I don't think I've seen purple oxalis, It is really pretty. I spent so many years in commercial greenhouses where it was an under the bench weed, that harbored white fly that I have a problem seeing it as an ornamental. I even know it was a staple on Victorian window sills.Just as I love, Lamb's ear (Mullens),or to the purist "Verbascum ", and bull thistle, "Cirsium vulgare", they are 2 of my favorite weeds. My botany professor had a saying, "There is no such thing as a weed, only a misplaced flower." I truly believed that till I saw Kudzu, which I understand they now have a controlling fungus for. Ric
PS. In that case a fungus among us may be a good thing! LOL
SHOW US YOUR "BRINGING INS"
The leaves on purple oxalis are so much larger that they won't remind you of "misplaced flower oxalis" at all. :-)
Holly, Here is my Oxalis thread in the Perennial Forum.
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1047252/
Thanks Stormy,
I was just thinking about something I did bring in that I hadn't thought about. It is that fuzzy Tradescantia. I had gotten cuttings at one of my HGHA meetings when we made the wreaths last spring. The person that brought it didn't know what they were he just pinched a couple from LongWood. I planted them several places in the yard and also in a few of my houseplant pots. One of the pots I put it in was the Hibiscus. I was at a local greenhouse the other day and they had some marked Pussy Ears. I finally found just what they are Furry Kittens, Pussy Ears, Tradescantia somaliensis. He seemed to think they would grow outside and said that they had them growing everywhere at Longwood. I wasn't too sure about that so I put some both outside and in the houseplant pots. Sure glad I did as it looks like it is a Zone 10/11 plant.
The Hibiscus and the Pussy Ears both survived the room of death and are now back downstairs in the living area and looking good. I'll post a new picture later, this was taken last summer you can see the fuzzy little plants growing under the Hibiscus. They rooted really easy so I think I will start some in the next day or two. Holly
cute!!! i want...
Sally, I will have some for you. Holly
Sally, Just took a new pic of my pigs ears. It made it out of the room of death, too. LOL
Pigs ear has never been prone to bugs that I have seen. And tough as far as water/ no water---but mine gets smaller and smaller leaves now with low light. It'll perk up in spring!
Quick update, since using the Merit WP 75, this past week I've only seen 4 small flying bugs. I'm going to give them another spray today.
I need something more. I have been using neem and some systemic that Ric brought home and I definitely saw improvement but there is still signs here and there. Much better than last year but not as good as I would like.
Well!
I feel like I am going to "BUMP" this Thread up to the present!
Just wanted to show you an updated picture of my Coleus cuttings--FROM cuttings....
They are all doing great. My only problem is---I will soon need all this light set-up for my seedlings.
WHAT can I do then? Right now--all my Coleus cuttings are enjoying the luxury of mu light set-up.
Here are the cuttings taken from the cuttings I took and brought in to root....when they got too tall to fit under my lights.
And--Here are the cuttings (now re-growing into serious sized plants) that the cuttings in the above picture came from.
I don't think I will have to spend a penny on Coleus this year!....Oh yeah!
Gita
Gita...........How nicely you have pinched them back. They might need one more pinch to be at their very best going out this spring. I do not believe any of us can show a nicer held over group of Coleus.
The Begonia you gave me has done itself proud! I now have two pinched and branched cuttings and two leaf cuttings all up and growing. I made no effort to save the mother plant.
This year I believe I have the nicest group of hold overs I have ever put together in any single year.
Ahhh, doc!
The Mother Plant would have been your bestest! Pinching/cutting it back would have just made it more bushy and full.
Did you check out the link sally posted on Coleus cuttings? Even I learned a bit from it!
Thanks for your kind words re my Coleus. I had never tried this! it was just too easy! Not having to pay $3 per plant id the biggest bonus!
It WILL be a problem in a few weeks--as I plan to have my seeding all done by end of next week. Then--in another week or two--I will need all these lights for my seedlings.
On that topic, doc, do you believe in spraying seedlings with Chamomile tea to prevent damping off?
I read about it again!) but just not sure. Your thoughts?????
doc--How is your Epi looking by now? I will DIE if it blooms for you this Summer!!!! I will be so jealous!
Someone from FL told me that when the Epis are not "happy" they grow those long, skinny things. like--not enough light, I am sure! She almost chastised me for wanting to cut them back. NOW what do i do?????
HERE is NOT Florida! Nothing is as perfect weather-like!
I had taken pictures of those long shoots on my big Epi--but the system will not read my Memory card at this time.
I hope they get it all fixed soon! SO many issues! I want the old DG back!
Gita
Oh Gita they look marvelous! I gave serious thought to taking coleus cuttings and decided I just couldn't overwinter them. Maybe next year I will be in a better position to take them. I will be having coleus plugs coming next month hopefully they will do well for me like they did last year. One of my Ornamental Pepper plants did just fine and I have several cuttings from the Cuban Oregano.
Great coleus Gita! I have a few but some have struggled with mealy bugs, which I haven't had before. I'll alsp have to make room if I'm going to seed indoors. I can put a few things by windows here and there and hope the increasing light is enough to get em by till its warmer.
I had brung in a pot with a canna, a silver plectranthus and an alternanthera. They all got pretty cruddy--Really couldn't give it enoguh light, and turns out I wasn't watering it well wither.-dry inside. . Today I pulled it out; the Canna had started to resprout, the other two died. I replotted just the nice Canna
Oh I have new flower buds on one of the Brugs, LOL
I was just thinking today that I should cut some of the coleus back. Mine are nowhere near as nice as yours, Gita. But a few have gotten quite large.
Today I cut the Mandevilla back considerably. It had wound around a pot of geraniums and was also starting to take over one of the Oxalis. It was easier to cut the Oxalis then to unravel it. The Mandevilla oozed a lot of sap when I cut it. It was dripping onto my Clivia. This year the bloom stalks on the Clivia are much taller than before. I had to free them from the confines of their shelving.
The Geraniums are all blooming gangbusters. Some of the Begonias are blooming. Others are looking sad and others are starting to resprout. The Merit WP 75 seems to have completely wiped out any nasties.
Stormy and others--
I am sure my Coleus have done so well ONLY because I used my idle grow-lights on them, since there was nothing else under them. Have any of you done that too for your cuttings?
That is about to change--but like Sally said--maybe the light will be better by the windows by then and they will be able to fend on their own..
Might even sneak them outside in the shade if it is a nice day sometimes.....
G.
Gita........opinions are like another part of the body... every-ones got one. The basic simple fact on seedling production is sterile seedling soil proper lighting and bottom heat. No tea or fertilizer is needed until the first true leaves show. The cotty leaves are designed to get your seedlings up to at least two full leaves without any help from mankind what so ever.
Some growers swear for various soakings of the larger seeds to speed emergence. Others do not. The basics never change. Sterile seedling soil, proper lighting and bottom heat are the keys.
The Epi is doing something with the high spikes that have now turned to leaves. It seems that this is the plants present effort to developing the spikes. I do not know but those spikes appear to have become the sinks of the moment. I would not be surprised to see buds develop on the spikes. The rest of the plant looks good too but seems to be resting. It maintained itself nicely in our sun room facing East. Like you I read all there is to read on DG about this plant. The only possible thing I was not doing is occasional feeding of a ballanced organic tea favoring the acid side. I can not believe they need much of anything. How could they survive crawling about the trees from crotch to crotch if they needed more than an occasional leaf rotting or bird dropping?
Stormy I am debating hacking back the Mandevilla, too. I can't seem to get rid of those nasty fuzzy scale. I have tried several things from Neem to systemic to alcohol wipes. I knock them back but can't seem to get them gone. Maybe just cutting it back and letting it start to grow anew might be the answer. I think I may just get the Brugs out and try starting them. What do you think Gita?
tough thing is, the earlier you start things, the longer you may have to have them inside under intensive care. It gets hard for me to remember to water everything. Pelargoniums looking good, two rooted cuttings and the other is the base which I let dry out all winter till two weeks ago.
Holly,
I have never had issues with scale or mealy Bugs on any of my plants in the house. Just lucky, I guess.
I think once you have them, they ARE hard to get rid of.
When i was in charge of the G-House at HD (first 5 years) I had a terrible time with these--especially Mealy Bugs. The HD used to call in an exterminator to spray the whole GH a few times, but then gave up on that to save money.
My dept. mgr. was an immature jerk and was no help.
Holly--you say "fuzzy scale". Are they white and cottony looking? Do you mean Mealy Bugs???
For scale and MB's--spraying is not too effective=--as they live under their waxy shells and sprays seldom make it through. Alcohol does work--and you can, actually, spray the whole plant down with it in maybe a 50-50 dilution.
Systemics are better for these--even though it will take a bit of time.
If you DO have real scale--the only other thing I can think of that you could do is take an old, soft toothbrush and make soapy (Dawn?) water and scrub away at all the stems. Rinse all after a while. Once the scale is dislodged, it will not crawl back up.
I really don't have much else to offer you. Maybe other people here have better ideas.....
Here's a link I had saved on Natural pest Control.
http://www.ghorganics.com/page9.html
I had many other links on this topic which no longer open....
Good luck! GitaGita
Hi,
Sorry to butt in but I have a question.
Where do you buy those shelves that hang from the windows?
Thank you very ,much!
Lola,
Those little shelves are in the "vintage" category by now.....I don't think you can find them anywhere...anymore...
I have had these forever! You could try e-Bay or Amazon .
I was recently at bec's (Bec_No_Va) house for out Plant Swap--and she has installed, in front of her kitchen window--from top to bottom, 4" glass shelves that hold all her small pots.
These were held up by 2 little pegs on both ends--screwed into the sash--the kind you find in pre-fab shelving.
The glass shelves just sit on top of these pegs...Very ingenious!
Bec--if you are reading this--can you post a close-up picture for Lola???
Here's a better view of the window shelves.....from last Winter...
Gitagal,
Thank you very much for the pic! Your plants are gorgeous!!!