drdawg said:I am the supplier! Check my website for information on the ginger I grow and sell.

Thanks, Jacquie.

just sent you a tmail. If you want me to go to the website and order there I will be happy to do that also. I was tmailing you before I saw this post.

We crossed and now YOU have a T-Mail.

Oh man!
What happened to the weather today!
I was up and outside and 4 am and it felt like 70, I think it was but didn't check, wake up at 10:30 and immediately felt the chill!
Jump up and checked and it was 53!
Gimme a break!

I sure don't consider myself a Yankee! But I don't think it gets down to 50 in the south...

Brrrr!

I moved my titan out last week, he can't take under 50, so back in he came, stiff and turgid from his first real drink since he woke up around Xmas, plus an extra 100 pounds of water...

I was just marveling at the good growth things had been putting on... I don't think much of that happened today, my thermometer topped out at 61... I WAS going to pull weeds today...
They say tomorrow will be 75 and sunny, I sure hope so!
Here's some stuff waking up, always so exciting for me!
There's a lot less surprises these days than there was a few years ago, still slot of fun seeing little spikes appear...

We have been having wild temp swings here as well. Ric moved the largest tropical plants out of the GH a few weeks ago and staged them in the utility area for awhile to harden up.

The last week when son Jamie stopped by and helped Ric place them in the gardens. Here are the ones that we placed in the Rock Garden


While I am posting pics here are the latest bloomers. Two of the Hibs that were brought home from Fl. and a passion flower that I picked up last year and over wintered in the GH.

Lovely flowers, Holly.

Swayback, one very cold cold front came through here Sunday night as well.
My houseplants are all on the deck - orchids hanging under the porch, strelitza JUST taken out and heavily watered the other day.....

The weather casters here cannot be trusted. I have learned never to adjust plans for the weather sooner than 24 hours before. It wasn't their fault this time - THIS time.

House plants hanging out in the front bed. Begonias and variegated peace plant.

Holly - what's your fall procedure for bringing them back inside.
I fear that if I set the pots on the ground they'll get full of ants, millipedes and/or roly polies!

Yes, I have the same problem with critters getting into the pots, too. Well, I could tell you that 2 weeks before I bring them inside I use a systemic pesticide on them and then a second dose right before I bring them inside and a soil drench of some kind like I know I should. But in fact they usually just get swept back inside in a rush and get treated once on the patio or trailer right before they get brought inside.

I gave up the largest potted banana to my son Jamie when he came to help set the big plants in the garden the other day. By fall it will be too big to go back into the GH and it can spend it's summer next to their patio and in the fall it will be up to them weather they want to try and dormant store it for the winter or just let it go.

I'm thinking I could repot them before bringing them in, washing the whole plant and roots bare and putting them in fresh soil - but I fear I'll run short of time and have to rush them in, too.

For now, my solution is to keep them on the deck and/or back porch, up off the ground.
I still get bugs sometimes, but not NESTS of bugs.

If I was keeping them in a greenhouse, I wouldn't mind the innocuous bugs like ants, millipedes and/or roly polies!

I haven't tried soil drenches for my potted plants but I have heard that they work well. This year we did try an ammonia drench around the hostas and it makes me wonder if something like that done before I bring the house plants inside would work or if I should be looking at some other kind of drench. Also half of my living area is a concrete floor covered by ceramic tile so you pretty much can't hurt it. Spilled water, dirt and such isn't a concern. Although toxic pesticides are.
I bet your porch is just lovely in the summer.

HollyAnnS said: I bet your porch is just lovely in the summer.

Thanks, but NOT YET!!!
I move rather slowly these days.
I'm steadily making progress though!
I put the plants in place at the edge of the shade/sun line where they will live, but the rest of the porch is not even ready to stage yet!

I live by myself and I do what I do for fun, not for company, so I take the time I need to do things without feeling all hectic about it.
And I am a happy camper since I took that approach!

crittergarden said:I live by myself and I do what I do for fun, not for company, so I take the time I need to do things without feeling all hectic about it.
And I am a happy camper since I took that approach!

A wonderful attitude.

I had little choice in the matter, but I've kind of mellowed into it!

I am still having acceptance issues over my limitations, but I am getting better about it.

It's a process.

ANd you go at such a dizzying speed I am amazed!

Holly, I LOVE the trailer!
I have very little space, at this place, but it won't be long and I'll have lots more room! I'll be doing that very thing, probably with a full sized tobacco wagon!
It would sure be a lot easier than hustling my pots back and forth 2 at a time when the weather falls apart.
Is the var. peace lily named domino? Or is it another kind?

What kind of banana was it that you gave away?
The ones I keep in pots, I behead to the ground and stuff them wherever I can fit them, some inside where it's warm, others kept just above freezing. I haven't lost any that way, and it makes it possible to store them... It's tough to find any spot for a plant with a spread like they get even if you have a greenhouse!
I made a vow earlier this year, to stop making, or breaking plans based on the forecast!
I use 3 online sources and a local station to gather weather info, but after this spring, I'm not wasting anymore beautiful days on forecasters!

The Ohio valley is renowned for wild weather swings, we were near 90 on May 1 and hit 90 a few times already, 48 hours before this cold front rolled thru we were around 85... 30 degree difference between the daytime highs!

I really don't worry about the other plants, 50 is ok for most everything I grow, not much good for me though!

Personally, I've found it pointless to fight the bugs!
If I keep the plants up, it helps sometimes, other times I think it makes a better place for ants to nest, they're the ones that bother me the most! I hate ants in the house!
If you leave your pots directly touching the ground, you definitely get more rolly polies and the like!
I've come to find they are not so innocuous, I'd always been told they're decomposers, and of course they are, but they also are able to either eat live plant tissue, or more likely, they have the ability to kill off and rot live tissue, which of course is bad news, and with all my plants being bulbs, hidden away from view, they can really do some damage! I've lost plenty of small bulbs to them.

I don't use chems to kill things unless I have to, I don't in this case, repotting might help, but I feel like it's impossible to get out all the critters, or all their eggs even if you wash the roots clean before a repot, that's also a bad time of the year to repot.

I think it just comes with the territory, we need plants, plants need dirt... Bugs need homes and food, just the way it is!
I have a rescue box turtle that lives free range on my porch( plant area) so I think he helps keep things cleaned up!
Nothing more exciting than watching a turtle chase down a worm! It's just sad when you have to go slow the worm down, for the turtle to win the race.

Swayback, Don't know the ID on either the var. peace lily or the Banana. I picked up the lily as an end of garden show purchase. They sell off plants that were used in the displays at very discounted prices but no id came with it. The banana came a a pup from friends of my son and no id with it either. I know that it isn't hardy in my zone 6 and that the leaves tend to shred in the wind which my other bananas don't seem to do. Son Josh original owner of the Mother Banana cut back all the leaves took it out of it's pot and stored the whole trunk in his basement. One year there was a soft spot fairly low on the trunk and it broke off. But it put up a new trunk, which made me think that we could maybe just cut it off and store it inside. Right now the trailer is loaded with EE's the second load to come out of the GH. It is a very handy trailer.

HollyAnnS said:It is a very handy trailer.

Prices have come down since domino hit the market, but you should check prices, you might be surprised! Especially if that's not domino! Those end of the show sales can yield some great stuff!

Pretty rare to find a banana that is hardy here, I'm sure your part of Z6 isn't much different than mine...

Aside from the awesome look, I continue to grow banana just because I can store them, no worry about dirt and leaves, all that matters is the bulb... The trunk is really just a modified portion of the leaf.
I have good luck both ways I've tried, the one I described above works good for ones in pots, big ones in the ground, I pop out, cut the top off the trunk, but leave it on, the bulb draws water out of it.
I usually just put them under the house, they just look like green logs.
They look pretty rough come spring but the bulbs stay firm and shoot right back up.
I want to get some to fruit up here but haven't pulled it off yet.