Plant Propagation: The Basics Spring 2016

I HAVE ONE TEXAS RED STAR THAT COMES BACK EVERY YEAR. LOVE IT! SORRY BOUT THE CAPS LOCKS, I AM AT WORK. WE USE CAPS LOCK..:p
HOPE TO GET A WHITE ONE SOON FROM SOME SEEDS THIS NICE LADY SENT ME :)
YOU ARE ALL FULL OF COLORS, ROBIN! YAY! SPRING

Debra, which of the ones you sent me lived? 2 out of 4 made it. pic #5 last bunch

FROM THE LOOKS OF THEM LOOKS LIKE THE CHINESE LOVE VINE AND A FOUR OCLOCK SO FAR// GEE WHAT ELSE DID I SEND? i BETTER GET SOME MORE STUFFS TO YOU LOL

no more please - pots all over the front yard and roof needs done before I can plant many. Thank you though, these are doing well. I was in such a hurry when they came I chunked all 4 in one pot, and the yard is still very very full

Debra, you still have to landscape your own "new" yard you know. How are you all coming with it anyway? What I am saying is you better have some plants to landscape it with. I am anxious to see some of my plants coming up. Never thought I would wish for rain, but I was going to water and my daughter told me to wait until it rains. The weatherman said Thursday for rain.

Your colors are so pretty. Hell, even my hummingbirds left. Only had one, which I call a scout, then that one told the rest there were none here. I have feeders out but they want real flowers I guess. jen

I am still not done with the geraniums, but the ground was perfect for weed pulling and digging in my upper garden today. Only because last year I made swales that went horizontal across the lot, to terrace the hill and make water on top soak in before it ran down. So I dug up the corner and put in asclepius tuberosa seeds, and sapphire blue salvia seeds, and during the rain event I had moved a couple of forsythia shrubs and a lantana up there, in front of the soaker hose that borders the flower garden to the veggie garden I planted hot peppers, then a hill each of summer squash and zucchini, then up against my asparagus bed, a hill each of cantaloupe and watermelon. Now the $63,000 question - how to I keep squash borers out of my zucchini and summer squash without pesticides that would kill my bees. (don't know what forum to post that question in, advice would be good on that too.)

Gypsi - So you seeded some Asclepius seeds now? I have some I could plant but thought it was too late. Are you planting the seeds now based on past experience?

Must be one Gypsi. Have you looked in the communities? They did delete a lot of them a while back, but someone, somewhere must know. That is a puzzle. Can't kill the bees. Besides just not growing the squash. Need those more than the squash. You can buy those for next to nothing at the farmers market. Not the bees. jen

I found this to be interesting, Alice. https://pender.ces.ncsu.edu/2012/05/act-now-to-protect-squash-plants-from-vine-borer/

Seems kike if you treat with a systemic before the eggs hatch it might not hurt your bees since they wouldn't be going to a non flowering vine? I'd just buy some like Jen said, tho..
did a lot of vine cutting downstairs and now I have new stems in the fish filter, and two tubs that are full of passion vine cuttings.. and a basket plant and wandering jew just rooted in a pot holder and vermiculite.. now I need to find a home for those..Almost all the plants out out except for the big ones and the vines on the ceiling..last pic is all the cuttings that took ready to go out and into a different area..

Gosh Debra,do you have any plants left? You must have scalped them.

Gypsi, while reading what Debra wrote, I thought well, that is simple. How about putting the stuff on the squash and then putting a row cover over them so the bees don't get into it. Or, netting, depending on how much you plant. Is there a certain time when the borers are on them? Or all the time? Can you put it on the squash when, there might be a time when the bees aren't out, or near them, and then cover them? How about BT? That is for cats, right? Aren't borers a worm of some kind? I really don't know. jen

Squash vine moths, larva. Attracted to bright yellow- tend to show up when squash blossoms appear in an area. Fill ANY container with water that is yellow inside- the color of the squash blossom. They will go to that color. Pix borrowed from Google...

wow very informative and great pics, Kitt. :) I can't use my yellow sticky traps outside because I am always afraid to see a butterfly or hummer caught on it, but I bet I could find a lot of yellow plastic containers in the toy section of Dollar General about now :)

If yellow solo cups were stocked...some bugs draw to diff colors, I know one Spring day at home, the blue of my truck attracted literally all sizes of stink bugs? Shield bugs? I was ziplocking them so their stink didnt draw more of them and drowned them in rubbing alcohol.

Following along

Seedlings
poppy
Lupine
more poppy
something
Salvia ?

Looks basil to me Ju, but 2nd leaves are too wavy, so prob a salvia...you have so many bright young ones still unknowns...

Oh yeah you guys? That Lupin appears to be a dandelion. LOL

Here isa smaller one , behind the Dandelion //lol

From Texas- looks like a bluebonnet to me...

Kitt That is what you -all call them there in Texas , around these here parts we call them Lupine ..

Lupine is the fancy name- I've met many lupines that look nothing whatsoever like a bluebonnet tho... Ju, in my teens I swear bluebonnets didnt resemble lupines. 12 or so, and I have a memory of a totally different flower named bluebonnet. Since everyone looks at me with a blank stare when I ask, I quit asking.

Lupine is the real name. There are tons of them in CA. Any BB seed packet will have the word Lupine on it. There are different types some are perennial and some are annual but they are all Lupines. They are only Bluebonnets in Tx, as far as I know. When I moved here I called them Lupines I was quickly corrected but I knew that was a local name.

Yeah, it's a Texas thang, chuckl. Guess, tho, that they are different enough from the ones in Az and Calif... its those in Mn/ Wis I would Never confuse as a bluebonnet.

The ones in CA look like the Blue bonnets here. Whenever friends/family from CA visit they comment on the Lupines. There is a lot of public land in CA so they grow in mass on the hillsides. But they aren't always blue. There are over 200 species of lupine so they must look different.

This message was edited Apr 21, 2016 8:44 PM

Lupins in Canada just to get my 2 cents in
Keith

Oxdrift, looks like Blue Bonnets to me, and I have never been any farther south than Oregon. Jacksonville, Fla on an airplane. Never let me off the plane at Dal/FW. 'scuse me, forgot where you were. Dallas/Fort Worth (TEXAS) See, everything is suppose to be big "there".

Beautiful! Are they annuals or perennials? When I was in Alaska I was shocked that the Lupines got so big. The coast is on the Japanese Current and it's a temperate rainforest the floria is fantastic. I've been to the botanical gardens in Victoria BC, we wore shorts who would have thought....

Jen, I actually got the Dal/FW. My geography is pretty decent..
Lisa, they are one of the few perennials I grow. The first picture is in what used to be our horse pasture when our kids were young. They are wild ones that I dug up from the bush and planted there when we got rid of the horses. They spread all over by self seeding. The other picture is in a perennial bed in front of my greenhouse. Those are nicer ones that I started from seed. I grow very few perennials because I despise weeds and I find it easier to control them when you can totally eradicate the bed and start fresh every year
Keith

since I have never put the squash up there before I was thinking row cover it. But you know I did have a yellow oil jug that I rigged for a bug catcher a couple of years ago, might need to buy some more pennzoil. Thank you all for looking, I have been busy with the taxes, vets and etc and will be offline til about sunday unless tomorrow goes amazingly well. I stay organic, except bt which I might try on the squash, will check that out, thank you

Jen, Keith is in Canada not Texas...I must have missed something..

Good 2 cents worth Keith ,, great in fact !

Kitt , Like Giant Cornflowers that we called powder puff aster ,, when younger , they would grow five to seven feet tall , with hanging foliage , that looked thistle like but heavier like a Foxglove , I had two one year here , from very old seeds , but I got ill did not get more seeds , I have seen no place since , or many years before either , They are not the same Giant cornflowers , like Aloha and such ,,
A similar memory as yours ,

Lisa, I must be the one that did something wrong. I know Keith is in Canada and not Texas. Oh well, no big deal.

LOL, I went back and looked and I guess I could have been clearer, however, Keith got it. jen

Zinnias still from Ju a yr or 2 back- my daughter loves these. Marigolds are coming up and that also has her tickled. Why would ANYONE want to get off the plane in DFW? Nothin but city there! See I told ya bluebonnets in northern areas look different, chuckl, er,Lupines that is.

Didn't say I WANTED to get off in DAL/FW . Good grief is my tongue tied or my fingers not typing what I am thinking. I am worried about a friend who has just been diagnosed with Alzheimers. All these folks reading my stuff wrong makes me wonder if they got the wrong person. Went back and looked. I suppose if you wanted to find something, you could read it that way. But you could read Keith's the same if you were looking for it. Nothing wrong with yours Keith.

Not abt your post Jen- just a stray shudder at thinking about needing to get out in DFW. And I have lived there! I always wonder if I will end up with no memory at all- so much I forget in this job from necessity. You made sense, just my brain ramble from tired

I live in DFW. I lock doors, have 2 security systems and 5 dogs, yup

Sorry to be so sensitive Kitt. BTW Kitt, I have been meaning to ask you, in all of your travels, different seasons and different parts of the country, have you found any place you would like to settle down and retire besides where you live in Texas? Or, have you been in any one place long enough to tell?

That's a great question to Kitt Jen. It's a pleasure to see you're getting lots of gardening time in, I can't wait to read about your germination success...

Well Robin, for most of us who have not traveled a lot, or moved around a lot for one reason or another, it would be interesting to hear from someone who does see a lot of the country. However, still have to remember that folks are different. One person's preference may not be anothers, especially when they might be hot and cold for instance.

Nowhere is perfect, Jen. I suspect thats why so many people now live in RVs and flee the areas too hot or too cold for them. Snowbirds. Even folks who follow dusty harvests are on the move a lot. I love everywhere I have been- inc BC warmer than Seattle- mountains, lakes, deserts, prairies, but Tx holds a fondness for me even when I laugh at tenderfoots on their first summers. What I had no problems with changes as I age, and I am just grateful to sit still.

I am not looking for a place to retire Kitt. Sharon is the one that brought up Greshem, Oregon as a nice place to retire. No, I guess I am stuck where I am. Too many places around here sit empty for a year or two before they sell. Well, I suppose I can afford that, altho, I don't trust the locals. Might be better now tho. It sat empty for a few years prior to our buying, and it had been stripped of verything that could be removed one way or the other, including the decorative front door, furnace, you name it, it was gone. That, I could not afford. If I could find someone to take care of it without living in it, that would be nice. Oh well, I'm too old to worry about it.

I am not sure how old Evelyn is, but my advice to her is that if they really want to move somewhere else to live the rest of their lives, they had better do it now. Or, they will be like me and just talk about it.