Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

This isn’t Democrats spending madly. This is government catching up.

There are times when telling just part of the truth is effectively a lie.

Second rate reporter says what?

Everybody saw this coming.

Museums are not America’s attic for its racist shit.

A thin legal pretext to veneer over their personal religious and political desires.

Republicans got rid of McCarthy. Democrats chose not to save him.

Motto for the House: Flip 5 and lose none.

Conservatism: there are people the law protects but does not bind and others who the law binds but does not protect.

I swear, each month of 2025 will have its own history degree.

They think we are photo bombing their nice little lives.

75% of people clapping liked the show!

Shallow, uninformed, and lacking identity

… pundit janitors mopping up after the gop

Accountability, motherfuckers.

Hey hey, RFK, how many kids did you kill today?

This must be what justice looks like, not vengeful, just peaceful exuberance.

Text STOP to opt out of updates on war plans.

A snarling mass of vitriolic jackals

Since when do we limit our critiques to things we could do better ourselves?

Let me file that under fuck it.

There are more Russians standing up to Putin than Republicans.

Beware of advice from anyone for whom Democrats are “they” and not “we.”

When I was faster i was always behind.

You are here: Home / Garden Chats / Sunday Morning Garden Chat: Florida Shade

Sunday Morning Garden Chat: Florida Shade

by | 147 Comments

This post is in: 

Sunday Morning Garden Chat: Florida Shade 2

Almost overlooked this late-April message from Lapassionara:

Last year, a friend was selling her house and downsizing. She invited her friends over to get some of her plants. Who can resist free plants, so of course I accepted her kind invitation.

She had a very shady yard, and I needed shade plants, so I grabbed what I could manage. The problem is that I am not sure of the names of most of them. Perhaps the jackaltariat can help.

The plant in the top photo is a wild perennial with a small pink bloom, maybe a wild geranium? Can there be such a plant?

The photo below is several weeks old, and shows a lovely yellow bloom. Maybe a wild poppy? It is definitely a perennial, so maybe not a poppy. Any thoughts?

Sunday Morning Garden Chat: Florida Shade

The plant below I thought had died, after it disappeared late last summer, but here it is again. I have no idea what it is, but I like it.

Sunday Morning Garden Chat: Florida Shade 1

The plant below I know is a wild ginger. I tried planting a wild ginger that I had purchased from a nursery, but it did not last one year. This one seems to be faring better.

Sunday Morning Garden Chat: Florida Shade 3

And here, below, is I think grape hyacinth. It did not come from my friends yard, but it has been here since we moved in.

Sunday Morning Garden Chat: Florida Shade 4

Any help with the unknown plants will be greatly appreciated.

***********

Unless I missed another message, I am once again out of photos for the Garden Chat. Can’t post what I don’t have, so if you want more goodness next Sunday, this is your notification!

(And, of course: If you sent me pics that I haven’t used, please let me know.)

Meanwhile, last weekend we got almost three inches of rain and temps in the 50s, so this weekend it’s in the low 90s and extremely muggy, because New England. HHH weather, the forecasters call it — Hot, Humid, Hazy (particulate matter warning, for folks with breathing issues). Yes, I am still doggedly planting out TOO MANY mail-order tomatoes, one 40lb pouch of potting mix at a time…

What’s going on in your garden(s), this week?

Reader Interactions

147Comments

  1. 1.

    mrmoshpotato

    Who can resist free plants, so of course I accepted her kind invitation.

    Free as in beer. Beer plants?

  2. 2.

    evodevo

    You are correct about grape hyacinth. The 2nd photo is a celandine poppy, and the third is Solomon’s seal. Don’t know the rest. If the solomon’s seal takes hold, it will spread all over, so keep an eye on it. Mine sat content in one place for several years, and now is taking over every plant bed.

  4. 4.

    evodevo

    I also planted hostas and hellebore, and both of them have gone nuts over the last two rainy years…am having to use a weed eater to beat them back lol… You can also try Virginia bluebell. I dug some wild ones many years ago, and they transplant easily. They do die back after a couple months, not to reappear till the following spring, but mine are hardy and spread on their own via seed.

  5. 5.

    Ten Bears

    That’s a brick in the second photo, looks like a couple, maybe three in the first.

    Reminds me, it’s still my turn to water [I have no idea what they are]…

  6. 6.

    satby

    Nice Lapassionara! Grape hyacinth will also slowly naturalize and spread, you can speed it up a bit by digging up large clumps and breaking apart the bulbs to replant, but you don’t need to.

  7. 7.

    Pete Mack

    #1 is wood anemone. There are two kinds. One of them is moderately aggressive, but does not jump.

    #2 is celandine. It self seeds easily and is considered invasive in some areas, particularly riparian areas. I  have it, and it’s a moderate nuisance.

    #3 is twisted stalk/false Salomon seal. It’s a nice wildflower with lovely berries in the fall

    # 4 nice wild ginger!

    #5 is indeed grape hyacinth. Nice!

  9. 9.

    Mousebumples

    @AL, my garden is mostly filled with weeds but I’m finally starting to get some blooms, so I’ll see what I can send. The hybrid rosebush seems to be on the verge of blooming, and the hydrangeas also seem to be on the verge of bloom. Here in Wisconsin were behind most of you, as to when the blooming season starts.

    @Lapassionara – i have no idea what you have but a reverse image search on Google was able to identify a purple spiderwort that I have growing in my yard. If the Jackalitariat can’t identify what you have in some pictures… Maybe that would be an option?

  10. 10.

    satby

    It’s hellishly hot and dry for the next few days. I try to only water if absolutely necessary to keep plants alive and I started last night, doing the south side of the house after the sun was lower. Now to go pull the 100′ of hose around to the other side and get it doused before the sun gets too high.

  11. 11.

    Gvg

    @evodevo: Solomon’s seal doesn’t spread that much in Florida. You are lucky if it takes hold. There is a native species, but even that one is a slow grower here.
    Summer rains just started this week, so bunches of things are popping out that were dormant for winter spring. Our spring times can be very dry, so a lot of things stay dormant longer and then come out when the weather is really hot. Challenging.

  13. 13.

    Anne Laurie

    @satby: Our only working outdoor faucet is on the back of the house, and everything I want / need to water is in the front, so we’ve got a semi-permanent heavy-duty hose snaking around to the front yard, attached to a coiled hose that’s not too heavy for me to manipulate easily across the 75 feet of frontage.  Maybe you could set up something like that?  (IIRC, hoses & such will be going on sale soon, as ‘peak garden prep’ ends around the end of June.)

    Or even just get a ‘splitter’ for your faucet, and connect it to separate hoses for each side of the house?

  14. 14.

    Gvg

    @evodevo: Hostas and such do not like Florida. There are a few that hang on. The only hellebore I have had success with is H. Corsicia?

    Try tropical gingers, azaleas, many ferns, violets, coleus and partridge berry.

  15. 15.

    debbie

    I don’t know if they’re Korean or Japanese dogwoods, but they’re the final thing of spring, and they’re flowering like crazy. They look like snow-laden trees. Hydrangeas are blooming already, which seems a bit early, but it’s nice not to have a gap in between flowering things.

  16. 16.

    Lapassionara

    Thanks, everyone! This blog is a great source of plant knowledge, and I appreciate your taking the time to respond to my questions.

    I have ventured into vegetables this year. I am hovering over my vegetable bed like an anxious parent, going out 3 or 4 times a day to check on the sprouts. I have just some field peas, from seeds sent to me from a childhood friend. But if  I get a crop this year, maybe I will expand into other edibles.

  18. 18.

    satby

    @Anne Laurie: Or even just get a ‘splitter’ for your faucet, and connect it to separate hoses for each side of the house?

    Actually was considering that! I have two new hoses too, anti-kinking ones I bought last year in sale that I haven’t even connected yet. But I still need something to reach to the farthest back portion of the yard, I end up just carrying gallons of water back there for the peach tree. At least it’s exercise. I just got back inside, and the bugs are fierce. I also accidentally dispersed a bunch of tiny bunny babies who were nested under the raspberry pot. Hope they stay safe.

  20. 20.

    Ken

    @WereBear: My first thought was, “There’s shade in Florida?”

    It can be. I was there on a work trip once, and we were clearing a trail in one of the state parks, which apparently has to be done on a weekly basis.  Under the trees it was almost dim, even at noon.  As Terry Pratchett put it in Eric, “every representative of the vegetable kingdom had really rolled up its bark and got down to the strenuous business of outgrowing all competitors… there was the terrible breathless silence made by the motors of photosynthesis running flat out.”

  22. 22.

    Anonymous At Work

    I was told that lemon grass won’t grow “great” in shady spots but it will grow and it will have its insect repellant effect.  True/untrue?

  23. 23.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Anonymous At Work: I grew some once in a location that only saw morning sun. It did just fine there. Don’t know how much insect repellent effect it retained.

  26. 26.

    debbie

    @MomSense:

    You probably heard the interview on NPR last night with a WV reporter who doesn’t think Manchin will budge on anything until he retires in 2024 (reporter prediction).

  27. 27.

    satby

    @Anonymous At Work: The essential oil fanatics will disagree, but the only scientifically verified plant that had insect repelling success on humans is the lemon eucalyptus (Corymbia citriodora). Any plant with high citronella will be somewhat repellant to insects, but that effect doesn’t really carry far. Lemongrass has citronella too, but I’d plant it for use in cooking (and soap ?). If you just want to plant things mosquitos are less likely to hang out in those work, but if you’re hoping the effect carries over to your outside seating areas I wouldn’t count on it.

  30. 30.

    MomSense

    @debbie:

    I didn’t.  Made the mistake of checking Twitter this morning and saw he was trending.  I am now watching HGTV until I go outside in the garden.

  37. 37.

    Eric S.

    A friend of mine hurt his back a while ago. We just learned about it this past week. A group of us are headed to his place this morning to plant his garden for him.

  38. 38.

    satby

    @OzarkHillbilly: A scam MLM company selling essential oils that they claim are more pure than anything else available, and to which they ascribe all sorts of implied medicinal claims just short of running afoul of the FDA guidelines, though their cultists regularly make illegal medicinal claims.

  40. 40.

    oldster

    “She has elegant taste — for someone who grew up in Miami.”

    “He’s pretty level-headed — for a Florida man.”

    That’s Florida shade.

  45. 45.

    satby

    “The Republican Party is an existential threat to the constitutional order and viability of the United States, dedicated to an authoritarian vision and the obliteration of a pluralistic society with a diversity of viewpoints, ethnicities, religions, and peoples. Rather, the GOP has become a neofascist cult of personality, dedicated to the accumulation of raw power for its own sake by dividing Americans using lies, fear, and hatred.” Here.

  46. 46.

    Pete Mack

    As for what’s in my garden:

    Giant magenta peonies in full bloom

    Giant Solomon seal mostly gone by

    Yellow, lavender,  and purple with yellow center irises

    Western bleeding heart

    Rabbits ate the tomatoes,  which I did not expect

  47. 47.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @satby: @WereBear:

    Thanx. Not having TV or listening to commercial radio* and having an ad blocker I don’t turn off, quite often leaves me ignorant of the latest fads/scams whatever. A blessing in disguise.

    * come to think of it I hardly listen to any radio anymore.

  48. 48.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Eric S.: When you get done there, can you guys come over here? I tweaked my back yesterday setting up the tomato trellises.

  50. 50.

    Pete Mack

    One other thing–what is the bright green out-of-focus ground cover? If it’s vinca (periwinkle),  you’re in for a battle.

  51. 51.

    Spanky

    @OzarkHillbilly: Yeah, first week of May I had a branch catch me in the sternum and bend me backward over the tractor seat before I got stopped. I was nearly immobile for a week though I’m nearly back to as normal as I can expect at 67.

    Messed up a big gardening window  though.

  53. 53.

    Spanky

    @Pete Mack: Periwinkle’s great on slopes above paved driveways or streets. It’ll hold soil like nobody’s business and you can mow it into submission.

    Just don’t be too particular about the species in your “lawn”.

  58. 58.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Spanky: My spring travels messed up my gardening, I’m so far behind on some of my usual practices and planting that I’ll never catch up.

    Oh well, it was worth it.

  64. 64.

    Betsy

    @satby: @OzarkHillbilly:  One of the worst covidiots I know of is a doterra scammer.  She swore publicly not to wear masks.  She told her friends their elderly relatives were not her problem.  Her friends! Was also a seller of food at the local handmade market. “Wellness consultant” with doterra, of course.

  71. 71.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @MagdaInBlack: Read a story yesterday about a guy who has a sign on his property: “Trespassers will be shot.
    “Survivors will be shot again.”

    I have been threatening for years to put up a bullet riddled sign at the top of our drive that says, “You are downrange.”

  74. 74.

    wombat probability cloud

    The first plant indeed is a wild geranium, likely Geranium maculatum (wild crane’s bill, wild geranium, spotted geranium, etc.); not a wood anemone (genus Anemone). It’s native, remarkably, from Florida to Hudson Bay, then west to Manitoba and Oklahoma.

    Lapassionara, if you haven’t already done so, pluck a leaf from the celandine poppy to see the remarkable sap. A few years ago I was involved in a project to assess the amount of DNA per cell for all native plant species in Wisconsin (because it correlates with several ecological and life-history traits). There were a few species that simply would not work despite all of our adjustments to lab protocols, and celandine was the most pronounced. Without doing a literature dive, I’m guessing that the sap serves an anti-herbivore function (cf. milkweeds, dogbanes) by gumming up mouthparts of critters who chew on it.

    As for gardens, I’m in the UP of Michigan today and finally putting in the warm-weather component of the garden, tomatoes, peppers, basil. We were still getting dusted with snow about a month ago, followed by a period of cool weather and scattered frosts at night, but now the switch is flipped and it’s mid-80s.

  75. 75.

    tybee

    @OzarkHillbilly: “Trespassers will be shot.
    “Survivors will be shot again.”

    many moons ago, when we lived in the country, a friend made up a sign for me:

    “Trespassers will be Violated”

    I still have it somewhere around here…

  76. 76.

    RandomMonster

    RandomMrs asked me to move about 10 bags of mulch and soil. I decided to do it at 8:30am since it was already climbing into the 80’s and muggy as hell here in Baltimore. Then I mowed the lawn. And that pretty much concludes outdoor activity for the rest of the day.

  78. 78.

    frosty

    @Pete Mack: @Spanky:  I’ve got a hillside parking pad created from the subsoil from some excavation. It’s been a mess of horrible looking weeds but last year it appeared that vinca was starting to take over so I pulled other weeds to encourage it. One side is a paved alley, the others get mowed so it seems like a good solution.

  80. 80.

    wenchacha

    I’m trying to recall when I should see my coneflowers. Looking at last years’ dried foliage, I don’t see any new sprouts. Pulling at the old stuff, there’s a little hollow where I think the roots should be. The plants have been there for several years. Did they just die off? I am guessing maybe voles did them in, but it is a mystery.

  83. 83.

    J R in WV

    Regarding #5, the plant supposed to be grape hyacinth, I don’t think so. Wife uttered “No, that’s a liriope!” and I immediately agreed as that was my first thought upon seeing the picture.

    The foliage is a little different from grape hyacinth, and the blooms are more linear, while grape hyacinth blooms are more pointy than liriope’s flowers which are parallel lines of blooms, and bloom later in the season than grape hyacinth does. We have both here in SW WVa, and our grape hyacinth is gone now while the liriope has yet to bloom here. Our biggest spot for liriope is under the ostrich ferns. They should bloom in a couple more weeks, IIRC…

  84. 84.

    Mike in NC

    We saw lots of lush, exotic plants last week in Key West. None of that stuff could survive where we live.

  85. 85.

    Eunicecycle

    I used to drive by a long driveway that had a sign: “We shoot every 3rd salesman” and then a sign further on: “And the 2nd one just left.”

  89. 89.

    grandmaBear

    Made 4 pints of strawberry jam from one day’s produce, then picked as much again yesterday. Strawberry ice cream today, I think. I may have too many strawberry plants. Especially since the black raspberries are getting close to ripe. We all like berries though. Veggies and herbs, except basil,  are all doing well, especially something called Shanghai greens that I got as a freebie. I’m in SE Ohio.

  90. 90.

    Butter Emails

    I can not figure out Manchin, Sinema and who I assume are another half dozen democratic senators using them for cover. They were one smart Capital Police officer and a wrong turn away from potentially being executed. That should have disabused them of the notion that they are somehow shielded by their wealth and privilege. Half of their Republican colleagues would happily accuse them of pedophilia and support their execution if they saw political advantage in it. The other 50% would remain silent and in rare cases express concern.

  91. 91.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Ten Bears:

    That’s a brick in the second photo, looks like a couple, maybe three in the first. 

    (Takes another look)

    No lie told. ?

  93. 93.

    Another Scott

    Hey Google, Piss Off the Neighbors:

    Do you recall when you were a kid, and there was nothing quite so fascinating as an old-fashioned spring doorstop? You know, the kind that goes “sproi-oi-oi-oing” with any errant tap? A Reddit apartment dweller, having presumably endured one late-night Riverdance rehearsal too many, decided to weaponize this experience.

    He attached said sproinger to an activation arm, mounted it to the ceiling, and powered it with an Arduino microcontroller to give it voice activation powers via Google Assistant. Now with the voice command “hey Google, turn on the TallyWhacker,” the arm bar rolls, the tally is thusly whacked, and the upstairs neighbor presumably begins drafting an email to the landlord. To add a bit more fun to the process, the arb bar will oscillate randomly for between five and thirty seconds.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  94. 94.

    Another Scott

    @Butter Emails: Yeah, it’s hard to figure out.

    But we knew this wasn’t going to be quick or easy.  We have to keep pushing and working for the future we want.

    Forward!!

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  95. 95.

    mrmoshpotato

    @satby:

    I end up just carrying gallons of water back there for the peach tree 

    Wait.  You have a peach tree?  In Indiana?!

  96. 96.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Eric S.:

    A friend of mine hurt his back a while ago. We just learned about it this past week. A group of us are headed to his place this morning to plant his garden for him. 

    That’s so nice.  Make sure to stay hydrated.

  97. 97.

    trollhattan

    This fuckin’ guy.

    Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) writes in the Charleston Gazette-Mail that he will vote against a sweeping election reform overhaul bill, putting the fate of the legislation in jeopardy in the evenly split Senate.

    Said Manchin: “I believe that partisan voting legislation will destroy the already weakening blinds of our democracy… The truth, I would argue, is that voting and election reform that is done in a partisan manner will all but ensure partisan divisions continue to deepen.”

    https://politicalwire.com/2021/06/06/manchin-will-vote-against-election-overhaul-bill/

    Here’s a pen and piece of paper, Joe. Write down your definition of “democracy.” Include ten references at a minimum.

  98. 98.

    grandmaBear

    BTW, I think someone here (satby?) recommended the FreshTech canner that makes small batches  – thanks, this is the perfect size for my garden.

  99. 99.

    Another Scott

    @Butter Emails: Also too.

    Weird because Manchin doesn’t raise a single issue about “what’s in the For the People Act” in his op-ed. In fact, he doesn’t discuss its content at all, just the fact of Republican opposition it. https://t.co/BzJWVbtOdO

    — southpaw (@nycsouthpaw) June 6, 2021

    I haven’t seen Schumer’s reaction, if any, but I did see this from 6/2:

    The road to expanding our Senate majority runs straight through Wisconsin. That's why defeating Ron Johnson is one of Senate Democrats' top priorities in 2022.

    Join me and @WisDems on June 6th to get involved and help win this critical race for Democrats! https://t.co/txNkGcbq3H

    — Chuck Schumer (@chuckschumer) June 2, 2021

    We have to keep working, no matter what S&M do.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  101. 101.

    StringOnAStick

    We had three days of low 90’s as the exterior painters were trying to work, which delayed spraying until the morning.  Now the lows are back to the normal high 30’s to low 40’s and it will maybe get to 70 today.

    I gave away some shade plants (hostas, bleeding hearts); it appears that before we moved in, a neighbour removed a tree from their backyard and now that garden bed gets way too much afternoon sun for those plants.  I’d rather give them away than bake them and try to keep them wet enough while I convert the rest of the yard to dedicate plants.  This is high desert, too dry for such things anyway.  I love hostas but this yard doesn’t have a good place for them anymore.

  102. 102.

    Humdog

    I found a ginger blossom on a wild ginger plant in my forest. They are very rare to catch mid bloom as the flowers are shy, kinda underneath the foliage, and the flowers are a deep black burgundy, also hard to notice under all the redwood shade. I was ridiculously excited about it. Also found two wild native lilies that will bloom this year and about seven lily plants that will not bloom this year. They are also very rare to find.

    flowers in a deeply shaded evergreen forest seem like they ought to be few and far between but I made a list this year, in order of early flowering, and came up with over 27 native flowering plants in the deep shade. Paying such particular attention as to what comes up and when is wonderfully engrossing and can take my mind off the troubles outside of my little patch of heaven.

  103. 103.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Butter Emails:

    Jacqueline Alemany @JaxAlemany 54m
    During our dive on the filibuster, a Sen D aide told me: “You think all Dems are completely on board w S1 except for Manchin? F*ck no. But they don’t want Stacey Abrams knocking on their door so they stay quiet.” Still, Manchin is lone Dem against it. https://washingtonpost.com/politics/senate-filibuster-commission-voting-rights/2021/05/28/0776b6a6-bf00-11eb-9c90-731aff7d9a0d_story.html…

     Edward-Isaac Dovere @IsaacDovere · 1h
    Manchin is the one who wrote the op-Ed, but he’s not the only Democrat skeptical of all of what’s in the For the People Act — as with eliminating the filibuster or the Tanden nomination, there are a bunch of Democrats more than happy to have him take the heat for them

  104. 104.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Another Scott:

    The road to expanding our Senate majority runs straight through Wisconsin.

    also North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Florida and maybe even Ohio, while holding GA, AZ and NH….

  108. 108.

    JPL

    Archie is a big brother!    Meghan and Harry had a baby girl this morning,   Lilibet “Lili” Diana Mountbatten-Windsor.

     

    now back to bitchin about Manchin.

  110. 110.

    Steeplejack (phone)

    It’d be great, like really super, if Democrats could pass big nonreconciliation legislation with the narrow majorities voters delivered to them. I want it more than anything. But they evidently can’t. So why not use their gavels to deliver some fact-finding and accountability?

    — southpaw (@nycsouthpaw) June 6, 2021

  112. 112.

    prostratedragon

    @mrmoshpotato:  I had some excellent peaches that were grown in a South Side backyard, years ago.  A lot will grow in the Chicago area as long as long warm season isn’t needed.

  114. 114.

    opiejeanne

    @grandmaBear: I attempted to make strawberry jam recently from last year’s frozen strawberries, but it was a bust. I saw instructions on making jam in the slow cooker, and I don’t know what went wrong but we ended up with syrup that was almost gelled, and tasted slightly burned.

    I’m in the Seattle area, and our crop is just starting to ripen. We’ve had 4 berries so far but the plants are loaded with flowers and unripe berries, and there are about 140 plants. Hood Strawberries. Supposed to be ever-bearing, but they crop heavily in June and hardly produce anything after that.

  115. 115.

    RaflW

    @Butter Emails: I’m not super savvy on this, but it sounds like some Dems are unhappy about the campaign finance changes in the bill?

    My general response to this is: Write a g-damned bill you’d vote for, Joe and Kyrsten. I’m incendiary angry. Which is not a good space to be in on a garden chat. Sorry. Logging off for a while, heading to a lake to cool off (it was 99 here yesterday!).

  117. 117.

    JPL

    @rikyrah: At first I thought she was born this morning, but I guess they just announced it today.   How they kept it quiet is beyond me.

  121. 121.

    Cameron

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: I dunno if I’d be ready to count Florida in that group.  I don’t think it’s anywhere near purple, let alone blue.  Although a major Republican screw-up (which is certainly possible) might put it in play,

  122. 122.

    grandmaBear

    @opiejeanne: Last year our strawberries produced well in the Spring then only moderately later in Summer. The other berries all arrived at slightly different times, so it worked out well enough for us. I planted two Marionberry plants a couple of years ago to see how they would do here, and they seem to be producing this year. I love Marionberries. I grew up eating the similar youngberries in central California, but I don’t know if you can get those anymore, and unlikely they would thrive hear anyway.

    ETA: I foolishly wore shorts and didn’t use insect spray yesterday and am covered with bites. Isn’t it too early for that?

  123. 123.

    prostratedragon

    @mrmoshpotato:  Neighbor was from Georgia so I guess she had the knack.  You know,  there’s a Michigan peach season starting late July or so. They’re small but very sweet and juicy.

  124. 124.

    opiejeanne

    @rikyrah: saw a cute announcement on Twitter, possibly Charlie Pearce: Royal couple gives birth to American citizen

    ETA: Scott beat me to it.

  125. 125.

    opiejeanne

    @Cameron: One asshole piously told a questioner that everybody has to follow those new rules, so they are not partisan at all.

    If wealthy and middle class white folks can’t drive a busload of their neighbors to the polls too, how is it unfair.

  126. 126.

    opiejeanne

    @grandmaBear: Where are you located? It’s pretty early for the PNW.

    I thought I had a mosquito bite yesterday, but when I looked at the ankle I was scratching, I saw an inch-wide sunburn, between where the short socks ended and the longer ones ended. Above it was a slight tan and no burn. It was shorts weather, in the 90s for 2 days, and now it’s in the low 50s.

  128. 128.

    Butter Emails

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    I assumed that there were other Democratic Senators opposed secretly, but I’m not certain because the media never seems to name them. Even if they only vote for it because they don’t want Stacey Abrams knocking on the door, I’m good.

  129. 129.

    Cameron

    @opiejeanne: Sounds like a much broader interpretation of Nixon’s statement that “if the President does it, it’s not illegal.”  Just expand to fit the entire Republican Party.

  130. 130.

    MomSense

    Last weekend the temps were in the 40s and 50s and it was raining and cold.  Today it’s in the 80s and wicked humid.  I’m just trying to pot my container flower arrangements and I’m melting.

    Also, too fuck fucking Manchin.  To hell with that racist fool.

  131. 131.

    Baud

    Manchin’s problem is not the lack of bipartisanship.  It’s that he needs 10 Republicans, not just 1 or 2, to get anything done.  His thoughts on specific bills are irrelevant.  As long as he and others cling to the filibuster, they’re stuck with doing nothing.

  132. 132.

    Cameron

    @Another Scott: What was killer in Florida with ex-con voting rights is that the legislature openly overrode the stated will of the people.  And now is proposing to make it harder to get popular constitutional amendments on the ballot.  We the people my ass.  I gotta move in a couple months, and am sore tempted to say “to hell with it” and go back to the Old Country.

  133. 133.

    Joe Falco

    I just hope we can manage to hold on to the Senate majority and expand it enough if only to make that sanctimonious prick Manchin irrelevant.

  135. 135.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Joe Falco:

    I just hope we can manage to hold on to the Senate majority and expand it enough if only to make that sanctimonious prick Manchin irrelevant. 

    And Sinema!  Her bullshit about doing (or not doing) what Arizonans want (or don’t want) in the United States Senate boils my blood.

    Did she accidentally run for, and win, a US Senate seat when she really wanted an Arizona state Senate seat?

    I mean, what? the? fuck?!

  137. 137.

    satby

    @mrmoshpotato: yep, orchards are all over here, though most are a bit north in Michigan. The area around my old place in Galien had three large ones covering hundreds of acres.

  138. 138.

    satby

    @grandmaBear: I and if I recall Ozark both did. Love mine, but haven’t used it in a year, hoping I get enough crab and regular apples this year off my trees to break it out again.

  139. 139.

    Geminid

    Not much gardening going on here, but my friend Debbie came out today and added one more box, or “super,” to each of her two bee hives. It was interesting to watch, from 40 feet away. The hives are 4 boxes high now, and Debbie thinks she will take some honey out around the 4th of July. She  put up the hives and installed two packets of bees in early April.

  140. 140.

    Cameron

    @mrmoshpotato: She’s sorta right in a pretty horrible way – after all, US Senators were selected by state legislators for a long time (until early 1900’s?).  So she’s an ambassador from the Government of Arizona.  Or maybe not – I can’t pretend to know what’s going through her mind.

  145. 145.

    Mel

    @grandmaBear: I’m in S. Ohio, too. The gnats, chiggers, and mosquitoes have been out in force in my yard for a while now. Way earlier than usual this year. We’re not near any bodies of water, but saw mosquitoes heavily out and about even during the warm spell in March. Ick.

  146. 146.

    Gvg

    @WereBear:

     

    @WaterGirl: As much as we can arrange. Huge old live oaks are prized. My hometown, Gainesville calls itself a tree city and a lot of it is under a very dark shady canopy of live oaks. It is at least 10 degrees cooler in the summer and often 10 degrees warmer in winter.

    I grew up in Orlando which is a much bigger city that grew suddenly when Disney came. Most trees got cut down except in the “old” sections and concrete and asphalt roads built with huge buildings covered in mirror glass….much much hotter.

    The best way to cope, is to go swimming….all of the time. We lived on a small lake in Orlando for years, then moved to a house with a pool. Parents moved back here to Gainesville after both my sister and I got jobs here. They have a pool, and my sister lives on a lake. If you fly to Florida, look down from the plane. You will see lots of water.

    The trees grow very fast with our sun and water. Live oaks grow pretty fast too. I can’t stand developers who clear cut the trees. Not all of them are that idiotic, but even if they are, just plant trees. They grow faster than people think.

  147. 147.

    JAM

     

    @wenchacha: My coneflowers are just starting to bloom in OK, which is zone 7. I wish I could give you some of mine, they have really reseeded a lot and I don’t know what to do with them all except pull a lot of them.

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