Hello Kara,
I would be interested in visiting! It has been tooo- long since I attended a garden get together. It would have to be the 29th though. Since I have family coming in from out of state the weekend of the 22nd. Let me know!

Susan

I'm teeter-tottering on this. On one hand, Inverness is definitely within driving distance. On the other hand, this would mean socializing... I don't know if I can handle that!

I started plants in anticipation of the fall party, they are growing out of their pots. I have stuff to trade and would rather give these guys a good home rather than transferring them to new pots. I would be happy to go.

I would love to attend, though I also would only be able to go the 29th. I'll have to start looking around to see what I might bring to trade.

I think we could do either day. I am working on my tomato grafting, but am having trouble getting the root stock to grow. I may have some plants available by then.

Larry

The 29th it is then! And even if you don't have much in the way of plant please come. This is as much about getting to know other gardeners in the area as it is about the plants!

Leekle, please come, we promise not to pressure you into too much socializing!

As for food, I was thinking of having something like a barbeque with hamburgers, teriyaki chicken wings and maybe some sides like beans, fruit, and/or potatoe salad.

Kara

I always volunteer for potato salad when I can. I should have enough 'taters from the garden for it.

Larry

Kara, I was hoping that you would pick another date because the 29 we will be in Jamaica. I wish everybody a lot of fun! and please post the pictures for those of us that cannot attend.

Silvia

Larry, that sounds great.

Silvia, sorry to hear that you won't be able to come.

Kara

I will throw together a salsa of some sort from my garden, and bring chips to go with. Yay, I love garden parties!

I love garden parties too and it has been far too long since I last hosted one! And a salsa from your garden sounds great!

I'm really looking forward to having you all come over! I've been working on the garden as much as possible trying to get it ready.

Kara

I'm going to go ahead and throw in a tentative 'possible'. Though, I should probably ask, how welcome are kids at these sorts of things? There's a good chance that my wife could be working on this day and thus I will have my kids with me... unless I can pawn them off on one of their grandmothers... hmm...

I'm afraid I don't have much from my garden to bring though. I do have 6-12 Beautyberries that are in 4" pots, if anyone would want one.

Great, Leekle, I was hoping you'd say you could come! How old are the kids? My 8 year old nephew will probably be theresince he lives with my parents and my parents have a large wooden play fort/swing set in the back. I should also mention that my parents have two very friendly dogs, an australian terrier and an old beagle, both are great around kids. Like I said before everyone's welcome to come whether or not they have plants to share, the more people the merrier!

Mine are 7 and 9, boy and girl, respectively. And they love dogs.

I'd probably need to bring my boys as well, I have a 9yo and a 9mo.

Leekle and Truscifi, I've found out that my nephew will be home the day of the party so he will be able to help entertain your kids while we talk about plants. It's a big yard with plenty or things for kids their age to do so the four of them should have plenty of fun playing!

The garden party is in less then two weeks! Anyone who is planning on coming please send me an e-mail and I will send you my address.

JadeGarden2, I got your e-mail but it says that your GW settings won't let me reply to you. Can you change your settings and send me a new e-mail?

Kara

Hi,
Sent you an email.

With how hot it is right now would everyone prefer to get an early start at around 10 o'clock, talk plants first and then eat lunch or would you prefer to start about 11 o'clock eat first and then talk plants?

Just turn on the sprinklers, tell everyone not to wear their Sunday Best and call it good.

Edit: Which I suppose doesn't help much... I'm actually perfectly fine in the heat, so either one works for me. Which still doesn't help much... I would say that MOST people probably would prefer an earlier start time, but around here, there's not much difference between 10am and 3pm. The only difference is the position of the sun and the shade.

This post was edited by Leekle2ManE on Tue, Jun 18, 13 at 21:21

There will be plenty of shade in my parents garden which is were I'll set up the food and plants to swap but most of my garden is in full sun. I'll be spending this weekend making sure that the summer kitchen is all set up for the party. If nothing else we have lots of golf umbrellas for portable shade for walking around in sunny areas for those of us who sunburn easily! (that would be me, lol)

Well since no one seems to have a preference the party will start at 11:00 so that everyone has plenty of time to get here.

Anyone who's having issues with your GW settings can e-mail me at karalynnericson@yahoo.com

This post was edited by karalynn on Thu, Jun 20, 13 at 9:31

I won't have any plants to bring, but if anyone is interested in pigeon pea seeds, I can bring some. Or okra seeds, I could bring some of those too.

TruSciFi, I would not mind some of those pea seeds. Unfortunately, I will not have as many Beautyberry seedlings as I was hoping, but I will have some. Though they will still need to be hardened off. I also have some 'Party-Time' Alternanthera rooting if anyone is interested.

(Edit: Okay, I have 4 x Beautyberry seedlings and 4 x Alternanthera 'Party-Time' cuttings potted up and ready for next weekend. Both do well in Part Shade with the Beautyberries able to be planted in Full Sun if they are hardened off first [I don't have time to properly harden them off before next weekend]. The Alternanthera can go into Full Shade, but they will loose the pink accents without sun exposure. Too much sun makes for pale pink accents and eventually sunburns them completely. While the Alternanthera can be planted in the landscape, they are frost sensitive and will need protecting. My personal preference is to use them in planters or even as house plants in a sunny window.)

This post was edited by Leekle2ManE on Fri, Jun 21, 13 at 18:04

I have white Penta, Mona Lavender, South Cape Gooseberry seedlings, Black Pearl and Black Flash ornamental pepper seedlings, a fuschia, Confederate Rose, Hawaiin Sunset Vine, Yellow Cestrum, Pilea Mollis, Devil's Backbone, and Persian Shield. The Penta are the taller variety, and an ornamental Sweet Potato Vine decided to make it's home amoungst the Pentas. I am still having to keep the fuschia and confederate rose under high humidity. Black Flash is a variegated form of ornamental pepper and very pretty. Husband says plants on patio must go. Apparently he thinks it is important to navigate the patio without stepping on or knocking over a pot. I consider it a form of yoga myself.

Morningloree, it sounds like you have quite the selection available! A number of the plants your bringing I haven't heard of before and an quite interested in, particularly the ornamental peppers.

I have a lot of extra plants sitting out back myself and of coarse am more then willing to share cuttings and seedling right out of the garden.

I'm really looking forward to this weekend! The summer kitchen is now all cleaned up and ready for use. We got part of moms vegi garden cleaned up this weekend and a few flowerbeds freshened up. I was hoping to have the new rock border on my one flower bed done by now but that doesn't look like it's going to happen. My right elbow is still hurting from the last round of rocks I moved and I'm finally going to the doctor's this afternoon to get it looked at. It's frustrating to get so close to getting a project done and note be able to finish it!

Wallisadi, thanks for sharing the picture. I wish you were able to come too. It's my hope that sometime in the near future I'll be able to arange to come visit you.

I would love to attend but it is about a 3 hr drive for me.

Morninggloree, I really wish I could attend as I'd love a yellow cestrum, mine died.

Have fun everyone.

Hey Kathy
I have an extra yellow cestrum from the rooted cuttings that Mark gave me at Silvia's party.

Would you like me to mail it to ya?
(Kinda to make up for the hibiscus I was gonna give ya years ago!)

Susie

Susie, I would love it, thank you so much. I forgot all about the hibiscus. So glad you remembered. :o)

Send me an email and I'll give you my address.

I almost missed it! Between my pain meds, which have a detrimental affect on my short term memory, and the fact that my kids are out of school, I almost forgot that today was Friday which makes tomorrow the day of the party. I will have to set up a reminder so I don't end up forgetting again tomorrow morning until its too late.

Yes, tomorrow is the day! Looking forward to seeing everybody!

Have a wonderful time! Please post a few pictures, if you have time, for those of us in the outskirts! :)

Carol in Jacksonville

Sorry, no pictures were taken. Everyone had left and I was getting my kids together when Kara said, "Oh! We forgot to take pictures."

Still it was a fine get-together. A little short in numbers, but that suited me fine for a first time. I learned a few things, mostly in the area of tolerances. Between Kara and her parents, they had a number of plants growing in locations that I would not have thought possible... Persian Shield in Full Sun?

The weather was also very cooperative. On my drive there I had to drive through a few downpours and my daughter commented, "Bad day for a Garden Party." But by the time we had gotten to Inverness, things had lightened up enough to make for a cloudy and cool (comparatively speaking) day. The shade in Kara's parents' back yard probably helped with the temps as well. A few times it sprinkled, but only enough to cool down the area (and bump up the humidity).

I walked (or drove) away wit a Persian Shield, Wild Petunias, a Sangria Crinum, a Black Magic(?) Elephant Ear, some coreopsis and a Salvia forsythia, as well as seeds for pigeon pea. Oh, and my entire flat of Beautyberries. That was another lesson: Bring more than one type of plant to a plant swap. Turned out everyone already had Beautyberry. My Alternanthera missed the trip due to not taking well to being potted up.

Hi,
Thanks to Karalyn for a great garden party. I loved the tour and enjoyed sharing knowledge about plants. Great advice from Karalyn, Kara's Mom, Mr. Leekle, and Truscifi. I got some great stuff in exchange, sorry forgot to bring Pentas and Mona Lavender. Their collection of Crinums and other assorted bulbs was vast, and very generous! I loved those chicken wings, especially the Thai spiced ones. I had a wonderful time.

Yes, thanks to Karalyn! We had a great time! I left with quite a few new plants - including some new edibles, yay! It was lovely to meet people too, and faces to put with posts on here.

Didn't anyone take any photo's???

No Photos = Never happened

I think some photos were taken after I left. I'm easily distracted by plants, chicken wings, and lemon tarts, should have thought to snap a few.

I'm glad that everyone had fun! And no, I completely forgot to take a single picture, in fact Leekle's quote of me is exactly what happened concerning pictures!

The weather, while overcast, was perfect even with the occasional drizzle. We were able to sit outside on the patio and enjoy the breeze without becoming soaked with sweat. The food all turned out well and most of it was gone by the time everyone left.