Terminalcoffee discussion

Are you a plant person? A garden person?

I guess I'm thinking about today for three reasons in particular. First, it's insanely cold. Second, all the garden catalogs keep coming in the mail. Third, I keep about forty plants in the classrooms at work.

I'm ok but not great at houseplants. I'm not one of those people who can tell you the name of a particular plant, etc. but I can remember to water them, put fertilizer in them, and they usually grow. I feel guilty when I neglect them. Plus, I like the head-clearing nature of caring for plants. I walk from room to room with my water and feel better about the world.

I'm not as good with gardens. Stupid weeds get in the way. I try every year, and I do an ok job through the fourth of July...then...I'm, like...screw it...

And...you?

ok, at the risk of compromising my rugged, manly appearance i will go on record as saying i like flowers. i know this along with the fact that i:

1) occasionally quote show tunes and musicals
2) like bette midler
3) do a great Agador impression (whish wig?)
4) know what taffeta is
and
5) like david sedaris

may cause some water cooler discussions with this group i will unabashedly say "i am a flower guy"

mainly perennials as annuals (marigolds, impatiens) are a hassle to plant each year. sure some will re-seed but you can't count on it. i like coneflowers, coreopsis (jethro tull), shasta daisys and other ones like those. i keep a few clematis also climbing around the yard. i have lots of day lilies and my favorite is the tiger lily as it is indigenous to my area.

did i say too much?

I LOVE when men proclaim their "flowery-ness"!

:)

Seriously.

And clematis is one of my favorite flowers. And orchids. And daffodils (which I call buttercups as my Mamaw taught me). But I SUCK at keeping plants. I'm damn close to having a black thumb.

I LOOOOVE clematis! I'm a huge fan of zinnias. In fact, they're my faves. Unfortunately, I live in a rental property and don't have a space for gardening... just container gardening.

An easy project that any parent can do with his/her children - a cup of water and the leftovers of the green onion after you've chopped it for use - the roots and whatever else you have left (usually about an inch at least above the roots) - they sprout in less than a day. In a week's time, they are exactly like they were (in length) when you bought them in the store. Throw them out after a few days though - they start to smell oniony - very strongly... Also potatoes (my mother always helped us suspend them with toothpicks) will sprout as well.

I would def have an herb garden around the house if I had gardening space - lavender, chamomile, basil, cilantro, parsley, sage, rosemary, lemongrass, thyme. That and zinnias would keep me happy.

I like shasta daisies, too! I'm really into ornamental grasses lately, too, because I finally cleared out some space in which they could gross well. And phlox, too.

I've got a decent clematis...I was worried it was a little too shady of a spot for it, but it's doing ok.

the grasses and phlox will take over. you have to keep pruning and cutting them back. we have what we call field phlox which is a wild, taller version. i think people plant lemon grass to keep the mosquito's away

OK, I get confused about phlox. Is that the same as lantana?

We've had a succulent ground cover that took over, but our phlox hasn't really gone wild.

I have a vegetable garden, but my friend does most of the work. I grow plants well in pots, but I'm not good at keeping anything unpotted looking that tiny. I've never successfully kept an indoor plant healthy.

I want to plant a long row of flowers in my veggie garden this year (the corn never turns out, anyway). I love zinnias, dahlias, chrysanthemums and clematis. And other stuff. PEONIES!!!!!!!!!!!!

oh, btw - i drive a pick-up, listen to white zombie, hunt, fish, play softball recklessly and love baseball. it is not just show tunes and flowers for me all the time LOLOLOLOL

Jasmine vines are my fave surprise. A neighbor had some growing on his iron fence posts and it smelled HEAVENLY when I'd pass it while taking Robby for a walk.

for the very short time that lilacs bloom they are the best

wisteria in bloom is a heavenly smell

oooh, and ginger in bloom

Our vegetable/fruit garden has raspberries, blueberries, rhubarb, sage, parsley thyme and asparagus that come back every year, all we have to do is weed. I planted garlic this fall, so hope that I will have that in the spring, and then we plant everything to make salsa, and maybe pumpkins, squash or watermelon depending on the year.

Oh! We have raspberries, too...they rock...I can't get the blueberries to grow because I don't have the right kind of soil, though. Did you treat the soil, Jim?

We have decent sage plants, too...I love drying the sage in fall and burning it in winter...

I put a bunch of sand in the soil RA.

Ah yes the smell of sage, and we have lilac bushes too, though ours don't seem to be very fragrant.

The only plant I've ever had was Gordon, my pet kiwano (or horned melon). Sadly, he's now deceased though tropical fruits were probably never meant to be grown in Missouri. Here's his picture:
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Last time I visited a nursery I realized that all the plants I really like are vines or flowering shrubs, or bush-like plants. Or most of them... honeysuckle, japonica, forsyhthia, bleeding hearts. Although I also love daffodils. Other than that, I miss growing fruits, veggies, and herbs like we did when I was a kid. We had blueberries, yellow and red raspberries, strawberries, cucumber, string beans, tomatoes, tons of herbs...
Unfortunately, I've discovered as I've gotten older that I have a totally black thumb and all the plants my mother used to love just die off under my care. Although I AM determined to plant some tomatoes this year. Nothing like fresh tomatoes.

Dan, I love that you named your plant!

So... can you actually eat horned melons?

You can eat horned melons but I don't recommend it. The only edible part is the gelatinous membrane around the hundreds of seeds and it tastes like cucumber with a hint of banana. Very labor intensive.

A little background on Gordon:
Way back in 2005, we used to have Weird Fruit Day about once a week in our area. Gordon's grandfather was one of the guests of honor. After seeing how undesirable the horned melon was, the guy in the cube next to me talked me into digging the seeds out of the one we had. In about two months, the window next to our cubes was almost completely covered with horned melon vines, eventually yielding three melons, which I named Joaquin, Alejandro, and Dennis. Gordon was spawned from one of their seeds.

Wow, that's the best (only) pet fruit story EVER!!!!

I have three named house plants, Pierre the Peace Lily, Ophelia the Philodendron and Pink Pink (I don't remember what kind of plant).

It is hard to name my favorite flowers because I love them all. My current favorites are Ice Plant, Guara, Mandevilla, Passion Flower, Black-eyed Susan Vine, Mouse-eared Coreopsis, Moss Rose and Tulips.

Oh, I almost forgot, there is a Honeysuckle vine growing down my fence and it smells divine when in bloom.

Kevin wrote: "oh, btw - i drive a pick-up, listen to white zombie, hunt, fish, play softball recklessly and love baseball. it is not just show tunes and flowers for me all the time LOLOLOLOL"

I can just see it now, pick-up squealing tires kicking up the girl silhoutte mud flaps as White Zombie blares out of the cab with a bed full of flats of Pansies.

I saw a grove of these today (not my photos). They are serviceberry, also known as shadbush, shadwood or shadblow, serviceberry or sarvisberry, wild pear, juneberry, saskatoon, sugarplum or wild-plum, and chuckley pear.

These were right next to a grove of white crabapple trees.

In D.C. last week the double cherry blossom trees were getting near the end of their blooms. These are the ones where the flowers are so full they look like mini carnations.



They might be called Kwanzan cherry tree?



And the dogwoods were at their peak.

There are just a handful of Dogwoods with a few blooms left, here. Many of the flowering bushes and trees are done for now which is sad. The Magnolias are a little later. I love those blooms, too.

Most of the spring flowers have already bloomed here, but the hydrangeas are flowering, and the jasmine smells wonderful.

The skunk vines are coming back to life - very invasive and relatively new to this area - and they do stink when you pull them up, hence their name. I'm at war with this vine.

Saw tons of wisteria and lilac last week.

Lobstergirl wrote: "These were right next to a grove of white crabapple trees.

In D.C. last week the double cherry blossom trees were getting near the end of their blooms. These are the ones where the flowers are so..."

My parents have a tree that looks similar to the trees in those pictures. It is one of my favourite trees.

So, my tomatoes are huge and I have LOTS of flowers. I was taught by my gran to take off the lower, non-flowery branches so the nutrients aren't wasted. They look good, but I can't figure out if I'm over watering them. The get droopy, so I give them a drink. But, some of the leaves have gone a bit yellow and splotchy. Doesn't that mean over watering?

Ill put my garden out next weekend. We have two garden plots. Strawberries, peppers, tomatoes, squash, cukes, asparagus, onions, green beans eyc

I started some jalapenos from seeds recently, but my bell peppers are looking AWESOME!

Apparently, according to The Master, I might have some kind of tomato blight. I'll keep snapping off the funny looking ones and see if it gets better.

All my stuff is inside, in pots...I've started a wee jungle in my big South facing room.

Some of my tomato plants have the same yellow business going on, Melia. I have been plucking off the yellow bits and it seems to be helping. I bought two patio tomato plants and they are giant and gorgeous. No yellow and full of blooms. They are five feet away from my raised garden beds. So weird.

I'm still growing the four green pepper plants indoors. Although it was 74 today in the city, that is an inland temp and by the lake where I am it's 10-15 degrees cooler. Too cool to put the pepper plants outside. They like heat. Plus I'm worried the squirrel(s) will eat the peppers off the plant.

I haven't moved any of my indoor plants outside because of the coolness at night. I'll wait to the end of the month.

That is wise.

You can spray dilluted hot sauce on the leaves to deter the squirrels.

Ack! So unsightly.

Or Halloweenish.

The sun almost killed my tomato and parsley, but I made them better!

My apricot coloured Zygote cactus is blooming and I have buds on my African Blood Lily. My slipper orchid has blooms, and my Camellia is in bud. I love my Autumnal flower pots.

Well, I pruned back all of the questionable branches. I didn't have to touch any of the flowering ones, so that was good...don't think I could have done it. They look much less bushy and jungley, but they look healthier. And, we've achieved full on blooms! *squeals*

Yay, Melia!!

Evie, those flowers sound so pretty! I am jealous!

Saturday I'm being given dark orange crocosmia bulbs and blue scilla (wood hyacinth) bulbs. :) My yard needs more color.

Stop it. I have flower envy.

I just planted some ice plants, so there.

:)

WTH? Post a pic please.

I will give you a flower tour. Haha! New this year, starting with ice plants:





What they will grow up to be, this is my 3 year old ice plant:



My new Plumbago:



My new double calibrachoa:



The coreopsis that finally could with a tiny columbine from several years ago seed:




The amaryllis are just starting to get their bloom on:

Somebody needs to weed that bed!

Plumbago = Love.

I try to plant and garden but I live in New Mexico and everything dies