my 2015 flowers

Here is the Heavenly Blue Morning Glories that I planted on the trellis around the front of the house, they are gorgeous!

Oh I love that blue! I grew up in Ohio, always loved those Morning Glories (the only kind I ever saw). Sadly, here in Seattle, now that I can garden, there is just not enough heat for them to do well.

If you have enough room, try growing them indoors, I have and they will bloom and grow tall! I even had two moonflowers grow and bloom indoors. It is possible and they are pretty.

I might try that next spring, I have a big window!

I was driving up to my sister's Sunday and passed a corn field that had assorted morning glories growing along the edge of the road and up the corn stalks. It looked very nice from the road.

that is one of the nice things about them, once you first plant them you will have them again next year. They will come up where you least expect them.

I have a small question, my dumbcane plant is doing ok, but it is not bushing out and looks tall and spindly. Can you tell me how to get it to bush out more, the leaves just grow out the top and not the sides. I have no idea how to get it to bush out more. Any advice would be helpful.

Dumb canes tend to grow that way. Just cut off the stem to about 4 to 6 inches tall, and it will resprout. Mine has multiple stems in the pot, when the biggest one gets too tall and the lower ones are getting leggy, I cut off the tallest like that, then it gets bushy at the bottom again.

It sure looks naked without the leaves at the top, I sure hope it will get bushier, I hope I did not kill it. I HATE cutting my flowers like that, but I understand if I want it to get bigger and bushier, I had to do something. Thanks Pistil!

I did it, I put the top of the dumbcane in another pot and it is still alive! In fact I think it might even be growing, so instead of just one plant, now I have two! I also think my amaryllis that I planted is starting to grow a little. I don't know what color it will be, hopefully Apple Blossom, they are so beautiful! Thanks again for your help Pistil.

: )

Here is the top of the dumbcane plant, as you can see, it is doing rather nicely, here is the stem. I was surprised that it is doing so well, now I have two plants instead of just one. I just hope that I get some leaves on this pretty soon, can anyone tell me from this picture just how soon I will get leaves on this? I have to watch how much water I give it because I have gnats. I have gnat traps all over the place, bottom parts of pop bottles with apple cider vinegar in them and plastic wrap over them with holes poked in them. It is working but slowly.

No way to hurry the leaf growth that I know of, and this time of year growth slows some anyway. One thing to remember, since the bare stalk has no leaves right now, it really does not need much water, make sure to avoid soggy soil (this also helps prevent gnats).

Ok, Pistil, thanks for the info, I have never had spider plants before and the dumbcane plant is new to me also. So any info about either one is helpful.

I was looking in a plant propagation textbook I bought (I know, I am getting a bit nuts) and came across a technique used to promote bushiness in a different houseplant that gets too tall and spindly-the Dracaena also called Cornplant. They have a similar growth habit but they are not closely related.

I have both the Dumbcane (Dieffenbachia ) and Cornplants. When they get too tall, I behead them like you just did, and often try to root the top like you did. The technique works on both plants. If you have two or three in one pot, you can alternate beheading them so you always have leaves at different heights.

This book says when you cut off the top of a Cornplant, ordinarily it sprouts from the cut top part. To promote sprouts from lower down too, cut a notch one-third to one-half of the way through the cane where you want the new sprouts, then you will get sprouts just below the cuts. I am going to try this the next time I behead these plants!

That sounds like a good thing to try, the next time I behead mine I will try that, thanks again Pistil!

Icut my Coleus plants down, now I have ants, do I have to get rid of the ones that I cut down?

Hi emptyeyes, you can save some of the cuttings to root in water, Just wash them off thoroughly before putting them to root . I have 9 different colors and I root a few pieces of each in fall and by April I have enough plants to put in my garden.

I cut the tops off, all I have left is the stems with a couple of small leaves. One of them has roots coming out the bottom of the pot. They already have roots, that is what I meant.

If you want to save the plants you can take it out of the pot ,shake of the soil and if you have a sprayer attached to your kitchen tap, you can spray of all the extra soil so you get rid of the Ants. Throw away the soil with the ants and use new soil in the pots, and replant them . They will sprout new leaves and get real bushy. Hope this helps.

Thank you cytf, I now have a project tomorrow when I get home from work. I have several pots with the tops cut off, thankfully my hubby got me 3 bags of potting soil.

I am confused, I cut the top of the dumbcane plant off and replanted it, is is still alive but the stem has not grown any more leaves, what should I do to make it grow leaves? I water it and it is not doing anything, I am not obsessing just worrying about it. Any advice would be helpful.

Just ignore it, it takes a few months, especially this time of year when the light is low and the house is cooler.

Thanks again Pistil, my hubby just bought me a Amaryllis bulb, Red Lion and some Paperwhites, I am trying to find something to put the pot in to catch the water, I guess I could use some paper bowls like I have under the others. I can label them this year, I have t-markers, I can just stick that in the amaryllis soil and I will know what it is SUPPOSED to be. you and I know just because it says it is Red Lion does not necessarily mean that is what color it is. Hee, Hee.

Here are some pics of my flower setup, my hubby bought me another amaryllis and some paperwhites.

Hey Pistil, my Coleus plants that I cut down are sprouting new little leaves! And my amaryllis and paperwhites that my hubby got me the other day are growing too! Slowly but they are growing!

So damp and rainy here, I love it when stuff is growing inside in the late fall and winter.

You know how I am with starting experiments with flowers, I just planted 4 or 5 Marigold Petite Orange seeds in a pot, I have plastic on them and it is taped down. I could not find a rubber band big enough to put on it. I have them under the flourescent lights. So here is hoping they grow healthy and short, going to try to keep them indoors all the time and see what happens, will let you on the progress of them.

The Marigold seed are coming up, do I wait until all of them have germinated before I take the plastic off? And they are called Petite Orange, how tall do you think they will get?

The usual is to take off the plastic when they start coming up, without waiting for them all-if you wait that long you are more likely to get the dreaded fungus diseases, because it is too moist.

Thanks Pistil, I only have two so far, but I have a few more planted, I thought I would try to get some to bloom indoors. They are tough and hardy pretty flowers.

Here is a side suggestion- next year post your thread in Perennials-you are no longer a beginner! Just look at all the stuff you have learned!

Thank you Pistil, it was not easy but with advice and help from kind people like you I was able to do some of the suggestions that you recommended. I have a picture of the Amaryllis from last year that is growing, the other 3 are potted but they are not doing anything at all. Here is the one, don't know which it is either Red Lion, Appleblossom or Mambo. But it seems to have taken off, can you advise me on what to try with the other 3?

nope, I have personally killed some Amaryllis and never knew why, I followed the instructions.

Well, I am just going to keep them where they are and see what happens, they are not in the way. My other Amaryllis that my hubby got me is going to town, it is really growing now, have to pay attention though, every morning I have to turn it because it starts to lean, but it soon straightens up good. My marigolds are doing ok, I have 3 up and one looks like it wants to, but is not sure. When it looks dry on top I mist the soil really good. My Coleus is doing good too, the ones on the table are growing well too. The ones I am talking about is the 3 that are not doing anything yet.

Going to try something(you know how I am), I just planted two Pearly Gates morning glory seeds, they were knicked and soaked all night. Just going to see if I can get one or maybe both of them to grow and bloom. It would be nice to see a morning glory bloom when it is so cold and icky outside. So wish me luck, I planted them and watered them really well and have them under the flourescent lamps, the picture window is too cold to put them in it. Saw something I wish I could have gotten at the store, it was a Frosted Fern, it was so darn cute, still trying to get my hubby to get it, but so far no luck, but I will keep trying!:)

I am the same-I am currently growing some Dragon Fruit from seeds I saved from one I ate! Of course with things like Morning Glory and Dragon Fruit, keeping them happy indoors in the winter may be a trick...
Have you done any plant swapping? Maybe someone on DG has a Frosted Fern to swap for an Amaryllis? I have done it a few times, I find it kind of a pain, what with boxes and post offices and such, but for something you really want it is worth it. Seed swapping is much easier.

Here is the paperwhites that my hubby got me, I planted them the same time that I planted my amaryllis that is doing quite well. They were both planted on Nov.6.2015. I got some marker sticks that I can write on and it makes it a lot easier to know what color the amaryllis is. I did not do that last year so the one that is growing leaves right now will be a surprise whatever color it is.

My hubby got me a frosty fern, here is a picture of it in its humidity tray.

I found this growing in the pot with the dumbcane plant, can you tell what it is? It can't be another plant coming up can it?