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Mar 6, 2013 9:45 PM CST
Baltimore County, MD (Zone 7a)
A bit of this and a bit of that
Charter ATP Member I was one of the first 300 contributors to the plant database! I helped beta test the Garden Planting Calendar Garden Sages The WITWIT Badge Herbs
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Mar 7, 2013 12:45 AM CST
Name: Natalie
North Central Idaho (Zone 7a)
Celebrating Gardening: 2015 Dog Lover Daylilies Irises Plant Lover: Loves 'em all! Hummingbirder
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Ken, I finally found time tonight to spend some more time on your site, and I love it! I love how passionate you are about the plants, and how it got me excited about the plants! That is a big plus! I've never grown anything remotely tropical, and I'm not sure I'd have any luck with them in Idaho, but I may have to give it a try! It's a really great site, and the photos are beautiful!

The only thing that confused me was the One-Of-A-Kind Plants/Mounts section. What is a mount? That's probably a silly question, since probably everyone who are interested in tropical plants already knows the answer, but I haven't got the slightest idea of what it is. Maybe a little explanation would be good? After all, someone may come along like me, not knowing anything about tropical plants, and then they may just have to have one because they will know what it is. I was thinking that maybe I had missed a section on the left side that said "Mounts", but when I checked, I didn't see that listed as a link.

With that said, I saw afterwards that the Staghorn Ferns were mounted, which I had missed the first time, and it made perfect sense. Oooohh! They are awesome!!! I need to find out if our new house has Low-E glass or not. I've got that glass in my house now, and was told that house plants will not survive because the UV light can't get in. If the windows in Idaho aren't that glass, I'm going to have to get one of them! Actually, I'm not sure that it's the Low-E part that keeps the UV light out, or if it's a coating on the glass, but it's one of those two things.
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Mar 7, 2013 7:33 AM CST
Name: Ken Ramsey
Vero Beach, FL (Zone 10a)
Bromeliad Vegetable Grower Region: United States of America Tropicals Plumerias Orchids
Region: Mississippi Master Gardener: Mississippi Hummingbirder Cat Lover Composter Seller of Garden Stuff
OK, Natalie, I guess I don't need to explain "mounts". Mounting plants basically does three good things: It gets the plants off the floor/table/window sill, it displays the plants at eye-level, and the epiphytic plants grow more naturally, just as they do in nature.

Low-E glass is an interesting subject. Did you know that there are two basic types of low-E glass, one used in cold climates and one used in hot climates. The hot climate types do indeed reflect the UV from sunlight and prevents some/most of it from entering the house. The cold climate types actually reflect the heat back into the house, which keeps the home warmer. Thus, one has the coating on the outside glass and the other has the coating on the inside glass. That being said, I don't think tropical plants care whether they receive UV or not. Most tropicals, in nature, grow under a heavy canopy of limbs and leaves, getting little if any sunlight. There are literally 100's if not 1000's of greenhouses built with low-E glass. Plants grow in them just like they do in any other greenhouse. My conclusion: Don't worry about the low-E glass and since you'll live in the north, UV isn't an issue anyway.

Thanks for your kind words. I put in a lot of work on the site and yes, I am passionate about growing tropical plants.

P. S. I have shipped tropical plants to each and every northern-tier state, including Idaho. Houseplants grow there just like they do anywhere else. Ken
drdawg (Dr. Kenneth Ramsey)

The reason it's so hard to lose weight when you get up in age is because your body and your fat have become good friends.
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Mar 7, 2013 9:41 AM CST
Baltimore County, MD (Zone 7a)
A bit of this and a bit of that
Charter ATP Member I was one of the first 300 contributors to the plant database! I helped beta test the Garden Planting Calendar Garden Sages The WITWIT Badge Herbs
Composter Container Gardener Seed Starter Vegetable Grower Dog Lover Garden Ideas: Master Level
We're drifting kinda far from garlic, but do you sell plumerias to people in non-tropical climates? Can they be grown as houseplants (housetrees Hilarious! )? I'm intrigued! They are one of my favorite plants (I'm wearing a plumeria-shaped necklace at this very moment Lovey dubby ), but I figured it was hopeless for me to ever have one.
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Mar 7, 2013 10:00 AM CST
Name: Ken Ramsey
Vero Beach, FL (Zone 10a)
Bromeliad Vegetable Grower Region: United States of America Tropicals Plumerias Orchids
Region: Mississippi Master Gardener: Mississippi Hummingbirder Cat Lover Composter Seller of Garden Stuff
Bit, I sell far more Plumeria cuttings/rooted cuttings to non-tropical area people than to those in zones 10-11. Probably 10-1 ratio. I live in an anything-but-tropical region, and grow them successfully. Plumeria simply need different care (think dormancy) for us in non-tropical areas. Now, you might be able to grow them inside a house, but I doubt you will ever see them bloom. They are trees in the tropics and need full sunlight to bloom and be vigorous growers. I send "care" instructions with every one I ship out so you know what to do with the plants when you get them. I also describe the "dormancy" part of growing them on my website, www.tropicalplantsandmore.com. Ken
drdawg (Dr. Kenneth Ramsey)

The reason it's so hard to lose weight when you get up in age is because your body and your fat have become good friends.
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Mar 7, 2013 11:24 AM CST
Name: Natalie
North Central Idaho (Zone 7a)
Celebrating Gardening: 2015 Dog Lover Daylilies Irises Plant Lover: Loves 'em all! Hummingbirder
Frogs and Toads Native Plants and Wildflowers Cottage Gardener Lover of wildlife (Black bear badge) Region: United States of America Xeriscape
drdawg said:OK, Natalie, I guess I don't need to explain "mounts". Mounting plants basically does three good things: It gets the plants off the floor/table/window sill, it displays the plants at eye-level, and the epiphytic plants grow more naturally, just as they do in nature.


Ken, while I figured it out by clicking on the links on the left side of the page, I think it would be a really good idea to post what you said above, under the "Mounts" heading. I'm sure that there are a lot of people, like me, who don't know what it is, but end up on your site. Just making a little remark about it would clear up any confusion, and I'm positive that it would make people dig deeper into the site, since they would want to see an example. Other than that, the site is perfect!

I have had zero luck growing houseplants here in Utah, and I'm blaming it on the windows, since I've been successful before moving here. It's good to know that I may be able to grow something more tropical. If I have room, I'll be ordering something from you!

Garlic may be my first order! I'll have to see how soon we can get moved and get our current home sold. Hopefully that won't take too long so that I can focus all of my energy on planting things at the new house!
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Mar 7, 2013 1:42 PM CST
Name: Ken Ramsey
Vero Beach, FL (Zone 10a)
Bromeliad Vegetable Grower Region: United States of America Tropicals Plumerias Orchids
Region: Mississippi Master Gardener: Mississippi Hummingbirder Cat Lover Composter Seller of Garden Stuff
Hummmm. I just don't know about the window issue. Unless your windows are/were north exposure, the window treatment should have made absolutely no difference. That is doubly true since Utah would have had "inside" treatment, done to keep the warmth in, and that has no effect on UV. Even then, I know for a fact that UV has little if any affect on plants. When people grow under "gro-lights", the spectrum is not even close to the UV spectrum. UV is actually what will sunburn a tropical plant, so one really would not want much of that spectrum regardless. Natalie, you have stumped me.

Perhaps someone out there can shed some light on this matter, no pun intended. Ken
drdawg (Dr. Kenneth Ramsey)

The reason it's so hard to lose weight when you get up in age is because your body and your fat have become good friends.
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Mar 7, 2013 9:48 PM CST
Name: Natalie
North Central Idaho (Zone 7a)
Celebrating Gardening: 2015 Dog Lover Daylilies Irises Plant Lover: Loves 'em all! Hummingbirder
Frogs and Toads Native Plants and Wildflowers Cottage Gardener Lover of wildlife (Black bear badge) Region: United States of America Xeriscape
No matter what, I'm still going to blame the windows. I had a plant for almost a year that sat on the kitchen window sill. It was super healthy. Within 2 months of replacing the window, it was dead. Nothing else had changed in that time. The neighbor across the street had the same problem when they replaced their windows with the same ones that we have, though they replaced theirs about a year after we did. She has one of the original windows on the South side of her house, which didn't get replaced, and it's the only window she has where plants will survive. She had plants on all of her window sills before and after the replacement, and the only ones that didn't die were the ones by the old window. I can't believe it was just both of us having bad luck! Or maybe it was, but that would be very strange!

Do you know when your garlic will be posted for sale?
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Mar 8, 2013 8:14 AM CST
Name: Ken Ramsey
Vero Beach, FL (Zone 10a)
Bromeliad Vegetable Grower Region: United States of America Tropicals Plumerias Orchids
Region: Mississippi Master Gardener: Mississippi Hummingbirder Cat Lover Composter Seller of Garden Stuff
I just don't have a good answer for the window question. I would agree that this sounds like more than just coincidence. Hope someone with more knowledge than I will come up with something.

I will likely post the available garlic varieties sometime in April. Everything is growing well, but I still want to wait a while just to be sure I will have everything I planted last October. You never know when growing plants. Something could wipe out the whole crop! Thanks for your interest. Ken
drdawg (Dr. Kenneth Ramsey)

The reason it's so hard to lose weight when you get up in age is because your body and your fat have become good friends.
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Mar 8, 2013 10:39 AM CST
Name: Natalie
North Central Idaho (Zone 7a)
Celebrating Gardening: 2015 Dog Lover Daylilies Irises Plant Lover: Loves 'em all! Hummingbirder
Frogs and Toads Native Plants and Wildflowers Cottage Gardener Lover of wildlife (Black bear badge) Region: United States of America Xeriscape
Thanks for letting me know when it will probably be available. Hopefully I'll be moved by then!

Another thought about the windows... They do keep the heat in during the winter, but they also keep the heat out during the summer. Seems to me that if they are only meant to do one or the other, they couldn't do both. But, they do both. So, there must be more to it? I'm not going to worry about it either way. We're selling this house anyway, and while the new place has windows, I have no idea if they have the same type of glass in them.
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Mar 8, 2013 3:20 PM CST
Name: Ken Ramsey
Vero Beach, FL (Zone 10a)
Bromeliad Vegetable Grower Region: United States of America Tropicals Plumerias Orchids
Region: Mississippi Master Gardener: Mississippi Hummingbirder Cat Lover Composter Seller of Garden Stuff
OK, you have duel panes then. When are you actually making your move?
drdawg (Dr. Kenneth Ramsey)

The reason it's so hard to lose weight when you get up in age is because your body and your fat have become good friends.
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Mar 8, 2013 3:25 PM CST
Name: Natalie
North Central Idaho (Zone 7a)
Celebrating Gardening: 2015 Dog Lover Daylilies Irises Plant Lover: Loves 'em all! Hummingbirder
Frogs and Toads Native Plants and Wildflowers Cottage Gardener Lover of wildlife (Black bear badge) Region: United States of America Xeriscape
Ken, not soon enough! The sellers are still in our house in Idaho, but they are supposed to be out by the end of the month. So, sometimes after they are gone, we'll start moving. We also have to sell our house here in Utah, and being here to do that would be easier, so we're not sure when we'll be totally moved.
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Mar 8, 2013 5:26 PM CST
Baltimore County, MD (Zone 7a)
A bit of this and a bit of that
Charter ATP Member I was one of the first 300 contributors to the plant database! I helped beta test the Garden Planting Calendar Garden Sages The WITWIT Badge Herbs
Composter Container Gardener Seed Starter Vegetable Grower Dog Lover Garden Ideas: Master Level
Natalie, this link might clear things up a bit (or make them muddier, I'm not sure): http://www.inda-gro.com/unders...

In short, plants may benefit from some UV, but only the end very near the visible spectrum. Your windows may block other useful wavelengths, though.

In long (I've never been good with short Whistling )... Plants look green because that's the light they reflect, the stuff they use is shorter and longer wavelengths than green (wavelength determines the color of light). If your windows are blocking 100% of the UV, your plants should still be able to function from other wavelengths of light, but might not thrive quite as well. That's the difference between growing plants under standard bulbs versus grow lights - many people do just fine with the former, but you get the best results from the latter, because they have a broader spectrum, usually including some UV (though it varies with the type of bulb). To complicate things further, plants use light differently at different stages of life - they'll benefit more from light on the blue end as seedlings and in vegetative growth, and toward the red end in flower or fruit production. There are also differences between plants - as Ken mentioned, many tropicals that we grow as houseplants come from the understory, where they'd see green light filtered through the trees above. Although chlorophyll doesn't absorb green light, plants have other pigments that can, and the ratio of different pigments varies between plants, between leaves on the same plant, and throughout the plant's life.

I don't know a darn thing about windows. If you can find out what wavelengths of light yours are reflecting versus passing, you can compare it to the needs of the plants you have, and maybe get an answer. Within the visible spectrum, you can get an idea using a glass prism - if certain wavelengths are reflected by your windows, you won't see those colors in the rainbow produced by a prism inside the window... but this doesn't help with the UV, since you can't see it anyway. Shrug!
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Mar 8, 2013 5:51 PM CST
Name: Natalie
North Central Idaho (Zone 7a)
Celebrating Gardening: 2015 Dog Lover Daylilies Irises Plant Lover: Loves 'em all! Hummingbirder
Frogs and Toads Native Plants and Wildflowers Cottage Gardener Lover of wildlife (Black bear badge) Region: United States of America Xeriscape
bit, thanks so much for that great information! My head hurts from trying to cram it in there, but I'll be fine in a day or two! I've read up on it before, but never quite figured the whole thing out. What you wrote made more sense than anything I've read in the past, so I appreciate you taking the time to explain it to me!

I do know that mine block 100%. One benefit is that the furniture doesn't fade, which is nice. Maybe the plant that I had, and that my neighbor had, required some UV. I'm not worried about it now since the next owner can worry about it instead. I do have a prism to check the spectrum with, but it's already packed away. It will be interesting to see what happens at the other house though!
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Mar 8, 2013 6:28 PM CST
Name: Ken Ramsey
Vero Beach, FL (Zone 10a)
Bromeliad Vegetable Grower Region: United States of America Tropicals Plumerias Orchids
Region: Mississippi Master Gardener: Mississippi Hummingbirder Cat Lover Composter Seller of Garden Stuff
You would never know that Bit is a university professor, would you. Way to go, Bit.

P.S. Perhaps that is why my plants grow so well, staying outside for 6-8 mo. a year. No glass to worry about! Ken
drdawg (Dr. Kenneth Ramsey)

The reason it's so hard to lose weight when you get up in age is because your body and your fat have become good friends.
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Mar 17, 2013 7:57 PM CST
Name: Arlene
Grantville, GA (Zone 8a)
Greenhouse Region: Georgia Garden Sages Organic Gardener Beekeeper Vegetable Grower
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Okay, it's been awhile, but I finally got a picture of my garlic, one row, partially weeded. There's another row but too embarassing to show, too many weeds (wheat grass growing from the straw mulch) The green stuff on either side is crimson clover grown for green manure.


Thumb of 2013-03-18/abhege/50318f
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Mar 17, 2013 11:43 PM CST
Name: Natalie
North Central Idaho (Zone 7a)
Celebrating Gardening: 2015 Dog Lover Daylilies Irises Plant Lover: Loves 'em all! Hummingbirder
Frogs and Toads Native Plants and Wildflowers Cottage Gardener Lover of wildlife (Black bear badge) Region: United States of America Xeriscape
Very nice!!!
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Mar 18, 2013 6:29 AM CST
Name: Ken Ramsey
Vero Beach, FL (Zone 10a)
Bromeliad Vegetable Grower Region: United States of America Tropicals Plumerias Orchids
Region: Mississippi Master Gardener: Mississippi Hummingbirder Cat Lover Composter Seller of Garden Stuff
I agree
drdawg (Dr. Kenneth Ramsey)

The reason it's so hard to lose weight when you get up in age is because your body and your fat have become good friends.
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Mar 18, 2013 2:04 PM CST
Thread OP
Name: Mary
The dry side of Oregon
Be yourself, you can be no one else
Charter ATP Member Farmer Region: Oregon Enjoys or suffers cold winters
Looking good. Most of my regular sized garlic is up, and the elephant garlic is just starting. We had a week of warmish weather, (warmish for March) and now we are back to freezing nights and not much warmer days. First day of spring is right around the corner, so the calendar says.
Of all the things I've lost, I miss my mind the most.
More ramblings at http://thegatheringplacehome.m...
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Mar 18, 2013 5:26 PM CST
Name: Arlene
Grantville, GA (Zone 8a)
Greenhouse Region: Georgia Garden Sages Organic Gardener Beekeeper Vegetable Grower
Seed Starter Cut Flowers Composter Keeper of Poultry Keeps Goats Avid Green Pages Reviewer
Yay, spring!

I got the other row almost all weeded today. Most of the tips are yellow (burnt looking) but otherwise the garlic looks really healthy. We had more cold weather this winter than last so we're hoping for a good garlic crop. Maybe next year we'll have to do three rows! I'm pretty sure I could sell it all at market!

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