TheBanyanTree: stop the presses!
Kitty Park
mzzkitty at gmail.com
Sat Jan 6 06:30:50 PST 2024
Julie, I have no words (which is why it has taken me so long to comment)
for your retirement plans. Building a business at the top of a long list,
WOW! When they say retire, I don’t think this is what they had in mind!
But it’s your time to finally do YOU! Yahoo!!
Kitty
On Fri, Jan 5, 2024 at 10:27 AM Pam James via TheBanyanTree <
thebanyantree at lists.remsset.com> wrote:
> oh no Julie!! I LOVE the passion and I am always amazed! And I get the
same way when / if I get started on 'my kids'!
All I really is my walkway and it's got loads of gorgeous lilies that grow
tall, bloom gorgeously, then die and leave ugly stalks behind to rot...
I thought I would put a little corner garden area in my backyard. Whenfor
>
> Carla was here we covered the area in cardboard and I 'edged' it off with
> stone-thingies from Lowe's, and then added a couple of bushes that Carla
> said the butterflies would love, and covered the whole thing in mulch to
> sit until spring. Standing at my back door, it was in the far left
> corner. Nobody ever goes there because all the action is in the far-right
> corner (hahahah) where the other dogs are to bark at!!! I built it all in
> the safe corner.
>
> And now it's where Bella goes to poop, and by the way, both bushes are
> down.... they may or may not grow back, but so far I have a corner of
> mulch... it's gorgeous!!
>
> On Fri, Jan 5, 2024 at 10:19 AM Teague, Julie Anna via TheBanyanTree <
> thebanyantree at lists.remsset.com> wrote:
>
> > No worries, Pam. There are easy things to grow. And the cut flower
> > business is just a whole 'nother level of work so they have long stems
> and
> > a long vase-life and different varieties than you find as plants at the
> > nursery. Ain't nobody got time for that unless you are planning on
> making
> > a buck off the effort. My old method of having a nice flower garden: 1.
> > throw some plants in the ground and the ones that live, live, and 2. Go
> to
> > the flower nursery in May like ever-buddy else and get whatever they got.
> > In other words, I was pretty much like you until I went nuts on this
> thing,
> > and I still managed to have flowers blooming. Okay, maybe I've been
> > somewhat nuts about it for a long time. But you can have flowers, too,
> with
> > just the method you are using. Although I think I mentioned to you, Pam,
> > that I could get you a list of things that can be treated like old shoes
> > and still thrive in your garden. The ONE rule you can't really ignore in
> > gardening at any level is "Right plant in the right place."
> >
> > And now I'll cease and desist on the gardening talk. I'm hell at
> > parties--you don't want to get me going on the subject. Most of my
> victims
> > start nodding off and heading to the drinks table after five minutes.
> >
> > Julie
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: TheBanyanTree <thebanyantree-bounces at lists.remsset.com> On Behalf
> > Of Pam James via TheBanyanTree
> > Sent: Friday, January 5, 2024 7:53 AM
> > To: A comfortable place to meet other people and exchange your own
> > *original* writings. <thebanyantree at lists.remsset.com>
> > Cc: Pam James <pamjamesagain at gmail.com>
> > Subject: Re: TheBanyanTree: stop the presses!
> >
> > So you just killed me on ever wanting a flower again!!
> > holytediouscrap!!!!!!!!!! NO WONDER I could never get much to grow
> around
> > here!!
> >
> > If they weren't tough enough to land in any ole sized hole, at any ole
> > whatever depth, then they just didn't have what it took to survive my
> vida
> > loca!!!!!
> >
> > hahahahahaa!!! I brain can't do all that and I so freaking applaud the
> > wiring in your brain that DOES!!!!!!!!! Rock on Jules!!!!!!!!!!!!
> >
> > On Thu, Jan 4, 2024 at 5:08 PM Teague, Julie Anna via TheBanyanTree <
> > thebanyantree at lists.remsset.com> wrote:
> >
> > > Linda asked, are they micro mini flowers that I'm growing?
> > > Ha. No, just a micro-mini sized "farm". There will be some very big,
> > > beautiful flowers (God willing and the creek don't rise) and some
> > > micro-mini flowers. There will be lots of flowers of all sizes and
> > > colors. Everywhere I can squeeze in a flower on my .3 acres (minus
> > > house), I'm squeezing one in. First up: daffodils of many varieties.
> > > I've planted
> > > 200 or 300, I've lost count, and tulips, both the elegant, single,
> > > long-stemmed types and the fancy frilly types. I prefer the single
> > > long-stemmed beauties. I've planted 600. I think. I have records of
> > all
> > > of this somewhere. These have all been planted as bulbs in the Autumn
> > and
> > > thank God we had a long autumn. I also have ranunculus which grow
> > > from corms that look like a tiny octopi. I've been growing them in
> > > low tunnels since late Fall and babying them along, covering and
> > > uncovering them at mother nature's whim. They like cold, but not too
> > > cold. They don't like a lot of wind. They like water, but not
> > > standing water, and god forbid you get their leaves wet and don't give
> > > them enough air circulation to get dry. They are one of the
> > > Goldilocks of the flower world but I love them beyond reason. This is
> > > my first time growing ranunculus, so it's all a big, somewhat
> > > expensive experiment, and really, if you have any mojo to spare, send
> it
> > to my ranunculus patch, I beg you.
> > >
> > > As for annuals, I'm growing snapdragons (my favorite), zinnias,
> > > sunflowers, lisianthus, cosmos, love-in-a-mist, sweet peas, feverfew,
> > > daucus, dill, ammi, poppies, scabiosa (a terrible name for a flower,
> > > IMO), angelonia, buplurem (excuse me), and many, many dahlias--which
> > > are actually perennial here only if one can keep the corms alive in
> > > one of the complicated and highly debated methods usually involving
> > > being dug up at the exact right stage, separated at exact points with
> > > a large, sharp, sterilized knife, and stored at exactly 35 to 45F
> > > degrees and at least 80 percent humidity. I'm not making any of this
> > > up. Dahlias are a ridiculous amount of work in my zone but they are
> > > the main flower of most flower farmers because man do they bloom.
> > > They bloom until you are almost (but never entirely) tired of them
> > > blooming. Most dahlias have names and are collected by dahlia freaks.
> > > I mean lovers. I can't get my hands on a Kelgai Anne at any price but
> > anyone will sell me Linda's Baby. Even Linda.
> > > I will probably get a year out of them and then kill them all in
> storage.
> > > I have some withering in storage right now, in fact. All of this
> stuff
> > > needs to be staked or netted or nursed, started from seed on certain
> > > dates and moved out on other certain dates, all based on a last frost
> > > date which is never the same date two years running and can vary by a
> > > month. The seeds need darkness to germinate or they need light to
> > > germinate--and don't mix that up or you get zilch--and must be allowed
> > > to sprout on a heat mat unless they are the ones who despise any kind
> > > of heat and must be kept at a comfy, cool 65F. There are those that
> > > must be started in pots indoors to have a snowball's chance in hell,
> > > and those that can only be started in the ground because their roots
> > > must not be disturbed at all costs. It's a miracle that the world has
> > > a bounty of lovely cut flowers, is all I'm saying. If I end up with a
> > few handfuls, I should consider myself lucky.
> > > I've got a stack of books and five thousand internet bookmarks, all of
> > > which I'm reading and reviewing and researching nearly any minute that
> > > I'm not working/eating/sleeping.
> > >
> > > All of these tricky-trickster annuals, the meat and potatoes of any
> > > flower business of any size down to micro-mini, are built around a
> > > foundation of perennials I've planted and have been keeping happy for
> > > two years now at the "new" old house. The "new" old house had nary a
> > > plant other than one very ancient lilac and a few scruffy, prickly,
> > > ugly shrubs that need to be dug out. I have several roses now--two
> > > el-cheapo floribunda roses that bloom their pea-pickin' hearts out
> > > despite being the commoners of the rose world, readily available at
> > > Kroger or Home Depot, or maybe because they are the commoners of the
> > > rose world. They try hard and refuse to be humbled despite living
> > > cheek by jowl with seven heirloom or David Austen roses--roses with
> > > names and pedigrees. Two more will arrive with their lineage papers
> > > in the Spring. Our Lady of Shallot and Anne Harkness shall join HRH
> > > Queen of Sweden, who is currently slumming out back with the likes of
> > > Hot Cocoa (that tart!) and the rest of the gang. I should really give
> > > names to the floribundas---I think Nelda (red) and Patsy (orangey
> > > pink) will work. I'm putting in Heritage mums for late October blooms
> > > (they probably have names but I'm trying not to get too attached yet),
> > > peonies (which definitely have names which one really should
> > > remember), coneflower, daisies, alliums, achillea, buddleia, lavender,
> > sage, false indigo, foxglove, geum, and natives like joe pye weed,
> > larkspur, and others.
> > >
> > > It's a lot. I feel like I'm working on a PhD in flower
> > > growing/tending/harvesting. And don't get me started on harvesting.
> > > Everything is harvested in a certain way, put into a certain temp of
> > > water, at a certain time of day. Or else, they say! It's a lot.
> > >
> > > Julie
> > >
> > >
> > > -----Original Message-----
> > > From: TheBanyanTree <thebanyantree-bounces at lists.remsset.com> On
> > > Behalf Of LaLinda via TheBanyanTree
> > > Sent: Thursday, January 4, 2024 2:24 PM
> > > To: A comfortable place to meet other people and exchange your own
> > > *original* writings. <thebanyantree at lists.remsset.com>
> > > Cc: LaLinda <twigllet at gmail.com>
> > > Subject: Re: TheBanyanTree: stop the presses!
> > >
> > > OKAY!
> > >
> > > So, I gotta ask, are the flowers mini-micro?
> > >
> > > On Thu, Jan 4, 2024 at 12:56 PM Teague, Julie Anna via TheBanyanTree <
> > > thebanyantree at lists.remsset.com> wrote:
> > >
> > > > Dear Tree Folk, some of you have known me forever and a day, and
> > > > during the whole time you've known me, I've been here at a computer
> > > > screen, pressing my silly little keys and keeping my silly little
> > > > life afloat by writing computer programs which ostensibly provide
> > > > those-in-charge with the information they need to keep charging.
> > > > Well, I did some calculations this morning. Or, rather, I opened
> > > > the handy-dandy Excel spreadsheet in which I had previously coded
> > > > and saved the calculations almost three years ago (when the numbers
> > > > seemed impossibly high and nearly insurmountable). And what these
> > > > calculations told me, in the form of a single number with a lot of
> > > > backstory, is this--
> > > >
> > > > Ahem.
> > > >
> > > > Little Julie Anna Teague,
> > > >
> > > > who was born into a dirt poor family in Nowheresville, Indiana
> > > > (population 500), who has worked her entire life at jobs with
> > > > varying degrees of meaningfulness, including almost 41 years for
> > > > Indiana University, who has written a story or two, climbed a
> > > > mountain or ten, and been owned by a cat or twenty (and currently
> > > > one very spoiled dog), who has done yoga, breathwork, meditation,
> > > > acupuncture, reiki, vision-boarding, primal screaming, long distance
> > > > running, art therapy, sound therapy, talk therapy, and several
> > > > things that were self-destructive but felt good at the time, who has
> > > > loved and lost and loved again, ad nauseam, etc., and so forth, who
> > > > has tried always to be kind and giving to her friends and family and
> > > > animals and the environment and other good causes, who has scraped
> > > > and saved, made do and paid off, re-used and re-grouped, eaten all
> > > > the leftovers and composted all the scraps, and raised two damn good
> > > > kids,
> > > >
> > > > has FORTY-NINE actual working days left in her working life at
> > > > Indiana University.
> > > >
> > > > Forty-nine. LESS THAN FIFTY DAYS, FOLKS, and, to paraphrase the
> > > > great MLK, I am free at last, free at last, Thank God Almighty, I am
> > > > free at last to live my life no longer beholden to a forty hour work
> > > > week or shackled to my computer with the proverbial golden handcuffs.
> > > >
> > > > I get the key to the handcuffs in forty-nine days, and guess what,
> > > > they aren't real gold anyway. I've mostly stopped worrying that
> > > > I'll end up eating cat food, but getting my teeth cleaned twice a
> > > > year will become my budget luxury item.
> > > >
> > > > And before anyone responds with, "You'll need a PLAN to get through
> > > > your retired days." I think every person I've told has said that to
> > > > me. No worries, I have plans. I have grandkids to nurture and am
> > > > gaining two more in the Spring. I have reading, classes, art, and
> > > > volunteering I want to do. And my big plan, already in the works
> > > > for many months now, is that I'm starting a micro-sized flower farm
> > > > in my urban back yard and will be selling at the Farmer's market.
> > > > It is hard work, but it's the work of my heart and never feels like
> > > > work. I can be in my garden all day every day, doing the crappiest
> > > > of garden tasks, and come in exhausted and filthy and with my back
> > > > aching, and it
> > > still feels more like joy than work.
> > > >
> > > > So, that's where I'm at. Let the countdown commence.
> > > >
> > > > Julie
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > Need to change your name, email address, or password? Or have you
> > > > forgotten your password? Go here:
> > > > http://lists.remsset.com/listinfo.cgi/thebanyantree-remsset.com
> > > >
> > >
> > >
> > > --
> > >
> > > ^v^
> > > ,/'^-,/'^v-^v ^v^
> > > v^\/ ^-,-^ ^,-v^
> > > ^v '-^ ^-, ^v
> > > v^v^ v^ v^ v ^v^
> > > { { \ \// } }
> > > } } |``| { {
> > > { { / / \ \ } } ________________( )_______
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> > > ----
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