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Reader Exchange: Surviving ferns need help growing up

By Linda D. Cole and Ingrid L. Kohler, Times Staff Writers
Published September 8, 2007

After hashing out the meteorological outlook, many residents we've observed turn to the topic of their gardening prowess. We need this horticultural expertise to deal with our first request.

Kathy's 91-year-old mother delivers roses from her garden to folks in nursing homes and to others who can't easily leave their home. She prefers to use leather-leaf ferns in these arrangements.

Unfortunately, after a gardener accidentally uprooted Mom's leather-leafs a few years back, those ferns that managed to grow back were stunted. They are too short to be used in the bouquets. Kathy fertilized the height-challenged greenery, but the extra nourishment did not increase their stature.

Green thumbs, how do you explain this? Do you know of some potion that can encourage ferns to grow taller? Or, if you have taller fern fronds in your garden, would you be willing to dig up some rootings for Mom?

Mom lives in Lakeland and doesn't know that Kathy is pursuing this matter, but if nosegay-worthy leather-leaf ferns materialize, Kathy will plant them in their new Polk County home. Please call Kathy at (727) 328-1769.

Raw materials are needed by a group that brings things soft and cuddly into lives greatly in need of those things. The Community Outreach Department of the St. Petersburg Woman's Club needs donations of fabrics and dacron/polyester fiberfill to make pillows, lap robes and shawls. The ladies are also engaged in a small project to make bibs for the elderly for which terry cloth and large towels are needed.

The items the club creates are donated to Hospice of St. Petersburg, Pinellas County nursing homes, Bay Pines VA Medical Center and others in need. Please call Marcy Edwards at (727) 527-2945 or Marjorie Joiner at (727) 527-7582.

Bobbi Malone of Hernando (the town, not the county) has some items to put back into circulation. First, some large blocks of concrete that could be used for fill, a foundation for a waterfall, whatever. Next, a large braided rug about 50 years old. Its colors are browns and oranges and, although the rug is in good condition, it needs cleaning.

If you upholster furniture, you may want to annex Bobbi's old La-Z-Boy recliner. It has open wood arms and, although the recliner mechanism works beautifully, the fabric upholstery has deteriorated. With some refurbishment it would be a great addition to a home. Please call (352) 637-0413.

Your unused teacups and saucers are invited to a tea party. A bunch of tea parties, in fact. The Gardens at Dunedin, an assisted living facility, is reviving this civilized, congenial tradition.

And the perfect topping for a tea party is a frilly hat. If you have some languishing in hat boxes because our informal Florida lifestyle is more tolerant of baseball caps than ribbons and bows, you may want to transport them to the perfect milieu.

Teacups, saucers, hats: Any you can donate will be welcome. Contact Linda Pinke, The Gardens' activity director, at (727) 734-4696.

Bev Jester's New Home treadle sewing machine, probably circa 1910-20, belonged to her grandmother, but Bev's 21st century home can't accommodate such a large item with such a low practicality quotient. If you have a place for the machine and are able to pick it up, Bev would love for you to have it.

Bev also has a small box of those Betty Crocker catalog points that can be clipped from Betty Crocker products. If you save these, you are welcome to her stash. Bev may be reached at (727) 525-8321.

Are any Apple archaeologists lurking in our readership? Perhaps, Liz Simpson of St. Petersburg writes with a laugh, you'd enjoy adding her Macintosh computer, monitor and printer to your fossil record.

It's a Performa 6400/200 tower with floppy and CD-ROM drive, 48 MB of RAM, 2.4 GB hard drive, internal modem, a 15-inch Apple Multiscan AV monitor and a 2500 Stylewriter printer - all in working order. Liz has all of the accompanying software and manuals, as well as Adobe Illustrator 7 and Photoshop 4 installed. Please call (727) 896-9410.

In last Saturday's column we ran an item from Rosemary Westbrook who is in the process of downsizing. Rosemary included the wrong phone number in her note, which we in turn published. The correct number to reach Rosemary is (727) 384-1835 or you can e-mail her at rwestbr@msn.com.

Send requests to Reader Exchange, Floridian, St. Petersburg Times, P.O. Box 1121, St. Petersburg 33731 or e-mail cole@sptimes.com. Requests will be accepted only by mail or e-mail. This is an exchange column, so we will not run items that are for sale. Readers must agree to publication of phone numbers.

[Last modified September 7, 2007, 10:38:29]