Glad to hear your surgery went well Val!

Val, ditto what Elena said, I am glad to hear the surgery went well. I'm sorry to hear about the diabetes diagnosis in your pup. I'm staring at *my* shih tzu right now wondering if she isn't too far from a similar diagnosis. She's 11 and is getting rather large (despite not eating much). No doubt, a casualty of us being so busy lately that she doesn't get many walks. Then again, I often think she is getting large as her coat lengthens into an overly-fluffy version of the puppy cut and then I shave her down and realize she isn't that big after all. Maybe she just needs a shave.

Anyway, glad to see you back! Time of year aside, the seed swap feels a bit like Thanksgiving to me...you get to 'see' the family that you have been too busy the rest of the year to see. And maybe someone can't make it one year, but everyone tries, because it's family. (And heck, it's fun!) Wouldn't be the same without ya, Val!


...
I also love how our family keeps expanding. It isn't time just yet for an email, but I will be trying to get one out in a few weeks to welcome our newer members and make sure everyone is on track and doing okay with the swap. I like to do it about a month before, but since I will likely be closing on the new house and moving that week, my email might be a little tardy this year.

Val!

Great to hear from you! I know it's all my fault but it has to get better, lol. I even snuck in here to come check the swap and new happenings and Rooster injected himself with his epi pen. Uggh. I thought he was in her room with her. That is what happens every time I try to go online, lol. It's always something. Luckily, this wasn't life threatening.

I have been meaning to come in and check in with everyone but this season has really been about my vegetable garden and Rooster. He's really needed me a great deal since Feb and things just haven't quite gotten back on track yet for my full gardening ventures. But, they will next year. I intend to be much better prepared. I've chosen drought tolerant plants which include wonderful zinnias and then a bit more that can handle me tending more to my vegetable garden and still have time for Rooster without them going to hell in a hand basket. I lost so much this year and am so disappointed in the way things went. But, that is gardening and I always have the hope for next year, lol.

My vegetable garden did well this year but sadly, I have to decrease it. I have an entire section that is more shaded than sunny. I would have to cut a fairly large tree out of the back of my yard. We're still talking about it. As much as I love my flowers, I love my vegetables more and I really need that space. My ground is finally about as perfect as it is ever going to get. Chuck has done a great job with my soil. I've canned a great deal of tomatoes this year but my peppers got stuck with the shade. So not much there. I had some iron and clay peas that never blossomed but took over several rows of other beans I had planted. I finally had Chuck mow them down last week.

Everything is winding down here and I'm out every day collecting seed and pulling the dead getting ready for next year. I've managed to get some clippings for what little overwintering I can do in my office/bedroom. Mostly my coleus that don't flower and my dentist's geranium from last year. My gosh that thing was beautiful this year. I kept it in a pot and it just was a favorite of mine. For some reason it will not go to seed though. I guess it's just one I'll overwinter every year.

I really do love our little group and am so happy to see those that can return and some new faces too. I love that this is my kick off swap for the season with ya'll. I really think I'm ready for our fall. I'm only halfway through planning next year's gardens and I need some time off to get it done. I'm loving the offerings that are coming up as they have inspired me greatly for next year. Mine are about to wind down but I'll still be putting a few more things up. Glad to see everyone and looking forward to when I can be in a bit more than I've been out.

Happy, happy. happy! Yep, that describes me today. Not once, but twice I lucked up monumentally. I have a coleus that did not flower this year. So, I took cuttings for next year. Rachale's (my dil) aunt has the same coleus. I went to her house today and bingo! Hers bloomed and went to seed and I have it! Yep, I'm doing that happy dance.

I'm so excited and happy while grocery shopping that I decide to go to lowe's for some potting soil and vermiculite. Well, while I'm at Lowe's, they have a clearance rack. Guess what's on that clearance rack? Tons and tons of half dead or plain just not bought coral bells! And just how much was Lowe's selling these for? $1. Yeppers, I loaded up. I bought 9. Would have been 10 but an old friend of mine that works there got the mate to one of mine. I'm not greedy. She can have it, mine will flower next year, lol. Seriously, I bought caramel, marvelous marble, carnival cocomint, red sea and midnight rose. Woohoo, happiness abounds today. Not much I can do about seeds for them this year, but next year, we just might have a few to choose from. :)

They just opened the first Lowes near me. Was so excited! But when I went the garden center was mostly empty. Guess they decided since they missed the summer season they weren't going to stock it.

Can't wait until next year though!

Aww, that's kind of crappy. What are you supposed to do for potting soil this winter? I was really irritated with Walmart because they had potting soil but no vermiculite. That's when I truly decided to go to Lowe's. Lowe's had the vermiculite but not miracle grow potting soil. So back to walmart I went for potting soil. I hate that place.

I do think they won't stock much other than pots, and stuff like that. Hang in there Elena, spring is coming. Lol.

Karen, nice finds!!! I love the clearance rack at my local Home Depot but, for some reason, Lowe's clearance rack hasn't been as good the last year or two. I can tell you, though, that I purchased 'Caramel' corral bells a couple of years ago, half-dead, and money pulled through beautifully. I bought it for the name and wondered if I would regret purchasing a plant that is brown, naturally.... But it's actually really pretty. I like it. It will be staying with the house when we move, but I intend to get another eventually.

Glad to hear you got your coleus seeds, too. Sounds like you really did have a couple of strokes of good fortune! I hope it keeps up!

Burpee's is having a seed sale, 10 packets for $20, shipping is free. Limited items, though, only the stuff on this page: http://www.burpee.com/seed-sal...

I jumped on the 'candy showers' snapdragons, cuphea and some sunflowers. :D

@KarenHolt Weirdly enough, I've found Amazon to be a great place to buy certain potting soils and amendments... with free shipping, even. Vermiculite is so light, everyone is very excited to ship it to you for free, so I don't even go into the stores for that anymore. Same goes for perlite. I get all my coconut coir bricks from Amazon (sometimes they're on lightning deals for super cheap) and I've even gotten worm castings and container soil mixes from them for the same price or less than going to the nursery. For those heavier things, you generally have to be a Prime member to get free shipping.

I looooove being able to order these things online now. Especially since my 'good' local nursery closes earlier starting at the end of summer and Home Depot and Lowe's are usually kind of 'meh' for selection.

DogsNDaylilies said:Karen, nice finds!!! I love the clearance rack at my local Home Depot but, for some reason, Lowe's clearance rack hasn't been as good the last year or two. I can tell you, though, that I purchased 'Caramel' corral bells a couple of years ago, half-dead, and money pulled through beautifully. I bought it for the name and wondered if I would regret purchasing a plant that is brown, naturally.... But it's actually really pretty. I like it. It will be staying with the house when we move, but I intend to get another eventually.

Dnd, do you have any pics of yours? The caramel is the one that didn't get the pair so I wasn't really upset because I'm sitting here wondering if red will go with it? I have a purple passion flower vine with purple hearts planted around it, and then hostas. I'm considering putting some bright red coleus behind it next year or maybe more of my indian summer if it makes it through my overwintering.

I do have a picture from earlier in the season, but I would have to sift through thousands of pictures on my phone to find it, LoL! And that picture probably doesn't show the flowers. It is flowering again right now, so I will take a picture of it tomorrow for you.

Thanks Dnd!

Joolie, thanks for the heads up on the burpee sale. I found only 5 things I might purchase. Have to look again I guess. Also, I am an Amazon Prime member so I may end up looking into it. I usually wait until they have a great sale going and then stock up but this year I missed the sale. Just crazy busy this year. If I run out of this stuff, I do think I'll look them up on amazon though.

'Caramel' coral bells




It hasn't really started turning it's fall colors yet, I think the warm weather kicked in just as it might have turned and now it's confused, LoL!

It is typically more tans, yellows, and peachy colors than that, even in the summer.

Thanks Dnd. I think I'm going to like this more than I thought. I placed it in a spot that might just help pull my north gardens together. Mine is the tan, green and reddish color right now so I think I'm seeing summer colors. They transplanted well so maybe I'll get these through the winter.

Here is a picture I took of it two years ago at the beginning of summer (in July):

Thank you! I do think I'll like this. Nice to know that it's going to be a lighter color than what I expected. I kind of wanted to know what it would look like come summer.

KarenHolt said:Thanks Dnd!

Joolie, thanks for the heads up on the burpee sale. I found only 5 things I might purchase. Have to look again I guess. Also, I am an Amazon Prime member so I may end up looking into it. I usually wait until they have a great sale going and then stock up but this year I missed the sale. Just crazy busy this year. If I run out of this stuff, I do think I'll look them up on amazon though.

There weren't a ton of things on the Burpee sale. I'm just lucky there were enough of the fancy things that came in very small quantities so I have a better margin for error for planting!

The Prime Day sales were only so-so this year. Depending on what you were looking for, I guess, but I am always looking for gardening stuff and gifts and their gardening stuff was meh. I got a box of coconut coir bricks, but they weren't SO much more discounted than usual that it was worth being tied to my phone. And the *&^#@%$ing gift cards always sell out literally immediately.

THIS is probably my favorite thing to be able to buy mail-order: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00062KQ42/ It's so cheap and I always use it in the potting soil I mix up and it never comes with bugs. I occasionally get tired of mixing my own soil and get https://www.amazon.com/dp/B005IZ2T24/ but ugh sometimes it comes with bugs. Also huh, that price went up. Guess I'm not getting it from Amazon for a while, haha.

I really wish I could figure out a less time-consuming and wrist-hurting method of mixing up my own potting mix. If I keep bags of soil around, I always get fungus gnats. If I keep the dry bricks of coir I don't get them but I have to hydrate them and then mix in nutrients and other amendments depending on the planting.

Oh my, oh gee, the incredible trials and tribulations I endure.

Well, I do this with my potting mix. Buy a few bags for winter. Open two and put in one of those large plastic bins. That one generally gets me through since I will spend Oct getting my winter sow jugs ready with holes and dirt. The rest I keep in the back yard stacked in the event I need more come spring or during the winter, which I usually do. That should help with the gnats so you aren't dealing with coir and mixing issues.

Unfortunately, my climate isn't an ideal one for storing bags of potting soil outside. I learned my lessons there the hard way. Even just recalling the Potting Soil Incident of Winter 2016 is enough to make me start unconsciously scratching. :lol:

I'm probably one of the WORST types of people to love gardening, since I apparently have a super opinionated amygdala and ultra paranoid nervous system. During the height of summer, me going out in my yard often ends with an adrenaline rush one should only experience while competing on Fear Factor. Haha.

I actually love many kinds of bugs, but somehow between my childhood days of happily chasing them and now, my body decided the best response to most bugs is to produce a deluxe fight or flight response, including a whole body sweat. Why, I do not know. I keep gardening anyway. I love bees and hummingbirds and other wild birds and bugs and I want to feed and house them all. I just wish I could bribe my nervous system into producing less norepinephrine and more nitric oxide. (Exception: Bumblebees. They do not freak me out. If they flew at me they would, but they don't. I love bumblebees so much I can't even. If there is a heaven, it involves being able to pet immortal bumblebees.)

My newest strategy for fungus gnats is my two carnivorous plants, the Cape Sundew and Mexican Butterwort. I guess we'll see how well they perform the next time I tire of mixing up coir and get a bag of mix instead!

Joolie I tend to freak out with bugs in the house. Lately I've been getting better though.I love spiders anywhere, even the poisonous ones that bite me.

I always leave my soil outside and you definitely find weird bugs around them. Once in NC I got a bag and it had a bunch of land planaria in it. Didn't know what they were but they looked familiar. In high school we had to dissect the water ones since if you cut them in half they grow into 2 different planaria.