Hiya! Madgardener here!
It's been a looooong time since I had internet at my home (since I
lost my house in the original faerie holler). we now have internet
for at least three months, and this place to rent and live in until
April, so I'm grateful for small blessings.

Updates to those who still wonder and care. I married my Englishman,
and heart September 15th just to be "legal". We already considered
ourselves mature enough to not really need a piece of paper, and
knowing how we truly felt about each other. The paperwork was just
for some who might require it (especially when he's not yet a citizen
and only has a green card still despite his eight years in North
Carolina)

Gardening news of assorted varieties: I have now moved all the
tropicals and cacti and succulents inside the house, stationed most of
them in two places, the most puzzling place right now is the back
porch which is COLD.......the cacti and succulents so far are holding
their own. I will monitor the temperature and make sure it doesn't
freeze back there. Luckily it is east,south and western exposures
during the daytime when there is sunlight. Very drafty though, with
the south western window literally held into rotten wood by duct tape
because the landlady never fixed it this summer (with James help, if
she had just done it). I'm just glad cacti and succulents like cooler
temperatures. And this should help the clivia to get cold enough to
maybe rest until February when I bring them into the heated portion of
the house and start watering them. I still haven't located my
fertilizers but I will before then.

The sad news is that I went to finally retrieve all my containers and
soil from the supposed friend who was keeping them "safe" for me until
I had funds to rent a truck to get all of them (I had a LOT of
containers of perennials and she broke the news to me in July that all
the shrubs and perennials had died from her not watering them at all,
but I assured her I still wanted the soil in all of them not to
mention all the glazed pots and nursery pots stuffed with soil because
they held thousands of bulbs that were fine.) Some bulbs I would
NEVER be able to replace and the sizes of them were huge, of varieties
I can't get anymore. nor the funds to if I did find them again.
(example: where would one find the Regal lily bulb that is as large as
a cantaloup?? or the bulbs of Shandoah, Yellowstone, Shiloe and two
more special trumpet lilies bred for either Park or White FLower
Farm?? ) I had them, they were replaced by the company when they
suffered the first year, and the five of six varieties that did
survive (three each) did wonderfully once they got their toes settled
into my rich raised soils. I successfully dug all of the bulbs up and
tucked into the soils safe last fall and despite the drought this
year, the bulbs would have been fine). I have had to put all this
down to sad experiences and not let it make me bitter towards what I
truly thought was a good friendship. I've moved on with my life and
looked at it as yet another learning experience. I know I would have
done far differently had it been me, but she wasn't me. And it even
tried to turn even more hateful and evil almost three weeks after I
retrieved the remainder of my pots. But I've also shrugged that off as
well, cut my losses and severed my ties forever. Sometimes you just
have to let things go and move on despite the attitudes that appear
unexpectedly.

I know how to search the internet for the Korean spirea, and thanks to
Iris Cohen who gave me a link to find a replacement for $30. I have
to have a place of my own before I do this though.

When I got to the former friend's worker's house to retrieve all the
garden blocks, I discovered that 85% of them had mysteriously
disappeared. I got 41 out of 65 of the huge ones that I bought myself
for a birthday present and built the frog pond garden out of I wrote
about for three years. (those were $8 apiece) There were 22 out of
150 medium ones, and 12 out of 140 little ones. I did manage to get
the four crates of blue slate from North Carolina despite having left
larger pieces I found on the last day we were moving and they were
evicting us from the foreclosure. And all of my old stepping stones
that resemble bricks that are thicker than the new ones were retrieved
except for three that were broken.

All the containers were emptied by her dad during the summer despite
them being mine, so thousands of bulbs were dumped out. At the same
time I was informed by her man that works for her on jobs (she's a
landscaper for those who forgot) that her dad took several containers
that were stil alive and gave them to some man at a gas station just
to get rid of them..........that explains the missing mortar tub of
unusual and hard to find sempervivums (hens and chicks that a dear
friend sold and mailed me special) and botanical tulips that I called
the Chicken Peace garden, and the missing bog garden with the Japanese
sedge and blue cardinal flower that were alive when I got the last few
containers I was able to in the station wagon.

The deliberate neglect and disregard has left me smarter and wiser in
regards to how I trust some people, and at the same time it saddens me
to know that despite that I have put all this down to a bad taste in
my mouth, the actions done to me since I retrieved what was left of my
things has not ended despite that I erased the phone numbers out of
my phone of this former friend. I know sometimes we just happen
across people who don't need any justification to do others like
crap. oh well, I'm not going to let it affect the good person I still
know I am.

Back to things of a more positive note.........

All the cacti and succulents I managed to save thanks to sweet Gloria
are thriving. I bought bulbs at one of my favorite nurseries in
Knoxville when I had the money and after the weather gets to
tolerable, I have the empty containers to fill with Black Kow compost
manure and plug all the bulbs into new homes for spring and feeding my
heart and soul with.

We have put the front containers and gardens and yard to bed for the
winter. James helped me move all the large containers that we'd
managed to move before the death was dealt to the rest, and we mowed
and raked and sorted things out wonderfully. I have stripped the
seeds from the swamp sunflower plants into all the containers to
ensure that the plants germinate for next year and I can transplant
them if I have my own home again. If not, I will enjoy them in the
containers like I did this summer! Same with the perennial summer
poinsettia which is a euphorbia and reseeds with abandon. I only hope
the "snow on the mountain" euphorbia that popped up in two containers
unannounced and welcome return for me next year as well. I bent over
their heads to further the chances of the seeds dropping into the
container.

I have replaced one of the "Crispa" spirea's. and have a beauty berry
that isn't what I had but one called "Amethyst" that promises to wow
me once it's planted into the ground. I am bumping it up next spring
into a larger pot to make it happy.

I also have two fragrant viburnums I lucked out and found at Lowe's
knows how to irritate and got them for $1 each and will plant them
both into a three gallon tub to grow together into one strong shrub.
The huge one that was burnt up didn't die for naught. I know the list
of replace plants in my head and that's all part of gardening anyway.
Losses and gains. Having James to garden with me makes it interesting
to say the least. I STILL have a Tithonia that refuses to admit we've
had a freeze!! Even now, it leans towards the south western portion
of the yard and there are three tired and battered orange flowers on
it. I haven't the heart to pull it up, and hope the finches discover
the seeds the butterfly made in her supping before she went to Mexico.
(a glorious Monarch that I captured on digital)

I also came into some lychoris radiata bulbs that I had always wanted,
and now I have more than enough to tuck into places when we find
another home of our own. There is good news too. The fragrant tree
peony that Mary Emma gave me with all the rest of them (I have a red
and white striped one and a purple one whose name is very long and
can't remember right now) I thought died after it bloomed for me when
I retrieved it from another friend's house. It was sulking with the
crappy soil I was forced to pot it into for the time being. There are
tiny promises of next years buds on it, and I will keep a vigil of
it's survival in the container this winter. I can't ever replace it as
Mary Emma has Alzheimer's and wouldn't remember the name if she tried.
It's enough she still remembers me!!

The purple one and candy striped one are thriving in their pots, and
one has a Prince Edwards hellebore I found last spring at Ho-me Despot
for $3.97 and snapped it up. It has rooted through the bottom of the
pot into the container with the tree peony, so I will plant it in the
container as company to the tree peony. The other one has radiata
lychoris bulbs that are green right now (apparently this is what they
do, green durning fall and winter, dying back in Spring and blooming
during the start of Hurricane season or end of August, not quite like
it's sister the lychoris squagmerii which makes leaves in the spring,
dies back in summer and "naked ladies" of trumpet lily like flowers
appear in August as well. The radiata are called spider lilies and
Hurricane lilies. I have always adored them. Now all I have to do is
find sources for the white rain lilies (zephyranthes) the pink one
that is hardy for here (hedgy zone 7) and the elusive yellow one for a
container garden.

All the assorted and unusual sanseveria's are thriving indoors. I
have blooms on the desert rose plant I got reduced for $3, and the
unusual thorny agavae is making bloom spikes even though it's cool on
that back porch.

I gave my youngest son one of my two 24 year old umbrella shiffleria's
and it's happy with him. I've discovered my sweet deceased best
friend's husband (who I lost in 1983) still has plants from cuttings I
gave him in 1984 and others I gave him in 1992! I've reconnected and
located him, and it just floored me to discover he had plants of
pieces I'd cut for him that long ago that are thriving. I've
discovered that within myself is that ability to find the peace and
happiness I always had, but which was untapped because my marriage was
so unhappy and unfullfilled.

I pulled out the huge two and three nose bulbs I got as a splurge and
had put them into the veggie drawer (James now knows I put
horticultural things in the refridgerator, something other's know
about me from decades of behavior gbseg) in the two bags and chose
three of them and tucked them into one of the concrete containers
beside the front porch amongst the heuchera's and dark mahogony ajuga
that I made two containers of. Come spring, I will see the spikes of
promise emerge and be amazed by whomever shows their buds. I don't
have a clue who they are as there werent' enough markers at the
nursery. It's always fun to see just who comes up though.

I am filling a container today with the last of my Black Kow soil and
tucking in all the rest of the bulbs for a blow out spring display.
The only thing I don't have though are little bulbs to tuck in for
faeries. I will miss the muscari, pushkinnia, woods hyacinths and
other tiny bulbs, and hopefully one day I can replace the Minnow and
other tiny narcissus and botanical tulips I enjoyed every spring.
I've completely lost the pink rain lily, but have two huge pots of
hardy and perennial purple oxalis, which I didn't leave out but
brought in to enjoy during the winter. Knowing they're hardy doesn't
matter to them as they do fine inside or out in the soil. With the
landlady putting this house up for sale, I am glad now I didn't plant
anything in the yards.

Bumping the Viburnum's into a larger pot will have to wait until I
have more soil, and then I will tuck in the few bulbs I managed to
save from their unexpected disappearance this last summer with them so
there will be bulbs underneath the shrubs.

I also purchased Black and Blue salvia which I will tuck into larger
pots before spring along with the hardy blue mist flower (it's not an
ageratum, but resembles it and I found it at the nursery and snapped
it up as well) which in actuality I believe is a type of eupatoria.
Gloria says she has a little shoot of my Blue Egnima which I was
floored to discover wasn't lost forever, and I will retrieve it soon
as I have the gas to get to her house. It's not always easy
considering how close I am to where she lives. We're hunkered down
and making it day to day.

The days around here though are filled with the most incredible fall
colors that hang on despite the winds and rare rains, and today we had
intense fogs that always lift my spirits rather than subdue them. I
adore thick heavy fogs. Now with the waning light and true days
(since daylight savings ended) the colors on the trees are
incredible. More pots to take around the back yard and winter near
the south western portion of the house in a little nook near where we
stacked the fake brick pavers we retrieved, the heat from the concrete
should provide a more temperate micro climate for everything. Just
seeing the leaves on the Diablo and Coppertone nine bark through the
large picture window opposite the steep stairs that lead up to the
main portion of the house gives me a grin. I put the steel baker's
rack plant stand against the pavers and then positioned the perennials
according to height. It resembles a small nursery! LOL

I will end this ramble with the thoughts from yesterday as I peered
out the downstairs bedroom window that is ground level and the windows
in all the rooms of this house are wonderfully huge. I saw more
robins than I ever would have thought would be here right now. And as
I let the dogs outside for a short bit, I heard the sharp caw's of
crows, looked up to see a "murder of crows", four of them chasing and
attacking a large hawk to the monument and trees behind and above me
where I live. I live at the base of the National Monument where
Andrew Johnson is buried here in Greeneville and the trees up there
are older and wonderful. Through that large picture window I can see
the towering flagpole and flag and can tell where the winds are coming
from on any given day.

I hope everyone has had a gentle fall and now I am actually wanting a
little snow to brighten my winter mood. Luckily with these large
windows of this rental house, I won't suffer too much from the
seasonal sadness I get. It's more of a challange to keep warm since
this house has no heat downstairs but the heat is
upstairs.........sweaters and layers.....that's the ticket. Didn't
live five years in Colorado for nothing! Have a great Thanksgiving
and I will be more in touch now that James and I have gone out on the
limb and gotten internet for the house for the next three months. Keep
in touch and write to me, I miss my gardening friends very much!.

I'm just glad that I touched all those incredible people all these 14
years still. I'm just gardening on the scale I always did when I
first started my madness. Given time, I will garden like I did on the
ridge in Dandridge again.. of that, I will assure you.

madgardener, up in the Greene bowl, surrounded by the Cherokee
National Forest and gardening in the central historical part of town.

Madgardener, I am so happy to see your name on a post!
I am outraged at the treatment of your plants by a "friend" and there is
absolutely no excuse for her behavior, or her dad's. I hope you can get
todays generations from the cuttings you have distributed in the past. It
sounds like you are in a beautiful setting too.
I am happy for your marriage. Good for you guys. This uncomplicates lots
of things for you both!!
hugs,
Jackie, now in Mississippi for 2 years.
wrote in message
...
Hiya! Madgardener here!
It's been a looooong time since I had internet at my home (since I
lost my house in the original faerie holler). we now have internet
for at least three months, and this place to rent and live in until
April, so I'm grateful for small blessings.

Updates to those who still wonder and care. I married my Englishman,
and heart September 15th just to be "legal". We already considered
ourselves mature enough to not really need a piece of paper, and
knowing how we truly felt about each other. The paperwork was just
for some who might require it (especially when he's not yet a citizen
and only has a green card still despite his eight years in North
Carolina)

Gardening news of assorted varieties: I have now moved all the
tropicals and cacti and succulents inside the house, stationed most of
them in two places, the most puzzling place right now is the back
porch which is COLD.......the cacti and succulents so far are holding
their own. I will monitor the temperature and make sure it doesn't
freeze back there. Luckily it is east,south and western exposures
during the daytime when there is sunlight. Very drafty though, with
the south western window literally held into rotten wood by duct tape
because the landlady never fixed it this summer (with James help, if
she had just done it). I'm just glad cacti and succulents like cooler
temperatures. And this should help the clivia to get cold enough to
maybe rest until February when I bring them into the heated portion of
the house and start watering them. I still haven't located my
fertilizers but I will before then.

The sad news is that I went to finally retrieve all my containers and
soil from the supposed friend who was keeping them "safe" for me until
I had funds to rent a truck to get all of them (I had a LOT of
containers of perennials and she broke the news to me in July that all
the shrubs and perennials had died from her not watering them at all,
but I assured her I still wanted the soil in all of them not to
mention all the glazed pots and nursery pots stuffed with soil because
they held thousands of bulbs that were fine.) Some bulbs I would
NEVER be able to replace and the sizes of them were huge, of varieties
I can't get anymore. nor the funds to if I did find them again.
(example: where would one find the Regal lily bulb that is as large as
a cantaloup?? or the bulbs of Shandoah, Yellowstone, Shiloe and two
more special trumpet lilies bred for either Park or White FLower
Farm?? ) I had them, they were replaced by the company when they
suffered the first year, and the five of six varieties that did
survive (three each) did wonderfully once they got their toes settled
into my rich raised soils. I successfully dug all of the bulbs up and
tucked into the soils safe last fall and despite the drought this
year, the bulbs would have been fine). I have had to put all this
down to sad experiences and not let it make me bitter towards what I
truly thought was a good friendship. I've moved on with my life and
looked at it as yet another learning experience. I know I would have
done far differently had it been me, but she wasn't me. And it even
tried to turn even more hateful and evil almost three weeks after I
retrieved the remainder of my pots. But I've also shrugged that off as
well, cut my losses and severed my ties forever. Sometimes you just
have to let things go and move on despite the attitudes that appear
unexpectedly.

I know how to search the internet for the Korean spirea, and thanks to
Iris Cohen who gave me a link to find a replacement for $30. I have
to have a place of my own before I do this though.

When I got to the former friend's worker's house to retrieve all the
garden blocks, I discovered that 85% of them had mysteriously
disappeared. I got 41 out of 65 of the huge ones that I bought myself
for a birthday present and built the frog pond garden out of I wrote
about for three years. (those were $8 apiece) There were 22 out of
150 medium ones, and 12 out of 140 little ones. I did manage to get
the four crates of blue slate from North Carolina despite having left
larger pieces I found on the last day we were moving and they were
evicting us from the foreclosure. And all of my old stepping stones
that resemble bricks that are thicker than the new ones were retrieved
except for three that were broken.

All the containers were emptied by her dad during the summer despite
them being mine, so thousands of bulbs were dumped out. At the same
time I was informed by her man that works for her on jobs (she's a
landscaper for those who forgot) that her dad took several containers
that were stil alive and gave them to some man at a gas station just
to get rid of them..........that explains the missing mortar tub of
unusual and hard to find sempervivums (hens and chicks that a dear
friend sold and mailed me special) and botanical tulips that I called
the Chicken Peace garden, and the missing bog garden with the Japanese
sedge and blue cardinal flower that were alive when I got the last few
containers I was able to in the station wagon.

The deliberate neglect and disregard has left me smarter and wiser in
regards to how I trust some people, and at the same time it saddens me
to know that despite that I have put all this down to a bad taste in
my mouth, the actions done to me since I retrieved what was left of my
things has not ended despite that I erased the phone numbers out of
my phone of this former friend. I know sometimes we just happen
across people who don't need any justification to do others like
crap. oh well, I'm not going to let it affect the good person I still
know I am.

Back to things of a more positive note.........

All the cacti and succulents I managed to save thanks to sweet Gloria
are thriving. I bought bulbs at one of my favorite nurseries in
Knoxville when I had the money and after the weather gets to
tolerable, I have the empty containers to fill with Black Kow compost
manure and plug all the bulbs into new homes for spring and feeding my
heart and soul with.

We have put the front containers and gardens and yard to bed for the
winter. James helped me move all the large containers that we'd
managed to move before the death was dealt to the rest, and we mowed
and raked and sorted things out wonderfully. I have stripped the
seeds from the swamp sunflower plants into all the containers to
ensure that the plants germinate for next year and I can transplant
them if I have my own home again. If not, I will enjoy them in the
containers like I did this summer! Same with the perennial summer
poinsettia which is a euphorbia and reseeds with abandon. I only hope
the "snow on the mountain" euphorbia that popped up in two containers
unannounced and welcome return for me next year as well. I bent over
their heads to further the chances of the seeds dropping into the
container.

I have replaced one of the "Crispa" spirea's. and have a beauty berry
that isn't what I had but one called "Amethyst" that promises to wow
me once it's planted into the ground. I am bumping it up next spring
into a larger pot to make it happy.

I also have two fragrant viburnums I lucked out and found at Lowe's
knows how to irritate and got them for $1 each and will plant them
both into a three gallon tub to grow together into one strong shrub.
The huge one that was burnt up didn't die for naught. I know the list
of replace plants in my head and that's all part of gardening anyway.
Losses and gains. Having James to garden with me makes it interesting
to say the least. I STILL have a Tithonia that refuses to admit we've
had a freeze!! Even now, it leans towards the south western portion
of the yard and there are three tired and battered orange flowers on
it. I haven't the heart to pull it up, and hope the finches discover
the seeds the butterfly made in her supping before she went to Mexico.
(a glorious Monarch that I captured on digital)

I also came into some lychoris radiata bulbs that I had always wanted,
and now I have more than enough to tuck into places when we find
another home of our own. There is good news too. The fragrant tree
peony that Mary Emma gave me with all the rest of them (I have a red
and white striped one and a purple one whose name is very long and
can't remember right now) I thought died after it bloomed for me when
I retrieved it from another friend's house. It was sulking with the
crappy soil I was forced to pot it into for the time being. There are
tiny promises of next years buds on it, and I will keep a vigil of
it's survival in the container this winter. I can't ever replace it as
Mary Emma has Alzheimer's and wouldn't remember the name if she tried.
It's enough she still remembers me!!

The purple one and candy striped one are thriving in their pots, and
one has a Prince Edwards hellebore I found last spring at Ho-me Despot
for $3.97 and snapped it up. It has rooted through the bottom of the
pot into the container with the tree peony, so I will plant it in the
container as company to the tree peony. The other one has radiata
lychoris bulbs that are green right now (apparently this is what they
do, green durning fall and winter, dying back in Spring and blooming
during the start of Hurricane season or end of August, not quite like
it's sister the lychoris squagmerii which makes leaves in the spring,
dies back in summer and "naked ladies" of trumpet lily like flowers
appear in August as well. The radiata are called spider lilies and
Hurricane lilies. I have always adored them. Now all I have to do is
find sources for the white rain lilies (zephyranthes) the pink one
that is hardy for here (hedgy zone 7) and the elusive yellow one for a
container garden.

All the assorted and unusual sanseveria's are thriving indoors. I
have blooms on the desert rose plant I got reduced for $3, and the
unusual thorny agavae is making bloom spikes even though it's cool on
that back porch.

I gave my youngest son one of my two 24 year old umbrella shiffleria's
and it's happy with him. I've discovered my sweet deceased best
friend's husband (who I lost in 1983) still has plants from cuttings I
gave him in 1984 and others I gave him in 1992! I've reconnected and
located him, and it just floored me to discover he had plants of
pieces I'd cut for him that long ago that are thriving. I've
discovered that within myself is that ability to find the peace and
happiness I always had, but which was untapped because my marriage was
so unhappy and unfullfilled.

I pulled out the huge two and three nose bulbs I got as a splurge and
had put them into the veggie drawer (James now knows I put
horticultural things in the refridgerator, something other's know
about me from decades of behavior gbseg) in the two bags and chose
three of them and tucked them into one of the concrete containers
beside the front porch amongst the heuchera's and dark mahogony ajuga
that I made two containers of. Come spring, I will see the spikes of
promise emerge and be amazed by whomever shows their buds. I don't
have a clue who they are as there werent' enough markers at the
nursery. It's always fun to see just who comes up though.

I am filling a container today with the last of my Black Kow soil and
tucking in all the rest of the bulbs for a blow out spring display.
The only thing I don't have though are little bulbs to tuck in for
faeries. I will miss the muscari, pushkinnia, woods hyacinths and
other tiny bulbs, and hopefully one day I can replace the Minnow and
other tiny narcissus and botanical tulips I enjoyed every spring.
I've completely lost the pink rain lily, but have two huge pots of
hardy and perennial purple oxalis, which I didn't leave out but
brought in to enjoy during the winter. Knowing they're hardy doesn't
matter to them as they do fine inside or out in the soil. With the
landlady putting this house up for sale, I am glad now I didn't plant
anything in the yards.

Bumping the Viburnum's into a larger pot will have to wait until I
have more soil, and then I will tuck in the few bulbs I managed to
save from their unexpected disappearance this last summer with them so
there will be bulbs underneath the shrubs.

I also purchased Black and Blue salvia which I will tuck into larger
pots before spring along with the hardy blue mist flower (it's not an
ageratum, but resembles it and I found it at the nursery and snapped
it up as well) which in actuality I believe is a type of eupatoria.
Gloria says she has a little shoot of my Blue Egnima which I was
floored to discover wasn't lost forever, and I will retrieve it soon
as I have the gas to get to her house. It's not always easy
considering how close I am to where she lives. We're hunkered down
and making it day to day.

The days around here though are filled with the most incredible fall
colors that hang on despite the winds and rare rains, and today we had
intense fogs that always lift my spirits rather than subdue them. I
adore thick heavy fogs. Now with the waning light and true days
(since daylight savings ended) the colors on the trees are
incredible. More pots to take around the back yard and winter near
the south western portion of the house in a little nook near where we
stacked the fake brick pavers we retrieved, the heat from the concrete
should provide a more temperate micro climate for everything. Just
seeing the leaves on the Diablo and Coppertone nine bark through the
large picture window opposite the steep stairs that lead up to the
main portion of the house gives me a grin. I put the steel baker's
rack plant stand against the pavers and then positioned the perennials
according to height. It resembles a small nursery! LOL

I will end this ramble with the thoughts from yesterday as I peered
out the downstairs bedroom window that is ground level and the windows
in all the rooms of this house are wonderfully huge. I saw more
robins than I ever would have thought would be here right now. And as
I let the dogs outside for a short bit, I heard the sharp caw's of
crows, looked up to see a "murder of crows", four of them chasing and
attacking a large hawk to the monument and trees behind and above me
where I live. I live at the base of the National Monument where
Andrew Johnson is buried here in Greeneville and the trees up there
are older and wonderful. Through that large picture window I can see
the towering flagpole and flag and can tell where the winds are coming
from on any given day.

I hope everyone has had a gentle fall and now I am actually wanting a
little snow to brighten my winter mood. Luckily with these large
windows of this rental house, I won't suffer too much from the
seasonal sadness I get. It's more of a challange to keep warm since
this house has no heat downstairs but the heat is
upstairs.........sweaters and layers.....that's the ticket. Didn't
live five years in Colorado for nothing! Have a great Thanksgiving
and I will be more in touch now that James and I have gone out on the
limb and gotten internet for the house for the next three months. Keep
in touch and write to me, I miss my gardening friends very much!.

I'm just glad that I touched all those incredible people all these 14
years still. I'm just gardening on the scale I always did when I
first started my madness. Given time, I will garden like I did on the
ridge in Dandridge again.. of that, I will assure you.

madgardener, up in the Greene bowl, surrounded by the Cherokee
National Forest and gardening in the central historical part of town.

Hi Maddie! I haven't been in here for a spell and today I decided to lurk
in wrecked gardens, and I find your post! It's great to see your rambling
and hope that you will be able to ramble more frequently. Uh, for the
folks who might be reading this, I am NOT the bad Gloria.....I'm the lucky
friend Gloria in Alabama....lucky to have visited with madgardener at her
home in Dandridge.

Very glad to see you, Maddie, and best wishes on your marriage.

Gloria
wrote in message
...
Hiya! Madgardener here!
It's been a looooong time since I had internet at my home (since I
lost my house in the original faerie holler). we now have internet
for at least three months, and this place to rent and live in until
April, so I'm grateful for small blessings.

Updates to those who still wonder and care. I married my Englishman,
and heart September 15th just to be "legal". We already considered
ourselves mature enough to not really need a piece of paper, and
knowing how we truly felt about each other. The paperwork was just
for some who might require it (especially when he's not yet a citizen
and only has a green card still despite his eight years in North
Carolina)

Gardening news of assorted varieties: I have now moved all the
tropicals and cacti and succulents inside the house, stationed most of
them in two places, the most puzzling place right now is the back
porch which is COLD.......the cacti and succulents so far are holding
their own. I will monitor the temperature and make sure it doesn't
freeze back there. Luckily it is east,south and western exposures
during the daytime when there is sunlight. Very drafty though, with
the south western window literally held into rotten wood by duct tape
because the landlady never fixed it this summer (with James help, if
she had just done it). I'm just glad cacti and succulents like cooler
temperatures. And this should help the clivia to get cold enough to
maybe rest until February when I bring them into the heated portion of
the house and start watering them. I still haven't located my
fertilizers but I will before then.

The sad news is that I went to finally retrieve all my containers and
soil from the supposed friend who was keeping them "safe" for me until
I had funds to rent a truck to get all of them (I had a LOT of
containers of perennials and she broke the news to me in July that all
the shrubs and perennials had died from her not watering them at all,
but I assured her I still wanted the soil in all of them not to
mention all the glazed pots and nursery pots stuffed with soil because
they held thousands of bulbs that were fine.) Some bulbs I would
NEVER be able to replace and the sizes of them were huge, of varieties
I can't get anymore. nor the funds to if I did find them again.
(example: where would one find the Regal lily bulb that is as large as
a cantaloup?? or the bulbs of Shandoah, Yellowstone, Shiloe and two
more special trumpet lilies bred for either Park or White FLower
Farm?? ) I had them, they were replaced by the company when they
suffered the first year, and the five of six varieties that did
survive (three each) did wonderfully once they got their toes settled
into my rich raised soils. I successfully dug all of the bulbs up and
tucked into the soils safe last fall and despite the drought this
year, the bulbs would have been fine). I have had to put all this
down to sad experiences and not let it make me bitter towards what I
truly thought was a good friendship. I've moved on with my life and
looked at it as yet another learning experience. I know I would have
done far differently had it been me, but she wasn't me. And it even
tried to turn even more hateful and evil almost three weeks after I
retrieved the remainder of my pots. But I've also shrugged that off as
well, cut my losses and severed my ties forever. Sometimes you just
have to let things go and move on despite the attitudes that appear
unexpectedly.

I know how to search the internet for the Korean spirea, and thanks to
Iris Cohen who gave me a link to find a replacement for $30. I have
to have a place of my own before I do this though.

When I got to the former friend's worker's house to retrieve all the
garden blocks, I discovered that 85% of them had mysteriously
disappeared. I got 41 out of 65 of the huge ones that I bought myself
for a birthday present and built the frog pond garden out of I wrote
about for three years. (those were $8 apiece) There were 22 out of
150 medium ones, and 12 out of 140 little ones. I did manage to get
the four crates of blue slate from North Carolina despite having left
larger pieces I found on the last day we were moving and they were
evicting us from the foreclosure. And all of my old stepping stones
that resemble bricks that are thicker than the new ones were retrieved
except for three that were broken.

All the containers were emptied by her dad during the summer despite
them being mine, so thousands of bulbs were dumped out. At the same
time I was informed by her man that works for her on jobs (she's a
landscaper for those who forgot) that her dad took several containers
that were stil alive and gave them to some man at a gas station just
to get rid of them..........that explains the missing mortar tub of
unusual and hard to find sempervivums (hens and chicks that a dear
friend sold and mailed me special) and botanical tulips that I called
the Chicken Peace garden, and the missing bog garden with the Japanese
sedge and blue cardinal flower that were alive when I got the last few
containers I was able to in the station wagon.

The deliberate neglect and disregard has left me smarter and wiser in
regards to how I trust some people, and at the same time it saddens me
to know that despite that I have put all this down to a bad taste in
my mouth, the actions done to me since I retrieved what was left of my
things has not ended despite that I erased the phone numbers out of
my phone of this former friend. I know sometimes we just happen
across people who don't need any justification to do others like
crap. oh well, I'm not going to let it affect the good person I still
know I am.

Back to things of a more positive note.........

All the cacti and succulents I managed to save thanks to sweet Gloria
are thriving. I bought bulbs at one of my favorite nurseries in
Knoxville when I had the money and after the weather gets to
tolerable, I have the empty containers to fill with Black Kow compost
manure and plug all the bulbs into new homes for spring and feeding my
heart and soul with.

We have put the front containers and gardens and yard to bed for the
winter. James helped me move all the large containers that we'd
managed to move before the death was dealt to the rest, and we mowed
and raked and sorted things out wonderfully. I have stripped the
seeds from the swamp sunflower plants into all the containers to
ensure that the plants germinate for next year and I can transplant
them if I have my own home again. If not, I will enjoy them in the
containers like I did this summer! Same with the perennial summer
poinsettia which is a euphorbia and reseeds with abandon. I only hope
the "snow on the mountain" euphorbia that popped up in two containers
unannounced and welcome return for me next year as well. I bent over
their heads to further the chances of the seeds dropping into the
container.

I have replaced one of the "Crispa" spirea's. and have a beauty berry
that isn't what I had but one called "Amethyst" that promises to wow
me once it's planted into the ground. I am bumping it up next spring
into a larger pot to make it happy.

I also have two fragrant viburnums I lucked out and found at Lowe's
knows how to irritate and got them for $1 each and will plant them
both into a three gallon tub to grow together into one strong shrub.
The huge one that was burnt up didn't die for naught. I know the list
of replace plants in my head and that's all part of gardening anyway.
Losses and gains. Having James to garden with me makes it interesting
to say the least. I STILL have a Tithonia that refuses to admit we've
had a freeze!! Even now, it leans towards the south western portion
of the yard and there are three tired and battered orange flowers on
it. I haven't the heart to pull it up, and hope the finches discover
the seeds the butterfly made in her supping before she went to Mexico.
(a glorious Monarch that I captured on digital)

I also came into some lychoris radiata bulbs that I had always wanted,
and now I have more than enough to tuck into places when we find
another home of our own. There is good news too. The fragrant tree
peony that Mary Emma gave me with all the rest of them (I have a red
and white striped one and a purple one whose name is very long and
can't remember right now) I thought died after it bloomed for me when
I retrieved it from another friend's house. It was sulking with the
crappy soil I was forced to pot it into for the time being. There are
tiny promises of next years buds on it, and I will keep a vigil of
it's survival in the container this winter. I can't ever replace it as
Mary Emma has Alzheimer's and wouldn't remember the name if she tried.
It's enough she still remembers me!!

The purple one and candy striped one are thriving in their pots, and
one has a Prince Edwards hellebore I found last spring at Ho-me Despot
for $3.97 and snapped it up. It has rooted through the bottom of the
pot into the container with the tree peony, so I will plant it in the
container as company to the tree peony. The other one has radiata
lychoris bulbs that are green right now (apparently this is what they
do, green durning fall and winter, dying back in Spring and blooming
during the start of Hurricane season or end of August, not quite like
it's sister the lychoris squagmerii which makes leaves in the spring,
dies back in summer and "naked ladies" of trumpet lily like flowers
appear in August as well. The radiata are called spider lilies and
Hurricane lilies. I have always adored them. Now all I have to do is
find sources for the white rain lilies (zephyranthes) the pink one
that is hardy for here (hedgy zone 7) and the elusive yellow one for a
container garden.

All the assorted and unusual sanseveria's are thriving indoors. I
have blooms on the desert rose plant I got reduced for $3, and the
unusual thorny agavae is making bloom spikes even though it's cool on
that back porch.

I gave my youngest son one of my two 24 year old umbrella shiffleria's
and it's happy with him. I've discovered my sweet deceased best
friend's husband (who I lost in 1983) still has plants from cuttings I
gave him in 1984 and others I gave him in 1992! I've reconnected and
located him, and it just floored me to discover he had plants of
pieces I'd cut for him that long ago that are thriving. I've
discovered that within myself is that ability to find the peace and
happiness I always had, but which was untapped because my marriage was
so unhappy and unfullfilled.

I pulled out the huge two and three nose bulbs I got as a splurge and
had put them into the veggie drawer (James now knows I put
horticultural things in the refridgerator, something other's know
about me from decades of behavior gbseg) in the two bags and chose
three of them and tucked them into one of the concrete containers
beside the front porch amongst the heuchera's and dark mahogony ajuga
that I made two containers of. Come spring, I will see the spikes of
promise emerge and be amazed by whomever shows their buds. I don't
have a clue who they are as there werent' enough markers at the
nursery. It's always fun to see just who comes up though.

I am filling a container today with the last of my Black Kow soil and
tucking in all the rest of the bulbs for a blow out spring display.
The only thing I don't have though are little bulbs to tuck in for
faeries. I will miss the muscari, pushkinnia, woods hyacinths and
other tiny bulbs, and hopefully one day I can replace the Minnow and
other tiny narcissus and botanical tulips I enjoyed every spring.
I've completely lost the pink rain lily, but have two huge pots of
hardy and perennial purple oxalis, which I didn't leave out but
brought in to enjoy during the winter. Knowing they're hardy doesn't
matter to them as they do fine inside or out in the soil. With the
landlady putting this house up for sale, I am glad now I didn't plant
anything in the yards.

Bumping the Viburnum's into a larger pot will have to wait until I
have more soil, and then I will tuck in the few bulbs I managed to
save from their unexpected disappearance this last summer with them so
there will be bulbs underneath the shrubs.

I also purchased Black and Blue salvia which I will tuck into larger
pots before spring along with the hardy blue mist flower (it's not an
ageratum, but resembles it and I found it at the nursery and snapped
it up as well) which in actuality I believe is a type of eupatoria.
Gloria says she has a little shoot of my Blue Egnima which I was
floored to discover wasn't lost forever, and I will retrieve it soon
as I have the gas to get to her house. It's not always easy
considering how close I am to where she lives. We're hunkered down
and making it day to day.

The days around here though are filled with the most incredible fall
colors that hang on despite the winds and rare rains, and today we had
intense fogs that always lift my spirits rather than subdue them. I
adore thick heavy fogs. Now with the waning light and true days
(since daylight savings ended) the colors on the trees are
incredible. More pots to take around the back yard and winter near
the south western portion of the house in a little nook near where we
stacked the fake brick pavers we retrieved, the heat from the concrete
should provide a more temperate micro climate for everything. Just
seeing the leaves on the Diablo and Coppertone nine bark through the
large picture window opposite the steep stairs that lead up to the
main portion of the house gives me a grin. I put the steel baker's
rack plant stand against the pavers and then positioned the perennials
according to height. It resembles a small nursery! LOL

I will end this ramble with the thoughts from yesterday as I peered
out the downstairs bedroom window that is ground level and the windows
in all the rooms of this house are wonderfully huge. I saw more
robins than I ever would have thought would be here right now. And as
I let the dogs outside for a short bit, I heard the sharp caw's of
crows, looked up to see a "murder of crows", four of them chasing and
attacking a large hawk to the monument and trees behind and above me
where I live. I live at the base of the National Monument where
Andrew Johnson is buried here in Greeneville and the trees up there
are older and wonderful. Through that large picture window I can see
the towering flagpole and flag and can tell where the winds are coming
from on any given day.

I hope everyone has had a gentle fall and now I am actually wanting a
little snow to brighten my winter mood. Luckily with these large
windows of this rental house, I won't suffer too much from the
seasonal sadness I get. It's more of a challange to keep warm since
this house has no heat downstairs but the heat is
upstairs.........sweaters and layers.....that's the ticket. Didn't
live five years in Colorado for nothing! Have a great Thanksgiving
and I will be more in touch now that James and I have gone out on the
limb and gotten internet for the house for the next three months. Keep
in touch and write to me, I miss my gardening friends very much!.

I'm just glad that I touched all those incredible people all these 14
years still. I'm just gardening on the scale I always did when I
first started my madness. Given time, I will garden like I did on the
ridge in Dandridge again.. of that, I will assure you.

madgardener, up in the Greene bowl, surrounded by the Cherokee
National Forest and gardening in the central historical part of town.

On Nov 15, 6:02*pm, "Gloria" wrote:
Hi Maddie! *I haven't been in here for a spell and today I decided to lurk
in wrecked gardens, and I find your post! *It's great to see your rambling
and hope that you will be able to ramble more frequently. *Uh, *for the
folks who might be reading this, I am NOT the bad Gloria.....I'm the lucky
friend Gloria in Alabama....lucky to have visited with madgardener at her
home in Dandridge.

Very glad to see you, Maddie, and best wishes on your marriage.

wrote in message

umm, you honor and humble me, I'm dragging me toe in the mud. did I
say mud?? YES!!!!!! we're FINALLY getting a wee bit o' the wet
stuff!! and Gloria? there ain't no bad Gloria.......there is also
another sweet Gloria who used to sign her name "only the iguana's know
for sure" who lives just 14 miles away from me who turned me on to
this affordable rental house. now all I have to do is sort through
the empty containers and decide which one to tuck in the assorted
loose narcissus I purchased a few months ago. It's always a nice
surprise to see who comes up unexpectedly. I did find an unusual one
with a soft pastel green eye surrounded by a darker green throat and
decided what the heck. All of the bulbs were incredible two and three
nosers....(the "necks" of the bulbs are actually called "noses" in the
business I think) but I was determined to have a few to plug into
soil even if it was another container until I have my own home and
yard to tuck into.
we're supposed to get a few snow flurries, we'll see. And if you get
the chance, you oughta give me a shout sometime if you're inclined to
visit sometime. it is beautiful here, it's just I don't have me
gardens here. all in good time, ya know?
maddie up in the greene bowl, surrounded by the Cherokee National
Forest in upper north eastern Tennessee gardening in the historical
downtown area

;822801]On Nov 15, 6:02*pm, "Gloria" wrote:
Hi Maddie! *I haven't been in here for a spell and today I decided to lurk
in wrecked gardens, and I find your post! *It's great to see your rambling
and hope that you will be able to ramble more frequently. *Uh, *for the
folks who might be reading this, I am NOT the bad Gloria.....I'm the lucky
friend Gloria in Alabama....lucky to have visited with madgardener at her
home in Dandridge.

Very glad to see you, Maddie, and best wishes on your marriage.

wrote in message

umm, you honor and humble me, I'm dragging me toe in the mud. did I
say mud?? YES!!!!!! we're FINALLY getting a wee bit o' the wet
stuff!! and Gloria? there ain't no bad Gloria.......there is also
another sweet Gloria who used to sign her name "only the iguana's know
for sure" who lives just 14 miles away from me who turned me on to
this affordable rental house. now all I have to do is sort through
the empty containers and decide which one to tuck in the assorted
loose narcissus I purchased a few months ago. It's always a nice
surprise to see who comes up unexpectedly. I did find an unusual one
with a soft pastel green eye surrounded by a darker green throat and
decided what the heck. All of the bulbs were incredible two and three
nosers....(the "necks" of the bulbs are actually called "noses" in the
business I think) but I was determined to have a few to plug into
soil even if it was another container until I have my own home and
yard to tuck into.
we're supposed to get a few snow flurries, we'll see. And if you get
the chance, you oughta give me a shout sometime if you're inclined to
visit sometime. it is beautiful here, it's just I don't have me
gardens here. all in good time, ya know?
maddie up in the greene bowl, surrounded by the Cherokee National
Forest in upper north eastern Tennessee gardening in the historical
downtown area


maddy im so sorry that your so called "friend" treated u so badly. it makes
me sad at heart to know that someone would do that to u.
congrats on your marriage . i wish u both nothing but peace, happiness and
lots of gardening fun and discoveries .
i had wondered what had happened to u as i had emailed u a bit ago and
hadnt heard back so now i know my answer u werent online , but im so
happy to see u here and being able to read your wonderful ramblings.
best of wishes and wintery hugssss, sockiescat.

i had wondered what had happened to u as i had emailed u a bit ago and

hadnt heard back so now i know my answer u werent online , but im so

happy to see u here and being able to read your wonderful ramblings.
best of wishes and wintery hugssss, sockiescat.

--
sockiescat

that and you probably had my old address. I always forgot that I had
the yahoo account as backup. then someone literally stole my password
in the late spring of my former yahoo account I'd had for years, and
had to change it to what it is now, which actually is better as I have
always been known as the madgardener! add to that the new moniker of
"Maddie" and bob's yer uncle and fanny's yer aunt! (you can see the
influences of living with me English husband for the past year plus
including the intimate conversations over the last two plus
years.............you should hear me accent now......sorta a blend of
Tennessee/Eastern Tennessee/English/kinda strange Michigan wearing
off.........unique is NOT the word here!!

Maddie gardening coldly in far upper Eastern Tennessee right next to
the Cherokee National Forest and Appalachian Mountains in a greene
bowl in the historical downtown of Greeneville now......(still growing
USA zone 7a which is actually warmer than ten years ago when it was
cooler zone 6b)

whew... I am so glad to see you back online. I been worried. Ingrid