lovemesomejoolery

I think it was last year, but many nurseries here still aren't selling them. It's probably due to money....they can get more for the New Guinea's, as they're sold in a single pot, or the newer varieties. One came out last year called SunPatiens and I have purchased in the past the Fusion impatiens. These are like the "supertunias", and are considered a more premium annual.

I love those wrought iron planters - are they by Kinsman? I get Kinsman's catalog and am always tempted! Regarding impatiens, the regular ones and not the New Guinea ones, there was a devastating mold that wiped out the impatien. Many greenhouses stopped carrying them not only in an attempt to wipe out the disease but also to not lose money. You can imagine how bad it would be to have seedlings you offer to the public and then have this mildew issue rear it's ugly head - you'd have to give refunds to your customers who bought them, plus you lose everything you haven't sold out of your nursery. I also remember, at the beginning of this, they weren't sure what was causing the entire plant to collapse - and the industry was concerned that whatever this was would spread to other plants besides impatiens. Below is a NYT article from 2013 that talks about it. One of my favorite nurseries in the Baltimore area is cited! I bought impatiens this year and haven't had any problems. My understanding is that certain varieties were more susceptible than others, so while I was able to buy some, there wasn't a ton of varieties available, just one or two in all the usual range of fantastic colors! I also think that in the time that this article was posted, breeders have turned heir breeding programs to varieties that aren't susceptible to the downy mildew. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/18/garden/a-mold-devastates-impatiens.html

Sounds lovely! I just got a mandevilla this past weekend. I feel fortunate.....we have a guy maybe 5 miles from my house who is a legend in my county. We call him Plant Man. He has 7 Quonset hut type greenhouses and grows much of it himself. All veggies in one, geraniums in another, annuals in market packs (he did switch from using predominately 6 packs to mostly 4 packs this year), impatiens in one (both types) another with shade plants, another with verbenas and petunias and I can't remember what else. He sells a lot of the Proven Winner varieties, that in most greenhouses are $5.99 - $6.99 each. His are $3.49 and if you buy a flat of 14, you get a 20% discount. He has a tropical house, where he brings in stuff from Florida right around this time - hibiscus, dipladenia, Mandevilla, passion flowers, and more......and he's got good stuff and cheap! My Mandevilla would run around $39.99 elsewhere. Same size from him - $16.99. I don't know how he does it. But I feel very, very lucky.

You have to get that little cup off the petunia, the place where the flower comes from. Not to be too technical, but that is the plant's ovary! When it dries up. you can squish it and see the seeds in there! Heck, you don't have to wait until it dries up......give it a couple of weeks when it sort of swells and is still green, squish it and you'll see the unripe seeds. Petunias are lovely, but way too much work for me because of this. I harvest some of my own seeds, too! I love Cut and Come Again zinnias, which are hard to find. I save seeds in the fall of the colors I like, but am lucky that a place near me still carries them. So I buy 12 new plants a year - he sells seedlings in 4 packs for $1.99. I also save seeds of a plant called Kiss Me Over the Garden Gate.......I share them with everyone and it reseeds like crazy, too.

Zoemom, first and foremost, we are here for you - you are not alone! I apologize for not coming on this side of the forum for a few days....it makes me feel like I ignored you. I was pained when I read your post. Everyone here gave you wonderful advice! Two comments that stuck out and were exactly what I was thinking when I first read your post, were: 1) They must like you......if you were on a probationary period and got your review on the last day of probation, they could have just as well let you go right then and there. If it was something they were really concerned about, I would think they'd offer that feedback sooner. To me, it sounds like they were just giving you constructive feedback, so take it to heart, but don't stress out about it because it will only make you even more worried - and that's not good for you! 2) You've mentioned that you were supposed to be part time and they have worked you to death, giving you more hours than you originally wanted. Being tired, feeling stressed can't be good for you and your MS. In fact, it could be the very thing that is exacerbating the issue with counting the drawer, being confused, etc. I am a big believer in that all things happen for a reason - the good and the bad. If, for whatever reason, this doesn't work out the way you want, there is something better for you around the corner. For now, just be calm and confident! And let us know how it is working out!! Hang in there.....

Petunias = if you cut them back hard, they'll regrow and be lush again. Figure on cutting them back maybe three times during the growing season. Cutting them back hard when they start to get leggy, makes them lush again. Maybe cut them back by a 1/3. Also, and this is the reason I stopped growing them, they must be deadheaded. That doesn't mean you just pull the faded flower off, but you must cut the little pod that the flower grew from. That's where the seeds are produced. An annual's sole reason for being (from a horticulture standpoint) is to produce seed.......after it flowers, it then goes into seed making. When you deadhead, it starts the process of flowering all over again! I wish I had the space and the time to grow from seed! It's gratifying as well as a money saver!

I am in my home office right now, and I have a bulletin board above my desk. I am staring at a pin I picked up at an antique co-op that says "I am a Romper Stomper" and has a bee in the middle with "do bee" on it! I loved that show!!

Great idea! I like a lot of Patti LaBelle's products. She had a great barbecue sauce made with agave that we really liked, but Wegman's stopped carrying her products. I had herd she had a line of food...I just didn't know where. Cobblers are my favorite. We have been known, in this house, to get a Mrs. Smith's Blackberry Cobbler and have it for dinner. I am going to WalMart tomorrow and get a peach cobbler! Thanks for the info!! Gorgeous! Thanks for sharing this!

I just looked up Bobby Sherman.....just to see what he's been up to. Do you know he became a paramedic and, later, a police officer? Bwahahaha! Funny!

Sounds like bucket list time for you! I've seen it one time and it was magical. My husband and I are going to try and get there this summer. There is a Chihuly exhibition there, that runs through Fall

Yes, it is awful. We went from having temps in the mid 70's, to this week having frost on Monday morning and it's been dark and gloomy and rainy all week. That said, we need the rain. We had very little snow to speak of this winter, so a nice gentle rain like we've had all week, is a good thing.

Sorry I got to you late......weather wasn't as bad as they predicted. No wind to speak of. It was rainy all day until around 3:00, but not the hard driving, torrential rain that was predicted. Last evening, around 11:00 pm, it was raining pretty hard, though. The sun came out today for maybe 5 minutes, then it went back to being gray. I, too am a Y&R fan. I have been watching since about 5th grade, when it first started. I maybe missed a couple of years, but record it every day. I have 4 episodes from last week I need to get through.

YES! I am with you!

I'm still reeling a little bit from @ennui's post about pics showing up in a Google search. I've literally been randomly googling and seeing if any of mine show up. So far, no.

WOW.

So glad you two found each other! She is adorable - I love her! I love that little sidelong look she's giving while you take her picture. And one more time, love trumped all! Congrats!

Butchart Gardens is beautiful! I love how they edge all of their garden beds. I've bookmarked it so that I can check in June and see what pictures they have up. There are a couple of places I truly love - Longwood Gardens is good, but The New York Botanical Gardens! I could get lost in the New York BG for days.

I love all one color plantings! It sounds beautiful! You have to take pictures! I was "stoved up" two weekends ago, so know the feeling. I'm disappointed it's going to be hellish rain tomorrow, but should be nice on Sunday, and easier to weed. I'm going to try and get a picture of my front yard to post here. It's looking spectacular, with two rhododendrons in full bloom, as well as a Black Lace Sambucas in full bloom. I'm hoping the massive rain won't destroy the rhodies....but we'll see what happens! I love vinca - I use a lot of it on my deck because it is so hot, some geraniums don't even do well! I used to put a lot of exotics in pots - plumbago, hibiscus, mandevilla, brugmansias.....and I realized I was spending so much on my pots, and these plants couldn't be brought indoors (some are poisonous and not good for cats!) in the fall, so I sought out less expensive plants. Vinca was one of the best! I love the white one with the red eye....as well as the fact that they take the heat and bloom their heads off!

Thanks for posting this....I'm definitely trying it. Looks easy and Mr. Lovesme enjoys cobbler more than anything..and since this is a cross between pie/cobbler, it might be an easy way to do a cobbler. Wow, that was a great thing to see - and much needed. So cute!

How lovely! I have always wanted to go here, but have never made it. I'm going to put it on my bucket list for next year! That's a good way to put it...ebb and flow. I've been behind for days now, due to being out of town for three days. I thought I caught up yesterday, jumped on tonight and found I was a whopping 7 pages behind. I haven't even watched any QVC for what feels like a week.

Too funny! I am the same way......I tried tomatoes on my deck in these nifty planters and it was so darn hot and sunny, it fried them. Then I got hornworm, then I decided for all the energy and money I was putting into trying to get a tub of tomatoes to grow and produce, I could go to the farmstand and be less aggravated! The one "edible" I grow are fraises de bois, alpine strawberries. I grow them in pots on my deck. They are decorative as well as produce the most delicious tiny, little jewels of strawberry flavor, I gobble them up while I'm tending to my potted plants. What are they, you ask? Here's a link to an article...... http://modernfarmer.com/2016/06/fraises-des-bois/

That volunteer work is a big commitment when you are going for your certification - 50 hours in Maryland, then 20 hours each year after. I worked on a sensory garden for The Maryland School for the Deaf and then spent a lot of time weeding at a public garden when I was trying to get my certification.....and then in our state, as in most I suppose, County Extension Services are a thing of the past. Our state uses a lot of volunteers from Master Gardeners to fill the gap with the help line, as well as plant clinics. I was lucky, that Help Line's office is housed in my county. Moving forward, I'm not sure I'm going to continue to keep up with the certification after this year. I have mixed emotions about that thought! I can barely take care of my own garden - and I'm an end of group townhome - let alone do the required volunteer work and training, which comes at the same time I'm trying to get my own yard together. If I were retired, it probably would be a different story, but at 54 years old, I don't envision retiring for at least another 8-10 years. I'm still thinking about that, too......and I'm pretending to be Scarlett O'Hara, thinking about it another day!

It doesn't look so good right now, but it's getting there! I had a work meeting that took me to CT from Sunday until late last night, so I lost a weekend! The rain and cooler weather hasn't helped. I think by Memorial Day, I'll be in good shape, though. It was a huge thing. I don't know what your state's requirements are, but I basically had to take what amounted to a horticulture class at the University of Maryland, which wasn't so bad. It was the amount of volunteer work I had to do that did me in! I've met a lot of people and that has been fun.

Yes! Profound. I love Victoria Blue salvia! They don't sell it much in my area anymore, though. It always reminds me of lavender, which is tough here, due to the humidity. I now grow one called Mystic Spires, and depending on the winter we have, can get one or two of them to come back the following summer. They have the same gray blue leaves, but are like Victoria Blue on steroids.

It is a cute ad! Is this the type of salvia? What @Coffeecup says is spot on! You have to deadhead it to keep it blooming. And it likes a lot of sun. Curiously, I have better luck with it in pots than I do in the ground.