Wow, I'm glad so many OT'ers are still around. YaCheryl, I'm happy the Heaven Scent is still doing well for you. Make sure you post pictures. I have got to make it out to your get-together sometime. I'd love to see all those fragrant plants of yours.

Very nice post. Nice to see some old faces. Thanks Coffeemom. I'm still gardening with my friends...
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*Pics from earlier in the fall B4 the big freeze ;)

I find that when getting older,
I dread when the winter gets colder,
My limbs do they ache,
More time does it take,
My gardening urge gets less bolder.

So I look for a measure of cheer,
To make winter's blues disappear,
What might it take,
For me to forsake,
And give these feelings cold shoulder.

An answer so simple is there,
To remove all this bodily wear,
It makes gray days sunny,
My aches now seem funny,
Just a hug from my daughter, I swear.

Merry Xmas, Happy Holidays to all......and stay warm, keep your mango trees covered and remember-spring is only 3 months away.

That is just lovely Bill. Merry Christmas to you and to all. :o)

Present! :0)

Tropicalfreak

P.S. I'm a lurker more these days. You might catch me running thru the bushes... lol

Junglegal.
I'm pretty sure it's Dombeya natalensis.
Can't seem to post here right no,
I'll start a new thread with it.
My leaves got a little toasted on it last week.......cheryl

Kristi sent me a heads up email so I thought I would come say hi. I joined GW in 2000 but now I'm pretty much a lurker. I was hurt here badly once and thought it was just her then it happened again and thought I don't need that but I do miss many of you. This year I lost my brother and then had some health issues which I thought were all on the mend but it appears I will be visiting doctors again after the holidays. My point is life is hard enough, this was a place for me to come and enjoy not be attacked. It is nice to see some familiar friendly names here, I wish you all the very best.

Lady , so sorry about your brother. And the other thing. You are not alone. Hope you feel better :)

fisannie, you may have provided an answer to my prayers! No, I wouldn't ask you to wave your garden wand and make the weather forever spring-like. ;o) But you mentioned having sleep apnea and the constant fatigue. I've been fighting this and the @#$%&*!!c-pap mask for almost two years now and can barely function. I fight sleep all day and wakefulness all night. I realize this is somewhat off-subject, but I'd love to know the name of the medication your dr. gave you to help you stay awake/alert during the day. I must ask my dr about it for me. I'd LOVE to have the energy to whip my garden into shape and I'm REALLY tired of jerking awake just before my face lands in my plate!
I'd prefer an e-mail reply if you don't mind - hope you have a wonderful Christmas.

And I wish all of you a Happy and Peaceful holiday and the best garden year ever!
HUGS FOR EVERYONE!!
CORA

Thanks Judy for letting me know about this thread!
wow, this is nice to see so many familiar names :-)

Like Kate, so did I, live on the Florida GW forum for several years (I signed up at 2003), and I loved it!
I loved meeting so many of you in person at several of Ricky's awesome Plantswap and BBQ events, and I made sure not to miss any of the Central FL swaps.
I treasure the plants you all shared with me, Ricky's Mousetrap plant (frozen at the moment), Kate's Oxypetalum, Marcia's variegated Hibiscus, The Aloe Alata from Felix's yard, Hippeastrums from Cindeaa, countless plants from katin, Bihai, Aroidgardener, the white salvia from nytrinigemini, Olya's lotus, and so many more plants from many more GW members.

As it goes in life, things happened and I had to move on. I am sorry I lost touch to all but a handful of Gardenwebbers, but I am grateful for those dear and true friends I found so many years ago here on GW.

Evelyn

Since this is a gathering of old friends, for those of you who don't already know, Karen has been battling cancer since it was discovered the last week in August. The details are many, and this is not the place to lay them out. I send out an email blast on an irregular basis to friends and family. For you old timers who'd like to follow her progress, send me an email at my Yahoo address - rginsburg@yahoo.com - and I'll add you to the list.

Kristi, thanks for the invitation. I guess I am an old timer(2002), though so many things are new to me that I almost feel like a newbie. I have also never gone for more than a few days at a time before I at least glance to see new posts. I enjoy all subjects related to gardening and seeing what areas of expertise others have. Sometimes it surprisingly raises a new passion in me! Recently I've been intrigued with chickens as part of gardening. Thanks to those experts, I hope to learn more. Happy holidays, everyone.

Hugs,
Anna

Evelyn , so nice to "see" you again!!!

Keiki, your (most - lotus did not thrive, my fault) plants from the swap are doing well ..i love the variegated crinum I got from you - still a baby plant (thanks to lubbers, I ended up putting a cage over it to let the plant grow) but so pretty. Did I give you phal. pulchra? How is it doing? The mom plant is getting bigger and seems so much more tolerant of the cold than the rest of phals...

Olya I am sorry to say I lost the phal when I was sick. It was mounted and I just couldnt give it the attention it needed. :(

Ricky I am so sorry to hear about Karen! Cancer is everywher I look these days.

Well, if we ever see each other at another trade, I will try to save one for you :]

I had to post again. So many of my gardening buddies. It's like old times. Nova,I do hope we have a get together at your lovely place. I miss you all.
Ricky,You probably,know that My wife started her fight against breast cancer a year ago. Let me recommend a book that help me as the husband. "Stand by her",by John Anderson.
I hope to participate more,as the growing season returns to these tundra.
Hugs,
Felix

Thanks for the heads up Kristi. I haven't been around much since I listed my house for sale. I decided to stop planting and plant shopping since I am moving to a smaller lot. I pop over once in a while but there is no way I can keep up these days. My poor yard is so neglected, the Brazilian Pepper is trying to take over my yard. I have been working on it but it got to be more hard work than fun. And now I hear that Plumbago get thrips!! Yikes, if that happens I think I will just have to surrender my landscape mother nature.

Ricki, I am so sorry to hear about Karen. I hope she is kicking cancers butt.

I have been here since I think 1999, but under a different name...or two. I've been through it all here. I was part of the great migration after 9/11 when GW shut a lot of us out of The Garden Party when we were all raw and hurting. I started a gardening forum on Delphi, gave it away. Started a FL gardening forum on MSN groups and closed that one due to no more time once I had to start working full time. I now am a garden writer and blogger, and I still love growing flowers more than veggies. I'm working on starting another gardening forum as part of my gardening blog.

I remember the swaps in Cape Coral at Bill's house, and a couple up here in Venice too. I got most of my best plants from those swaps, and still have most of them. Made some great friends down in the Cape and got some great plants and memories from them.

My yard would be barren but for the trades and swaps here on Gardenweb. Now I'm moving, and can't take those plants with me. I still remember where every one came from.

Yes, it got nasty here at GW for awhile, especially after the changeover to iVillage, and a lot of groups splintered off and went elsewhere on the web. I've been in a few of those, but living in FL, I always came back here, because most of those gardeners were from up north.

Nice to see some familiar faces.

Bill did have some good swaps. What ever happened to him & his wife, was it Carolyn? I hope they're still into gardening.
The one I attended at Robins was a lot of fun too.
You're right dirty, I too got most of my base plants in this jungle from those swaps. It would be nice to get those going again.

dirtygardener73 is that you deb in northport?

I stopped coming here for a while because right after I had just moved, my mom died suddenly.I read about this plant swap, I figured it would be a little bit of distraction from my grief.I didn't have plants to bring, I went to home depot and bought some because I didn't want to go empty handed. I exchanged whatever I had with other people , went home feeling a little bit better. What I didn't know was that I was so SPECIAL that someone who was a freelancer took the liberty of writing a newspaper article pertaining to the plant swap about me without my permission, what made it worse the article wasn't even accurate. I wished the freelancer had asked for my permission before writing the inaccurate article because that would have given me the chance to decline

I also started to receive all sorts of hateful emails about the other members who had been posting here and how the different members felt about their repetitive posts and blah blah blah.... I personally didn't care to be receiving those types of e-mails behind the members' back. I am pretty sure those e-mails were not intended to be sent to me . After all,maybe posting about their vegetales and such helped them to go thru whatever they are going thru in their lives. Instead of sending nasty e-mails to people about your dislikes of certain members and their posts why not send them a link pointing them to the vegetable forums where other people who are into vegetables may have something in common with them and enjoy their vegetable posts. .Maybe they are old and are not aware that there are vegetable forums, Grief forums, home forums etc...on here.

As far as the Gardenweb website, I love it because there are so many other good forums to post on and so many nice pics to see. Thanks to Gardenweb website and some of the nice members I've been exchanging seeds and plants with people from all over. I have learned so much from Gardenweb and the members and the website has helped me quite a bit thru my grief. I will keep on lurking, looking at those nice pics, learning about those different plant names that I can't even pronounce and exchanging seeds.

Thank you to all the members who've been posting.

So,now go ahead and start sending e-mails about me and this time exclude me from the e-mails

Love you all

CM ~ I just decided to visit this forum today and saw your posting. It is nice to see so many old-timers. I too have become a lurker here, due to hurtful and upsetting things said to others. My gardens are still growing in spite of cold and some neglect.

I've been blogging for the past two years which takes up some time, and work part time as well.

Wishing all of you a wonderful Christmas and a fantastic, healthy and prosperous 2011.

FlowerLady

Hello everyone! So nice to see so many familiar names!
Brings back lots of good memories of swaps, trades, fun trips to nurseries, plant sales and Botanic Gardens.

Sorry to hear that some of you have been injured/ill or suffered losses.

It has been a bad year for us,but we are still here in
Jupiter.

My husband has been in and out of Hospitals, had surgery, is not recovering as expected. Now he also has the Flu:(.

We lost our perfect Jack Russell Terrier to a rattlesnake bite, and our beloved Mastiff "Liberty" to bloat. Our "Ruby" has cancer, and her daughter "Muffin" needs a $3,500 surgery on her face due to damage caused by an attack by a rescue I took in.

The property looks horrible-all brown/black and tan from freeze damage.

Oh well, most of the plants should come back, and those that don't will not be replaced.

We planned to buy land out West this year, but our vacation had to be cancelled, was spent in the Hospital instead. Hopefully next spring Pat will be able to travel.

Wishing everyone a better year in 2011!!!

Lisa

So many names and so many great, great memories!
It makes me realize how much I miss all this.
Hugs to you all!

Lisa... I am sorry for the tough year you are having. Pat and your sweet dogs ailing in the same year - that's got to be very hard. I'll be thinking about you!

Kate

Lisa, I am so sorry to hear of Pat's health problems and the loss of your dogs. I know the pain that causes as I lost my beloved Koda to cancer.

I hope 2011 will see Pat's health restored and you can continue with your plans.
Hugs
Kathy

Thank-you so much for all of you who returned to post! It's been exciting to check each day for new names. It's been an amazing week. I have so many plants that are growing in my garden because of some of you.

I hope the New Year will bring you all good things. Stop by anytime. We missed you!

ps. so who gets the plant prize?????

OK, Kristi....IT IS Christmas, after all! Cheers everyone!

By the way, Bill and Carolyn are just fine. I have been working with them for almost 2 years now.

I guess when it comes to edibles v.s. flowers, people will talk about what they grow, and if you grow tomatoes and amaryllis, then you will see me on those forums! Peace everyone!

Cindee, good to hear from you. Hope all is well. :o)
Hugs
Kathy

OMG, Cindee, it's so nice of you to post. We were wondering what happened to you. It's great to see you post and tell Bill we miss his swaps and his postings.
Trini-

Cindee, what do you mean you're "working" with Bill and Carolyn? It's so nice to know they're doing well, and that you are too! I talked to D.J. not too long ago, and she has given up gardening and is living in a condo. I miss our adventure days together.

FlowerLady! So great to hear from you! I remember our days over on MSN, and doing graphics. So much fun!

Keiki, I'd tell, but then you'd know. Email me and we'll talk.

Cindee! So good to see your name here!

Kate

Hi all,
I t's like a reunion to see all the postings from the group again! I've always been more of a lurker than a poster, but always loved this forum. Like so many others, my life has had a few bumps too, but all is well now. I also loved the get to-gethers and swaps where I met most of you. I have (had) some lovely plants and my butterfly garden was built almost entirely of plants from friends and swaps.

Ricky, my best to Karen in her battle. I'm a 16 year cancer survivor and pray that road will be the same for her.

Happy New Year to all!!

Ginny

Hi everybody,
It sure has been a while since I've seen this crowd together.
It's good to catch up on some of what's been going with all of you. My heartfelt condolences to all who have had some hard issues to deal with.
I hope all is moving in a positive direction and wish you all a great 2011.
I've not been too excited with gardening this past year, and my yard shows it. Seems too hot much of the year, then too d#@n many freezes lately. Much too dry this year and I got tired of dragging hoses and high water bills. So I haven't been hanging around this forum as much.
Otherwise all is well, can't complain anyway.
I'm glad I lurked here today, even if I am 10 days late.
Thanks for the reunion. I miss you all.

David

I was just think about you David! Glad you showed up and every thing is good with you. I know what you mean about too hot or too cold! Humbug!

Hi guys!
Sorry I've been so absent, but school pretty much sucked up all my gardening and computing time. I'm finally graduated with my Bachelors, but I've applied to gradschool. If I get in, the time suckage should be even more notable.

I love this! It just keeps getting better and better. I love you guys!!!!!

Next thing you know, someone will start talking about a swap.

I'm finally graduated with my Bachelors, but I've applied to gradschool. If I get in, the time suckage should be even more notable.

Good luck! Grad school is fun! Well, relatively speaking. The time "suckage" wont be bad until you are ready to graduate though... :)

Hello again. I've been lurking, reading but rarely posting.

The last 2 years in the garden have been so challenging, too dry, too hot, irrigation too salty, freezing winters that killed many large tropicals, grubs that destroyed the St. Augustine lawn. And the whiteflies have made growing my beloved tomatoes too difficult.

So we installed a bahia lawn, turned off the irrigation, cut down the poorly chosen tropicals (former owners installation) and buy tomatoes from Publix. Can't fight Mother Nature just have to go with the flow.

I still love heirloom roses, they are real troopers (blooming now).
There are a few veggies, collards, greens and cabbage growing now.
And the butterfly plants keep enticing butterflies daily.

But when gardening got too difficult other hobbies became more interesting, landscape painting, pickleball and traveling to anyplace cooler than August in Florida.

I like dropping in here to see what's new and interesting (chickens!) and of course the wonderful photographs shared by genuinely talented gardeners.

Looking forward to a 2011 filled with good weather and good gardening.

Denise

...and buy tomatoes from Publix. Can't fight Mother Nature just have to go with the flow.

Amen, sister, amen.

Hey Amber, great to see you're still around! Congrats on the degree, that's great!

Amber! So nice to see your name! How's that white bird of paradise I gave you? Still alive? If so, I bet it's huge now!
Congrats on your degree.

The Bird is huge and has enough babies that I will be sharing them with my oldest this summer.

You know, we really DO have to all get together and have an oldsters swap and cook out or something. I miss you guys!

I'd love to get together before I leave the end of March. Maybe I'll have a plant swap/bbq/moving party. You can all come dig up plants and help me pack the truck! LOL

Hey Guys,
it is so good to read again from all the old timers, that I have learned so much from in the past years. I come here hardly ever anymore, missing the old timers and the old friendly forum.
Our garden does not look very good as well these days. Many tropicals have hard time surviving the weather we have been having lately.
Most of my time and effort is taken by homeschooling my son (we just started this school year, after a not that good experience in magnet school last year) and chess tournaments (new passion of my son :-)

I do wish everybody a great New Year, especially to those who deal with hardships.

I would be up for a plant swap. Just to see everybody would be great! Maybe it is the motivation that I am lacking to kick me into the gardening mode again.

Veronika
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J"s new passions: turtles and chess :-)

I vote J3 as the kid I want to do MY homework!!!!

Now group hug everybody. We need to keep warm!

Ambersky, so nice to hear from you. I have missed your poetic and charming contributions. I figured you already had your masters at least!. Best of luck.
Irma

Thank you Irma. No, I took a few decades to home school my kids, so I'm an ancient undergrad. I hope that the review comity looking at my application to grad school doesn't mind a few grey hairs.

I am not an old-timer, despite Kristi's email inviting me to post here. I am still a newbie and I have the yard to prove it. I mean, there's really no other excuse for the state of my yard at the moment. Except maybe being self-employed now. When you work for yourself, you can find all kinds of reasons to work on Saturdays and Sundays instead of puttering around the garden.
But I made my numbers last year, and got engaged too, so life is good.
Garden? Not so good. Badly neglected. But some of the lovely things I've gotten from folks here are doing well.

And one question: Did Bill suggest we all take off what we're wearing? Just wondering.

Happy New Year to everyone! I've been on here for about 10 yrs. I stopped posting a lot after I disagreed with a post and got some nasty replies. Felix and others were nice enough to stand up for me. Glad to see there are others trying to make this a nice site again.

After last years cold weather, just about everything I had came back, but this year I've had plants get clobbered that made it through last year with flying colors. My dwarf powderpuff bush, which is one of the first plants I planted when we moved here, was hit very hard, but those darn roses are still blooming! They know I'm getting ready to yank them out because I'm sick of fighting the blackspot and getting stabbed by thorns.

Anyway, glad to see all the nice pics and hear from everyone.

Julie