Small Talk: I Like Them All, I Just Can't Choose!

[WaitForMe]

7 hours ago, auntjess said:

This old broad was wearing her new Keef teeshirt today.
https://coolteeusa.com/k-eef?s=hanes-5250&c=Deep Forest&p=FRONT

Love it!!!!!  I have my Bob Seger hoodie, but too warm to wear it today!!!

[Booney]

7 hours ago, Coffeecup said:

I've noticed the "price creep" at my local garden centers for the past three or four years. I remember the inexpensive 6-packs; that's what I liked to buy. Now they are putting all the plants in bigger containers at higher prices. Of course, you do get a slightly bigger plant, but I didn't mind waiting on the little ones to grow and saving some money.

They also changed to more expensive varieties of common plants. For example, impatiens. I like the plain little impatiens, but all that the closest garden center had when I went the other day was the expensive New Guinea impatiens. I had to go out of my way to a different garden store to find the plain impatiens.

I grow some flowers from seeds every year, zinnias and marigolds. Both are very easy to grow. I get lots of cut flowers from my zinnia plants, because every time you cut a flower, the stem splits in two and produces two new flowers. These are small flowers with short stems. I have a collection of small size flower vases especially for the little zinnias.

Same here - I have trouble finding the regular impatiens and I don't like the New Guinea variety.

I have a variety of pretty ironwork planters lined with cocofiber, like this -

I have all different kinds in this style - hay racks, wall planters, hanging baskets and free standing ones like this one. I buy already potted full-size impatiens and just plop them with their plastic pot into the planter. You can't see the pot because of the cocofiber liner, and it saves me a lot of time. I have a lot of planters on my deck, and I intersperse them in my garden too for "a pop of color." Because I have so much shade, I mainly grow things like hostas and hydrangeas so the impatiens brighten things up.

[TexasTiffany]

4 hours ago, Booney said:

Same here - I have trouble finding the regular impatiens and I don't like the New Guinea variety.

I have a variety of pretty ironwork planters lined with cocofiber, like this -

I have all different kinds in this style - hay racks, wall planters, hanging baskets and free standing ones like this one. I buy already potted full-size impatiens and just plop them with their plastic pot into the planter. You can't see the pot because of the cocofiber liner, and it saves me a lot of time. I have a lot of planters on my deck, and I intersperse them in my garden too for "a pop of color." Because I have so much shade, I mainly grow things like hostas and hydrangeas so the impatiens brighten things up.

HOW NICE! That is lovely, Booney! I wish I had the money and space to be more creative. 

[TexasTiffany]

11 hours ago, Coffeecup said:

I've noticed the "price creep" at my local garden centers for the past three or four years. I remember the inexpensive 6-packs; that's what I liked to buy. Now they are putting all the plants in bigger containers at higher prices. Of course, you do get a slightly bigger plant, but I didn't mind waiting on the little ones to grow and saving some money.

They also changed to more expensive varieties of common plants. For example, impatiens. I like the plain little impatiens, but all that the closest garden center had when I went the other day was the expensive New Guinea impatiens. I had to go out of my way to a different garden store to find the plain impatiens.

I grow some flowers from seeds every year, zinnias and marigolds. Both are very easy to grow. I get lots of cut flowers from my zinnia plants, because every time you cut a flower, the stem splits in two and produces two new flowers. These are small flowers with short stems. I have a collection of small size flower vases especially for the little zinnias.

I almost did zinnias this year. Do you have a mix of color or single color? 

I've noticed the "price creep" on frozen veggies. Target used to sell a 16 oz. bag of carrots, broccoli, whatever veggie, for 99 cents. They raised the price to $1.09. They changed the package to 12.5 oz size for 99 cents. The ones I got last time are 10 oz. for 99 cents. This last year they've added more expensive veggies like Bird's Eye steam-in-bag variety.  It's a little thing but I'm on a budget. 9 cents isn't terrible. It's that they keep reducing package size, raising prices, and giving up the affordable shelf space to the more expensive products. 

[auntjess]

8 hours ago, WaitForMe said:

Love it!!!!!  I have my Bob Seger hoodie, but too warm to wear it today!!!

I like him too, and posted some of his songs on my FB page this week--as a break from Tom Lehrer and the Dies Irae.

[Thumper]

1 hour ago, PearlClutcher said:

Yes, they've done that old gimmick on cereal for awhile now - less product, increased price.  

Ice cream, cake mixes ...

[SuprSuprElevated]

1 hour ago, PearlClutcher said:

Yes, they've done that old gimmick on cereal for awhile now - less product, increased price.  

Anyone seen a graham cracker lately?  Unbelievable how small they are now, lol.  

[Coffeecup]

1 hour ago, TexasTiffany said:

I almost did zinnias this year. Do you have a mix of color or single color? 

I've noticed the "price creep" on frozen veggies. Target used to sell a 16 oz. bag of carrots, broccoli, whatever veggie, for 99 cents. They raised the price to $1.09. They changed the package to 12.5 oz size for 99 cents. The ones I got last time are 10 oz. for 99 cents. This last year they've added more expensive veggies like Bird's Eye steam-in-bag variety.  It's a little thing but I'm on a budget. 9 cents isn't terrible. It's that they keep reducing package size, raising prices, and giving up the affordable shelf space to the more expensive products. 

I plant mixed color zinnia seeds, but most of the blooms turn out to be either orange or a deep rose pink. I learned that if I want white zinnias, I have to find a packet of all-white seeds, hard to find unless you order from a garden catalogue.

Speaking of hard to find -- why is it that all the garden centers concentrate on Knockout roses now? I know Knockout is a good rose variety because they're disease resistant, but I like other kinds of roses too. Back to the garden catalogues for a big selection of rosebushes. I got a great pink rosebush called Simplicity from Wayside Gardens or Park Seed, can't remember which right now since I've had the rose for several years.

[Booney]

2 hours ago, TexasTiffany said:

HOW NICE! That is lovely, Booney! I wish I had the money and space to be more creative. 

Wish I could take credit for that beautiful arrangement, @TexasTiffany, but the photo is from the Kinsman Company website. I own that particular planter and others like it, but I haven't put flowers in mine yet - will do so next week when I'm back from vacation. I just take a plastic hanging pot of impatiens or begonias (I cut off the hanger), and plop it in that planter and, voila - instant deck and yard decor! I actually used to pot up arrangements like that back in the day, but I've gotten lazy! Kinsman has a wide variety of ironwork planters like that. They're located in my general area and have a brick-and-mortar warehouse store where I've found some good deals on planters. 

[auntjess]

1 hour ago, PearlClutcher said:

Yes, they've done that old gimmick on cereal for awhile now - less product, increased price.  

Toilet paper!

[zxy556575]

1 hour ago, PearlClutcher said:

Yes, they've done that old gimmick on cereal for awhile now - less product, increased price.

Grr! I order pasta from Pizza Hut every so often, and this week I opened the cardboard box and saw that the aluminum container was an inch shorter. They hadn't modified the box size yet, so the difference was very obvious. The bread sticks were also an inch shorter.

Ya know, I'm the idiot for paying $8.99 (plus delivery) for baked ziti in the first place, but I'd much rather they freaking raised the price a dollar than reduce the portion size.

[SuprSuprElevated]

26 minutes ago, Lord Donia said:

but I'd much rather they freaking raised the price a dollar than reduce the portion size.

See, that's the rub isn't it?  We're supposed to assume that they do all this research, have focus groups and all of that, to determine that the consumer of their products won't accept a price increase.  But decreasing the size/content of your product, while selling at the same price is a price increase!  Companies insult our intelligence all the time with tactics like this.  Raise the price to what you believe you have to have, and allow me to make the decision about whether or not I'm willing to pay it.  Fooling around with the packaging only serves to piss me off, and makes me not want to use your product under any circumstances.  

~end of rant~

[Jaded]

31 minutes ago, Lord Donia said:

Grr! I order pasta from Pizza Hut every so often, and this week I opened the cardboard box and saw that the aluminum container was an inch shorter. They hadn't modified the box size yet, so the difference was very obvious. The bread sticks were also an inch shorter.

Ya know, I'm the idiot for paying $8.99 (plus delivery) for baked ziti in the first place, but I'd much rather they freaking raised the price a dollar than reduce the portion size.

If they still have Pasta Tuesdays it's cheaper on that day. I had to quit ordering pasta from them here because it always had a weird aftertaste to it that was not pasta like.

[lovemesomejoolery]

14 hours ago, TexasTiffany said:

Thank you for the tip! I might try petunias again another year.

I thought I was deadheading properly, maybe I wasn't. I was pinching the spent bloom off the stem. It sounds like I wasn't getting all of it. My petunias started out lush with blooms. They end up with long trailers with spindly blooms on the end. I cut one back, but it wasn't happy after that and did not recover. 

Regarding growing from seed - I already have the containers, good dirt, and the sun is free. Vinca are easy to start from seed. I planted them 5 days ago. Some have already sprouted. Some plant seeds take maybe 3 weeks to germinate. I avoid those. I'm patient but not that patient. I tried that once. By the time I figured out my first planting of 21 seeds only produced 4 viable seedlings, I was having to start over and 3 to 4 weeks behind in my garden. I did that before and got almost nothing. I'm disappointed too much, that's why I'm sticking to the easy-to-grow plants this year.

It IS gratifying to grow plants from seed and it be successful. Two years ago, I started harvesting my own seeds. The seeds I saved are hardier than the original batch of seeds I purchased. Two of my friends loved the pink and white flowers in my garden. I was able to share seeds with them! It felt like sharing recipes. 

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. 

[lovemesomejoolery]

15 hours ago, SuprSuprElevated said:

I like to do my herbs in mixed pots, and usually add a colorful flower specimen or two to add to the collection on my patio.

Flower pricing has gone berserk.  I'm spending a fortune because I am unable (space/sunlight) and unwilling to go the seed route.  I don't have a lot of perennials in my yard because it is a very small yard, and I find most of them get too large for what I like.  I now mostly container garden.  I bought 3 well-established mandavillas, 3 10" hanging petunias, a small 4" yellow something and 2 well-established mixed hangers and have spent probably $250, not counting the soil to re-pot, which I do on all of them.  That may be low for those of you in high population areas, but I know that I'm done!  I used to buy smaller flat-sized flowers and pot my own, but I don't really have a good place to do it, and I'm sick of the stooping and the mess.  Just another by-product of getting older I guess.

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.

[ennui]

1 hour ago, auntjess said:

Toilet paper!

It depends where you buy it. I find the rolls from Costco are y'ooge and last forever.

[SuprSuprElevated]

6 minutes ago, ennui said:

Costco

For the win!

12 minutes ago, lovemesomejoolery said:

My Mandevilla would run around $39.99 elsewhere.

Exactly what I paid, plants were about 3', and extremely pot bound, leaves turning yellow.  Hoping it's not a fungus, and that they will be much happier in their new pots, with some TLC.  Probably shouldn't have paid the price, considering the condition, but I really like them.

15 minutes ago, lovemesomejoolery said:

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.

He sounds like a gem!  You are very lucky.

[auntjess]

56 minutes ago, ennui said:

It depends where you buy it. I find the rolls from Costco are y'ooge and last forever.

Only a certain Charmin for me.  I'll save on store brands on many things, but not toilet paper.

[MichelleAK]

1 hour ago, SuprSuprElevated said:

See, that's the rub isn't it?  We're supposed to assume that they do all this research, have focus groups and all of that, to determine that the consumer of their products won't accept a price increase.  But decreasing the size/content of your product, while selling at the same price is a price increase!  Companies insult our intelligence all the time with tactics like this.  Raise the price to what you believe you have to have, and allow me to make the decision about whether or not I'm willing to pay it.  Fooling around with the packaging only serves to piss me off, and makes me not want to use your product under any circumstances.  

~end of rant~

I completely agree.  My most recent (well, over the past couple of years) annoyance is the decline in quality of Vera Bradley bags since they sent all production overseas. For example, the purse style I used to get was trimmed in a complementary pattern, with fabric in another complementary pattern lining the inside. Now, no trim, and the interior lining is just cheap polyester. The price is still the same as the older, nicer bags, but I would have preferred they raised the price and kept the quality. And judging by the reviews on the website, there are a lot of women like me, who are unhappy with the fabrication decline.

[ennui]

28 minutes ago, auntjess said:

Only a certain Charmin for me.  I'll save on store brands on many things, but not toilet paper.

Costco sells Charmin. 

[Thumper]

38 minutes ago, auntjess said:

Only a certain Charmin for me.  I'll save on store brands on many things, but not toilet paper.

Well.  I used to be a die-hard Quilted Northern fan (it is still good), but after using my sister's bathroom last summer, I converted to Charmin Ultra Soft.  I used to think Charmin was too "linty," but this is not.  ?

Just in case you're shopping.

[TexasTiffany]

I used to buy the Charmin and prefer it. I started buying the 1000 sheet roll 4-pack. Those last a long time. Cheaper, too. Not soft.

3 hours ago, lovemesomejoolery said:

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.

I wish we all had a Plant Man like yours. I'd buy some things I can't do from seeds. 

[Thumper]

Some of the huge rolls won't fit on TP holders.  First World Problems.

[ennui]

11 minutes ago, Thumper said:

Some of the huge rolls won't fit on TP holders.  First World Problems.

Until you use some and the roll gets smaller.  I'm sure people in Venezuela are jealous.

[Booney]

3 hours ago, auntjess said:

Only a certain Charmin for me.  I'll save on store brands on many things, but not toilet paper.

I'm with you on this, and it's Cottonelle brand for me. Fortunately BJ's sells it in huge 36 roll packages and the price, compared to the grocery store, is really good.

[seahag]

We get Charmin Ultra Strong super size rolls on sale at Target. Mr. Hag goes through them in a day otherwise.  Our bathrooms were built in the past 10 years, so we can handle the big rolls.

I buy plants from a local nursery that you have to know about to find. It's on a residential street, and They not only have their own greenhouses, their homes are on the property as well.  It's a cool place.  I'll be getting my herbs from an organic grower at my farmers' market.

[SuprSuprElevated]

9 hours ago, MichelleAK said:

The price is still the same as the older, nicer bags, but I would have preferred they raised the price and kept the quality.

 And considering the mega bucks they saved by going import, they wouldn't have needed to raise the price at all!  They started in Ft. Wayne, IN, not far from here, and it feels a bit traitorous that they went the China route.

[Coffeecup]

2 hours ago, SuprSuprElevated said:

 And considering the mega bucks they saved by going import, they wouldn't have needed to raise the price at all!  They started in Ft. Wayne, IN, not far from here, and it feels a bit traitorous that they went the China route.

Remember Stone Mountain handbags? They went to China and turned to crap. The quality of Tiganello bags is going down too. Even Fossil!  I've bought Fossil for my last three bags, but this year their leather looked thin and cheap, and on the shoulder bag style I was looking at, they didn't even include the traditional key hardware. But of course their prices have gone UP instead of down.

[SuprSuprElevated]

13 minutes ago, Coffeecup said:

Remember Stone Mountain handbags? They went to China and turned to crap. The quality of Tiganello bags is going down too. Even Fossil!  I've bought Fossil for my last three bags, but this year their leather looked thin and cheap, and on the shoulder bag style I was looking at, they didn't even include the traditional key hardware. But of course their prices have gone UP instead of down.

I do remember Stone Mountain!  I've been a buyer of both Tignanello & Fossil bags in the past, but not for a few years.  At some point in the foreseeable future, our descendants won't know what real quality goods are, unless they become extremely wealthy.

[lovemesomejoolery]

On ‎5‎/‎18‎/‎2017 at 8:08 AM, Booney said:

Same here - I have trouble finding the regular impatiens and I don't like the New Guinea variety.

I have a variety of pretty ironwork planters lined with cocofiber, like this -

I have all different kinds in this style - hay racks, wall planters, hanging baskets and free standing ones like this one. I buy already potted full-size impatiens and just plop them with their plastic pot into the planter. You can't see the pot because of the cocofiber liner, and it saves me a lot of time. I have a lot of planters on my deck, and I intersperse them in my garden too for "a pop of color." Because I have so much shade, I mainly grow things like hostas and hydrangeas so the impatiens brighten things up.

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

[SuprSuprElevated]

6 minutes ago, lovemesomejoolery said:

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

Didn't read your article, but I knew about the impatiens blight.  I'm thinking it was pretty much declared over by either last year or maybe 2015.

[lovemesomejoolery]

6 minutes ago, SuprSuprElevated said:

Didn't read your article, but I knew about the impatiens blight.  I'm thinking it was pretty much declared over by either last year or maybe 2015.

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.

[lovemesomejoolery]

18 hours ago, Booney said:

Wish I could take credit for that beautiful arrangement, @TexasTiffany, but the photo is from the Kinsman Company website. I own that particular planter and others like it, but I haven't put flowers in mine yet - will do so next week when I'm back from vacation. I just take a plastic hanging pot of impatiens or begonias (I cut off the hanger), and plop it in that planter and, voila - instant deck and yard decor! I actually used to pot up arrangements like that back in the day, but I've gotten lazy! Kinsman has a wide variety of ironwork planters like that. They're located in my general area and have a brick-and-mortar warehouse store where I've found some good deals on planters. 

I just posted and asked if these were Kinsman.....they are!    How lucky hat you have a warehouse store to get some bargains!  I think they are so elegant looking, and while you may pay a little more, Kinsman is known to hold up for years!

[lovemesomejoolery]

16 hours ago, SuprSuprElevated said:

Exactly what I paid, plants were about 3', and extremely pot bound, leaves turning yellow.  Hoping it's not a fungus, and that they will be much happier in their new pots, with some TLC.  Probably shouldn't have paid the price, considering the condition, but I really like them.

It'll be fine!  Even mine had yellow leaves.  As you probably know, Mandevillas thrive in hot humid weather.  Bringing them from CA of FL, taking them out of the environment they love, and bringing them to our areas causes a tiny bit of stress.  They are also heavy feeders, and no one's feeding them on that truck ride from wherever to your greenhouse - I feed mine once a week with Miracle Gro and they bounce back in no time!

[SuprSuprElevated]

4 minutes ago, lovemesomejoolery said:

It'll be fine!  Even mine had yellow leaves.  As you probably know, Mandevillas thrive in hot humid weather.  Bringing them from CA of FL, taking them out of the environment they love, and bringing them to our areas causes a tiny bit of stress.  They are also heavy feeders, and no one's feeding them on that truck ride from wherever to your greenhouse - I feed mine once a week with Miracle Gro and they bounce back in no time!

Good to know, thanks!

[Coffeecup]

6 hours ago, Friedbaloney said:

I bought a couple of Knockout roses last year (pink ones) and I'm really not that impressed. But then, again, I didn't spend the mucho money for the ones already at mature height and in full bloom. I bought a spindly looking one that was sitting all alone on a shelf at Walmart ( I felt sorry for it) and then I ordered a second one of the same variety from Edmund's Roses because I needed two  in order to put one on each side of a tall pedestal planter. It was really too late in the season for it to make the long journey through the mail and for me to be planting it. They're both still alive out there though. Unlike the other Knockout roses, these have a strong old rose scent---well, at least my refugee from Walmart did. 

As usual, I spent way too much buying plants this spring because I can't control myself when I'm in a garden center.  The hubby shakes his head but he knows it's my only real extravaganze so he keeps his comments to himself. As he'd better, because it's my own money that I worked for that I'm spending and if he doesn't like it--he can make like the bees and buzz off.

The only things I still want to get are a pot of geraniums to put on my patio table and a butterfly bush.  I tend towards flowers that have strong scents and I like the old-fashioned kinds of flowers that my grandmother grew. I also gravitate towards shades of pink, purple and white. There's not much yellow or red in my yard at all. And I have quite a few tall angel statues too.

Sorry, I could blabber on all day about flowers and gardening. Must. Stop. Now.

I hear you!  I go crazy in garden centers too. I practically throw money at them! I get the car stuffed full of plants, and then I have to find the time and energy to plant them all when I get home. I bought a bunch of stuff earlier this week and still have a flat of annuals left to plant, despite going out to work in the yard every single afternoon. My problem is that I get distracted instead of staying task-oriented. It seems that once I get outside, I find a lot of maintenance type things I need to do, like pruning and pulling weeds. I can work until slap dark and still not get caught up ... but I still enjoy it.

[Booney]

4 hours ago, lovemesomejoolery said:

I just posted and asked if these were Kinsman.....they are!    How lucky hat you have a warehouse store to get some bargains!  I think they are so elegant looking, and while you may pay a little more, Kinsman is known to hold up for years!

They absolutely do hold up. I have two that are similar to the picture I posted earlier, and they're on either side of my front door. I must have bought them at least 15 years ago and they're still going strong. I have a cauldron style planter, a medium sized hay rack (which is my favorite - love!), and two wall racks that are attached to the deck and they have all lasted years. I've tried buying from other manufacturers, but they just don't last as well. I particularly like Deer Park Ironworks planters, but some of them have fallen apart after a few years of exposure to the elements. I have a wire wheelbarrow from them that I love, but we've had to reattach the front wheel a couple of times. I had a bicycle planter from them also that fell apart after a few years and really couldn't be put back together. Deer Park makes some smaller wire baskets that have held up well.

I also had a couple of metal beverage tubs that I never used and I turned them into planters. They look really cute with flowers!

[Booney]

5 hours ago, hummingbird said:

Our knockout roses are finally growing after the third yr of fencing against deer otherwise they would be dead ? 

Deer - the bane of my existence! My yard is loaded with hostas and the deer love to munch on them. Last year we tried spraying hostas and other plants the deer like with Liquid Fence and it actually seems to work pretty well at keeping them from eating everything. The stuff smells awful, and you have to keep up with the spraying. Mr. Booney sprays once a week and, knock on wood, so far so good. We're away this week and he sprayed just before we left so hopefully we won't come home on Sunday to chewed up hostas!

[lovemesomejoolery]

1 hour ago, Friedbaloney said:

I looked up the Kinsman website and they really have some beautiful things. I know I shouldn't admit this, but I once made a planter out of an old toilet bowl. I drove by a house one day that had an old claw foot bathtub on the front lawn filled with flowers. So when we had new bathroom fixtures installed, I thought, why not-- I like a little whimsy in the garden! LOL.  I thought it looked cute and most people got a good laugh when they saw it.

I love this! 

[lovemesomejoolery]

1 hour ago, Friedbaloney said:

I looked up the Kinsman website and they really have some beautiful things. I know I shouldn't admit this, but I once made a planter out of an old toilet bowl. I drove by a house one day that had an old claw foot bathtub on the front lawn filled with flowers. So when we had new bathroom fixtures installed, I thought, why not-- I like a little whimsy in the garden! LOL.  I thought it looked cute and most people got a good laugh when they saw it.

I had to find some images of this online.  I love the one with the gnome in it. 

Such an ingenious thing to do, if you have the type of yard that can handle this type of whimsy!!

[Booney]

2 hours ago, Friedbaloney said:

I like when people create little "vignettes" in their gardens.  Not sure if that's the right thing to call them but that's what I always think of them as. Like when they tip one of those half whiskey barrels on their sides and plant flowers in them in such a way that it looks like the barrel fell over and all the flowers spilled out onto the lawn.  Or they plant flowers in an old canoe or tie a real bicycle to their lampposts and plant flowers in the basket and hang little pots of flowers from the spokes on the wheels.  

I just love that sort of thing.

I saw this vignette on Facebook the other day and fell in love with it. A little container garden with an Alice in Wonderland theme - adorable! (By the way, @Friedbaloney - I love your toilet bowl planter idea!)

[Girlydiva53]

I miss gardening. When I lived back east, I could decorate and have cute stuff out amongst my flowers. Since I moved back to California, that's impossible. The decorations would get stolen within an hour of putting them out. 

[Fishy]

I haven't seen any plant arrangements in toilet bowls around here, but I've seen a lot of arrangements where the pot is sitting on its side and the plants are planted to mimic them spilling out of the pot.  Seems to be a trend that started several years ago or maybe even longer ago than that.  I have an area where I created a small fairy garden and nearby I have a Plow & Hearth (from QVC) solar light mobile of 6-7 fairies hanging from a shepherd's hook and it color morphs at night.  I have to say, I just love seeing those fairies floating around and color morphing from my kitchen window!  It's funny the little silly things that can make you smile.

I haven't had any luck with the Knockout Roses, luckily hydrangeas are another story, but I love roses and try as I might, I just don't seem to have luck with them so I usually wind up replacing them with another hydrangea and I'm happy! - hah!

Edited May 20, 2017 by Fishy

[Fishy]

Does anyone have any Dappled Willow plants?  I mention it only because around here where I live I have been seeing them everywhere and they are all in full bloom and they are just absolutely the prettiest thing to me.  I have a couple in my yard - one tree form and one shrub form. 

Edited May 20, 2017 by Fishy

[Day2Day]

21 minutes ago, hummingbird said:

Lisa's hair for the Drag RAce show.... sad

What's wrong with this picture ????

Lisa's in it !!!!!!  I seem to recall this is her "What the hell is goin' on?" face. 

[SuprSuprElevated]

9 hours ago, Girlydiva53 said:

I miss gardening. When I lived back east, I could decorate and have cute stuff out amongst my flowers. Since I moved back to California, that's impossible. The decorations would get stolen within an hour of putting them out. 

No kidding?  That stinks.

1 hour ago, Fishy said:

Does anyone have any Dappled Willow plants?  I mention it only because around here where I live I have been seeing them everywhere and they are all in full bloom and they are just absolutely the prettiest thing to me.  I have a couple in my yard - one tree form and one shrub form. 

Yes, my neighbor has one, like the bottom picture.  Glad to know what it's called!

[lovemesomejoolery]

4 hours ago, Fishy said:

Does anyone have any Dappled Willow plants?  I mention it only because around here where I live I have been seeing them everywhere and they are all in full bloom and they are just absolutely the prettiest thing to me.  I have a couple in my yard - one tree form and one shrub form. 

so pretty!

[TexasTiffany]

16 hours ago, Booney said:

I saw this vignette on Facebook the other day and fell in love with it. A little container garden with an Alice in Wonderland theme - adorable! (By the way, @Friedbaloney - I love your toilet bowl planter idea!)

The toilet planters and this little grouping are totally fun! Yes to @Friedbaloney's whimsy in the garden! 

 

13 hours ago, Girlydiva53 said:

I miss gardening. When I lived back east, I could decorate and have cute stuff out amongst my flowers. Since I moved back to California, that's impossible. The decorations would get stolen within an hour of putting them out. 

That's too bad. A sun room would come in handy. I'd like to put out a few things too. I have a couple of whimsical duck figures. I can't put them by my front door they might be taken. I sometimes put them on my balcony but the wind might knock them over and break them. I have them inside on my display shelves instead. I still get to see them but they aren't out in the weather. 

@Fishy, your dappled willows are beautiful! Rather ethereal which goes with your morphing fairies.

[lovemesomejoolery]

4 hours ago, Day2Day said:

What's wrong with this picture ????

Lisa's in it !!!!!!  I seem to recall this is her "What the hell is goin' on?" face. 

I fell asleep at some point, but each group had to a sitcom type show and the one group who did the church thing - I still don't know what they were trying to say, maybe that religion doesn't approve of them? - and when the camera angle was like the one above, she had a look like she was smelling shit.......I guess it's the look you call "what the hell is going on?"! 

Personally, I wasn't offended or anything by the show, but given her strict religious background, and just who she is (or rather, who she is not), it seemed a very odd choice for her to be on this show.  She was out of place and looked out of touch.  And I'm not surprised that she didn't announce this on her FB page....she is probably very embarrassed to have participated.

[Coffeecup]

2 hours ago, lovemesomejoolery said:

I fell asleep at some point, but each group had to a sitcom type show and the one group who did the church thing - I still don't know what they were trying to say, maybe that religion doesn't approve of them? - and when the camera angle was like the one above, she had a look like she was smelling shit.......I guess it's the look you call "what the hell is going on?"! 

Personally, I wasn't offended or anything by the show, but given her strict religious background, and just who she is (or rather, who she is not), it seemed a very odd choice for her to be on this show.  She was out of place and looked out of touch.  And I'm not surprised that she didn't announce this on her FB page....she is probably very embarrassed to have participated.

Betcha she wasn't too embarrassed to cash the check.