On Dec 8, 11:59*am, Bill wrote:
In article ,
*Bill wrote:
In article ,
*"Dan L." wrote:
Brrrr ... Do you not know what cold is?
I am jealous 
I am looking at 6 inches of snow and it does look cool.
I can only dream about next year. You guys are still gardening
Enjoy Life ... Dan
*That is why the universe made house plants and forcing bulbs *a way to
keep the thumb green . *And visions of growing plants danced in their
heads a corruption of course. * Hell with the sugarplums )
*Bill wondering what is a sugarplum. *Looks like a goggle search for
this ignorant guy.
I guess sugar was something to dream about but not today. *It was a rare
treat in 1850. Yet black walnut brittle comes to mind. *
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sugar_plum
* Some Music.
Orchestre Andalou D'Israel
*Bill
--
Garden in shade zone 5 S Jersey USA- Hide quoted text -
- Show quoted text -
boy it's sure good to see V and a few friends I recognize and some I
don't! We've been lower than normal and I've discovered the rented
house we reside in gets horribly cold. Downstairs six rooms has NO
heat in it, and it's a cinderblock basement. At least the bricko
blocks are thick enough it only gets down to the lower 40's. The
bathroom however off the bedroom got down to 33o one night it dropped
to 18!! Last night it dipped yet again down to the teen's and for
this region of northeastern Tennessee, with a heat pump upstairs that
is struggling to keep it cooled at a toasty 61o when the thermostat is
set on 78o............well anyway, we purchased a kerosene heater out
of desperation not being able to afford the $400 for a tank of propane
for the wall heater that IS downstairs in the central room. Kero is
$3.99 a gallon, but the heater has 1000 foot heat capability.......we
turn it on an hour before bed and turn the covers back over the foot
of the bed to warm the memory foam topper and we're able to slide into
a slightly cool slab instead of a frozen slab with the air so
uncomfortable I have taken to covering me head except for the end of a
nose to breath outa! LOL
Today it rose to a remarkable 53o and the heat pump upstairs rewarded
me with 72o! WOOO HOOO!!!! (yet I am grateful for a home to live in,
food to prepare and a safe dry place to sleep so far......nothing
taken forgranted. I found the lost leg warmers (NO ONE sells them
anymore that I can tell, and I still have the ones I bought back in
1979 in Aurora, Colorado out of warmth desperation where there was a
REAL winter!) and between the tights, leg warmers, socks, shoes,
undershirt, sweater and hoodie with fleece lining I was finally warm
enough to venture outside where it was pleasant and lured me into
opening up the frozen soil I'd gotten weeks ago.
Poured chunks and soil into three decent fibre glass containers and
went upstairs to the backporch that got down to 17o last night and
retrieved the two bags of three nose spring bulbs. Good thing
too.......they were in desperate need of planting weeks ago. planted
each and every one of those beauties, tucked the smaller ones on top
above the huge bulbs and found two bags NOT frozen and put the soil up
to the top. We're expecting heavy rains to move in tomorrow through
Thursday with the cold front leaving Wednesday night and a possibility
of snow.....hopefully the soil will be watered sufficiently and I will
be rewarded by little green noses sometime at the end of February.
I'd lost the tags as well so it will be a nice surprise to see who
makes it and blooms for me. Now where did I put the granulated bulb
food??? g
I've lost quite a few cacti and succulents, and hoping that I haven't
lost a beloved odd euphorbia that a friend gave me a few years ago.
It got a freeze on the back porch. I've not watered anyone yet, and
hope the roots of everyone is fine. I have seen final signs of death
from the sanseveria's and the tradescantia that we identified when I
was always told it was a "Cherokee pipe" plant, it wasn't, but the
same man who gave me all those neat euphorbia's identified my gift of
the "Cherokee pipe" plants as a tropical variety of tradescantia.
neat! I did manage not to kill my only specimen of this plant I've
had now for well on 20 years. It's a passalong plant.
Speaking of passalong plants.........I'm in the end of humbly still
needing divisions of daylilies, bulbs, rhizomes, roots, tubers,
anything invasive that is easy. I've healed from the loss of so many
beloved "took for granted for their returnability" buls and plants,
the large grapefruit size bulbs of the regal lilies I always called
the Dragon lilies was the hardest to lose...someone will freak out
when they come up next spring, I know they weren't lost, but I've
moved on. It's what happens to gardeners anyway. if Mom's Nature
doesn't play a joke on the seasons or early buds, or drought, she
makes sure there is a bumper crop of munching bugs to do in beloved
residents of gardening endeavors. I have almost all my containers
with or without soil and former residents, so I have something to
start from.
I also still adore and will take any sedum, succulent and reseeding
annual anyone sees fit to share. I lost my Nashville stainless steal
walking fern but know there is someone out there I shared it with
years back and hope one day to have a "toe" of it again. I never
identified it to look for replacement. And despite my living in a
rental house, I still container garden like a fiend. The only
houseplants suffering right now are in the "wait and see" stage of an
unexpected freeze on a back porch I had no idea got othat dadblamed
cold. Live and learn. Had I an inkling I'd had the ceramic heater on
that night!
the variegated ginger that Mr. Stanley thinks is hardy (I don't think
so but who knows?) to zone 7b has three new shoots because I didn't
trust to leave it outside to go dormant. The solid green leafed one he
first gave me WAS hardy. but it was lost forever in the deluge of
losses.
All the ends of the Desert Rose I cut off after the freeze are
sprouting new buds of leaves, so there you go. And today is watering
day for everyone. I have fresh succulent perfect Alberta peaches that
I bought a basket of this end of summer that were larger than
softballs and succulent and juicy and just tart and sweet. I ate one
half, bought another basket and frost every one of them for peach
cobbler in winter. I also have a half gallon of jack-o-lantern that I
par boiled and which the first bag made the best pumpkin pie my son
said I'd ever made in all the years of cooking. So I have enough for
another pie or pumpkin soup.....
In the freezer is also enough tommy toes from the neighbor's vines
that grew through the dogwire fence into my yard to make a batch of
yellow spagatti sauce......and there are still over 2000 frozen ones
on the dead vines guaranteeing that we'll both have plants next year
for sure. I threw some into the container of sempervivums and ice
plants that sits up top of the ancient pine stump that was cut down.
I can always transplant later on.
the dogs are curled into tight balls, the cats are resembling furry
meatloaf's and I've opened all the blinds to all these incredible huge
old windows to let the sunlight in to suppliment the heat pumps
endeavors. Tonight won't be nearly as cold as last night. And I'm
looking forwards to seeing if the rains are enough for the containers
of bulbs I planted. I will tell you about my adventures of retrieval
if I'm successful next time around.
Thanks for letting me share. Holler at me, I miss you guys and always
look forwards to e-mail and responses.
Maddie (madgardener) gardening in downtown just off of Main street in
Northeastern Tennessee zone 7a surrounded by the Cherokee National
Forest and Appalachians