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Kim Franke-Folstad
Kim’s a Want It Now (WIN): Everything pretty, everything now. She will resort to full-spectrum insecticides in desperate situations, and believes it’s her duty and right to buy new plants every weekend.
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We had fun at GreenFest with a lotta help from our friends
Posted Mar 27, 2010 by Loren Omoto
Updated Mar 29, 2010 at 01:00 PM
Kim and I came away from GreenFest today with not a whole lot of plants, but did we have fun? Oh yeah!
Plant shopping came only after our “speaking engagement”—a non-educational, pretty dirty and very silly 40 minutes or so. (We tapped every one of our talents.) The actual work? That fell to our beloved FODs. A very talented and un-shy bunch who always jump in to help.
Janna Begole was the Official Dirty Photographer. She took more than 60 pictures (and only a few really bad ones of me, which is really saying something.) She was also in charge of making sure people wrote their names on slips of paper for the contest drawings, and for awhile, she was working the audience to pull names when we needed contestants. Janna, you were fantastic. Thank you!!
Chip Fulp was there, too, and muscled our many props all over the place without even being asked. There’s a lot to be said for guys who feed feral cats. And his wife, Diana, (an FOD-by-proxy—she doesn’t comment, but we know she’s there), was the Official Dirty Secretary, writing down the names of all the contestants, the contest winners, and even what they looked like so I can hopefully correctly identify everyone in Janna’s photos.
Gardendipity ferried plants from Riverview that Susan Gillespie had picked up for me, along with a bunch of Louis Phillipe antique rose cuttings. Thanks to the two of them, I actually did get to bring some plants home!
Here’s Chip in the ball cap and Dipity in the middle row. (Those seats did fill up. Really!)
I hope Pumpkin’s ears were burning because our first little “tale from the blog” was about the Vietnamese hollyhocks she introduced us all to. I told the story of how Janna got my butterfly cassia seeds at one of our swaps, but something very different came up. (VERY funny that Janna actually told that story just yesterday on a post comment! She didn’t know it was part of the program.)
The hollyhock challenge was a race to fill a 4-inch pot with potting soil with a teaspoon and plant a hollyhock seed—left-handed.
I think this race alone fulfilled our promise to get down and dirty. They were some sloppy potters!
That’s, from left, Kathleen Ledbetter, Verna Dickey and Ken Darljena (before they started throwing dirt like sailors.)
Kathleen won the hollyhock, which you can see to the right. (If you want one, they’re big, full of buds and in huge supply at Kerby’s Nursery in Seffner for $10.) Take note of the photo of Kim’s husband, Rick’s, arms hanging on the tent wall. You saw it in her post about cutting back bougainvilleas without gloves, and it was the target for our next challenge. I’m sure he doesn’t know, and I don’t plan to tell.
Kim told her blog story about her machisimo hubby whacking back the bogey with short sleeves and no gloves. Funny how I can now ID these men from a mile away. They’re marked!
The challenge was to throw a bogie thorn at Rick’s arms. Whoever hit closest to one of his scratches won.
That’s Louise Allen throwing and, to her left, Kelly Moles and Helen Hendrickson, the two other contestants.
And the winner of a great big artery-puncturing bogie? Kelly!
Next was my soft-porn daylily sex story. I was glad there were no young children in the audience, because the tale was so hot and heavy, I couldn’t put all the graphic details in the Tribune. But I did print them here!
Pollinating daylilies involves taking the swollen anther from one and having, yup, intercourse with the erect pistil of another. The challenge was kinda-sorta similar: Move 10 seeds from one small plate to another with tweezers. Left-handed.
From left, that’s Nancy Ham, Rita Daskam and Carol Riopelle madly moving seeds. Nancy won two packages of daylily bulbs. (I have no idea if this is daylily planting time. I hope we hear back from Nancy!)
And the last story/challenge. Remember when I cut the %$#@! lubber in half and it reappeared (OK, its head reappeared) on top of my thryallis the next day? Munching away?
I couldn’t tell that story in the paper. The age-old rule for the paper is, it has to pass the “cereal test”: If it makes you barf your morning cereal, you can’t print it. But on-line has no such rules. (Yay!)
Our lubber challenge involved this much cuter little lubber.
But it was a tough one. These little lubbers hop in circles. Our contestants had to wind them up and get them down to the finish line. They couldn’t reposition them until they’d hopped themselves out—just like real lubbers.
The very good sports who played were, from left, Mindy Geer, Marijke (no last name, sorry!), and Melissa Allen. Poor Melissa had a totally recalcitrant lubber. Marijke had a domesticated one that seemed to follow commands. She won a pair of Fiskar’s garden shears, which are very effective if you need to snip a lubber in half.
So, yeah, we did nothing constructive. But Kim and I had a lot of fun, and we got to meet a lot of people. Eleanor, thanks for introducing yourself—I like having a face to picture when I see your name. Same for you, Dipity.
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Reader Comments
Posted by (Janna) on March 27, 2010
What a fun day! Penny and Kim, you were as entertaining in “real life” as you are on the blog. Loved the games!
It was good to meet a couple of new folks and to see some Dirt friends like Chip and Diane.
I’m glad I got to meet you Gardendipity, but so sorry that I still have your hollyhock seeds in my purse!! Please e-mail Penny or Kim with your address and I’ll send them to you by mail!
Good job, Dirty Girls. Again.
Posted by (mangoman) on March 27, 2010
SOOOOO sorry I missed the speaking! Now I’m mad at myself for not going. Will you be there tommorow morning? We stayed at a garage sale too long. Ugh. Definately would have rather been at the sale.
Thanks!
Posted by (Chip) on March 27, 2010
We had so much fun we are planing on going again on Sunday! Its nice to put a face’s with a names! Don’t worry Susan there was plenty left….“Chip”
Posted by (kgardens) on March 28, 2010
Sure looks like it was a lot of fun at the Dirt tent. I can’t wait to get there this afternoon. Maybe I’ll get lucky and find some “closing up business” sales. I want to see pictures of what everyone bought! Kay
Posted by (Janna) on March 28, 2010
Kay, happy shopping at Greenfest today! I’m having trouble uploading a picture of my new purchases, but my husband and I got blue sky vine, angel’s trumpet, antherium, bleeding heart, lancifolia calathia, fuschia, pencil plant and begonias. I did see quite a few plants that I was not familiar with, and most vendors were happy to tell us all about them…
Posted by (Chip) on March 28, 2010
Diane and I are going back in a short while. We both think there will be some bargains today! Diane found a few things for pink hill. We are still being kind of picky after having to make everything fit for so long. ....“Chip”
Posted by (mangoman) on March 28, 2010
Just got back from greenfest. Got a fig tree, Tea olive and a small succulent plant. Got great deals on all so I am happy! started raining so I think they might be closing early.
Posted by (Chip) on March 28, 2010
An another great day at Greenfest. Just did beat the rain ..“Chip”
Posted by (Susan Gillespie) on March 28, 2010
Now that looks like a fun speakers tent. It was a much prettier day yesterday than today but that didn’t stop my friend Sandra and I from drooling over every stop. As much as we wanted to buy every pretty thing we saw we didn’t go crazy this year. A new orchid for me and we both loved the succulent tent with all the hens and chicks.
Sorry I missed a note from Chip and Diane before I left the house. We could have met face to face. That would have been fun.
Spring has sprung so it’s on to the next plant fair—-UFS, right?
Posted by (mangoman) on March 28, 2010
USF indeed! I might be there with the rare fruit council. We’ll see. I didn’t see you there Chip. I got there a little late though. 10:30ish.
Susan, I may have seen you. Did you buy any succulents?
Posted by (Susan Gillespie) on March 28, 2010
Yes, Eric, I did buy some succulents. I was tempted to buy a lot more. They had this cool mossy turtle with succulents attached that was very cool. Were you buying some too?
Yeah, Penny. The Sunday Greenfest seems to rain every year—-at least for the last two. Sandra and I started at 8:30 just for that reason. Glad you got to stay home and play. Dipity made that possible. What a sweetie.
Leave room for that chaste tree. They get pretty big.
It’s raining buckets over here——Happy plants.
Posted by (Gardendipity) on March 28, 2010
Hi everybody! It was really nice to see Chip, Diane, Janna, Kim and Penny at Greenfest. I felt like I already knew you all but it was great to put a face to the blog posters. What a fun group you all are!
My husband said he’s going to start posting here too, so Chip you know how Diane just tells you stuff to do and you go and do it? Well I think you set a really good example for my husband and I hope you will nudge him to follow your lead whenever he posts here.
Penny, thanks for the butterfly cassia! I love them and they are sitting in two cute little pots on my patio right now.
Janna I sent you my address, THANK YOU for offering the seeds. I read you bought a bleeding heart, I have a red/purple one if you would like cuttings.
Posted by (kgardens) on March 28, 2010
Well…I just got back from GreenFest. I didn’t get there until 1:30 and it was drizzling rain. Some of the vendors were packing up. A guy gave me 2 bags of mulch for free, and the tea olives I was looking at for $15/ea. suddenly were only $10/each. So I got two of them. Those were the only price reductions for me. I bought some blanket flowers and tall red pentas from Colorfield Farms for their regular price of 6/$25 and I also bout three shrimp plants: a red, a yellow and a fruit cocktail. Being able to go get my truck to pick up plants at the gate was wonderful! Kay
Posted by (mangoman) on March 28, 2010
Susan, the turtle was so neat! That is the vendor that I bought my succulent from. Will get a pic when it stops raining long enough.
After I looked at your picture on facebook I’m sure I saw you! (well I think). I nearly bumped into you once when you were on your cell (again, IF it was you). I can’t believe I didn’t stop to ask your name! Hmm. well maybe we’ll see eachother at the USF sale.
Posted by (Janna) on March 28, 2010
It’s so nice to hear everyone talking about their new spring Greenfest purchases! Now we finally have more to think about than freezing temps and brown yard carnage. Sounds like you all made some good finds. Wish I could’ve seen those of you FODs who went today, but there will be other gardener’s get-togethers!! (Thanks to Penny and Kim for always keepin’ it fun!)
Gardendipity, thanks for your address - I’ll be sending the HH seeds out tomorrow! I’ve never had bleeding heart before. I have it (white/red) in shade with a little filtered sun. Think that will work? If it does well, I WILL be hittin’ you up for some red/purple
I’ll bet that’s really pretty…
Posted by (Susan Gillespie) on March 28, 2010
Sorry Mangoman—-That wasn’t me on a cell. I don’t use mine much except for emergencies. But USF is on my agenda so who knows.
I bought a pink chaste tree a few years back because I read in Florida gardening magazine it did well here. Every year, like the hairdresser I am, I would cut it back in the winter and it would come back nice a full and bloom beautifully. This year I decided to “let it be” and see if it still blooms as well. It is naked right now but still 12 ft tall and 8 foot wide. The butterflies love it and it smell nice too. Like I said—-give it room.
Posted by (Gardendipity) on March 28, 2010
Thanks Susan, I was happy to do it.
Penny I showed the cassia to my daughter and she said, “Isn’t that the tree in the photo you showed me?” I’d forgotten, but came home, looked in my file and sure enough, I had saved an article from Dec. 5 of a cassia in bloom. I was hoping to get it one day. Now I have TWO, thanks to you.
Jenna the purple/red BH is beautiful. I’ve been trying to find the name for it. Mine is planted in shade but I read: shade if potted and full sun if planted in the ground. I’m going to try it now in full sun. I have a white/red too in shade and it doesn’t do as well as the purple.
Hey Chip–full moon tomorrow. I have already prepared tiny pots with potting soil. I’ll plant my seeds tomorrow.
Posted by (Gardendipity) on March 28, 2010
Kim I enjoyed your article today in the paper. Same story with my purple sweet potato vine. It dies back in the heat and cold, then comes back again. I have a lime green SPV and it is coming back strong.
So far this spring I haven’t seen any sign of the purple. If you are just getting tiny leaves, maybe mine will be coming back soon too.
I’ve decided to pot it if does come back. It’s one of my favorite plants.
Posted by (Gardendipity) on March 28, 2010
Okay Penny I’ll feign ignorance (I hardly ever get to feign). You are welcome to a cutting of the purple BH.
Can anyone tell me how best to fertilize blue plumbago? We’ve used bloom buster, do you use something else? I would like a long-lasting fertilizer.
My thoughtful daughter gave me some seeds for Christmas, I have Morning Glory Blue Star and Giant White Moonflower. First time I’ve grown these. Anyone have any experience with Moonflower?
Posted by (Chip) on March 28, 2010
Gardendipity,
Your daughter truly loves you with a gift like Mornng Glorys they are sooo easy you will never want to be without them in your garden again.
They come in an amazing variety of color, are carefree, and last but not least they are the only creatures in my household that smile at you in the morning before that second cup of coffee .
Soak the morning glories in water the night before you plant them - next morning stick them in the dirt , water daily for a week and let nature take over. Soak the moon flower seeds a full 24 hours before planting , water daily for a week and let nature take over. Both will need something to climb on.
Hope we meet again ! Diana
Posted by (Iluvpumpkins) on March 28, 2010
Hey everyone, I got that dreaded phone call about 11 am Saturday at Greenfest, my best friend that some of you may know was on Hospice, took a very bad turn.I was able to be at her side when she passed to Our Lord and Savior.
It looks like you guys had a great time. I look forward to next year. Pumpkin
Posted by (Chip) on March 28, 2010
The first time Diane told me about soaking seeds before planting I was a bit skeptical but it works. Not all seeds need it for most it increases the germination rate. I was reading the packet directions on the corn we are planting and it recommends soaking them. This was surprising to me I would have never guessed corn would need it. You learn something new each day….“Chip”
Posted by (Chip) on March 28, 2010
Sorry To hear that pumpkin. Our prayers are with you…Chip
Posted by (Susan Gillespie) on March 29, 2010
So sorry for your loss, Pumpkin. You were a good friend.
Posted by (Susan Gillespie) on March 29, 2010
My blue sky vine is making a comeback too. It took over an area about 3 trellises wide so Penny is right about giving it room.
I am a big fan of Osmocote Plus too. I think Martha Stewart recommended it so that’s why I tried it. You sprinkle it around and forget fertilizing for 3-4 months.
I’ve always nick, or scarify, my morning glory seeds. I use nail clippers and clip an edge. The seed is hard and it gets it to sprout faster. I may use the soaking method this year. Diana knows her stuff and their garden is proof.