Since we are snowed-in tonight, I am starting to plan my garden for next year. This is a list of what I planted form seed this year and how it did. Also, whether I would like to plant the crop again next year and in which garden. . . .
Well, its starting out to be a wild winter. Last year we had almost no snow. In fact, snow before Christmas is fairly infrequent near Boston. The map below shows the frequency of snow depths in the US of at least 1 inch on December 25th. . . .
Have you ever said, "Oops, I think I killed my poinsettia!"
It happens to the best of us. While you're frantically shopping and baking for the holidays, caring for your poinsettia can become the last thing on your mind. After a few weeks of neglect, that once beautiful poinsettia plant might look almost dead. But don't panic! You might be able to rescue your poinsettia plant with some special care. . . .
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to poinsettia
Posted by Nelumbo Reblogged by Old Roses to poinsettia on 2007-12-15, 00:45:04
There's something brewing in the air in Santa Cruz, if you know what I mean, wink-wink-nudge-nudge.
Thousands of cacti -- many more than 12 feet in height -- line Linda Martin's home....
Yes, it's cactus in the air in Santa Cruz.
Martin's mini-botanical garden, which may sound to many like it belongs in the countryside, resides at Loma Vista Estates, a Capitola mobile home park for seniors that was only recently filled with more cement than greenery.
The Courier Journal reprints an old column, seemingly every year now, that gives houseplant advice. Like this:
Succulents. Most are pretty easy to keep going. There are lots of succulent desert-type holiday mixed gardens out there.
The main succulents this year are the new Calandiva series of Kalanchoe with more spectacular, roselike flowers that hold for almost two months.
The column was originally printed in 2005, so do you think the "new" calandivas are still the hot new plant? Come by the nursery some day and find out for yourself. (Hint: the older style, less-rose-like Kalanchoe blossfeldiana are all the rage this year.) Anyway, shouldn't an editor have checked the column for dated info before they reprinted it as current? I'm just saying.
Garden Journal note: 2007 planting completed at 12:13am on Thursday, December 13.
Yes, you read that correctly... I finished this year's planting after midnight last night. My boyfriend pulled up after his fencing lessons (he gives them) and found the dog and I working in the backyard. She was sniffing random tufts of grass--investigating who had been in the backyard leaving her messages, no doubt--and I was digging in the dirt with my favorite, broken old shovel. . ..
Basically it involves the same practice as Vegiforms. Rather than try and get the fruit into the bottle once it's mature, the bottle is placed over the fruit blooms and the fruit grows inside the bottle.
Once the fruit is fully ripened then the bottle can be removed. Then it's just a matter of filling the bottle with your favourite liqueur and storing. And these can be stored for years - the longer the better.
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to fruit
on Dec 13, 2007, 5:51PM
Posted by Reblogged by Old Roses to fruit on 2007-12-15, 00:43:39
Whoa Nelly! The biggest pond company in the U.S. is in a bit of an economic downturn and the owner Greg Whittstock was just asked to blog about his company at Inc.
This isn’t particularly interesting if you’re a home gardener but if you’re in the trade at all or are interested in corporate dynamics, this is interesting stuff. Just be aware that there’s a ton of very angry people writing comments (some of the folks who had to be let go in the cost-cutting. . .
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to ponds
on Dec 13, 2007, 9:15AM
Posted by Doug Reblogged by Old Roses to ponds on 2007-12-15, 00:43:20
Chances are, you have a buddy who prefers begonias to handbags or a relative who loves to spend his free time planting, pruning, and watering. Indulge their passion for plants with garden-theme gear—and maybe they’ll show thanks later on by sharing their garden bounty. Consider these cool gifts as you shop for your favorite green-thumbed friends:. ..
The Fuschia from Tatton park trying out the new cold frame. Hil's kindly donated it to me and I spent over two hours yesterday wrestling with it in the falling light. I was frozen by the time I had completed it in the darkness. It will be used to extend the growing season by two months, one before in Spring, and the other in Autumn. I saw some Rosemary bushes nearby which I will acquire some cuttings to see if they will root over the winter in my coldframe... ..
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Posted by snappy Reblogged by Old Roses to tools on 2007-12-15, 00:42:12
They have cactus on Staten Island? You mean the one in New York City? Who knew such a thing was possible, certainly not me.
Each year Cacti and Succulents have become more popular as houseplants. The variety of unusual forms, their slow growth, their relative freedom from insects and disease and the little effort required to grow them, all have contributed to their popularity....
Is there an empty corner in your living room that needs "something?" Do you have a window that needs a hanging plant, or a sitting room that could use an eye-catching accent? Cacti and Succulents might just be what you're looking for....
Angela Doglio is a member of the Great Kills Garden Club and past director of First District Federated Garden Clubs of New York State.
The Staten Island Ferry is only a quarter, the best deal in town.
Their motto is "It's Easy Being Green" and here they demonstrate with news of some newly liberated wild lands.
Nearly two dozen members of a New Mexico non-profit, three geologists, sundry guests, and one reporter bowed their heads to 30-knot winds last Saturday to hike up 6,272-foot Chupadera Peak in central New Mexicos Chihuahuan desert. The motley band was celebrating the unique purchase and donation of this $62,000 rock.
The cacti and cresote covered mountain rises abruptly on the western side of the Rio Grande floodplain. As part of the Chupadera Mountains, it provides both high elevation habitat for songbirds and serves as a natural wall protecting the wetland stopover home for more than 50,000 wintering birds.
A birding group called Friends of the Bosque will give this 140-acre chunk of mountain to Bosque Del Apache National Wildlife Refuge, a roughly 57,000-acre area of protected land in New Mexico. The refuge will in turn ask Congress to designate the land as wilderness.
In one of those nanny firewall incidents, it had looked like I was going lose posting on my blog and commenting on all blogger hosted sites. Yesterday, nanny blocked the log-in since it was flagged "web chat" in the documentation. I don't pretend to understand how websites do that to be seen in search engines and how nanny firewalls see that to block them, but it happens. Thankfully, someone protested to IT and Blogger is back on the approved list!. . .
I adore Burt's Bees. They sell all natural items, of which I've received free samples, and loved them! If I could, I'd buy everything from them exclusively and skip the drug store entirely.
And now they are trying to do something good for the bees by giving away free seed. Go request yours!
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Posted by Tina Reblogged by Old Roses to seeds on 2007-12-15, 00:40:14
Get the gardeners in your life a gift subscription to Washington Gardener Magazine. We send your giftee the current issue and a personalized gift card -- just attach a note to your order letting us know what you would like it to say. For those at a loss for words, we usually just say "Happy Gardening!" and at this time of year we add a "Happy Holidays!" You can fill out a gift subscription order online here or just send a check for $20 with your order details to: Washington Gardener Magazine, 826 Philadelphia Ave., Silver Spring MD 20910. As long as we get it by December 20, we can get it to your giftee by Christmas.
Here is the online link to this week's The List: Top Home & Garden Events on page 28 of today's print edition in the Washington Examiner.
I am traveling on work now, so I cant do blooms day, but decided to post pics of blooms from my vacation in Laos last week. Yes, this shot is real! I couldn't believe myself when I saw what a great pic I'd get of this brugmansia, with the Kuangsi waterfalls in the background.
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Posted by Nicole Reblogged by Old Roses to flowers on 2007-12-15, 00:39:58
The first Frost I have seen in over a year on my plants! The Winter Primula seems to have taken a battering from the Icy frosts. The rough leaves were highlighted in glimmering crystals. . . .
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to weather
Posted by snappy Reblogged by Old Roses to weather on 2007-12-15, 00:38:14
Once in a while I'll have a day where my mailbox starts piling up with notes from people all telling me to go to the same website. That was the case the other day for The Story of Stuff.
It's a twenty minute movie you can watch all at once or in sections as time permits.
It's bright, insightful, and sticks it to the man:
Many people have become interested in buying live Xmas trees for their holiday decor and recycling them afterwards as landscape trees. Steve Nix notes that most live Xmas trees "are...
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to trees
on Dec 13, 2007, 1:17AM
Posted by Reblogged by Old Roses to trees on 2007-12-15, 00:37:36
Out walking with the baby yesterday - something I spend a lot of time doing these days - and I became (possibly irrationally) annoyed. Walking down a posh private road some distance from my own slightly less salubrious area, I spied a big house with several apple trees dotted about the large front lawn. They were smothered in unpicked fruit. I am not an apple expert but I do know they should have been harvested long ago. What a waste! I guess it seems like a lot of work, but how rewarding to eat (or juice, or cook with) your...
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to fruit
on Dec 13, 2007, 3:54AM
Posted by Jane Perrone Reblogged by Old Roses to fruit on 2007-12-15, 00:37:29
via Transatlantic Plantsman on 1969-12-31, 19:00:00
