets of three tier lights in a working space in the basement. We get the new house on May 12, and I have not packed a single box! But I do have over 60 perennials in pots all ready to go, I have a new gingko biloba pendula in a large pot, I have ordered 150 bags of triple mix, and DH has odered wood and corner brackets for new raised beds. I will plant a garden here for the new folks (they take over here on June 30) and will plant a garden for us in the new yard! I expect to be REAL busy!!!

In addition, we are installing a "garden window" - sort of a bump out that is all glass, we have one now in the kitchen and in the new house it will be in a living room window. I grow orchids in there, and they thrive! The contractor will be able to install the new window in early June. The window he is taking out is great (the house is only three years old) and DH will build a cold frame with it - sliding glas and screened already.

I love this house, and am surprised at myself as I am anxious to get going. Once the decision is made - all the rest seems easier I guess. So you might not hear much from me during May and June - But I'll check in when I can!

Cheers!

Marcia, sounds like u had a fun time! And I'm sure Kelly Rae, just twisted your arm and MADE u buy plants... *LOL*
Did u buy any hostas?

Have to be careful in buying hostas now as there is a Hosta X virus going around that is extremely contagious and can be passed from one hosta to another if u don't sterilize your tools between using them from hosta to hosta. And don't buy them from big stores like Walmart etc. People in the hosta community are trying to get the growers in Holland to stop sending over the virused hostas to Canada and the US and to destroy the plants they have. If they cut or dig up a virused plant then dig up one that doesn't have a virus without sterilizing their shovel they will pass on the virus. Even if u soak hostas together in a bucket of water before u plant them and one hosta is virused then they will all get it. It's very bad. So everyone be careful!

jak, hi there! I've missed you posting but sure can understand u not being able to. You are moving? Wow, u have a lot of courage. I don't think I'd have courage to move and leave my home. I am so glad u were able to sell your house and find a home so quickly, that is wonderful!! And I'm glad u are taking some plants with you! I know living in a bungalow will be so much easier for your hubs too. I'm sorry to hear that he fell back in December, that is very scary. I wish u a very uneventful move, which means everything goes smoothly. *S*

Will your new home be that much smaller than your old home? I sure hope your kids are going to be helping u move and is your grandson moving with u too? Do u think the new owners will have time for a garden when they first move in? Would just hate for u to plant them a garden and them not have the time to keep it up.

My sister had quite a few of those garden windows and she loved them! She grew all kinds of herbs in them. I have never tried orchids, I did see them for sale at Walmart and was tempted, but they were 20 bucks and I could of bought a garden statue for that much so I didn't get the orchid. I know that some kinds are easier to grow than others and I was scared the ones at Walmart were the hard ones to grow *L*

That is too bad that the mice ate so many tomato plants! I read that they were toxic,,,geezeeee maybe the mice need to be told that. *L* Did they eat them right down to the ground cause I have stuck broken off tomato plants into water and let them get roots and replanted them again and they did fine.

Take care
Debbie

Here is a pic I took tonight of my amaryllis, still have lots in the house blooming and getting ready to bloom

{{gwi:2100191}}

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY Buddies!!

The weather was lovely the past 2 days, but we'll be having rain by the sounds of it for awhile.

Had a great time with the other gals last weekend and of course bought plants...lol.

I STILL have a bit of ice in the stream and a small pile of snow on the bushline along the driveway..the rain should get rid of it this week.. I HOPE....don't need to see that white stuff anymore!

I finally ordered my veggie seeds from Vesey's this week.
Just waiting for Steve to rototill the garden,,,can't wait...you know how I LOVE that veggie garden..lol

Put a few fish back into the pond yesterday and will get a few more in today.
There are 2 fish that OVERWINTERED in the pond and are still alive! Also have a small frog residing in the pond...he must have found a mate the other day, as there are eggs in the bulrush now.
I'm pumped...I love having tadpoles in the pond, they keep it so clean!
The waterlilies are back in the pond and bought my oxygenators yesterday...just have to wait for things to grow now.

Have brought a few hardy annuals I grew under lites to the greenhouse to stay now. Will wait another week or so before the tender ones can go in yet.I cover them with a Remay blanket at nite, so with the soilbed,water-filled pop bottles and blanket, it stays 7-10 degrees warmer than outside, without extra heat, although I do have the heater in case of emergency.

The winter sowed plants are growing nicely and I still need to do some direct sowing as soon as I tidy up the beds.

Well....that's it for now...gonna hang up the hummingbird feeders...they should be arriving any day now..I can't wait...that means it's ACTUALLY SPRING to me, when I see the 1st hummer.
Hope everyone has a WONDERFUL Mother's Day!

Talk to ya'll later, Gale

Hey There

I'm sure that everyone is just as busy as I am right now. With spring-clean up's and seedlings and cuttings coming out of my ears, I love/hate this time of year!

I still have to do the last of the deadheading with my late starters, battle goutweed and crab grass in my front flower beds, macrame a new double hanger for the front containers, still plan to plant a few more hundred SpringSow bottles, make more cutting from the "goodies" we grabbed during the TBay get together (speaking of which..."we don't need a cart"! sound familiar to anyone in particular?) etc. etc.

I had a great time girls. Gale, get over here and p/u some plants please. Marcia, Ill send you a list of what I have for extras. Pick what you want and I can send them with the lettuce seeds. Plus, my WinterSow stuff is coming up fast and furious. I have somewhere close to 400 bottles done so far. Shaking headÂ
I think we better plan for a late spring / early summer TBay garden tour / get-together so that we can do a swap for stuff then as well.

And donÂt worry about the Aquilegia Marcia, they are one of the last to show. Like late May I believe. I over-summer them in the shade in their bottles, and plant in the fall. Works great for those and other Bi-annuals
Still lots that are infamous for being late starters, I have to find some time to post my list. Plus weÂve had so much rain I havenÂt taken a really good look for a week or so to see what has popped up.
Anyway, just got home from work but wanted to say hi and that I hope everyone is as crazy busy as I am right now!! I have 16 trays calling my name for an assortment of needs, so I gotta run.

Have a Great Day

Kelly

Hi Everyone,
I hope u all had a nice Mother's Day! Son and family came over here on Sunday and we had a nice time. Little Rose is soooo cute and is learning new words every day, I love having her around, she sure livens up the place. *S*

While Rosie and her mom had a nap son and I went out and worked in the garden. It is so hard to get him over here that I take advantage when he is able to come over. Monday was a special pick up garbage day and we could throw everything out but cars and tires. So that meant a lot of clean was done in the yard. We pruned down a lot of branches off the Shurbert cherry tree and found out that it has some kind of disease. I think it is black knot, there is big black areas on different branches, that is sad and it is such a pretty tree. White flowers in spring, then the reddish leaves and red berries in the summer.

We also took down some large branches on the crabapple so I could get under it to work without taking my head off. *L*

Also took the wood from some of the old garden beds to the street and an old dwarf cranberry bush that I killed last year. Pulling that one out was the hardest and we had to stop after that. I will be planting hostas there after I fill up the big hole it left.

Son kept telling me to go into the house, but I know it is easier with smeone helping u in the garden so I stayed out and helped him. I should of listened to him though as I have been in bed for the past two days. I thought I was doing ok, but I guess my heart and back have different ideas. I sure could do with a body replacement. *LOL*

I transplanted a few tomatoes tonight into bigger containers and seeded some zucs, sunflowers and cukes. I will have to tranplant the buttercrunch lettuce tomorrow too, I'm late at getting that done. I am running out of space. I had to add another windowsill box on the north window just so I could put my tomatoes on the east window sill. I was hoping that May was going to be warm so I could start moving things into the porch, but it is 1C tonight and is suppose to be cold for the next few days.

Gale, I'm glad u had a good time with the gals, but ya didn't say what kind of plants u bought... *S*

I'm surprised that u still have ice and snow around your place too. I thought yours would of been gone before ours was. Does your pond have a liner in it? Or is it a natural pond? Am wondering how the fish survived in a pond with a liner? And u got tadpoles? Very kewl!

My waterlilies are growing in the basement but son was too sore after pulling out that bush to put them into the pond, so they will just have to wati. I wish I could get the fish in the pond too, I am always scared I'm going to kill them if I put them in too early. Sure would make it easier having them in the pond.

Gale, sounds like your greenhouse is working out great. Have u ever tried to get some old Culligan water bottles and fill those with water in the greenhouse? I bet ya they would hold in the heat well too.

Hi kelly, did u buy any plants at the get together? What are SpringSow bottles? "We don't need a cart?" *LOL* Yeah right! I bet with the 3 of u, u could of used 2 carts. *L*

Here are a few of my spring flowers, I hope the cold temps tonight didn't kill them. I can never remember what these are called, Star of Bethlehem pops into my head, but I don't know if that is right or not. I just think they are pretty.

{{gwi:2100192}}

Lots more of the scillia have come up and they make a very pretty site too. {{gwi:2100193}}

and here are some of the marsh marigolds, they are just starting to bloom

{{gwi:2100194}}

Take care
Debbie :-)

Hi
After what seems like weeks and weeks of rain/snow/sleet, the sun finally came out today and we got up to 18C! yeah!

My hostas are still not poking up like they were last year, but I'm hoping that with these nice temps and sunshine they will start popping up all over the place. None of the almost 40 I moved last year are showing any signs and I sure hope they all made it thru the winter. I got a sccret trade and will add another 5 hostas to my collection. *S*

The tulips got hit hard by the -7C temps are blooming, but their flowers are not as large as what they normally are. {{gwi:2100195}}

All those pretty little scillas and blue flowers that were blooming all got killed by the cold temps and snow we had. *sigh* Oh well, fun of living in the north.

The marsh marigolds seemed to have survived well, and are always cheerful. {{gwi:2100196}}

Some of the roses have now got leaves breaking out on them, so that is nice to see.

The past two days I have given my petunias hair cuts as they are just spreading too much and taking up too much space. I wish it would stay warm so that I could start bringing trays of them out to the porch.

My zucs and a couple of cukes have germinated, but still no sign of the sunflowers.

How is everyone else's garden doing?

Take care
Debbie :-)

I have a question about these Marsh Marigolds? I have hundreds of them growing along the river bank around my house (at least I am 99% sure it is them). They are growing wild (or someone planted them years ago and they keep coming up?). Anyways, I just love them! They grow very close to the water, but would it be possible to transplant them closer to the house and keep them well watered? They would fit in beautifully in my back garden. I would love if anybody could give me a bit of information on them, or direct me somewhere (my searchs are not producing lots of results on them).

Thanks!
(ok - now back out to the garden!)

Hi there newbie.. *S*
They are probably marsh marigolds u are seeing. We use to have hundreds of them along a road up here that was swampy. In the spring it was absolutely beautiful! But then they filled in the swamp to build houses and they all disappeared.
I suppose u could dig one up and put it in a pot with a saucer of water underneath, though I don't like digging up wild plants.

I bought mien from Moore's Water Gardens and just divided them as they get older, I think they also reseed themselves too. Just make sure they are always wet. I have mine in my pond in shallow water in pots.
Debbie :-)

I'm not sure if marsh marigolds can be transplanted, but i would say go ahead and give it a shot. There are a lot of them here too, down by the creek. My daughter and i were just walking around this afternoon, and she asked me if i remembered that she and her brother used to always pick some for me in the spring. I do remember, of course - the darn things wilted and died almost immediately! LOL

We're finally getting milder temperatures here, but now rain is predicted for the weekend. I was hoping to get some transplanting done - i need to make room in the cold frame! I have both the mini greenhouses outside now, and hopefully things will pick up a bit. Nothing is very happy, inside or out. (Eep! Hang on - i just remembered that i left a tray of impatiens on the deck!)

My parents came today for the long weekend, and they bought a package of roses from Walmart for me. I can't remember the name of them, but they're the ones grown in Texas, so i don't think they'll last here. It's too bad. I'll plant them anyway, though, and give them lots of protection in the fall.

All my crocuses bloomed last month, and at the moment only 6 tulips are blooming, all clustered in one corner of a garden. They look exactly like yours, Debbie! Lots are ready to pop, though, so soon i should have a good display going! Besides the tulips, there's some blue scilla, snowdrops, a pulsatilla (thanks, Gale - i didn't realize it had survived!) and an itsy bitsy primula. The flower is about 1/2 an inch across, if that!

I thought i saw a hosta coming up in one garden, but maybe i was hallucinating. That's in the white garden. In there, the lily of the valley i planted years ago is finally starting to take off. I had left one part of the back edging open in the hopes that they would spill out back there and start down the hill to the creek, and the plan is finally working! People say it's invasive, but it hasn't been for me.

Anyway, this is it for now. As i said, my parents are here, and we've been "visiting" in here for half an hour, so now it's bedtime!

Ttyl!
Marcia

A few yrs back I transplanted a marsh marigolds from our country property to city one. I planted it in a place that gets quite soggy when it rains and kept it wet otherwise. When I dug it up I took a large area around it including the reeds, etc that were entangled and transplanted the whole thing. Most of the natives that I have brought to my yard from the country are VERY prolific and I have never touched any of the gems that I see infrequently or for short term in the spring, etc. Unfortunately last year I messed with the area and I don't see any signs of it this yr!
So, I would say if it is your property and they are prolific there - give it a shot!

Now that the sun is promising to shine I am really hoping to get in the garden this weekend. I don't see any '-' in the next week or so in the forecast so I will be putting my summer bulbs in soon and likely my root crops and peas/salad greens this weekend. It'll still be a bit before I look at planting out the rest of the veggies!
Happy long weekend all!
Tina

None of that in our forecast either, Tina, but it's supposed to rain most of the weekend. Typical May Long. Next weekend will be great - i can just about guarantee it! I heard enough complaining about that when my kids were teens and wanted to go camping on May Long. It never failed to rain, and then come Memorial Day weekend when all the Americans started coming up, it was sunny and hot!

I'm still hoping to be able to squeeze some gardening in between the showers. Maybe crack a whip and get my mother out weeding! LOL She used to force me to weed her garden when i was a kid, so turnabout's fair play, right? :>

Hi all

I am pretty happy even though the weather isn't great this weekend. I got a bunch of perennials moved and/or planted; ostrish ferns, hosta, clematis, coral bells, heuchera and lady's mantle. I am going to have to restrain myself in buying new perennials because I don't want to end up with the jungle look again. So far so good but I wonder what it is all going to look like in a few years when the plants are mature...

My hostas are all up except for one and the clematis I thought died is still alive. I was digging a hole for its replacement when I found one tiny shoot growing underground. I am still waiting for the Japanese and Hart's tongue ferns to show some signs of life otherwise, it looks like everything we planted last year made it through the winter. Even hubby is commenting how nice it is that everything is growing. He overseeded some parts of the lawn since it took a hit with the dogs running over it all winter.

Now I need to get busy making that bed in the front lawn. I have all the perennials ready to go in. I think I am going to do a lasagna bed since that seems to be a lot easier than trying to strip the sod. Hope to get started soon on that.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!! =)

Hi
It was another sunny day here today, a bit cooler than yesterday, but still shorts weather. *S*

I was able to fill up a bed today and will start moving hostas in it as soon as I'm able. I think I bought way too much dirt, peat moss and sheep manure though. I asked hubs if he thought we could return it. *L* I have a new foundation bed that I'm going to try and make so maybe I can use some of it there. I also have the "clubhouse bed", it use to be son's clubhouse but without the top and I have to take the hostas out of that and fill it up and replant them, so I'm hoping that will use up some of the dirt stuff cause I can't get to my front beds because of all the bags of dirt. *L*

A few more hostas have started to pop up since yesterday and it is so great to see things coming up. My lilies are popping up and so are some more irises and of course weeds. *S* I keep forgetting to go and see if the asperagus are coming up yet, unless I killed them all last year with the round up. Oops.

Tuesday I plan on going to Walmart and I'm going to be picking myself up a new hose. I have a small telephone cord like one at the front yard and it is a real pain. It shuts off when I pull it, I got it cause some people told me it was light and easy to drag over plants, well that may be true but I have so many pots and boxes to drag it around it doesn't work out very well for me here and of course this year it decided to start leaking. *ugh* So I get a nice showere while I'm watering. I wish I could get a hose that wouldn't leak, all of mine seem to leak like crazy. I keep trying to figure out someway to have soaker hoses all thru the yard, but haven't figured a way for that to happen yet.

I caught two of my goldfish and put them out in the patio pond. The white one is huge! I mean humongous! Holy Cow! It wouldn't even fit in the net! I couldn't believe how big it is, we could fry it up for dinner. *L* Do u get the idea that it is big? LOL
I normally put that one in the regular pond, but I caught it so it had to go in the patio pond as I wasn't going out to the front pond in the dark with no working flashlight. With my clumbsy ways I'd end up going for a midnight dip. *LOL* I brought one of the pumps upstairs and I'll get that going outside too. I am having a lot of back pain and can only stand for 10 minutes at a time, making gardening a bit more of a challange than it has been in previous years. It is very frustrating, but I just do what I can when I'm able.

Marcia, I have a friend out in Peace River and he grows his roses in a pot, then in the winter time he brings them down into the basement and in spring he puts them under the lights again when they start to sprout, he actually had them blooming under his fluorescent lights this spring. *L*

I had people tell me that lily of the valley takes over, but really haven't found that to be true. In fact it took them quite a few years to even multiply.

Tina, what kind of summer bulbs are u planning on planting? I never had much luck getting them to winter over in the basement so I stopped buying them. How do u winter yours over? Mine always seemed to dry out.

Dannie, if your perennials start to get too big, do like my friend does. Divide them and pot the extras up and sell them. That is how she gets money to buy new plants. *L*

Well I'd had better get going here,,tomorrow/today is our anniversary and I have a gift to wrap. Have a good Queen Victoria Day everyone!

Debbie :-)

Hi all

I took a chance today and planted most of my containers with annuals. The forecast doesn't predict low temperatures for the next little while so the plants should be ok. I still have a couple of strawberry jars and several hanging pots to plant. I don't know when I will ge those done since the rest of the week is crazy with things to do every night except Friday. We also still need to put in the perennial bed in the front lawn. Where does the time go?

Danni