Tip # 2, make your tidiest garden be in an area that is fenced in, so that your dogs can be out there with you. This is why my backyard gardens look better than my front yard gardens.Quote:
Originally Posted by iris lilies
Printable View
Tip # 2, make your tidiest garden be in an area that is fenced in, so that your dogs can be out there with you. This is why my backyard gardens look better than my front yard gardens.Quote:
Originally Posted by iris lilies
Haha! "Take off your glasses and enjoy!" Words to live by!Quote:
Originally Posted by iris lilies
But good gardening advice... The only garden I have to sit in is the pergola with the park bench in it, between 4 raised beds--two on each side. So unfortunately I have to ensure that 4 beds are weed-free if I'm to sit there and enjoy, but since I'm pretty good at not noticing things after decades of raising kids and dogs and working full time, I still can overlook a weed or two.
Took DH shopping today. He got the majority of his summer wardrobe. Told him to just get what he wanted and not worry about price. Of course, before we left home I downloaded a 25% off coupon! After checking out, went back and asked the gal next in line if she wanted to use my coupon again. She said “I’m Canadian and these things are on sale!” I told her it didn’t matter and gave the clerk the code. The woman’s face was priceless! She saved $30! Kinda made my day…
aw, thats nice!Quote:
Originally Posted by frugal-one
That's wonderful! It's fun to share!Quote:
Originally Posted by frugal-one
I'll do the same sometimes with gift cards, especially if it is a place I rarely go. I remember placing an order at a DD, paid with my gift card and then handed it to the person behind me. As I was waiting for my order to be filled, that person used it, then passed it to the person behind her! I think it made it through a total of four orders. LOL. It was nice - everyone laughing and smiling about how far it had gone. Even the people behind the counter!
It's 75 degrees out and sunny so I have been playing in the yard out here in the desert. A lot of the yard is bare dirt (it's just how it is here) but I have created different zones by making garden paths using local (as in from elsewhere in my yard) stone to make borders. The weeds are coming in pretty good even without any rain (hardy little bast**rds) so I have been pulling them up. It is still so satisfying to get them from the root! I am DETERMINED not to let things get out of hand like I say every single spring/summer.
Deciding how much to spend on plants is a big concern. I would say that 90% of things I've purchased just do not survive after one season. It is SO hard to garden here so I will probably just buy some pretty flowers to put in the containers on the porch. Everything like that has to be squirrel-proofed by making chicken wire cages. I do plan to plant my lettuce/spinamch bed and also grow collard greens, swiss chard and kale. I've had some success with that, but again, with lots of chicken wire used.
Anyway, it is so nice to be outdoors enjoying the sunshine putzing around. My left arm/shoulder WILL pay for it later but so be it; it's worth it to me to try to have some normalcy in my life.
God what a relief. I FINALLY got the power/authorization to get into our iris Society’s website to update it.
the landing pages had not been updated since 2023.
The Contacts page listed dead people.
A third of the pages said “Under construction, coming soon” since 2020.
I kept my mouth shut about this damn site for seven years, this one and the one previous, which was also never current. The oldsters who run the society don’t understand that they had to contribute content, the webmaster who was very good was just the tech person. They never gave her any updated information. She lost interest. Then she stopped communicating with us. Until I got on the board in recent years, I didn’t speak up because I didn’t want the responsibility of fixing
and then a year ago, I started investigating with the webmaster why it wasn’t updated. And it took a year to move the heavens that be.
This is exactly what happened with 2 other garden club and plant groups I’m with.
Anyway, now have the keys to the kingdom and I got into the website and made rudimentary updates. They ain’t pretty, but they are current.
I hate logging onto a site I'm interested in and finding the events page stopped in 2022. Or earlier. It's maddening, and very off-putting. I've dropped the idea of joining several organizations due to their website. If they can't offer current info on their OWN GROUP, then I have to assume they are not really interested in my membership. Good on you IL for updating your society's website. One of the museums we support (in volunteer hours, we have little $$ to support with!) has a terrible web-host, but they have wrested control of the calendar and events pages and complained vociferously, and it's getting a bit better.
oh you have no idea of the general incompetence, or ennui, or both, of the organizations I deal with in their digital lives. They make me crazy!Quote:
Originally Posted by early morning
It is because they are all run by a bunch of old people. Our President is still yammering about wanting a printed newsletter as well as a calendar and roster in print, etc. Yet, the National Plant
Society runs a strong website with tons of great digital resources, and they are not young,
While all of that is fine, we don’t have volunteers to do that and it is a poor place to put focus, anyway. A print newsletter is fine (but wemcannot afford it on $5 membership fees a year!) but we desperately need help with digital communications. We need a Mail Chimp sort of operation set up. We need someone who actually knows how to effectively update a Wordpress website (my knowledge is not even kindergarten level, and today I’m struggling with very basic editing tasks.)
We did find a volunteer to produce the sacred booklet he wants, so that is fine, but …if we aren’t visible in the digital world zwe don’t exist. I take care of the Facebook page which has 3,000 followers, but that is only a little exposure for people in this region. Most followers are out of region.
I belong to a couple of "horticulture" groups and all have very good online presence. It is funny though that most members are older I guess because they have the time to pursue interests. The native plant groups seem to have more younger folk. Today's rave is the weather. Blue skies, puffy clouds and snow on the peak.
that’s definitely true in the plant circles I travel in. The only ornamentals younger people seem to like are natives. And that’s fine, let them continue that tradition and prop up the native plantings, but for anyone who really likes flowers, natives become dull after a while. There’s only so much you can do in one climate with natives. If you don’t bring in things from China, plant life becomes very dull very quickly IMHO.Quote:
Originally Posted by pinkytoe
I don't watch TV (I don't OWN a TV) very much, although I'll occasionally watch something on the PBS website or some on YT. I mostly watch on my iPad. I checked the NYT Wirecutter reviews and bought a small portable bluetooth speaker for about $70. It's made a huge difference as I can hear so much better. Experience doing exercise videos on YT is much better, too, since the iPad volume isn't the highest.
I just wrote an article for the local library newsletter on biodiversity as part of one my Extension Master Gardener group's activities. And yes, my first bullet was the importance of natives to support biodiversity. I think it's fine to throw in non-natives, but I prefer to be judicious. For instance, I bought a Japanese maple for DH for his 50th birthday (it still grows at the NJ house). I do love those trees and have considered adding one to my garden up here.Quote:
Originally Posted by iris lilies
iris, I thought of you a couple of weeks ago when I went to the Vermont Flower Show, which is a big biannual event. The Vermont garden clubs had an exhibit, with juried floral arrangements presented.. they were similar to the ones I've seen you submit for competition. They were fun to look at.
And yes, pinkytoe, horticulture groups definitely skew older and female.
I just got back from a flower show today. The St. Louis Daffodil Society had its show and we had to recruit DH at the last minute to fill a class. Guess who won best in show with his design? Yeah, it was DH. His head is swelled at the moment.Quote:
Originally Posted by catherine
living without the garden staples of hostas, peonies, 99% of the iris cultivars, 99% of Lilies, hydrangeas, daffodils, daylilies, etc…. Just to name a very few… Those are what we’re not allowed to have when we stick only to natives.
..
Oh, you have to share a pic!Quote:
Originally Posted by iris lilies
Attachment 6293
The leaves have holes punched in them because they’re simulating voting punchcard holes and hanging chads from the 2000 presidential election. The theme of this class was “what happened in the year 2000?”
Oh, that's great!Quote:
Originally Posted by iris lilies
Wow, congrats to your DH!
Very nice! Congrats to your dh!
Il, cool that your dh won! My rave is - vacation! On the way to Cape Cod, looking off our hotel balcony at Laurel Lake in the Berkshires. Of course it is snowing lol.
Thinking of you, rosarugosa! Hitting Chocolate Springs for coffee and treats before leaving town. So nice to be out of routine.
That's great, Early! Give my love to Laurel Lake and enjoy the rest of your trip!
Start a new job soon! Same company but different unit/department. Can't come soon enough as I'm at my limit with my current co-workers. Earliest I'll be gone is the 28th. Latest is May 5th.
good for you. I hope all goes well with the new job.Quote:
Originally Posted by Klunick
I have been appreciating the blessing that is our large flower bed off the back of our house, right below our deck.
I didn’t envision this when the deck was built. It has enough room for 200 plants. It is a blessing because
1) it is easy to access for care
2) easy to see, being just below the deck
3) it is deer proof with its high wall
I can put my favorite lilies and phlox and daylilies there and see them all the time, and deer can’t get to them.
I have a large lily bed down the hill, surrounded by an 8’ fence, and blocked from view by a large elderberry bush. So it is nice to have close-by lilies in the bed just below the deck.
when I first saw how big this below deck bed was, I was intimidated. But you know that lasted about one week. I transplanted all the daylilies that never bloomed because deer ate them into this bed and the next year all of them popped into Bloom. I hadn’t seen them bloom for five years. I’m not a huge fan of daylilies but they are nice for filling up a flower bed quickly.
IL, that sounds great.
Good Friday today, slow at work due to many customers being closed. I have a church service at 4, but I ended up leaving work about 2. It’s been so crazy the past month, that I’ll take whatever I can get.
Totally splurged on a new iPad Mini. I love the smaller size. I’ll keep my larger sized iPad that I use for my choir music. New Mini is a light purple. Purple is my favorite color.
IL: That sounds wonderful, having a big, beautiful flower bed so close by!
Tradd, congrats on the iPad mini! I've one of those for years--and I love the size of it, also. I can slip it in my purse, but it's not too small to read. Perfect size.
I have two iPad minis that are constantly on. I need to get a third one to prepare for the day when one of these older ones
goes bad.
Quote:
Originally Posted by iris lilies
Mini was just updated.
A few things to be happy about…. albeit damn trump!
[url]https://apnews.com/article/pence-profile-courage-award-jfk-capitol-riot-10918d5bc5a356a19b7fa524fea16760[/
https://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/library-lawsuit-trump-administration/2025/05/02/id/1209357/
I’m sure the library world is clapping enthusiastically, but I’ve been out of that world for 10 years.
public libraries are funded by local tax dollars. These grants by the feds are not the nuts and bolts of the library services you touch and feel in your locality.
but that doesn’t speak to the legal aspect of cutting the services of the Museums and Library unit of the Federal government. It may well be that only Congress can cut it. I don’t know the legal argument
Rave or Rant?
I have almost too many bluebells. They have come up all over after renovating a flower bed. I never thought I would be in this position in a million years. It’s like being too skinny (not from illness.) What riches!
Iris, I'm so happy about your bluebells. I look at my yard and sit on my porch seeing hummingbirds, bluebirds, goldfinches , robins, cardinals and Merlin heard a cedar waxwing and Orchard Oriole. I used to dream of having birds to see and now we do.
Idiot owner at work was actually in the office today and surprisingly passed along remarks from customers that were thrilled how I handled the tariff increases.
Congrats! It's always so nice to have your good work recognized! I'm sure it was very reassuring to your customers!Quote:
Originally Posted by Tradd
Thank you. And one customer was so appreciative she sent a box of fancy cookies to me at the office a couple of weeks ago. They were all individually wrapped. I took the chocolate ones and put the rest out to share the hip spread in the office.
A lot of customers have expressed their appreciation to me personally, but hearing it via the idjut owner was the difference.
that is really nice to hear Tradd. This is such a difficult time for you and your customers so I’m glad they think you are serving them well.Quote:
Originally Posted by Tradd
That's really nice, Tradd. I'm sure it's been a crazy time for you!
I have a little rave to share. DH and I went to a fun play (Picasso at the Lapin Agile) put on by a small local theatre company on Sunday. It was good, inexpensive, and a 10-minute walk from our house. The funny thing is the decluttering tie-in. On our local buy-nothing FB page, a woman had been looking for small cordial glasses. I was able to give her a set from my mother's house, and she mentioned they would be props for a play she was in. That was how I learned about the play, and I was able to see the glasses have their 15 minutes of fame, lol. Now that the theatre group is on our radar, I'm sure we will see more plays from them in the future!
Thatvwas fun to see your glasses on stage!
I finally ditched the landline today! Another day of a dead phone line in a long string of outages in our area for the past few months. CenturyLink is pretty bad around where I live - even if the line is working, the sound is all crackly and static-y. We had a series of storms recently so that may be why it is out for just us. The chat bot said if the bad line was outside the house they would fix it but if it was inside we'd have to pay a minimum of $99.
I've just had it with having a landline anymore so I cancelled it. I'll be saving $65/month which will really help me with my other bills!