maybe they ARE marguarita containers! we could have hole drilled near the bottom and add spouts for pouring!

Or just giant straws!

Aw, judy, why'd you go and break your computer?

MP, I LOVE a tea olive. Mom has one that is a good 10 feet tall at the corner of her house. It's just heaven to sit out there by it when it's blooming. Ever hear of a banana shrub? I had one to put out here, but it died in the container over the summer before I got it out. *sigh* I'm thinking of planting a white flower garden out back by the picnic shelter. They are so pretty at night.

bobbi, No telling what judy was doing with that computer when it broke and it's probably best if we don't know. Just sayin'...

creeser, I've heard white flower gardens called 'moon gardens'. I had one once, it was beautiful. You should do it!

Thanks for the encouragement bobbi! I think I will. I might do another one that is full of fragrance. Rosemary, lavender, roses, gardenias... anything I can find with a strong scent.

Almost everything I planted over the summer has died in my backyard, I think it all froze. I guess I'll have to start again next year.

I'm betting judyg threw it to the floor over one of the ridiculous posters on here lately.

I've had some all white planters, moss baskets, hanging etc. and I really liked them. White fringed Dahalia was really nice too. Here's some of the white in my yard this past summer.

OH, that judy!

olldcan, what is the flower in the last pic? It looks like a spider mum, almost!

I like succulents and try to find things that are all about texture or really bold shapes. I have quite a few different areas in the yard to plan around with.

bobbi, I'm pretty sure it was just a white fringed dahalia but maybe it's a mum. I kelp the bulb tag but it's out in my greenhouse pic 1 and 2 of the first set.

olldcan what is the thing in the middle of the yard in the first pic?

and bob, what's your fave flower?

My sweet husband picks up flowers about twice a month, but I've asked him to avoid roses as they seem to droop immediately. Have you also noticed that many roses don't seem to have much scent these days?

MP, I love spider mums. Hate, hate, hate roses. They're everywhere in our front and backyard. We have giant rose topiaries that make the biggest damn mess you can imagine; we have min-roses in the side yard and in the front. They grow like freakin' weeds! Their roots go for miles, and new bushes pop up in the most unexpected (and unwanted) places!

MM, I know with cut tulips, if you insert a pin near the base of the flower they won't droop, I wonder if roses work the same way?

MM--do you smash the bottoms of your roses? I've found that if you trim the bottom stems of florists' or grocery store roses and then pound them with a meat tenderizer hammer until they spread open like a fan, they last a full week in water with the flower food in it without their necks drooping, and they actually open properly like garden roses.

feeny, where in the world did you come up with that system? I'll bet it works but it sure sounds odd!!!

My mother taught that to me the first time a high school boyfriend arrived with a bouquet of roses! She just got out the meat tenderizer and started banging away at them on the chopping board (very unromantic)!

mp, that's a totally out of control moss basket, friggen thing grew like crazy you can't even see the stand in this pic. I should have taken a pic earlier in the year, I see in the pic I needed to edward scizzor hands that thing!!!

Most of all I enjoy the pond and plantings around it early in the morning when the water is still and Hogie hasn't got in yet.

feeny, that's sounds violent!!!! Are you just meaning the stem not the base of the rose bud itself, please explain. The only roses I ever beat the hell out of, came from a liquor store parking lot.... don't ask!!!

Okay, who needs the HGTV house? Let's all move in with olldcan so we can enjoy that BEAUTIFUL HUGE garden!

Yes, just the last 1" of the bottom of the stem! Not the buds! ;-)
Roses have really thick, stiff, impermeable stems (a bit like lilacs and other flowers that grow on tree branches) so you have to get the water in to them or they just wilt.

P.S. Agree completely about the lack of scent, MM. Garden roses always smell gorgeous. Florists' roses barely smell at all (and smashing the stem bottoms does not solve that problem). I think it is a bit like tomatoes. The ones you buy at the store have had the taste bred out of them to make them look big and red and shiny; home grown and heirloom ones taste fabulous.

Your grass is to die for olldcan! and of course i want to hear about the liquor store roses! ha!
Now I've worked for a florist in the past....we never beat the stems, but you DO always cut the base of the stem before plopping it in water. By beating it, it probably just lets more water get to the flower. Same principle as cutting them, but more violent! Feeny, are you sure your mom wasn't just frustrated and needed to take it out on something? ;)

Well.....possibly. She didn't like that boyfriend very much, come to think of it. But since she did it to all the roses she bought or received or grew too, I suspect it was not just a passive-agressive message. And I promise, it really does work!

mp, now you have me wanting my yard back. I do have a gardening bug.
Just wondering if you were referring to the Datura which was also in that pic, just slightly behind the moss basket

No, your lawn grass! Fantastic! I love gardening as well! It's kind of a full-time job though. The flowers and other grasses are all gorgeous, but the lawn is perfecto!

mp, I have this theory that no matter what the flowers, shrubs and trees in your yard are like. It will still look like sh_t if the lawn isn't up to snuff. My lawn is very nice, I have to admit but I do work on it. When we moved here it was just weeds so it's taken years and years to get it like this. It's the envy of the subdivision and everyone comments on how nice it is. Hogie knows never to pee or worse on it, not allowed.
As for those roses.....let me think on that a bit. *L* I could get charged with something I'm sure.

feeny, come on over, all of you. Be sure to grab the 3 Margarita glass from our new OLLD house. I have 2 riding mowers and 1 push and never turn down good help *L* I'm going to try that tip on the roses, I always shy away from them because it ticks me off when the very next day all there heads are facing the floor....whoops needed to edit this last part, sorry

olldcan, I'll bite - where do you find the TIME for all this?

POOR ROO! just saw this on the news...they've added another color on the weather map because of the heatwave!

See that deep purple in the middle of this acne-red weather report from Down Under? That right there represents 129.2° F or 54 °C — it's a brand-new shade that the Australian bureau of meteorology was forced to add to its heat index because their country is, you know, kind of on fire.

"The scale has just been increased today and I would anticipate it is because the forecast coming from the bureau's model is showing temperatures in excess of 50 degrees," David Jones, head of the bureau's climate monitoring and prediction unit, told The Sydney Morning Herald, which notes that the previous record high was 50.7°C (123°F), recorded in 1960 at Oodnadatta Airport in the southern part of Australia — right around where the new shades of hot are showing up today.

RELATED: How China Could Stop Environmental Protests; Australia's Marine Parks

To give you an idea of just how uncomfortable this Australian heatwave really is, consider that at just past midnight, it's 95°F in Sydney. Doubly scary are the giant fire risks that come with the heat — risks so severe Australian officials are taking no chances and labeling the warning "catastrophic." "A 'catastrophic' warning carries the risk of significant loss of life and the


anywho....I know how hard you have worked on this lawn! It shows olldcan! great job woman!

here's the HEAT map where roo is sweating! they have added the color purple! oh my!

Oh Lordy, that is awful! Poor roo!

Hi girls. I hope everyone is well today.
I love gladioli and peonies. I really like a lot of flowers (courtesy of floristry course) and I've only ever cut flowers at an angle with a sharp knife to get more water to them. Roses can be tricky when they get cold they can get air trapped in the stem. You have to cut them as before run them under water and get them in a vase asap.
Olldcan I'm asking about the liquor store car park roses - ya gotta tell me! Your garden is beautiful. I have planted a couple of roses round the front (one is scented- whoo hoo) and occasionally deer come by and eat them! My local florist insists they have a scent (his flowers) but I'm getting nothing. It's a pity.

Probably the first ten years I lived here spent anywhere from 2-4 hours a day plus 8-10 hours every weekend in the yard. Now between hubby and myself were down to 5-6 hours per week. I use chemicals, and spray for weed control twice a summer. We really have no weeding as strange as that seems, spraying has eliminated that. Out of the 5-6 hours a week 3-4 is cutting lawn with about 2 hours of puttering a week. It take 2-2.5 hours every four days to cut the lawn, every four day is an absolute must as we mulch. We have an underground sprinkler system but barely use it anymore. Easy breezy and never seem like work to me. If you really like to do gardening it doesn't seem like work at all. I never feel I have to find time and usually everything except cutting the lawn is finished before 8am.

That heat is crazy, I'lll have to turn on CNN and start chucking snowballs her way. I thought she said she doesn't have A/C.....oh my, she might be re-thinking that. I just can't imagine that kind if heat!!!!

My God, you lot are talking up an encyclopaedia again!!!! I will never catch up here. I need something strong this morning to blast my eyelids open, they just won't work. Managed to sleep like a log despite the heat but I feel I need another week.

AND Mendi, you have really blown my mind with your Spiderman artwork!!! You really have to write a book and cash in on your incredible talent.

Bobbi - overpriced homes on the border of gangland???? .......................... maybe they have installed a secret hydroponic system.

I always wanted to go to Oz but this extreme weather is one of the things my rain loving husband could never take - that and the giant, really deadly bugs they have. No wonder Roo is puffed out, that heat just sucks the life out of you.

One day maybe I will write something Roo????
If I lived near that little boy, I would go paint something on the wall for that mother. I have actually painted a large spidey on my nephew's wall. A few years back. It is gone now. It was a phase. But Mal and I went out to the midwest for thanksgiving one year and I got roped into to doing it while there. Don't get to see them much, so it was my pleasure. He was pretty cool!
Roo, seriously...do you not have AC?

OUR HOUSE

Sorry guys, but after drooling over so many rooms, today's collection has me scratching my head.

1. NO DEAD ANIMALS OR PARTS THEREOF!!!!! Sheesh and on the dining table too!!!

2. What is with the sink in the dining area. I can sort of see the sense of having a second cleaning up area away from the food prep area but the base cupboards look quite low making the sink backbreakingly low and the upper cupboards come down way too far for comfort for me. I can see a lot of head banging happening.

3. Cute doggie pics, but what is with that area??? Has a microwave and an undercounter fridge/drinks fridge, but no idea how it relates to anything. Why would you have a microwave somewhere odd.

I am laughing at the 3 white, I assume, stools??? Look like emergency loos to me - and thinking of the maragaritas, white russians, black russians and any other concoction, maybe very well placed.

Oh, creeser, thanks for the offer, but you can keep your small animals, I have more than enough here.

I think it's a pantry for extra THINGS! extra food, drink, bowls, glasses, trays, platters, etc...bottles of wine! and tequila! I don't know! yes, a microwave is in there. You can also store small kitchen appliances in the bottom area, that is hidden with fabric. That kinda stuff! :) and yes a small wine fridge. It can also be used for parties for the catering staff! Ask me how I know!

Hi all. Roses for floral arrangements are becoming more and more hybrid for long lasting blooms, and the fragrance disappeared in the process. Also, some of the buds seem to pop off the stems too easily. Often they are pinned with a long pin (remember hat pins?) to kept them on the stem. Smashing the bottom inch of the rose stem with a hammer used to be the "way it was done." Now, it is common to just make a sharp diagonal cut - to get a higher surface area for water. Cut the stems underwater - in the sink or in a bucket. I like to use warm water. Have the vase and water already prepared and rush those roses into the vase so they have as little contact with the air as possible.
Meanwhile, my favorite flower fragrances are jasmine, honeysuckle, lilac, and lavender.

ez, I like the fragrance from all those flowers, but not the bees! We get bees so big here it's amazing they can fly. They're called carpenter bees, and they are ginormous!

This is quite an appropriate house for us isn't it - everything seems to be around partying!!!

mp - definitely an ideas book, that way you don't have to write any flowery words, just ideas and instructions. The things you came up with for doing that mural were amazing, things I would never have thought of. Don't know if I would have had the patience - well not these days, but heaps of people would, they just don't know where to start.

mp, we are bred tough here - seriously we have never really had the need to have AC, we get the sea breeze most days, yesterday the wind was from the west which are very hot inland winds and they stop the easterly sea breezes coming in and temps were pretty even over the whole city, which is very unusual. Sydney covers quite a big area now and when you see temps they are usually for the CBD which although it is on the harbour can be a couple of degrees higher than us, the coastal areas can be similar, within 1 deg of each other, but once you head even slightly towards the west the temps go up and can be 5 - 8 deg hotter.

We considered it when we were planning the renovations but then decided it was a big outlay for about 6 days a year we felt we could desperately do with it. Then our electricity prices started going sky high, ours are around $250 a month now and we are very mindful of what we use, but we hear horror stories of people paying $1,000 a month or more so it really puts you off. The forecast is for a lot more heat to come but Sydney weather is extremely hard to predict so no one really takes much notice until it happens. If I lived out west there would be no option - AC AND a pool!!!

Lisa you should have brought hubby here last summer, it hardly stopped raining and was nowhere near as hot as it should have been. The best part was, we had no flies either and come to think of it we have had hardly any this year. They did say all the rain interrupted their breeding cycle, maybe this is the result. I met some English tourists at the shops one day and apologised to them for it but they were quite happy, said they were used to it and were having heaps of fun anyway. The safest months to come here are August/September and those months are good to do the Red Centre, Northern Territory and Queensland too. Usually by then The Wet season is over for Northern Australia and the Cyclone Season hasn't started. The flies aren't bad and by October the Box Jellyfish (deadly) are starting to infest the waters making swimming, diving and snorkling unsafe. Western Australia and the Centre are abundant with wildflowers in August, in fact in WA many tours are based on just seeing the wildflowers.

Which giant bugs is he worried about??? We have some deadly spiders that you really have to go looking for and only certain weather conditions brings them out and there is anti venom anyway (if you are quick hehehehe), few snakes, that you also have to go looking for. Can't think of anything else.

Hmmm. Maybe you would allow me to plant tiger lilies in the cream colored pots that are currently in the OLLD House kitchen? They would look pretty on the edge of the porch.

I tuck lavender into my closet so the bedsheets smell good and help me get to sleep. The other fragrances are easy to purchase in soaps. No bees.

Finally got to the end here, phew!!! Quite cool here today and my tummy is not being nice but that is what happens when we get these ridiculous temp swings - it is 22 deg now and 20 deg is just too much on the body. Oodnadatta is notorious for it's heat so no one takes much notice of it. Check our the temp chart on Wiki. Read on to the "life in Oodnadatta" too, love the pink canoes bit.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oodnadatta

This is also an hilarious site and so Aussie. It was featured on the news last night

http://www.pinkroadhouse.com.au/

We have fire signs up everywhere there is bush here, heaps in our area. They are a semi-circle divided into segments with an arrow that is moved to the appropriate segment each day. The segments range from low to moderate, high, extreme and finish with catastrophic. That was only added recently after the terrible Black Saturday fires in Victoria.

@roo. Are you safe?

Yes eztia, thanks, we are quite safe, no fires around us at all, in fact hardly any fire news at the moment so they must be getting everything under control. The only newsworthy one is a 3 hour drive from us. We still have the southerly blowing and it is actually quite cold. My tummy is definitely not happy, it has been playing up all morning and I am at that horrible point now, where I am hungry but know I'll regret it if I eat.

Going to snuggle under a blanket and watch an old movie. Damned annoying there is so much I could be doing.

Roo, enjoy your movie! Like I always say, "it will still be there unless my good fairy comes today and I didn't know about it". She has yet to show up! Darn her! My crap seems to always wait for me... Which oldie are you watching?

Starting 1/9 with a question.

TK - another example of a post that has taken 21 hours to come through!!!!

I got 10 DVDs from the library the other day and among them was a BBC mini series one called Cranford and the other Return to Cranford. Set in England in 1842. Saw 3 episodes yesterday and it was quite good.

If I ever find my good fairy I'll tell her to give your's the message.