Why I Oughta...

Yesterday, I posted a photo of some "Night Queen" Dahlias that I picked up and planted indoors recently.  Today, I'm sharing a photo of another set of 3 Dahlia tubers that came home with us, too.  This one is called "Vuurvogel" or Firebird Semi-cactus Dahlia. And while the "Night Queen" flowers are small (< 4"), these are much larger (~11") and have petals that are shaped quite differently.  Hence the whole "semi-cactus" thing. What's a semi-cactus dahlia?  Glad you asked.  I asked the same question myself.  And found this answer from Gardeners World : Some of the most spectacular dahlias are cactus and semi-cactus types. With their spiky blooms, they can trace their lineage back to a single surviving plant grown from a crate of tubers imported into the Netherlands in 1872. Cactus and semi-cactus dahlias are some of the most eye-catching dahlias you can grow. Their star-like form means they stand up well to inclemen

'Tis the season for Spring bulbs/tubers to go in the ground and as I've done in so many year's past, I'm giving it a go with Dahlias this Spring.  Starting all the way back in 2010 , I've shared my adventures with Dahlia tubers.  I've planted them in pots/planters for our own yard and as gifts.  We've even bought and planted Dahlias of various types directly in the ground out front of our old house.  And we've had limited luck with all of them.  But, still, we persist.  Why?  Because behind Peonies and maybe Allium, Dahlias are right there at the top of Nat's favorite flower list.    These "Night Queen" Dahlia are the small version (not 'Dinner plate') and they're going to get an early start in a big pot inside the house.  I also bought a few other things that I'll stick in the pot together and once it warms up, I'll move the pot outside.  With our patio done and plenty of work to be done on the yard, I'm think

Here's another Disney pin that the kids traded for recently on a trip down to WDW.  Part of a recent series including this Pumba one and this Stitch one among others.  This one, acquired in the past six months is - as you can see - from 2001.  Now, what would possess someone to buy this pin back in 2001, hold on to it for 16+ years only to bring it back down to WDW and trade it away for, likely, some scrapper?  Just like this one from Disneyland that marks the opening of Toy Story Midway Mania back in 2008 , someone decided to part with their prized pin many years after the fact.  I kinda get the idea of bring back pins to trade, especially if you don't come very often.  As a kid, your tastes change year over year or what-have-you, so if you have a lanyard of pins that you don't care about, I can understand wanting to bring them back to swap them out.  But 15+ years?  Wouldn't you just want to keep this one as a part of history?  17 years mean that at the youngest

I posted a series of posts last Summer about our new fence that was put in our #newoldbackyard here , here  and here .  As part of the fence, we installed four gates.  One all the way in the back to access the ComEd easement that is behind our lot - and potentially to get to the neighbor's yards behind us (which...to date, we've never done!), one on the side closest to our neighbor's playhouse/double trampolines (they have kids the same age as ours, so our thought there was to allow access to the trampoline, playhouse and what-have-you), and two gates on either side of our house where the fence meets the rear/side of our house.  The two gates in back are just four footers and are easy to open/close by kids.  But, the two on the sides of the house are six feet tall and made of the board-on-batten-style that the fence (at that part) is made.  That means, the gates are solid and tall.  With really nothing to grab to pull close.  They both open inwards to our yard and have h

Over the weekend, I did something that I don't normally do:  I went to the Home Depot.  As you guys know...I'm a Menards guy.  But, with Spring right around the corner, I wanted to see what the Home Depot was up to.  In particular, the store on Butterfield in Downers Grove has a really good garden center and both the plant quality and the care given to them far surpasses the stuff and care at Menards.  The garden center was just getting booted up.  They had some trees (I'll post about one of them soon), but most of the perennials and annuals were still not in stock.  Too cold.  After poking around, we wandered into the indoor greenhouse section and found some of their succulents - and one jumped out at me.  It is this Pencil Cactus, which happens to be a "Firesticks" variety.  That means, the new growth/tips are orange/red.  Look at this example to see what I'm talking about in terms of color .  Natalie was in Arizona earlier this year and she shared a

Yesterday, I posted two Disney pins (Pumba and Stitch) that we had acquired some time in the past 12 months and today is another pin from that same time frame.  I believe this one was traded by The Babe off of a cast member's lanyard, but I'm not certain of the exact vintage.  Looking around on the Dis Boards, it appears that there's some speculation that these "Magic Music Days" pins from Walt Disney World carry *some* value - to some folks, at least .  For us, I'll lump this one in with the Disney College Program pins that we traded for last Spring as pins that were given out to participants of an activity to only end up being traded for by my kids.    It is natural to wonder if these all (the Magic Music Days pin above and the College Program pins linked above ) are scrappers , right?  I mean...why would anyone dump those pins for something that you can find on a cast member's lanyard?  But, I know from scrappers.  Or at least, I think I have a

The last time I posted about a Disney Pin was back in November of last year , but as we were sorting out some of our traders vs. keepers, I came across some of the finds that the kids had secured sometime between last fall and now.  I'll post a few of these over the next few days, starting with these two:  a Pumba one on the left.  And a Stitch one on the right.  Both of these are, surprisingly, not scrappers.  They have nice edges, strongly-printed backs and clear writing on the reverse.  They also are super smooth on the front with evenly-applied enamel. The Pumba one is a cast member exclusive pin with a "Hidden Mickey" but the Stitch one appears to be one that was either part of a collection sold at a store or maybe in a blind bag.  Neither of them are very rare - based on the prices they're fetching on eBay.