Sorry to have missed it yet again. Everything in your yard looks great and the plants look good too ;)

Thank you Amber and I hope that one day you can come and meet the wonderful gardening friends that came to the party. We had a lot of fun!

To all the friends that are traveling far, I hope that you reach home safe...

Silvia

Wow Sylvia I really missed out. Your Garden is beautiful and your hospitality is out of this world. Your parties are on my bucket list.

Thank you for sharing.

Jamie

Sylvia, sorry I missed so much of the party, but I enjoyed walking through your garden and seeing so many thriving plants.
The boys and I got something to eat and I got to meet some gardeners!

Thanks so much for doing this. You and Willy and your daughter are so gracious.

Tom

Hi Jamie

Next time that we have a party, you have to come. We love to have old and new friends at the house.

Tom123, thank you for those beautiful flowers! are those from your garden? they are the best Florida roses that I have ever seen, they have gorgeous colors and smell divine!

For those of you that are going to grow some sweet potatoes, you all got a bush variety, being the most productive bush porto rico.
I got the slips from Sandhill about 4 years ago, and I never had to buy a sweet potato again. I grew them last year around the bananas, this year they are in a raised bed that I grew carrots before. The soil in the raised bed has a mix of black cow, peat moss and an organic fertilizer for root crops. Don't put the sweet potatoes in a high nitrogen soil, because they will grow nice leaves and no tubers. They will take some time to grow somewhere around 90/ 100 days. When you feel a mound in the soil, they are ready. If you save the sweet potatoes like I do in the office closet, you can keep them growing year after year. For those with warm weather and no frost, they are perennial. Keep them moist when recently planted and after
when they are established you can water less.
I hope that all of you get a very successful crop of sweet potatoes!

Silvia

Here is a link that might be useful: sweet potato info

Great pics Silvia & looks like everyone had a nice time.

Silvia thank you, we had a great time indeed. Thanx again for the sweet potato slips can't wait to get them in the ground in our cummunity garden.

Those pics are great Cheryl did such a good job.

AND last but not least the food was awesome (can ya tell I like food?) LOL

Tom123, I missed your posting before...I was so glad that you came,next time you have to spend more time with us.:)

Hi Darcy, next time you have to come to meet the gardeners at the party, we had so much fun!

Carmen, thanks for all your help! I love the first picture of you! it really shows the way you are, and love to have you as my gardening buddy!

Silvia

Sure was fun, I always say I'm NOT taking anything home and then find it virtually impossible to get everything into the cab of my truck :-) :-(

As usual, Silvia, Willy and Cheryl go all out to make this the party of the year! All I can say is:

And it's always nice to see old friends and make new ones as we endevor to share our experiences and knowledge.

Tom

Hi Tom, I am very happy to hear from you and today I am enjoying all my gifts! You set me up with watering wands for life, and the wooden sticks too, lol.
Time went so fast again! remember when we went to try the pickles? I was going to show you a picture of me in Tuscany that was on the wall and remember when we were walking and I went to clean something? lol, that was the place under the loquat where I had some volunteer callaloo in the middle of the spinach that I was going to show you...
Thank Cathy for me for letting you come and enjoy the party with us.

Silvia

Let me join in... THANK YOU, Silvia, Willy, Cheryl and Ivan for opening up your home and sharing your gardening knowledge with us. It was GREAT to meet so many new friends!

Silvia your garden always look so lovely...I am so sorry I missed the party.. they are always so much fun..

Silvia, looks like everyone had a great time. Wish we could have made it too. You and Willy are the greatest. :o)

Hi Jen, I am happy to hear that you had a good time. The more times that we get together, the better it gets to know our gardening friends...We hope that we can always improve so everyone is happy and learn something new.

Thank you Maxine, we missed you at the party! we didn't take a group picture but more people attended than what the pictures show. It is always good to meet old friends and make a new ones.:)

Hi Kathy, thank you. We always have a lot of fun when we get together, hope to see you at the next party.

Silvia

Silvia, Thank you SO MUCH! I had a lovely time and I am so glad that I was able to meet so many of the 'friends' that I have made here. Your hospitality is only matched by your absolutely amazing gardens! I will be back with pictures to share soon!!! :-D

Barbie

Silvia- May I post pictures of your place on my blog? Then I can link in here and everyone can see. Besides, I have quite a few to share. ;-) (no worries, I'm a plant picture taker, not people picture taker!)

Barbie

Hi Barbie!

It is so nice to hear from you and to know that you enjoyed the party. Those muffins were so good! And of course you can post any pictures, any way you like them. It will be very nice for all of us to see the pictures and your blog.
I am glad that you and Stepmom came and we got to know you.

Silvia

Thank-You Silvia and Willy for hosting another great party ....Kudos to Cheryl and Ivan too

Can you Re-post the contact/location info for your U-Pick-Fruit friends who were there.....they came without business cards !

Maxine.....I couldn't give away all my peppers at the party...If you want E-mail me from my profile and I'll try get those Caribbean Seasoning peppers to you......

Thanks to everyone for the grand time, food and trades......

dougandpam

Hi Doug & Pam

It was so great to have you at the party! thank you for the beautiful purple jalapeno and this time I got to eat the quiches, I saw that you made 3! and they were labeled and delicious!

I am glad that you got to meet the owners of Valley View Farms, if you google the name and the location Howie on the Hills, there comes Willy's picture,lol and the address of the farm. She told me that this year it is bad for peaches, didn't get enough chill hours but they will have some and they are delicious, all the fruits they have are the best for a good price.

Today I was busy pulling those big onions,lol, the zucchini, eggplant and some tomatoes and made an Italian caponata.

Willy told me that Pam saw the pictures of Monticello on the tv and told him that you were there too and she recognized them.

Looking forward for our next get together...

Silvia

Looks like a good time!

Could someone please identify the gold/coppery tall plant in the first picture? It is right below the lady's right hand. Tia

btt

Sorry, got called away with a little one that had a painful ear. It turned out to be a double ear infection. The other one was just diagnosed with pneumonia so this is a hectic week.

Here is the link!!! Thanks Silvia for letting us tour your garden and allowing me to put it on my blog. :-D
Too bad I got sidetracked by lunch. LOL.

Here is a link that might be useful: Silvia's garden tour

btt = bump/back to top?

Mammie, sorry I don't have an answer...

Hi Carol

Hi Barbie, you are just too kind! and you are gifted as a writer and photographer!

I am very sorry about your kids getting sick, I am also a mother and when my daughter was young I remember those days...

Thank you for coming to the garden party, traveling long ways for you and being such a busy mom. Hope to do interesting things each time, time flies when we are in such a good company!

Million thanks for all your wonderful words!

Silvia

Thanks anyway, Sylvia. I'm hoping someone on here will know the answer. I'd love to find a couple of these same plants.

mammie - I saw the plant. I considered taking it, but really didn't know what to do with it. I believe it went to one of the gals in the pictures above... the black gal and the blonde. I believe the blonde was from Jenson Beach. I believe I saw them carrying it out to the car, but at my age, things get muddled quickly. Does someone know who they were?

Larry

Would it be too much to ask to repost all of the photos with names underneath? Yeah, I know... it would...

I just miss you guys sooo much!

Carol in Jacksonville

Hi Carol

Next time you have to come in meet us in person, we do have a lot of fun! Not all the people that came is in the picture and we didn't have enough time or we forgot the group picture.:)

From all the photos, you can probably recognize Tom? he is very popular, I give you a clue, he is the only one waving at you, lol.

Silvia

Hi Larry!
Thanks for your response. I'm hoping someone will know the name of the plant and let me know so that I can purchase a couple for myself. That color is just what I'm needing.

Is Tom the one carrying all my plants to his car? Yeah, I see him!!! :)

As always I had such a wonderful time! Here are some of the items I came home with - and I have no idea what there names are.

Succulents from Cheryl - little mussy because of yesterday's rain. Love these in my mexican pot! Thanks Cheryl!

Worlds best Coreopsis - :) - THANK YOU!! Was this from Kara?

Salvias - one also from Kara who also gave me firecracker and monarda? Kara did you give me the pink Crinium? I got home and had an empty pot. I nearly cried! I've been after that plant forever.

Peppers from Doug - Thank you Doug!! I would have taken your leftovers, I didn't want to be greedy. :)

And Eggplant - we love eggplant so I took the ones left and with any brains would have gone back for Doug's peppers. - THANK YOU MYSTERY EGGPLANT PERSON!!

A Lantana, bromiliads, and blackberry lily from Maxine? Thanks, Maxine! Didn't you give me your Grandma's Jamaican banana two years ago? They are doing great as well.

And I got a red lime, a ride, and great company from Tom. Thanks Tom!

Oh and Tom - some of the artwork my husband is working on. Sure hope you go to Raymond James show with us in a week.

My one regret is not getting everyone's names from who I recieved plants. Please forgive me if I got confused! THANK YOU ALL!! Especially Syliva, Willie and Cheryl for throwing yet another absolutly wonderful SWAP. Sylvia I still have sweet potatoes and NamWah banana from your swap 2 years ago! And I stuffed myself on your spicy pickles. YUM! Great BBQ job Willie.

Hi Tina

Thank you for those nice pictures. I have to show it to Cheryl when she comes home...she is a beginner gardener and she had a lot of fun at the swap. She planted your cannas right away and she was happy about them.

I was not paying attention to the swap because I was busy doing something else.:) so I don't know about any plant that was exchanged. The only thing that I know is that Maxine could not come because her daughter had a game...The other Lady is a friend that came from far and hope to see them again at the next party that we will have in the fall and I also hope that all the wonderful friends from Tampa come again!

Tina, congratulations on your husband's work, he is very gifted! Willy likes the one with the birds...

Silvia

Tinae, yes the bananas were from me.. Glad to hear they are doing great... The plants you got this time weren't from me.. I was not able to make the party.. Don't worry, Doug's leftover peppers will be well taken care of they will be in my garden soon.. All your new plants look so beautiful...I love looking at the pictures that everyone post..
maxine

Tina, I forgot to tell you that the mystery eggplant grower is Rick, a great gardener and organic too, he is truly professional and very experienced, he is not on the forums.-(
I saw Terry talking to him, good for him! he knows a lot.

Maxine, next party make sure that you are coming, we had a lot of fun!

Silvia

Tina - The yellow plant in your "Lantana, bromiliads, and blackberry lily" picture looks to be the mystery yellow plant. I thought it might have been a bromilaid.

Silvia - a fall party? Hooray, hooray! I will be so much better prepared next time. I have cactus going into pots, and think I have a handle on starting Jelly Palms, and I'll have tags with my name and plant type on them, and...

thank you

Isn't that bromiliad fabulous?! Aechmea blanchetiana. It was a real score!! Sorry Maxine...It's been two years since we met! Sylvia, please tell Rick thank you.

Tina, I am glad that you enjoyed the pickles...

Larry, prepare yourself for the fall party! we will have different things, plants and food going on. And we will get to meet with the fun group again!

Silvia

I LOVE the post-party chatter ;-) If it's possible for us older folks, I've been on Spring Break this week, out in the garden so I'm just getting back to the computer now :-)

Silvia, sorry I missed your Callaloo :-( I have no idea what happened but I'm not giving up.... Cathy says Hi!

Tina, I rescued your other red lime but if it's raining tomorrow morning I'm not likely to leave the house :-(

Tom

Tom, we are not older folks! we are experienced,lol

Yesterday I went to pick peaches at the farm, they had very little production compared to other years because of the warm winter but the ones that I picked were bigger in size and I think tastier. Some we will eat and some I will preserve...I had to pick them in the rain.-( We were talking about you and the other gardeners at the party with the friends from the farm, they are really nice.

Silvia

Hi Silvia,

Thank you do much for the sweet potato slips. They are already growing. Tommy (from Gotha) helped me with putting in a micro water irrigation system so while I was in Dallas this week they were growing all happily. All of my Earthboxes are happy and thriving.

I am so sorry I had to leave not long after I got there. A terrible back spasm made it impossible for me to move too much without crazy pain. Next time . . .

Tomcath - I was so sorry I did not meet you personally. I know you from the container forum and I was so inspired by your garden when I lived in Dallas over the last 4 years. Hopefully, I will get to meet you and your wife in person the next time around.

Thanks again Silvia and Willie for creating a face to face community from the digital world. It is wonderful to know people in this area (let alone people who share common interest) and you facilitated this for many of us.

To Doug and Pam - I am sorry I missed you both. I have some seeds to share with you. The eggplants you gave me last fall are still alive and are just starting to flower.

Happy gardening,

Laurie

Hi Laurie

I hope that you are feeling better and I am very sorry that you didn't stay longer to meet all the wonderful gardeners that came to the party. There is always a next time...
Thank you for thinking about me when you did the beautiful gift that you gave me, you are always so thoughtful!
Did you see Tom before you left? He is also waving at you in the picture,lol, and Cathy his lovely wife didn't come this time.
It is good to know that Tommy helped you with installing the water for the sweet potatoes, it is really a time saver and that is how they have in the community gardens for all the veggies, it makes it easy when you are not there to water.
I know that you like local food and if you are free on May 5, they have in downtown Winter Garden a festival with food and such from local farms and chefs, I think it is 9am to 5pm. There will also be blueberry picking at Mark's blueberries soon, I will call before going to find out the hours and dates that they are open. They freeze well.

Silvia

Silvia, your garden looks gorgeous as always. Looks like it was a fun get-together. I wish we could have been there.

Bill

P.S. We are STILL eating artichokes!!

Hi Bill!

We missed you and Ana at the party, I hope that the next time you can come, we had a lot of fun.

Someone from Phoenix that has artichokes said that she cuts them in July and in her garden they are perennial... I am glad to hear that you are still eating artichokes, at least mine didn't make me look bad before the party,lol. This one decided to show up and I will be eating them soon trying your recipe.:)

Silvia

Your artichoke looks great. It has a lot more leaves than mine does, and looks healthier too.

Mine looked very good until recently, but now it's getting a bit ragged. We've been cutting so many artichokes that it's gotten a bit "stemmy." And maybe it's feeling the strain of being in a container. I have it in a huge (25 gallon) container, but then it's a huge plant.

I have to decide if I'm going to leave it alone, or dig up the roots for the summer. We will see.