I can't imagine 114 degrees. I'd have to have automatic watering and stay in the air conditioning!

Maryanne, sorry- I didn't answer your question before - I just forgot when I went to post: no, I didn't find a book in the box. The plants are doing great, though.

Amy! OMG! Thanks for telling me about Chinese Lanterns! I planted them for the first time this year and I'm going right out there and rip them out! I had started them from seed, just because I thought they were so pretty in the catalog.

Well, I have some free time today, as I had a cancellation. Lady asked me to work up a price for her house, then after I had done all the research and comps, she called this morning to cancel, because her daughter is so upset that they were thinking of moving. Some people talk it over before calling a Realtor!!

The weather here has been absolutely amazingly wonderful. Cool and breezy, sunny. Guess it's offsetting all the rain we had for weeks. Off to garden.

Dottie

April,
Hope your husband does well on Thursday. I will be praying for him.

Sue, That sure is hot and I thought Georgia was bad in the Summer but not that hot!!! Hope it cools off soon.

Margaret, Hope all is going well for you and your family.

Remy, You are always taking the neatest trips. There seems to be alot going on near your home.

Just a little FYI, My son Garrett is now using a walker just without standing on the broken leg. He is very happy to be getting along like this compared to the wheel chair.

Ladies, Hope you all have a super week. Take care, Amy

Chrysanthemum??????

Amy-Glad to hear the good news about Garrett...Yes a walker would definetely be better than a wheel chair.

April-So sorry to hear the news about your DH. Life really throws us curves sometimes. Just trust in the Lord and he will see your family through this. HUGS

Remy-Yes sometimes it seems odd that you can get to another state in 30 minutes but we live in the southern most end of NC. DH grew up in GA and we dated a year before we got married. He had many trips to make to see me. At least gas was cheap back in 1969.

Shirley

not chrysanthemum...hmmm....I didn't think it would be too hard. Here's a hint...it can be purchased through Niche Gardens among others.

Kalimeris, Double Japanese Aster?

Is it false aster (Boltonia Decurrens)?

Yay!!!! Treasa is right....Kalimeris. It is a very delicate looking little bloom for such a tough plant that carries my garden through from the time that the heat has beat down all the early summer bloomers until well past the time that the fall blooms start putting on their show.

Treasa, I will pack up your magazines just as soon as I finish sorting through them. Congrats!

Theresa

Congrats Treasa! No wonder I didn't recopgnize it. I've killed it, well the variegated one, twice, lol.

April,
2 1/2 hours or more is still way too far! I hope you do get some place closer for him.

Sue,
Wow the heat. I don't know how you do it. I can't take it when we start to approach 90, lol.

Amy A-Z,
Thanks for the heads up about the Chinese Lanterns. I had no idea.
My awful thing I planted was perennial sweet pea. I planted it next to the chain link fence. It didn't train well like a clematis. It clung to everything but the fence! Then the seedlings started! When I decided to remove it, it had ahuge tap root to China. Trying to dig at that next to a fence was awful. I was digging at it for so long, Gary, on his own realizing what was happening, went and got an ax to start hacking at it for me! I had seedlings popping up two years after the thing was gone.

Dottie,
Glad you finally have some nice weather.
I really don't understand someone letting their kid(child or adult) influence make decisions like selling a house.
The parent should do what they want!

Amy,
Good to hear Garrett is able to use a walker!
I am lucky I live near a lot of things to do. I often don't think people realize how nice it is here. Tomorrow I'm going to a Cherries Jubilee Luncheon at Hurd Orchards. All the food will be cherry related, yum! I have to remember to take the camera. They have very pretty gardens.
Have a good night everyone,
Remy

Bunny please keep the piano's off your toes. Dottie I mailed your box today, hope you like it, It's been in the 80.s hwere and I thought that was bad. 114 and I'd really be whining. 62 today, older than dirt now. hugs carol

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CAROL!!!

Wow, you mailed your box already! I'll be on the lookout for it. Hope you had a great birthday.

Dottie

Happy Birthday, Big Sis!!

Happy Birthday Carol!!!!!! Hope it was a good one!

Treasa your magazines will go out on Monday. :)

What's everyone else up to? It's so quiet around here lately. We are off to Seaworld tomorrow!

Theresa

Carol~

Hope you had a great one!!!

We now only have to drive to La Grange once a month to see the hip DR. & we now have a therapist only 20 min away! Now if the other DR will let us know SOMETHING about the last biopsy......

Thanks everyone for all the kind thoughts & prayers!!!!

later..April

Belated Happy Birthday wishes, Carol!
I had some minor surgery this morning so I have not been online like I usually am. I hope you had a good day.
Jeanne

Carol,

Hope it was a good one!
Remy

Hope you had a nice birthday, Carol.

Thanks, Theresa! I'll be looking forward to seeing them. Thank you!!

Love and prayers, everyone. Treasa

Hi Ladies!
I hope everyone had a great week! It's nearly the weekend....woo-hoo! :O)
We have FINALLY gotten a break from that heat! (it was 105 on Wednesday, NOT counting the humidity!! ACK!) Today, it's in the low 80's, with a nice wind from the north! (thank you, yankees, for sharing with us confederates! LOL!) AND to top THAT off, we'll have 50's for the over night temps! WOW!
Can you tell I'm excited?! :O)

Maryanne~ I will have some bee balm in Monday's mail for you. My hummers are enjoying it tremendously....I need to search out different colors. :O)

And, to give Big Sis Carol her Lili fix for the day....
Here are a few pictures of Lili enjoying her VERY FIRST Oreo cookie! Yummy!!

Yes, that was quite the mess to clean up....but worth every dirty washcloth! LOL There is nothing I love more than seeing a happy baby....and let me tell you, she absolutely LOVED that cookie! The bath afterwards......not so much. She hates a bath- she's terrified of water!

I hope everyone has a terrific weekend!
Stay safe & have fun! :O)
Hugs & Squishes!
Melissa

Melissa, you are such a good mom!

April, glad you are getting a break on the driving for your DH's doctoring. Hoping for good news for you.

Treasa, congrats on the flower game. That was way beyond me - couldn't even try, after someone said "daisy" and that wasn't it!

Carol, your box came today. Thanks so much! I do have a couple questions: I couldn't find a tag for the plant that has sculptured leaves - kind of like an aloe or a cactus?? Also, I've never had a raspberry pulmaria (?) and couldn't find it on the web. Can you tell me if it likes sun or shade and anything about how to care for it? Besides those, Carol sent me hostas, shasta daisy, a nice big clump of daylily, a set of pretty green candles,a set of 7 Aromafields shower gels, and a foot-care kit and three packages of garden markers. THANK YOU, Carol! I can't wait to plant everything! Right now we are having a thunderstorm and I will have to wait until tomorrow morning. I have them in shallow water in my kitchen veggie sink. My DH is traveling all next week, so I am planning to use the foot care treatment and the candles for my tub time!

Mellen, I will try to get your box out to you the first of next week. The last couple of days have been really hot and I wanted to wait to dig until the plants had a fighting chance.

Must run as DH is on the way home and Friday nights are our "date night".

Dottie

Melissa,
Love the pics!!
I'm worried about that fear of water. Potty training might be tough!
Remy

Carol, Hope your Birthday was a Great one!

Melissa, I just love the picture of Lili, she is just the cutest little baby!

Jeanne, Hope you are feeling better!

Hope you all have a really nice week. Take care, Amy

Thank you for the compliments, Girls! I appreciate them! :O)

Remy~ I hadn't considered that! UGH....something new to worry about. LOL It's the strangest thing..all of our other kids LOVE the water- have from birth. But Lili has always been frightened of it. We've tried everything- infant tubs, buckets, inflatable foot tubs (for the softness), kitchen sink, baths with me or her sisters....It all scares her. Hopefully, she'll grow out of it. I don't know, though....I'm STILL terrified of water myself. I won't go in anything bigger than the bathtub.
Guess it's like the clown thing- hereditary.

Carol~ I posted a pic for you on the MNF thread. :O)

Dottie~ Carol sent me one of those plants, too. I *think* it's a pulmonaria (lungwort?). And it likes shade & medium moisture (IF I'm right...lol!)

I hope everyone has a great week!

Hi everyone!
Sorry I've been MIA lately! I just got home from a trip to Washington DC. Lots of stuff to see, it's overwhelming! I'm so tired today. LOL. Anyway, I plan to pack up Carol's box and get it sent off today or tomorrow. I'll let you all know when I send it!

Amy A-z

Hi again,
I just returned from the PO and mailed Carol's box. DC # is 0309 0330 0000 6175 2623

Hope you like what I sent you!!!

Amy A-z

Thanks, Melissa. That could be it, but the leaves don't have spots. Do some have plain green leaves?

Dottie

Mine has plain leaves AND leaves with spots, Dottie.....so I'm just not sure.
Carol~ Help, please?? :O)

Hi, everyone. Thanks for asking, Amy. I think I am finally on the mend. I don't do well at all with dental surgery and had the packing removed yesterday - ouch! The oral surgeon said he could repack it since it still hurt and I was thinking to myself, "No way - then it will have to get removed again!" LOL
Anyway, I hope eveyone is doing fine.
We have been waiting for some rain here - it gets cloudy and you think maybe it will rain, but then no luck. At least our temperatures and humidity have been much better than they usually are in the summer. Let's hope August does not bring an extra hot surprise!
Jeanne

Hi Amy A-z, Your package is on the way.
DC# 0307 1790 0000 8523 9343.
I hope you enjoy
Gale

Carol~ I received my angel today! She's beautiful....I can't wait to put her in the baby's garden, she'll look lovely. Thank you so much for sending her!
Hugs & Squishes!

Melissa

Jeanne, glad you are feeling better, Bunny you are right on the plant id, I spelled it wrong, it is raspberry ice variety. gets covered with lil pink flowers. can't believe angel got there so fast. glad you like her. its in the 80's here now no rain yet, I need my rain back. hugs carol

Jeanne,
So glad you are feeling better, I feel the same way about the dentist.
Take care, Amy

Mellen, It rained over two inches here last night, so it was a great day to dig. I mailed your box this morning. DC#0309 0330 0000 2051 8062. Hope you like it.

Dottie

Hi everyone,
I received my box from Gale today and I couldn't be happier!!!! I LOVE everything that you sent me Gale!!! Here's what Gale sent...

Caladium arrow
Caladium 'Gingerland'
Caladium 'Lance Whorton'
Caladium 'Miss Muffet'
Caladium NOID magenta leaf
Managascar palm
Canary palm
Abyssinian banana
Aloe vera

and she also included a nice Itch relief stick for travel.

Thank you, thank you, thank you!!! What an awesome selection of tropicals. Just what I wanted!! You're the best Gale!!!

Amy A-z

received an over stuffed box from amy, yesterday daughter her dh and 2 kids, 2 cats a dog and a turtle also arrived yesterday so didn't get on line sorry I'm late to post Amy but my dog has never had a cat before so she wants to eat them the turtle and other dog so I am in my protect mode. My box includes lots of sedum cuttings, a lipstick plant, ornamental strawberry, 2 daylilies a dusty miller lots of seeds a note pad plant stakes a bday card. thankyou Amy I love everything. I lost my lipstick plant and dh got me a varigated one, which had lil tiny flowers, which I proceded to kill also, so am hoping with your instructions I can grow this one. my daughter with my favorite lilly

Good morning!
Carol, I'm so happy that you received your box and you like what I sent. I always worry about that! You said you're collecting sedums so I sent you some of all the ones I have that were large enough to share. Hope they are all new for you! Your lily is spectacular!!! WOW, when will you have bulbs to share!?! LOL!!

Gale, I got all of my awesome new babies potted up last night. I am so excited! I've never had good luck with Caladium so I am nervous. Any pointers? I read that they like full shade and to keep the soil moist. How do you store the bulbs in the winter? Any tips would be great, I don't want to kill them! They are so beautiful!!!

Hope everyone's having a great week. It's Friday, yeah!!

Amy A-z

Hi Amy I happy you like your goodies.
How I store Caladium for winter,
Place whole plant on new paper, not touching.
I keep it there until its dry out. "I do this in
a cool dry dark basement. After bulbs dry out
I place in a brown paper bag and store.

Carol, great looking garden. Love the lily tree. I wasn't sure the photos in the catalogs were real. Yours is even nicer than the ones in the bulb catalogs. How old is it?

The pulmonaria you sent me is thriving! I was so worried about it when I put it in the ground. It had only one small green leaf - the rest had browned. Now it has two beautiful NEW green shoots! Everything else is doing really well, too. With all the rain we are having (almost every day!) it's been great for watching the plants grow!

Where is everybody?

Maryanne~ I wanted to let you know that I have NOT forgotten about you! I had a crazy week last week. :O( I WILL be sending your bee balm sometime next week, I promise!
Hugs,
Melissa

Just stopping by to say hello. I need to get outdoors and water my potted plants or they will not make it through the day. How is everyone doing? July and August are such hot months.
I finally got a few vine-ripened tomatoes this week. They were from my Chocolate Cherry tomato. Yum! I had never grown them before and I know I will again. I have some other varieties, too, but nothing else close to ripe. I also planted corn this year and it is fun to watch that grow. I have a few ears beginning to develop. The last time I planted it (maybe 18 years ago), the fire ants got into the ears and I let them have it. I don't mess with plants that have fire ants on or near them!
Have a good week,
Jeanne

My lily is not a lilly tree that is a scam, it is just an ornipet lilly 8.00 bulb not 50.00 lilly tree. it is in really good soil and grows bigger than the same bulb planted in lesser soil. shirley do I have a dog days of summer swap for august ? if so I will post a thread later today. my granddaughter and great grandaughter arrive tuesday so I will be on line less, so if I could get a rabbit to volunteer to help with august, I would be pleased. hugs carol

Wow, Carol! What do you use to amend your soil!

Here are a couple of cool visitors to my coneflowers and lilies this morning.

Our weather has gone completely nuts, lately. I don't think we've had more than two days without rain since April! Most of my plants aren't complaining, but a few aren't complaining because they are dead! Lost two dogwood trees, two scotch brooms, three cherry laurel and have a butterfly bush hanging on by a thread. I guess I will look on the bright side and appreciate that I haven't had to water anything and still haven't turned on the air conditioning this year. My poor little dog isn't happy that almost every night we have thunder and lightning. She's taken up residence under the desk and won't come out unless she sees the sun.

Hope everyone is having a good weekend.

Dottie

hi everyone. lots to catch up on. hope EVERYONE is well, prayers and happy thoughts to all that need them.

melissa, just love that lili pic. i remember the first time my son fed himself spaghetti. head to toe and everything in between.

carol, in such a short period of time, your yard is amazing.

dottie, this weather is nuts, isn't it. i appreciate the rain, less to water, especially since i never hooked up the drip system (again) this year. i still don't have a red tomato, but i certainly have some wonderful weeds.

i'm not losing sleep over anything in the back yard beds this year, i have all intentions of revamping absolutely everything and building a few raised beds and walls come autumn.

my hydrangeas this year have been the most spectacular show stoppers in my beds. each one is prettier than the next and so many different colors. i hope to dry some blooms this year and keep them at least until christmas that i can put them in a tree. a friend of mine did that one year and it was such a wonderful tree. just hydrangea and vertical ribbons - simple and gorgeous.

my g-babe turned 3 last friday and we floated around to various spca's and finally, she found her dog who she named "lisa". it's a cute little thing - a wire haired dachsund. i am thinking it might be a little mix in it, but she's so cute and rather intelligent. a real cuddle bug too. my g-babe is learning to walk her and pick up after her on our walks as well.

hot and sticky today - i relented and turned on the air. i've had it on in the car for about a month already

this month's swap boxes are just great so far. hope to read about august soon.

time to catch up on all the OBF activities.

be well everyone,
happy blooms
maryanne

Dottie, my dh only uses a fertilizer called perfect blend in our yard, it is organic, we love it. I will wait to hear from shirley to make sure I am to do this months swap, if I do it will be dog days of summer, which will include sending a gift to your partners pet and some bulbs or whatever ships well in heat and something to help your partner get cool, we have been 54 days without rain a week of 90's and I had to walk all of three blocks to work today. poor carol !! nice to see you posting Maryanne, we need grandaughter pics. where is that rascally wabbit ? I need rain. hugs carol

Hi Ladies,

Sorry to be MIA. I have been having computer connection issues (I'm at library right now). July is quickly coming to an end :( We've had a bunch of issues at school this summer and I'm STILL not sure what grade I'll be teaching.

So I see the boxes are flying....so quiet around here though.

Beautiful garden, Carol.

Theresa

Just a quick note - Mellen: did your box arrive?? I sent it over a week ago and I'm starting to worry.

Hi Carol! I'm here!! :O) It's just been too hot here to do anything. UGH. When you go outside, it's like walking into a sauna. You have to peel your clothes off & wring them out.
I hate this humidity! Makes me wish we had AC!!
We did get a nice storm yesterday, though. Knocked limbs out of the pine trees (poor things! they survived the ice storm, only to be blown to bits & broken by a summer storm) & blew all my flowers' petals off. Layed the naked ladies flatter than roadkill, too.
But at least it was rain, which we needed....no matter WHAT form it came in.

Now I've just got to go clean all the debris out of the yard. I don't think we'll EVER get rid of this brush pile! LOL

Are you going to post the August swap soon, Carol? We'll wait patiently for you.... :O)

Wow, that lily, Carol!! Gorgeous!
Sorry I haven't been here much. I've been rounding up exhibits for our county fair that starts Friday, so tomorrow and Thursday will be busy getting things ready. I've entered there for 36 years. It would have been more, but my family moved away a couple years. Anyway, I received Theresa's nice box of gardening magazines for the game prize. Thank you so much, Theresa. I will certainly enjoy them. I haven't sent Shirley's box yet. : ( Looks like I'm the slow poke this time. Hope you all have a wonderful day. Hugs, Treasa

Dottie, YES, your box arrived sometime over the week-end, but we were gone to MN to a bridal shower for our son's fiancee. We just got back late last evening. I had a migraine most of today, but I did open it up this afternoon. I LOVE all that you sent. I will report back later when I am feeling like a human again.
Thanks,
ME

Finally reporting in. Had a headache for 3 days. Yuck! Here is what Dottie sent:

Plants-
-chives
-sage
-oregano
-yucca 'color guard'
-ostrich fern
-hosta 'big daddy'
-nicotiana alata

rain gauge
peat disks to start seeds
peach candle

What a wonderful box of gifts!!! Thanks you sooo much, Dottie.

I will be sending my box to missg on Monday.
Mary Ellen/Mellen

Mellen, did that package ever go out for missg? Do you have a DC #?