Grovespirit-ditto what Penny said!! This is the De-stress forum, well at least for me!
If the snails are real bothersome, I have a good recipe for escargot...hehehe

My seeds did not get to the post office today, had hoped to do it tomorrow before work but must take the cat to the vet-he has an abscess that won't clear up by its self so he needs to be knocked out, poor kitty!
-B

Packing up seeds today. Not sure I can get to the PO today (way too much to do, not enough time, and no car.) but I will definitely get the bubblie ready to ship today!!

Good news on the home front: My husband listened to me yesterday as I vented about all the pressure I've been under. He apologized for allowing his work related stress to roll downhill onto me. He agreed that given everything I am trying to do, he shouldn't expect elaborate dinners for the next few weeks. (He's not been home to eat them half the time anyway, due to increasingly getting held overtime). Whew, one less iron in the fire!! :)

Happy gardening news: I found some more Caesalpinia pulcherrima seedpods yesterday. So I will be sending those lovelies in, after all! But they still aren't quite my favorite seed.

Back to the 'Guess Grovespirit's Favorite Orange Seed' game.
Hint number 1- Not a vining plant.

Hint number 2. Considered an exotic.

Hint number 3. Not an annual. (This rules out marigolds)

Hint number 4. cybermeowz is getting warm!

Hint number 5. Both the Caesalpinina pulcherrima, and this favorite Orange plant of mine, are referred to by the same sort of common name, a name which sounds like its flowers can take flight!

I truly cannot let myself drop out, I'd really rather take the risk of sending seeds in 1 to 2 days late. Without my GW swaps, I am like a fish out of water.

In the past I used to drop out whenever my life got stressful, and the result was that I got even sicker from missing out on one of my main sources of fun! :P

When the going gets rough for me, that is when I REALLY need to keep on going with my Gardenweb swaps the most!!!

The fun of giving and receiving seeds, chatting with gardeners in RR swap threads, honestly keeps me sane. It relaxes me and balances out the lack of fun in the other areas of my life.

TY for the support, Penny and BrandyM! :)
Looking forward to seeing what cool orange stuff the others are sending in :)

Regards and warm wishes to all. Please keep the guesses coming!

Good Morning everyone!

This morning I received a BIG package of orange seeds from ramazz. Thanks Becky!

Grovespirit, I'm glad that things are getting better for you. I'm pretty sure that I know what what your favorite orange seed is now. That last clue was a good one. I'm not going to guess it though as I'm trying to give away a prize dang it!!! Hard to give a prize to my self!

So everyone guess Grovespirit's favorite orange seed.

Take a look at the clues in the above post. You might, oh I don't know, do an internet search for Caesalpinina pulcherrima and look at what the common names for this plant are that would be like another orange exotic plant. The name of Grovespirit's favorite orange plant might just fly out at you! LOL!!

Penny

Okay, I am totally ignorant of anything tropical, but I'm going to guess Bird of Paradise?

Bonnie

I am going to guess Heliconia.

Patti

Mexican bird of paradise or Peacock Flower

Good Morning everyone!

Today, I receive a package of orange seeds from highalttransplant. Thanks, Bonnie!

Also, good guesses everyone. We'll have to wait for Grovespirit to tell us if anyone has guessed her favorite orange seed!

Your hostess,
Penny

Bonnie is the winner! Congrats, Bonnie! :)

My favorite orange plant is in fact Bird of Paradise, scientific name Strelitzia Reginae. I will be sending freshly harvested seeds of it, in to this swap. :)

Here is a link that might be useful: Bird of Paradise

Congrats Bonnie! Now, if only we lived in a warm enough climate to grow such a beauty.

After three days of snow, we finally had a day of sun and 30 degree weather! 30 degrees is warm compaired to the last few days. Got to the post office with my seed packet!
Great job Bonnie!
-B

Bird of Paradise (Strelitzia) can in fact be grown in Zones 7 & 8, and (carefully) even in Zone 6! Just needs to be done creatively, and cautiously, with containers!! :)

It makes a good houseplant in cool parts of the year... Grown in a container, it can be brought outdoors in the warm parts of the year then back in as a lovely tropical indoor plant for the cooler parts of the year.

Plant in this mix: 1/3 potting soil, 1/3 peat, coir, or high quality compost such as mushroom compost, and 1/3 sand. Fertilize & water regularly with *organic* low nitrogen fertilizer so as to not burn roots.

Likes Bright indirect sunlight. Too much shade gives lanky plants that flower less, and too much sun can burn the leaves or dry out the plant, during Summer heat waves.

Cannot handle frost below 25F, but will generally handle temperatures up to 90F if they don't get dried out or burnt from direct summer sun.

Strelitzia will get bigger each year. Repot in a bigger pot every year, and they do bloom in time as long as you protect from frost...even in Zones 6-8.

My sister-in-law grew S. reginae in a pot in the Twin Cities area of Minnesota (Zone6). Hers first flowered in an 8" pot after becomming root bound and left out on the patio till the first danger of frost (night temps were in the 40s).
At that time it immediately went indoors into a sunny window, and bloomed all winter long. At its peak size (occupying a half-barrel), it had 30 blooms in a season (YES, in Minnesota Zone 6!!) Because it was so big it was hard to move the pot, so she divided it into 4 parts and sold 3 of the divisions for $40 each, each division in 14" pots, all of which still have several blooms per year. :)

I grew a BOP from seed to its first (single) flower, in 4 years, while living in USDA Zone7. When it bloomed the first time it was in a 8" pot! :)

I have an Aunt who has done the same -seed to flower- in only 3 years, who lives in Zone8. :)

Pretty easy to start from fresh seed. Germination can be up to 90%, if bottom heat of 25C is supplied.

Hi everyone!

Congrats to Bonnie for guessing Grovespirit's favorite orange seed! There will be a surprise prize in your return bubble envelope.

Grovespirit, thanks for the directions for growing Bird of Paradise from seed. I think a lot of us have no idea about growing tropical plants. You said it first bloomed for your sister-in-law after it became root bound. Is that something that normally encourages blossoming for the BOP?? Just wondering. I know some plants really need that crowding to bloom well.

Penny

Living in Northern Michigan I have to drag half my garden inside in the late fall! One of my favs is the lavender(spanish) that I got from kmart. There were three of them, unmarked, in 4 inch pots, for .75. they are now four years old and in pots that weigh 80 lbs! I keep them trimmed at 3 ft.
-B

Brandy, is Spanish lavender less hardy than English? I'm in zone 5, and I have English lavender that is perennial for me here. What zone are you in? The things I have to bring in each fall are my annual herbs, such as parsley, basil, marjoram. They don't always make it through the winter, but at least I have fresh herbs for a while. I also have a rosemary plant that I managed to keep alive indoors all winter last year, so I'm trying again.

Bonnie

Hello everyone!

Today I received packages from patti1957 and dem_pa. Thanks Patti and Don!

Here's an update on the status of the Orange Seed Swap.

Seeds Received:
highalttransplant
jaynine
poisondartfrog
dusty314
ramazz
trudi_d
gmom2-6boys
carsons_mimi
patti1957
mmqchdygg
dem_pa

Seeds Not Received Yet:
lindaruzika
brandymulvaine ***in the mail***
butterflymomok
grovespirit

Brandy, I bring a lot of plants indoors, too. They have taken over our small sunroom. In there, I have several geraniums, two miniature tea roses, several gerberas, two tropical hibiscus, several herbs not hardy here (rosemary, Goodwin Creek lavender, pineapple sage, lemon verbena, etc.), several hot peppers I'm try to overwinter and some begonias and coleus in the shady parts. It looks like a jungle in there!

Penny

Highalttransplant, spanish lavender won't last in my zone 5 but the english will. I even got lady to come back last spring, hope she makes it through this winter! I would love a rosemary too but DH hate the way they smell-weird, huh?

Jungles are nice, especially when it's nasty outside!
-B

Hi everyone!

Today, I received brandymulvaine's package of seeds today. Thanks Brandy!

Waiting for three more packages to arrive, then I can start sorting seeds and filling envelopes for their return trip.

Penny

seeds are mailed and gone!

Hi everyone! Hi Penny! Did you email me? I am sure someone did about the January swap but I cannot find the email now.. if it was you can you email me again?

Thanks and hugs ya'll,
Wendy / sassyb...

Hi everyone!

No seed packages arrived today. Still waiting on a few. Thanks Linda for letting me know that your seeds have been mailed. Butterflymomok and Grovespirit, if you happen to read this post, could you let me know if your seeds have been mailed. Thank you so much!

Hi Wendy!
Yes, I emailed you. I was just trying to find out if you were still planning on hosting the Green Seed Swap in January. There has been some interest in continuing the Color of the Month Swaps, so I was just trying to confirm that you would be hosting the green one so that we can come up with a new schedule for 2010. I emailed Carrie as well about the Chocolate swap for December but I don't believe that that will happen. I have not heard back from her and I don't think she has been active on GardenWeb since about April. Anyway, that is all that the email was about but I'll resend it. Thanks so much for getting back to me!

Penny

Hey Wendy / sassyb...

I'm working on an email to you with a few questions.

Lynn/Carsons_Mimi

Maybe we should see if someone is willing to host the Chocolate swap for the month of February. I'm pretty sure that one would have a good turnout. Chocolate is a popular garden color right now, and doing it in February would tie in with Valentine's.

Just my 2 cents,
Bonnie

Grrr. When it rains it pours... My computer went on the fritz the past several days and I could not post! My seeds were mailed by the deadline.

However, they also just got returned to me today due to a supposed postage shortage... Which is bizarre given that I took it to a PO and used one of *THE PO's* mailing robots to mail it!! Grrr...

SO, now I have to somehow get myself back to the PO by bus to re-mail this thing, and then stand in the long line of folks waiting to be served too. Not a piece of cake given the chronic mobility-limiting condition I suffer from, for more info see my post on this thread:
http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/roundrobin/msg1215195215149.html?10

Seeds have been re-mailed. Dear hubby FINALLY didn't have overtime tonight for a change, and he also had to mail some business correspondence.
So, he kindly decided to give me a break and saved me some energy by taking the bubblie to the PO and mailing it for me too, thank goodness! :)

I really like highalttransplant's suggestion of holding the chocolate (brown, black, maroon and near-black) seed swap in Feb. Good thinking, Bonnie!

DC# for my Orange seeds, which hubbs re-mailed today via an actual, live postal clerk:
0309 1140 0001 3139 2809

Oh and from what I have heard, Bird of Paradise does actually bloom more quickly and more profusely when rootbound, just like another lovely tropical does: Bougainvillea.

Hi everyone!

I have been sick as a dog for the last few days so that is the reason for the lack of updates.

Linda, I received your package of seeds today in the mail. Thank you!

Grovespirit, thanks for letting me know that your seeds have been mailed -- TWICE!!! I'm glad that your hubby was able to help.

butterflymomok is that only other person I have not heard from. I'm not sure if she has mailed in seeds or if she decided not to participate in this swap. butterflymomok if you read this, please let me know.

I know that in my original post I said that I would mail seeds back out by November 19th which is today. I kind of knew that was probably too ambitious of a schedule even when I wrote it. LOL!! Since, I'm still waiting on a few packages, I would guess seeds will most likely be mailed back out after Christmas when the post office is back open for business.
Hopefully that means Monday, December 28th, but if not, by New Years seeds will be mailed out.

Highalttransplant and Grovespirit, yes I absolutely think we should have the Chocolate Seed Swap! We also missed the the White and Pink Swaps earlier this year so I'd like to see them happen as well. Wendy is thinking about whether she will be able to host the Green Seeds Swap in January as she has some tough things going on right now. She said she would get back to us. I thought that I would post an organizing thread for these missed swaps and any other color swaps that people might like to do after Christmas. Sort of a Color of the Month Swaps, 2010 Edition. I don't think enough people are reading this thread anymore to try to organize that in this thread and that it would be better to wait until after Christmas when more people will back on the forums. Do you guys think that sounds like a good idea??

Okay, that's all for now as Dude is trying to destroy the Christmas tree as a write!! Little rascal!

Penny

Ithink it's an excellent idea to post the Color of the MOnth swap after Christmas..I just love these swaps!

Penny,
I'm glad you're feeling better, it's no fun to be sick for the holidays!
I could maybe possibly host one of the color swaps-it would be my first time-a virgin-hehehe!
-B

....like a vir-ur-ur-ur-gin.....

***humming the Madonna song in my head***

;-)

Hehehe!
and
BUMP!

you guys crack me up!

Hi everyone!

Grovespirit, your seeds arrived today. Thank you!

This was the last package of seeds that I was waiting for. I'll be sorting and filling bubble envelopes this weekend so seeds should be in the mail on Monday or Tuesday at the latest.

I hope everyone has a great Christmas/Holiday! It looks like we are going to be having a very WHITE Christmas here. Our first blizzard of the winter is going to hit on Christmas Day!

Merry Christmas everyone!
Penny

I am bumping this up
Did the packages get sent out?
I haven't gotten mine yet:-(
-B

HI everyone!!!

The packages are all in the mail!!!! You should receive them next week sometime. I just got them up to the post office this morning. My fibromyalgia and chronic fatique syndrome has been acting up REALLY bad lately so it has taken me a bit longer than I would have wished. I went through everyone's want lists (those of you who had them) and I hope that I found everyone something that you wanted.

I hope everyone has a very Happy New Year!!!

Happy growing,

Penny (and Dude)

That's great news, Penny!

Sorry to hear that you haven't been feeling well. I'm thinking the stress and busyness of the holidays probably aggravates your condition. Hopefully, once the holidays are behind you, you can rest and recuperate. Don't worry about taking extra time. It will be like getting a belated Christmas gift.

Thanks again for hosting!

Bonnie

Oh Penny, I'm so sorry you haven't been feeling well! Thank you so much for hosting this swap. I hope you feel better after all this excitement dies down.
-B

My seeds came today. Thanks so much for such a wonderful selection~I'm just thrilled. Can't wait to plant! Thanks again Penny & Everybody!

my seeds came today! "dancing all around"...it's a great selection with alot of things I don't have!! Thanks so much everyone and Penny for being such a great hostess!!

My seeds came today too. Penny you did a great job! Quite a few from my wishlist in there. Thank you so much for hosting, and thank you to everyone who sent in seeds!

Bonnie

I received my seeds today. A great assortment. Thanks to a great hostess and thanks to all who shared their seeds.

Don (dem_pa)

I received my seeds today, too. What a great assortment, from veggies to beautiful flowers. Thanks, Penny, you did a terrific job, and I hope you are feeling better. Thanks to everyone who participated, too - you all sent in wonderful seeds!

Becky

My seeds came today! ! ! I would have done a dance but I had to do all I could to keep on my feet.

Thanks to all of you who took part in this trade.

Thanks to Patty for hosting and I hope you feel better fast.

There were many more seeds than I sent in. I hadn't planned on a color swap so I didn't dry seeds by color. We had really bad gardens this year so a lot of my plants did't get a chance to make seed. I will be ready for whatever in 2010. HOPEFULLY.

Thanks again
gmom

Hi everyone!

Wow! A lot of people got their seeds today! The post office must have been working over the New Years weekend!

I'm glad you are all liking the seeds I sent.

Gmom, I had a lot of extras ready before I started this swap so everyone got more seeds back than they sent it. It was just something that I wanted to do as so many people have been so generous to me over the last year on GardenWeb. It was a good way for me to give back.

I'm getting ready to post an organizing thread for a new round of Color of the Month Swaps for 2010. It should be up shortly. So if you are interested in hosting a Color swap, keep your eyes open for it.

Penny

I received my seeds today! Thank you everyone and thank you Penny for the great selection.

Patti

My seeds came today too. Penny you did a great job!
Thank you so much for hosting, and thank you to everyone who sent in seeds!

My seeds arrived today as well. I can't believe how many varieties in my packet were on my mental wish list and even more were on my 'subconscious' wish list -- you know, the one I didn't know I had until I saw them in my hand! What fun!

This was my first RR swap so I truly did not know what to expect. I can't believe the generosity of the group. Now finally(!), I can go buy an actual seed box and set up housekeeping!!! My special thanks to all.

Lynn
aka Carsons_Mimi

Wow! I can't believe how many people got their seeds today! I mailed them on New Year's Eve morning. The Post Office was closed on New Year's Day (Friday). That means most of you received them in only two business days (Saturday and Today, Monday!) I'm really surprised. Way to go US Postal Service!!

Lynn, yep, you will need that seed box if you keep on trading. I think that most of us that have been trading for at least a little while can attest to that. I was new to GardenWeb last year and I can't believe how many new and interesting seeds I have accumulated in that time. The generosity of people here never ceases to amaze me.

Penny

I got my seeds today-yay!! What a selection, thanks Cybermeowz! You did an excellent job! Now to go google some of these seeds!
-B

I got my seeds yesterday. Thank you Penny, for hosting the swap and thanks to everyone who sent seeds. I received a nice assortment.

Alana