Small Successes
10 years ago
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Most important rose gardener qualities
Comments (37)Hoovb, you are right. No water, no roses. Everything else comes second. More water = better roses. In this dry place you have to be willing to shovel mulch. Lots of it. And with all that water and mulch, you have to be willing to prune...unless you have the gift of a very large garden and you have the plants very far apart. It's pretty easy to get fast rose satisfaction around here as long as you water and mulch and weed. No one near me grows the truly large rose plants and so weeding is required. I saw a fair number of well planted rose beds fall to weeds and then get abandoned or removed. The major cause of rose disaster here is not disease but the lack of water, improper pruning due to crews and weed takeover. Patience really helps. I was sure I got something else instead of Lion's rose. The little bitty nothing special flowers and small size bush. Then after it had some root growth for a few years, up came the robust canes and sprays of huge delicate hued blossoms fading gently to white. I just love this rose now. I was so very discouraged when it was a young plant. It's a wonderbush as a large plant. I learned to be realistic about what would do well here and let go of the ones that wanted to be in a different climate from mine. I learned to reduce the number of plants to what I could care for. A few years ago, I passed that point and I was feeling overwhelmed. I had many annual beds and too many potted fussy plants and those that needed water twice a day ( the big collection of potted azaleas, hydrangeas and blueberries with their never ending thirst) . It looked great but I was getting tired out keeping it all looking good. Now it's mostly roses and Camellias with some other things like epies and orchids and one or two azaleas and hydrangeas but not the massive diverse collection I used to have. It was getting to be too expensive to water and repot them all the time. Now that's it mainly roses, I feel like I have time to enjoy them again....See MoreFloating impatiens island in pond
Comments (4)Hi Used to do that every winter. Spectacular but declined when warm weather returned There is a hybrid called "Sunpatients" that is far more heat tolerant. Everybody raves about them but I have not tried them Went with lobelia, verbena this year My sole waterlily eats up every square inch so limited to winter for "floating gardens" Putting in some Asian lotus right now so that will probably be the end of the floaters gary...See MoreCan't Get my Bougainvillea Cuttings to Grow- I am desperate
Comments (6)Hi everyone- thanks for the help and suggestions! I have a few cuttings at my parent's house stateside that looked totally dead. They haven't done anything in the last 2 months. I took a tiny blade to make a small slice in the bark (I read somewhere that if it's still green under the bark it's still alive) and sure enough, a few are still alive! I'm not sure that means they'll stay alive, especially since I cut into their bark. :( I am not quite sure how to tell when parts of the mother plant are semi-mature but I think I did come across that once in my searching. I am going to take a few more cuttings (if there are only good ones left!) in about a month so fingers crossed, I can make them grow. If not, I think I'm taking Ken's advice and buying some stateside. Thanks again everyone!...See MoreAny Small Successes?
Comments (32)Well, our biggest small success most recently wasn't anything we can take credit for. A termite infestation was discovered in our basement, and we were EXTREMELY relieved that the bill was "only" $800. It could have been a whole lot worse, especially as the termite guy found a five-inch-wide termite "superhighway" they had built right up against the outside wall. No wood needed replacing, thank goodness! I have to say I see snidely's point, just as I see grainlady's. Look, it's wonderful that some people get a kick out of being frugal. I salute you; really I do. It's fabulous that you eat healthily and thriftily. More people should. But I don't want to be like you. I am more like snidely, and so is my spouse. We are free-spending and live very well, despite being on what was considered moderate incomes in the extremely expensive San Francisco Bay Area. I am more likely to spend $125 on lunch for the two of us, and I only pick up cans to put them into the recyling cart which the Waste Mgmt Corp. picks up every week - and charges us for whether we fill up the cart or not. We fought our way out of bankruptcy into a comfortable early retirement, and it wasn't easy. So absolutely yes, celebrate those small successes! Especially reducing the credit card debt, which is very difficult. The OP's situation shows the importance of having an emergency fund, and I still vividly remember how difficult it was to even manage a 2-month emergency fund. Funding a 6- or 12-month emergency fund, as is often recommended nowadays, was something I didn't manage until I was in my fifties and close to retiring, LOL. Just as important as celebrating your small financial successes is to remember how wealthy you truly are. If you have family and friends whom you love and who love you in return; if you have reasonably good health and a roof over your head; if you can pay your bills and marvel at the sight of spring flowers...then you are rich, regardless of $$$....See More
10 years agolast modified: 10 years ago
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