Nice trees all, Alan. Again, showing your love of color. I'll bet you're glad to see Fall and Winter on the way, too.

Fall and Spring are a close tie for my favorite times of the year :)

alan

My money's on Fall......I could be very happy living somewhere that is Fall all year. Well, really most of the year here is pretty good...except Summer. Hate Summer...truly Hate Summer.

whe had some years like that , winter , a summer that looks like fall , nasty cold till winter with havy frost. Spend a bucket full of money on petrol for the heaters in the greenhousse,s. Lost so many plants in those years took several years to gett those species back and still dont have some of them back.
Just thinking about it gives my nightmare whith my eye,s open

We're lucky here since we don't get unbearably cold or hot. We've always used woodstoves for heat and have grown enough of our own firewood to not need to buy any. We don't get many days over 100, so we're able to do okay with fans and no AC. Our main cost is the high cost of water. Our rates have gone up 60% in the last 4 years and most of the avocado groves in our area are being let die...terrible. Welive in this prime area for agriculture and the water costs will force everyone out of business. I'm pulling out planted areas and planting more and more to natives. When we think of moving, we have to take into consideration heating costs, AC costs in other areas.
I love snow and winter, of course, because we don't get much here...but someone from Jersey posted getting snow night before last and a friend in New Mexico posted that they got some last night and I'm not sure I would want it that early in the season. I'm normally jealous that someone else is getting snow, but I think I'm still in a Fall frame of mind.
The costs of heating the greenhouses...people come out here on vacation or whatever and rave about how cheap the plants are in the nurseries...well, the growers here are not paying those huge heating bills. Even without the highest heating bills, our propane guy said last winter that their business was much slower since a lot of the growers could not afford to heat the greenhouses. Our area here is prime nursery country...many large wholesale growers and many,many nurseries going out of business. The economy, plus the water costs and heating costs....too many businesses will never recover. I had a small nusery specializing in salvia and it just wasn't worth it right now. Nobody is planting.......
I hope you have a mild winter, Ferenc.
Alan, I hope you have a spectacular winter in Az...rain and all that...lol.

Thanks Sherry , i have a smal nursery in tropical plants therefor a higher bill regarding petrol for the heaters than other nurseries overhere, but on the otherend they dont sell plants that i have in my collection.
So i have a steady group of customers trou out Europe , have to say that i have a job in a 5 shift system be side the nursery to have a steady income and my wife does the nursery for a big part.
Two souls and one mind So she is also in stained glass and tiffany, she makes windgongs , dolls and also a combination of windgongdoll that you can place out in your garden, she is very creative and even better than i am in tiffany
I will bring in a windgongdoll and make a picture of it.

That's a good idea, show us a pic....'cause I sure don't know what a windgongdoll is....lol. I was thinking windchimes, then whirligigs...combination of the two? We build things also...right now Jer is working on a prototype for an electric bicycle. Normally we build and / or remodel, but right now it's more important to have income since our house has dropped in value by about half...lol.. We all do what we have to do. Good to be selling plants that nobody else has.

She makes the face,hands , feets out off clay and body out off electricwire .

Sherry, they are saying no rain this winter, because of la nina or el nino, can't remember which. We sure could use the rain, was a terribly dry monsoon season.

Ferenc, your wife is as taleneted as you. Love those winddongs. I don't think I've seen anything like them. It's hard to tell what they are made out of, is that brass? She makes the statue's too?

Yes i believe you call it brass , the statue is out of limestone worked on with a hammer and rasp with a steel pipe placed in the middle to hold the windgongdoll , the clothes and complete doll incl the statue are been covered with pretex to make it water resistant and when its dry the clothes stay in that shape as they are, or you whant them to be.

Yeah, Alan...La Nina. I was hoping that wouldn't affect you, but Farmers' Almanac does say whole Southwest drier than normal...sigh.
Now I know what winddongdolls are!..lol...Very nice and you are both talented.

I'll show off my garden Weathervane Towers that Jer made for me last year...

Whauw Sherry those look great , overhere there whould be a market for those Weathervane Towers and im sure in the US also , you could sell those by the internet

I am in awe at everyone's talents. I have none

And I never wish for snow anymore.



Karen

lol...too much snow is not a good thing. I understand your pain.....lol. Here we wait in anticipation for the first snow at Julian in the mountains 45 minutes from here...go enjoy the snow and come home. I did spend a couple of winters in Iowa and enjoyed it though. My husband, who's from there was not so enamored though...lol. Karen, I'm sure you do have talents.You're a gardener, all gardeners have talent.

Thank you, Ferenc. I'll tell him you liked them. He's much like you, can do anything. Not interested in gardening, though. He has mentioned orchids, not sure what it is about men and orchids, but if we move to a colder climate, I think he might like to have a greenhouse and orchids.
The towers would be a fortune in shipping with the weight. He's not done anything about selling any here.

With reports of snow coming in from Jersey, New Mexico and the possibility in Washington, this next week, it does seem as though it's pushing the season a bit. I think it's time for me to bring up some firewood to be ready....

Apparently snow this early isn't unheard of in the northeast, but the amount could be. (6-12")
http://www.weather.com/outlook...

I guess maybe Ohio isn't so bad after all!

Karen

I don't know if they have these in Europe. Alan, I'm pretty sure you would have them in Arizona. The first ones we saw several years ago were pretty cool, then they started popping up in lots of places and soon lost their 'uniqueness'. Coming in from Mexico, I think. From our house, it's 72 miles to Borrego Springs, very small town which is in the Anza Borrego Desert. We're not desert people and hate hot weather, so we've seldom gone out there. Took a run out there last winter, however, and we're really surprised to find these....they just somehow seemed quite appropriate there....all by themselves, in the middle of the desert.....

Hahaha...yes, very common on interstate 40. They were putting in some homes one block north of me, and haulted all construction. They had found the Mammuthus primigenius. Who would have thought, with their long wooly coats, at one time they lived here in Chandler, AZ. It must have been much colder back then.

I am luvin the statues.Lots of talent here.

After the two years I spent in Arizona, I was never anxious to go back, only to cross the state a few times going cross country. All these years and I'd never been to the Grand Canyon...so several years ago we went to Prescott, Jerome, Sedona and the Canyon. Went in the winter, of course...lol. I loved it all and find myself in the last couple of weeks wanting to go back now that it's cooler again. There was a bakery in Prescott that I would hope would still be there....and since they've built the new Skywalk, Jer would like to go out on that. Uh, not for me, but if he wants to that's fine. I have this slight thing about heights and when we were there last time I was stunned to see that there are few guard rails and just how close stupid people stand to the edge (which led me to come home and get a book on The Canyon, just to see how many people have fallen in). Surprisingly, not as many as I would have thought. When Jer insisted on standing on the edge, I made sure that he left the car keys with me....lol.
http://www.grandcanyonskywalk....

I've seen those pictures before but never been there. I don't know how well I'd do on that either.

Karen