my 2013 flowers

Hey empty, would you do the honors of starting this year's thread? WIth luck it will fill up just like this one did!. I know little about the firespike plant, so I would not be able to help, sadly.

Firespike can probably be grown during the summer, and brought in in a container. The only thing is it can take up a lot of space and it needs a long growing season as it usually flowers at the end of summer and into winter (I saw some blooming the other day). It loves heat.
I'm sure there are people who get them to flower up north. It appears to be carefree here.

Well, when one of my friends said I could grow just about everything, she was not kidding, I got some yellow calla lilies from my hubby and thought maybe I could regrow them. Well made a couple of mistakes but found out before any damage was done. I planted them in the pot too deep, mistake number one, watered them too much, mistake number two. So I dug them up(gently)! And put them where the tops of them were exposed, and found out that they ARE sprouting! Going to try to take a picture and show you the sprouts. Here they are, the sprouts you can see good.

I have another sprout coming up, it is kind of hard to get a picture of, I have not been able to try to find the way of getting real close to a sprout or something without it getting blurry. So here is the sprout, it is a calla lily sprout, it was yellow, so hopefully this one will be too. Maybe someone who knows cameras better than me can sharpen this up for me.

Can someone tell me please why my Peace rose was red and small instead of large and pink? I went out and looked today and if I cut the canes that are growing below the bud union, there won't be much left. It looks like most of the canes are coming from below, would it be a good idea to leave the rose bush the way it is, or cut the canes from below the bud union? Last year the roses were small and red, they were supposed to be large and pink. Any help would be appreciated, thanks in advance.

Could you post a picture of the rose plant? If the flowers were coming from the canes below the graft union, then you are not getting what you want from it. The bush is likely to recover from pruning the root-stock's canes, but it may be best to leave them if there is not a lot on the bud's side

I agree with Bloomfly - it is the root stock that is shooting up canes. Quite often, roses are grafted to root stock.

Do you bury the bud union on your roses during your fall preparation for winter? Doing so should help insure the survival of the area of the plant above the bud union.

You can also buy roses that are on their own roots. You will probably have to go to a place that specializes in roses in order to find them. I like Pickering Nurseries in Canada for my roses and you can buy roses that are on their own root stocks from them.

My naked Ladies are sure coming up good with all this warm weather, maybe this year I will have some flowers.

Looking good! The weather here went from warm 80's to co!d 50's, which is getting too close to my covering limit. I'm a bit worried about my indoor plants with the temperature changes. The new growth on my cymbidium orchid has rotted off, and I am not sure if it will try again. The first picture is the rotted growth, the second is the place it rotted off of. Will it grow again?

The cymbidium should be okay if the rest of it is still green. I have a feeling it would grow from a different pup area. They like to drain very well, and I don't know about your area of California but I saw a video saying that Santa Barbara was the largest cymbidium grower in the country.

Its drier here, but when the warmer temps return I will move it outside. The mix it is in is 3 parts fine bark, 1 part horticultural charcoal, and 1 part perlite. The orchid gets fertilized with miracle grow orchid fertilizer lightly every other watering. For the naked lady bulbs, will they grow out here in my area's desert climate? I've been considering them in my front and back yards.

Here is the plant itself. It looks very healthy. I dusted the spot where the rotted growth was with ground Cinnamon to control fungus and bacteria.

One of my moonflower sprouts that I am trying to grow indoors, it would make it a lot easier if the temperature at my desk was higher than 68! This rainy and cool weather does not make it easy for moonflowers or anything else that requires sunshine, that is why my flourescent lamp stays on all the time.

I went out yesterday and pruned my Butterfly Bush and my Hostas, I think it was the Hostas, I planted hostas and shasta daisies, although I can't really tell which is which right now, one has a mass of rizhomes and one has a mass of roots. I also cut the rose cane that was growing from below the bud union, I have a cage of sorts that I am going to put over the rose so what ever was chewing on the buds won't do it again this summer. I sure hope this summer the rose does what it is supposed to do, all I know is that it is growing like crazy!

Here is one of my morning glories that I planted in the square pot, don't know what color it will be, but whatever it will be it will be pretty! I have it under the flourescent lamp and it loves it.

This is one of the craziest things I have tried so far, I just planted some Petunia seeds in a small pot, I just can't wait until it gets warm enough to plant outdoors so am trying a experiment. My hubby got some seed starting soil so I filled up a small pot and sprinkled some seeds on top of it, misted it real good with our sprayer and put some plastic wrap on it to help stay moist. Now its the part I hate most, THE WAITING GAME! Everything else I have tried has grown, so will see how this goes. I have it under the lights that everything else is under, so i hope they grow! Any advice would be appreciated.

I sowed Gomphrena globosa seeds indoors and they are germinating nicely.They were saved last year from my plant .

My hubby went to the dollar store and bought me a set of 8 seed starter pots! They are lawn and garden brand and are biodegradable and organic. Is that really good for starting seeds in?

Keeping them moist can give difficulty , and if their (starter pots) still solid when you (plant out) , cut some holes in them and make sure they stay entirely covered, over the top of them , if not they dry out extremely fast ,
ETC , My experience ^_^

Has anyone had any experience with one of those zinnia mix flower rockets? My hubby got me one and I was wondering if I could plant it in the seed starter mix. I don't have any regular potting soil and was wondering if the other would be alright.

Do mean Rocket is the name of the Zinnia ?
I won't even start mine for weeks yet , my Zinnia .That is .

The whole name is Flower Rocket Zinnia mix, it is one of those ones that roll out but they say to just plant it closed up, water it and it will bloom. It is supposed to be used indoors in a container. They say it was advertised on television.

Thank you .. For the description ) I have never seen an indoor zinnia (one that would grow indoors)
Greenhouse with lots of sun and light ,probably ,,,
I believe a long while back I had a pot on the patio of those.
Zinnia are fun to grow ! Hope they grow for you ,,!

This is the flower rocket I was talking about, something is sprouting, I am not sure what it is, but at something is growing.

Looks like little Flowers to Me !!! sprouts !!!
So far with me it is a petunia thing ,
The Tall skinny red one is a Goji

Trying another experiment, you know me and experiments, I have two tomato seeds planted in one of those grow kits and it is planted in seed starting mix, also have two tomato seeds planted in the same kind of container in potting soil, I labeled them so I won't be confused, and I also put the date on them. Going to see which one does better, the seed mix or the potting soil.

I will bet one Tomato seed on the Potting soil ,, Let it ride ,

Well, I hate to tell you juhur7, the seed starter pot has one tomato seed up already. The potting soil don't show anything yet.

Okay Empty ) Oh Well , Let me know where to send the Tomato seed .. lol

Don't be too disappointed, I just checked and there is a sprout coming up in the potting soil, so you are off the hook for the one seed.lol!

^_^ lol , I will start mine during the next few weeks Glad you let me off the hook ,,

50 cents for a worm and a tomato seed ,, Oh well ,, would not be a bad deal after a few years ? ,, in the old days anyway . .

can you tell me just how moist I am supposed to keep the seedlings? 2 of the seeds have sprouted, should I put plastic over them anyway?

Tomatoes as seedling like even moisture ,, To be honest I have trouble describing for advice ,
Moisture is best if they have plenty of light , If there is some depth to the starter pots ,? if they start to get stringy ,? you have to slow down the watering them , until they get some sun ,, In small starter pots or shallow ones moisture is essential ,, always ,
Once mine sprout healthy , I do not cover them , makes to susceptible to changes in humidity and so forth ,, Healthy seedlings do not need covered , unless you have a drafty area , Then you cover until 6 or 8 inches tall , and try to keep drafty air off of them for a few days ,,
Hope it helps ,,

I went outside and was enjoying the warm sunshine and decided to see if my Irises were coming up, they are and so are my naked lady plants! both bunches are sprouting quite well, I am so glad to see them. I planted 4 morning glory seeds indoors, (you know me and plants), and I soaked 2 for a few hours and planted 2 more without doing anything to them and so far 1 has sprouted and is about 3 12 inches tall and another one has sprouted too. They are both Pearly gates which I have never grown before, I will plant a lot more on Mother's Day, that is when I usually plant them. I just can't believe that the naked lady plants are coming up already!

Can someone tell me what kind of cactus this is and when and what color flowers it will have on it? I got it from a friend of mine, she lets hers stay out all year around and she lets the rain water it.

That is one the prickly pear cactus , yellow bloom probably ,, could be red or orange ,,, I have Texiana , yellow blooms ,,

couple seasons ago

Thank you juhur7, that is a very pretty bloom, hopefully mine will be as pretty as that.

I have read where the flower buds are edible ,, but I am not real big on the idea as the unseen hairs from this plant are burning on the skin . I could not imagine eating one that had one of those hairs in it ,, forget the sewing spines ,,, the hairs are worse ,,
I saw a giant one of these once it was as tall as the gutter boards of a large house , huge old thing ,, usually a few feet tall is all they grow unto ,,
Pic above was not real good ,, did not show how showy they really are ,, Like a small medium rose ,, with stamens in red or orange , and tinged inner petal ,, etc shinning yellow rose of Texas

Here's how you eat a prickly pear. Have to do some work but it should be worth it. lol

http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-eat-prickly-pear-aka-cactus-fruit-aka-tunas/