Hi Girls-
I keep checking in, & decided to write. I ordered 6 truckloads of composted horse manure, and have 1 load spread within a week. I transplanted over 50 named varieties of brugs into my gardens, and am trying to mulch them before the heat comes on. Along with the compost came an invasion of snakes! I've lived here 5 years and have seen more snakes in 1 week than in all that time! I killed a baby copperhead that traveled in my cart til I got to my back door, then he decided to exit. Too close to the house, so I had to kill it. Next, I saw a gray snake, a baby black rat snake, and 2 very long beautiful racers. They are welcome here. Maybe they'll control the vole & mole population that has taken up residency here! Oh well- I am an organic gardener, & believe that nature has a sweet & dellicate balance,and will take care of itself, if you give it half a chance! I had tons of aphids on my brugs when they came up from my basement to the outdoors, and soon I had an invasion of ladybugs breeding and feasting on the pests. Now all I have left are newborn ladybug nymphs- and they eat more than the adults! I see beneficials all over my gardens. Lately, I saw an Asassin bug. they are the best protection for a garden. They eat everything! So I'm pleased with the wildlife that I have here! I work a full time job & have been working around here like a mad woman, so I might not be able to write too often, but I'm still here!
hugs~
kasha77

Well I am just getting settling down from
several trips I have been on and decided
to snap a couple of pictures. I Know not
much color here but it will take me a week
or so to get all plants up and producing what
they are capable of producing. Here is
Native Habitat blooming tonight and has some
of the largest blooms I have ever seen on
Brugs.
Native Habitat
{{gwi:494527}}{{gwi:494528}}{{gwi:494529}}

Mountain Magic
{{gwi:494530}}

Rosalie
{{gwi:494531}}{{gwi:494532}}

NOID
{{gwi:494534}}{{gwi:494536}}

Chocolate Brug

Ingrid , I feel the same way. 7-8 month ago I could barely catch up with the daily posts and now I come check for new activity which is low and than leave. I miss the regular people too.The forum doesn't have the same feeling like when I joined in August last year. Hope thinks will change.

Pat

Ingrid
Good morning, I think the reason everyone isn't here is that Spring is a busy time for everyone, getting their Brugs in the ground, mulching, getting rid of weeds
anyway, that's the way it is for me
I'll try to keep you company as much as time allows, I also have a GS, Graduating, so I have too go to Ga. soon his Graduation is on May 25th, so hang in there Girl, soon everyone will be back
Elizabeth

Elizabeth unfortunately this has nothing to do with people being busy with spring gardening. This is when the forum used to really pick up. Sadly it seems that most of the oldies have moved on. It's a shame because this used to be such a wonderful forum, none of the others were like it, but no more : (

BTW CB your blooms are beautiful, as usual. People must stop to look at your yard all the time.

Kasha I'm glad to see that others that rely on beneficial insects/animals for pest control. I love having snakes in the garden though I can understand having to eliminate a copperhead that got too close.

Hey!!! I am here .. I have spent a lot of time out of town and I have company in for the next 10 days so computer time??? I have been unplugged LOL..I have taken a few pic's and hope to get back in the groove once things settle down a bit.. Don't give up on me ... You can't get rid of me that easy....â¥â¥

Kylie

I've been lurking here and there...Been busy the past few months helping my Mom with my Dad...He passed away on the 5th of this month...Sad hard times...We were VERY close and he was my gardening buddy...I MISS HIM!!!

Mr Sunshine has finally decided to show up here for more than an hour at a time, so outside I go...Also busy with my business...People need hangers to hang those new Spring baskets in..lol

knotz

Caren, Im so sorry to hear about your Dads passing, may the
Good Lord be with you and bring you peace.

Big Big Hugs,
Karen

Knotz, so sorry about the passing of your Dad. Please accept my condolences.
I'm glad that some of you still check in from time to time. Let's keep it going.
ChocBrug, your flowers are beautiful, as always. Thanks for sharing with us.
All you newbies: hang in there, please. Let's try to make this a fun forum again.
Ingrid

ChocolateBrug, your blooms are gorgeous!

This is a really busy time of year!

Karen

Caren, so sorry to hear about your dad. It is hard but hang in their girl. We are here for you.

CB how many brugs you have? You have a nice selection. Love them all.

Pat

Caren I'm sorry to hear of your father's passing.

Caren--So sorry to hear about your Dad. I lost mine last year and it has been hard. Prayers to your family.

I have not been on for awhile, but winter was rough here on my plants. However, some of the ones that froze are coming back finally. Quite a few are history though.

I got extravagant lately and bid on a new release "Lizzie" on ebay and won!! She is a cross from The Chief and Rubirosa, hybridized by Liz Fricht and grown by Fred Sommers. She arrived with a bud and I am anxiously awaiting a bloom and hoping the bud holds on!!!

I have been busy getting the garden beds cleaned out and replanted. I have a feeling we are in for a very HOT summer ahead and hope we have alot of rain to help the plants survive the heat.

Hope eberyone is doing well. I think of all of you often and will try to get on the forum more often.

Linda

Hi, still here. Nothing happening with brugs so I'll have to post some other fun pics.
A stem broke, so this beautiful parrot tulip is living happily in a little creamer now.
{{gwi:494538}}
Lazuli Bunting visiting the feeders yesterday.
{{gwi:494540}}
Diane

That bird is so beautiful! The tulip's lovely too. They must look great in mass.

I do not post most I usually lurk because I have a new garden and not as many Brugs as you guys have. But I have to say it is your fault I got in trouble.....

Since there was not much action here I wandered over to the Perennial forum and those people are not very nice. I made a suggestion for an alternate groundcover and they got ugly. You would have thought I said move to an apartment. LOL

You have to get busy over here to keep me out of trouble.

Caren, I am so sorry to hear about your Dads passing.

Hey, Marquest, I read the posts on the perennial forum. All I can say is: Stay here, on the Brug Forum. We treat everyone as a "friend". And you don't have to have a lot of Brugs to belong. I started out with only one, now I have 4, and 3 Iochroma. I just have a little 15 x 15 patio.
As for groundvover, I love iceplants, but of course I live in So. Calif., where they grow beautifully. That wouldn't work in PA.Hope to see you around.
Ingrid

hey everybody! I have been lurking when I get a chance, been wanting to jump in but haven't really had much to contribute. Caren, so sorry for your loss. Lost my dad 10 years ago and not a day goes by that I don't miss him. I compare every man I go out with to him, none seem to measure up so no wonder I am single.

I lost so many plants this winter. It was a diffuclt winter still trying to see what is dead or what might spring up from the roots. The compost pile seems to be winning that battle. I have been redoing lots in my little yard so maybe when things look halfway decent I will post some photos.

Mary

Ingrid, no one has abandoned GW. Life just gets in the way sometimes. Sometimes I don't have much time to be on here, let along/alone?lol? on other sites!

Caren, so sorry to hear about your dad.

CB, tell us about your trip out here to CA.

Diane, beautiful pictures!

Ingrid thank you. I did tell them I was going to the Brug forum for some fun. LOL I will not be going back over there.

My heart goes out to you, sorry to hear about your dad, time wiil give you a chance to adjust,but just remember your dad will always live in your heart. I lost my mom last year Jan. and it seems like just yesterday, sometimes I find myself going to her house just to check up on her and then it hits me she is gone!My prayers to you and your mom. God Bless. Marcie

Caren!!! I am so very sorry to hear of your loss...My heart goes out to you.. I know there is nothing I can say to make anything better. I lost my Father last Oct an Aunt in Nov. and another Aunt in Jan. My love and Prayers are with ya girl!!!! Time does help.â¥â¥â¥
((((HUGS))))

Kylie

Lovely photos!!!

Caren, I did not know your Dad was ill. I'm so sorry for your sorrow. May you find comfort here among friends.
~Brenda

Ingrid, this thread got off-topic, but that's okey- it often does, but to bring it back to address why you posted, yes, there are some missing faces around here. Mine has not been too much in evidence but believe me, when my brugs start blooming (2 so far, photos later), I'm gonna insist ya all look at all the photos I will be posting. I can't answer for the MIA.
This forum still has my heart- it is a special forum where I have lots of friends, old and newer. We have brugs in common but we bring our whole selves here, too, in fun, in laughter and in hard times.

I haven't been here in a while. Not because I don't like yougys, but because my brugs aren't doing much. Ever since I switched down to a less rigorous watering schedule, my brugs have gone on holiday haha. They still have huge, green leaves, they just don't bloom like they did before. I will have to wait for fall to roll around again before I see any significant blooms on my brugs.

Caren, I'm so very sorry for the loss of your Dad.
Hi Josh!
Brenda, I couldn't have said it better! :)

Theresa

Hi, I just wanted to pop in. Think of you all a lot but having a hard time getting out of hibernation from the winter. Was cold so much longer than usual then it got hot all of a sudden. The weeds love it but the plants are struggling. Just trying to get caught up but I miss you guys. Will try to get back over here more often. Caren I am very sorry for your loss. Just back from checking on my Mom. She is having heart trouble again. Hugs to you all. Need to download some pics to photobucket. Brugs are slow this year but have other things blooming.

Caren, sorry for your loss. I hope you are doing well. I do not have anything to post about. Most of my brugmansia are just now coming back, and are about 8 inches tall. I plan to post pictures of other tropicals, as soon as they start to bloom. May is usually my month that everything blooms, but not this year. Barbra,

Thanks you all, for your kind words about losing my Dad...We were very close and used to garden together all the time.

Weather here has been awful!!...Supposed to get nicer by Saturday in time for my daughters college grad party.

Plants are growing like crazy except some garden vegies that want it warm...Guess we just gotta be patient!!..lol

WELP!!! Looks like I will be gone for a while again.. Family!!
Not to worry Ingrid âºâºâº.. I don't do Farmville..LOL
I am headed out of town in the morning.. Wishing everyone a very Blessed rest of the week and weekend!!

Kylie

I just posted some pictures of my latest landscaping effort on the Texas Forum.

If you live "up north" it's a very different kind of gardening here in South Texas.

Here's the link for you.

Here is a link that might be useful: Before and After

I still come around and probably will more now that I have cancelled my membership at the other place.

Hi Everyone,
I am new to this forum and new to Brugs. I just received my first ones so I have been reading from the forum. I hope I can keep these growing and learn all I can about them. Thanks for all the information I have found. I need to learn about growing seeds and cuttings, bugs and everything. Patsey

There you are Midway aka Patsey! Welcome, and don't be shy.

Sorry to hear that so many people lost loved ones lately. I try to post when I can but I don't get that much time to do stuff I want to do lately lol. I'm lucky if I can keep up with the weeding and taking care of the pets and track of the kids LOL! Forget the housework grrrr....

Hey Ingrid, where are you? Have not seen you in a while?

How's Lucy doing? Does anybody knows?

Pat

I bet Lucy is lost on the farm! She's not one of my neighbors, but that game is sooo addictive! Heck it takes over an hour just to visit my neighbor's farms :-)

Pam

She (Lucy) has a house full of grandkids right now, lol. I talked to her for a minute today. Kylie hopes to be back home by Tuesday. She is still with her Mom in Oklahoma.

You all are still in my heart! I have a lot of stuff going on, mostly medical, and my daughter and kids stayed here for 4 weeks and hogged the computer. Right now I'm housebound for a couple of weeks , company is gone, because I'm radioactive,( its one of those nuclear tests )- LOL, probably glowing when it is dark!!!! But I will be back! Funny that I was the one who started this thread. And then I disappeared.
Hugs
Ingrid

I recall reading something in an earlier thread, posted by our beloved Lucy. Who has gone in hiding somehow. But I think she wrote, at the time, that she was not into Brugmansia any more and that she wanted to try her luck with plants that grow natural in her area, maybe even succulents. This might explain why we don't see her on this forum any more??????????

I miss Lucy. I'm still surprised that she completely dropped GW as she was one of the most active members. I can't get into Facebook or that Farmville thing.

Ingrid I hope that all is well with you. What NM scan are you having with an isotope with such a long half life?

Hey Ingrid,
Hope everything is well with you and is nothing serious. Let us know.
Hugs
Pat

Thanks for caring, my friends. I have Grave's disease which is an overactive Thyroid, and I got all the goodies that go with it, like bulging eyes, shaking hands, swollen feet, etc., and a nodule on the thyroid gland which they are testing to see if it is cancer- or hopefully not and they can just cut it out. The 2-day test starting today was just a low dose, but they may hit me with a higher dose of radioactive iodine to destroy the thyroid. I just go from one day to the other now, but I kicked my daughter and grandkids out of the house, so as not to expose them, and to be on the safe side. If you know me, (which you don't), you also know that I tackle everything with a positive attitude. I have had worse things than this happen to me in my life, and I will conquer this one, too.
I love you for asking what happened. Not too many people care any more. And rest assured, I care about you and what is happening in your lives. You have all become my friends, and I treasure your friendship over the GW. Let's all stay in touch
Hugs
Ingrid

Ingrid, you have such a wonderful attitude. That is most of the battle of life. It says a lot about how a person really is how they handle the bad things. Everybody can be happy and positive when good things happen. You know you are made of the good stuff when you can handle diversity with happy.

You will be in my thoughts of good outcome with your test.

I am still beating myself up in the woods every day clearing up the old gardens and the old house.

Hopefully it turns out to be nothing and can just be controlled with meds or Iodine-131. Everyone in my family has thyroid issues. My Mom and oldest sister had Graves. My Dad had an underactive thyroid and my other sister was diagnosed with thyroid cancer almost 40 years ago and had a thyroidectomy. She's fine. My oldest son and I have TBG deficiency which causes no problem, just wacky lab results. If you have to have something that's a good place to have it as it's so treatable. Good luck. I hope all goes well.

Marquest, now I know what you mean by beating yourself up in the woods. I read your other post about flushes and other flowers. Wonderful, all the stuff you find, and wonderful that you found such a great place to live.
And thank you for all your good thoughts.

Karyn, I am constantly amazed and in awe about your knowledge of, well, I want to say just about everything. Plants, kids, cars, houses, areas in the US and abroad, and illnesses. Just to name a few. How lucky for your kids to have such a mom!!! I appreciate your input, I'm taking it to heart. In fact it is what you wrote for me that has put my mind more at ease.
Thank you!
Ingrid

Ingrid, I am glad you have a positive attitude. That's the way to go. Hope everything will be well. Good luck.
hugs
Pat

Ingrid I hope everything goes well for.. What a great attitude you have.. I believe it makes a possitive impact on healing!
. I finally made it home on Tues. My Pop passed on the 4th of June.. I feel so Blessed to have been here to care for him till the end.. Hospice came in and they are awesome.. He passed peacefully with family there.. Yesterday we buried our oldest dog Libby she was 14 and lived a wonderful life.. Taking a bit to catch my breath.. BUT you know what I always say..LOL "Put Your Big Girl Panties On and Deal With It" SOOOOOO.. Hubby has done a great job here.. Time to see if I can at least get a start at catching up.. for now..

Kylie

Oh Kylie, I am so sorry about the passing of your PoP. Please accept my sincere sympathy! I'm glad his family could be there with him at the end.
I'm also sorry about Libby. It makes me think of my own dogs and what had happened then. It's like losing a child.

Thank you for your good wishes. I really appreciate that.
You hang in there, kiddo. The best to you!
Hugs
Ingrid