Post a peek of yourself here...

And to stay with the theme of the thread, here I am hard at work

 

Very beautiful flower, Corcor! Nice shot of you, too.


: )

 

Oh they are so unusual,

Chinese in origin. Its probably called balloon flower due to its swell before the petals unfold.

Type: perennial
Propagation: seeds
Light: full sun or part shade
Flower Color: blue, pale pink, white
Bloom Time: summer
Height: 2-3 feet
Width: 12 inches
Soil Requirements: neutral pH, average moisture
Zones: 3-8

A beautiful example Corcor!

 

Yes, I forget the botanical name, but I do remember they originated in China. They do look similar to balloons before they open...took a peek in the snow :o...Platycodon Grandiflorus. Most from what i have found have that dark blue, almost purple color. I did manage to find one that was a very light pink, almost white in color, sorry no pics of that one though. I like the (sorry not very educated on flower parts) the white thing in the middle...think its called a pistil? :s

 

Dana ..what's the silence ?? or are you on a gorgous Thanks giving holiday ?

 

Myself years ago...

 

Oh, Hi Vic,
I have been busy looking at the other sections of the forum. Lots of info and pics from all over to have a look at and meeting new friends in the 'friend request' thread and doing some reading in the 'If they put you away' thread too.
We did have a nice little family Thanksgiving gathering here at my house so I had to get it ready first after having been outside most of the summer. No rain means no clean house around here! Well, clean maybe but not tidy at all times.
I need a housekeeper but can't afford one - ha!
And Oh, the lovely sound of rain this morning, so nice. Now maybe some mushrooms will grow in the woods and I will have time to go have a look around for some too.
As it is cold in the mornings little Roland often needs warm-ups and perhaps your kale has been frosted? When it gets frosted good & hard the flavour will be much sweeter.
I am going to start a thread in the photo section waaaayy down there........on hummingbird flowers you might enjoy once it gets going. No time like the present I guess.
Hope you are well and feeling fine in this lovely fall weather.

D

 

Hi Dana good to hear you are having a good time :-)
Can I ask you. About the Kale .
I have collected seeds CAN I PLANT some now ? outdoors ?
My red russian seems to have reached its end loads
of aphids on the top and they seem to start getting onto my curly kale also
that Curly Kale never seems to make any seed . How tall can it grow
most of it nearly 3feet tall .
Shall I rip it out 100% or just cut it at earth level ( will it grown new leaves ?)??
Well maybe I must show you my Ginger Turkey stuffed with a Ginger black forest ham
it was juuuuuuuuuuuumy with home made cranberries etc and a spinach potato mash and an onion basil pumpkin mash ...
Well for those overseas who have not seen this I'll like to share this with you .
The next day we went to see the return of the spawning Salmons at Weaver creek
a 1st for me never saw a Salmon in the wild beside in a tank etc
It was AAAHmazing ..tens of thousands life betteling upstream and artificial river with many little man made waterfalls to help them climb to the shallow crystal clear creek just wanted to bit into one so close they are
at the same time its quite sad to see these animals fighting so hard up the elevator
and then die after....what a life...
we even came close with a black bear lucky he was on the other side of the river :-).

 

Hey Captain.. Where is this in China or Vietnam ?
Or just a souvenir hat you use in your garden?
Great photo with this "HOT"pepper ?
Thanks for sharing its so nice to have a face match the words etc

 

You scared me Vic!
I thought those were salmon eggs in the photo ! ha ha

 

Nice spread. I was not aware the salmon died after spawning. Also did not realise the Canadians had thanksgiving.

Sunny spring day even if a bit cool. Had really forgotton what a proper spring is like it's been so dry and warm for so long.
Even our water cachements are rising. Lets hope the water saving by the population is not thrown out the window just because we had some decent wet stuff

Liz

 

Hi all! I don't have a digital camera (yet!) so can't post, but I would like to use my original "help ID this blue-flowered bulb" pic for my Avatar. Unfortunately I can't get it down to the right # of pixels because I don't know HOW! I've never had any formal training in computers, and probably don't know half the things my Vista program can do. And it's funny how ALL help facilities assume you just know how to do certain things, and say do them but not how to!

 

upload the pic I wil copy and reduce it and send it back to you if that helps

 

Hi,
Ann, you need some sort of program to change it to something you can post.
I got one with my camera.
It may be possible to download a conversion file from somewhere (?)

Do go and ask about kale in the veggie gardening section below somewhere and you will get way more replies to this particular question and perhaps we will both learn something new about the kales.

D

 

Hi Vicarious...it was in Ravipadu. My cousins chili/cotton farm in South India. (I come from a long line of chili growers, and yes, they have to be HOT!) :-)

It would be fun to get people to take pics with their favorite plants!

 

Hi,

I'm brand-new at blogging (yes, we exist) but I'd like to get to know fellow garden-lovers. I live in an apartment and so far my ninth-floor cold-wind north-facing balcony has been all my garden, but though the new guinea impatiens all died, I was lucky overall. My usual joy is writing. I've had ten novels for children, young adults, and adults published -- and one of the things that I think makes them work for readers is by using the appropriate flora (and fauna, where possible) of the area. If you want to see pictures of me that I know you can find, feel free to go to: http://www.booksbywelwyn.ca.
Since I'm so new at this I don't know if I can actually add a picture here, but I'll try.

Well, that didn't work. Attachment?

 

Welcome Welwyn. Never heard that name in my intl life ! Great to have a writer especially with my not so perfect English. What ever and where ever you garden does not matter . HL known as the Hollyberry Lady is a Apartment/condo/ garden SPECIALIST if you see her pics you will want to turn at least 1/4 of your appartment into a indoor garden:-)
I am also writing. I left a note at the Lost and found offices: Has anyone seen my writers block please send back to...
AS my English is not perfect my few test readers have told me 4get it .
But I can't I have too much to tell and the older I get and the more Internet forums I do the more I write faster. Yea SPEED is what counts I think .
Well enjoy and the pic worked well now show us our flowers and plants alive/dead/ purchased or grown it does not matter we are her for the fun and sharing and getting to know each other . I made a few nice aquantances world wide and that the exciting thing about it all.

 

Welcome Welwyn,
Just looked you up on the Australian library data base. We have 19 of your books listed. Congratulations on a wonderful career. Do you also publish in other languages?

Liz who catalogues author output.

 

Yes, welcome Welwyn! What a lovely shot of you that is, and thanks for sharing.

It's nice to know who you're chatting with, and it is a great way to become a bit more personal with people you've been getting plant advice from, or even trading seeds with.

Thanks to everyone who participated. You guys are terrific.


: )

 

Thank you, Vicarious (Vic?), Liz and Hollyberry Lady for your generous welcomes! I was really happy to (a) figure out how to get the picture up and (b) to see that such kind people are on this thread.

HL (does everyone call you that?) -- I envy you your green thumb, and your wide presence on this forum. I think it was very helpful of you to open this particular thread. You're right that it's good to know a little bit about the people who share a love of green things, with or without flowers. My ignorance is stupendous so I'm really going to need your (and everyone's) help.

Vic, I think there's only two other Welwyns in the world: an electronic company that began making resistors and did research on supercoolants and things like that (my father started the company, and so I was -- sigh -- lucky enough to be named for it) and a lovely village called Welwyn near the Welsh borders in Great Britain, pretty much swallowed up by what I understand is a fairly industrial Welwyn Garden City. (Note the Garden connection, however! *g*). I think it's terrific that you want to write. I don't know why you say you have trouble with English. I didn't notice anything to speak of. But you know, I'm not so sure it's speed that improves language. What kind of stuff do you want to write?

And you, Liz, oh, you really made me happy with your response. I've been feeling kind of dead these past months. My publisher dumped me last April (her own sneaky and illegal reasons, nothing to do with my books which were all still earning money despite the recession and the fact that she had decided to open her own online store and not sell to any walk-in bookstores. I've got a lawyer to deal with the "sneaky reasons" so I'd better say no more.) Anyway, I haven't been able to work on my next novel properly for a long time, ever since my car accident nearly seven years ago. I miss writing terribly. So you gave me a badly needed boost. I don't actually write in other languages, but some of my books have been translated into several (not each book into each language, though). I'll try to remember what they are, besides American English ;), hmm, Dutch for sure (my publisher there is in Belgium, and the only one I've actually met; he has bought rights to almost all my books), Bulgarian, Swedish, Japanese, Danish, Italian, Norse, German, Portuguese, Spanish -- so some of my books cover all of South America and Mexico! *hhjj* (That's my short form for happy happy joy joy.) I think there are more but publishers don't always tell you what translation rights they've sold for you or send you copies of the foreign language books. What a coincidence that you catalog books!!! :)

Anyway, here's a couple of real question about gardening. Does anyone happen to know if the Money Tree plant (Pachira) is poisonous to cats? My cat Chloe is extremely interested in a culinary way in all my plants. And can anyone tell me the identity of a vertically growing plant with leaves like a wooden spoon that are more yellow on the edges than white or green surrounding almost like painted-in dark green centres that make shapes that look kind of like oak leaves? The stems are thick and streaked with red and the leaves are very thick and fleshy but perfectly smooth. Thanks a lot!

 

Hello again, Welwyn:


You seem like a delightful person to have joined our forum, and thank you for your comments and thoughtful words. Congratulations on your books, and thier translations - what an accomplishment! Sorry, for your troubles with your prvious publisher. Good luck working that out.

I am glad you think this is a worthwhile thread, as I thought it would be too. I am tickled by how well it has taken off! It has brought many people together. How warm and inviting for newcomers to experience a friendly welcome, and such nice people.

I look forward to chatting with you again, in the future.


: )

 

Hello and welcome, Welwyn.

It is best to keep threads on a single topic -- I realize that's not always possible, but you'll find that you get a better set of answers. So, to that end, you've done the right thing with the cat posting, though I've moved it from Conversations and Chat to the Hortboard area here -- so hopefully that's where people will reply to it.

As for the plant identification question, if it is an outdoor plant, post it here: Plant ID forum; if it is an indoor plant, post it here: Indoor Plants ID

Cheers,
Daniel

 

Vic,

Those are some great fotos, made me quite hungry infact, I have been down with the flu the last few days so no gardening this week, just getting my appetite back, had to make myself some very hot Salsa Ranchera with Chile Chipotle, Chile serrano and 2 other types of chile which I roast with onion and garlic and red tomatoes on a flat comal or metal plate. Then add fresh coriander and liquidise the lot adding water and a bit of salt. Delicious, i wish I had taken some fotos of it now. Its great to make Huevos Rancheros with and helps kill the germs.

The good thing that came out of the week though was the day I started to feel rough I harvested around 5 or 6 kilosof Green Tomatos and made lots of salsa verde to last us through the winter. The vines are still full of green tomatos filling out their jackets ready for picking. I'm going to make lots of salsa and freeze it to keep us going until the next years harvest. Salsa verde is a key ingredient in lots of Mexican dishes so very important to us.

Nath

 

Hair in the garden,
gone now. (found an old file)
Never be afraid of change.

D