My brother used to carve in wax, you should have seen some of his things. Just beautiful. Yes I feel the same way, this summer I am taking off working because I have never just had the time to do what I wanted. and this year this is it. Doing nothing and everything.

This newbie wants to play too! Hello,my name is April.I'm a stay at home mom of three.Ages 6 girl,3 boy,9 months girl.We also have two dogs. Sasha is shepard mix & she is 4. Diego is a golden mix and he is 6 months old. Will be closing on our new home on four acres within days.We have big plans. You know veggie garden, fruit trees ,& flower garden.I want lots of flowers that attracts hummers & butterflies.Thinking of adding some livestock into the mix in a year or two.The manure will be a bonus for the soil.I'm loosely refering to red Georgia clay as soil.LOL!I'm a clearance rack junkie. So far this month I've found clematis for 2.00 ,red wave petunias for 1.98,rose bushes for 3.88,and a shrimp plant for 2.75. I did splurge on a sweet shrub though.It smelled too good to leave! Our driveway is starting to look like a mini nursery. I will post photos of kids ,dogs & plants soon.Later....April

Welcome April!
Here are some pictures from my butterfly garden today:

This is a picture of one of my very best friends, Kobi. He's a little on the lazy side....

Hi April! Welcome! Boy are you going to love setting up those 4 acres!

Poison: Great Pictures! I love the butterflies. Kobi is a handsome devil. Love the jowls!

omgosh!! he/she is so cute!!! i just love em!! of course they are always cute when you don't have to take care of them, LOL your flowers are so pretty! hopefully by the time we get back our flowers will have established their selves and they will be looking so beautifull!! and bring in some beautifull butterflies. righ tnow all we have are the dark colored ones. one day we saw like 5 humming birds. but they all have left. :'( hopefully after all the rains have left they will come back.

Hey guys,

I found out the name of that tree. It is Clerodendrum Ugandense aka Butterfly Bush. Here are some pictures. Pretty huh?

April: Your children are very cute!

I love the flower and butterfly pics!

Every ones new pic's are great. The flowers are beautiful, The dog is soooo kool, and May I babysit for your kids, they are so cute. Ans I miss my grandbabies too much.

Laurie--I love the flowers on that butterfly bush, mine are not like that.

Hi durt-under-my-nails..its me melanie how are you. Glad to see you have joined with us. Many good laughs..just ask Vela...LOL

Poisondart--Those butterflies are beautiful, I have never seen acouple of them. Very nice.

I have a question about the sweet peas I have never had them, do they all climb?

I don't think it's the same butterfly bush that everyone is used to. I was suprised by the name also. Funny thing is, I already have a Clerodendrum, but in a different color. Did not even realize it was the same species. I guess we learn something everyday.

Since everyone is posting pics of their babies...here is a picture of one of my babies, Kairo, after he got through playing in the sink. He LOVES the water and plays in it every morning. He is a strange bird...er...cat. LOL.

Poison,
Here is the pic of the others I bought and was told they were torch lilys.

Laurie--The wet kitty is adorable..

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Welcome Dirt!!!!!!!!! Be sure to send me your mailing address! I love everyone's pictures! I have some new blooms in my yard today, and some new pictures of some of my old blooms. Will get them on here as soon as they finish uploading on photobucket! :-)

Dirt, your children look so familiar...you don't have relatives in WV do you? They are cuties!

Melanie are you going to include seeds to that rare flower in your next SASBE for newbies?LOL!

More flower pics!!!

New blooms today.......

Some blooms that have been hanging around

Getting ready to bloom

Update on my rose garden....things are growing..but no blooms yet!

Is this a weed?

And of course...my favorite new flower

Vela, can I get a cutting of that last flower? LOL! I love that 4th pic...what is it?

Here is a new bloom for me today. I love the color of this one.

Unknown Canna

now what do ya call that last one?? its sure pretty!! :' )
i just found a pink one like the purple one, maybe the 4th one down, we went shopping again. we found some pretty spirally looking iris's in the creek. they are gonna be orange. and did i tell ya we found arrowroot. only one though. i absolutely love the kitty!!!! i want one!! :') your kids are so cute april!! seems like i know ya from somewhere, hmmmmm??? LOL :') and o my laurie your butterfly bush is so pretty.

I love the compliments I am receiving on my new bloom! I believe it's called blue hosus sprayfloralus.

Hey Laurie! Love all the flower pics you've been posting...let me guess...your weakness is canna and passionflower? Am I close?

The flower you were asking about it a close up on some flowers on my azalea bush.

This is it right before it had a beautiful flush of blooms, and now most of the blooms are spent...but I think it will flower again...the close up pic I took were a few that were still left of the last flush.

Oh! Now that was funny!!!!

Oops! Forgot to post the picture

Vela,

Wow...those are really nice. I love the color. All I see down here on Azalea's are the bright pink ones.

Passionflowers are my absolute favorite because my grandmother used to have them in her garden. I am trying to re-create both of my grandmother's gardens. One had a mimosa tree, daylilies and passionflowers, the other had spider lilies, irises and lantana. I am almost done with my collection. I finally found someone that is sending me red spider lilies just for postage. She is sending me like 2 pounds worth!

I like cannas because they do really well here. And they are pretty too. :o)

Love the idea of recreating the special memory of your grandmother's gardens! I love mimosa trees!

Vela,Thanks,but no relatives in WV.Just AL,LA,MI,& OR!
Medontdo, I think we've met in a few emails.LOL!

Headed off to bed. The rugrats will be raring to go at dawn!Later....

Oh my gosh, you guys had me laughing sooo hard! Thank you! Chrystal: THose Torch Lilies look just like my Gay Feather! Are they related? Mine come up a very bright purple/pink. I finally was able to divide this year and got over a dozen out of 1 plant I bought 2 years ago. I love it!

I love all the pictures! I am beginning to suffer from canna envy. Only the dwarf ones I grew from seed are anywhere close to blooming yet.
Vela, your orange Rhodie is spectacular!
Melanie that last torch lily really does look Liatris, but I guess you will know for sure when it blooms. Maybe it is an obscure form of Kniphofia. Or maybe it is a confusion with common names. Common names for plants can be pretty useless. They mean different things to different people and different parts of the world, but the taxonimic names will be consistent everywhere.
I love seeing photos of everyone's children. My children are all grown-never thought I would miss diapers and t-ball and runny noses, and having so many constraints on my time, but I do. Sometimes. Kind of.

Vela--please I just have to have a few of the seeds from your new spray plant. I gotta have it maybe you can be my swap parter and send me some>>>lol

Question: Do sweet peas climb? I never had them, and saw the pic of someone elses and was just wondering.

The hosus sprayfloralus is a very difficult plant to propagate, I'm not sure if I can get the seeds or not. LOL!

As for sweet peas, I think most of them climb....I'm starting to wonder about mine though LOL!

I did read on the internet though that there is a variety that only grows to be 30 inches. Medontdo may be able to tell you about the ones she sent you.

From what I know about the sweet peas is they definitely grow tall. I don't necessarily think they are climbers, I remember seeing some full grown ones that had stakes placed between them with string supporting them front and back along the row. I personally LOVE them. Martha Stewart had a big article in her magazine a few years ago. That is when I started coveting them.

thanks for the info guys. I bought a couple new plants today I'll tell you later I am going to help my sister move
If you cannot give me seeds maybe a cut might root....hehehehe

Melanie

I bought 2 new plants today. One is an Oriental Columbine, and the other is a pincushion flower. Here is a pic

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Love the new flower,Melanie! I bought a buddleila davidii'Attraction' today.Its flowers are reddish purple.Let's hope the label was correct about the color cause the flowers were not open yet.Plus got HUGE box of iris from postage offer on plant exchange.Gotta be 25+ iris in that box!No way am I planting all of those. Now I have some plants to trade. LOL!
Still waiting on final inspection on the house.Was told we would close on it June 1st two months ago.Don't see that happening now. Luckliy landlady is nice & doesn't have another renter lined up.We will be here for one more week.I really want to get out there and get all my plants in the ground.I have a few out there now but tired of lugging that much water that often.Ya'll keep your fingers crossed that all passes this week!

Love the pics! It's been raining for the last several days, as soon as it clears up I'll take some pics of my yard.

Love Kobi!

Here's Toby, one spoiled boston terrier LOL!

Deb

ok mel, one is bijou mix and is dwarf- 12-18" honey and orange scent, don't need support.
the other is regular 5' tall and grows in 3-5" clusters, pick pods to increase flower production, climber.

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this was in my moms impatience, they were dried out big time!!! and i guess the bird thought it would be a great place to put her babies, now dad wants us to move them. so sat. i will. using plastic, hopefully she will still be with them,i never touched the eggs or the nest. but i thought ya all would like that. and i saw a baby bird perched on her roses but i forgot to get a pic of that befor i left. he just sat there watching me, i was talking to him for a while. crazy. LOL

This pic is so cute. How old is he. His coat is so shiney.
Can't wait to see your pics. We are learming alot about each other with them.LOL

Dirt..Good luck on closing. Hope your new flower is what it is suppose to be.

Where is everyone, it's been very quiet today?

Medont---where are you...I saw you on friends robin 3 are you tired of us or what??? HEHE

Hi Medon't thanks for the help. I am assu,ing the taller ones are the climbers. I am going to try and plant today.

get tired of you all? he he not a chance!!! LOL got stuck in topeka, but it was fun anyhows!! my mom had some wild beries growing out back and we dug some up and brought them home, we have only this weekend, then we're gone til after the 15th or so i think, so please don't start without me!!! :'( i will have alot of catching up to do. but i will have alot of pics to send hopefully. i'll have a laptop w no internet. and my phone won't get the gardenweb all of it's stuff, to much to handle i think. LOL but i can read some of it. LOL i'm so anxious!!!! talla in her dress, i hope its as good as the others and tabor in his tux! oh my!! my brother getting married AND my roses and honey suckle going with us becuase she loves them!! and she's so down to earth!! i love this girl!! :') i hope they give me lots of nieces and nephews!! LOL i had a dream we got all the way up there and i for got all their clothes and her dress. it was terrible!! well, you all have a great weekend!! i know i'll be back on here frequently this weekend, LOL :')

Here's photos of my beasties.Sasha was barking at me when I was taking photos,so it looks like she's smiling. LOLs

Here is our hansome dude Diego.Lord help me though, cause he is only 7 months old. Was told goldens don't quit chewing until 4 YEARS! Anyone have any extra shoes ? LOL

Oh my, thes eare the cutest. They look like they would be a hand full though.
Melanie

All of these pooches are sooo cute! We had a dog growing up, but can't have any now. My oldest is allergic and my husband doesn't particularly like them. I would LOVE a Border Collie. They are so smart and talented! I keep telling my hubby that I'm going to get one anyway. He says that it isn't very nice to keep a dog outside in the winter around here. I let him know that He wouldn't like being the one kept outside when I got the dog!

I got a huge bunch of hostas today in a trade! I just finished making a new bed around one of my pine trees for them and got them all planted! I also got a few ferns and hardy begonia along with some lillie of the valley. Finally I have some shadey plants! Yay! Too bad it's so hot here. I hope they don't get too shocky!

Whooooo Doggie! Look at them doggies!!

Ok all y'all....how's this sound...Miss Medontdo just don't do before the 15th...seein' as how her bub is gettin' hitched and all (don't he know we gots some tradin' to do?)....so, hows about I post the tradin' partners around the 15th of that there June month? That there's a dang good plan ain't it?

PS...that there post includes the West, by God, Virginie accent, free for all y'alls readin' pleasure.

Oh my gosh Vella, You just reminded me of the guy I got gas from in a town in WV! Stopped at the pump in a one horse town, Started filling up, had to use the rest room. I come back to the van and some guy had grabbed the nozzle and started filling his gas can before I paid! Took it right out of my tank! So Gas Can Guy, The Attendant and I are standing at the counter and I asked the attendant to tell me what I owed less the 5 gallons that this guy added on to my bill. He just looked at me blank, then says "welllllll, yih can jes gim me $15 fur it." I looked at him and said "but I filled it up. I have a 20 gallon tank. I was below 1/4 of a tank. That would be less than a buck a gallon". Your sign says 1.39/gallon. He says "welllll, Theeeen make it 18." I was dumbfounded. I felt bad gave him a 20 and thanked him. I wasn't sure what to do. I was just dying! I felt like I just stepped out of a Laurel and Hardy Short!

Anyway, the 15th sounds good to me! Does anyone want any blackberry bushes? I have few new runners that I can send.

Nighty Night Y'all! Don't let the bed bugs bite.

Ahh yes, the math skills are really horrible (I don't know if this is just an epidemic in WV or if the whole US is calculator spoiled). I'll never forget one time I was at McDonald's and my total came to something like $4.96 and I gave her a $5...she messed up the register and was completely lost as to how much to give me back. I said "it's just 4 cents, don't worry about it"...but she said "well, then my register will be off"...so I waited for her to go get her supervisor who proceeded to use a calculator to figure up my change. I was completely dumbfounded. I'm not sure those were the exact amounts..but it was very simple math...so sad. The bad thing is I've seen several examples similar to this. For a short while while I was in college, I worked at Shoney's. I ended up quitting after about a month or so because the supervisor kept forcing me to work over when I had exams yo study for and things I really needed to get home to...but when I went in to quit, the manager came into the office and tried to talk me out of it because they had been having trouble finding people who can count back change! Amazing to me.

Hey everyone! We're nearing the limit for posts on this thread, I am going to start a new one. :-)

The 15th sounds good to me.We should be through unpacking all the boxes by then.Oh yeah,by the way,WE PASSED INSPECTION!!!! YIPPEE!!This next week will be a busy one.

YAY on everything!!! thanks vela your awesome i was so afraid i was gonna miss it!! :'(( this is too fun!! i just love reading it all and my hubby is like what? when i start bustin up and then i tell him aww ya heave ta read it. its a plant thing, like i wanna share with him. ha!! LOL

Vela,
I know what you mean. It's getting bad here too. I used to work at McDonalds when I was a kid. First job. I was always on register. I would get sooo bored. There was no challenge to my brain. They had started using the registers where you push the button for the item instead of entering an amount. No math skills required. Inside a month I had the prices memorized on the board and I would make a game out of beating the register totalling with tax. I got faster than the machine in no time! It's sad when technology allows us to dumb down. It's even sadder when we don't challenge ourselves! I will soon be a mush brain myself from staying home with the kids. I know my math skills have already slowed down quite a bit! I am very glad our school system here pushes the kids so hard on math and reading. My little ones are doing what we did in 6/7th grade! My 8 year old already is doing fractions! Adding them, converting the denominator, then converting to simplest form! Blows my mind!

Well, I will start posting on the new thread from now on so I will see all of you there!