My BEST Hybrid............

There is always one special hybrid that stands out and that one is........my daughter Helen..........she is a terrific person whom I love very much.........and that is because I picked a great mother for her....

Tomorrow Helen is leaving Florida to live in South Dakota.......
This is really tough to swallow since she has always been withing 30 minutes of home for the past 26 years.....

So I do not have much enthusiasm for blogging or anything else at the moment......
But hopefully, next week things will be beter as Mosaic Mom and I plan our first trip to South Dakato......I think July and August would make for a nice 60 day visit..........

My Last Awesome 2010 TPIE Post.............

Awesome Pothos outside the convention center...........

Just click on the photos to get full screen view.....

Awesome pot covers.

Awesome Sansevierias......

Just cute pots........

Overall the show was awesome.

My Babies at TPIE 2010.............

Below: Dieffenbachia 'Sparkles' and 'Sterling'...
Dieffenbachia 'Sparkles' again....

Aglaonema 'Silver Bay'.

That is all for today...........

TPIE 2010 Photos..........

Spent Jan 14 and 15 at TPIE (Tropical Plant Industry Exposition) in Ft. Lauderdale. As always there were lots of beautiful plants. All kinds of plants with beautiful flowers, foliage or both. Below are a few of the 200 photos I took. Of course the middle photo is my favorite.


Anyway it was very enjoyable and it was nice to discuss plants with many different people. Must get back to the greenhouse and get to work now as spring is coming.

Sorry but now it is 11 straight days of freezing mornings....

I give up...........might as well move back to Minnesota..........
This is definitely not AROID country anymore.......

Make that 10 Straight Freezing Mornings.......

with one more to go..............what a record.........

Gardening notes...............No Cold Damage to the following

Beets (suprise)
Peas,
Broccoli,
Cauliflower,
Onions (suprise)......

Dead = peppers, eggplant, beans, tomatoes..........no suprise there either......

In the greenhouse with overhead sprinklers that run 1 minute every 15 minutes we get NO DAMAGE on beans, peppers, tomatoes, lettuce, pineapples, adenium, mandevilla.
And the strawberries look really good - just starting to give ripe fruit.......they look great.

What Happened..............???

It has been cold...........
No real damage so far...........
Just lost the organge crop but have plenty picked ahead......
No faucets broken like last year.........we have been on it......
It was 28 at 9:00 pm the other night.......never got out of 30's on Saturday.......
We are tired of being "On It"......want some 60's............
It is so hard on the plants that survived............
Below is a photo of frost........again......

Things (temps..) have to go up from here......or not...

Here are a few photos from happier warm times at home....The last week has been cold.....5 nights of frost protection.........3 more nights coming....the house is cold.....but spring is coming and hopefully the plants in the photos will return...........the cycle of life continues......

New Aglaonema Cultivar = Aglaonema 'Scenic Bay'

Happy Cold New Year............Brrrrrrr.....and.....Grrrr.......

Yesterday we got approval for the release of Aglaonema 'Scenic Bay'. It is the 7th member of the BAY series. Scenic Bay is a storng plant that is wider than tall when mature. I have great hopes for the sucess of this plant.

I hope it warms up soon so the plants can start growing again.