Oh Carol, now tears are running down my face. I feel so sad for you dealing with Vertigo Man

He is no gentleman for sure

Prayers that he will get bored tormenting you and move on ( just not to my house )

Noseometer I have my first orchid

It was a Birthday gift back in May

When I recieved it I was nervous about taking care of it

But it is in bloom again, yay, I haven't killed it off, yet

Mine gets no humidity, as a matter of fact it is on a ledge in window with great light but it is over a heat vent.

What can I use tor humidity ?

Your cutting of ALM is really beautiful

Well done!

Sara-jAnn, thanks for the welcome. My computers etc. are so screwed up I have to wait to type or use my phone which I hate as it hurts my eyes. I have so many emails and such to answer and I hope noone gets upset I've been slack doing so.

@jim1961 / Central Pennsylvania / Zone 6, reading the Autumn post, I was very sad to read about Cagney's passing. I remember corresponding with you about treatment, etc. All things must pass, but knowing that doesn't make it any easier. You've had such a difficult year with your divorce, your bird and now Cagney. I'm happy though that you were able to re-connect with an old love that appreciates you. Your spirit inspires me.

Kristine - yeah, I kicked Vertigo Man to the curb (mainly). Just a touch of dizzying today. You could try having a tray of stones with water...and place your orchid on the rocks??

Kristine, find a shallow tray, like a cake pan, and fill it with small gravel. Those glass stone or marbles you can buy for vases work too. Put water in it up to about half way and place the pot on the top of the stones. Be careful that the water does not reach the bottom of the pot. You don't want it sitting in the water. The water will evaporate around the pot and raise the humidity for your plant.

Great idea! I have tons of flat marbles that I can use

Carol, you have a gift for poetry. Too bad it's of such a miserable situation.

Here's Annie with the flower fully open. Yes, maybe I should take a cutting for a backup! I can see why disbudding would be useful for Annie. It seems that she started making new growths on the branch that the flowers are on, but once the flowers started opening, the new growths were aborted.

Stephanie, thanks for the input on Annie. Now I have some hope that she will do okay outdoors. I think I will plant her under the pergola, so she will get less than the intense full sun. If she grows tall enough to get to the top, she will get full blasting sun.

Kristine, I have my orchids in a Wardian case, so that keeps the humidity high. In my dry climate, I would have a saucer under the pots, and water until the saucer was full or at least touching the bottom of the medium, and then not water again until the saucer was dry. I thought that it was a weird way to do it and goes against most recommendations, but years ago I read in Orchids magazine about someone in New York doing this, and I figured my climate is much dryer than New York. Otherwise, the pebble tray idea is the generally accepted method. I also mist my plants at least twice a day (I have an automatic mister and I also hand mist). It also depends upon the type of orchid you are growing. My favorite for the case is Neofinetia falcata, the Japanese Wind orchid, although I grow some Phalaenopsis and Cattleyas also. Cattleyas would be my favorite if I had the space and light. The Neo's and that Catt's like to dry out but the phals need to stay moist.

Not sure what type I have

It likely came from a grocery store

It is in its original pot so I should probably get it a larger home

Kristine, since you were able to get your Phalaenopsis to rebloom (good job!), you probably already know how to grow it. Here's the American Orchid Society culture sheet, in case you are interested. Phalaenopsis are very satisfying to grow.

https://www.aos.org/AOS/media/Content-Images/PDFs/phalaenopsis_1.pdf

Here's themain care page.

It will be good when Carol takes over the Winter Forum in 2021! Good job on your poem Carol, but it makes me feel sad for you having to deal with Vertigo Man!

I’m enjoying everyone’s gorgeous rose pictures and your Orchid is lovely Kristine.

CEAZY LOVE Rose

I was looking at my Facebook Memories and these are some samples of pictures that my granddaughter Sarah took of her siblings. These were taken three years ago, they do grow up so fast!

AJ

JOE

Aww Merlena. Those boys are adorable ! And they sure do grow up too fast

Noseometer, thank you so much for the information. I have no clue what I am doing, I have never misted the leaves, so I am really grateful for the information. More than anything, I have been lucky.

Sara Ann, I think your Crazy Love is crazy beautiful. It reminds me so of a darker Augusta Luise. Your grandsons are cute and handsome at the same time. How many grandkids do you have?

Kristine, I'm so impressed with your orchid--I kill indoor plants. So you can grow roses, orchids, and beautiful two year olds ( I loved the photo of Azalea and her doll). Now, that's an accomplishment.

Noseo, I'm impressed with you, too, especially your knowledge of orchids and Wardian cases. I rarely read that term. Annie L is luscious, and I'm getting an inferiority complex from all of your accomplishments.

Stephanie, your Annie is gorgeous, too. I think you should try that cutting. You can't have too many of this rose.

Carol, Vertigo Man is scary good (the poem), but the man is a bit spooky, and I hope he takes a slow boat to Mars or something, and leaves you alone. I know from other friends' experiences with vertigo that is it very unpredictable. As if we don't have enough unpredictability in our lives right now. Diane

Noseometer - Thanks! A friend and I write poetry, and we're always sharing our poems. It's fun. Orchids really seem difficult to grow. :) Love your opened bloom!! Amazing!

Kristine - how long have you had this particular orchid? Whatever you've been doing...it likes it! :)

Sara Ann - you're doing a good job on this thread...but I don't mind starting another one. :) Thanks for the nice words on my poem. :) :) I'm still a bit dizzy...but I'm okay. :) :) Holy Cow!!!! I'm in love with your Crazy Love!!! What a bloom!!! Those are GREAT pictures!! What an awesome photographer!! And those are such handsome boys!! Exceptional shots!!!

Diane - yes, Crazy Love is very reminscent of Augusta Luise! That's what I thought too. :) Thanks for the thoughts on the poem...I tried to make VM spooky! Yes, I hope that VM leaves me alone from now on. Hit the road Jack!

My streptocarpus plants aren't doing all that well. I think I've been watering them too much, plus the fluorescent tube is about 6 years old...so, they're probably getting very little blue/red light. I bought a red/blue light to augment the fluorescent tube...it's starting to help...especially since I raised the plants to be closer to the light sources. It's all a learning process...roses, streps, orchids, etc. :)

Sara Ann, you have beautiful grandchildren, and Sarah takes captivating photos of them.

Titian - that's the perfect word...captivating!! Well said!

Haha, Diane! I don't believe my roses will ever look as good as yours. But I will keep trying.

Thank you all, I appreciate the compliments. In her teens, Sarah loved photography, she was really into taking horse pictures, mainly because she loves horses.

Diane, I have six grandchildren. My daughter and son-in-law have two daughters and four sons.

Sara Ann, I love the horses photo. Sarah is a very artistic photographer. Does she still love photography? Maybe, that should be her life's work. Is she working or going to college in Oregon?

Noseo, thank you, but your roses always look wonderful and covered with blooms.

Jim, we are still having the Great Idaho Potato Drop tomorrow night, but this year, because of covid, the giant fake potato will drop from an undisclosed location, followed by a lot of fireworks and entertainment. This can be viewed on network TV locally. I plan to miss it--ha. Frankly, I think this year they are using a potato from someone's kitchen and dropping it into a kitchen sink. Then unseen persons in the background will bang kitchen pots and pans together. They will use trick photography to make TV viewers think it's a huge fake potato dropping. We'll show them cityslickers in NYC how it's done. Yessiree. Will your area be doing the Great Cow Drop this year? Diane/nanadoll

Thank you Diane. I feel the same way about her photography, but there is a lot of competition, seems like so many people are into it. Recently I haven’t discussed it with her, but I do think she is gifted. Her goal at this time is to get a psychology degree. I believe she is taking online courses toward that. She was enrolled in college here in Oklahoma when the pandemic hit, but I think she has continued those studies, at least that was her intention. In Oregon she works for RISE, and she and her boyfriend are doing Door Dash to supplement their income.

The Great Idaho Potato Drop sounds fitting. Our little town has a Ball Drop on the Courthouse Square, but canceled it because of the possibility of inclement weather, which I don’t think is going to happen. I’m too much of a sissy to go stand out in the cold anyway, so I don’t ever go. I’m usually sound asleep at midnight.

Sara Ann, what?? No banging of the pans at midnight? We all go outside and make horrible noise which filters down the hill nicely to annoy our neighbors below. It's the best thing about New Year's Eve. There is always someone down below who sets off a firework or two (illegal, of course).

What is RISE? Diane

Iceberg is my best rose money that I spent this year. $9.99 and still alive and blooming. :)

This is Belinda's Dream. The flower is much beautiful than what I saw in Helpmefind. I read old posts and it seemed that Belinda's Dream didn't do well in dry heat. Glad to see that Stephanie can grow her. We will see if she is still alive next fall. But now I can enjoy her flowers for the next 4 months.

Happy New Year everyone. Hope 2021 is a better year for all of us.

Thanks, Lek. Where, approximately do you garden? Do you have dry heat and not much winter? Your Belinda's dream is exquisite, and I hope you have many years ahead of you growing her. Happy 2021 to you, too. May it be an improvement over 2020, which isn't saying much. Diane

Finally, some good news (byebye 2020). Edwards' (big local nursery) huge rose selection will be available for preorder Jan 4, and can be reserved and paid for with a 10% discount until Feb 15. This can be totally done online for the first time. Edwards will keep your roses in a special greenhouse until you pick them up in spring. I've done this as late as early June, but it's usually May. These roses are mostly 5 gallon pots and a real bargain, ready to take off and often blooming when I pick them up. Now where can I put some new roses? I didn't get any new ones last year. I need a fix! Diane

@Diane Brakefield, I am in Las Vegas, NV. Last summer was very hot and dry. The humidity was less than 10 pretty much every day. I recall someday was like 5%. And the dry spell (not enough measurement rain) was 240 days. It rained one time 2-3 weeks ago that they had enough measurable rain but the ground in front of our house wasn't wet at all. This winter is quite mild during the day is about 60 and night time is about 40. I don't think we have below 32 yet. Good for me so I can have some more flowers. My husband was laughing at me the other day about growing roses in winter.

Well, what do husbands know, Lek? Former LV rose grower and resident, now Lynn in Texas, said summer is not the time to want blooming roses in Las Vegas. If you have beautiful winter roses that just shows the roses are happy. I would think early spring and late fall would be great rose growing times for you. She experienced similar dryness and lack of rainfall in LV, just as you are experiencing, not to mention those extreme LV temps of summer. I remember those from my travels. Here it's dry and hot for a much shorter period, and being semi arid, my garden does receive more rainfall than LV, but it's not much,and constant watering with a drip system and sprinklers is required. Diane

From what I've gathered over the years the height of summer is the warm zone dormant season like winter is for the cold zones. It gets too hot and dry and the roses just sort of shut down to conserve resources until it cools off.

This is what I'll be doing until spring to pass the dreary days, lol.

Diane, RISE is a program that helps young people with disabilities who have been institutionalized to become adjusted to living outside of that setting. I’m fairly sure there’s more to it than that, but that is some of what they do.

Diane, I would love to have access to a nursery like Edwards! But I would also love to see you have some new roses, I can never get enough of those beautiful pictures!

Lek, your Belinda’s Dream is gorgeous!

Seil, that looks like a good way to pass the time, I’m not sure I would have the patience though.

I’m always posting pictures of my grandchildren. Here’s a picture with all of them. I’m sure you can tell which two Mom and Dad are.

Diane - so funny about the giant potato drop/great cow drop! No one here does the pot banging together...I'd never heard of that before! :) :)

Lek - really beautiful roses!!! I love the blush of pink on Iceberg!

Seil - I do jigsaw puzzles too. I also started doing tangrams...I'm not very spatial...so it's a challenge for me. :)

SaraAnn - I love looking at face shapes of children and seeing which parent they match the most. :) GReat looking family!

Happy New Year Everybody!

Happy New Year everyone! :-)

We've had a nice evening so far. I made peanut noodles, an Asian-ish dish, and we've been playing "Apples to Apples" and UNO. Sam and Ray got another bottle of champagne from a wine club, I believe, very good stuff, but if I tell you what the label said on the champagne, I'll be kicked off the forum, though it was only initials. Basically, it's what 2020 can do with itself. We all cracked up over the label, but we aren't a very classy family.

Carol, the potato drop features a glowing potato this year, so it's being called the "Glowtato". Cornball for us cornballs. I was just told that the surrounding neighborhood hears us do the banging of the pans every year, and they expect it. All is well when the pans clang and bang. My mother started this custom, but other people do it, too.

Sara Ann, what a great family. That's a passel o' younguns. I admire your granddaughter Sarah for working in the RISE program. But she could still do some photography part time.

Seil, my son in law and granddaughters always get out the jigsaw puzzles just before Christmas and work on them. If Ray's back were better, they'd probably be working a puzzle right now. I don't think I have the patience, so I admire you for this.

OK, get out the pans, everyone, and Happy New Year! Diane

Well, we did the pans and made a racket. It's foggy, so I couldn't see if any fireworks went off. Then I celebrated with a brownie and coke. Diane

GORGEOUS, GORGEOUS Diane!

Happy New Year !

The fireworks started at 6, I guess people couldnt eait to kick 2020 to the curb. But, it reminded my husband and I about the New Years celebrations his mom and my dad had at their retirement community years ago

They alwsys did the New Year's count down at 6:15 because by 7 they were snoring in front of their TV

But, it always gave us the opportunity to celebrate with our parents and still have the whole night to snore in front of our own TVs,party animals lol

I went to bed at 11 and never heard a thing, Dan said that there were fireworks and pots banging, and I slept right through it

Good riddance 2020.

Prayers for a 2021 where we can hug our friends again.

The weather made a liar out of me! This is what it looked like this morning just outside my front door. It’s above freezing so it probably won’t last long.

Diane, I think my daughter wanted to have a big family, because even though she has older half siblings, growing up it was just me and her since she was seven, that was the year (1986) her dad passed away, and that same year her half sister graduated from high school and after that went away to college. I do kind of wish Sarah would experiment more with her photography, there’s certainly plenty of beautiful subject matter in Oregon.

Instead of snow this is what I’m ready for!

Sara Ann - is that Queen of Elegance?? Whatever it is...it's GORGEOUS!!! Waaay better than that snow and overcast day in the picture. :)

Diane - the exquisite Augusta Luise!!! Be still my heart!! Every single picture is SWOON worthy!!!

Kristine - banging pots where you live too...maybe it's an American thing....I've never heard of that here. LOL

Jim - GREAT New Years pictures!! LOL

Carol, thank you! That Rose is MME ERNEST CALVAT.

Ahhh. Yes, you've posted that rose before...I should have remembered. :)

Great rose, but I also love the snow! Wow!

We had my first white Christmas this year- almost.

Snow was falling the night of Christmas Eve but wasn't enough to cover the ground, just a very light dusting on Christmas day.

I grew up in Florida where 40F was a cold winter's day, so I still really enjoy living somewhere that has all four seasons!

EDIT: Sara-ann I lived in OKC for a year but it didn't snow like that until Jan/Feb unfortunately.

Great family portrait but I'm terrible at faces so I'll just say they all look healthy and happy!

Our tradition is to go out the front door and ring bells at midnight. It's to let the old year out and ring in the new one! I live on a main road and there wasn't a car to be seen but plenty of fireworks going off all around me.

Yeah, Sara Ann, that's what it looks like around here too.

The puzzles are just a time passer so it really doesn't take much patience. We just work on them when we're bored. The table usually stays up until March and by then we can get out more but last year with the pandemic it was up until May some time. I'm hoping that isn't the case this year!

jc, we’ve already had more snow recently than we generally get during the entire season. Thankfully, we haven’t had the extremely frigid temperatures though, I hope that trend continues. The older I get, the more I dislike winter!

Seil, thank you! That sounds like a sensible way to do your crossword puzzles and definitely a good way to pass the time.

No one has commented here for four days.

If I did not know better, I would have thought that the seasonal discussion

https://www.houzz.com/discussions/6047766/2021-thread-heading-into-spring#n=19

was created by its OP with the intent of competing with this seasonal discussion.

I do know better, though - I know “it’s not a competition”.

Sara Ann passed it back to Carol ( rosecanadian ) so it is now the spring is on its way thread .

Anyway, I believe that is what happened.

Yes, what Kristine stated is exactly what happened.

I appreciate both of you ladies for keeping the sesonal threads going. Sara Ann you are such a good sport !!

This must be the official seasonal thread??? Carol your other thread threw me off..lol..Oh WAIT!

I just read your other thread Carol is the seasonal thread..OK wiil post this on that one..LOL

I need to catch up on this thread so will start reading posts soon...

I took Gracie and Lacey to Vet yesterday. Two weeks ago I took Gracie to Vet cause she had a terrible cough. Gracie (dog) had infected lung passages... So yesterday was the follow up. Gracie got a clean bill of health yesterday.

Sadly Lacey my cat did not...Lacey (cat) is starting into kidney failure...Vet said she will have 6 months to one year to live... So putting Lacey on Kidney cat foods etc... I need to research this subject more deeply... But all in all Lacey still doing well...

When I get time I'll catch up on the thread...

Have a great day everyone!

Jim, I'm so sorry to read about Lacey. How old is she? Way back, my Peanut Butter began a big decline in her 16th year, and she was experiencing kidney failure type symptoms. The vet didn't offer any remedies, but said this was a very natural progression, and she had seen it many times. You are correct about life expectancy, sadly. This is the burden we take on as pet owners, but you have given Lacy a wonderful life, and she has rewarded you with her love. Diane

Diane - well said.

You're most welcome Sara Ann and Kristine! :) :)