On Nov 29, 3:04*pm, Gardenjunkie Gardenjunkie.
wrote:
'madgardener Wrote:



*Thanks Donna......(dragging toe in dirt) *it's nice to comment on
something that I feel about here after such a long absence.
by the way, for garden junkie down below........it might be peak
season over there in the UK where you're gardening, and your nurseries
aren't overstocked
with the seasonal schlock like we are here in the "colonies" but
honey, over here, we're saturated with excesses of commercialism to
the point of it sometimes
feeling like it defeats the reason for the gathering and celebrations.
And I'm not saying the religious aspect of it either. *It's a time
when we have a good reason
to just be better than we have been to each other. not like we NEED a
reason......personally? *I'm a gardener, so I do just fine by my
little corner of the world
in the things that I do daily. I compost, I don't mindlessly kill
insects unless it's absolutely necessary, I don't use hardly any
pesticide, (sometimes you HAVE to
use something for those damn ticks that drop outa the trees onto you!
and we won't start on the skeeters that eat me poor Englishman like
prime sirloin) I'm sure
if some of the better stocked nurseries in some area's were to be
scoured, you'd find garden things. I know there is an absolutely
incredible nursery over in Knoxville, Tennessee that has anything a
gardener would love to give someone else who gardens as really cool
gifts, but I can't quite get there at this time and I tend to agree
with the above comment. *The local box stores aren't stocked with much
for us gardeners. *Oh SURE there's the usual poinsettia's, non-hardy
evergreen trees and rosemary topiaries, and amaryllis by the pots
full, all waiting for some amateur gardener to get for Christmas to
try and get to live past the first week when they get it. *I am
curious when they went ape over those puffed up electric displays?
I've seen houses around here that you can't see the house for the
inflated displays...........and one neighbor's window had their
Christmas tree up, lights on and shining like a beacon since three
weeks before turkey day.....I mean, sheesh!! we're just kvetching
about the general over kill of the season.
now before I get flamed for talking further, I will slip back behind
my holly and boxwood's. *(the crape myrtle has lost all it's leaves
and I'm very conspicuous! *At least
the boxwoods and Holly have foliage.....LOL) *thanks Donna for the
endearment. I love you too honey. *I will holler every now and then
when I see something worth spouting
about, and I'm sure there will be rambles as house plants and such
meander through my life where I am now. *Good to be back after such a
long absence. *g
maddie gardening in zone 7 (maybe even warmer?) and unknown Sunset
zone (gotta find my Sunset book first)

I could not have put it better myself madgardener.

I scoured my local garden center in Homebase today. Guess what they
had? Half a dozen skimmia and a couple of sad looking cyclaman.

And oh yes, about 500 hundred Christmas trees.

Oh and another thing. What about all these blasted phone calls. The
lastest one was 7 this evening (Sunday). "Do I want to consolidate all
my debts" - No I ******* well don't! (Sorry for the language)

But come on, phone calls all hours of the day and night, insurance,
kitchens, phones, savings, borrowing. Aggggggghhhhhh.

I'm really winding myself up now. Need a cuppa and a slice of fruit
cake.

All the best
Gardenjunkie
SE England

--
Gardenjunkie
well before you wind yerself up (and I'm about to make myself a
cuppa......love it hot with half and half and a tiny bit of sugar, and
since being with my sweet Englishman, I love lap sang shu song
(spelling is outrageous sorry). I need to get a care package from his
family for Euthymol toothpaste, Lap Sang (a good half pound would be
nice) and that marmalade package that makes four pounds of marmalade
when you add the sugar and cook it and jar it yourself! (LOL) over
here we have what the phone company describes as "do not call lists"
when you first get new service you ask them to unlist your number and
put you on the do not call list. But it takes thirty days before it
completely takes effect. My hubby was documenting the phone calls of
solicitors for everything which started literally the same night our
service was turned on! We hadn't given out our number to family let
alone given it out to someone who would have passed it around or sold
it.........but over here, when you answer a call and see that it's
someone asking for donations or contributions or looking for someone
else who owes money (not us) we can by law say "thank you no, and
please take this phone number off your call list or I will report it
to the FCC (Federal Communications Commission) and believe me, if they
have the ******** to call back, they will be FINED $500 per call!
Awesome isn't it? we had someone to call back after saying the
sentence that means business. most of these people are recording for
training purposes anyway, so they can't just say "oh I didn't hear
what you said about not calling" and it gave him great satisfaction
to see them return the call and he reported them to the FCC and to the
phone company. You can actually find certain numbers listed as
nuisance numbers on the internet and report them.

thanks. it's a common factor with a lot of us serious gardeners with
some things .and something else I noticed after having been on this
newsgroup now for well over 15 years.......there is always a time when
the kids are home and nothing to do...or bored or want to stir the
pot........I can always tell if there's a troll now or even someone
just wanting to get responses by one or two questions.....and I saw
one of them listed the other day. granted, it was worded differently,
but it was the same nevertheless........it's the dog shit question in
someone's garden or yard. the other one is about cats........if you
want to get people on a rant, start talking about dog crap in the
gardens or yards, or cats and their feces or getting
birds.............now since I know that I WILL get flamed if I keep
this conversational thread up, I will duck behind the cold soaking wet
boxwoods and lurk again. stay warm!
madgardener in zone 7b who is only NOW starting to bring in a few
cactus and succulents and tender African bulbs and plants inside
before we really get a hard freeze!! (heck it's almost DECEMBER for
crying out loud! I've NEVER let it go this long before!) and I agree
Iris about the "juniper bonsai" people don't realize that juniper's
trimmed to be bonsai need to be outside, not inside........if they had
them in little bonsai pots and sitting on their deck or picnic table,
it'd be fine, but it's the same with my first mistake of bringing in a
pot of hens and chicks (sempervivums) they were beautiful for a week
and then turned up their noses, shot me the finger and croaked.....now
tender echiveria's that look like sempervivums are a different story.
if you can leave them alone and barely water them and keep them at 45°
until spring and freezy frosty weather is past, you've done well.
whole different animal