Pat, I've always loved that spot using the old picnic table top in your garden. Is Holly's bromeliad the same kind that I have? I've never noticed the blue tips on mine, but the rest of the flower shape/color is the same.
G, I also have the same results with mine that Pat mentioned - very easy (even I can't kill it LOL), and it blooms multiple times throughout the year. A few weeks ago I thought it had some kind of infestation because I noticed specks of "something" all over the plant. I very carefully blasted it with water from the kitchen spray nozzle then painstakingly (yes, those serrated edges are really sharp) wiped each leaf off with insecticidal soap, and hoped for the best. Last week, I noticed those same specks of "something" all over the console table and all the knick knacks on top of it adjacent to where I have the bromeliad. Joke is on me - it is an infestation, not of bugs, but of fine sawdust particles from a project that we were working on in the conservatory. Secret is out, I don't know how to identify pests and I don't dust very often LOL.
Indoor gardening, Mid atlantic, 2015
Terri, I think Holly is showing multiple varieties, some of which she says are Queen's Tears and then the purple or blue-tip ones as other varieties. Mine have never had anything but the pink.
As you noted, the edges are sharp, and I use a surgical tool to work on mine.
Good to know that insecticidal soap works so well on sawdust!
Yes, There are two different bromiliad in the pictures the Queen's Tears with the pink leaves that open into the cascading blooms and the other nameless one with the pink and purple flower spikes.
Patience pays off.....
Don't remember when, exactly, I took this big leaf off of my BIG Mama
Beefsteak Begonia plant and decided to try, again, the leaf-propagation--
where you cut through the bigger veins on a big leaf, lay it over a tray
with about 1" of soil, take toothpicks and Cris-cross them over each cut
to hold the cut in contact with the soil and keep the soil moist..
I also stuck the end of the leaf stem into the soil to nurture the future development
of any new platelets sprouting. put the tray on the bottom shelf of my
light set-up, that sits right above a heat vent.
The shallower, lidded produce trays or bakery trays work great, as they are vented.
Then I waited....and waited....and waited....:o..........:o[.........:o?
1--The first baby to shoot up was from the buried stem. That's good to remember!
2--It seemed big enough for me to remove it and give it it's own pot.
it had quite a root system to it! It is now growing on my LR windowsill.
3--Some time passed. I basically ignored this tray. The leaf was starting
to look ragged, as I kept messing with it to keep all the cuts touching the soil,
moving the toothpicks around, etc.
BUT--two weeks ago--I saw 4 new sprouts coming up. YEAHHH!!!
Gonna let them grow a lot more before I detach them and pot them up.
4--This Beafsteak Begonia is an older progeny of the MAMA plant.
Maybe second year? Third??
5--Here is the HUGE Mama plant. It has grown very well since I brought it inside.
What they usually do outside is grow all these HUGE leaves-some are 6" across.
When I bring the plant inside for the winter, some of the big leaves start to yellow
out and I have to pull them off. Lets face it--inside a warm room, with limited light
and no humidity--the big leaves just cannot sustain themselves.
SOOOO!!! I had an idea!!! I will cut off a couple more of these huge leaves and
do more leaf propagation. A fun way to get new plants. And growing new plants
like this produces much nicer plants than if I just rooted a cut off leaf stem in water.
You get a complete little, plant by the leaf-propagation method. :)
Gita
wow, a roaring success! thanks for all the pictures
I just started 2 more tonight.
Here is one of them;...G.
Gita, they look great.
My oxalis is coming back really nice. I stuck some cuttings in the GH. 'Lanai Strawberries and Cream' Verbena, dusty miller, and a few angel wing begonias. Our Queen's Tears has just about finished showing off. My ox tongue is flowering and we have 2 orchids getting ready to pop.
I had to look up Ox tongue- aka Gasteria, a succulent?
Clivia has turned orange, rather delightful bright spot in the house.
A Phal orchid to open soon.
Does anyone recognize this Begonia. I have it on a couple of ID threads but so far no one seems to be able to ID it for me.
Never seen it. interesting. You may have to scour Brad's Begonia World
http://www.bradsbegoniaworld.com
Ask hemcode--(Butch)--He is the begonia expert. Has over 300.
He may pop in anyway.
Sally--My biggest Clivia has bloom shoots coming up from 3 different stems.
Gonna be a beauty! This one's blooms are intensely orange.
This is the one with the rounded tips on their leaves. The one you have, Sally,
is the same as my older one. The leaves are a bit narrower and the tips are pointed.
It should be quite a show this year. G.
Thanks guys, I asked in the Begonia Forum and the Plant ID Forum as well as ATP.
I know many of you have seen my new Camellia, Gita thinks it may be a Bob Hope like hers and I agree that they do look much the same. It's a real beauty.
I must say that it is pretty nice having plants that take no care at all to bloom.
Ric and I were at the Philly Show and I looked at the Voodoo Lilies on display and thought "I have one of those". I actually had to think for a moment where it was. I had put it upstairs last fall and let it go dormant. No water, no checking on it, no nothing. When I got home I went up stairs and opened the door and there it was. Already about 3ft tall with a bloom coming on. So I brought it downstairs gave it some water and I think it has grown a foot since last week. What an amazing (but stinky) plant.
Holly, if your Voodoo Lily is Dracunculus vulgaris it can overwinter in-ground where you live. Of course then, it won't bloom in March.
aren't you glad you remembered BEFORE it bloomed? Will you move it to the greenhouse when it starts to stink?
I think I see buds just starting on my Epiphyllum
Holly, what a gorgeous camellia. There's no way I would have been able to pass it up at $10! I've killed every single camellia I've ever purchased, but I'm still thinking about getting another one...
As Einstein said, "The definition of insanity...." ;-)
Oh man, I'm certifiably nuts!
I'm watching a neighbor's camellia in front of his house. They were majorly pruned last year. Hopefully they will bloom.
Will put on boots and slog through the yard to check things out and start to prune back things. Usually I do it toward the end of Feb.
Jan--I hope you are right.
Flower buds on my Camellia form the year before. You can see them
starting as tiny ones--and then they swell by spring to the size of around Olive.
Your neighbor's camellia may just skip a season of bloom...or get a couple
sporadic blooms.
SS--
I know many gardenias are different--but I think mosy of them do not like
winds and exposure to bad weather too much. They don't like full sun either.
Plant yours on the East side, in a sheltered spot--protected on both sides from
winds and driving rains/snow.
Mine is a pretty hardy one. it blooms in early March.
Other than watering and throwing some Holly Tone on it a couple times a year,
I do not do anything special to mine. It IS getting a bit old and last winter all the buds froze off.
SO--it just grew more stems like crazy. It is stating to look sprawled....again.
May do this after it blooms--IF it will bloom.
I think it needs another pruning. Wish I knew how to propagate them from cuttings.
I understand--it is NOT easy at all. G,
--April 2010---my Camellia was not doing good. It had blotchy leaves that would
fall off and the shrug grew very straggly. (Sorry--the #2 photo should have been #!)
2--May 2009. This leaf issue had been going on for a couple of years. It just got worse--
and the shrub looked distressed.
--June 2010--With Mile Quinn's (in GA) encouragement and assuring me it would be OK .
I hacked it down--completely. It WAS scary to do so!
4--July 2010--Here she is re-growing. Doing pretty good! Feeling better now.
5--April--2012---Doing well--look how fast she is re-growing! On her way.
SO--IF I must--I will prune her back somewhat later this year--just to shape it up a bit.
Will do it right after she blooms--so the new growths will still produce buds.
SS_ what has been your major problem with all your camellias dying?
It is a pretty hardy shrub--as you can see. try to analyze what it is that
you are, or are not, doing right that they do not survive for you?
Gita
5--
I don't have a lot of shade, and the shade I do have is either very wet, very dry, or full of tree roots. Since I know wet feet is an instant killer, I've only tried camellias in the dry shade, but they just got too dry and then got a fungal disease when I tried to water it.
It turns out Camellia japonica is susceptible to phytophthora, while Camellia sasanqua is resistant. Now I know! But it'll still be awhile before I try camellias again.
I never got a real diagnosis on my Camellia's leaf problems.
This problem would start in fall but ONLY on leaves from the previous
years growth. The leaves would yellow, get blotchy and then drop off.
After it re-grew--it no longer had this problem.
I may have treated the soil; with some fungicide....don't remember now...
G.
OK--lets get back to indoor gardening....G.
My Voodoo Lily is open and smelling like rotted meat. The stench should only last a day or two. Thankfully the temps outside today is above 45 so it is sunning it's self on the patio and will spend the night in the heated garage. I thought that Alfie was going to jump on it and see what he could find to eat. He was standing on the arm of the recliner leaning out as far as he could and sniffing like crazy in the direction of the plant. Unlike us he loves the smell of rotted meat.
Hehehehe. What's it all about Alfie? In this case....rotted meat
Wonder if anything pollinated your VooDoo lily while it was outside today?
"When they flower, some plants actually generate their own heat. The voodoo lily can raise its temperature by 25 degrees. As it does so, it releases a scent that attracts the beetles that pollinate it.
When the voodoo lily generates heat, it burns starch in a way similar to our own bodies. Scientists weren't sure how voodoo lilies generated their heat and scent until only a couple decades ago. Once they unraveled the complex chemical reactions going on within the plant, they found unexpected surprises. They discovered that a component of aspirin is responsible for raising the lily's temperature. They remain puzzled about why salicylic acid should lower our temperature, yet raise the temperature of the plant.
Scientists were also amazed when they discovered how many separate complex chemical reactions take place to produce a chemical symphony that helps the lily reproduce. Not only does the lily make its own aspirin, it also makes the same chemicals that are found in the rotting meat that its pollinator flies and beetles feed on. The rising temperature of the plant evaporates the chemicals, creating a scent that attracts the pollinators. As they look for food in the flower, they become covered with pollen, which will be delivered to the next lily they visit."
I don't know where they came from but I did see a fly or two on it today.
Believe me it would have drawn the flies for miles about. Has anyone else seen their Oxalis improve? Mine looked awful for a couple of weeks and now is bound back to health. Our GH must get cool enough at night to trigger the bloom in our orchids, I see more and more throwing up flower stems. :-}
Question: Does anyone else have Amaryllis where their leaves get so large and heavy, they flop?
Yes, They will do that. I put up a little cage around them with sticks and string to keep them tidy. You can use all kinds of things to contain them. I have to re-pot several of them since I have a couple growing in stones and water and I don't want to leave them like that.
Jeff--YES!
That is how they grow. I always pit some thin stakes around the edge of the pot
and tie a green string all around it to support the leaves.
In my big pot--where there are 5 bulbs--I put a peony ring around them.
Many and healthy leaves are good. They will be able to return a lot of
nutrients to the bulb for next year's bloom as they wither.
When you put your Amaryllis outside--put them in full sum, feed and water them
to grow more leaves.
This is where I am a bit negligent...the feeding mostly.
1--This is from last March, 2014. look at all the leaves and the peony ring (legs cut shorter)
to hold them all up.
This pot, and all the same bulbs , is almost 30 years old.
2--I just brought all the pots upstairs. They are on my coffee table--starting to really grow.
Holly--you and I just cross-posted with the same advice.
Great minds think alike---:o)
Today is cleaning day. I have started cleaning and organizing my house plants. I dug the wonderful plant stand that Ric made me out of the garage today. I use it in the yard in the summer, and bring it inside in the spring when the plants start multiplying. I'll post a few pics later.
Ok, thanks for the info ladies. It was fine when I went on vacation and when I came back it was flopped. I'll have to rig something so the leaves stay up....maybe give it some Viagra...LOL
Jeff--look at my picture above again.
On either side of the big pot--on the two smaller pots--see where I have
slender stakes with a green rope tied all around them?
That is what you can do as well.
As the leaves grow longer--just pull the string up higher to support them.
G.
I have some green sticks saved from my last purchase from Lazy S&S farms. I suppose I'll stick them in and tie them up.
Holly, ROTFLOL - I read the first sentence of your post about it being cleaning day and thinking yea maybe this weekend I'll finally get around to a much needed house cleaning too. Then I continued on and saw you meant you're cleaning up your plants, not your house. It cracks me up that most of us here place the same low priority and could not care one iota about house cleaning LOL.
And Jeff, I can't let that Viagra comment slip by unmentioned he he he...
House cleaning is really low on the list.
" Jeff, I can't let that Viagra comment slip by unmentioned he he he..." LOL