Thursday, January 24, 2008

Saving Poinsettias and More Great Tips

There will be two posts today, as I want to get out some information later on regarding an important organization and meeting next week. Look for it this afternoon.

Lola, a faithful reader in Florida, writes she has saved this poinsettia by repotting it in the spring and placing in outside in dappled shade. It sure looks beautiful and it is not too late to still save those poinsettias for those readers up here too! Repot and leave in the house until May or so, then put into the garden and I bet you too might get some really nice blooms like Lola.

I introduced Lola a few days ago, but it bears mentioning again. She is originally from Paris, Tennessee and used to pass through Clarksville on her trips between Florida and Paris. Sadly, her days of traveling are few and far between due to a hip injury-but gladly she still gardens and promises to share some great tips-just like some of you other regulars out there! She tells me she has pots all along a chain link fence which she fills with flowers, mostly petunias. She also uses large black tubs nursery's sell trees in to do some vegetable gardening. Some vegetables she grows are: squash, Egyptian onions, carrots and tomatoes to name just a few. Like Skeeter, Lola has spider plants coming out her ears amongst impatiens, geraniums and others. Another great tip Lola has is to use wreath holders to hang flower pots up. The hook works great.

Lola is a proud greatgrandmother to two little boys, Nicholas and Anthony. I love those names Lola. When I was pregnant with my twins I was told I would have a boy and a girl. The boys name was to be Nicholas Anthony! What a coincidence. When I had two girls I split the girls name I had picked out, Christine Elizabeth, hence my twins are Christine and Elizabeth. Had I had two boys, it would have been Nicholas and Anthony, I am sure.

I especially enjoyed Lola's email because she talked about her grandchildren and teaching them about gardening. Her grandson was just five years old when he planted, tended, harvested and ate corn all by himself (with a little help from grandma in the form of guidance). Her youngest grandson was in awe when he first learned carrots come out of the ground. Brings a smile to my face because it is such a special picture. We can all probably see it in our minds or perhaps these stories bring some memories of our own to the forefront of our minds.

Thank you so much for sharing Lola. I look forward to many more stories and pictures. I plan to do a post on children and gardening. All you readers out there (you too Lola, anonymous, dawn with peaches and anyone else interested), if you have a special picture of your children and/or grandchildren you would like to see on here-send them to me at ramseytina5@gmail.com.

in the garden....thinking about people and gardens and life and memories.

14 comments:

  1. Thank goodness for the garden blog, with all this cold weather it is the only warm place to look. It is so darn cold outside again today! Memories of spring are keeping us going --until it's warmer.

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  2. Good morning to all.

    Lola that is a gorgeous poinsettia. Thank you for sharing it with us all. The blossoms are so perfect you would think they were fake if you could not see the dirt in the pot. I have had the pleasure of seeing poinsettias in FL that are left out year round and words can not express how gorgeous they are. I have seen them 6 feet tall and that big around. They are such a pretty plant, even if only a six inch one.

    Snowing here today. Weather said maybe some small flurries. Well this "flurry" has put about a quarter of an inch on the ground and still comming. But it is real pretty, falling real softly and slow but with dime size flakes. The ground was nearly bare so it will be pretty out my window at the puter for a couple of days again. Now it is snowing harder and the sun is out! Go figure.

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  3. Calling for 70's here in GA this weekend! Cant wait! Think we may get the riding mower out and mulch up the stray leaves on one side of the house we never got to and hopefully we can get up the two fallen trees in the front woods also...

    I kept a Poinsettia one year and it was a pain in the butt to get to bloom. Had to put the thing in darkness for so many hours each day in order to get it too bloom. It was a pain to remember to put it in the closet and remove it each day! Had beautiful blooms for Christmas but was not worth all the trouble. I never thought of putting it outside during the year! I kept it as a houseplant. Good idea!

    Cant have plants in the house now. Cats will eat it or dig in the dirt. Those little stinkers. I caught Sheba on the window ledge trying to reach her paws up a long the wall to get to a Philly a while back! Those I can keep up high but must watch as they grow to close to paws!

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  4. Its nice to see a poinsettia pictured on green grass and w/o some kind of garland and/or glued on glitter-thanks Lola!
    Too funny Mom, we are not getting any snow for a change! Artic air for tomorrow, temps below 0 until Saturday. We got a report of your ice the other day, must be cold.

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  5. The snow stopped right after I said that and the sun is still out so the little we got is going byebye. Darn it, I like looking out the window at it. We never got any ice. But last Thursday when I took Tom to Portland when we hit the town line the trees were glazed over so they musta had some in town but everything else was bare. Ya they say it will be cold tomorrow, around 10 degrees. Below 0 up north.

    Did you see the news downeast? When a murder happens in Maine it is big news but even bigger when it is 2 and down east! Just like up your way a couple of years ago, only that was 3. OMG what is happening to Maine?

    Hope my grandson had a good birthday. Today is Joannes's. With our extended family it is always someones. Love you.

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  6. Hi Guys!
    Anonymous, thanks for reminding us spring IS just around the corner. The cold will pass.

    Skeeter,
    Try this manner to get your poinsettia to bloom. Lola says she did nothing special to hers at all. Georgia weather is probably close to Florida weather (hot in the summer-not just the winter). You can leave it in a closet until you can put it outside, that way the frisky felines won't try to eat it. Have fun picking up those trees and limbs. It is a neverending process here too.

    Mom,
    I love it when the sun shines and it snows. We had flurries this morning and it is bitterly cold. But, hey, it is winter. You will probably get more snow. Make sure you tell Joanne Happy Birthday for me. See, this blog saves me on stamps and cards and all that stuff (I don't partake in anyways).

    Didn't see any news about a murder in Maine. Did see Stephen King on TV yesterday. What happened? Adjacent property owners dog just came in yard. Good thing my dogs take care of that.

    Dawn, even with no snow I bet the snow you already have is frozen solid! See, snow comes and stays for months in Maine. Lola's poinsettia is different without all the Christmas decorations around it. Glad you on early this morning.

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  7. Yes that is what I did with a poinsettia and it works.

    Some jerk down in Machais killed his former girlfriend and her new boyfriend with the woman's 2 kids right there. Also hurt one of the kids, well I am sure both of their minds will be messed up but one was (I think) shot in the foot. Terrible. The news reporters from Portland beat feet to make the 250 mile trip to cover it. Big news here when something like that happens.

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  8. Here in Woodlawn TN I repotted my Christmas poinsettia in 2007 and put it on the front porch in May. During the summer a pair of Carolina wrens built a nest in the pot under the spreading branches and successfully raised a family. The poinsettia is now in a bigger pot in the house this winter and I look forward to seeing if the wrens will return to raise more babies on our front porch this summer.

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  9. Oh, I love it, all this hope for my bedragled Poinsettia. She has been in the garage since just after Christmas.
    I should quit complaining about the cold. The sun is out at my house right now, although it is still cold. I could be living w/Dawn in Maine! Burrrr
    Lola sounds like a real Treasure. I hope we can get to know her too.
    I have warm thoughts for all today.

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  10. Thanks so much for all the nice comments. I will be happy to join the "gang". It will make me feel like "home", almost. A bit cool here but not bad. I have a lot of work to do in the yard, just wish my leg wasn't a mess. But I could use the rake to lean on, Huh?

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  11. Welcome, welcome, welcome doodle. We are very glad to have you join us. I did enjoy the photo of the very nice poinsettia!

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  12. boy, i leave for a little while and come back on for just a minute and all these comments! glad you joined lola-doodles! we'll go by doodles since that is your screename. yes? welcome and glad to have you join us!

    hi anonymous in woodlawn! welcome to our little garden. i am betting those wrens are going to return to nest back in that pot-and soon too! though we can't feel it right now-surely spring is around the corner? i keep telling myself this while i sit here shivering because i am too cheap to turn up the heat! did you get the poinsettia to bloom this year? and is it okay if i call you anonymous in woodlawn? at least for this post?

    hi ginger,
    today was very confusing-lots and lots of sun but brrrrrr! yes, like in maine with mom and dawn i am betting. thank you for your warm thoughts-but i really should turn up the heat. are you coming to our get together?

    hi mom,
    looks like we are on here at the same time but i am soon to head to the warm waterbed. what was up with the murder up there in maine?

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  13. Doodle, welcome, I am thinking back a few years when I had shoulder surgery and managed working in my gardens that summer. Amazing the determination we have when it comes to doing what we enjoy .

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