Chat and swap thread for The RU at Jan23's on May 18th

Happy--
It will help the chances for rooting if you remove all the blooms and buds for blooms
from the cuttings....


Holly--Thanks--but no thanks.....Does anyone still have hart's Clustered VA Bluebells?
Maybe anyone living in the VA or WVA hills?
Also Holly--Did you miss my pictures of the pot of leafing out "something"???
I wanted to know it these may be your Black Pussy Willows?
If not--what could they be......Thanks--Gita

1--Here are the Blue bells I am talking about...
2 and 3--Pussy Willows???? or--what?

Gita: I remember Hart's clustered bluebells, but mine never made it.

Holly: I love Virginia bluebells. I have a bunch of them (so wouldn't feel right asking for more), but if you are at the point of tossing them (which is impossible to believe), please don't! I have to remember to capture the seed this year and make more babies.

Gita - Photo #1 is Clustered Bellflower, Campanula glomerata.

Greenthumb, will you have any Clustered Blue Bells available for the swap?

I find that blue bells are tricky to transplant and am happy that those from Holly have taken in front of my ferns and amongst my bleeding hearts. They are just beginning to bloom now.

Happy, is your slender Deutzia the low spreading kind or the bush type? Does it have single or double flowers? What time of year does yours bloom? I believe all of them bloom on old wood and are thus best 'pruned' just after flowering. They are in the same family with hydrangeas.

Mine blooms just after forsythia and has double flowers. It is easily 7' x 7' and I don't prune except to remove dead or damaged canes. I have rooted ends of branches by pinning them in containers of potting soil (my version of 'air layering}

Thanks, David....

"Hart" held the 1st Plant Swap on the MA. I believe it was in 2008. (I will stand corrected).
She lives in the Mountains--for real....Her property had a lot of rocky trails and driveway.
We had to haul all our stuff up a steep driveway to get to the "back yard" under shade of trees.

Hart dug out some Clustered VA Bluebells from some rocky, graveled area under a tree.
The first batch did not take at all for me--as they did not have many roots.
Taxing my memory here......but I believe she gave me a second batch at a following Swap.
This one lived a few years--or i would bot have the beautiful picture above.

However--it was in my "YUK" bed--challenging enough--and then I planted a New England Aster
near it--which tripled in size in a couple years and choked out the remains of the Bluebells.
Last year--I spied ONE lonely bloom amid the Aster--and tried to dig it up and move it to a better spot.
It is marked.....but so far I do not see any signs of growth....:o(

SOOOO---I would LOVE to have some again. Gita

Does anybody have hibiscus starts?

Coleup your alba bleeding heart picture reminds me of a red cultivar I have only see pictures of.

Will add to my "haves" babies from one of my African Violets.
I am not sure which one--but am leaning towards the all purple one.
Trying to compare the leaves--but they are both very similar.
Either way--they are both beautiful!

Last year--I removed a ring of older leaves from the bottom of the (?) AV--and rooted them all.
All the leaves grew a bunch of babies from the stems, which I potted up in 3oz. bathroom cups.
They are doing well. I have 9 ready to go--and about 4 more that I just potted up today.
Those are a bit smaller.

Just removed another 9 leaves from the AV--gonna put them in to root in a bit...
It DOES take a while until the leaves produce 'pups"....

Will go add it to my "haves" list now. Gita

Paul--
I have seeds of both red and White, Tall PERENNIAL Hibuscus.
You may get a couple blooms from it in the second year--maybe third year.
From then on--it multiples in a bigger clump.

It was at the corner of my House where the white Azalea bush was. We looked at the cuttings....
All you saw of the red Hibiscus was a bunch of dead sticks.
Did you take any seeds for either one?
G.

I didn't. I do remember though, I was curious about the tropical hibiscus.

Gita, may I have a couple spider plants?

Jan---Absolutely!!!! Got it on my list....

I also have started a tradition (just mine) to bring a surprise plant gift
to the hostess of a Swap. Something "different".....hmmm...gotta see what I have.
G.

Does tropical hibiscus root easily? I have this tropical Hib of unknown color from Dutch Plant Farm

All: I keep updating my list of "haves" so please check it if you are interested....

Coleup: I believe the Slender Deutzia I have is this one: http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/1434/. I dug it up from my Mom's garden and planted it at our house -- I have taken cuttings over the years and probably have 10 now in the yard, but only 3 are a good size. It tops out at about 4' x 4' (maybe 3' x 3' -- somewhere in there). The flowers are single (generally I prefer single flowers). It is an unassuming but inoffensive bush most of the year, but when in bloom it is lovely. Grows pretty slowly -- that's the only downside of it. The buds are set on mine now; it'll probably bloom in the next 2 weeks or so. I never prune it -- I think it has a nice shape.

Terp: I have a hardy hibiscus, "Blue Satin." I'd be happy to bring you cuttings; I might even try to root it for you. I'll add it to my "haves" list. See http://www.greenwoodnursery.com/page.cfm/72575.

Now would be a good time to try, Sally, as everything is in a growth mode...

I would take a healthy, 5" or 6" growing end cutting, do the usual thing you do with cuttings,
and put it in a clear bottle, cut in half...soil in bottom--and put back together...
Keep in a shaded area...Not sure if the bottle cap should be left on--or off....
I am using the qt. sizes Sparkling water bottles.

That is how I am, currently, trying to root 3 cuttings of my neighbor's beautiful Rhodo.
Can't say if it has rooted yet or not....I don't want to go tugging. Did take the caps off today
to let in a bit of fresh air...

Someone replied to my question (last year) when I asked if my KK Hibiscus could be rooted from a cutting.
She said she has done it and it works. I have never had any luck.
She said to wait until the stem has finished growing and then cut off the top part. trim the leaves.
plant it in a pot of wet sand and keep it under a bush, in shade, somewhere and forget about it.
By late summer/fall it should be rooted....I wrote it down, or printed it out--somewhere...
I am assuming that the pot is covered somehow????? or, maybe not...it would need to be kept moist....???
Will definitely try it--as I would love to propagate my KK to share.

Maybe someone on the Tropicals Forum has better advice..

As you already know--I have not had any trouble rooting Hydrangeas or Figs.
Cut...trim...stick it in a pot..and put it somewhere shady. keep watered....BAM!!!
G.

Just FYI--to everyone....

When you edit your Post to update your "haves or wants"--please delete the previous "this post was edited" line.
That way--you will always have just ONE 'edited" line showing.

Otherwise--there are numerous "this post was edited' lines piling up. I am sure you have noticed these...

Thanks. G.

Sally, happy- I would love to give it a shot. ID doesn't matter to me.

Terp -- Ok, I'll stick a cutting of the hardy hibiscus for you and see what happens. As with the Deutzia, this isn't the optimal time of year -- if it doesn't root now we can try again in early summer.

Works for me. I'm easy.

Oh, Happy, I just saw that you have variegated solomon's seal. I'd love some!

Gita - are you able to root a couple of those figs from the large tree? Mine didn't make it . :-(

I remember somebody talking about a shrub they love last year, abelia? Maybe? I can't recall.

changed my avitar to the giant Jersey tomato from grown from one of Critter's tomato plants ^_^ Also, I've been adding more available plants to our listing including Japanese MG white, coral nymph salvia, dill weed and Celosia Flamingo Feather

ooohhh I would love a flamingo feather please!!

you got it

thanks!!

I'd like a flamingo feather, too!! Can't find my own seeds and I love having these in the garden.

Chantelle--

I will do a few Figs--for sure...just waiting until it shows some green.
Right now, there is only the terminal bud showing.

****Would all of you that got some rooted Fig cuttings from me last year chime in, please.
Let me, and each other, know if you had success--and how you over-wintered your Fig cutting.
I bet some of you left it outside--and that is why it may have died....How did they fare inside?

Let us know--so others will learn from you. I myself have not had any experience growing figs...
Thanks, Gita

Teri I would love a Agastache Apache Sunset and a blue angel Please!!

This message was edited Apr 13, 2013 9:23 AM

I overwintered my figs for 2 years inside ... under lights.. they did great.. but I left them out last year with the storms.. sure they are gone now

Gotcha, Allison

I added some agastache & of course I have coleus

Roses, got your Flamingo F.

we have a hardy fig outside, slow grower. our last years figs the squirrels got. South of us in Vineland NJ, I got tons of figs last year from an Italian woman who grows them very successfully in her backyard. I don't know if she covers hers or not in the winter though. We don't cover ours. Our neighbor has a gorgeous fig, which is a different cultivar and much hardier than ours. She doesn't cover hers either. She plans on propagating it by using the soda bottle technique attached to a branch...

Thank you Diana,

I bought 2 Hardy Chicago Fig trees (twigs) and kept them in my garage potted up. They are outdoors now with one leaf showing on each. We'll see how they fare this summer.

Gita: I overwintered the fig you gave me outside this past winter and it died. I was so sad! You probably told me to winter it inside, and I forgot. How many winters does it need to be wintered inside before it is tough enough? Last winter was so mild.... I'd love to try again if you'd let me!

I found this fig propagation tutorial helpful


Oops sorry correct link two posts down.

This message was edited Apr 13, 2013 4:14 PM

Sorry to say this but that link went to something else, dear! I promised greenthumb the next available piece of my Brown Turkey so a tutorial would be timely. Course I can look it up myself as well.

Sally, this is the video with the fig tree air layering technique we're going to try. It looks easy, fool proof and fun lol

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2c3zTPd3EA

So sorry Sally!

Here is the correct link to tutorial called "From Twigs to Figs"
http://figs4fun.com/basics.html

additional comments moved our Yardening thread
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1304562/

This message was edited Apr 13, 2013 4:41 PM

This message was edited Apr 13, 2013 5:00 PM