thanks, Holly--whew, that's good to hear! :-)
Yardening Summer 2013 Part 3
Gita, I'd love cuttings of your BP!
Paul--I will be giving it a "haircut today...It is just too lanky..
I keep thinking that it just has not yet found the right location.
I already have one that is well rooted and ready to go...
Here is how it USED to look some years ago...2007 to be exact.
Picture #2 was once chosen as "The Bloom of the Day"....
I sure keep my plants around a while--don't I?
I've almost finished with my garden'room' in my front yard.My island,turned room was a big challenge .Also my 12'w.by 50'long border is almost planted and mulched.It took my goldens and I all spring an summer to do it.
Paw power is handy.
Cardboard as well as newspaper is okay for lasagna gardening.
NO MERCY!!!!
Chopped all the ends off my big Brazilian Plume today--
and--very carefully and lovingly--potted up 18 cuttings to root.
Left that one tall shoot be--it is a new shoot from the base....
NOW--you all--I do not want to have to house these all winter.
NO room. So--I hope you all will sign up to take one or two.
They are beautiful!
Here is what is left of the Mama...
And here are all the "wannabes"....I KNOW they will all root...
Pic #3 and #4--is to tempt you again........
Gita
Gita -- I'd love to try one -- but I get sloppy overwintering plants, especially over the holidays. If it is fussy, it may be doomed with me. As long as I can keep it behind my kitchen sink, it should be ok....
Happy--
I wouldn't say they are fussy--it is a wooden stemmed plant.
It does need a lot of watering when it grows bigger.
Lots of leaves.....
Near the kitchen sink sounds perfect.
Outdoors--it likes to be in part sun/shade. Iy grows pretty fast...
and you may get a bloom next year.
Gita
Happy, Ric and I were poking around a local nursery a few days ago. Variegated Solomans Seal was displayed as the 2013 Perinnel Plant of the year. They wanted $15 for a pot with 3 little stems sticking up.
OMG Holly -- let me bring you more variegated Solomon's Seal!
LOL Happy, Thanks I have plenty. I just get a kick out of seeing plants that I have gotten or given during swaps at the nursery and see the prices they get for them. I remember several years ago a DG Member went home after a swap and looked up all the plants she had gotten and figured that she had more than $500 worth of plants.
Totally agree with the OMG on the variegated Solomon's Seal--LOL!
I would love to grow the stuff but I don't think I can. I have only a little shade and it's dry and barren. I think it looks best in a mass planting. One day!
Coleup---
My "Fishnet Stockings Coleus" is now continuing to grow new leaves
with the fishnet patterns on them. Amazing!!! What caused this????
The plant itself is also getting bigger too....now what do i do with it for the winter????
Has anyone carried this whole Coleus over for the winter???
I will have so many new Coleus and some other plants to baby sit indoors
for the winter--I have NO idea how I will do it!!!
I have some new pictures--but they are not uploaded. Magnana!!....:o)
1--My first bloom of the double yellow datura...Fuzzy! Wrong setting. It is in a pot...
2--THIS Coleus is going gangbusters right now. I will, probably, pinch off
the tops and root them. What was the name of this one again??? Carnival?
3--KK Hibiscus is approaching the end of it's first bloom flush. Still cranking out
some of the blooms...Then i will cut the tops back--and it will re-grow and
do more blooms--but not as prolific as the first....
4--These are ALL the Persian Shields I grew from cuttings from last year.
They looked like c--p this spring...but they were alive. Just little stems with a few
pale leaves on them. After I planted them out--and they got some sun--they just
went POOF! SO! Do not hesitate to grow these from cuttings. They root easily!
Each one will save you close to $4.
5--Anyone know what this caterpillar will grow up to be? It was crawling along the
very base of my siding--maybe looking for a nook to pupate in?
Will show you more tomorrow....Gita
Beautiful babies Gita!! I don't know what that cat is, but he sure is a cute little fella, huh? =)
Gita, My PS cuttings looked like c--p this spring but they turned into big gorgeous plants, too.
In the Spring--Hope is eternal......Never give up!
Here are a few new shots...Had them all on my camera...
1--Fishnet Coleus continuing with the darker markings.
How about the rest of you that have this--is it doing the same thing????
2&3--Maya finally bloomed...it has dropped most of its leaves???--I sprayed it--
as I noticed some White Flies--and it seemed to help..
4--Very tall, deep pink Zinnia
5--Sally--here is a sedum I saw at the HD--seems taller growing that usual.
anyone know the name? I snitched a couple cuttings and will give them to you.
They are in a pot--hopefully rooting....May be another "new" plant??
Gita- maybe the Fishnet c likes the cooler temps. Maybe the sun has shifted on its location and its getting 'preferred' light?
My Maya is in bloom right now
That is a new sedum to me- Thanks! Would be a great contrast for both Angelina and Blue Spruce.
Gita, Take a look at Vera Jameson sedum.
Sally--
I did move this Coleus to a sunnier location a while back....it may be
a combination of different factors...
This Sedum has fat, juicy stems--almost like a jade.
The tag that was in it had no name--just "Sedum" but it showed an
assortment of different color blooms on it.
On the stems--there were some small beginnings of something
that MAY develop into a bloom...Will check it again on Sunday.
I have to remember to bring my camera.....
Here is my latest "masterpiece".....:o) Another day's work in between
answering phones...
Had to go to the Kitchen design computer as they are the only ones
that can print in color. Pulled all the flags up on an Amazon page.
They had every flag imaginable--from every country.
The Latvian and Estonian flags are in the middle---of course.
Latvian--the red/white/red one
Estonian--the blue/black/white one
I labeled all the flags with their country just so all the "know-nothings"
can learn something....
Now to decide on something "Latvian" to cook and bring next Tuesday....Hmm??
Will have to hit a cook book....
Gita
Here is the link to the Sedum Holly ID'd.
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/showimage/46253/
http://www.perennials.com/plants/sedum-vera-jameson.htm
Check the price of this sedum here! I think there are different cultivars...
http://classygroundcovers.com/product/282/Sedum-x-Vera-Jameson-24-Pots-3-1-2-in?affl=froogle&gclid=CM3l4IvK_7gCFRGi4AodxlUA6Q
Another link-- http://www.monrovia.com/plant-catalog/plants/2090/vera-jameson-stonecrop.php
Just went out and looked at the cuttings...the leaves seem a bit more
elongated than in some of the pictures...
Sally--If you want to spend the $$--I will buy you a whole pot.
Don't remember, off hand, how much it cost...??? It was on the endcap
of one of the perennials Tables. At the most--I can guess--maybe $12.97???
At the least--$7.99.
Gita
No thanks GIta, I rarely spend money on plants, you may have observed.
Fun poster !
Me neither---I have enough plants to start my own business....:o)
Sometimes--after a Swap (seed or plants) I just take my stuff
to work and let them all go at it...
G.
Gita, looks a lot like 'Purple Emperor' to me, except maybe a little abused compared to the pictures....
https://www.google.com/search?q=purple+emperor+sedum&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=6vcMUr1Vxa_gA6imgNAB&ved=0CC0QsAQ&biw=1680&bih=935#bav=on.2,or.r_cp.r_qf.&fp=436e4924939bb5c2&q=purple+emperor+sedum&sa=1&tbm=isch&imgdii=_
I rec'd a few cuttings of PE from a trade and the cuttings looked a lot greener than I thought the PE should look. Maybe it only develops the purple after a certain age or other conditions are met? I'll never know because I accidentally dumped a pile of soil on mine and lost them. literally. :(
Thanks, Karen--
I have full confidence that sally will ID it herself.
She knows plants pretty well.
I just always think of her when i come across something
I have never seen.....
Loving the weather today--so far--I have not been out to garden yet....
Wasting all this cool weather....Gita
Would you like me to put you down for one of these?
Angel Wing Begonia. I only have 2 available. Gita
No thanks, Gita, I have the one you gave me last month.
What do you all do with daylily seed pods?
The Frans Hals has huge seed pods, which I didn't even notice last year. Is it better to just cut them off?
I think they hybridize easily so if you want to experiment just wait for it to look ripe and plant the seeds. But mostly I cut them off. I've never really looked into it.
My Frans Hals have more seed pods than ever on them.
T never cut them off. I wait until they are ripe and split open--
just like on "stellas". But then--I collect seeds from everything...
Actually--what all Day lilies produce are not really "SEEDS"--
they are soft "bulbils"--which can be planted and will grow to bloom
size in about 3-4 years. Many of you may have gotten baby
Tiger Lilies from me--That is just the way they all started.
I grew 2 DL from "seeds" I got at one of the first seed Swaps in 2008.
They were from Nancy-Md...something...She hybridized them.
I just planted them in 8" pots and left them be outside.
To protect the new seedlings a bit--I put the pots among my bigger DL.
I did not do anything special for them other than watering.
One of them bloomed last year. This year, they both bloomed.
SO--Mine are LOADED with seed pods! I am, patiently, waiting
to harvest them.....I have had some takers--but not too many...
I guess it is not "instant Gratification" to grow something from "seed"...
Gita
I'm going to try burying some of the bulbils and see what happens. :)
I found out I do have southern blight. There are a few effective fungicide, but none that are available to home owners. The plant pharmacy guy at Behnke's said that he lost about a third of his 150 hostas last year to southern blight.
I was told by a horticulturalist to try adding more organic matter like compost. Apparently having more "good" soil organisms can help counteract the overgrowth of the bad ones. But there isn't anything that'll get rid of it completely.
SSG: Thanks for the info on Southern Blight. That's what killed my Asclepias incarnata this year. Oh dear!
SS--
Do not, exactly, bury the bulbils.
Scatter them on top of some soil in a pot and cover with
about 1/4" of soil. Put in a sunny, warm spot (against the house)
for the winter. You can dig the pot in half way.
If it gets really cold, throw some dried leaves over the pot.
By spring--you may see little grass-like sprouts. Let them grow a bit bigger-
then pot up in a cell pack to continue.
The above is how I do Tiger Lilies. maybe for FH, it may, or may not, work.
Gita
ssgardener: I am absolutely appalled by the fact that you could have Southern Blight. How is that possible? I love your garden, and you have put so much work into it. Here's more information from two sources I trust: http://extension.umd.edu/learn/southern-blight http://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/gardens-gardening/your-garden/help-for-the-home-gardener/advice-tips-resources/pests-and-problems/diseases/rot/crown-rot.aspx
You said that "There are a few effective fungicide, but none that are available to home owners."
The Mobot link says, to the contrary, "Pesticides registered for control of crown rot include mancozeb and thiophanate methyl." (They also give some organic suggestions.)
I found mancozeb on Amazon at http://www.amazon.com/Mancozeb-Flowable-Fungicide-Zinc-Pint/dp/B000BWZ9JO/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top
And thiophanate methyl is available at http://www.amazon.com/Thiomyl-Ornamental-Systemic-Fungicide-Clearys/dp/B0052OFDOW/ref=sr_1_cc_1?s=aps&ie=UTF8&qid=1376746176&sr=1-1-catcorr&keywords=thiophanate+methyl (Amazon also has a larger size available.)
These are not organic, but this is a situation where you may have no choice!
I suppose the other approach is to choose less susceptible plants, a bit the way I have to choose plants the deer don't like for my awful front hill.
Thanks for the links, Happy!
I actually read some studies (which I can't find now, of course) that said that fungicides were not that effective, because some of the sclerotia can survive in the soil and come back the following year.
Flutolanil was one fungicide where they had 100% plant survival rate, but it's only available in mass quantities. The other fungicides reduced the amount of the southern blight fungus but didn't actually improve plant survival.
The good thing is that it seems to be limited to just one part of the yard and the perennials on the other side are doing really well. I just need to be vigilant about cleaning my tools.
This message was edited Aug 17, 2013 12:35 PM
No nibbles on the boxwood hedges on Craig's list, so unless someone here wants some, I think I'll take a loppers to them tomorrow and clear them out.
Also, a rose bush that I had pretty much given up on--I cut it *way* back last month--has made a tremendous comeback and is sprouting new stems and leaves all over. I've been iffy about it, and had even made up my mind to trash it when I cut it back (it's a leftover from the previous owner--I'm told by the neighbor that her son gave it to her as a small school potting when he was a boy and she planted it, and it's been growing there for years), but seeing so much fresh new growth has me wondering...
Cat---
IF you can stand it a couple more months--you could make some
money off of your Boxwoods..
Do you realize how much a real Boxwood X-mas wreath goes for?
Making wreaths is not hard. You buy a wreath wire frame ($3)
and some paddle wire, and some "picks" for decoration--
or go natural with pine cones and stems of other evergreens
(Juniper looks good) mixed in here and there--berry clusters,
Pyracantha trimmings, all kinds of cones and dried material
or stay 100% Boxwood.
Get some nice, wide ribbon, (simple--solid) and go at it.
I have made many a wreath--and it is not really hard.
You can get creative and make some--or you can sell the trimmings
(called "hands") to some roadside garden stand that sells hand-made
X-Mas wreaths around the Holidays. Ask if they would like some.
Fill a trash bag for--say--$20.
http://www.localharvest.org/fresh-virginia-boxwood-wreaths-C17959
If you look at the top growth of the Boxwoods--you will see that it consists
of bunches of growth on a single stem. These are called "hands', and are
about the size of a hand. Clip these out, randomly, and use them for the wreaths.
When you prune a Boxwood--you are supposed to remove some of the
"hands" to open it up a bit. Boxwoods like airiness. They grow better and don't
have that cluttered, messy-looking top. If they grow too compact--the inside
ends up dead and dry.
I learned all this from my friends that bought the property filled with Boxwoods.
Gita
ssgardener: Did you read this thread? http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/hosta/msg0616322732360.html
It appears you don't have to be a professional; you just have to have a lot of cash. I found 3 pound containers on ProStar on Amazon, but for over $200 a container. You might try Southern States, and/or American Plant, and/or John Deere Landscapes, 2666 Pittman Dr, Silver Spring, MD 20910-1817; Phone: (301) 587-4016. But I can't find it in smaller containers anywhere so I doubt you'd have much luck.
But I'd be willing to go in with you. If you repackage it you could sell some at the swap if anyone is interested. I don't think you'd want to mail it, though; I'm sure there are postal regulations you might bump up against if you repackage and mail it.
Haha Happy, you and I think alike. I actually called Southern States and John Deere both but neither carries it. I found that amazon link but could not bring myself to spend 200 bucks on something. These are apparently very strong fungicides and you only need small amounts, so I felt silly about having to buy 3 lbs of it.
Can we talk about sterilizing garden tools? What do you all use? I've used rubbing alcohol in the past, but I may need to start using bleach. I'm actually going to start sterilizing when going from one plant to another.