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The Kerby's Nursery E-Newsletter
December 3, 2020
Night Walker
by Joey Bokor
by Joey Bokor
I feel like I was a pretty helpful kid. I always wanted to assist in the kitchen, I could open any door,
locked or not, and I was especially good at cleaning the fish tank. Now, you might be saying to yourself,
'those sound like fairly ordinary tasks', until I tell you that I did them all while sleepwalking.
My parents were always finding me out of bed, up to something. So much so that they put a safety gate to keep me in my bedroom. They caught me playing with the knobs on the stove and more than once, they caught me trying to leave a hotel room. But the strangest sleepwalking incident I ever had was with my fish tank.
My brother and I shared a room and between our beds, there was a nightstand with a fish tank on it. One morning, I woke up and, you know how just as you wake up, sometimes you remember a dream. I dreamt that I had stuffed my entire bedspread into the fish tank. And as I tried to blink the sleep out of my eyes, I slowly turned to the tank. And there it was. My entire bedspread was in fact stuffed in the fish tank. It was a bit of a mess to clean up, as you might imagine, and, well, I probably don't have to tell you that a school of neon tetras did not make it through the ordeal.
I was thinking of these old sleep-walking incidents, because the other night, just as Kim and I had settled down to sleep, we heard the sound of little footsteps coming down the hall. As the girls have gotten older, it has become less frequent that they come down during the night, so when they do now, there is usually a reason. The door opens and Maddy pops in. She says hi and comes over to my side of the bed and begins to make herself comfortable snuggling in with me. I gave her a hug and asked what she needed. She didn't really respond, so I told her that it was the middle of the night and that she should go back to her bed. She said she needed to use the bathroom, so she went to our bathroom, and came back out. She had left the light on, so I asked her to turn it off, which she cheerfully did, them she gave me a kiss, trotted around to Kim, gave her a kiss and then left our room, closed the door and went back to her bedroom. We didn't hear from her again until the morning.
Over breakfast, we asked her why she had come down during the night. She looked at us like we were nuts. Until that moment, it hadn't occurred to either Kim or I that she had been sleep walking. She was insistent that it hadn't been her, but that Abby must have been who we saw. We are certain that it was Maddy and now we know that she's a sleepwalker like me.
Fortunately, we don't have a fish tank in the house, and after the cold nights this week, I don't think we could have spared a bedspread. With the coldest weather since January, we hope all of your plants made it through ok. There was a little frost in one spot of our yard, but otherwise our garden looks like it is actually enjoying the cooler weather, I know we are. A fire in the fireplace and a mug of hot cocoa feel a little silly when it is 85 degrees outside. This week, they are just right. I think we need to enjoy it while it lasts.
My parents were always finding me out of bed, up to something. So much so that they put a safety gate to keep me in my bedroom. They caught me playing with the knobs on the stove and more than once, they caught me trying to leave a hotel room. But the strangest sleepwalking incident I ever had was with my fish tank.
My brother and I shared a room and between our beds, there was a nightstand with a fish tank on it. One morning, I woke up and, you know how just as you wake up, sometimes you remember a dream. I dreamt that I had stuffed my entire bedspread into the fish tank. And as I tried to blink the sleep out of my eyes, I slowly turned to the tank. And there it was. My entire bedspread was in fact stuffed in the fish tank. It was a bit of a mess to clean up, as you might imagine, and, well, I probably don't have to tell you that a school of neon tetras did not make it through the ordeal.
I was thinking of these old sleep-walking incidents, because the other night, just as Kim and I had settled down to sleep, we heard the sound of little footsteps coming down the hall. As the girls have gotten older, it has become less frequent that they come down during the night, so when they do now, there is usually a reason. The door opens and Maddy pops in. She says hi and comes over to my side of the bed and begins to make herself comfortable snuggling in with me. I gave her a hug and asked what she needed. She didn't really respond, so I told her that it was the middle of the night and that she should go back to her bed. She said she needed to use the bathroom, so she went to our bathroom, and came back out. She had left the light on, so I asked her to turn it off, which she cheerfully did, them she gave me a kiss, trotted around to Kim, gave her a kiss and then left our room, closed the door and went back to her bedroom. We didn't hear from her again until the morning.
Over breakfast, we asked her why she had come down during the night. She looked at us like we were nuts. Until that moment, it hadn't occurred to either Kim or I that she had been sleep walking. She was insistent that it hadn't been her, but that Abby must have been who we saw. We are certain that it was Maddy and now we know that she's a sleepwalker like me.
Fortunately, we don't have a fish tank in the house, and after the cold nights this week, I don't think we could have spared a bedspread. With the coldest weather since January, we hope all of your plants made it through ok. There was a little frost in one spot of our yard, but otherwise our garden looks like it is actually enjoying the cooler weather, I know we are. A fire in the fireplace and a mug of hot cocoa feel a little silly when it is 85 degrees outside. This week, they are just right. I think we need to enjoy it while it lasts.
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Happy Gardening, The Kerby's Nursery Family 
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The Holiday Wall
The Weekly Special
All Fortuniana-Grafted Roses - 2 for $60
Now is the perfect time to add to your rose garden. It's crisp and cool out, and roses planted now will be well-established before the heat of summer returns. This week only, all fortuniana-grafted roses are 2 for $60.
Valid Through 12/9/2020
Regular Price - $34.99
Cannot be Combined with other Discounts.
Now is the perfect time to add to your rose garden. It's crisp and cool out, and roses planted now will be well-established before the heat of summer returns. This week only, all fortuniana-grafted roses are 2 for $60.
Valid Through 12/9/2020
Regular Price - $34.99
Cannot be Combined with other Discounts.
The cooler months of the year are the best time for roses in Florida. The lower rainfall and decreased humidity allow them to thrive and since we stay warm most of the time, they usually keep on blooming. Below are some of our tips for both getting new roses started and for getting the ones you have back in shape after a hot year. It's great to be a Florida gardener.
1. Fall and Winter Pruning - People are always a little scared to prune. But once the daytime temperatures cool a little more, it is a good time to start removing any dead and diseased branches and start shaping rose bushes back up. In January to early February, do a more intense prune, cutting back up to 50% of the bush, removing crossing branches and encouraging a smaller set (4 to 7) of major stems for new branches and new roses to grow out from.
2. Keep Roses Strong - To stay healthy, a rose bush needs its fertilizer. Fertilize monthly with The Kerby's Special or use a liquid fertilizer such as FoxFarm's GrowBig to keep roses filled with the nutrients they need to grow and bloom. Even through the winter months, roses keep growing while it is warm, so we'll usually keep up with our fertilizing schedule.
3. Watch for Pests and Disease - Rose gardeners breath a sigh of relief with the arrival of cool weather, because both insect and disease issues become less of a problem. That doesn't mean they go away completely, so keep scouting on a regular basis to catch problems before they overwhelm your rose garden. If you want to keep things on the natural side, spray every other week with Neem Oil or Copper Soap Fungicide. For something a little stronger, you can do a monthly spray of Liquid Systemic Fungicide.
4. Keep on Enjoying - Healthy rose bushes will bloom almost year-round in Florida, so stay ahead of the game, keep your roses healthy and you'll have bouquets of roses to bring inside each week of the year.
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New Arrivals |
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Adansonii Monstera  Perfect Gift-sized Houseplant 4" Pot - $14.99 |
Dish Gardens Great Living Arrangement Sizes and Prices Vary |
Forever Christmas Trees Southern Red Cedars 15 Gallon - $119.99 |
