Tag Archives: Bamboo

Kiwi, Iris, Bamboo Oh My

Many people are surprised when I tell them I grow kiwi in Kentucky. No, not the fuzzy brown kiwis you can pick up at the local grocery. These are hardy kiwis, specifically Arctic Beauty. They are quite hardy, like the dappled shade and love to climb. A male and a female plant is needed for pollination.

female_kiwi

This is the female, the featured image above is the male.

Notice the difference in flowers between the two. The wind was blowing a bit so please forgive the slight blurriness in the photos. These were the best out of the 20 or so I took.

Both of these kiwi vines are growing on a trellis near the house. This proved rather beneficial when we had scattered frost a few weeks ago. The vines were just starting to put out flower buds but none were open yet. The problem many people have growing kiwi in this area is that often they wake up earlier than they should for the local climate.

iris

The iris are doing great this year. These Autumn Circus iris are preparing to bloom. The Lumilites are on their way out and the old yellows haven’t started yet.

Speaking of iris, I finally got Eric’s iris planted near where Donna’s went. The ones below are from Karen and are drying out a bit before planting. They needed some tlc to get them ready to go. This should be fun as I don’t have a clue as to what these are. Kinda like Christmas.

karens_iris

I recently read that when bamboo is planted it sleeps the first year, creeps the second year and leaps the third year. Guess what year this is.

sleep_creep_leap

World’s Longest Yard Sale

The better part of today was spent traveling up and down Highway 127 for the WLYS. Lasting 4 days, spanning 450 miles and 4 states there is something for EVERYONE at this thing. I try to go every year but this year actually had a bit of money to spend. Here is some of what I picked up.

Weed eater – $5
Not sure if it works as it was out of gas. The motor turns so I am hopeful. It came from an estate sale so we shall see.

Donvier Ice Cream Maker – $7
I’ve been wanting one of these for a long time. No rock salt, no electricity. Just place the cannister in the deep freeze for a while and it gets cold enough to make 1 qt of ice cream. mmmm

Storm Window w/screen – $5
For the as of yet unmade second cold frame. Its too small for the 4×8 frame I’m making this fall but it was in such good shape I couldn’t pass it up. Everyone needs 2 cold frames right?

Phullostachys Bissetii – Bamboo – 2 gallon pot – $10
I’ve been wanting some bamboo for a while and this stuff is supposed to be hardy to -20F. At least that is what the guy who sold it to me said. I’ve seen it growing in his yard for several years so it should do fine here.

6 (or7) local high school yearbooks from 1959-65 $20
I have a web site where I scan old yearbooks and put them online. This was a great deal for these books and I’ll more than make my $$ back on ebay once I get them scanned, indexed and put online.

Rotating metal sun spinner – $35
I LOVE this thing. It is made out of stainless steel, very heavy duty. When it spins it is made in such a way that the light reflects off the fins and it appears that light is moving either inward or outward depending on the direction of the turning. I picked up the middle sized one which is about 1 foot in diameter. A local couple sell them, a friend of theirs in MN makes them and they are awesome. They have probably a dozen or so different types and colors. There was a really neat cross that looked like it was vibrating with light.

Tomorrow we go back out to look for more goodies.