Hey Barbra,

It has been raining so much I can't believe it. From Wed. afternoon until Thur. noon, I poured out 4" of rain out of the rain gauge.

I'll run by your place and check it out later this morning and get back with you.

I pulled up a desert willow yesterday that was just about dead from too much water. I'll put it in a pot until I decide what to do with it. And I'm going outside to pull up my swamp rose that has been sitting in water for about 3 weeks.

We really needed rain, but it can stop for a while. Later.

Linda, thank you for checking for me. I can't tell you how hard it is not knowing. Our property sits much lower than your, so I can't even imagine the damage. I will be coming down next Monday or Tuesday, after they remove my stiches, and the doctor lets me drive. I have to get out of here, I am stir crazy, I can't even take pictures to post, because of the stiches. I am trying to get my husband to take a few pictures for me. I want a picture of the ivy, with the large leaves, I posted a thread last year about how large the leaves are, but now I can post a picture, to show you what I am talking about. I would also like to show you the 5 foot St. Johns Wort shrub. Barbra,

Barbra,

Well it hasn't rained for the past couple of days, but it is HOT! The combined high heat and high humidity is just about making it impossible to be outside.

I went by your place this afternoon, and everything is looking good, actually very good. I didn't see any signs of your plants being hurt. And the passion vine is taking over your back door.

Hope you are doing OK. See you soon.

Linda

hey ladies, i live here in aransas pass and would love to meet and trade plants etc. let me know if you are interested. Im trying to learn what vegetables i can plant for a fall garden in my raised bed and galvanazied containers

Sorry Barbara, I started a new job and it has taken a lot of time. I have not checked in the gulf coast in a while. All of the tropical weather and rain has kept me on my toes. I have had close to 30" of rain since the 1st of July. It does not look as if it will let up for a while. Tomorrow I am going to fertilize and lay down some sulpher chips and copper sulfate for my plants. Hopefully they can learn to enjoy the wet...LOL I am off this week. My plants need some tlc. Most are ok and still blooming.

I really liked the picture of the Datura. Quite a beautiful mother plant. Mine is still in a pot. I need to plant some more but August was such a strange month. I use a 50% vermiculite mix so my plants are better in pots than in the ground until it dries out. I have to run into Rockport this week. I will look in on your property if you want.

Jim

Jim,

Barbra already said she is going to be here for the following. Be sure to mark your calendar for:

WHAT: Aransas/San Patricio Master Gardener Association "Hidden Gardens Tour & Fall Plant Sale"

WHEN: Saturday, September 29, 2007 from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. for the Hidden Gardens Tour and 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. for the Fall Plant Sale

WHERE: Green Acres, 611 East Mimosa Street at Pearl Street (FM 2165), Rockport, Texas, 361-790-0103

Mark your calendars for Saturday, September 29, 2007 for the annual HIDDEN GARDENS TOUR and FALL PLANT SALE.

Arrive at Green Acres, 611 East Mimosa Street at Pearl Street, Rockport, Texas and get your tickets and maps for this one-day event in addition to purchasing those much wanted plants that you have been wanting to buy and canÂt find anywhere. You will find the maps to wonderful Hidden Gardens located in both Aransas County and San Patricio County. Be sure to take the time to wander through the demonstration gardens at Green Acres which are continuously being updated and maintained by the Aransas/San Patricio Master Gardener Association.

If you would rather not make the trip to Rockport, but rather visit just the gardens in Portland, you can get your tickets ONLY the "morning of the Hidden Gardens Tour, September 29, 2007" at 110 Pine Valley, Portland, Texas.

This event is OPEN TO THE PUBLIC. The cost is $10.00. For pre-registration tickets and/or questions contact the Aransas County Texas Cooperative Extension, Rockport, TX, telephone number 361-790-0103.

Thanks for the update, I was looking for the Fall Sale date. Everything from the spring sale did real well even though I arrived there at the end of the sale. This time I will be there when it opens. My Sienna's are flowering right now. And the Plumeria is growing like crazy. Lots of good plants and information. I will see on the tour. It would be nice but I may have a car full of plants to take care of.

Jim

I'll be working in the greenhouse selling herbs. Stop by and say hi!

I will do that. Any ideas on something special at the sale? Barbara I have not heard from you I hope all is well. My plants are doing great from Lowes. I really appreciate you thinking of me. I do love esperanzas. If there is anything I can help with let me know.

Jim

Jim, I'm doing great! I am not able to do much gardening now I had surgery on my right hand, I am waiting to get that hand stong enought to have surgery on the left hand. I can still get $1 gallon plants at Lowes, if you are interested. I have walked away from deals to die for. I just got 10 trays of plants free, and gave 8 trays away, to anyone that would plant them. I will be down for the hummingbird tour, I think I will actually take the tour this year, I will be there early so I can get some of those great deals on plants.

Linda, please save me one rosemary, two sweet basil, and one purple basil, I love to cook with these herbs. I think Gary will be coming down, he loves herbs. Barbra,

Glad to hear you are well. I was worried, I had not heard from you. I always love cheap hardy plants. Do not attempt to do more than you can. I have a big rosemary if you want. It just sits in a 5 gallon pot. I do not use it. I need to learn how to use herbs. I do know that me and rosemary do not agree.

I am feeling weird I accidentally pulled out a capped front tooth on some jerky from the place between us and Houston a few hours ago. I kind of look like I was raised in the hills of the North. (trying to be nice) it is too weird feeling. I see a dentist appointment in real the near future.

I will be at the Green Acres when they open this time. All of my plants from the last sale grew like crazy and are still growing. It could be a fun winter with new plants. I love hardy plants and I believe they like me......

Jim

Barbra & Jim!

OK Barbra, you mention I will be down for the hummingbird tour, I think I will actually take the tour this year, I will be there early so I can get some of those great deals on plants. Barbra the Hummer/Bird Celebration was last weekend. Saturday, September 29, is the Hidden Gardens Tour from 9 until 4 and the same day is the Fall Plant Sale from 9 until 1. You can pick up tickets for the Hidden Gardens Tour at Green Acres. We have 11 gardens plus Green Acres on the tour this year. OK, I'll put you up those herbs.

Jim, I love to cook with herbs. I present culinary herb programs. In fact, I'm giving a program at the South Texas Botanical Gardens on Saturday, October 13. We are going to have four programs:

Herb Day, Saturday, October 13, 2007 from 9:00 a.m. until 1:00 p.m.

Programs & Speaker(s), each program will last for approximately 50 minutes.
"Culinary Herbs", Linda T. Collins; 9:00 to 9:50
"Cool Weather vs. Warm Weather Herbs", Cindy Meredith 10:00 to 10:50
"Container Growing Herbs", Lois Atwood 11:00 to 11:50
"Harvesting & Preserving Herbs", Cindy Meredith 12:00 to 12:50

Also The Herb Cottage will be an herb vendor with lots of live plants for the program. And we are hoping that Frank Fregoso of Tex-Mex Curios will be there with his dried herbs. He lectures on traditional Mexican-American herbal remedies.

And Jim I just love the jerky from Prasek's. Sorry to hear about your tooth though. Just don't smile until you get to the dentist.

See you all soon.

Newkidd 13, hope you can make it down to Rockport, for the plant sale. I would like to meet you, I will be down next Friday, Saturday and Sunday. I will be at the plant sale Saturday before 9am, probably talking to Jim. Hope to see you there. I will be wearing a red top, and jean shorts. Barbra,

Hi youall,

I recently bought a house on Salt Lake and am going back & forth between San Antonio & Rockport trying to get settled and get some repairs done. I really wanted to go to the Hummingbird Festival but we had a family celebration (at my house) so I will go next week. I can't go on a tour but would love to go to the plant sale and maybe meet some of you guys.
Someone said it will be at "Green Acres, 611 East Mimosa Street at Pearl Street (FM 2165) in Rockport" What is Green Acres? Is it a nursery? One thing I really, really want to buy is some decent sized palms. I love palms and need to learn which ones do best. My back yard faces the water and is no more than 50 ft. from the back of the house and is all grass - no plants of any kind, so first I want three or five or so palms. Could you all tell me the best place to go? I plan to go down on Friday and see what I can do. Thank you so much. I hope I can get to know some of you in the future.
Ruth

I love queen or king palms and they do the best down there, if you can find royal palms once established they do great. The best price for queen palms is at Home Depot in San Antonio, I just priced them last week, at the store by Sams on 410. If you cannot haul them down to Rockport, the best place to buy down there is Mario's he is on the IH-35 and hwy 188. Mario will deal with you, the more trees you buy the better the price. Just ask him, how much can I get them for if I buy 2, he usually goes down $25 each. So if you buy more, he will probably go down more. Home Depot was $75, Marios is $100. Mario will plant the trees for you, so that is why we have been buying from him, he is such a nice person, he is very young, but really knows his stuff. I have bought from Eddies, and from Copano Nursery and their trees do not do as well, stay away from the Foxtail palms, or the bottle palms, they do not do very well down there. Barbra,

Thanks Barbra for answering some of my questions. I'll check out both, HD & Mario's when I'm there. How about Mexican Fan palms and Chinese Fan palms? I'm not sure about the difference but we used to stay at my former boss's house on Fulton Beach Rd. and they had a beautiful clump of (I think) Mexican Fan palms. They were not only pretty, they made a nice rustling sound in the wind - also, they were slow growing and not too tall. Do you know which palms "clump" better? Also, what is Green Acres?

OK, I can give you the answer to "what is Green Acres". Green Acres is the lot where the Aransas County Extension Office is located, and it is named Green Acres because that is where our Master Gardener Demonstrations Gardens are located. We started planning the gardens back in late 1998.

We Master Gardeners have a both a spring and fall plant sale every year. We have everything from tropicals, natives, perennials, trees (I don't know if they ordered any citrus trees this fall.), herbs, and on and on.

Regarding palms, I'll tell you right now that our MG plant sales allow no invasive plants to be sold. Not my idea, but one that is being strictly enforced. Some suggested palm trees for here on the Texas Coastal Bend are the two Texas native palms, i.e. Sabal texana or S. mexicana and Sabal minor. Some other palms are the Queen Palm Trees Syagrus romanzoffiana and Pindo Palms Butia capitata. The Mexican Fan Palm Washingtonia robusta is not recommended although it grows much faster and taller and is very invasive, but my guess is that you might be able to find some of those at a good price.

I'll be working selling Herbs. Stop by and say Hi! Barbra and I live on Copano Bay, so we are all neighbors.

Ruth, I forgot to mention that the $100 queen palms from Mario's was after the $25 off, for buying two. I only have Queen Palms, King, Royal, foxtail, and of course Pigmey, and Parlor palms. I also have a fishtail palm that is a volunteer. I am always getting volunteer from the Mexican fan palm across the street. I will be down This Friday, so if you want to come by Friday, or Saturday let me know and I will show you the diffrent palm trees. Both my neighbors have Mexican fan palms. The man down the street ordered 3 fan palm trees from Florida, I am not sure what kind they are, they look diffrent, but he paid $1500 each. I like the Queen and the Royal the best, they are so easy to take care of. I planted 6 from Wal Mart in the spring of 2005, I paid $17.88 each, and this year, I have to use a ladder to trim them, they are hugh. Barbra,

Thank you both for the information.
Barbra, I would love to see the different palms you have before I invest in them - and at the prices they command plus paying someone to plant them (right) I want to choose the right ones. My daughter Lee and I plan to go down on Friday as well. How do we connect? I'm at the Vandeveer house on Copano Ridge Rd. - where do you live? Do you want to give me your address by using my email rather than this forum? Please let me know. I'm really excited about getting this going - the view of the water is beautiful but I have to have some plants and especially palms started.
Thanks again,
Ruth

Ruth, you have mail! Barbra

Thanks Barbra - Unfortunately, I can't read it until tomorrow evening. I have a new laptop and my computer guy is setting it up for me and right now my email account is not working but he will be here tomorrow late afternoon and I should be all set up. Thank you, I look forward to reading your email and visiting the plant sale on Sat.
Thanks again,
Ruth

Ruth, I live in Copano Village off rd 1781, right by the airport. Turn right on Live Oak( the middle street). I am the last house on the left. I will be coming down by myself Friday, I should be there about noon. Just stop by, where do you live in San Antonio? I live by the medical center, and work at USAA. Barbra,

Thanks for the info Barbra - I'm not sure what time we're leaving tomorrow - hopefully early and will run by, probably, late afternoon. I may be by myself or with my daughter, Lee who loves gardening as much as we do and we're excited about getting the yard going. I think I have a guy I can depend on to watch and water when we're not there, although my SIL loves to go when he's working in that area so he can fish. He loves to fish and of course he will watch the plants then. I love to fish too if someone baits my hook and takes the fish off when I catch one.

I live off Vance Jackson, between Huebner & Wurzbach. Good greif, we're practically neighbors here too. The beach house is on Copano Ridge Rd. off 1781 but left instead of a right turn. I'm really looking forward to meeting you and seeing your yard and palms. Buying some this weekend is a mission we're on.

Well, I guess I will see everyone next week. Jim, were you there early? Ruth and I came 5 minutes after 9am and I did not see you. I had some roses in the back of my car for you. They are the carpet roses that they sell at Lowes, I got them for the money I still owe you. I guess I will give them to you on Saturday Oct. 6th. We will be there early I will not forget the phone number this time. Barbra,

Barbara, nice seeing you there. I bought a bunch of plants. I was going to come by later but had a little tragedy in the pet family. My dog had a heart attack Saturday and died Sunday.

Obituary from my wife

cindy potts
to Tracy, Kim, Claire, Joni, Joyce, panda78413, James, me, Brenae, Patty, sharon, Pat, Christopher, Renee
show details
2:16 pm (8 hours ago)
Today, October 7,2007 is a very sad day in the Potts family. Today we lost our beloved Tex. He died this morning. Tex had heart worms for the past year. Tex is survived by his wife Jasmine, his loving brother Rex and sister-in-law Mollie. He was the father of 13, but only three were living with him, they are LT, Tiger and Snapper.
We will all miss him, he was our joy. He is the reason that we are blessed with all our other "kids with tails."

Love to all,

The Potts

I wish you could clone dogs like brugs. I do not imagine there is another on this earth like him. I bred him 4 times hoping for another. No luck, just dogs. He was part human and had the Iq of an Einstein. With no fear. I will miss him dearly.

Roses I can kill them faster than anyone. They hate my soil. I talked with Linda and a neighbor of yours has a type of plant I am after. I need to find out the name. It is growing at green acres next to the herb area.

Email me and I will give you my phone number again. I am sorry I missed coming by your garden home in Rockport, it is special. It was nice to see you and Ruth and to meet Linda. Gardeners are special people.

Jim

Jim, I am so sorry to hear about Tex, my prayers are with you and your family. I know you miss him, but he is in a wonderful place, with no pain. According to John Edwards, Tex will be waiting for you when your time comes. Barbra,

He has a plant shrine. Plumerias and cannas and a big new wind chime. It was strange he had recovered from heart worms and was on preventatives for almost a year. He was doing great and running and playing outside then I looked and he was laying on the ground. I guess he had a heart attack.

Jim

Jim,

I'm really sorry about Tex. I'm so sorry. I'm a animal lover with 6 dogs and 8 cats. I love them all. I'm really sorry.

Thanks, he was special.