Citrus Grafting Workshop Field Trip ~ Lake Jackson Here We Come!!!

We have Arrived!!!!

 Margaret Butler, Gwen Ochoa, Myra Emerson, and Carol Parsley went to Mr. John Panzarella's 
Citrus Grafting Workshop in a far-away-land!! After a two hour drive full of laughter and good conversation we finally arrived!  Luckily several other field-trippers arrived early as well so they could take our picture

 Upon arriving this tree was the first thing to catch our eyes.  It is some kind of pear shaped  Kumquat. It was rather large and I wanted to grab one and taste it but I knew it would be rude to take someones fruit without asking and I reasoned it would probably be rude to ask a stranger to give me a bite of his fruit.

       Here is a picture of our teacher Mr. Panzarella talking to our photographer.

                                              A very knowledgeable teacher indeed!

                   He  had this tree near his front door and Pecan trees in his front yard as well.

                  When he let us go into his back yard all I could say  was WOW!!!!

                       I think he said he had over 150 varieties of citrus in his back yard,  which had chickens meandering around eating lunch, and sloped down in the back to a bayou. The chickens kept the yard very                            clean.  There were varieties of lemon, grapefruit, orange, satsuma, plummelo, lime, tangerine,calamon avocado, peaches, persimmons, pomagrantes, pear, papaya, miracle fruit and more.

                                                                   A Lemon Tree.

                                                    This was our grafting area.

                                                 The Bayou at the edge of his property.

                                      A pear tree.  We could choose whether to graft a citrus or a pear of both.

                                                    These were huge papaya trees.

                                      We had the lecture in the garage and a slide presentation.
                                          Mr. Panzarella was very informative and knowledgeable.
                                       While there we met a lady from Sour Lake  named Maria.
                                        She is pictured on the far right.

                                           Mr. Panzarella demonstrates how to cleft graft a citrus.

                                                        Myra videoed the demonstration.

                                                      Myra and Margaret inspect the finished product.
                               We all chose to graft the Ujikitsu Lemon which is so sweet it taste like Lemonade.

                                                  Miracle Fruit in the greenhouse.

                 The tree to the left of the bench is a pink grapefruit . (I have one of those.)

The whole day was great and very interesting.  In the winter Mr. Panzarella has a 

Citrus Tasting Open House .  Get on his website and check it out.
                         http://sites.google.com/site/johnpanza

Or do a google search: Citrus information, Citrus Lake Jackson or John Panzarella citrus

Merry Christmas ~~~It's Party Time!!~~~~~

                   It's December and that means time for The Sirens of the Soil Christmas Party!!!

 We decided to meet at Cracker  Barrel of our annual gala.  We met Tuesday, December 11th.
We met at 9:30 a.m.. We brought a gift to exchange. We have a new member and would like to welcome Myra Emerson to our group.  Myra said her sister Gerri Adams would like to join as well.
Francis couldn't be there as she had to babysit and Linda had a date with the refrigerator repair man.  Deanna was working.  We also enjoyed meeting Carol's Mom, Metta.  She was a sweet surprise!!!   We would love having her come any time she can.

                                         Pictures of our gang and me with and without my glasses.

                                          Left to Right: Gwen , Carol, (front) Myra, Margaret, and Metta

           Metta got a Rosemary Christmas Tree and Carol received a goose planter

                                                      with a poinsettia in it.

                                                         Margaret got a fountain and a calendar.

                                                             Myra got a frog planter! Ribbit!!

                                         I got some fertilizer called "Medina Plus!"
                                            It make plants healthy .  What about me?

                                       Sybil got a bird feeder!
                               We also drew Months for garden work.  Sybil was kind of sad that she drew                        
                                  the month of January but we decided we would either visit a botanical garden or
                                  make her a herb garden.  (If the weather is too cold or yucky its the botanical
                                   garden.)     We had a fun time and missed our friends who didn't make it.

Loving Hypertufa

 Last fall the SOS gals got together and made hypertufa pots and these are what I made. The pot on the pedestal is two separate pieces .  It was a hollow pedestal made in a plastic pot with a hypertufa bowl on top.  I decorated the bowl with marbles.
 
Carol , Sybil and I got together the Tuesday after our Shangri-la Adventure and played in the mud.

 This year I made a face and another pedestal.  A solid pedestal this time. Making  Hypertufa only made me want to make more ...so I did the next day .

 I enjoyed it so much I still want to do more. I used more marbles and tried to make a big trough.

                                                         But it was an oopsy!!!!

It broke in the corner . When It dries more I will try to repair it.
Unfortunately Sybil's cracked too!
Carols looks great though.

                                             I made a ball too!

                                          These are Carols' pots.  You can see She has a little ball too.
                                                  The square one may be used as a pedestal.

                                           Now a few pictures of the November garden!
                                                     This is my cacti...in the rectangle box is 

                                               Dragon Fruit Vines and a Hawaiian Vine.
                                                                My papaya tree! 

                                                       Green papaya fruit....will it ripen?

                                                  Thumbergia Blue Sky Vine and Bleeding Heart Vine

                                                                      Satsuma

                                                                 Mexican Flame Vine

                            The garden is waiting for winter and working until the freeze................

Sun Rise Bayou Breakfast

Field Trip to Shangri-La  (Nov. 3,2012.)
We got up Saturday morning and went to Orange Texas' Secret Treasure.
We left at 6:30 a.m. and were there before 7a.m for a Breakfast on the Bayou.

Carol Parsley, Sybil LaPray, and Gwen Ochoa

Loading the boat

For breakfast we had fruit , scones, muffins and orange juice , coffee, or water.

And then we were off....... 

 Wanda Woods was the tour leader.

 The Survivor Tree an over 1000 year old bald cypress~~~~here before Colombus came to America!

                                                            Home for birds!!

                                                  Can you see three spider webs?

                                                     Can you see a snake?

                                                      E.T Phone Home~~~~Cypress Knee

                                                      Can you see the birds?

 After the Bayou Tour we went to the garden to look at the plants.  These were the in the greenhouse.

                                                     Sybil and Carol

                                                                  Sybil and Gwen

                                          We finished off our morning looking at the Scare Crow Exhibit!

 There were over 80 scarecrows......we had a wonderful morning.