Q: Dear Cactus Jungle
I was wondering if you could offer me advice or direct me to somebody who can. I have a cactus that is very dear to me and it is about to die. This cactus was a wild desert cactus my brother dug up for me four years ago or so in Southern Arizona...I think it is a rat-tail cactus. A couple of bad things have happened to it since I've had it...last summer I left it under a skylight for a week and it got kind of cooked and dried-up in parts, but I managed to save it just by cutting the cooked parts. Then a few weeks ago it got left outside in a crazy rainstorm in New Hampshire, but I repotted it the very next morning and it actually seemed to be healthier than before. All along it has been a fairly healthy plant. But the thing that has made it so sick is more. . .
There, that's it - a collage of what's left in the garden in September :
Top row : Limelight hydrangea still going strong; Sweet Autumn Clematis join the show, Ah, the ornamental grasses glow, mums, phlox and sedum all in a row , bee balm, plume poppy and chinese lantern , oh my, chartruese enters stage right, followed by asters, and blackeyed Susans.
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to flowers
Posted by Carolyn gail Reblogged by Old Roses to flowers on 2007-09-15, 06:05:38
Open Register is taking on the Coaching Challenge with some great ideas for their members, the indie nurseries.
And here in the DC area, writer/editor Kathy Jentz covered the coaching phenomenon in her gardening column in the Washington Examiner Newspaper. Great article, Kath! (But who are those people in the photos, anyway??)
Some people may wonder about the real Petunia in Petunia's Garden. She's a garter snake that moved in the first year we created a couple garden beds. I've received a few e-mails about growing petunias, probably when this blog popped up in someone's search. Maybe Petunia should reply and include her photo in the message. That might be a surprise.
Apparently, the snakes finally got tired of waiting for summer too and decided to get about their business anyway. We've been seeing them more lately than we have all summer.
This week has been a bit blah. The first part started out alright, seemingly too slow for me, and then Wednesday after work I got a call from my dad saying that my
grandmother was in the hospital after having fallen in the backyard. My grandmother is a gardener and just doesn't move around like she used to. She still tries to get out
and do what she can, and apparently she was watering and trimming some things when she grabbed onto a limb and lost her balance. In the process she broke her femur
and pelvis and will have to have surgery on her knee to have it fixed. The surgery keeps getting pushed back, from last night and now until tomorrow. I've talked
to her a few times and she sounds surprisingly upbeat. I'm wondering what kind of pain killers she's on!. . .
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to weather
on Sep 14, 2007, 11:25PM
Posted by Reblogged by Old Roses to weather on 2007-09-15, 06:04:47
One the most common questions I get, is "Why won't my Hydrangea bloom." Of course they're talking about the beautiful species called Hydrangea macrophylla (Big Leaf Hydrangea).
.... [Not sure what type of Hydrangea you have? Click here]
This plant is extremely popular because of it is the most colorful of all the species. . . .
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to hydrangea
Posted by Tim Wood Reblogged by Old Roses to hydrangea on 2007-09-15, 06:04:22
I’m quite fortunate in that my sister-in-law (pictured) is getting married on Sunday. As a result, places that had been weeded for a long time have been picked over and the compost bin is now brimming.
Earlier in the week, my wife announced “summer is back” as the heavy rain gave way to cloudless sun. There. . .
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to weather
Posted by Reblogged by Old Roses to weather on 2007-09-15, 06:03:55
There are a couple of things I've learned this year: spiders, yellowjackets, and snapping turtles don't give a whit about your good intentions. Deer on the other hand, while they put up a big show of indifference, actually very much like being called "Sweetheart".
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to pests
Posted by IBOY Reblogged by Old Roses to pests on 2007-09-15, 06:02:40
In September there are fewer perennials in bloom than summer, so those that are in bloom are so great to see. The intense color range of this bloom. . .
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to hibiscus
on Sep 14, 2007, 8:38AM
Posted by Reblogged by Old Roses to hibiscus on 2007-09-15, 06:01:52
I am a daycare provider and this was a fun task for my little ones to do, is to take a box of crayons and match them with flowers in the garden We. . .
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to flowers
on Sep 14, 2007, 8:30AM
Posted by Reblogged by Old Roses to flowers on 2007-09-15, 06:00:47
Our latest article in the Washington Examiner is out today. Read the article online here (Real Estate section - September 14 2007 edition - page 14), or grab the print version at the red street boxes around town today - the article is on R14 (Real Estate section - page 14). It is on Garden Coaches. When researching this trend I found a great many "garden coaches" out there that have been doing it for decades, they just called themselves something else -- mentor, consultant, etc. -- and many of them did the service for free for friends and family. Like other domestic and home arts, gardening is getting crowded out of people's busy schedules and certainly few have the time to take a new gardener under their wing, so for newbies hiring a garden coach for a few hours of hand-holding just makes sense. Now that I mention the time-crunch, I'm off to crank out the September 15 edition of our Washington Gardener Enews. I just got back from a morning visiting the Mall gardens and a Ladybug Release at the NMAI. Lots of eager young entomologists and horticulturists there. (Some pictured here.) Hope to see many more at the Brookside Children's Day event tomorrow.
If you're like me, you read a lot. And if you're like me and you read a lot, you read a lot about plants and natural history. And you might have found that a lot of the best natural history books are about 100 years out of print - written in the 19th century by Victorian plant hunters and explorers who were seeing some things out in the jungle for the first time ever. . . .
This overview of current thinking on the subject was published in my local paper and prompted a nice thumb's up from Mike Tidwell, a well known enviro leader locally and even nationally - whew!- so I'm passing it on for readers here.
There’s been lots of
news lately about the effects of climate change on our gardens and
oddly, it’s usually presented as good news to gardeners. They’re shown
rejoicing over the warm-climate plants they can now grow, like crape
myrtles in Upstate New York. BUT. . .
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to environment
on Sep 10, 2007, 8:19PM
Posted by Susan Reblogged by Old Roses to environment on 2007-09-15, 05:59:23
Planttraders.com is having their fall plant exchange. You have to be a member to join the swap, but registration is free. This is one of the greatest gardening sites around. Mostly gardening related, there is also some crafting too. There are sections relating to ponds, birds, insects, plant identification, house plants, propagation, seed collecting, seed starting, succulents, tropicals, soil, composting, companion planting, green houses, bulbs, seed trading, bulb trading, plant trading....
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to plants
Posted by Angie Reblogged by Old Roses to plants on 2007-09-15, 05:58:55
(Can you believe it?? It's not midnight at the end of the month...I'm early! Maybe I get a gold star...maybe?)
Carol of May Dreams Garden has suggested our book for this period and is the de facto president and hostess of our Garden Bloggers Book Club (Carol, I hope you don't mind the title! I mean it well.). Her choice is A Hoe Lot of Trouble by Heather Webber. Thanks, Carol, for a great suggestion! To my review...
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to books
Posted by Gotta Garden Reblogged by Old Roses to books on 2007-09-15, 05:58:34
I took these shots yesterday at my friend’s farm in Phippsburg, Maine. Her asters were covered with monarch butterflies, and every one of them in perfect condition. I have more photos from the garden she and her husband’s beautiful garden to post tomorrow, so come back and look!
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to beneficials
on Sep 14, 2007, 10:17AM
Posted by Sandy Reblogged by Old Roses to beneficials on 2007-09-15, 05:58:04
Here's the latest issue of Garden Ideas & Outdoor Living, on your newsstand now. I wrote and took the photographs for a story in it called "12 Design Tips for Your Landscape." I had a blast with it. For one thing, the garden is absolutely beautiful, and while photographing it I got to really take my time and explore every bit. Also, the gardeners—they live in Scottsville— are friends of mine, and they are just a lot of fun and very sweet. The story turned out great; I hope you'll buy a copy! (My mom found one at Wegmans today.). . .
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to magazines
Posted by Jane M. Reblogged by Old Roses to magazines on 2007-09-15, 05:57:55
This begonia is a real beauty. My neighbor, Nancy a/k/a "gardener extraordinaire" gave it to me when it was a wee little plant. Her plant was at least 5' tall and gorgeous. I stuck it in the ground and it is now about 3' tall. I knew it was a begonia but I didn't know its official name until I saw a picture of it in the Aug/Sept issue of Florida Gardening magazine in the article about Valkaria Tropical Gardens. It is called a lotus-leafed begonia (B. nelumbiifolia). It gets a tall spike of creamy white (small) flowers. The flowers pale in comparison to the leaf. As an old-timer greenhouse plantsman once told us, "If the leaf is beautiful then the flower is usually blah!"
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to begonia
Posted by Susan Reblogged by Old Roses to begonia on 2007-09-15, 05:57:30
I took this at the nursery the other day. I must say it brought some memories. When I was growing up my parents had a large greenhouse/nursery operation. We had several glass houses that were used to raise seasonal crops including, geraniums, Easter lilies, Poinsettias and Chrysanthemums. I still to this day have trouble smelling Geraniums. Often times I would be drafted into service for propagating, watering, pinching and even helping to deliver the plants. I am not sure I would ever want to work on the production side of things again. I am much happier planting and trying to grow the stuff. This mum was about 4 to 5 inches across.
Bougainvillea 'White Madonna'
I took this Bougainvillea shot at the same nursery. I envy all the gardeners that can grow this shrub outdoors. We have one in the Conservatory at work and it is nice during February when it blooms the heaviest. The rest of the year it looks like a refugee and it is tucked in the back in one of the corners. I thought this cultivar (B. 'White Madonna') was unusual as it is a very understated color. Quite attractive in my mind and I think it would nice combined with the more electric colors.
I am working in upstate New York today. It is about a 2 hour drive from here. The ride up there isn’t bad but I am not looking forward to the return trip in Friday night traffic.
This time we are going (me and the three little birds) to the Northern Horticultual Society Autumn Flowers Show. These are held twice a year in the Harrogate Yorkshire Show Grounds.It shares the grounds with Antiques fairs, Toy Fairs, Gem Stone Fairs, and so on. The Two flower shows are in April and September. 90 Flower Nurserys, and Plant Specialist groups like the Orchid society, or the Bonsai society.
More photos Later...
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to shows
Posted by snappy Reblogged by Old Roses to shows on 2007-09-15, 05:56:09
Last weekend might have offered up the most beautiful weather I’ve ever seen in Iowa. For two solid days, the sun shone, the temperatures hovered in the 70s, the sky was so blue and deep it almost made me stop missing the ocean, and everything felt crisp and clean. . . .
via Point Taken on 1969-12-31, 19:00:00
