Topics

31

Pond Chat / Lotus

« on: July 16, 2007, 10:58:44 AM »

Well, it appears the Angel Wing is ready to send up some buds.  Er...uh....I think.


Paul 

32

Pond Chat / Red flare

« on: July 16, 2007, 10:55:16 AM »

Sorry about the tomato soup water but it protects my Koi from the herons in this shallow 8000 gallon pond

33

Pond Chat / Some of my fish

« on: July 16, 2007, 10:48:03 AM »

These are pics of my fish in one of the 2000 gallon ponds.   Some of these guys have been with me since 1992.


Paul 

34

Terrestrial Gardening / Daylily crazy!

« on: June 18, 2007, 01:03:26 AM »

here's a few blooms. 


Paul 

35

Terrestrial Gardening / A budding hybridizer.

« on: June 18, 2007, 12:58:07 AM »

Grandson spreadin' a little pollen around. 


Paul 

36

Pond Chat / Guess what this is!

« on: June 18, 2007, 12:52:27 AM »

Splinters with eyeballs maybe? 


Paul 

37

Terrestrial Gardening / YIKES......A SPIDER!!!!

« on: May 23, 2007, 09:41:59 PM »

daylily that is....first two to bloom for me so far.......


Paul 

38

Terrestrial Gardening / a few shots before headin' home

« on: May 20, 2007, 09:39:17 PM »

A last minute walk around the place before goin' home this evening.  Not much happening here yet.....the tropicals have just been planted this week and are in need of a week or two of warmer nights.


Paul   

39

Pond Chat / some new shubunkins

« on: May 20, 2007, 09:32:52 PM »

These will go well with my sarassa comets in an effort to make some nice red and black comets with long soot black fins and tails like I had about ten years ago.  Been foolin' with the koi so long now I almost forgot how beautiful they were when ya put 'em together.    Anyway it's time to put the hammer to the metal till it bends.

 

40

Terrestrial Gardening / Our plants want out!!!

« on: April 13, 2007, 10:48:50 PM »

We had spring and summer temps in March then April brought a return of winter.  It wasn't as cold as the two 27degree mornings we were told we'd have last week but the one 29 degree morning did melt all that was uncovered at the acreage.   I usually have the greenhouse emptied a week ago and have another frosty morning ahead for Sunday.    Anyone have any global warming they would care  to fax me???   

41

Pond Chat / My noontime shadow.....

« on: March 15, 2007, 09:21:38 AM »

......checkin' the new arrivals last spring.  Ain't they cute!

42

Terrestrial Gardening / My papya plants.....

« on: March 13, 2007, 12:20:07 AM »

.....are about nine weeks old now.     hope there aren't too many males.   

43

Terrestrial Gardening / Desert Rose....

« on: March 13, 2007, 12:15:38 AM »

......still blooming, but not for much longer.

44

Pond Chat / Peekin' in........

« on: March 12, 2007, 11:52:08 PM »

......on the goldfish pond.

45

Pond Chat / Bog bed anyone?

« on: March 12, 2007, 11:48:39 PM »

I think I've got cabin fever.

46

Terrestrial Gardening / Mulch from heaven or vehicle abuse?

« on: January 30, 2007, 06:01:23 PM »

Got my thirteenth load today.    That adds up to seventeen and a half tons of cottonseed  hulls for mulching the beds and composting.  I guess  that puts me about half way to getting this season’s supply.   Nothing like viewing a bed of plants cloaked in a gray tweed mulch.   

47

Terrestrial Gardening / A bit of the jungle

« on: January 23, 2007, 07:37:11 PM »

Hope you enjoy

48

Pond Chat / My old pond photos

« on: January 23, 2007, 05:02:06 PM »

I bought a new scanner in hopes of  better quality scans to archive my old 35 mm photos.   My other scanner left the images too dark and the details in shade or shadows were lost.  I think this new one does the photos a little more justice ,but now to see how they look posted.   

49

Chit Chat / Heck of a way to unload!

« on: January 17, 2007, 01:09:44 AM »

Fresh load of cotton seed to be pressed for oil.  I can hardly wait to get more hulls for compost and bedding mulch and the worms love as much as I do......in a different way of course.   

50

Terrestrial Gardening / Papaya seeds are sprouting

« on: January 14, 2007, 09:21:07 PM »

One plant just doesn't make enough fruit to keep us through the winter!

51

Terrestrial Gardening / My season started early this year

« on: January 12, 2007, 10:28:13 PM »

Got word Wednesday morning that cotton seed hulls were available for me if I wanted them.  The days forecast called for a high in the low 60’s and south wind at 25 gusting to 35mph……perfect!!   Thursday was still windy but got up to 72 for the high.  I managed to get five loads in the old clunker truck by Thursday evening.  Six and three fourths  tons of gardeners gold!!!!   Woke up this morning to 25 degrees and a load of sleet.    It’s 19 degrees outside now and probably will stay below freezing until next Wednesday or Thursday.  So I’ll have to wait awhile before getting  more, but it sure is nice to get started this early.   If my luck holds out I’ll try for another 15 loads.    Happy freezer burn everybody!!! 

52

Terrestrial Gardening / Adenium surprise!!

« on: November 25, 2006, 08:27:55 PM »

What a surprise!  I noticed that the bud tips on this plant seemed a darker red than most but it has happened before, so I paid it no mind and left for a trip to Tulsa Oklahoma to build a fence or actually replace a fence that had blown down at my daughters home.  I left the seventeenth with my implements of destruction and pulled posts and or dug out remaining concrete, and installed new posts and fence ‘till the afternoon of the twenty-second.  I arrived home that evening and scurried out to look the plants over before dark and what a beautiful sight!  I just love happy accidents!  Last spring my wife saw this lonely healthy Adenium in the midst of a very poorly kept display , as many plant displays at our local Home Depots often are, and decided to fork over the ten bucks they were asking in order to rescue the plant from a fate worse than death.  We just knew it would be the same red and white that we often see when shopping for Adenium.   No tag, or name but obviously akin to ‘Ruby’ cultivars that I’ve seen on the world wide web!  Keep an eye peeled Kay!

53

Terrestrial Gardening / Datura

« on: November 09, 2006, 12:11:43 AM »

Though they are toxic, their beauty and evening fragrance is an entirely different kind of ‘intoxicating’.  I wonder how large they would get in a zone 10 location?  They get  six or seven feet high for me before the freeze gets them.

54

Terrestrial Gardening / Stowaway in the greenhouse

« on: November 08, 2006, 11:38:46 PM »

I was wondering why there were fewer bugs in the greenhouse this year.  Then I spied this little guy.  At first I thought he was the only one but a week later I saw another one a bit larger.  

55

Terrestrial Gardening / Desert Rose

« on: November 08, 2006, 11:24:40 PM »

Mikey’s post about his Scentimental rose reminded me I needed to post a different horse of the same colors.  Now that we’re comfortable with the varieties commonly  found in our area, not that Adenium Obesum is common in Oklahoma, but maybe we’re ready for something a little more exotic. Like a Black Ruby.

56

Pond Chat / Tucked away, up close

« on: November 08, 2006, 10:21:45 PM »

I really am amazed every year, at how the colors in tropical lilies change characteristics as the temperature cools.

57

Pond Chat / Tucked away for winter

« on: November 08, 2006, 08:54:53 PM »

The lilies have been tucked away for winter for a couple of weeks now.  Today was sunny and very warm so I thought I’d open one end of the tent and whoa!  The fragrance ‘bout knocked me over.  Though having cut back all the leaves and crowding them in their winter home, they still seem happy.

58

Chit Chat / Grandpa's little Koi Boi

« on: October 14, 2006, 09:54:36 PM »

The future Koi Boi......just can't keep that kid outta the pond!

59

Pond Chat / I grew it from seed!

« on: October 14, 2006, 09:44:11 PM »

I grew this Victoria 'Amazonica' from seed, starting in a 50 gallon tub with an 800 watt submersible heater set at 87 degrees F.  I have a 1000 watt HID lamp hanging over the tub burning brightly 24/7 'till my pond temp hits 85 deg. F.  I usually start the seeds around the last of January.  Haven't had any luck with any of the 'Cruziana' seeds  that I've obtained but I refuse to give up trying.  Anyway, here's a couple of shots of a second day 'Amazonica' Bloom.

60

Terrestrial Gardening / 'Taint very purdy, buuut.....

« on: October 14, 2006, 09:15:16 PM »

she works real goooood!  I built this one out of PVC pipe.  It's seventeen feet wide, twenty seven feet long, and nine feet at the highest point.  Heat and vents are fully automated.  Had to build it on the cheap so I could afford he 100,000 BTU Modine heater, vent fan, and thermostats.  We have a few nights between 0 and 10 degrees F and several days a year, sometimes a couple of weeks without making it above 20 degrees F.  The winds here are an outrage, but then it is tornado alley.  It took a bit of time and effort to build it, but we are about to embark on our fourth winter voyage in it.