Carol, I'd like some cuttings if they root easily. Anyone but me can grow from seeds and cuttings - I give them too much tender, loving care and they rot! LOL
Tropical Garden #123
Kay, when I cut them back they usually have roots. They sprawl out a little and attach roots as they grow. I will make sure to send you some starts with roots attached :) I'll send them with the pagoda!
Bonnie, you are so sweet - thanks!
I need someone that can give a good home to a 4' diameter Philodendron giganteum on my dime. Any one interested?
me....I'll take him. I can pay the postage.
ok Paula!
Drew, glad you found a home for your P. giganteum before you needed to find a moving van to deliver him!
I have the second flower on my C. Blue Hawaii, should I cut off the other spent flower?
My Gloriosa lilies are still going, I can't believe it! Last summer they were taking a vacation about now. Must be all the rain . .
Another cool variegation on my Tropicanna
Funny little white flowers open on the big floppy flower bracts of Brazilian Red Cloak
Elaine, my B.C. just keeps growing, but she hasn't bloomed - I sure hope she will this season.
Not doing any thing special for that Red Cloak, Kay. It's in the ground, in mostly shade and getting lots of water. I fertilized with Osmocote at the end of May. That's it!
Here's another pretty bouquet shot for Deb and Sherry. Abutilon and purple Achimenes. (haven't seen any blue or white Achimenes yet . .)
Lovely! I used to have white, blue and also pink Achimenes, but they somehow disappeared. I now only have purple king and red.
Kay...would you mind sharing the red achimenes??
Well here is my mess...All I have had time to do this summer is group my flowers under the trees. I don't even want to count them...LOL
This might take awhile...I have got to get rid of some of them....so if you see anything you want...LOL I can try my best to get you a cutting or possibly send the whole plant. Just don;t know when it would be....LOL
1 - Overall shot
the rest are taken around in a circle
and the rest
Holy cow, Paula - your yard looks like mine! Where are we going to put all these plants?!
and now some 'pretties' close up
1 - angel trumpet
2 - front planter - getting out of control
3 -cherries jubilee
4 - plumeria
5 - yellow mussenda (sp?)
Hi Kay,
Not really sure, in the past I have had 3 GH and lots of room in my house, but now I have only one GH and limited space indoors at the new house. That is why I have to get rid of some of them. A lot of what you see CAN be planted in the ground, but I just haven't had time.
Begonias:
Thank You for the beautiful eye candy today. I needed to see some. it has been a hard work week so far.
last ones for tonight
1 - begonia
2 - bromeliad - fingertip (?)
3 - Philo - Moonlight
4- Varg. Rubber tree
5 - Clerodendron - musical notes - about to bloom
Hi Debra,
The musical notes was from you. It is one of my favorite plants. I thought I had lost it, but it made a comeback and is about to burst with blooms. Thank you and I hope the rest of the week is easier for you.
Those are all beautiful, Paula!
Paula,
I'm in the same boat...pots of stuff sitting around that need to be planted or up potted.
I love the Angel wing Begonia on the far right with the spots and light pink blooms.
If you have Hoya's you want to find a home for I'll be glad to adopt some !! or trade you.
Deb you need to take a break girl and rest !!
Ric Rac Cactus, Philodendron grazielae ( opps did that twice) Cool Philo but a PIA to root
Variegated Philo
This message was edited Aug 8, 2012 6:55 AM
Hey guys!
Sorry I've been absent for so long, but I've been severely busy.... Well, aside from the 1-week vacation with my fiance and her family down to Chincoteague last week. Aside from that, I've just been about going insane with getting everything lined up for buying the house and getting ready for the wedding.
...Which is happening this Saturday.
Anyways, during this whole mess, I've managed to acquire two new kittens, Samwise and Watson, who will be moving into the new house, once the deal is closed (sometime during the week after the honeymoon), as well as a few more plants.
While in Chincoteague, we went to two fairly large nurseries nearby (one was on Wallop's Island and the other was along 13 just before you get to the road going back to Chincoteague) and I bought two "Pink Cascade" Tamarisks, a LARGE Yucca Recurvifolia (it already has a 1.5' trunk) and a Yucca Gloriosa "Lone Star".... Now I need to see about getting the rest of my plants ready to move (probably going to wait until the actual week of the move for some, so I don't have to worry about watering them), But I'm definitely going to be digging my palms before the end of the week.
I'll try to post pics later, but no guarantees.
Wow - I'm tired, just reading about your plans! LOL Yes, please post pictures of the move and the wedding - we love pictures!
I agree with Kay, you have been busy. I used to live on the Eastern Shore and there are some pretty cool nurseries there, the weather is perfect for growing everything but the true tropicals. I had a small nursery of my own then but I also worked for a large wholesale fern grower - he had 6 acres under glass. Thousands of ferns.
My nephew was just visiting from Long Island and he seems to be very interested in yuccas, I'll have to make note of the ones you picked up and pass the names on to him.
It is so exciting - we have finally gotten some rain here, over 2" in the last day and a half. It is coming down slowly out here, I noticed there was a lot of flooding in town yesterday but it is being absorbed nicely here. You can almost hear the trees sighing, things were so dry for so long.
{{{Deb}}}, sending good thoughts and prayers your way.
Haven't taken any pictures of flowers lately but Boolie was so happy to have little people here, he got lots of loving from my 3 great nieces.
Alice I LOVE that photo !!
As well! You need to frame that Alice!
I think I could live down there and do all of your manual labor Alice! Room and board sound good?
I'll see that bid and raise you one! Then come down to FL for the winter, after Alice doesn't need you, room & board plus beach time, for garden work??
Alice, that really is a classic photo, so beautifully composed. Paula, you really need to hire a landscaper to plant your private botanical garden, girlfriend!
Here's my latest Master Gardener project - to be a veggie and butterfly garden at the local elementary school. The teacher (in the pic) got the Boy Scouts to donate all materials and install her raised beds!
Rita's lovely costus has another flower.
Sounds great Elaine!!! Maybe throw in some sunset cruises? AAAAAHHH!... Now you're talking!
Elaine, that teacher looks so involved, I wish all teachers had that enthusiasm it would be easier to get mg volunteers to work with them. .
Drew, anyone that wants to whack back wax myrtles on a weekly basis is welcome here. Bring your machete and lots of bug spray. LOL
Thank you all for the nice compliments on the photo, my niece bonded with Boo and they stayed stuck together like that for 5 days. He is part golden retriever so he loves leaning into people.
Paula, things will come together, you just need more time. Moving is always difficult. Have you considered making some frames like for raised beds and sitting the pots in them. You can surround the pots with vermiculite or peat moss which will hold the moisture. It is sort of like heeling in a transplant until you can get the new hole dug. You want to keep the roots cool and damp until you are ready.
After reading about it in a local newspaper I bought some 20% vinegar to use as a herbicide for annual weeds. I have a lot of chamber bitter here and I have found this stuff really works. It is dangerous, you can't get it on your skin or in your eyes but it is deadly on the annual weeds.
It is interesting, the leaves on my golden xanadu are not as deeply cut as some I have seen.
It's still a darned pretty little Xanadu, Alice. Yes, I am lucky to have 3 different schools with good volunteer parents and teachers very engaged in the garden projects.
Our fleet of boats has shrunk this year from 4 to 3, Drew, but we can still go sunset cruising/sailing/fishing any time! What a bargain.
This Red Cloak just keeps getting prettier, thanks again Rita. The flower heads are so big now they flop over when they get wet.
Ardesia,
The following Yuccas should do well in Long Island, which is zone 7a, IIRC:
Yucca Filamentosa (non-trunking)
Yucca glauca (semi trunking)
Yucca Recurvifolia (trunking)
Yucca Rostrata (trunking, but slow growing)
Yucca Aloifolia (trunking and super spiny)
Yucca Gloriosa (trunking, but rather slow growing)
...These have all been proven in Zone 6 (either personally or from a reputable source here or whom I know personally)
Anyways, I couldn't get any pics of the plants. I'll post some tomorrow. I'm actually pretty excited about the Tamarisks.... I always thought they were very pretty, but was afraid to dig up any out west, where they are horribly invasive and bring them back, in case they proved just as invasive here. It turns out that the East coast climate, while great for GROWING tamarisks, is difficult for tamarisk seed germination.... According to Tony Avent of Plant Delights nursery, who sells the same variety as what I got at the place near Chincoteague, he's had his parent plant for 20 years and has never seen a single seedling (he propagates them by stem cuttings). This fits with what I've observed in the tidewater area of Virginia: mature trees in people's yards, but no seedlings growing wild.
...And you all got some nice plants. Makes me wish I lived in Florida so I could grow more cool stuff outdoors. :-(
wonderful photo of your grandaughter and Boolie.
glad you got some rain.
we just got our first over 300 electric bill in the 33 years we have been married. I can't wait for my first over 100 water bill..
sounds like everyone is very busy and is going to be very busy for a while.
Joe wanted me to take a picture of the banana from KayJones. He LOVES it. it is so big, he is 6 ft tall and it is taller than him, with two pups.
too many umbrellas to dodge around in this area, and the meter on the house doesn't look pretty, but we are sure happy with this plant.
an array of colors greeted me this am..
What cool pics of the butterfly on the asclepias, they never hold still long enough for me to get a good shot. I love seeing your jungle in Kansas. If it makes you feel any better our water bills are never under a $100 and usually much, much, much higher.
Maurice Amy begonia is getting tall, about 4' now. It does not photograph well, I have tried in different light, maybe I need to use a flash and see if the colors show up that way.
Lois Burks begonia was in every nursery around here this spring, they must have tissue cultured that one.
Alice, I don't know how you grow Begonias to such beautiful stature - I simply CAN NOT grow Begonias - they just melt away!
Deb, as usual - your flowers/plants are amazing!
I think begonias like to dry out between waterings and that was easy for me as we have had a drought - up until this week when we had 2". People tend to fuss too much over them. They don't need a lot of fertilizer either, just a bit of timed release when you plant them. Elaine can take my cuttings and grow them into monster plants. LOL
Hikaro - Thanks for the yucca info, I am going to send my nephew a Y. filimentosa 'Color Guard' and see how that does on LI..
Another begonia - I forget the name on this one.
Debra,
You are too funny! I can always send you my other electric bill and you can be more 'excited'! Its a pain having to pay utilities on two houses!! This last month the house we don't live in, the bill was $256....where we live now $334. I went by last week to water a few plants there and I noticed the unit was running. 30 minutes later when I started to leave, the unit was still running. I went inside to check the AC and it was on 68, the realtor obviously turned it down for some reason and left it. We had it set on 82. Woo I was mad....also left 3 lights on. I called my husband and told him he needed to have a chat with him. If hes going to do that, I'll send him the bill.
Heard that! That's B.S.! He wants to just walk in and the house be "comfortable" for a showing.
Exactly!! My son checked on it a couple of days ago and more lights were left on. I am going by today and if I find lights on...I'm calling him myself!!
Anxiously awaiting my new arrival!!
Don't wait to call him - call his Broker and inform him of what's happening - the agent may be responsible for the bill. I used to sell real estate and that was one of the biggest rules - turn the lights OFF and turn the a/c to 78. It's his responsibility to go, ahead of a showing, and ready the home.