Hey Pa folks. I am new gardener here from NEPA. Im not new to growing things. I was fortunate to grow up around orchards and strawberries and farmland but I am new to backyard gardening and I am learning lots and failing too lol. I am looking forward to seeing what everyone is up to and hopefully I can share something worthwhile. I would eventually like to get my small growing spaces set up so I can grow extended seasons. Someone said to me a while back "you know you can practically grow all year but Jan/Feb/march" I would like to see how everyone does their cold cabbages and root veggies etc... I am growing in a small backyard but hopefully by next summer I can purchase some acreage from my uncle. He is an old farmer and hopefully will let me have some land. He is a bit old school though. I made the mistake of saying "organic" around him and he was like "ahh you can't fight the insects without spraying. Don't even waste your time!" Anyhow Thanks again guys!

Hi everybody, I'm a newbee. I've gardened in Memphis for a year, but live close to Covington. I grow all kinds of perennials, a food garden (about 20 x 50'), and roses. I have crepe myrtles, shrubs, evergreens, dogwoods, and all kinds of traded flowers I just stuck in the ground and kept alive. A lot of it was here when we bought the place, and the rest has been added over the years by us. I moved 12 tea roses to another location in my yard at the beginning of July (eeek!), after researching how to do it safely, and now they are full of leaves and flowering out. Then, my friend and neighbor, who is a plant rookie, bought us both an Eden climbing rose. She said she had lived there ove 20 years, and SHE WANTED HER YARD TO LOOK NICE. She then said we needed to go in together on a rose order of English roses. HAH! She said ten roses each. I ended up getting 24 roses in all, and I'm now the official baby rose nurse until they get planted when the weather cools off. I didn't know that it was going to get over 104 degrees during the time when they were supposed to arrive. NOT TO WORRY. My husband, the ever present plant genius, told me how to keep them from frying. I took them into my bathroom, unwrapped them, and watered them with cool water from the shower. Then I potted them up to 1 gallon pots (they were only band sized rooted cuttings), watering the soil before putting it around their sensitive roots. THEN, I prepared a bed in partial shade in the back of some evergreen bushes on the shady cool side of my house, by using 4x4 timbers stacked two high, and filled that with damp peat moss. (All this in 104 degree weather) Then I BURIED the pots up to their rims in the peat moss bed. Every day I misted them 5 times a day. Every one is living and only had maybe one yellow leaf, and one is even putting out flowers (actually one flower, but it IS a beautiful one) The main thing with pots is that the roots get overheated, and the damp peat moss takes care of that. You could bury the pots directly in the dirt, but in 104 degree weather you might heat stroke out yourself digging all those holes!!! The peat moss is pretty expensive, but you can use it elsewhere when you don't need it any more. The second batch of roses (six bands) came yesterday in the mail, and it was so hot I was afraid to even put them in the peat moss bed. So, again my genius husband told me to just set them on the porch, and bring them inside the house when it got hot. And when the weather cooled down to the 90's, THEN put them in the peat moss bed. (He really is a genius. He's the one that designed all the flower beds in our yard) I think I've lost my mind ordering roses during a heat wave. I probably should be posting this in the rose forum, but y'all were talking about West Tennessee gardeners, and here I am! BTW, I also do a LOT of plant research on the internet, and have a huge inventory of info that I've collected over the years.

Goodmorning Everybody ! :) I heard from my swappers last night...:))) Mariann I have a couple of surprizes for you...We love putting surprizes in our boxes Regina started it.. Chell you are so creative and your writing is so much fun to read... I bet the boys loved playing pirate.. I can see their smiling faces now...What a great idea to make a hideout.. They will always remeber their hideout mom made for them... Norma I havent traded with you but I am sure you went way above in sending her nice cuttings..I seen pics of what you send...They are awesome boxes..:)) Please dont be sad..:)) Regina howdy :) I am so sorry about Mark having to have surgery and the heart condition would just send me into heaven.. Wow I am so glad to read it all went well...Shooo My heart sank for a minute...He will be all healed for college this fall..:)) You empty nester dont go through what I went through...Stay busy and call them alot... I miss my kids so much it hurts sometimes... Dogs are okay but they cant replace our true babies...I love reading about chell and her boys... It makes me smile so much... Frances lol You poor gardener..ahhah You need a break from mother nature..Really..:)) Oh big snakes yucky... I would be screaming... I love chippies...They are so cute...Havent had many around with a cat now...Kiki has brought home two gardener snakes...He was very proud of himself... Yesterday I was getting ready to go out and play in the dirt...The crows or blackbirds were screaming...It just like a scene in the movie the "birds"... It creeped me out really bad...I couldnt see what they were yelling at.. I watched tv...Than got bored and went coleus shopping..lol The master gardener sale for the next county over is tommorow... I cant wait to see what they are going to be offering..I have never been to this one...Oh I almost forgot..I heard from the master gardener I met...Looks like we are building another gh..lol She wants to do it closer to fall since everyone is busy with their gardens...I am glad we could help her..They are a pain to build.. well I gabbed enough lol must be the strong coffee and I got a lot of sleep...:)) Have a good day everybody..Barb

Here is my plant list for the Swap on October 7th at Mercer. I also have pond plants if anyone is interested just email me. I'm looking for Alocasias, Colocasias, Bananas,Hoyas,Gingers,Begonias,episcias and others to many to mention. LOL Aglaonema modestum Chinese Evergreen Pellonia pulchra (Polynesian Ivy) Peperomia Clusiaefolia 'Tricolor' - Rainbow peperomia Piper auritum Root Beer Plant Vinca major-Greater Periwinkle 'Variegata' Agave Blue Jazz Aristolochia fimbriata White Veined Hardy Dutchman's Pipe Bamboo Cane Pole Zephyranthes Fairy lily, Rain lily. Pink Yellow & White Nandina domestica 'Firepower' Aloe vera Medicine Plant Kalanchoe Mother of Thousands Kalanchoe "Gastonis Bonnieri"- Donkey Ears plant Canna Florence Vaughn Canna Richard Wallace Canna Wyoming Clerodendron bungei Crinum americanum - Spider Lily Crinum White Prince EPISCIA,Blue Nile,Kee Wee,Pink Panther and Red Corduroy Microsorium diversifolium 'Kangaroo Paw' Fern Nephrolepis exaltata `Bostoniensis' Boston fern Hedychium coronarium x coccineum 'Dr. Moy' Liriope Green Border Grass Lots of it. Hibiscus coccineus Texas Star Hibiscus Rose Mallow Tricolor Sweet Potato Vine Tricolor Musa velutina (Pink Velvet Banana) For a banana tree I dont have Musa zebrina 'rojo' Blood Banana Beaucarnea recurvata Pony Tail Palm Cyperus alternifolius Umbrella Palm Philodendron Domesticum Variegatum Philodendron Monstera Oblique Leichtlinii Swiss Cheese Philodendron Scandens Medio Pictum - "Flame Leaved Heart Plant" Philodendron Nutans "Velvet Philo" Ruellia brittoniana Mexican petunias Mexican Bluebell, White Katie,Pink Katie, 'Baby Katie' Ruellia brittoniana Tall Purple( 'PURPLE SHOWER') and Tall Pink 'Chi-Chi' Ruellia squarrosa Creeping ruellia 'Blue Shade' Spathiphyllum friedrichsthalli Peace Lily Spathiphyllum variegated 'Domino' Salix cinerea 'Tricolor' Japanese Dappled Willow Cuttings Ficus pumila Fig Ivy, Creeping Fig Thunbergia erecta Black Eyed Susan vine Vigna caracalla - Climbing Shell Plant snail vine Wisteria Xanthosoma atrovirens variegata (mickey mouse taro) For other Taro I dont have. Alocasia amazonica African Mask Polly For other Alocasis I don't have Sago Palms I have Named Hoya,Plumeria,Begonias and Episcias for special trades