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Cwillie, your amaryllis reminds me, when my grandmother moved to AL many of us got treasured plants from her beloved yard. Several years later when she died I was living in TX and walked out my front door to leave for the funeral back home only to see her huge white amaryllis blooming beautifully. I called my mom and asked if she thought it was a sign from my grandmother. My mom was having none of that! She immediately said "no, it just means it's time for the amaryllis to bloom!" I've since moved several times and still have it and smile each spring when it blooms.
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GA: Arts and Crafts is my second most favourite style of architecture. I like those little squat houses with the stone pillars. I also like Charles Rennie MacKintosh et al. Including the tchotchkes.
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That's the ticket, Ali. Bloom where you are planted.
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71 degrees, I'm jealous!
I am watching my indoor amaryllis spring up higher every day, I have a collection of bulbs I've saved over the years but somehow only the red ones bloom consistently. I'll take any colour in Jan/Feb, looks like 5 or six buds started!
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GA, I finally found your gardening thread! I spent a few hours this afternoon cutting back roses and have the scratches on my arms to prove it. It's 71 degrees outside after being in the 20's just a few days ago. I'll have many confused plants if this keeps up, like daffodils trying to peek out before spring. My roses are all knock out roses that you really don't have to prune a lot, but they get too leggy over time if you don't. I also have a beautiful Lady Banks rose on an arbor that has the most incredible yellow blooms in spring. Anyway, a nice afternoon outdoors and glad to do some reading here
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The David Austin roses also have the most wonderful fragrance, a true "old rose" fragrance. I just loved inhaling that fragrance when they were in bloom!

I don't think your Arctic Flames will ship until your planting season. It's been my experience that the companies go by zone hardiness and ship for your spring season.

It's so cold now it's too cold sometimes for even people to be outside!
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I ordered 4 count of the 2 yr old Arctic Flame Sub Zero rose bushes. I don't know when they'll ship, but I'd take them anytime. I'd love to get them started in pots indoors, then transplant when it's warm enough.

I don't think they'll ship for a couple more months, though.
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I'm looking at the David Austin website, GA, and I get what you're saying! Those petal counts that go into the 100+ count... wow. Those are such neat looking roses. And every shade, hue, and style of rose I never imagined. Yes, very nice website.
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David Austin - Wow. No, I had never come across him. What a wonderful job he has, curating roses for a living.
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GA, thanks for sharing about Dutch Gardens. I looked them up online and was surprised to see they're located in Bloomington, IL. The catalogue I have ordered from before, Burgess Seed & Plant Co., is ALSO in Bloomington, IL, making me think these 2 nurseries may be 1 nursery? Who knows. There is no street address listed for Dutch Gardens (in Bloomington, IL) that I can see and their price on Arctic Flame is just a tad more. Both describe 2 year old bare root dormant plants.

Interesting! :-)
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jinglebts , I confess that I'm really not very familiar with his furniture. I'm partial to Arts and Crafts architecture, and some of the furniture, but most of what I have is "poor girl, kit assembly" pine furniture, which I do like.

Ali, I just checked out Arctic Flame - it's a real beauty! Dutch Gardens, one of my favorite catalogue plant suppliers, has it on sale. I could easily add a few of those to my garden as well!

DG states that it's hardy to zone 3, so it should survive in your area.

A word of caution though - I lost almost all my roses that I planted in the garden, because it was open to the south and west winds, the latter of which blew around the house back into the garden, and devastated the roses.

A neighbor told me she saved her roses by putting up a slat fence, like the kind seen on beaches for winter protection.

Have you ever looked through David Austin's website or his catalogue? If you haven't, prepare to sigh so much you'll find yourself breathless.
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I think I finally figured out what to replace the too-big, one's dead, row-of-4 Red Twig Dogwoods out in front of house here.

I think some Sub Zero rose bushes would go there nicely. Says they have 2-4' spread (good size), come in a nice pretty red called Arctic Flame, and will work for my zone 5b. I can get a 4 count of 2 year old starter plants for quite reasonable, and hopefully future home owners will appreciate my efforts. I know that dead bush out front isn't particularly attractive, so I'm wanting to figure something out for early Spring planting.
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... interested ... gosh.
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GA: I love Saarinen ... I have a Pinterest board with a collection of mid-century modern pieces, but I particularly like the Saarinen tulip table and the Eames chair with the footstool. Funnily enough, my first husband and I rented an apartment in Manhattan, Kansas, and it was furnished with an Eames chair. I didn't recognize it then bc I only became interest in moderne in the '70s (this was the '60s, and I think it was the real deal). The rest of the furniture was ghastly, so I thought it rather odd that there would be this really nice leather chair in amongst the ugly.

My ex recently came to see me and I asked him abt it, and he said he thought not, but I think it was original. If only ... I can barely afford the Pinterest board now! (I need a new laptop.)
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I wouldn't worry GA, it seems that after every thaw we hear people talking about their poor plants breaking dormancy, but I figure the plants a few degrees south must get freeze/thaw cycles all the time. As long as we remember to plant for our zone we always see them blooming come Spring without any worries :)
(And if winter continues with this pattern I wouldn't mind one bit!)
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My poor confused plants....After frigid, Arctic weather, we've had a welcome break of mild weather with temps soaring into the 40's. I noticed after my walk today that my roses have new leaf buds. The lunaria (money plants) are sprouting.

Another Arctic front will be approaching tomorrow. My poor little rose leaves and lunaria leaves will probably be frozen by tomorrow night.

Years ago I used to wrap burlap around the roses, or use rose cones, but gradually got lazier and lazier and didn't protect them after I lost all the David Austin roses. Now I need to design something to save the climbers from a similar fate.
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CW, the milk is so diluted there is no odor. Before I use it, I fill the jug to dilute the initial application, and keep filling the jug until it's clear of any milk residue. With all this water, the milk water tends to soak down into the ground quickly.

I was concerned about that when I started using the milk water, so that's why I use so much clear water to dilute it. So far, I've never smelled anything beyond the first application. So by the time it could begin to smell, it's absorbed into the ground and highly diluted.
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Cwillie, I have 2 Christmas cactus plant and I cant get them to bloom either. They get morning light. Maybe I will try moving them out of the window. My orchid has big plump buds and will bloom soon plus it is growing out another bloom stem.
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Thanks Sharyn, most of my houseplants do vacation outside for the summer. My more modern (15 yr old?) cactus bloomed like crazy soon after I brought it in, but my big old fashioned one is more fickle. It has always been more of an easter bloomer, so I am hopeful I will see buds forming in a few more weeks.

GA, I've read about milk for plants, doesn't that get stinky??
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I read the best wat to get a Christmas cactus to bloom regularly is to put it outside during summer and by bringing it indoors when weather cools in autumn it will bloom. Worth a try.
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Mina, I saw that program on Saarinen in the PBS lineup and it didn't even register with me, or raise the connection with Cranbrook. I just skimmed right on by, looking for other PBS programs. Thanks for the reminder!
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GA.....A bit off topic but thought you, as a lover of Cranbrook, might be interested in knowing that Detroit PBS is running an hour long program on Eero Saarinen.....just discovered it tonight (after it had started). Apparently, it will run several more times between now and New Year's.....quite interesting.
Happy New Year!
mina
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Send, thanks for addressing that earlier post. I completely missed it, so, CW, I apologist for not even responding to your query.

Two suggestion: break it up into smaller plants and repot them, and, milk water. If you drink milk, save perhaps the last 1/4" or so of the jug, fill with water that's comfortable to the touch, and water the plant with it.

I've used milk water on morning glories and roses - they both love it and bloom prolifically.

Although I've never grown a Christmas cactus, I guess the trick in getting it to bloom would be to simulate the standard blooming conditions, which I assume would be additional light and perhaps heat. Sometimes moving plants into different areas with different levels of light can do the trick.

Years ago I found that I could easily start seedlings by setting them on bookcases near the lamps. At work, they thrived under fluorescent lights.
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Cwillie,
Sometimes messing with a plant can help it. Move around some dirt, trim a branch ot two, stick a thin piece of metal/wood down into the rootball then remove it. Feed it some vitamins, replant it in a larger pot-it could have become rootbound. Then, talk to it, Lol.

But then I don't own a Christmas cactus. I am so bad at winter gardening that when I took my tiny 8" Christmas tree outside for some sun, I forgot it overnight- the temperatures dropping to 37° F. Bringing it back in, it is still growing, looks happy.

Maybe someone else will have some suggestions.
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We are starting to settle in the 60's during the day and and high 30's at night. It is a little chilly but makes sleeping more cozy.
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Our first freeze due tomorrow night so Inness to bring in a few pots of tender perennials. There are a few vegetables to pick and some seeds to gather.
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Glad your irises are doing well Sharyn. Anything with bulbs will increase every year especially if you divide them up and give them more room. i have really good luck with daffodils because they are the only thing the deer leave alone.
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I have more irises growing from the bulbs I planted last year, who would have thought!!
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I've been reading up on how to get my Christmas cactus to bloom, it is a very old plant and as big around as a bushel basket. Since moving to this house I haven't had more than a few blooms on it, although a much smaller "modern" variety is blooming like crazy right now. How to force dormancy on a plant when there are no really cool rooms? I've carried it downstairs to the laundry room and placed it on top of the deep freeze to benefit from the cooler lid temps, but that will be a real p*i*t*a*. Any thoughts?
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Ah, the fickle finger of fate strikes again.
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