Shiva wrote:
Durham might as well be Nebraska! I never go there, isn't that ridiculous?
I used to when I had an artist friend who lived there in the coolest
neighborhood downtown, but she moved. I really like Durham, though.
Brightleaf Square is neat, or was. I got an espresso maker at that great
kitchen shop there.
I know the feeling as south Raleigh and Cary are that way for me. I
make it into norhtern Raleigh quite frequently as I live off of highway
98 not far from the Wake County line in northeast Durham. It's easier
to go shoping in north Raleigh for me than it is to go to Durham. It's
about the same distance, too.
Anyone else use the Peter's rose spikes?
I saw these one brief moment in time, years ago--plant spikes just for
roses. I think they sell out fast. Where did you get yours?
Lowes. You're right, they do sell out fast and I tend to contribute to
that. They don't get them in very often so I often buy several packages
of them when I see them.
Speaking of Osmocote--the Schultz ripoff I bought that is for roses and flowering
shrubs says it lasts four months at temps averaging 70 degrees. Here, that
would be, what, a little trickle until July then gushers?? What do you
think? I think maybe I ought to do a heavy application of Mill's in the
cooler spring, rather than later when the time release really starts
flowing.
I don't recall seeing anything like that on the osmocote package.
Hmmm... I guess I'll have to check closer. However, I do recall seeing
the little capsules into August from my May application.
Here's hoping that we don't suffer another major power outage with the
ice storm predicted for this Sunday in NC! December we spent five and a
half days without power.
Yes, it was really scary the first night, and we have lots of trees that
are invisibly cracked, just waiting for another load of ice to break. Good
luck. Hope Durham Power gets their stuff together this time. I love how
our moron governor launched a big study about WHY there was so much damage
and WHY it took so long to get power back on. It is simple--great big old
trees, lots of them, and above ground electric lines. Are we willing to do
without the trees? Not on your life. Although--the way Nature has been
cleaning house, I guess we have to make due with less.
Despite everything (and just finishing cleaning up work stuff after
being out of the office for a day and a half), this wasn't too bad for
us. We lost power for about two hours but our new gas logs kept the
house temperature very stable. Now, I'm hoping that everything melts
off soon so I can assess the plant damage.
You MAKE bread? Got a breadmaker, or do you do it the old fashioned way. I
am no baker! But I love baking. Very cozy.
Breadmaker as I am too lazy and too busy to do it by hand. It takes too
much time that is usually dedicated to other stuff. Besides, we keep
the house around 70 in the winter which really doesn't quite cut it for
letting bread rise on its own. The breadmaker does a *terrific* job
which is why I never buy bread. I am also passionate about cooking so
making bread (despite my "cheating") is a natural extension.
I got my piilu clematis from Wayside yesterday. I can't wait to get
them inot the ground! However, I'm going to put them in pots inside for
a while until they get established before putting them in the bed. If
you're thinking about clematis and aren't averse to a pink/purple
flower, I would highly recommend checkin gout the piilu. It double
flowers in the spring/early summer and then single flowers in the late
summer/fall. It's technically a group II clematis but apparently has
some differences with the type of wood it flowers on - old for the
doubles and new for the singles. There are only a select amount of
places where you can obtain it as it was developed by an Estonian, Mr.
Uno Kivistik, and part of the profits of each plant sold goes to his
widow and daughter. This site has a list of all the places you can get
it:
http://www.icangarden.com/neweden/piilu.htm and pictures of it in
both its single and double forms.
Susan
s h simko at duke dot edu