Hi STRANGER!!
Yes...lots of new people and trying to get them all "initiated" by reading the FAQ and sending out parcels of patience, which you and I both know you can not buy!

WELCOME BACK!!
Hugs!
Kristi

Thanks, Kristi, for the warm welcome! Hugs back at ya! :-)

What's new in the world of bulbs? What have I missed? Besides that delicious black-red trumpet shaped beauty that probably won't be available until I'm too old to grow it! ;-)

Welcome back Jodi!

We've all missed your sage advice..Kristi has done a really good job though, so between the two of you things should really get humming again...

Donna

Hi Jodi! Just winding down my flower business for the year myself and beginning to drop back in. So good to see you! I hope your new business is going well. We still putter along with ours. My friend and I decided to keep doing it next year even though we both turned 65 in Jan of this year...just can't quite give up the pleasure of sharing our crops with others and getting money for doing it...

Yay! Another familiar poster! This should be the official "Welcome Back" thread for this season, haha. I'm back from being gone for a while myself (although, I wasn't around too much to begin with...). November came and so did those amaryllis box arrivals (I got in to a discussion tonight with a Lowe's employee actually); it reminded me to check out the forum! I'm glad to be reading all these posts again and seeing all these beautiful flowers. Feels good to be back! -Kate

Thank you, Donna, Noni, and Kate, for equally warm welcomes! Yes, Kristi is quite the accomplished grower, and generous with knowledge to boot!

Growing a business in this economy has been difficult, but gardeners are a devoted lot... and though it's slow going, I think old fashioned roses are the type of thing that brings dedicated, repeat customers. The word is slowly getting out, and each season we record more sales and get to meet new rose lovers. We even hired an extra hand to help part time with garden chores.

This past spring we hosted a local Rose and Herb Society for a garden tour and talks. It was quite fun, really, and I was surprised at how much knowledge I had to offer! The tour was quite successful, and we're booked to host them again next year!

Within the past two years, both of our sons have gotten married! The younger of the two graduated from college and is now a full time pharmacist and manager with Walgreens! We're so proud of our children!

Noni, I'm glad to hear you're still growing and working with your lovely flower business! I always enjoyed seeing the fruits of your labor! How is your health? As I recall, you have joint and pain issues, too.

My interest in bulbs hasn't waned, at all... I just took a little break. Losing so many to NBF was so disappointing and depressing. We live and learn, though.

It will be nice to talk with fellow bulb lovers again, and brush up on my knowledge as I try to grow my collection again. :-)

Hello Jodi. I'm very glad to see you back in here :-)

Xuan! :-) So good to see you, too! How are things on your side of the globe? How are your lovely gardens?

Welcome back, Jodi - we missed you!

YAY!! I'm so glad the FRIENDS from the list are back...Now....where's Kitty, Cindy, Chaz, Maria, Ryans (CO and AZ) and a few others??? It's like old home week.

It was 37 degrees this morning. Makes me think I need to tackle the 100s of hippis on the side of the house and shove them all into the greenhouse sometime soon. YIKES!

I was stopped (in the car), waiting to make a left turn into the yarn shop's parking lot and was rear ended by someone doing 30 mph+ last week. I'm a little stiff across the shoulders, but will try to make a big dent in the plant transfer this weekend, or at least I'll start "trimming" and then will only have to move them (thank goodness I have a little red wagon).

Only 19 weeks til my next big trip....ICELAND!!
;-)
Kristi

Welcome back Jodi!



Blanca

Hello, Jodi...thanks, I'm fine and my garden is coming along. My bulbs collection has also grown a bit :-)

Looking forward to seeing photos of your garden soon.

Xuan

Hi, Anna! Hi, Blanca! So good to see you both!!

Hugs and good wishes for everyone! :-)

I'm glad you weren't seriously hurt, Kristi, but sorry to hear about any accident, just the same. You won't feel the full effects for a day or two, but you may want to check in with your chiropractor, if you have one. Mine performs small miracles, it feels like, keeping my bones aligned as well as they can be. I don't know what I'd do without him!

Our local temperatures are up and down at this time of year. I brought in anything tender before we left for my son's wedding in the latter part of October, just in case. Lower light levels have caused some leaf drop, but there's nothing I can do about that. It's to be expected.

Now, we pray for spring again! ;-)

The gardens expand a little more each year, and our potted product listing grows. I have to take care that I have enough storage room for everything while it's dormant. It will be a tight squeeze this year, but I'm prepared.

Not much bloomed this past season in the way of Hippeastrum bulbs, but our Naked Ladies put on a lovely show out in the gardens, and there are roses still blooming and budding, in spite of some slight frost burn on the edges. The Species Rose bushes donned foliage in a bright shade of yellow, looking marvelous along side the Crepe Myrtle in their seasonal reds and oranges!

By the buildings, potted Japanese Maples steal the show in bright autumn colors, and the rows of potted roses and other perennials are either coloring up or losing leaves as the season progresses. Some potted roses are still blooming.

I've been documenting the changes to the greenhouse and gardens in picture form, though nothing is labeled. Below is the link to my 2011 album. I still have more photos to upload, and more to take. I hope you enjoy it!

Xuan, I believe I have your blog bookmarked... I need to peek at your updates, though! Your gardens are always so beautiful!

Well, it's time to go to work... have a lovely day, everyone!

Here is a link that might be useful: 2011 Photo Album

Jodi,I finally had a spinal MRI done after I became allergic to my anti-inflammatory. It shows disk problems in the neck and a different kind of arthritis in the lower back. I am not supposed to lift anything heavy or bend over! I am still trying to figure out how to keep on keeping on, but pretending its all just temporary doesn't work anymore for me, now that I have actually seen the damage on the films.
I am getting cortisone shots in my spine, have the lower spinal one Tues. The neck one brought lot of relief but yesterday I lifted something a bit heavy and am back to pain city. Its a hard lesson to learn that I can't fool my body anymore!

Husband just retired and will help me with lifting when he is around and I need it. Dr says I may improve with the shots and being more careful too. Time will tell.

IN the meantime, there are potted plants like amaryllis, raised beds, and hired help.

I spent yesterday reclaiming my older amaryllis or what's left of them. I have 70 that I am about to go out and repot, many in smaller containers. They are all smaller then they used to be. I just kind of left them alone over the summer in a warm dark room so they have had their rest and should start growing again. Yesterday we got new light bulbs in the growing room and I turned on the heater and cleaned up the bulbs.

Growing amaryllis in my greenhouse did not work out well last winter. It was too damp and got too cold at nights, let alone the time the power was out and hubby ran off to work without refilling the propane for my propane heater! I lost about $1000 worth of things then and he was in the dog house for a LONG TIME!

As soon as I get the work room cleaned out I will transfer all the amaryllis to the lights in the work room for the winter. That still leaves lots of stuff in the greenhouse...30 big chrysanthemum plants that are just starting to bloom because "The Man in the Doghouse" left a gate-sized opening n in the greenhouse garden when he took the old duck house down, and the deer got in and ate the tops off the chrysanthemums while I was in Turkey last month! (I knew he was leaving his brains behind in the many places he traveled for work!...and yes, it was really time for him to retire).

So time will tell whether I can do more gardening then my dahlias or not. The dahlias I can get help planting and mulching and then they grow tall enough I can work with them on them standing up so they will be the last to go. (I mulch them and leave them in the ground over winter).

Anyhow, I love my greenhouse now that hubby finally got it caulked to keep the heavy winter rains from running in and turning it too humid. We'll see this winter if I can grow bulbs without them rotting. Gotta nice batch from Van Engelen that are growing now...I think 3 each of 8 kinds. I have an order in to Royal Colors for some more beauties. THose should give me the heart lift we all need through the dark winter.

I can honestly say that I know how you feel, Noni... I didn't admit to myself that I was so damaged until I started going to the chiropractor, to try keeping some kind of alignment to relieve the extra pain. After hearing him "ooh" and "oh, my" my films, I asked him how bad he thought it all was. He said I won't ever be fixed, per se, but we can maybe slow down the degeneration a bit by fine tuning on a regular basis.

I don't know what I would do without my doctors, and without my very understanding husband. They said "no" to steroids, "no" to anything that doesn't truly help, and "yes" to diet. So, I maintain through a mostly organic, natural diet, and I use a heavy duty pain mask. That's it. No newfangled medications with more side effects than good effects. I detoxified my body of the poisons associated with today's commercial food source, and I eat only natural, organically grown foods. It does help... a lot more than you might think. I also take food grade DE, which helps... and purified fish oil.

It sounds like you are at the point my husband was at many years ago. He had been through everything possible, including spinal cortisone shots, which are only temporary... and moved on to nerve block shots. The nerve block helped his neck, but did nothing for his back. The only thing left is surgery, and the odds are not good enough to think about it. The odds include permanent paralyzing. His problems are from massive trauma, though... where yours and mine are from incurable issues... yours, specialized arthritis... mine, lupus plus trauma results.

There's nothing to be done. We have to learn what works the best for us, and for me that's maintaining a natural diet and covering the pain. I just do what I can do, and try hard not to think about things negatively. I only do what my body allows me to do... though I sometimes can't help overdoing it to get things done. And I enjoy as much of life as I possibly can... I stop to smell every rose. :-)

I know my issues aren't temporary, but I don't have any time line stating what will happen, either! We are certainly lucky that we get to enjoy Mother Nature's bounty, aren't we?! Nothing is over until we say it is... and I'm not quite ready to give up! I suspect you aren't, either! :-)

I admit that winter is a bit depressing... and I'd be frustrated by greenhouse loss and deer damage, too... but I just keep plugging away at it, one thing at a time. I have faith that good karma will, indeed, wash over us... life can't be all bad.

I do know how you feel, though... I struggle every day, too. We're not alone, and we are lucky to have our families, who understand us and help us so much... and such great friends who share their gardens and bulbs and help us get through the cold months. I hope you're getting the good vibes I'm sending, cause I'm sending tons... :-)

Can you run a dehumidifier and extra fans in your greenhouse? That might help a little more. I know I have some modifications to make to mine before next spring... the fans I have are not enough, and I need a mist system, or something resembling one. I have all winter to figure it out.

We've reached those dark, rainy, depressing days signaling that autumn is almost over and winter is right around the corner. I still have to roll up a few sections of soaker hose and get them stored, and I still need to dig up my Colocasia bulb and store it.

I also need to dump some mulch on certain areas of the beds, and put the potted roses inside the garage for their dormancy, but that needs to wait until temperatures dip lower.

I think we're both wrestling with the inevitable fact that we can't do as much as we once could. It's so frustrating, I know. I feel betrayed by my own body. I can't lift, can't move certain things, can't even open jars which were so easy only a few years ago. I feel weak, and I don't like to ask for help. It seems silly, when I should be able to do all these things myself.

Right now, at this very moment, I'm having my breakfast of coffee and meds, and I'm useless until they take effect. Then, the pain resides, and I have a false sense of normalcy for a while... so I'll use that time to get as much work done as possible... until it's time for the next dose, and so on. And I'm thankful that modern medicine can help to some small extent.

I wish we lived closer, Noni... I'd love to help you with your Dahlias and Hippis, and you could help me with my roses... and together, we'd conquer the issues that plague all gardeners! :-)

I hear you both, Jodi and Lizalily - recent tests have show osteoarthritis and beginnings of osteoporosis. I have joint pain, difficulty rising from seated position, etc etc. Depressing indeed, and I find it all to easy to descend into self-pity. But Jodi, you said it well - do what we can and enjoy as much as we can.

When we were young and healthy, this all seemed a million miles away, a million years into the future, and we couldn't imagine being so injured, or being given a diagnosis of a disease without a cure.

I think we all expected some arthritis, which is natural as we age... but I never expected to be involved in a debilitating accident, and I never expected to be diagnosed with systemic lupus. I couldn't have imagined being so physically weak and disabled, experiencing chronic deep level pain, or being dependent upon any type of medicine to live a normal life.

But here we are...

Anna, I'm so sorry to hear about your diagnosis. The good news is... if you have good doctors, there are so many options open to feeling better. There have never been more options open, medically speaking. We're lucky to live in a time of advanced medicine.

For those of us living in the States, our medical care is conditional, though, contingent upon our ability to pay for the best in medical care. This bothers me greatly. I'm not so worried for myself, but for those patients who suffer because they have no way to pay for the better treatments available. It's a politically charged issue, I know, but one that seems to place profit above people, and that's so wrong.

A big part of how we feel on a day to day basis is our mental outlook... how happy or how depressed we allow ourselves to be. The shortening hours of daylight as summer turns into autumn, and autumn into winter, plays a huge role. Those of us affected by the seasons in this way seem to spend half the year praying for spring and summer! I know I do! Those are my favorite seasons, and the time of year when I feel my best.

Hippeastrums play a big role for us, as they bring us that much needed anticipation of color and life in the midst of a cold, dark season when we would otherwise feel depressed. These bulbs are lifesavers, boosting our moods substantially! And being able to share our love of these bulbs with fellow bulb lovers is icing on the cake!

Anna, I wish the best for you. Always remember... you aren't alone. Hopefully, we can all keep each other happy and smiling through our shared love of beautiful Amaryllis blooms! :-)

Jodi, I agree on the diet issues too. We follow an all natural "anti-inflammation Diet" and it is wonderful. Its made huge improvements in hubby's health. Our youngest son is showing more medical problems ...so far they were mostly orthopedic but that's what happens i guess when you have a one in a million genetic disorder that is only beginning to be understood! Now his blood sugar and thyroid are out of normal range so the anti-inflam diet is really important fo rall 3 of us. My son and I also joined the athletic club and go to 3 times a week water exercise for people with disabilites.

Water exercise is reportedly very good for the body, with easy resistance. Certain types of yoga are supposed to be very good, too.

I don't think a lot of people really put much thought into what they're putting into their bodies through diet, and what's offered as the modern, typical diet for the average, busy lifestyle is really rather poisonous! Much of our food source is chemical laden, loaded with sugars and salts, preservatives, the wrong fats, empty carbs, wood pulp, and some items are over processed, genetically altered or have traces of antibiotics and growth hormones in them. It's really terrible!

And then, consider the fact that for decades our government approved food pyramid was upside down! These are agencies that are supposed to be looking out for the common good!

What ever happened to eating foods that LOOK like foods... foods that nature produces?! Again, we see an industry putting profit before people.

Anyway... we've detoxified ourselves, for the most part. We try to eat fruits, vegetables, meats, fish, eggs, grains and legumes that haven't been processed to death, and don't contain corn sugars. We try to stay away from breads, baked goods, and grains that aren't whole. We only eat Greek yogurt, because it's the only one without corn sweeteners. The meats we eat are locally grown or hunted. We grow apples, vegetables, herbs, and some meat right here.

And the bottom line is... we feel so much better! I don't even know that some folks realize what it means to actually FEEL good, not fatigued, and to actually have natural energy and feel happy and healthy!

Did you know that the medical profession does not include the study of nutrition in medical school? When was the last time a doctor asked you what you're eating, what your diet consists of, after you describe your issues or symptoms? I'll bet not many. Our doctor is really up on nutrition and how closely it's related to our general health.

I do hope your son gets better, Noni, and that breakthroughs occur for his particular issue. And I'm happy that you've discovered how to feel better through diet! It's really something that's so basic, and yet we all seem to fall so easily into what's convenient, and not so much what's really good for us! It's amazing, but true... we are what we eat! :-)