Your All Things Plants weekly news: October 26, 2013

There were 7 new gardening ideas posted last week:

By greene October 26, 2013 Macro Hack for Photographing Your Blooms Use a hand lens or jeweler's loupe to obtain extreme close-ups. (97 words - Read the full article) (13 comments)

By Sashagirl October 25, 2013 Cure Your Bulbs Before You Store Them When it's time to dig your summer flower bulbs, make sure you dry them thoroughly before storing them in paper bags or cardboard boxes in a warm, dry spot for the winter. No fancy equipment needed. You can just rummage for an old screen door, lay it across a couple of sawhorses, and you'll have a drying rack. (one comment)

By dave October 24, 2013 ATP Podcast #40: The Podcast Goes Dormant We're going to stop making podcasts for the rest of the year, so we wrap up 2013 with a discussion about the previous episodes we've created, and Dave shares his report of how many listeners we have, and which past episodes were the most popular. (9 comments)

By Claudia October 23, 2013 A Tool Cleaning Tip To easily clean and disinfect your pruners between plants, carry disposable disinfecting wipes with you. Wipe your pruners after each cut. (12 comments)

By woofie October 22, 2013 A Helpful Idea for Using a Sprayer I recently discovered that you can get a temporary colorant to add to liquids that are being applied with a sprayer. (136 words - Read the full article) (12 comments)

By flaflwrgrl October 21, 2013 Chop and Drop Mulch When I go around pruning plants, I make my own mulch by cutting the prunings into smaller pieces with a few quick snips and I drop them wherever I need mulch. Plants of the pine family, junipers, evergreens... just about anything. This saves me time by not having to haul the prunings somewhere else, plus it mulches. If it's a bit unsightly, that's okay because when I get my bagged mulch, it will go on top and all will be pretty again, but I will need less bagged mulch to do the job. It saves time, work, and money. It's a triple-win situation! (14 comments)

By frostweed October 20, 2013 Early Milkweed for the Monarchs Asclepias curassavica is not winter hardy here in North Central Texas, so in order to have fresh milkweed ready for the Monarchs as they return from their wintering in Mexico, I keep milkweed in large pots and bring them into the garage during freezing weather and then take them out again when the danger of frost is past. This way, I have plants for them to lay their eggs on in the spring. (6 comments)

The most popular images last week from our plant database: Photo of Daylily (Hemerocallis 'Fiesta Spirit') by valleyrimgirl: Photo of Daylily (Hemerocallis 'Outer Limits') by carolannz: Photo of Daylily (Hemerocallis 'Starring Attraction') by dormantsrule: Photo of Daylily (Hemerocallis 'Rosy Spiketail') by floota: Photo of Crepe Myrtle (Lagerstroemia indica 'Berlingot Menthe') by laszloszakszon: Photo of Daylily (Hemerocallis 'Simplicity in Motion') by floota:

The most popular Multi-Plant Photos from last week: Multi-plant photo by valleylynn: Multi-plant photo by pixie62560: Multi-plant photo by 4susiesjoy: Multi-plant photo by Paul2032: Multi-plant photo by poisondartfrog: Multi-plant photo by Paul2032:

Noteworthy acorn tips given this week:

5 people gave for the idea "A Helpful Idea for Using a Sprayer" by woofie 4 people gave for the idea "Chop and Drop Mulch" by flaflwrgrl 4 people gave for a post in "Banner for October 21, 2013 by Leftwood" by Leftwood 3 people gave for the idea "A Tool Cleaning Tip" by Claudia 3 people gave for the idea "Early Milkweed for the Monarchs" by frostweed 3 people gave for a post in "Banner for October 19, 2013 by rocklady" by rocklady 3 people gave for the idea "Macro Hack for Photographing Your Blooms" by greene 3 people gave for a post in "A request or 2" by daylily 2 people gave for the idea "Amending Soil and Fertilizing Daylilies in Our Part of the South" by tink3472 2 people gave for the idea "Dividing Daylilies, Overcoming the Fear of Separation" by Char

The most active threads this week:

Subject	OP	Area	Replies
Trimmer 2014 Introductions	Betja	Daylilies forum	39
Shaping young Star Magnolia	RoseBlush1	Ask a Question forum	37
Disable emoticons?	zuzu	Site Talk forum	28
Hypertufa project - FINISHED!	fixpix	Cactus and Tender Succulents forum	24
convertion help please!!! gallon-inch pots	jojoe	All Things Gardening forum	23
Banner for October 24, 2013 by mcash70	mcash70	Site Banners forum	22
A request or 2	crittergarden	Sandbox forum	21
Is it to late to plant dls in zone 6?	bluegrassmom	Daylilies forum	21
And the winner is	spunky1	Daylilies forum	19

Some new recommendations from our members:

virginiarose recommended Parry's Tree Farm and Nursery and wrote: I bought several lilies from a new website called "The Lily Flower Store." It is a very nice website and they have a good selection. Very user friendly! I ordered 11 lily bulbs and received an immediate response that my order was being processed. A day or two later, I received another response saying the processing had been completed, and I was given a ship date. The Lilies arrived in very good condition. Packing was great and I got free waterproof garden markers. The name is on one side and directions are on the other side -- how deep to plant, etc. I just love this company and I would recommend it to everyone. Thank you!

Roosterlorn recommended The Lily Nook and wrote: I've ordered from The Lily Nook many times over the past several years and never had any problem of significance to me. Perhaps the biggest hindrances are custom inspection fees and a slight delay in shipping time if ordering within the US. Larger orders make more sense in that case. Even so, the bulbs are so well packed that they arrive in great condition. I have many of their very hardy lilies growing here. Very colorful. Attached is my photo of Champagne Diamond, which I purchased from them last spring.

Roosterlorn recommended Faraway Flowers and wrote: This year (Fall-2013), was my first year ordering from Faraway Flowers. I can tell you that I was very impressed, not only by the quality of bulbs I received, but also and in particular by the advance notice by Email that the bulbs had been shipped with 2 day priority delivery so I could plan ahead. Aside from the fact that the bulbs I purchased were developed by another well-known hybridizer, Brian Bergman, it's attention to detail and thoroughness in shipping that mean a lot to lily hobbyists like me. Attached is my photo of Easter Morning, a very hardy lily and one of the many beautiful lilies you'll find at Faraway Flowers.

Roosterlorn recommended The Lily Garden and wrote: I have many, many lilies from The Lily Garden growing here. All are very hardy and have done very well for me. Never a problem of any kind -- always the best. The owner/operator, Judith Freeman, has 41 years of experience with lilies and has created many new lilies during that time. Judith grows all of her stock, so you're always assured of getting the best and true to name. Attached is my photo of Seafarer, just one of Judith Freeman's many beautiful creations.

Roosterlorn recommended B & D Lilies and wrote: I've been buying from B&D for years and I've never had a problem! They grow what they sell, so I'm always assured of getting the freshest bulbs that are true to name. Good people. Website contains a wealth of interesting information. A 2010 photo of a newly planted El Condor is attached.

Some numbers from last week:

• 31 new members.
• 129 new threads.
• 3,179 new posts.
• 470 new images to the plant database.
• 30 new comments in the plant database.
• 19 new Multi-Plant photos.