PBS Forum

Oddly enough Steve, no one is checking passports when these geese are flying to Ostrov Vrangelya - Wrangell Island. There is a small, seasonal population on the Island made up of Chukchi and Yupik people and local rangers.The island is 30 miles long and 5-14 miles wide, roughly the same size as Crete. These geese have been migrating for thousands of years, maybe soon we will see changes due to political situations. Thank you for the pictures on the WA side

The yellow ones look nice as well, I don't have any. I do however have a few white ones, they don't bloom as much as the pink, but are just as nice to look at. I'll have to try to get a few yellow ones too. 
Thank you Rimmer for the picts.
Luminita

You are welcome! Mine are also blooming everytime I water my gardens, even though we are in a long draught at the moment! These zephyrantes are quite prolific, and I keep having more and more of them!
Enjoy!
Luminita

Dear Jean and Dear All

Related to stamps.com - since I used the service for over 2 years, I can say a few things from that experience.

1. It is extremely convenient to be able to print postage when you the user want to do it. 
2. stamps.com "service" - meaning the technological software that connects from the user's computer to the intelligence the postoffice described in terms of business rules - is still not working properly, and it has unexpected glitches.
3. the post office is trying different business models, to see which one fits better. stamps.com has a monthly subscription, regardless of much volume of business is completed. endicia.com has no subscription, but less discount when printing postage.
4. the service is designed modular, but the hardware is not always have seamless integration, hence another area where things can go wrong
5. once printed on the printer, the label can jam, but the value of its face is taken from the balance of the account. Then you have to request a refunt, and that takes 3 weeks. If it happens to a large batch of postage with high face value - you whole entire account is basically useless. I mean like hundreds of dollars look like they are spent, when in fact you are waiting for a refund.
6. the notification to a destinee in endicia.com goes out as soon as a postage label is printed if that individual is subscribed to the post office notification. And if the label goes wrong during printing, the destinee gets notified each and every time something changes. a nightmare of notifications that are not needed. The design of the system still needs more work, test, etc.
7. It is easy to keep accounting using such a system.
8. it can be accessible on the internet by anyone with an account. We are now experiencing that.
9. recently I used endicia.com heavily, and the service to connect still runs through stamps.com, I have no idea how they are intermixed since I don't look at the code, but refunds for misprinted labels came both from stamps.com and endicia.com, even though I only have an endicia account. 
10. the volume I worked with was heavy, so hanginig for 3-4 weeks to get $600 refunded was not a good situation
11. it helped with international paperwork, but it is not seamless, I still had to go to the post office to square away some of the quirks.
12. sending contents that need to be insured for more than $50 is also a problem, stamps.com makes you sign your life away that you are sending a valuable item. And it charges a lot.
13. it saves time for a small operation, hands down
14. it is not quite there yet, still needs rework on some of its aspects.
15. for me - the next step will be integration of the ordering system to the fulfillment system, and that is the part where I hope to make most gains. Person orders on line, types all the info, system places order, creates cust in endicia.com and prints label based on the order contents. At this point is where the true savings come into play being realized.

Since Arnold had the main account - I was not part of any negotiations with stamps.com, I only resolved some of the technical problems that came into existence when I used an iOS for my platform. Even today, the services on the iOS do not work the same, and they are meant for a Windows computer. 

All this was and is my experience with stamps.com and endicia.com hope it helps for you to see that only competitioin would make this type of service available in a convenient way, work being done only once. Type in an order, address, and everything else should be created by the system from that point on. We are not there, and the physical item that needs postal services still needs to be kitted correctly. 

We are on the way to get there.

Regards,
Luminita
Message: 1
Date: Tue, 28 Jun 2022 11:09:08 -0400
From: Jean Moore <jean-moore@atlanticbb.net>
To: pbs@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net
Subject: [pbs] Mailing BX/SX via Stamps.com
Message-ID: <dbeebc65-f0ed-3bc1-dcff-c6da3509b2c6@atlanticbb.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8; format=flowed
The use of <stamps.com> it seems to me, undercuts one of the US's oldest 
government functions. (Yes, I know they are a licensed "partner."}? 
After the initial 4-week trial, it costs $17.99 per month membership. 
Unless PBS does enough mailings to take advantage of their discounted 
label printing, etc., it is a scam. I strongly disapprove. My 2cents' 
worth. --Jean Moore

"My L tsingtauense are from Eddie McRae offered through the now defunct Species Lily Preservation Group and have a bilateral flower symmetry with the lower sepal pointing down. The illustrations in books (Fox, Growing Lilies) have the flower tepals evenly spaced in radial symmetry. "

Rimmer - what do you mean by "now defunct Species Lily Preservation Group..." ?

I see in the last QB inside top cover Species Lily Preservation under Vijay Chandhok is still present, mentioned, and recently several mentions were made, articles and such. Was there or do you know of any information regarding their activities? 

I inquired about this group about 2-3 years ago and what their plans are to save/promote species are and I received one envelope with a few yellow canadense lilium seeds from Vijay via Barbara Ronningen as the main activity was to ask NALS members to grow one specie. 
Is there something more you can share?

Thanks,
Luminita

Rick and Rimmer
I have L. miquelianum - the bulb is certainly articulated, I planted it last fall. The buds are not flowering yet, but they are certainly triangular in shape like the L. tsingtauense. There is only one whirl of leaves, 12, and they are wavey, 2 larger leaves alternate going up, and a bunch of buds under which a few smaller leaves are growing. We are about 2-3 weeks behind here in MN, so it will be some time before they bloom. 

The L. tsingtauense I have has no articulate scales, the whirl leaves are straight, and the bulbs are also triangular in cross section. I have not seen yet the flowers to compare, but will do so when they open. I have yet to get a L. distichum bulb, but I have 15 seeds that are sprouted and being stratified. Pictures will follow when they bloom.
Luminita

Ken - nice to see someone else enjoys the Gazanias - I tried it 3 years in a row, but they did not survive the MN winters.
Gazania was my sister's favorite flower and I get a few seeds going each spring. Unfortunately annuals take too much time, and the Colorado gold did not pass the test either. I may try again, thanks for the pictures. 
I have a theory that Co perennials do ok in MN, since they are used in xeriscaping I'm speculating they are hardier to harsher conditions, so I bought a few penstemons ( the blue virens), and aquilegias, as well as clematis species. They indeed do ok here, blue being a harder to find color. 
Luminita

I carry the phone with me because of the places I go, I need to have access to call out. Also to be tracked in case of emergency. I use the phone for everything but I decide when I use it for what reason. I have no desire to look at the PBS Forum on my phone. I have no need to receive dentist or other such notifications on my computer, and I don't want Apple to use the phone and the computer as a pair, even the tablet. But I can use these devices interchangeably if I need to. Phone allows for scanning for purchases or information, wallet payments, and that's ok for the convenience. You only have to carry your phone. Reality - something may happen to your phone. 

Quote from: Martin Bohnet on April 26, 2022, 09:28:29 PM@Luminita : funny to see 2 local natives of Germany I actually grow myself in that first Minnesota blues line: Vinca minor and Centaurea montana both have a bit of a weedy reputation, but I find both beautiful and useful. I'm afraid in Germany Minnesota is mostly known for naive Rose Nyland's hometown of Saint Olaf - so sad that Betty White passed away only weeks before her 100th birthday.

The status of Puerto Rico always puzzles Europeans. it seems to be a very strange construct.

@Martin Bohnet : A lot of German communities in Minnesota, and a predominantly culture specific to Germany: food, customs, speaking, religion, names, genetics, you name it!   And about Puerto Rico - it would be nice if it was the only thing to be puzzled about ! Imagine that people can go to war at 18 but not drink until 21. And it was only recently, like 1971 that 18 year olds were allowed to vote at 18! Amend 26! That is a big puzzle!

@Martin Bohnet : I have 2 Vinca minor clumps, one blue and one purple, distinctly different. They are a ground cover and bloom for a long time. However in CA it is listed as invasive. Using this perspective of what is native and what is invasive depending of the state you're in, sort of influences  what your garden contains. Each state has a different list of invasives and degree of invasiveness. And some people have no idea about any of this.
Then we get the case of the Siberian squill!

  - yes, I was quick to say 52, and did not add ...and jurisdictions..... sorry if that may cause confusion.
DC is not a state, and neither is PuertoRico. I hope you found all the other things were accurate and stood up to scrutiny!
Luminita

Martin - good subject,  hopefully informative. 

You may know that the definition of native is quite different from one geographical place to another, and as such in MN, one of the 52 states here in the US is this: In Minnesota, plants are considered native if they occurred here at the time of the Public Land Survey (1847- 1907), which was conducted prior to and during the early stages of European settlement.
We all know that the American Natives have been here way before 1800s and some of the plants that were common in this area were described by the Natives. Were used by them as well. So this term is a bit ambiguous, if not confusing. There are over 1700 native plants in MN and many of them are flowering type. There are movements to garden with natives, but of course gardening here in MN is not the same as gardening in CA and not at all as gardening in EU.

For brevity of discussion, for many people native plants means "what you find in the woods and on the fields", and if the woods are named XXX woods - then you can even bring those plants home. 

I have in my garden Triliums, Arisema triphyllum, Gentian, Anemone, Antennaria neglecta,  Liatris aspera, Cypripendium reginae, Lilium michiganense, Lilium lancifolium, Lilium phyladelphicum, Claytonia, Asclepias tuberosa and incarnata, Geum triflorum, Thalictroides tall and short, Lobelia cardinalis, Calirhoe triangulata, and I can go on with about 450 more....and this would only be a part of what is native, all colors you may like ( the Gentian is black on blue ) 

And Minnesota is not a singular state, many states have similarly rich flora. You can garden such that through the entire season there is something blooming, or all of the same color at once.

And then you can go Japanese style, and have no flowers at all, only shades and textures of green.

The strangest thing though is finding these natives far, far away from this place, much easier than finding them here. 

A couple of links to browse through, so many beautiful and colorful flowers, who can name them all?  

https://www.minnesotawildflowers.info/page/flowers-by-color/blue

https://files.dnr.state.mn.us/eco/mcbs/natural_vegetation_of_mn.pdf