The Coffee House

[SquarePeg38]

Spent the afternoon rearranging the chaos that is my back patio, but it is ready for sitting out and entertaining the mosquitoes. I’ll eventually put in a two-tier plant stand and reduce what is out there, but I have a place for the grill and a small table to enjoy a cuppa once temps get bearable.
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Looks great! Planty paradise.

 

[cgw119 144]

Need some sage advice on saving/mummifying dahlia roots. Experts abound here. SOS!

 

[SquarePeg38]

Need some sage advice on saving/mummifying dahlia roots. Experts abound here. SOS!

Are you asking about storing tubers over the winter?

 

[VidThreeNorth]

Mall post-mortems...Though strictly Canadian, malls got pulled down by the financial fortunes/follies of their anchors--The Bay, Sears, newcomer Nordstrom, Eatons, Zellers, failed Canadian Target adventure.

. . .

Malls thrived when old downtowns lost ground way last century as 'burbs grew and spread. That long swing trend petered out. Covid likely bought and installed the malls' tombstones.

All true, but I don't think the trend will continue. Covid is over.

Take a map of North America and draw a latitude line through, maybe Washington DC, and another through Toronto. Check the average temperatures for those cities for the last 10 years. I would guess you'll find a difference somewhere around 5 - 10 deg. F. If you look for the length of extra "warm days" per year along those lines, it'll be about 1 - 2 months. Canada really is that much colder than the US. That is why Toronto got Yorkdale SC in the first place. Malls simply were never as necessary throughout the US. Yes the Canadian malls went through hard times, like the malls in the US, but we still have more incentive to keep them around. That doesn't mean some will go area in Canada too, and frankly, Oxford Property probably regrets some of their expansion, but a good chunk of them, even some of the bigger ones, will survive.

 

[cgw119 144]

Are you asking about storing tubers over the winter?

Yup. Have a basement cold room and colder outside shed as winter options.

 

[smoke665]

but a good chunk of them, even some of the bigger ones, will survive.

One of the largest (if not largest) malls in our state, 3 floors, major anchor stores, upscale high rise hotel, and huge surrounding ground level shopping. At one time you could spend a full weekend there and never visit all the retail locations, then it and the surrounding area became a ghost town. They're in the process of converting it to a mixed use residential/business/retail development, are several others across the country. Our local mall lost two of its anchor stores (Sears & JC Penny) and almost faded away until last year, they converted one end to a bowling alley, restaurant, and a large grocery store. They're still struggling with the smaller spaces, but the bleeding has at least slowed down for now.

 

[SquarePeg38]

Yup. Have a basement cold room and colder outside shed as winter options.

I don’t have any unheated basement or garage space so my method may be more work than you need to do. I wait for two weeks after first frost kills them off. I cut them down, dig up the tubers, hose them off & let them dry outside in the shade for a few hours, then I divide them, write the name in sharpie on the tuber, dip the cuts in cinnamon and wrap individually in Saran Wrap. I store them in shoe boxes in an unheated closet that stays 40-50°F until spring. Minimal losses with this method as long as they’re fully dry when you wrap them. If you have difficulty writing on them with the sharpie then they’re not dry enough. Do not put them on cement to dry as they will desiccate very quickly. I use plastic bread racks that I got from a recycle swap to air dry them.

A friend digs her up and doesn’t wash off the dirt or divide. She puts the clumps in plastic shopping bags by the interior door in her unheated garage. She divides in spring before replanting. This may work for you if your cold room doesn’t drop into near freezing temps.

You don’t want them stored anyplace where temps will drop below 40°F. Some people store in vermiculite or wood chips but that requires certain humidity conditions that probably don’t exist in Canada in winter. You could try a couple of different methods to see what works best. The Saran Wrap method is what is recommended by the American dahlia society.

Whatever you decide to do, be sure to label them before first frost kills them as all dead
Dahlias look alike! I tie some flag tape around the main stem and label the tape. That way they don’t get all confused when I’m washing and drying them.

 

[cgw119 144]

I don’t have any unheated basement or garage space so my method may be more work than you need to do. I wait for two weeks after first frost kills them off. I cut them down, dig up the tubers, hose them off & let them dry outside in the shade for a few hours, then I divide them, write the name in sharpie on the tuber, dip the cuts in cinnamon and wrap individually in Saran Wrap. I store them in shoe boxes in an unheated closet that stays 40-50°F until spring. Minimal losses with this method as long as they’re fully dry when you wrap them. If you have difficulty writing on them with the sharpie then they’re not dry enough. Do not put them on cement to dry as they will desiccate very quickly. I use plastic bread racks that I got from a recycle swap to air dry them.

A friend digs her up and doesn’t wash off the dirt or divide. She puts the clumps in plastic shopping bags by the interior door in her unheated garage. She divides in spring before replanting. This may work for you if your cold room doesn’t drop into near freezing temps.

You don’t want them stored anyplace where temps will drop below 40°F. Some people store in vermiculite or wood chips but that requires certain humidity conditions that probably don’t exist in Canada in winter. You could try a couple of different methods to see what works best. The Saran Wrap method is what is recommended by the American dahlia society.

Whatever you decide to do, be sure to label them before first frost kills them as all dead
Dahlias look alike! I tie some flag tape around the main stem and label the tape. That way they don’t get all confused when I’m washing and drying them.

Many thanks for the detailed recipes. My cold room stays around 40F in winter and may work best. The sheds will get considerably colder.

 

[jeffashman12 3]

One of the largest (if not largest) malls in our state, 3 floors, major anchor stores, upscale high rise hotel, and huge surrounding ground level shopping. At one time you could spend a full weekend there and never visit all the retail locations, then it and the surrounding area became a ghost town. They're in the process of converting it to a mixed use residential/business/retail development, are several others across the country. Our local mall lost two of its anchor stores (Sears & JC Penny) and almost faded away until last year, they converted one end to a bowling alley, restaurant, and a large grocery store. They're still struggling with the smaller spaces, but the bleeding has at least slowed down for now.

It's interesting what survives and what doesn't. One of our swankiest malls, Galleria, home to places like Nieman Marcus and Saks, has been struggling but seems to be doing better now. Another upscale mall, Willow Bend, has also been struggling and had a lot of empty spaces. They are the one who are trying to combine apartment living with the mall, but an activist group is getting in the way of that effort. My favorite mall to hang out with my granddaughter is Stonebriar, which seems to always be full. We like to go to the food court and get lunch and then watch people going by... and dropping cash at Hot Topic... had to set a limit on that... and another good one, Grapevine Mills, which also seems to be bustling and has attractions like an aquarium, Meow Wolf, and Rainforest Cafe. Grapevine is the best mall for mall walking, because the circuit all the way around is one mile if I remember correctly and it is an actual circuit. Malls in the lower income areas on the other hand are closed or closing. Given the heat around here in the summer, I'm sure the malls will continue to exist for a while, who wants to walk outside from store to store when it's 102F?

 

[cgw119 144]

It's interesting what survives and what doesn't. One of our swankiest malls, Galleria, home to places like Nieman Marcus and Saks, has been struggling but seems to be doing better now. Another upscale mall, Willow Bend, has also been struggling and had a lot of empty spaces. They are the one who are trying to combine apartment living with the mall, but an activist group is getting in the way of that effort. My favorite mall to hang out with my granddaughter is Stonebriar, which seems to always be full. We like to go to the food court and get lunch and then watch people going by... and dropping cash at Hot Topic... had to set a limit on that... and another good one, Grapevine Mills, which also seems to be bustling and has attractions like an aquarium, Meow Wolf, and Rainforest Cafe. Grapevine is the best mall for mall walking, because the circuit all the way around is one mile if I remember correctly and it is an actual circuit. Malls in the lower income areas on the other hand are closed or closing. Given the heat around here in the summer, I'm sure the malls will continue to exist for a while, who wants to walk outside from store to store when it's 102F?

The mall saga rolls on. Developers/REITs run out of rabbits to pull from the hat for redevelopment when old anchors sink and traffic ebbs. Around Toronto, once-bustling "power centers" that hurt old malls 20 years ago are now getting stale. Costcos that anchored these are still thriving while surrounding chain outposts struggle for business. Ethnic malls work here, like the huge Pacific Mall
in NE Toronto that caters to the city's large, diverse Chinese population that mostly abandoned downtown "Chinatown" neighborhoods a generation ago.

 

[snowbear118 49]

Iverson Mall was the first enclosed shopping center in the DC area. In the 80s it really lost a lot of business thanks to Landover Mall (near the DC Commanders football stadium) which was larger. Now, Iverson has gotten a facelift and is still doing business while Landover shut down a few years ago. It became a place where stolen vehicles were dropped. It was one of the sites being speculated for the FBI HQ move.

 

[terri36 7]

Spent the afternoon rearranging the chaos that is my back patio, but it is ready for sitting out and entertaining the mosquitoes. I’ll eventually put in a two-tier plant stand and reduce what is out there, but I have a place for the grill and a small table to enjoy a cuppa once temps get bearable.
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It looks like a great place to hang out! Too hot atm, maybe, but on more temperate days it looks very relaxing, with all the plants and flowers. Love the party lights!

The hummingbirds will likely lodge a complaint: the feeder looks empty!

 

[jeffashman12 3]

It looks like a great place to hang out! Too hot atm, maybe, but on more temperate days it looks very relaxing, with all the plants and flowers. Love the party lights!

The hummingbirds will likely lodge a complaint: the feeder looks empty!

Not empty, just not a lot of nectar in it to reduce waste. In our temps it can spoil quickly. I saw an Anna's flitting about today and it stopped for a sip and rested on the branch hanging next to the feeder and then continued its journey southward. There was a Ruby Throated out there the other day, but by the time I get the camera powered up and the lens extended its gone. It may be nice enough next Saturday that I can sit out there with the camera and the mosquitoes and wait for one to show up.

 

[nerwin]

Got 20 yards of cheap dirt delivered yesterday.



Was fun to use the tractor to get it spread out!

 

[smoke665]

Where is everyone? No posts since Thursday?

Fall has started here, cool mornings and only moderately warm days. My kind of perfect weather actually. Thanks to a drought our leaves are turning from green to brown and falling. Looks like a drab fall for us.

Our hummingbirds are mostly gone, still get an occasional stragglers. The downside of fall is the %$^& spiders go crazy spinning webs everywhere. Morning walks with Phoebe look like I'm some sort of crazy contorsionist as I dance around pulling webs from my face.

Finally the deer seem to be more active foraging. This morning just after daylight, took Phoebe out, as I stood there waiting, turned my head to see a large doe staring at me not more than 100 ft away. After several minutes she calmly walk away, Phoebe never even noticed her.