Moan, moan, moan----get it off your chest or have a chat

[TheOnionMan]

oh what fun to be able to groan publicly........I have already done this on Alpine-L earlier this year, but a double-groan is even better....

There was a virtual explosion of rodents in eastern North American this year---and in one fell swoop one day this summer, every single planting of Fitillaria, species Tulips, hardy Gladiolus and some Liliums disappeared from the garden before I even had time to set the traps.

The culprits were chipmunks---hundreds of them on these 8 acres--I will not tell you what the numbers were after that eventful day!!!!

The worst part of course is that all the plants in question were seed grown (so you know how many years were invested in this), and they not only took mature plantings, but also dug through the hundreds of seedling pots still in the sand plunge bed.

Do I have the energy or the time to start over with these?

Kristl

Kristl, your post RINGS TRUE for me, this year I am overrun moreso than ever with chipmunks.  My wife and teenage daughters think they're adorable.  I believe otherwise.  After sowing Epimedium seed, for which I spent weeks manually hybridizing each and every flower for weeks, if I leave a flat of sown seedlings for even 1/2 hour without protection, they're as good as gone, all dug up when I come back after just 30 minutes.  All flats must be covered with wire mesh... I bought more wire mesh today.

Seed pods on Tulipa bifloriformis were all half eaten today, very little left.  One of four precious pods of my Jeffersonia dyphylla x dubia cross was totally eaten today.  So, as of this weekend, starts Chipmunk Relocation Plan.  I use a Have-a-Heart trap to catch them safely (they're very easy to trap... peanut butter and various nuts), then I relocate them several miles away.  I've been chided big time for this practice, yet I have neighbors who go unchided for their chipmunk control efforts, which means catching them followed by a not-so-successful swim in a barrel of water .  One day last year, I caught 12 chipmunks in one day, put them in a barrel with leaves and food at the bottom (not water filled), and them relocated them.  The rest of the summer was relatively chipmunk free.  I intend on doing the same this weekend.  I have only begun to describe the damage of their activities.

I can barely walk around the garden without tripping on this vermin running around everywhere.  And of course, their incessant "chipping" sound when you're near.

[chasw]

And now for my little groan,having returned home within the last couple of days after spending 2 weeks travelling through France into Germany then down to Bavaria for the International Mini Meeting,We arrive home only to find I no longer have any Guiness left,just what I fancied after drinking wine and Pils,saw an add on the television and in the daily paper,Tesco's had it on offer,so pop down to get my 3 crates for £20 or so I thought,pick up my 3 crates and get to the till,that will be £57 please sir,so explain the situation ,saw it on the tv and in the paper,Firstly told not to believe everything that I read,and then that the offer was on crates of 10 cans,and not the crates of 18 cans that they have on the shelf ,and that they had sold out of all the 10 can crates,so I suggested to the wife that we go to Asda,at that point I was told that they may have some in tomorrow,and could they take my phone number to let me know when it came in

Grrrrrrrrrrr rant over,.........Phew feel a little better now.......must be an age thing

[David Nicholson]

Nils illigitimus carborundum Chas!

[annew]

Can someone invent a pair of loppers with an 'undo' button? For the last 6 years I've been training my redcurrant bush to a quadruple cordon, up the sides of a metre cube shape. Removing some unwanted growth from the centre, I missed (it was hidden in the leaves, honest) and lopped off one of the arms. Oops.

[Anthony Darby]

Been there. Torn that t-shirt.

[Arykana]

Hello Maggie,
I would like to tell that Gabriella did not get the money back, it is 9 days already
Erika

[Maggi Young]

Hello Maggie,
I would like to tell that Gabriella did not get the money back, it is 9 days already
Erika

Erika, I will send you a personal message.

[KentGardener]

This is what greeted me as I walked up the garden path this morning.

My biggest Koi without a head.   

[Paul T]

Hello Maggie,
I would like to tell that Gabriella did not get the money back, it is 9 days already
Erika

Erika,

Did you and Maggi get it sorted out?

[Ragged Robin]

This is what greeted me as I walked up the garden path this morning.

My biggest Koi without a head.  

So sad, they are such beautiful fish, John - what took it do you think?  Strange it ate just the head  

[Maggi Young]

Hello Maggie,
I would like to tell that Gabriella did not get the money back, it is 9 days already
Erika

Erika,

Did you and Maggi get it sorted out?

This refers back to a friend of Erika's who ordered plants last year from Glasshouse Works in the USA and did not receive the plant,  a refund or an explanation in reply to her enquiries.
The  website is Glasshouse Works in the USA
             https://www.glasshouseworks.com
 and correspondence is with a (?subsidiary/partner) www.exoticplants.com

No, Paul, we did not sort it out...
I wrote to Tom at Exotic Plants, who apologised for the problem in not sending the plants, saying that the carriage costs were too high  and greater than that which had been charged so they had stopped shipping to Hungary and promising a refund.
He later said a refund had been made to Gabriella  and repeats that, though no money has been received by her.

I get the impression that while he is making conciliatory 'noises'  he is content that someone in the UK and Hungary who are dis-satisfied with his company are not of any great importance....

Not a happy experience of using that website for Gabriella, ... and I wouldn't be giving them any business, that's for sure.

[johnw]

About twenty years ago around this time of year I was grubbing in the garden and completely covered in muck.  I was in a bit of a rush as I was going to a concert that night. I heard footsteps coming down the driveway and thought great, who now.  To my shock and disbelief it was Canadian contralto Maureen Forrester and pianist friend who I was naming a Rhododendron kaempferi for.  They were on their way to the concert hall nearby for that very concert.  She stood in the garden before that azalea as if the gods were descending from Valhalla. No words were necessary.  That night she sang Carl Loewe's "Ach neige, du Schmerzensreiche", there was not a dry eye in the house.  Maureen Forrester died yesterday in Toronto at the age of 79. Another great one gone.

That lied seems a fitting tribute and starts at minute 3:35  

johnw

[Lesley Cox]

What an incredibly fortunate memory to have of Maureen Forrester John, a treasure for your lifetime. Her name is not familiar to me but your link provides a good idea of her brilliance. I hope she liked her rhododendron.

Funnily enough, just two days after John's note above, our own radio Concert programme, mentioned Maureen Forrester's death and gave a short biography of her career, then played some music from her; beautiful recordings of Schubert lieder. Knowing of our Forumist connection made the item of much greater interest to me. She certainly had a glorious voice.

[Arykana]

Hello Maggie,
I would like to tell that Gabriella did not get the money back, it is 9 days already
Erika

Erika,

Did you and Maggi get it sorted out?

This refers back to a friend of Erika's who ordered plants last year from Glasshouse Works in the USA and did not receive the plant,  a refund or an explanation in reply to her enquiries.
The  website is Glasshouse Works in the USA
             https://www.glasshouseworks.com
 and correspondence is with a (?subsidiary/partner) www.exoticplants.com

No, Paul, we did not sort it out...
I wrote to Tom at Exotic Plants, who apologised for the problem in not sending the plants, saying that the carriage costs were too high  and greater than that which had been charged so they had stopped shipping to Hungary and promising a refund.
He later said a refund had been made to Gabriella  and repeats that, though no money has been received by her.

I get the impression that while he is making conciliatory 'noises'  he is content that someone in the UK and Hungary who are dis-satisfied with his company are not of any great importance....

Not a happy experience of using that website for Gabriella, ... and I wouldn't be giving them any business, that's for sure.

She still did not get any answer or money back

[Maggi Young]

Hello Maggie,
I would like to tell that Gabriella did not get the money back, it is 9 days already
Erika

Erika,

Did you and Maggi get it sorted out?

This refers back to a friend of Erika's who ordered plants last year from Glasshouse Works in the USA and did not receive the plant,  a refund or an explanation in reply to her enquiries.
The  website is Glasshouse Works in the USA
             https://www.glasshouseworks.com
 and correspondence is with a (?subsidiary/partner) www.exoticplants.com

No, Paul, we did not sort it out...
I wrote to Tom at Exotic Plants, who apologised for the problem in not sending the plants, saying that the carriage costs were too high  and greater than that which had been charged so they had stopped shipping to Hungary and promising a refund.
He later said a refund had been made to Gabriella  and repeats that, though no money has been received by her.

I get the impression that while he is making conciliatory 'noises'  he is content that someone in the UK and Hungary who are dis-satisfied with his company are not of any great importance....

Not a happy experience of using that website for Gabriella, ... and I wouldn't be giving them any business, that's for sure.

She still did not get any answer or money back

I had sent another email to Tom at Verizon/ ExoticPlants/Glasshouse Works, to ask what the situation was for Gabriella's refind:


Toaday I received this email:

"Your message

    To:  tom@exoticplants.com
    Subject:  Order with Glasshouse Works (# 380810)
    Sent:  5/26/2010 10:47 AM

was deleted on 6/26/2010 10:36 AM."

So, no help there then! I'd avoid these companies.... pity Gabriella had to learn the hard way that there are unscrupulous traders out there.