YES!!! The "I'm so happy" thread. 2009

[TC]

I could not think where else to post these.  I think that the gorilla is giving one of our politicians a cogent comment !!

[Ragged Robin]

Wonderfully amusing photos, is that a bull frog with a smile as wide as a canyon 

[Lesley Cox]

Had a close encounter with THE LAW on Saturday morning while it was still dark. A big spring Food Festival was being run in conjunction with the Market and from 5am the occasional police car came by to see that all was well as stalls were setting up. One found me at 5.45 in the process of taking a couple of cuttings from the plantings at the railway station. But I was able to assure the two constables that I had permission from the chief wallah in Dunedin City Council's Parks and Reserves Dept, a friend of mine. Why I'm so happy, is that the cuttings are from Rosa moyesii 'Geranium,' which is just about impossible to come by here nowadays. It's one I've wanted for many years and I've grown seed from it but they didn't come true, but were a rather vulgar pink.

It's too early for the cuttings - they're just coming into bud - but worth a try. If they don't root I'll get some more after flowering.

[Rodger Whitlock]

It's too early for [rose] cuttings - they're just coming into bud - but worth a try. If they don't root I'll get some more after flowering.

Best time is right after the flowers fade. Take a flowering branch as your cutting, remove spent flowers, and proceed from there as usual.

[Paul T]

Tom,

The bullfrog scarily reminds me of Cartman from Southpark!!

[Lesley Cox]

It's too early for [rose] cuttings - they're just coming into bud - but worth a try. If they don't root I'll get some more after flowering.

Best time is right after the flowers fade. Take a flowering branch as your cutting, remove spent flowers, and proceed from there as usual.

I'll do that Rodger, trouble is, by then the beginning of my working day will be broad daylight and I quite like to take them in the dark.

[fredg]

Some people find this amusing, I've no idea why. 

[Lesley Cox]

Perhaps if there were a few "w"s in there?

[Lesley Cox]

I'm so happy because at the weekend - and before the rain came down - Roger helped me move the rest of my soil pile where I'm making a new bit of garden. I had been chipping away at it for the best part of a month but there was still at least half to do. We finished it in a good hour.

What I'm NOT AT ALL happy about is that there are dozens and dozens of tiny plants coming up all through it, of Californian thistle, from bits of chopped up root. They're easy to get out now while there's no compaction and the soil isn't too deep as it's spread but any I miss will be a real problem in months to come. The supplier and I will be having a serious conversation later this week.

[Paul T]

Lesley,

Just looking it up on the Net to find out what Californian Thistle is.... came across a couple of weedsites that say it is a plant of concern for NZ.  Your supplier might get into trouble for helping spread an environmental weed, which you could always comment on when having your words with the supplier.  Given the only real method of spread is via rhizomes, it really is a stupid thing for them to be selling soil that is infested with it.

[Paul T]

Fred,

Perfectly innocently written I would assume, although the legs straight up bit seems a strange addition.    So many different "from the mouths of babes" types of stories going around, you have to wonder just how many of them are not from children at all.   Gave a bit of a chuckle, so thanks for posting.

And I believe in another topic there were references to red light districts as well.  This board is seriously deteriorating.  Obviously there is too much chocolate available and the powers that be aren't keeping a proper eye out for our virtue and innocence. (I need that smiley with a halo picture again!!  )

Thanks for the post. 

[Lesley Cox]

Californian thistle (Cirsium arvense and sometimes here, called Canadian thistle but I'm giving them the benefit of the doubt) is native to the western seaboard of the USA and Canada and is, with Oxalis acetosella, the white convolvulus and sorrel, the worst of all weeds. I rate it worst of all because it's so hard to handle, in gardeners' terms. At least the others don't savage you when you try to eradicate them and the dead stems are more dangerous then the living. Yes it travels by very brittle rhizomes but it also produces masss of fertile seed and sometimes the air on a breezy summer day is full of the damn things. There's heaps of it in the paddocks around us and even if I can control what comes in my new soil, I can't stop the seeds blowing in from all around. I've already found new seedlings in the same soil so it's probably riddled with them.

There have been attempts to introduce biologocal controls but so far, with no effect whatsoever. So far as the supplier is concerned, he will have bought in the soil, thoroughly rotary-hoed, and is on-selling it. It's always a gamble buying topsoil and I guess it's a case of buyer beware. The supplier has it stored under cover and anything won't start into growth until thoroughly rained on, as mine now has been, with the result that if I do nothing, I'll have a thistle forest in a couple of weeks. It will put back my planting plans by a few weeks. In general this supplier is very good and I get a lot of stuff from him, compost, pea straw, my potting mix, grit etc.

[Anthony Darby]

Lesley, Cirsium arvense is the European creeping thistle, which is very common round here.

[Lori S.]

Lesley, Cirsium arvense is not native to Canada nor to North America.  "Canada thistle", the common name,  is truly a misnomer.  (And "Canadian" thistle is sort of a double misnomer!)

[Lesley Cox]

My apologies then, to all Canadians (and Americans.) I read somewhere a long time ago that it was native there. Wherever, I doubt if anyone would doubt that it is a monster if let loose in cultivated land or gardens.