Gardener's Group discussion

hi! my name is jo and i'm an obsessed gardener-holic! i'm also a 30 something wife, writer, pic taker and avid reader! flowers & some veggies are my thang!

i'll slowly get to trying to add all of my gardening books to the group's bookshelf ~ please feel free to add your own!

so, pull up a chair, sit back in the shade & tell us about yourself!

welcome dara! glad you could join us, er, me!

welcome nic! happy to have you!

welcome brandi & tera! thanks for taking me up on my invite!!!

Thanks for the invite. I confess to being obsessed. Wish to know the depths of my obsession? Today I dug through the trash for the banana peel my husband threw away so I could go and bury it with my rose bush. I hear they like the Potassium and heard that was a good trick. So, obsession fits perfectly

i've got one for ya!

summer before last i'd brought home a bunch of goodies from a road side nursery (including brown eyed susans & zinnia's plus more) and put them out back ~ that night, just after falling asleep, i was roused by pouring rain & thunder! i jumped out of bed, threw on a night gown (at least i think i did), ran for my flip flops and ran out back in a 'all hell's breaking lose' storm to collect my flowers & put them under the patio table! all the while i'm hopping over puddles & stifling screams every time i saw lightening & heard thunder! i was soaked by the time i darted back inside!!! (i'm grinning ear to ear & laughing to myself right now!)

:)

lol
Ok heres my crazy night gardeners obsession tale. Last weekend I finished up my flower bed with some verbena and my herbs and had moved everything around just how i wanted it. Woke up at 3 am with the baby and after I got him down I went outside in my nightgown just to see if it was as nice as I had remembered it earlier in the day. Stood outside in the middle of the night in my nightgown just gazing happily at my flowerbed.

i don't see anything wrong with that in the least!!! as a matter of fact, i've done the very same thing! at least you're sure you had your nightgown on! (see my prev post if this leaves anyone scratchin' their head!)

Well I have to continue this thread because I woke up this morning from a dream about gardening. I had this beautiful 3 level garden. I had roses and a crab apple tree and flowers of all kind. It was so wonderful I just loved walking through it. My grandfather was there suddenly and he was talking with me about it and delighting at my delight. He said he would look at my rose bushes because I was having a problem with one of them (which I am actually).
My grandfather lives in Idaho and is a widow of 3 years. He had a wonderful garden that I remember as a little girl. I hope to recreate part of it again in my yard. He sent me 25.00 for my birthday and I bought a tree to plant in his honor. I call him from time to time to tell him about my garden and what im growing and what to grow. He was always so quiet and stern growing up but hes much more engaging and talkative now. I think maybe hes lonely since my grandmother passed away.
I often wonder if dreams mean anything and what if anything that one means.
I do know it means Im pretty obsessed with this garden stuff.

1st off, i just wanted to welcome jaimelee!

tera, what a wonderful thing to share! actually, while i think there's an obsession to it, i think there's also such a deep joy that comes with gardening & i think that's why it penetrates other area's of our lives!

welcome donna! glad you joined us!

it's funny, growing up, i never wanted to get dirty! i hated walking barefoot anywhere!!! now, i LOVE having my hands in the dirt & usually by the time i'm done doing whatever in the gardens, i'm FILTHY! and i couldn't care less!!!

i want to grow more veggies out front this year (that's where all the good sun is!) ~ i've just got to figure out what, besides tomato's & wax beens! i've got to do everything in containers here, which is fine, i just have to be selective & grow what i really, really, really want!

i noticed this group on donna's update and thought i would join
i've got tales but for now
i'm in a townhouse in California and discovering what to grow here
i just started snippin things growing over walls and putting them in my purse on a recent walk
i have jade which grows in hedges out here
and a bunch of other stuff i don't know the names of covering two window sills in containers to root
i'll keep you updated
glad you're here
i was a big organic/composter for years
but haven't done much gardening for a few years
anxious to get back into it

welcome maureen! glad to have you!

ah yes! i can feel the gardening love!

thanks
there really isn't anything quite like the satisfaction of helping something grow
my daughter just bought me little pink handled shovel and three claw and three little 2" sitting gnomes to put amongst the plants
tomorrow afternoon i'm going to map out a plan :)

i just wanted to welcome BrandyK and Lvmygrdn to the group!!!

more gardeners-lovely
please share

Thank you for the welcome! I love to read and love to garden. I'm on the east coast in zone 6b/7 and am always pushing the envelope when it comes to plants.
I have mostly perennials with some annuals. Right now I have daffodils, anemone (LOVE THEM), starflower, pansies, etc. in bloom. It won't be long before the foxglove, clematis and peonies strut their stuff. :-) I do have an addiction when it comes to plants and books and I enjoy every minute of it.

welcome pam & emma!!! glad you've joined our happy little group!

lvmygrdn ~ i've got the same addiction and i too enjoy every minute of it!!!

welcome marian and adrian!!! glad to have you!

Welcome to Julia! Glad you've found us and hope you'll enjoy your time here!

more garden stories!!
please don't stay quiet
what are you growing?

i brought home a flat of (wax) begonia's on monday ~ deep pink flowers w/dark rust/bronze foliage! LOVE them!

i love wax begonia's too
and tuberous begonia's
today it's cyclamen in a pot that i got for "admin assistants day"
it's lovely, magenta

today i brought home a flat of magenta petunia's and a half flat of lilac-ish colored perunia's! LOVE these too!

Hi, I noticed this group and I thought I'd join because I am gardening and garden book obsessed. I'm addicted to roses, love lilies, herbs, veggies. Basically anything that smells good or tastes good is welcomed with open arms to my garden. My husband and I are on a mission to replace as much of the lawn in our yard as possible with garden beds. Right now I have tulips, lilies of the valley, sweet woodruff, bleeding hearts and pulminaria blooming. My giant lilac tree, extremely hot pink azaleas and my potted blueberry bushes are also in full bloom. I've been slipping Johnny jump ups around the yard and in pots for a little extra color while I wait with baited breath for all of the perennials to pop. This time of year is always so exciting.

Welcome Anne! So glad you've found & joined us! Your gardens sound wonderful!!! I agree, this time of year is exciting!

Welcome Yumi!

Welcome to all the new members. I am fairly new here. I really should post more. :-) I too love fragrant plants. Some of my lilies have buds but no blooms as of yet. Their fragrance can be intoxicating. Roses are hard for me. I have one carpet rose that does well and doesn't seem to suffer from powdery mildew & black spot like my previous roses. Would love to hear more about your gardens.

i think my rose bush is just plain dead! we'll have to see what june brings!

My luck with my roses been so-so, but I've only been gardening here for a short time and it's my first garden, so I'm still learning. This spring, so far, they look wonderful. I mounded them with mulch in the fall and fertilized them in April with a variety of different organic fertilizers. I also pruned them to about 1/3 or 1/2 of their height. I was kind of scared to do that, but from the growth that they've been putting out, I think it was the right thing to do. Blackspot has been a problem for me, but I think I've figured out how to best combat it with with a natural fungicide. I tried some things that didn't work including one product that damaged the plant's leaves and one systemic fertilizer/fungicide/insecticide that made the worms come out of the ground and die (what a nightmare!). If you're looking for a pretty rose that doesn't get bothered by blackspot, I've had great luck with my Fairy roses. They just grow and grow and grow and flower and flower and flower and don't need much attention at all. They don't smell at all, but I forgive them that because they're so great in every other way.

Anne, I'll have to look for Fairy roses! I'm also on the look out for a rainbow Knockout rose and a rainbow butterfly bush! (I'm always scared to prune things down so low too! So far it's worked out though!)

Welcome Christina and Crystal!!!

Welcome Kathy Jo!

Welcome Sarazen and Lori!!! Glad to have you!

Welcome Maggie!!! Thanks for joining us!

Welcome Lisa!!! Thanks for joining!

Welcome gardentraveler!!! Glad to have you!

Welcome Kim and Shava! Thanks for joining!!!

Thanks, Jo! I haven't much time for gardening right now but I want to get ideas to start a big project on my terrace with potted plants for next spring. Hoping to glean some insight here and just enjoy reading about the whole plant madness. Looking forward to it!

Kim, all I do is container gardening where we live right now! Challenging, yet just as rewarding as in ground gardening!!!

Welcome Summer!

Thanks Jo. I guess I should post a little about my garden. I live in a new home in a wooded area; about an acre was cleared of trees to build the house. This gave me more land to plant than I knew what to do with, so I have started with the beds closet to the house and am moving outward. We also have added two small ponds. I like using bulbs and perrenials as much as possible bc replanting so much is tiresome. My favorite part of gardening is the planning stage-researching plants and plotting it all out on graph paper. Thankfully, others are willing to help with ongoing tasks like wedding and watering.

Hi Jo, just catching up. Do you have a favorite container gardening book? I really want to do it right. My terrace is on the roof so I have some wind to contend with too, but plenty of light and, as I'm in the Netherlands, rain. Plus I want to get some plants growing inside and make it a green environment inside and out.

Hhhhmmmm... I'll have to check into what I've got Kim! I'll let you know ASAP!

A belated Welcome to Shirl!!!

Welcome Devon!!!

Kim, I'm sorry it's taken me so long to get back to you! (Fall is such a busy time of year!)

Out of the container gardening books I've read, I like "Potted Gardens: A Fresh Approach to Container Gardening" by Rebecca Cole and "Paradise Found: Gardening in Unlikely Places" also by Rebecca Cole, http://www.goodreads.com/search/searc... .

But, because you're in another country, I think the internet may be of more specific assistance for you for info for your area and for finding books you can use!

There are oodles of organic/green gardening books, so I think a trip to your local grower or book store to ask their assistance may be best!

(Though any of the Reader's Digest Complete Guide's to Gardening are great and full of so much useful info, organic and otherwise!)

Hope that's some help!

Welcome Cheryl S.!

*A note to everyone, please feel free to start your own threads & post away!!!

So nice to be specifically welcomed to the group. We had our first hard frost last night so the pots are finally kaput and I can start dumping them out and cleaning them up for next year. I was ready to be done taking care of them as we had little rain from the middle of June until Sept and I had to do a lot of watering. I wish I would have found this group during the planting season, but hopefully members will post their garden plans and dreams during the winter and we can all fantasize together. Last year I received my first garden catalog the day after Christmas and totally forgot about whatever pressing chores I should have been doing and lost myself making lists and dog earing corners. Oh yes, I am addicted.

Me too! (Addicted to gardening!) We haven't hard the 1st hard frost yet but we're close! Some of the potted flowers are done for already though!

I got my 1st catalog not too long ago but I can't remember what I did with it!

Yes, Winter is for hunkering down and garden dreaming! I love Autumn for its' beauty and winding down and Winter for the dreaming!

Sorry I'm so late getting back to you, Jo. Thanks for the great book advice on container gardening. I'll check out the ones you recommended. Unfortunately, any books here in the Netherlands on gardening from my local garden store are in Dutch and I'm just a beginner in that language. I'll ask around though for sure.

Welcome Lisa and Ariel!

Thank you!!! LOL! I love the thread subject title! It's perfect. :-)

Lisa