Tropicaholic :) from Zone 6

[mistygardener]

Hi all! This is my very first post on here, but hope to find others that live in or around the same zone as myself and like to push it to see if things will survive where they aren't suppose to! I am a newbie gardener since 2006, but didn't get serious until this last Fall. My first love is prob Brugs, then most anything else that has to do with tropical plants. Hope to meet many wonderful people here, and I have also told some friends about the site because I see things here that I know they will enjoy as well!

Happy Gardening!
Tammy

[webmaster]

Welcome mistygardener!
Looking forward to seeing more of your posts, and don't be shy about sharing info of what's growing in your garden and experiences.

Cheers,

Webmaster

[mistygardener]

Thanks! Once I get this figured out I am sure you will be seeing more of me here! I love gardening and just can't get enough. I wish it was past our last frost date so I could get some stuff out of the green house!

[TheLorax]

A VERY WARM welcome to you Mistygardener!

I had my very first white flowering Brugmansia last year. I went on vacation with the kids for three weeks and it went to plant heaven when my husband forgot to water it. I was so sad.

You know something, I joined because I saw things I knew I would enjoy here too. The organic, wildlife, vegetables (need to learn much about veggies) and now the new native plant forum have caught my eye. Didn't hurt that when I first visited I caught Sara Stein's book, 'Noah's Garden' being recommended.

Forgot to add, I'm going to be down at MoBot this coming May. I can't wait to tour that botanical garden.

[mistygardener]

OH how sad about your Brug! I think I would have had a memorial service had it been me! This is just how much I have fallen in love with them, and MANY other tropicals. This is why my poor itty bitty green house is over run with plants, so bad I can't walk through it!

I might be going to MoBot one of these days, but honey says I cannot take scissors or any type of pruning tools! HA HA HA

[TheLorax]

A lot of plants go to plant heaven when I take off with the kids. It happens. I want to try another white Brug this year. I know it's incredibly poisonous but I want one as a patio plant that I can bring in to overwinter then haul back out when the weather warms up. Love the looks of those.

I'll be down in the St. Louis area with a girlfriend May 16th through the 19th I think or maybe it was the 15th through the 18th. I lost our hotel reservation confirmation but fortunately I sent a copy to her so she's probably got our exact dates. I don't know which day we intend to spend at the gardens but we're meeting up with 4 other gardeners, maybe 5, down there so probably Saturday or Sunday and we'll get there early. My girlfriend and I are going to take off on our own a little bit. The Cahokia Mounds are down that way and then there's a restored prairie we want to see and then there's an orchid nursery down there that I simply must get to come hell or high water. Would love to have you join us.

Here are a few links-
https://www.mobot.org/
https://www.cahokiamounds.com/cahokia.html
https://www.slsc.org/content.aspx?id=1671
https://www.worldbirdsanctuary.org/
The Shaw Nature Preserve-
https://www.legendsofamerica.com/mo-graysummit.html#Villa Ridge

And Marilyn Ledoux in Missouri who sells orchids as Windy Hill Gardens
https://www.orchidmall.com/windy.hill/
She's a must visit! I need an orchid fix.

[mistygardener]

If I am lucky enough to get some extra off of mine, I will be happy to share at least a cutting off of my white brug. It is named, but it escapes me at the moment! LOL I need to do a spread sheet of everything I have, but I do have several brug cuttings. They are just itching to get outside, but it just isn't safe right now. I love to trade plants, but don't have much luck with seeds for some reason.

I am going to a little get together in May, but if my honey will help me get there, I would LOVE to meet up with you all at MoBot!! Thanks so much for the offer to attend with you! I have had the warmest welcome here and it just tickles me pink!

[TheLorax]

Here's what you do- You get on your knees and beg your husband to get you there to meet up with a few other gardeneraholics. It will be fun, we're all new and nobody has met anyone else before.

[mistygardener]

Ok, I will be sure and try that one! LOL He is usually pretty good about stuff like that.
He said I could follow him up on his Harley, but I know he would lose me somewhere! LOL

[TheLorax]

But... but... but...
If you ride behind him on a Harley, where ever would you stash any plants you bought. You simply must think this through ;) Of course we could drive behind you and scoop you up if you fell off but that won't solve the problem of plant purchases.

[TheLorax]

Duct tape!

Duct tape is the answer. It solves all the problems of the world. You could duct tape plant purchases to your body and still ride behind him on the Harley. Think he would allow you to duct tape more plants to his bike or would that be pushing it?

[mistygardener]

OMG! ROTFLOL!!! he said I would be pushing it just a WEE bit if I tried that one!

[mistygardener]

He says he can see it now-Little old man and old lady passing us on the highway, and the old man says Look Marge, now the trees are riding! He is such a hoot!

[TheLorax]

I'm a female and would fall into the little old lady category. My girlfriend is also a female and she would also fall into the little old lady category. We are both leaving our little old men behind. Not that I suggest you do this because it's always nice to have a husband around even if it's not one's own husband. I do drive like a bat out of H E double hockey sticks though so tell your husband that Lucy and Ethel will be the ones passing you two up as we sail by at the speed limit plus about 25. Tell him to eat our dust if he won't let you use duct tape for your plant stash.

[mistygardener]

Well I wouldn't want to be eating any dust, so maybe I should just bring the Explorer.

[TheLorax]

Much better option to drive a vehicle. No need for duct tape at all if you have expansion stash properties built in.

[mistygardener]

I am sure I could find plenty of places to stash. It would just be myself, honey, and our 5 year old daughter. She is already a gardeneraholic, so I know she would LOVE it if we can manage to be there! We could all utilize him to haul our plants around!

[TheLorax]

Ohhh my, a small child to corrupt. Since she's already a gardeneraholic does she have any gardening gloves yet? How about a spade just her size?

Love children and doesn't matter who they belong to. Please do bring her!

We could all utilize him to haul our plants around! Twisted Evil

See, you do seem to understand the many intangible benefits of having a husband around and it doesn't truly matter whose husband it is. Ten to one odds he reads this thread, pats you on the head, and kisses you bye bye on the cheek to take off without him. Old ladies are scary. Especially old ladies that buy lots of plants.

[mistygardener]

Honey wants to know just how fast you are willing to drive? He says he can push the Harley to 130, but that sure is NOT what I wanted to hear! Gonna have to go whoop him good right now!

Sienna, our daughter, has almost as many gardening tools as I do, really! Actually, she has a hoe, and I don't! LOL She has the gloves, a rake, shovel, hoe and some other little 'kiddie' tools. She just loves to get out and help Mommy and Daddy when we are in the garden, and she even has some of her own seeds we will be starting soon. She is ROTTEN!

[TheLorax]

I will admit to pushing to 90 surrounded by the metal of a vehicle on the interstates when there are other cars ahead of me driving for daylight but on a motorcycle- egads. Don't know if I'd be willing to do much on one of those other than to eat other people's dust. Seems as if semis and every other vehicle out on the roads are out to kill them so I think if my husband admitted to driving 130+ again I'd slap him silly then take him to a life insurance agent to buy a million dollar policy so I could get our kids through college without him if I had to go it on my own. Yes, my husband did admit to doing 130+ once after buying some sort of a chip for his car and only after I found out accidentally. It's a small world when one runs into the cop who pulled over one's husband because he recognizes the oddball last name on the back of your kid's jersey a year after the incident. My husband said he wanted to feel alive. I cried.

Tell your husband he wins. I've got chicken blood running through me so I'll eat his dust.

Pity, none of our kids are into gardening per se unless they can get paid to have extra pocket money. You are so lucky to have a daughter.

[mistygardener]

Funny you should mention the life insurance, really. He just got a letter saying he can double his for an extra 6 bucks a month, and he realized with riding this thing, anything can happen and he wants to make sure we are taken care of if it does.

We feel very blessed to have our little girl as she was quite the surprise. My two boys are 16 and almost 14, so quite an age difference there. He also has a daughter that is 23, so a BIG difference there. Sienna is the only one who has any interest in gardening, the boys just gripe cause they gotta mow around the stuff.

[TheLorax]

Always wanted a girl.

Is she in 4H? 4H has some really great programming for children with an interest. I've viewed their materials and find it to be extremely age appropriate. The other nice thing about 4H is it becomes a family project. Just a thought.

[mistygardener]

I always wanted a girl, too, so was really tickled when we learned that is what we were having. She isn't in school yet as she missed it by two weeks exactly last year, so she is just in preschool right now. Our neighbor is one of the 4H members here, and she thinks she is just it, so it is definitely something to look into. Thanks for reminding me about it.

[Quietly Awesome]

Would love to see pictures of your Brugs if you have any. I'm also hooked on them. Unfortunatly, I don't have any pics of mine on my computer. I will have to check some of my files.

[mistygardener]

I will have to get some new ones when the weather warms up and quits raining. It is nasty out there! LOL And they have grown quite a bit since the last pics, but will see if I can figure out how to post pics on here. I am excited to see my first blooms when they start!!! Everything I have are cuttings, so I am trying to be patient.