My Texas trade partner emphasized cutting back the foliage on plants to about 6" from the root, making sure to label so it can be planted where it needs to go. She said that she'd rather receive plant with healthy roots than pretty foliage. She's an oldie with quite a bit of experience. This can be done with most any plant as long as you leave plenty of leaves for photosynthesis. She also recommended NOT wrapping the foliage at all, just the root ball! Makes the plant steamy and helps make that soup that hazelnutbunny mentioned she got in a trade. Yuck!

HNB: I was just thinking of the package you got in the last trade... Post man went "Postal" on your package! I think you should re-post that pic for our new friends to see. Question about my beetle problem: Is citronella the same as lemon balm?

Citronella & Lemon balm are 2 different plants. And there are actually 2 types of citronella...One is a geranium type and the other is a grass. I've heard, though, that lemon balm will work as well, since the scents are similar.

I have read and heard and have done this myself...putting the entire plant into a plastic bag, after the roots have been wrapped. With airholes in the bag. It makes a greenhouse, and keeps the plants warm during the winter, but I can see how that would make them soupy during the 100 degree temps..!

Blech.

"Bleh"... You make me crack up! So gross!

I will give it a shot with the lemon balm then. I have tons of it! Ok I'm gonna sound like a rube here for a minute... When you say make a spray... Boil the leaves and pour into a sprayer? OR, make a swag of the leaves? Lol, I feel like a doofus asking!

Tracy--Great idea with the holes in the box.
I would say I will send you one (pink Cleome) maybe I will get you in the swap..so we will wait.

I wrap only the root balland mine seem to ship well enough, as long as Po doesn't do the happy dance on it.

ROFL!!!! Tracy, I can simply picture you going after beetles with a swag.... :O) hehehehehehehehehe.....

Ahem. Let me quit laughing long enough to say....I meant, yes, boil the leaves and use the liquid from that to "spray" on the plants! :O)

I'm gonna be giggling all night at work, now... !

*scribbles down notes*
1. "Beetles do not appericiate country folage decor."
2. Soup is for dinner not gardens
3. Not even the bunnies will eat the extra Zukes.

mel i just sent you some of what is already in your beautiful garden ! sorry :'(( your guys flowers are so beautiful!! my one lily i been waiting on forever to finaly bloom, did while i was gone, those darned pups bit the bloom off befor i could see it. i told hubby in the morning they ALL go no matter what, they have gone. life is now sane!! LOL i fried hubbys cp with my static electricity, i thought, but i just zapped it, he fixed it, i can't use his fast one, i agree, LOL i'm just too much for it, LOL i been trying for a few days to post but it always lost it, so heck, LOL been busy with the house, today i went out and weeded my donkey manuer and found like 4 of the things we just threw out there had already grown, so i'm already excited about that, that's in my "tropical" garden, but it's not gonna be tropical only so far, cuz i needed to get a bunch of seeds thrown out there so they could be planted. :'))

"Beetles do not appericiate country folage decor."

OHMYGOSH!!!! Not FAIR NOT fair NOT FAIR!!! Girls...That's SO NOT FAIR!!!!
I'm laughing my hiney off here at work...Ya'll are gonna get me FIRED!!!!
BAD GIRLS!!!

I'm sorry to do this, but I'm going to back out of the swap. My husband's plant (that is work plant...get your mind out of the garden LOL) announced that it may be closing in September. Hopefully he'll find something else but, for now, I want to eliminate any unecessary expenses..including the little it would take to mail my box. I'll still stop in and chat, and want to see what everyone gets...I'll just live vicariously through you gals! :-)

My mum's house is FULL of swags and wreaths and silk flowers.. all with 2>4 years of dust on them... as much as she spends on them, you think she'd buy a duster, but nope, tosses them out and buys more. Sis and I can't figure that out. I got this mential image of her out with a grapevine wreath smacking beetles.
(~.^)

Ok, Girls..I have GOT to share my nasty, disgusting slug story with you. Here goes:

First off, lemme say..we have slugs. BAD. Everywhere. They're icky. Gross. Disgusting. Nasty. All kinds of EWWWW.
Anyway. Last night when I got home from work (I work until 2-3am), I went out to our Laundry building (seperate from the house) and in the floor was a moving grey banana!!! SERIOUSLY! That is how BIG this dang slug was!!! So of course, I hollered "EEwwwww! ICK!!! Eewwwwww!! ICK!!! YUCK YUCK YUCK!!!!" Which brought the attention of the dog and the 3 cats....
ANYWAY. Looking down at the floor, I realize, this thing WAS NOT ALONE!!! He had about 10 buddies there with him, so I leaped out the door way.........
RIGHT ONTO ANOTHER SLUG!!!! BLECH!!!!
So by this time, I'm making all kinds of noise, and somehow not waking everyone up...and I remember...Hey, I just read that flour will kill slugs! (drys them up) So I run into the house to get the flour, and on the kitchen floor...YEP, you guessed it...MORE SLUGS!! So I totally flipped and started pouring flour everywhere...
And the dang things just crawled through it! Nasty little slime trails caked with flour....
Then I remember reading that slugs are a-sexual and can also reproduce 3-4 times a year, with 3 dozen eggs at ONE TIME! (so I"m doing the math in my head, and figure by this time next year, I'll have 11.5668659798233333 million slugs running around)
So. I did the only thing I could do. I got my handy little garden spade, and went to work cutting the boogers in half!

Okay. I don't know what I was thinking, honestly. I just didn't realize that they had guts and blood.

So the first one I chopped up was the banana guy, and when I cut into him, it was like on Braveheart...His insides just went POP and went everywhere.
So I ran outside and hurled.
But then, I went back to work, because I remembered that slugs also LOVE HOSTAS, and it made me MAD that they were eating my plants!
So for about an hour, I went around the house (inside and out) cutting, chopping and destroying slugs.

Went to bed later, and my hubby rolls over and says "how was your night?"

Then this morning, he tells me he had to "Walk through the remains of my homicidal slug killing spree" to get to his car.

I told him it served him right ,when I was up all night protecting him from Wild, Man eating slugs from planet ICK.

Bunny, that is why I no longer go barefoot outside.

Next time, you want to pour salt on the slugs, gross to watch, but effective.

OH MY GOD, YOU ARE KILLING ME! STOP IT! RIGHT NOW! NOT ANOTHER WORD ABOUT THE SLUGS! I AM LAUGHING SO HARD I AM GOING TO WAKE EVERYONE UP! BANANA SLUG POPPING OPEN!OOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHHHH MAN! YUCK YUCK YUCK YUCK!
And to think I felt so disgusted when I found one lonely slug curled up inside my lianthrus the other day and flicked him on the hot concrete to a satisfying sizzling sound. HNB, I thought of you at that moment! You need beer and lots of it! Not for you, for the slugs! Put a plastic plate of beer out near your beds, not in them. The slugs will come and climb in and get drunk and explode. It will not be pretty but at least you can pick up the plate and throw it away instead of mopping up slug-body parts in the morning. Oh my, my tummy hurts. Laughed too hard! Popped a gut, need to go to the hospital! No wait, maybe you can use my spray of lemon balm instead, or a swag of honeysuckle, maybe bugbane! Maybe they don't like like country foliage decor either? ROFLMAO!

Oh Vela, that is terrible news. I am so sorry I know how stressful this is going to be for you! I hope he finds something new quickly! Please let us know how you're doing.
Tracy

Melanie, You are so sweet. I would love a cleome, I think I have something for you. My little purple friends are looking like they will live!

Oh no, Vela! I really hate to hear that! We will keep your family in our thoughts.... We'll sure miss ya! :O) Just don't forget to drop in and say HOWDY!!!

{{gwi:1286439}}

Good Morning;
I cannot sit by and let Vela back out of this group that she has nurtured. Keep Vela in to receive a box and send me her partner's name and I will send the box for her. I have lots of stuff I can split and I did not join because I did not have room for anything else. This may enable me to join the next round.
I not only have slugs, I have snails. Had never seen them until I moved here and I am not sure if it has anything to do with the ocean being down the street but they are fascinating in an annoying way. My delphinium fell over because of all the rain and when I attempted to right it yesterday it had several of these snails on the flowers. They were easy to flick off but I need to now do some research to see if they are a real pest or just an annoyance. I also had a huge orange mushroom in the middle of the lawn. That will also require research as that is the second year for that too and in a different spot. I will post the picture later. Well, I need to get digging as I have an appointment at nine o'clock and need to get a box out today. Have a great day everyone. diene

Lovely, Diene.

Happy happy day! It is raining. Nothing dramatic; it is slow and steady. The rain gauge indicates almost 1/10 of an inch so far.

I am going outside to refresh my memories of what rain looks and feels like. I can almost feel the earth sighing in relief.

Diene--Thats a wonderful thing you are doing for Vela. If you need anything else for her box. Let me know, I want to send her something anyway..She will be needing all the prayers from her friends right now.

Is that salt, you made for the slug maze?? Thats what I use to get rid of the slugs. Beer to expensive and such a waste..LOL

Poison--Glad you are finaly getting some rain..

Hubby has gone back to work, so have more time for the computer again. The Slug Tales are so funny, I laughed so much almost fell off my chair. Am going to try to post some pictures today. Wish me luck, Mel might have to call for help, LOL.

Yeah Nuthatch----Hubby has gone...hehe..time to play now.

Note to self....never read posting while eating breakfast!

Oh, Diene! Before Vela has a chance to say NO, I'm gonna say "Consider it done", You sweet girl, you!! :O)

And I think it's safe to say that NO BEVERAGES or FOOD should be consumed at ANY TIME when browsing this thread. Unless you like a sticky keyboard or splotchy monitor. :O)

Whew! My stomach is all twisted from laughing so hard last night at all of the slug antics! Feels like I did sit ups.

Note to self: Laugh more, abs will look great!

Diene: That is a fantastic idea. I think Vela will love that!

Mel: I found that pic on photobucket. I don't know what it was that the guy used. Ugh, I could never put one of those slimey suckers on my counter. Bleh! I like using cheap beer for the sluggos, blatz or busch. None of the good stuff for them! That way I don't have to hunt them down and sprinkle it on them.

Poison: We got some rain too today! Yay! Finally, it has been weeks since it rained. I walked around the yard yesterday and the grass was crunching under my feet. So dry! I worry because we have a well for all of our water. Would hate for it to run dry. "Cause I'll be singing Bye bye Miss American Pie, drove my chevy to the levy but the levy was dry!"

HNB: I just read your slug story to Ted (my oldest). We are both crying laughing, my stomach hurts again. Tears streaming from my eyes.

Tracy...I need therapy. I went "slugicidal" again last night.

This morning, as my hubby was kissing me goodbye, he leans over and whispers...."you have got a problem...I heard the shovel clanging until 4 am..."

Well..I can't help it! They're teasing me! Taunting me! They're ALL OVER THE SIDEWALK WHEN I COME HOME!!!
I have nightmares about slug guts now.

:::::shudder:::::

OH, I know! Make a cocktail for them! Beer Margaritas! Salt the rim of the plastic plates and pour cheap beer in the center! Best of both remedies! LOL!

Just put the shovel down! Before you go to work tonight, put the beer plate out for them! Nooooo MOOOOOOOORRREEEE SHOVEL!!!!!!! DO NOT ATTACK them after work.

Just put the yicky plate in the garbage after you get up in the a.m. Have the garbage can ready and close so you don't spill! That would probably send you through the roof and into the nuthouse! (er, sorry nuthatch). Repeat every evening until they are gone. It will probably be the best return you ever got on a 12 pack! No hangover! LOL!

Nuthatch: When can we expect pictures????? Can't wait!

Hmmm....Slugaritas?? Margasluggas?

I may never order another margarita again, Tracy. (sob) I'm gonna miss those...

And I can picture me going into the liquor store....Which is a trip all in itself, since I can barely pass the "is this id real" test...
"may I help you find something?"
"uh, yes. I'm throwing a party tonight, around 3am...and want only the BEST for my buddies."
"How many guests will you be having?"
"Hundreds"
"Wow. Ok, well, then how about a Keg? Or five?"
"hhmmm....can you line the spout in salt?"
"uuhhhhhhhhhh......."
"Oh, never mind. Just give me a case of Bud, please. They're not gonna enjoy it for long, anyway."
"Closing the party early, huh?"
"Yeah, I just hate cleaning up when the guests blow a gut.."

Later, at the check out....

"I'll need to see your id, please"
"Sure!"
"um, honey..this aint' you. Whatcha doing borrowing your mom's drivers license?"
"Believe me sir, that's me. Married, 28, mom of 5...want me to show you my stretch marks??"

Oh boy. This is gonna be fun. :O)

Oh, Girls! This is so good! I've been baking cakes all day (with lots more to go, and it is good to laugh and get my mind away from cake for a few minutes! Thank you all so much!! 9 more cake layers to bake, and then I can shut the oven off! Then I just start making fillings and one more different recipe of frosting. HOPE to have a bunch done by tomorrow night, as Friday the bridal party (including me) is supposed to spend the morning at a spa! Yippee!!! My first manicure and pedicure - and I will be so ready for some RELAXING time! Although, I will be very aprehensive having someone touch my icky dry, cracking gardening feet!! I've been slathing on lotion and wearing socks for the past several days, hoping to soften them up before we go! But, they are pretty bad! Anyway, need to have most of the cake done by then, as we have that all morning, and then at 5 is the rehearsal, so not a lot of time Friday to fininsh up! Then I'll have a little time Saturday morning, but that will mostly be spent getting the cake to the reception place and getting them all set up there (and fixing any problems that might happen during trasport - please - NONE!!) Okay, back to baking!!!

(Thank goodness, I've never seen a big slug like that around here!! - Though I do have tons of bananas here for a banana filling! Ughhh, the thought slugs that size!!!)

Well at least I'm not the only one with a slug problem. I hate them so much that I actually enjoy sprinkling them with salt so I can watch their guts run out. As far as the beer goes.....I've tried that too. It either gets washed away by the rain or dries up in the sun. I don't use commercial slug bait that is dangerous to wild life. Anyway you can usually find me in my PJ's wandering around outside, with a container of salt early in the evening or morning.

As far as Japanese beetles go I hand pick them and put them in a can of soap solution.

HNB love your slug story......It had a familiar ring to it.
Mariann

I go for both the salt and the beer remedies. There is nothing as satisfying as watching a fat juicy slug writhing in agony as it melts away to slug snot. I also like to poke the big ones in the middle with a sharp stick.
Beer works pretty well for me too. I recess the dish into the ground in the evening and go back the next morning to gloat.
I do the same as Mariann with the Japanese Beetles. Hand picking is the most environmentally sound solution I've found and once you get them into the soapy water, they are toast.
Beckilove, if you can find 30 minutes to relax, grab it. I spent the wedding and the aftermath in pretty much a fog last weekend because of combat fatigue. I am sending good karma your way-no disasters with the cake, the flowers, the rings etc, etc.
Does anyone recognize this daylily?

HNB: I vote for Slugaritas! Has a nice ring to it. Oh Man! You had me splitting my side again! I love the idea of you picking up your supplies for "SlugFest 07" or should we call it "Slug-a-palooza"! I had a thought after your slug/flour incident. Cook the little suckers up like calamari! You already dredged 'em in flour! LOL!

Poison: You are just as demented as I am! I love watching them suffer after busting them sliming around my plants. I occasionally find one during the hot time of the days...Flick, onto the hot pavement he goes. And I say "Yep, It's hot enough to fry a slug out today!"

Poison- I don't know the name of your daylily, but I LOVE it!! The color is so creamy and sweet looking, I almost want to lick it..I definitely have a day lily addiction...

That, and since I'm on a diet with my hubby, I haven't had any sweets for 2 weeks. I NEED CHOCOLATE!!!! Or something deep fried and smothered in CHOCOLATE!!!

I have a recipe for deep fried candy bars that I"m dieing to try....!!!! :O)

Ugh! I hate slugs too! I love to use salt on them though. Thankfully I have not seen one in a while...I think they are scared of me....*holding salt shaker with evil grin*

This reminds me of a story when I was younger. We had a really bad tick problem in our yard and on our dog. My dad pulled this gaint tick off the dog. It was like the size of a quarter, and of course ready to pop. My dad just put it on the concrete on our patio and told me to kill it. I was a teenager...I was not going to use my shoe!!! So I found a big piece of wood and dropped it on the tick. He freaking exploded and blood went everywhere...including my dads new boots. Ooops....

There is nothing worse than the sight of a big ole blood gorged tick on a dog,unless its the purplish blood that spews when you smash it! I much prefer to burn the little buggers with a match. There is something satisying in the little pop noise it makes.I HATE TICKS!!!!! We have an huge tick colony here. I gotta get some guineas soon.Heard they will help get rid of them.Also heard they are REALLY loud! Anyone have any input?

Guineas are really teritorial (sp?) also...they will chase off any dogs or cats or other animals that don't belong. They're great for getting rid of bugs...but they also get into flower beds, too.

I'm trying to talk DH into letting me get some Hens (I forget the specific breed right now). they love to eat slugs and grubs....

We use to have a guard duck, named Milky Way (because she was black with white stripes!) She loved the grubs. She would quack at strangers, and she would meet me at the gate when I came home from work....quacking the entire time until I pet her...

Then...Our neighbors stupid dog killed her... And he also killed 3 of our other neighbor's roosters....

That dog is SO very NOT welcome in this neighborhood anymore. Grrrrr.

ANYWAY. the duck thing was off the subject. AHEM. So I'm trying to convince DH that we need Hens for bug control, but he would rather have pigeons. I keep telling him.."Do you know how many pigeon eggs it would take to equal one hen egg??" lol
Men. So unpractical sometimes. :O)

Hey Ladies,

I was just checking out your pictures, they are all beautiful, great job! I wanted to post and tell Hazelnutbunny and anyone else who is having a slug problem a fun trick...I used to use the plate of beer method, but that is gross because then you have a dead plate of slugs- squishing them is nasty too, I don't know how anyone does that. And the reality is you really have to work hard to collect them all. So what I do is get an old log or stump, if it's a wet/rotting one even better. Now you can dump a beer on the log- especially on the underside and then put it in your garden or even on your walkway. They are attracted to the beer and they will all be on the underside of the log in the morning after the sun rises. You can even use more than one log if you need to do multiple gardens/areas, I don't think they will move that far or smell the beer if you have a really big yard. Then you can dump the log in the woods or somewhere away from the garden. Give it a try, I think you will be pleasantly surprised and at least there is no squished ones or chemicals...sweet dreams...
Have fun with your swap.
:) Danielle
Firegurl

Hey Danielle! Thanks for the tips! I'm willing to try just about ANYTHING now...my 3am slugicidal raids are wearing me out...And making me insane (er...wait..I think that was the kids that did that....) :O)

You are more than welcome to join our swap if you'd like, Danielle! We're not as crazy as we seem! (..we're worse...)
:O)

You gals are so nice! Thanks for the offer Diene, you have such a heart of gold, but really, please don't go through that trouble.

The slug story is hilarious! And this thread has taken such a delightful demented turn LOL!

POISON - I think that daylily might be darius. It looks like one I have. When you look up pictures of Darius on the web it has some light stripes down it, but mine doesn't have that either. I'll try to get a picture of mine when it blooms, it has some buds on it right now.

I heard chickens got in beds not the gunieas.I hope its the way you say HNB.You have to get gunieas as babies,keep penned up for 6 weeks or they fly away,plus they are prone to playing in traffic,the mom gunieas hardly ever raise their babies,you have to find nest or the babies will die if they get damp following mom through early morning wet grass.They do keep snakes & TICKS((shivers)) away though.Will do more research,tomorrow, off to bed for me.
(side note)Can't wait till swap buddies are posted this weekend!

Thanks Vela. I will be looking for the picture to compare and I will check out Darius on Tinker's.
I would like to hear more about Guineas dirt under my nails. I have been thinking about getting a rooster-used to have a pet one as a kid, but I have seen Guinea's and they sound like a pint sized alternative. Do they stray far from home? That is the one concern I have about getting some. I would hate for them to become road kill and I really don't want to fence them in.

Ok Ladies, all the blood and gore is getting me depressed. Let's talk about the naked Ladies...LOL

The Ginnys think they are pets. My neighbor had one when my daughter was smallused to follow her to the school bus each morning and evening when she came home. So funny..

I went to a yard sale awhile back and they had a large white turkey. Man, it did not want anyone in the yard. That hanging thing on the next went from red to the most pretty blue I have ever seen when he was agravated, then he would stomp his feet and chase you. Needless to say I don't think she did very well at the yard sale..LOL

Hey Guys,

I've been gone for a while. It looks like I've got a lot of reading to catch up on. Ya'll have been having so much fun; I feel like I've missed out on a lot. My husband came home Monday after 3 weeks being gone and has been keeping me busy.

I spent last weekend touring all the gardens of my daylily club members. Boy, do they put my yard to shame. I've only got one of them sized to upload so far. I'll try to get the rest of them done soon so I can share.

{{gwi:1286443}}

{{gwi:1286445}}

{{gwi:1286447}}

This is what she called her children's garden. All the plants had names pertaining to kids. All the "candy" series of daylilies were planted around the pole house. Very, very cute.
{{gwi:1286449}}

I particularly liked this little statue.
{{gwi:1286451}}

Gotta go! Hubby is calling; I managed to sneak away long enough to get one post off anyways.

Rox

Rockyridge

Very nice gardens.

Ok, uploaded pictures to photobucket and am going to try this. If it doesn't work please forgive a computer challenged old lady.

Stargazer Lily
{{gwi:1286456}}

Cleome
{{gwi:1286459}}

Devil's Claw
{{gwi:1286461}}

B&B Salvia
{{gwi:1286463}}

If this works will try some more later.

Beautiful pictures, Ladies! Great to walk through the gardens first thing in the morning! (ok..first thing for ME, I was up until 4am!!) :O)

I'm starting a new thread...

Wonderful photos Ladies.I Love the Stargazer!

OOPS that one is still too big, but at least the pictures are there. Mel, I did it!!