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My therapy has arrived!
The English Garden, March 2022 magazine.
So beautiful, so many ideas.
I am going to make a pathway leading to a garden bench. Later.
Shopping for any bench will do.
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My amaryllis have also started to sprout. Not the easiest bulb for me to coax into re-blooming. But, the native, species form of amaryllis, hippeastrum papillio-always did very well for me. Which a few plant nut friends found fairly impressive. Gardening, of any kind, in the Philly metro region is highly competitive. The harder the plant is, well-there's gonna be someone doing something with it. If you're in the neighborhood, visit Longwood Gardens-lovely spot. Check their web site first for what's in bloom and events. Spring is amazing there, and mid-Summer the water lily section is stunning, as well as every where else in their very large gardens. Also, Mom was in a wheel chair when I took her to visit Longwood, very easy, people working there could not have been nicer, everything very accessable-and this was easily 17 years ago.
Otherwise, it's about 47 days or so until Spring. I'm looking at spots in the back yard that I could plant more hosta (shady 'n dry-ish), maybe plant a few more lilies, get the soil ready for the aforementioned zinnias, some organic fertilizing.....keeps me from dwelling on the realities of life now and dementia care.
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My amaryllis are finally coming to life, I was starting to think they wouldn't.
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Currently I have about 10 orchids getting ready to bloom. Great to have indoor plants when there's little I can do outside in the garden now.
Zinnias did really well last year, looking forward to replanting them this Spring. I've gardened for years. It's great fun, very theraputic and always something new to learn about plants, soil and the weather.
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My plant died early this year! Poinsettia.
Not even going to try and save it.
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Send, Hope you get your magazine. I love to get flower and seed catalogs, gardening magazines.
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English Gardening Magazine, ordered 9/23 not expected to arrive until Dec 2 because, of course. it is coming from the UK!

Hope it will be December's issue, I am excited and can hardly wait. Such fun!
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Pulled down dead vines and plants in my garden. Only thing left is pick up a few pumpkins and done for the season.
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Daughterof1930, I'm so sorry... I didn't mean to disrupt your serenity.    I actually think that a well packed vacuum bag full of dust and other stuff would suffocate any bugs, and that there's limited room for them to crawl around or creep out.
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GA, now you’ve got me wondering if bugs are sneaking out of the vacuum cleaner bag in the night! I’ve only emptied the bag when full or close to it and haven’t ever seen any live bugs in or around it. I’m going to believe they perish in a whirlwind of dust!
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Daughter1930, I've never heard of using a vacuum cleaner, but that's a great idea.  After insects are sucked up, do you empty the bag or does the suction and presumed smothering once in the bag kill the bugs?
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I love Canada. Found something to like every province.
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You've done better than I have OB74, I haven't been to Newfoundland & Labrador!
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CWillie, I’ve visited all the Canadian provinces. We’ve taken several trips to Canada .
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Thanks OuterBanks, when I say I live in Ontario I mean the province in Canada 😁 I've found several short season varieties available in other provinces or for commercial growers but nobody local that supplies home growers. I think my best bet for white sweet potatoes here is to keep my eye out for them at specialty grocery stores and then try to get them to sprout.
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Saw your comments on what’s for dinner. There are several entries on Google for the white sweet potato seeds. I live on a farm in northeastern Kentucky. I always buy my seed potatoes for white sweet potatoes, potatoes and yams around the first of March at the local feed store. I’ve planted a garden for about 50 years, and helped my dad before that. I’ve planted from seed but much easier with seed potatoes. They usually come in 50 or 100 seed potatoes in a bag.
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I have what’s truly become a ridiculous number of houseplants but I also think my home would feel barren without them. Finding spots for them all over winter is a feat every year. And I also use the insecticidal soap along with a vacuum cleaner!
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But...but... but...
all that dunking was supposed to prevent the eggs from hatching! 😬

One year I decided to heck with house plants and I really missed them, in the dead of winter growing things help keep me sane.
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CWillie, I think insects lay eggs in the soil, and the warmth of the house allows them to hatch.    I too hated the hitchhikers and eventually decided not to bring plants in the house, but just buy those that could survive outside or neeed to be purchased annually.

Now I use (gulp!) artificial plants.  Yes, shame on me, but I don't like bugs in the house.
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Rather than just bringing in my plants for the winter I spend several days dunking each of them in a deep pail of soapy water (insecticidal soap) beforehand because I'm sick and tired of dealing with the bugs and insects that inevitably hitch a ride. So why oh why is there a swarm of fungus gnats buzzing around???😖
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Send, I do like sharing those beautiful garden scenes that I find, especially the European ones.   It's like a trip away from the reality here, while I imagine myself strolling leisurely through stunning gardens, basking in the warmth of an afternoon, and (unfortunately) succumbing to the temptation to try to create my own type of gardens in the formal style.

I'm glad you enjoyed it.  I sincerely hope others do as well.  It's a nice diversion from daily life.
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GardenArtist!
Thank you for the links, so very much for taking the time.
It was great going on garden tours and a safari while it rained yesterday.
What the weather reporters called a Bomb Cyclone coming to California was just a normal, intermittent light rain in SoCal, but it took a few days to find that out. I was concerned, and people were contacting me early on to see if we were okay. The weather in Northern California must have been treacherous, if the reports were accurate.

Today is bright, and sunny.

Checking with my in-home tech-guy, dH said the chromebook does not have screensaver capability, you must have windows GA. But I can take the tours anytime. You are really generous to share the links, and I hope other caregivers reading can take a break for some beauty and distractions in between caregiving burdens and chores.

It takes some self-discipline to get one's mind off of the declining loved one because that never really goes away even when off-duty. As you said, GA, Gardening as Therapy! So, thank you again, I am saving the links to view at my leisure. 🌞
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Found the URL I use for the automatic tour screen saver:

https://www.chateauvillandry.fr/en/

There's nothing like getting online and watching a virtual tour of a French formal garden.  It's the best way to start any online activity!

Send, I hope you enjoy your tours!
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Send, I too couldn't sign up for the newsletter; apparently that portion was nonfunctional.

Here are some other sites to provoke daydreaming:

https://www.finegardening.com/article/gpod-on-the-road-butchart-rose-garden

The 9th and 10th photos show a beautiful arched garden; the second one really caught my eye b/c it's made from trees.  I've always wanted to turn the junk trees into something positive.

If you enjoy complex but beautiful arts, check out the complex mahogany "wall structure" in the lower right near the bottom of the page, or view it at:

https://www.artfulhome.com/product/Wood-Wall-Sculpture/Octave/151656?refid=72965&utm_source=criteo&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=lower_funnel

Another beautiful art structure:
https://www.artfulhome.com/product/Wood-Wall-Sculpture/Zephyr/151624?refid=72965&utm_source=criteo&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=lower_funnel


If you want to travel a bit, and across "The Big Pond", visit Villandry:
https://www.chateauvillandry.fr/en/explore/an-overview-of-villandry/virtual-tour/

If you're captivated (as I am) by medieval , Renaissance and other period chateaux, you might be sighing all the way through the video.

There's a way to use the virtual tour as an animated screen saver when first logging on to your computer,  but I can't remember how I did that.  I guess I'll just have to spend more time gazing at garden photos and videos to figure out what I did to create it as a screen saver.


To everyone else who's commented, I haven't been ignoring your comments and failing to respond or acknowledge.   (I'm waiting for the first snow storm so I can spend more time online!!)
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Daughterof1930 - I'm drooling. The only thing that blooms here in the winter are "frost flowers" (ice crystals). ❄
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Nice, and just amazing! Plus lions, animals! Wild animals on Safari. Do not get out of the car, under no circumstances.
I did not see where I could sign up for the newsletter.
I will when the magazine arrives. Well, I already saw the photos of the
November gardens.
I visited the website earlier, and parts were non-functional.

Still looking around. Just beautiful!
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Just planted flats of pansies, dianthus, and snapdragons. Our winters are generally mild enough that they bloom throughout and end with a final big show in spring. And the prices were much higher this time for all flowers
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Send, here's the English Gardens website:
https://www.theenglishgarden.co.uk/

And a preview of the November issue:
https://www.theenglishgarden.co.uk/latest-issue/latest-issue/

Wander through a sculptured maze at 1:31 spot in the video:
https://www.theenglishgarden.co.uk/directory/listing/longleat-house-gardens/

Or, sign up for the newsletter:
https://www.theenglishgarden.co.uk/newsletter-2/

(Unfortunately, this site doesn't seem to be functional tonight).

Or:  be glad you don't have to mow this lawn:
https://www.theenglishgarden.co.uk/directory/listing/longleat-house-gardens/


I wasn't aware of the newsletter until just now; otherwise I would have signed up long ago.


Gardeners, sighing repeatedly is permitted, as is gasping at the beautiful gardens.
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Garden Artist,
Did you need an epi pen for anaphlaxis from the bee sting?
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We have a mosquito problem in our area.
Most mosquito species avoid direct daylight, so typically, they do not come out during the day. ◾️ Why do mosquitoes come out at dusk and night? Dusk is when the sun sets. Direct sunlight can dehydrate and kill mosquitoes, which is why they tend to only emerge at dusk.
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