My very first post

14 years ago

*waves* Hi everyone, this is my very first time on GW and I have been looking for ages for a great place to talk to people from around the world. I am from New Zealand and love love love gardening!

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Comments (28)

krista_marie
14 years ago
Hello! and Welcome!
I remember when I first started posting, exciting times. I was addicted to the plant exchange for the first couple of years on GW. Please tell us more about yourself (like we do introductions on the first day of school) : )
I am a recently divorced, mother of one, and I work loading trucks at UPS. I haven't done much gardening over the last two years, but hope to get back into it soon. It was my therapy for 10 years, now I want to garden with a plan. I enjoy ethnic foods and Salsa dancing. I am a cockeyed optimist most of the time.
calliope
14 years ago
And a welcome from me, too. I actually remember my very first post many years ago, and how intimidating I found it. The folks here were warm and inviting then, and they still are. Glad to have you aboard.

I guess you are going into the summer months now, as we are gearing up for winter. I am sure there is a great amount of diversity in the climate of Australia and New Zealand, just as there is in the U.S. How are your gardening conditions, and are you temperate or warm all year long in your location?
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Veimar.. Sing, talk, heck dance with your plants..whichever method works is all that matters. I'd love to attend a group or university where plant studies are done. Are you familiar with Calatheas? Leaves move suddenly like their cousin, Maranta, 'Prayer Plant.' I had one Calathea with large leaves that jerked suddenly and fiercely, one leaf would occasionally knock down a smaller, neighboring plant. I don't know why it didn't happen before. Many mysteries in this old world. Please don't get me started about people who buy plants or BIRDS to match furniture. Laura, I'm okay, thank you. It's too bad your work hours are so long. Or maybe not. Don't you love people who know their minds? lol. Laura, you're joking, but I knew a few people who's s/o's were jealous of everything including inanimate objects. Rodden, can't say I blame you. 5-months of winter! Summer 2013 through winter was the worse, coldest. I think we had 2-weeks in the 90's then back to cool. I thought OK was dry??? Low humidity? I can deal with heat, but when temps rise over 100F, I need more than a fan and open windows. Don't like a/c though. Plants are on stand-still when temps get too hot. Since you have rocky soil, you'd definitely need to amend. What about succulents grown in-ground? Agave, Optuntia? My niece lives in Lake Zurich, but she has artificial plants. lol. Sorry about your mom. I imagine your winters are nicer than our spring...warm enough for potted plants to be outside. What type of plants interest you? Laura, VA got hit with 13" of snow? Unbelievable! Is 2014 a record? Toni
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Not trying to change the subject, but when you mentioned being from the North, I just had to comment. My family comes from Alaska. Gotta love the "Land of the Midnight Sun." Living under the Aurora Borealis makes enduring the dark Winters totally worth it, as well as the beautiful long-day Summers. :) My grandmother grew all kinds of plants in her home. I was just a little kid, so I don't recall what they were. She is where I inherited my greenthumb. I wish that I could remember what they were, because her house was always filled with them. I don't grow very many low light plants, considering I live further south now. I do grow a couple Sansevierias. A silvery white, pale green one called "Moonshine," & a dark emerald green NoID. During the Summer, they soak up plenty of direct sunlight. Then, when I bring them back indoors for the Winter, they sit on my dresser. Where they don't really get much light at all, and it doesn't bother them one bit.
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Oooh, that's a great Aeonium. Many people, including me, would kill for such a nice, large specimen as that! And it does not look too poorly from here, with the exception of a couple things. Summertime is the time Aeoniums go dormant and most of the time want a major cutback on water, or to go basically dry with just a sip of water periodically. Summer is also when the rosettes ball up like yours are, which could be perceived as them sort of shriveling up. That is completely normal for this time of year. Full sun could be fine. I happen to do only part-sun with mine over the summer, to try to encourage them to wake up faster when fall comes and temperatures start dropping a bit. My conditions aren't ideal, so my plants are potted and I move them around in an attempt to please them at various times of the year. What isn't normal are the few branches that have flopped over. Where the branches have flopped, are they kind of mushy? If so, they're rotting, and you should remove them/perhaps cut them back to the main stem, to where the tissue is green and healthy inside. Also feel around the base of the stem for any mushy, rotting areas, and I would pray the root system is healthy and there isn't any rot going on below the soil line. My Aeoniums generally start waking up in the fall, and they do most of their growing through the winter and spring, until hot weather hits. Aeoniums are characterized as winter growers, which just means they don't like the heat much. If your summer doesn't get very hot, they can decide to not completely ball up and go entirely dormant, but instead only partially ball up and keep slowly growing through the season -- most of my Aeoniums went completely dormant this summer, but in the exact same conditions a couple of them didn't, and that's just a fluke. Aside from the few problem stems you have going there, I would hope it's one healthy plant. Just make sure you remove what has rotted so that the rot cannot spread. Don't let the balled-up look of the rosettes scare you. The leaves will open up and really start growing soon. Out of curiosity, I'd like to see a closer view of the plant. It has a look to it a bit like Aeonium balsamiferum, which I quite like. This post was edited by teatree on Sun, Aug 4, 13 at 19:55
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It sounds as if there is hope. I would remove them from the pots if the soil is still even damp. Total dryness would not hurt. Leaving them sit on newspaper would do, but just leaving their roots flapping in the breeze wouldn't hurt a bit, if no newspaper handy. This particular plant dies most often from overwatering. They can be a challenge even for experienced growers. That is why mine are all the way, back in a corner, where I have to actually work and aim with my weird IKEA watercan to hit the pot. Take off all the mushy, damaged leaves, using scissors, snips, or even a sharp knife. Often, just the rotting leaves can cause a problem with plants that are in a downward spiral. Then, leave them to go bone dry. After they form a good callous and are completely dried pot up in your choice of pot, TC or plastic, with a good, pourous, well draining soil. Chances are these plants won't need messing with (repotting or moving up in pot size) for a couple of years, so it makes sense to start with a good quality soil. Then figure out on what rotation they need watered at. You can leave them until wrinkles start to show up, but that is a mite extreme. You want to find a happy medium between soaked and dry wrinkles. Mine go from 10 days to 6 weeks sometimes without a thorough soaking. I have actually had regular sans depotted, sitting, waiting for attention for over six months, just flapping in the breeze. This is NOT the recommended treatment, and the plants do NOT look good from this care. It can take five years to reverse this type of plant maintenance, but when you have oodles and gobs... where do you put those leaves you just trimmed off, or the plantlets you just seperated? These are tough plants, I tell ya! Good luck with yours!
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mawheel
14 years ago
Welcome to the GP. I was a lurker for years before I jumped in and posted. This is a wonderful, caring group; you'll be glad you joined in.
Janis_G
14 years ago
Welcome to the party.
It took me forever to sign up and to post.
I'm glad I did, there are lots of really nice
people her. In fact they are the best.
lindajewell
14 years ago
Welcome!! I also remember my first time posting, rather scary but you get over it fast! So what kind of gardening do you do? What are some of your favorite plants? What plants are native to New Zealand?
mjmercer
14 years ago
Hello! My best friend is from New Zealand, and she took me back to visit about 10 years ago. I had a wonderful time meeting all those lovely folks, and seeing some of the most beautiful scenery in the world. Wow, what perfect gardening conditions. I'll bet you can grow just about anything! Do you live on the North or South Island?

Welcome!

Karen
sheila
14 years ago
Hello there. Welcome to the Garden Party of the Garden Web. I remember my first post was with a question about calla lilies. I've been coming around 14 years! Yikes!
andie_rathbone
14 years ago
Hi & welcome. I remember my first post to the GW almost 12 years ago now. I posted about how sick I was of winter at the end of February & was absolutely astounded at the number of responses I got. I was hooked from then on & here I am still posting.

Looking forward to your posts & to hearing about New Zealand.
mary_piper
14 years ago
Welcome! Tell us about your gardens! Can you post some pictures? Do you live near the ocean?

Mary
nan_nc
14 years ago
Welcome!

Yes, we're nosy..but here is a bunch of the most caring, thoughtful, and supportive folks you'll ever "meet." You'll find a wealth of knowledge that no encyclopedia can match; soft, broad shoulders to cry on if needed; and all the "atta girl" encouragement anyone could want.

Tell us more about yourself so we can get to know each other.

Nancy
petaloid
14 years ago
I'm happy that you've joined the party -- welcome!
anneliese_32
14 years ago
Nice to meet you. After many years of lurking, I joined the Garden Party this year and love it here. I too belong to the want to know bunch, so please tell us about your plants.
Josh
14 years ago
My very first post online was on Gardenweb 12 years ago. I've always been thankful to have found such a great welcoming group and hope you'll feel the same. Looking forward to getting to know you...josh
angel_belle
Original Author
14 years ago
Its me again, thanks for the lovely welcome. I have not done a lot to this garden as I have only lived here (new house) a couple of years and I have a new baby in that time. *not sure how to post pics??* I have two older girls and a wee boy to a new partner. We own a 100yr Old Villa and live less than a mile from the sea. I am currently painting the house UGG! but it looks awesome. My favourite flowers are bearded iris and clematis oh and roses and peonies lol ... the list goes on. I am a qualified florist but I work from home now doing graphic design, making personalised birthday invitations etc. Please tell me all about you. I am so grateful to have found such a welcoming group!
calliope
14 years ago
I live in the Appalachian part of Ohio, in the country. I have a flock of about fifty five chickens, and I run a small range of commercial greenhouses, so related when you said you were a florist. I grow mostly potted stock now for wholesale trade, but in my early years, filled up my off-seasons between holidays doing all sorts of niche work, and making arrangements for banquets and weddings was part of it.

I have fruit trees and bramble patches and a vegetable garden, from which I preserve a lot of our own food. We live in a 185 year old house and we've always been renovating it and probably will always be working on it. I 'collect' trees and my husband tends our outside ornamental gardens, and I bird watch and quilt and do local historical research. My children are grown and I'm now enjoying watching our grandchildren growing. They range in age from four to sixteen. I keep busy, lol.
angel_belle
Original Author
14 years ago
Wow calliope that's a seriously busy life you have there! I have always wanted to learn quilting but haven't found the time as yet! Old houses eh? the work never seems to end, a couple of years ago we did all the electrics and pipes so at least we know its safe lol. My two older children are 11 and 9 both girls and then of course my darling baby boy - he's 17mths, can I still call him baby??!!
nan_nc
14 years ago
You can call him a baby all of his life..that's Mom's privilege.

I live in far western North Carolina, in the foothills of the Smokey Mountains. I like to garden..don't love it..have made quilts in the past and may do so again. I like to grow peppers..just because they're pretty and so easy. Gave away almost all of them (several bushels this year). I have a son who I don't hear from nearly enough on the other side of the country and a step-daughter who lives on a cruise ship traveling the ports of the world with her lifelong love who is an RN. They are loving it! She emails regularly. Two GKs plus three steps whom I don't hear from at all..the GD just got married, and the GS is only 7.

I have two cats. I like dogs, and they like me, but I prefer the independence of cats.

Enough? I like to know something about the person I am responsing to so I don't offend, so tell us more about you.

Again, welcome! Hope to hear from you often.

Nancy
angel_belle
Original Author
14 years ago
nan nc - I think it will break my heart if my kids grow up an don't keep in contact. More about me???? Ummm I am 32, I live in the South Island of New Zealand. We don't really get much snow on the ground in Winter here maybe a few days during that season the temperatures range from as low as -5 up to 33'c it got pretty close to that top temp today, its been dry and hot and my plants are pretty thirsty but will have to wait another 3 hours for the sun to go down (it's 5.30pm now)
We can grow a wide variety of plants here but nothing sub tropical this far down the island. We grow some lovely grapes locally and I guess you might know NZ is renown for its wine. We are just a few weeks from summer now but had a frost last weekend which totally annihilated my vege patch, tomatoes, pumpkin and corn didn't make it but will plant some more in a week or too. Its extremely unusual for us to get a frost this late in the spring.

I have 3 dogs, my old faithful (15yr) jack russell, a basenji and a rescue pup beagle cross we got earlier in the year. We also have a gorgeous ginger girl cat but she has to live outside because I am so allergic to cat fur lol.

Ok off to bath my wee boy, thanks for all your responses, I am enjoying this immensely.

Belle
meldy_nva
14 years ago
A late but sincere welcome! (I'm often late posting, which is a bit funny, because in person I'm one of those irritatingly precisely prompt people.)

I honestly don't remember my first posting here on the GP, I lurked for years before actually saying something -- and now I often can't seem to NOT say anything. I started off in the "New to Gardening" forum not very long after GW came into existence; dropped out; came back, found GP (it was a brand new forum) and have been more or less around since.

I live in Virginia, both in a suburb within the Beltway, and in a really old house in the Shenandoah mountains. No pets at present, although I'm more of a cat person than canine.

The climate here is somewhat more extreme than yours, with wintertime lows frequently in the single digits Â°F and summers near 100Â°F for several weeks; that's about minus-12C to 38C. Nice gardening weather since we can begin planting out in early April and continue harvesting through October, sometimes into November.
Lisa_H OK
14 years ago
Hi! Welcome to the neighborhood. I've been around for years and years too, probably 12, but I can't remember back that far :) I don't post very often, but I read frequently.

On posting pics, I find the easiest way is to upload pictures to a photo site like Photobucket. It is free and they will give you a link (html) to use for posting. You copy it, come over here, paste it in the message box and viola! It appears. There's a gallery section too. Someone else will have to fill you in on that procedure.

I'll put a link to my Photobucket account...feel free to play with it it you want to try posting pics.

{{gwi:199463}}

Lisa

Here is a link that might be useful: Lisa's Photobucket
rob333 (zone 7a)
14 years ago
Howdy! I'm Robin, a female, and I live in Music City, USA--Nashville, TN. It sounds like you have a great home! I'd love to see pictures. I have a nine year old boy that hung the moon, I miss every moment I am not with him, and laugh every moment I am with him. We're remodeling our home, I love to garden, and am finshing my undergraduate degree. I may go on a graduate school of some sort, but I doubt it. I love playing with the kid and puttering around our home way too much!

Enough of me, I'd like to send you some chocolate virtually as a nice welcome. Won't you have some?
angel_belle
Original Author
14 years ago
Ok testing this picture upload thingy. http://i536.photobucket.com/albums/ff327/angelstouchdesigns/delph.jpg
Lisa_H OK
14 years ago
Angel: Use the html code one:

{{gwi:199465}}

I love the pic with all your kids on the beach. They are adorable.

Lisa
rob333 (zone 7a)
14 years ago
I'm not sure if I like the fluffer kitty better or the delphiniums. I envy the delphiniums since those don't like the humid south and won't grow more than a year here. Nice!
calliope
14 years ago
Those delphiniums!!!!!!!!!!!! Breathtaking.
Lisa_H OK
14 years ago
I'm jealous of your delphs too! The best we can do in Oklahoma is larkspur. Yours are beautiful.

Lisa
angel_belle
Original Author
14 years ago
Awww thanks everyone, it took me a couple of years to get them to flower - the first year my younger daughter knocked the heads off with her ball and the second year my brother dropped the bbq on it. So the poor delphs have had a hard life. Think I have the pic thing sorted this time. If it works - it should be a pic of my son!

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:199462}}
Lisa_H OK
14 years ago
He's a cutie!!!

My very first post

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