PBS Forum

Jane makes a good point about plants getting leggy. Generally I move the plants needing more light out in very early spring, but for now the greenhouses are mostly full of primulas and seed trays. I've found some crocus and narcissus do better if they winter over in the unheated houses.

I just can't imagine surviving in AK in winter. I suffer enough in the dark of winter on the coast although it's better 200 miles south of Portland where I used to live.

I do wish radio stations hadn't become so automated. Now, you have great difficulty finding locally news broadcast a few times a day, and weather reports are bare bones so it's better to listen to NOAA, all this because we have the most pitiful excuses for local newspapers these days...

Interesting comment about more a matter of overheating in summer... An orchid grower friend who had a 30x30 foot glass room built as an addition to the second story of their home had a different take on the issue. It had glass siding and roof and I asked about cleaning the roof... Seems she preferred not to clean it but to leave it slightly dirty to reduce the amount of direct light, thereby adding some protection.

I've taken that attitude to heart and find it works well enough, and is certainly less hassle than painting the roof with white paint. Bear in mind however we're in coastal southern Oregon... I guess my attitude is that there are always options, some more or less wonderful than others.

Somehow, i find it comforting that such an ancient ritual at Stonehenge is still celebrated. Perhaps in Germany  celebration of the Solstice is considered right-wing, but not here in the US to my knowledge. I may be a baptized Lutheran but I'm certainly not a Christian and like Martin, I celebrate the Solstice with friends even if undercover, especially in this little town that has too many tiny churches on every fifth street corner of whatever denomination.

It may take six weeks to really start to warm up, but believe me within 2-3 days of the Solstice I begin to be aware of the tiny increments of increasingly longer days, almost imperceptible though they may be. Such a great reason for celebration every year! I'm counting the days...

Here is a very encouraging article from The Guardian that shows one way of coping with climate change.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/dec/03/south-dakota-reservation-food-desert-residents-transforming-crop-oasis?ref=upstract.com 

Going back to David's comment about smart meters, isn't prepayment mode the next step on the road to ruin, poverty and a police state, not allowing dissent?

So, Arnold, what you're saying is that in spite of the error Sylvia received, her payment went through?

Sylvia, Please contact Arnold Trachtenberg directly. If this continues to be a problem, you may need to pay by check. Sometimes using a different browser (Firefox, for example) might be worth a try or accessing at a different time of day... Hopefully David can find an answer.

Good Morning,
 
Although only one member to my knowledge has noticed, the last issue of the Bulb Garden, Vol. 20 Issue 2, was mis-numbered. It should have been Vol. 20 Issue 1.
 
Vol 20 Issue 2 will reach you by the end of this year as it is now in layout.
 
I'll take this opportunity to remind you of some important details:
 
1.    PBS dues are now up for renewal since PBS is on a calendar year. Those payments are encouraged to be made via the PBS website. Please do not use PayPal directly but go through our website.
2.    As always I welcome new authors and articles for our journal. Please contact me directly and remember, don't be concerned with spellings, or other minor details. Those will be sorted out before publication. Just sit down and write about what you know best, whether it's one plant or several, a trip you've taken (now that we can fly a bit) or an article on propagation, concern about cultivation or what you've learned about bulbs. We like to see a mix of topics that cover hardy bulbs, South American or South African, etc. so don't hesitate to write about something not available at your local garden center or specialist nursery. You nurserymen are also encouraged, now that the days are shorter, to sit down and put your thoughts on paper (metaphorically or otherwise).
3.    We do have openings from time to time on the PBS board. If you think you have a little time and would like to volunteer, let us know. For most board members, that really only involves quarterly Zoom meetings and perhaps an occasional committee meeting. We keep our meetings to an hour or so. You do not need to be a guru of bulbs, but some knowledge is best.
4.    Let's all save Arnold some time and pay our invoices when we order bulbs or seeds and not six months later. Most importantly, indicate on your payment the number of the exchange. If for example you have an invoice for $16.00 but pay $20.00 and don't write down something like "$16.00 for Exchange xxx plus a $4.00 donation), he may assume you are renewing your membership.
5.    Once again, a reminder: if you have a significant credit because you've donated seeds and/or bulbs, you may use that credit to pay for a year's membership for another person...
6.    And lastly, a gentle reminder that if you are in arrears for bulbs or seeds, at some point your requests for bulbs or seeds may be denied if not paid immediately when notified. Our society is a 501(c)3 organization and is run by volunteers. We have a unique membership structure that involves making seeds and bulbs available to members multiple times a year. I can't think of another plant society that does this, so please, support PBS by paying your invoices in a timely manner.
 
Carry on and please accept our grateful thanks for your continued support of our unique society.
 
Best regards,
 
Robin Hansen
President, PBS

The one question I always have about hydroponic and/or vertical gardening is this, and I do not see it addressed. Supposedly, the soil mix and added nutrients replicate whatever the plants need to grow well and produce fruit, i.e. tomatoes. But doesn't terroir or natural native soils impart nutrients and flavor that constructed soil and nutrient mixes do not provide?

It has been years since I've bought tomatoes in a grocery store. They're red, perfect-looking round objects that have no flavor at all. I simply do without until their normal season of fruiting...or use canned tomatoes which certainly taste like real tomatoes.

Is it really worthwhile to grow edible plants in such unnatural conditions, given it seems unlikely to me they can truly provide good quality nutrients and subtle flavors and tastes that an in-ground vegetable or fruit has? I grow ornamental plants of many kinds and they do well for the first two years or so but invariably when planted in native soil, they do much better.

Just curious.

So plants that are pollinated by flies in the main don't smell pretty? I have both Scoliopus bigelovii and S. hallii which are clearly pollinated by tiny little flies but I've never detected any odor at all. Where these little flies come from, when I don't see them anywhere else or on other plants, always amazes me. I'm assuming that means at least the flies smell them!

I lost track of how much time I spent on the phone with APHIS and on the computer renewing (or in this case filling out a new application for a PPQ 587) the Small Lots of Seed permit.

Chris in the Maryland APHIS office freely admitted there are glitches in the eFile software and they are still working on it. Too bad they didn't thoroughly test and take feedback before going live....

One thing or several - make sure you give both street and mailing address if they are different. There isn't a place that I could see that asks specifically for street and mailing addresses, just address. He advised me that if not using Google Chrome, you may not see all the boxes you may need to click! Really?

When I called the help number, only limited help is available and if your problem isn't solved they refer you on to the Maryland number with the 301 prefix. You can bypass email help, etc. and just call that number directly. Less time is wasted. Just leave a detailed message as they're quick to call back.

I was able to get into the system eventually, going through 3 passwords before filling out a new application but when I clicked "Save and Exit", I missed another box to tick? When I went back in to try to sort out, it told me I had a draft, but no message saying I was finished. Chris went ahead, sorted that out, sent me the permit and the shipping certificates, both in PDF format.

There is no barcode on the new shipping certificates and you can ignore the numbers assigned to each one, instead using the same one over and over. Furthermore the permit is good for three years.

There is a YouTube video that was ok, but the PDF documents I received by email were hopeless, designed on 16x9 paper, full of so many colored shapes and muddled design it was difficult to read through. I gave up at that point and just called Maryland.

So, good luck and feel free to contact me or anyone who has experience with this not so well tested application. I will say the YouTube video (there are several - choose the one for PPQ 587) gave specific words to use in each section which I wrote down as I watched and those worked well when I finally was able to fill in the application.

Good Luck!

Japanese knotweed is on the noxious weed list in Oregon and probably also in Washington State. It can be killed. The problem is with the use of glyphosate, although other methods work with a little patience. I had some 30 years ago in the Willamette Valley where I lived and I succeeded in eradicating it, as I did with a large clump here on the coast.

But it spreads quickly and getting rid of large amounts is problematic... The polygonums or whatever they're called these days are a large, nasty and diverse genus... I don't even want the an ornamental species in my garden because the genus leaves such a bad odor.

In reply to both David and Martin...

David- the thing about paper is that you see context much easier, have various search terms right in front of you (I really wear out trying to decide which words to use in a search sometimes and then find I'm totally off-base or can't find anything when I know there's something there) and in looking through paper you will often come across something you've been wanting to find. Each option has their advantages.

I'm not ignoring Alexandria Library Syndrome, just taking an optimistic attitude...and truly, if the net goes down, it could be bad, good, ugly or a steep relearning curve. There are always, in my book, options but I realize the vast majority of people are getting lazier.

Martin, since we all have to log in to access member services, I think we'd be safe within those restrictions.

Rock Garden Plants of North America I still use it as a reference. Books like this really don't become outdated. I, too, spend time rereading my NARGS, SRGC and AGS journals and sometimes discovering I missed something important. Books moldering in libraries may seem quaint and out-of-date, but as the future goes, we have no guarantee we'll continue to have the internet in accessible form.

Think sun flares, satellite destruction, Mother Nature's habit of torrential rain, monster slides, flooding, etc. Then think of all the tablets on clay from thousands of years ago that scientists have found and deciphered...

I think I'd be a bit wary of announcing to the world. For some possible reasons: Dealers taking advantage of members, members who may not use PayPal having to deal with payments, and huge shipping costs, opening members to more junk mail or spam, and so on.

I would say trying it among members and limiting who orders to plant society members such as NARGS, SRGC, etc. although I don't know how practical that would be in execution, but certainly limiting to PBS, if nothing else.