Tammy do you still have dial-up or do you have DSL? I'm asking because when we moved back into our house Embarq sold us high speed internet access for half the price I was spending on dial-up and AOL.

Here is a passage about Snake's head iris from Scott Odgen's book Garden Bulbs for the South:

"The snake's head iris establishes readily and can be very free of increase with its long, spiky foliage. Flowering is unpredictable, however, unless the bulbs are well ripened over the summer. Raised beds of sand, decomposed granite, oystershell, or lime rubble will provide the fast drainage necessary, with an arid summer, to prepare flower buds for the following spring. The gardener's reward will be a bouquet of sinister, gray-green blooms in early February."

Sorry...haven't been on the puter all day. Thanks Karen for letting the others know about the snake head iris.
Here's another pic of it.

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Here's another shot of the snake head iris and I'm also including a beautiful rufflie hellebore.
Hope you enjoy.....Evelyn

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Wow, I like that hellebore.

yes, Alicia, i have enormous hard drives. And they're still getting full. I'm a retoucher by trade (which means i fix pictures on the comp for photogs, advertising agencies, card cos and the like), and so i need lots of room, as typical files are in the 200- 500 MB range, and many go lots higher. I've worked on files that were 3 GB- but not on my machine at home. Biggest there was probably close to 2 GB, though. I just checked, and right now, my personal photos are eating up about 100 gb of my hard drive space- i have about 750 or so total over 2 drives. I will probably have to archive off some of the older stuff at some point, but for now I'm ok. Believe it or not- my machine is getting too slow for what i do and i will need to upgrade very soon! Mostly it's the processor speed and not the amount of RAM or hard disk space i have, and you can't change the processor speed, unfortunately. My kids need a good comp anyhow- theirs wheezes, literally.

You could buy a portable usb harddrive (if you watch they are reasonable on sale) and put your pix on there. You get quite a bit of space for the money nowadays. Probably can easily get a hard drive that's larger than your main drive! Just don't forget to always back your stuff up somehow in more than one place.

I'm on cable modem, which has been very flakey just in the past 2 weeks. I have to be on high speed because much of my work is transferred via the net to clients in other states. The comp guy that came out tonight said it may be a time warner issue as he saw it on another person's cable modem'd computer. So i need to call them & find out what's up. Costs too much to be flakey. AOL has always been the biggest ripoff around. I need to check into embarq. Keep hearing the commercials.

efine- thanks for posting the other shots. It sure is a funky looking critter!

The USB portable harddrive you described is what hubby was thinking of. I'll have to look into that. I just put another memory card in my computer so that it's running a lot faster, but can't add another hard drive. I'm still running my photos in with a USB1 cable, although I have the card reader and USB2 PCI card, because I haven't wanted to take my firewire video card out, even though I don't load videos very often. I always back my stuff up on CDs because I don't want to keep it on the hard drive.

If you need more usb ports (sounds like it )you can get a usb hub for cheap -like 20 bucks so you have more than one port. They also have firewire hubs, though they cost a bit more. A lot of firewire devices can be daisy chained, too, if they have another port on the back of them. I prefer firewire external hardrives, because it have Fw 800, and it's faster than usb2. Firewire 400 is just a little slower than usb2 from what i understand. I'm on a mac, so if i said anything that didn't apply to the other 90% who run pc's, please forgive. Backing the pix up on cds is great. That's what they recommend- just like the old film negs of old. Just be sure to mark them with a cd safe pen, not just any old sharpie. Some of the sharpies eat through the cd with time.

The firewire external drives make sense -- if UBS2 is faster than the typical firewire connection that must be how some people have video with better resolution than others.

Now I have a vision of some sort of mad scientist's experiment with thingamabobs and wires running everywhere. I don't want DH to be right -- he just wanted to buy another computer. But those things don't sound very expensive, and all I've spent so far is $50 for a memory card and $85 for another CD drive that I didn't really need.

Jacob's ladder:

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More Phlox divarcata:

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No, they aren't that expensive, but at the same time, a new comp that would make your old one cry isn't either. Just gotta weight the pros & cons. Hubs aren't too messy. Firewire 400 (the common one) is just a little slower than usb2. They're pretty comparable.

Love the new shots! So, jacob's ladder does well for you? That's one i've never been able to get going with any luck. Did you start from seed or a plant?

I've had this mouse plant for over 4 years and it finally bloomed. I think it's so cute!

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Evelyn that is hysterical, it really looks like a mouse!

Jacob's ladder grows like a weed here, in my composted bed. I grew it from seed from the NC Botanical Garden. Do you want one? I have plenty.

Tammy I put a note for you about the Jacob's ladder over on the exchanges thread.

Thanks, Alicia, I got it! You're so generous! What is the light & moisture situ where you have it?

Evelyn, that is adorable!

Redbud is partway open here:

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The first iris bud!

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Oak-leaved hydranea leaves are beautiful every part of the year. I still have some hanging on from last year that are dark burgundy.

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Eastern side of house:

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Tammy I have the Jacob's ladder in situations from morning sun only to full sun.

Well, that's pretty broad- sounds like i should be able to find a spot it may like, i hope.

My oakleafs are beginning to leaf as well. Was downtown yest and saw some dk purple iris that looked like they were on their second bloom of the cluster already! I don't think i have any bloom stalks yet- will have to go ck.

Tammy the Jacob's ladder is in richly composted soil so they probably prefer loam, but they seem pretty tough. The drought didn't seem to bother them very much. I like them in part shade best -- their pale color shows to optimal advantage that way.

Some ranbom shots around our gardens.....

Lynne

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All of these violas in the picture below were volunteers and transplanted from another garden
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Lynn I love the violas. I love the blue violets too. We actually didn't have those on my farm until we transplanted some from DH's grandmother's yard; instead we have marsh violets and another wild violet that looks somewhat like bird's foot violet but is another species -- can't remember what it is right now, but it's lovely. Not blooming yet.

Just remembered the name, it's Viola palmata.

Butterfly pics:

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Saw my first tiger swallowtail of the season yesterday as well! Plus, a couple black swallows or female tigers. Wasn't close enough to tell.

I'm amazed by the verbena. Mine has never been this early. Obviously, a lot of you have early bloom as well. WHAT does this mean? It beat my forsythia out this year. I don't know what to think.

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I finally got some photos resized and ready for posting. The snake's head iris didn't turn out so well but there are already good photos of that here. Some of these are from this month, and some are from Feb.

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Beautiful pictures!

Karen, what are the two flowers after the hellebores?

Shari, those are epimediums. The top one is E. x versicolor 'Sulphureum' and the second was give to me unnamed, but looks a lot like either E. pinnatum colchicum or E. x perralchicum 'Frohnleiten'.

Shari those are epimedium.

Karen your rain lilies are blooming already?

Highbush blueberry in bloom:

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I love these pansies, I wish I knew the cultivar name:

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Shiny new foliage of Aloha rose:

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Dianthus:

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Rosemary "Arp", received in a trade from Nancedar.

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Aronia arbutifolia (Chokecherry):

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Red maple seeds:

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Alicia- my aloha actually has a big bud on it already! I need to take some pix of my dianthus- i have 3 or 4 types blooming. 1 kind has been at it for a good month, but the flowers were a bit deformed from the cold. Pretty spot of color anyhow.

Karen- i love that hellebore that's mostly white with the burg so close to the center. Is it named or a seedling? Is the other one ivory prince? Those weren't rain lilies- they are a species tulip, i think, right? I have the same one. About 1/2 of my species tulips are blooming now- i need to get pix.

Alicia, no rain lilies yet. The yellow are clusiana var chrysantha tulips -- over the years I've planted several cultivars and they've seeded off, so it's just a big yellow mix at this point. The purple flowers toward the bottom are Ipheion 'Froyle Mill'. This is their second year and I've been really pleased with them. Last year the color seemed kind of washed out.

What dianthus blooms this early for you?

Oh, OK, that makes a lot more sense, that those are species tulips.

I have 2 Dianthus blooming now, one a "Siberian Blues" seedling and the other one that TriangleJohn gave me last fall.

Tammy, that hellebore is actually 'yellow', although the color didn't photograph very well. It came from PDN last year and is from their Heronswood stock, but not clonally propagated. It's one of my pricier hells, but I'm a sucker for the dark 'eye', and it's been such a vigorous plant given its age that I feel justified. I hope the colors will be passed on to some of the seedlings. The other hellebore came from Home Depot -- it's not 'Ivory Prince' but one of the ericsmithii coming out now from tissue culture (the tag on this one said the series was called 'Winter Dreams'). I've got one other tissue culture ericsmithii, also from HD, and the rest of the ones I have were individual crosses. Some people are pretty anti-tissue culture for hellebores and although personally I wouldn't want more than one of any particular cultivar, if you can find a healthy specimen from TC at a big box it's a relatively cheap way to get started. The one in the photo is only in its second year in the garden and I think it looks a lot more mature than that.

This is the Dianthus from TriangleJohn. It is fragrant.

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This iris opened on Easter morning:
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And these bloom every year at an abandoned family homestead:
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Karen- I'd have to go check my tags, if they're still legible to tell for sure, but i'm pretty sure one of them is the d. amurensis- that's the one that's been at it for a month or more. another is a tall variety called fantasy mix, i think, (very fragrant ripped single blooms, pale purple with darker stripes). Then, there's a pale pink one i got from Betty that is fully budded out- i don't recall what she called it- maybe 'bath's pink'- my guess is a grationopolis (sp?) since it's got very grey mat/creepy foliage and single to slightly doubled fragrant blooms. My other grat is budded heavily. Her 'mrs. simpkins', a super fragrant double white that has similar foliage will be blooming soon. I'll try & get some pix in a bit and see if i can manage to post them without screwing it up. And check the tags at the same time!

I'm not nuts about the yellow hellebores, but i love that dark eyed one! Maybe when it starts to seed around i can beg a baby? Whatever that other clonal one was, it's pretty. Tulipa chrysantha is the same one i have, too. I love their elegant form early & late in the day when they are tall & skinny- they are so picturesque.

I saw and shot some amazing epimediums at Duke the other day for easter. I'd love to get some of the varieties they have there!

My iris haven't even budded yet. :( soon, i hope.

My Crimson King iris should bloom in the next few days. It's in that stage where it looks as though it will open tomorrow, but often holds off 3 or 4 days.

Rosebush we'll have to compare but I think your iris looks a lot like Crimson King too. When mine blooms I'll post a picture.

The daffodils at the old homestead are beautiful.

Thanks, Alicia. The iris is a darker purple than the photo shows. I have more of the heirloom, lighter ones but really love this dark one and was surprised at how early it bloomed.

Think the link was lost, so here it is again.

[IMG]http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f91/roseherbluv/iris.jpg[/IMG]

Here's what's blooming in Columbia:
Tulips
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Daffodil
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Rainbow, so are those rainlilies? How long-lived are your pink daffodils?

Alicia, I think those are clusiana tulips again. They look like 'Lady Jane', which are very much like what I showed before except white instead of yellow. When they close up they'll be pinkish red on the outside. I had a pretty good stand of those going but the voles got into the bed a year ago and I had to replant last fall. The clusianas are great tulips for naturalizing around here and aren't particularly expensive.

ok- so i finally got around to putting stuff on photobucket. let's see if i can post some pix for you:

first off, dianthus:
this is the one i was thinking was the blue one, but i believe it's a grationapolis, not amurensis. that bloomed til late fall instead, and is budding now. this one's been blooming for more than a month.
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next is another grat, i think, from the same batch:
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then what is i think bath's pink, maybe. got it from betty and will ask next time i speak with her.:
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this is from fantasy mix, is tall and smells wonderful:
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and last, these were labeled as firewitch - used them for the plot last yr. first flowers are small still. :
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Lady Jane tulips before the vole influx:
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Snowflakes:
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And I finally got some of these to bloom (won't tell you how long I've been trying):
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Some of my favorite seedlings are the euphorbias, each a little different:
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ok, my turn again! :)

here's some of my daffs that i didn't already post:

salome:
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pure white pretties (no name):
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not sure of the name, but they are sweet scented:
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classic pheasant's eye narcissus:
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minnow: a tall miniature (blooms are about thumb size):
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and, a drift of tete a tete in front of the house (which bloomed first):
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WOWOWOW Great pics everyone.

Alicia, Those are Lady Jane Tulips I bought at Riverbanks Zoo & Garden. The daffodils are new for me, just planted them in the fall.