Maine's Own Off-Topic Thread -- Pt.2 (Portland, Dexter: gardens, transport, housing)

[peachie_in_maine]

Originally Posted by Maine Writer

If they two colors crossed you won't know what you're going to get until you get it. It's easier to divide them by corms than to grow by seed. I snap off the pods so that the plant puts its energy into itself rather than seed. To save the seeds you wait until the pods are drying before cutting them. You don't need to wait until the pods start to split open. After the seeds are collected they need to chill in the fridge for at least six weeks. You can put them in starting medium before putting them in the fridge. Make sure they stay below 40°. When you remove them from the fridge it will take a while to see germination. If you get 50% germ on your first try you've done well. Don't expect 100%.

My iris didn't come up this year. I don't know if the corms were eaten or they were diseased and I didn't know it or ?? I'll replace them next year.

I knew Maine Writer had some assistance for us.
Ohhh... I googled sage tree... and there isn't a tree. I'm not sure what S was thinking of. It's got me wondering. I still think I should buy him a sage plant from you when they are ready. I think I might want to plant lots of different things. I have chives, and mint that grow well. I am thinking that with school being over with for me, that making my herb garden a focus would be alot of fun.
*I wish this research paper I am working on was fun too. I am looking over at the lap top on the table and thinking.. " I don't want to roll over there to touch it. I was able to finish one paper due tomorrow... now just one more that's due tomorrow and another on Wed.
Tami~peachie

[Maine Writer]

Peachie...is your homework done? Are you supposed to be chatting with your friends online when you still have homework? Do I need to take your cell phone?

[elston]

Herb Garden: Oh don't even get me started! I would love to have chives, salad burnett, sage and various thymes and cheveril and parsley; rosemary, and true oregano (I wouldnt mind some of the pink flowered mediteranian oregano/marjaram spreading around as volunteers either) on what was my bare lot, I also envision creeping thyme filling in the walkways leading the willing foot to explore and discover--from the lower shade garden with ferns. bleeding heart, colombine and monks hood to the glorious day lilies and daisy's on the sunny slopes.

I can see it all in my mind; now time to put it onto the blank canvas of my "lot".

(Today 7 deer passed thru my back yard and our regular evening visitor Tom Turkey was just up.....he appears to be recovering from his testosterone poisoning and getting back to normal.

[peachie_in_maine]

Originally Posted by Maine Writer

Peachie...is your homework done? Are you supposed to be chatting with your friends online when you still have homework? Do I need to take your cell phone?

O0oh yeah.. your right.
I was hoping you just say.. Forget that Tami~ time for us to meet up for dinner. lol

I keep looking over at that laptop with piercing eyes waiting for it to melt. I'm going to take a bath, then try again after. I'm in such trouble.
Thank goodness it's not due till 2pm tomorrow.

[starwalker]

Originally Posted by peachie_in_maine

O0oh yeah.. your right.
I was hoping you just say.. Forget that Tami~ time for us to meet up for dinner. lol

I keep looking over at that laptop with piercing eyes waiting for it to melt. I'm going to take a bath, then try again after. I'm in such trouble.
Thank goodness it's not due till 2pm tomorrow.

You are worse than ANY of my kids were, woman! I suppose if you work best under pressure, maybe you're in your element. Best thing in my opinion -- what I do when I get "stuck" is just what you are doing... bath, or a good walk with the dog (not so good idea at the moment, likely... I was just out with ours and it is almost raining...) and then back to the keyboard and just start putting thoughts on "paper". It will come together...

[starwalker]

I am looking forward to planting herbs again too. They really did not WANT to grow for me in NC, the only place I have had trouble in the garden. I did manage to get some to keep going in a planter box... and unlike most of the house plants which got killed on the trip up, the planters seem to have survived a bit. I see what looks to be oregano and what for sure is yarrow showing their leaves.

The other planter is mini roses, and it looks like most of them are alive too!

Now, waiting for the garden to happen... that's another issue. While I am at it, I need to replace the planters though, I think; they are ancient WalMart bargain plastic ones and are about to crumble if looked at wrong.

Originally Posted by elston

Herb Garden: Oh don't even get me started! I would love to have chives, salad burnett, sage and various thymes and cheveril and parsley; rosemary, and true oregano (I wouldnt mind some of the pink flowered mediteranian oregano/marjaram spreading around as volunteers either) on what was my bare lot, I also envision creeping thyme filling in the walkways leading the willing foot to explore and discover--from the lower shade garden with ferns. bleeding heart, colombine and monks hood to the glorious day lilies and daisy's on the sunny slopes.

I can see it all in my mind; now time to put it onto the blank canvas of my "lot".

(Today 7 deer passed thru my back yard and our regular evening visitor Tom Turkey was just up.....he appears to be recovering from his testosterone poisoning and getting back to normal.

[Elcarim]

I've been growing my own herbs too. LOVE fresh herbs steeping in the kitchen throughout the day and they taste pretty good in our food too! I also love that I can touch them and feel them still living and tender before cutting them. Dried, processed herbs just don't appeal to me.

[elston]

I associate plants with significant people; they bring them into my presence after they have departed; it is a form of immortality. My mother is with me in the scent of nasturtiums and my father lives on in the scent of thyme and in the beauty of columbine. I found wild trillium growing out back this morning and was flooded with the presence of Dad. Plants can move me to tears.

[starwalker]

Trillium! WOW! I love that plant, and associate it with my dad as well. It really should also evoke my mom, as it was one of the early spring wildflowers that we would see when (in the olden days, back when one could take a drive in the country just for the heck of it! LOL) we would drive random country roads, my dad at the wheel of one of his Buicks. He would listen to "the game" on the radio and when we saw a place where we wanted to explore, Mom and I would get out and walk, sometimes collecting specimens for some craft project or another (always leaving many more than we picked to reproduce of course!) and sometimes just looking and listening.

It was always still "mud season" (though I don't remember it being called that in Michigan) when we make our first excursions and Trilliums were one of the early flowers that I learned to recognize from books and taught my mom about... so like I said, I should think of her, but instead Dad pops into mind, likely because that first trip was always his idea.

Mom, well, she belongs to the Bittersweet vines that we would pick in the fall, for decorations and wreaths. I haven't seen it wild in years, either, but I have found out that the American kind is ok to grow here in Maine, and I plan to naturalize some when I have my place.

My maternal grandmother goes with hollyhocks and Grandpa with the strawberries which he grew and sold (I helped pick every June.)

Originally Posted by elston

I associate plants with significant people; they bring them into my presence after they have departed; it is a form of immortality. My mother is with me in the scent of nasturtiums and my father lives on in the scent of thyme and in the beauty of columbine. I found wild trillium growing out back this morning and was flooded with the presence of Dad. Plants can move me to tears.

[msina]

I associate strawberries with my Dad, he loved them. I remember hot july days and home made strawberry ice cream, my sisters strawberry preserves that Dad enjoyed so much. Thyme makes me think of Mum, also Sage.
By the time I was old enough to realize just what my Mum had struggled through day by day, time ran out. As kids grow up they think of their parents as "old". We don't always appreciate the man or woman they are. Only with experience do we realize "who they are". Recently, my 5 year old Grandson called his 26 year old mother a "Mean Old Lady"! It's something to look back and see that the generations make their own path but still are very much the same. Also Something how a scent can evoke such memories.