Plant Propagation: The Basics Summer 2016

Sorry guys. I would not fare well with all that heat. Lucky thing I'm at this end. Finished my staining and took some pictures but not happy with them so will try again in the morning

It was a nice day here , did some shopping and such , Heat makes everyone really tired easily , I walk and do things evenings and early mornings ,
Never even made 80 degrees here today , but it won't stay that way

Was going to wait for more WOW FACTOR before posting these but with so many near misses with frost and storms decided to put some preliminary shots on while there is still something not destroyed. Some of you (Robin and Pistil and Jen) were following this on my personal thread on using Oxalis in containers. I will post in both spots. For you non followers this 40 foot long planter on top of a lattice wall was built in 2004 as a backdrop for my oldest daughters wedding (Reece's mom). I started that thread to ask for help in propagating oxalis so that I could affordably use more of these in containers including this project. It has a long way to go but I think it has some good potential. I have planted more tall annuals than usual at the base including Love Lies Bleeding, Mahogany Splendor Hibiscus and large dahlias. I will post more as it develops
Keith
PS. If anyone wants to check out the entire thread it is in this Forum and is titled " how to propagate oxalis Zinfandel and molten lava"

This message was edited Jun 22, 2016 9:54 PM

Finally got brave and put my Leopard plant in the ground near the chenille as the chenille is still alive. This is a new bed, a year ago it was flat hardened mud. Not sure what the big tall plant in the back is either. IT bloomed small white flowers, attractive ones, last year, leaves look a little like an echinacea, another Texan said feverfew but it isn't feverfew. It is alive and attractive and I swear it came from a plant swap but it could be a giant weed. Got brave and put my Hostas in the ground under the pine tree, and my cyclamens (which are presently in a leaf dead new sprout state). I soaked everything a couple of days ago and watered the hostas in now. a 2 day camping trip can kill everything in my pots with no one here to water so the pots must be upsized and in shade or unloaded. And the grasshoppers and webworms have just arrived. But truthfully I don't know what these caterpillars are, and my tomatoes are on a roll. I think I am going to have to set up drip irrigation for the garden area on a programmable timer before I go camping, or I will lose it all.

You can do that real easy Gypsi. I say that because someone else did it for me. the plants love it. Well, even if I didnt have someone else to do it, If I were younger I could do it But like I said, the plants love that regular watering.

That and the heat of summer do a real good job for them. Going to bed, ttyl, jen

Time for the reveal and a little HISTORY 101

Staining in the back yard is now complete so that all wood structures front and back that have been built at many different times are all one colour. Oh I love retirement!
It's a wonder I still have a wife. I put her through a lot in the earlier years. One of you recently said something about her being a keeper. Believe it was Debra. After what she has been through for 40 years and how comfortable things have become she would be crazy to get rid of me now. I took her back to the PIONEER DAYS for a number of years. We purchased this vacant 40 acre parcel of land, which was then 1/4 mile from any hydro electric source, the fall we got married. The next year we put in a power line, cleared the lot, put in a driveway and built the garage. Oh yeah, forgot to mention that during our first winter I took out a saw log permit and cut all the logs to build the house and garage. Then I spent about a month in the spring helping an old timer with a very antique sawmill cut all the logs into lumber. In the fall while we were building the garage we pitched a tent under that large spruce tree to the right of the house in the second picture. Every couple days we would go into town for a shower at our apartment. Keep in mind that when we were building the garage we still had no electricity or a generator so all cutting was done with the chainsaw. In late September, still with no power or water we moved into the garage. I will never forget how sick to my stomach I felt the first week after we moved in. I was on holidays by myself and seeing Wendy go off to work in the morning without having a curling iron or anything else that power gives made say to myself "what the h--- have you done Keith". We finally got power about a week before Christmas that year but there would be no running water until about 6 months or more after we moved in to the house. By the time we started house construction the next spring Wendy was pregnant so I lost my construction helper so I had to hire a 16 year old neighbour as my right hand whenever I needed help. I occasionally remind my oldest daughter that she was conceived in the garage.
Looking back it was worth while to do it that way ONCE but had I built a second house I certainly would not have done the same or I would have been on my own. The house was bare bones when we moved in and we just finished things as we could afford. All those sacrifices made it possible to own what we had debt free in 5 years. There was a major Reno in 2005 ie new siding, shingles, and windows again with our own hands. By now I think I have earned "early retirement "
Keith

Now I am even more impressed.

Beautiful job Keith! Great story and history lesson too...yes your wife is a trouper and a keeper! I absolutely love your 40' planter, thanks for thinking about preliminary pics as they are stunning in their own right. Pistil's right...impressive.

You've put in quite a lot of work too Gypsi, it's looking real good. I sure hope your babies survive your camping trip. Have fun!

Congrats for finally getting your irrigation done Jen, now you can enjoy the rest of the season with less work.

This is my pride and joy Hosta. You may have seen a picture of it from last year if you have taken a look at my garden showcase called "Challenging Zone 3". These 2 shots were taken this afternoon. When he first stuck his nose out of the ground this spring a deer thought he looked pretty appetizing and grazed him to the ground. Then very unwillingly I took a big chunk out of him to give to a friend. Obviously none of that fazed him at all. This plant is over 12 years old because it was there before my first daughters wedding. Last year was the first time it ever performed like this. I haven't measured but I would guess it's over 4' wide and over 3' tall. It is a SAGAE hosta that I got as part of a collection of various labeled Hostas.

Nice plants Keith ,,
Most of mine are Herbs and edible weeds ,

Here is a purpple coneflower and a wormwood , Medicinal herbs ,Although I use neither for that ,

Gypsi, worms are skeletonizers. Prob a southern web worm. Dont know what they are heading for...usually fruit trees like persimmon, pecan, but not choosy.

The coneflower I grow although not in bloom here yet. But not familiar with wormwood. Looks like it would fit int my colour scheme though.
Keith

The web worms are here sometimes , not hardly anything stops them ,

Artemisia are several , Mine is common wormwood , Poison plant , skin irritant , somewhat possibly invasive , Not bad to me as any of that ,?
Most are familiar with the Dusty Miller and Hybrid relatives .
So Hot and Humid here ,,
some of the red daylily (red Volunteer and a red Flag ? Seem to be back from last years plumbing fiasco , I did not move them and the Backhoe went right through them , a nice surprise to see them , blooms shortly ,,

Waiting for it to cool down so I can go out and move more plants. I think nap time on the sofa. The heat is getting to me this year. Oxdrift your accomplishments are many and your wife is a trooper, my hat is off to you both. Retirement may get boring if you get everything finished.

When we were young, such a thing wasn't even a problem. Bt, Ju and Gypsi. Looking back does bring the wonder, chuckl. Beautiful pix guys, makes me wonder if I will make it to retirement! Sigh. Sun is dropping in S Dallas, all the drivers are settling in for food, showers, dogwalks. I will be picking up goodies to head northeast tomorro to Allentown, Pa. So off to check my halfways and temps...

Keith, I would consider a garage very large- tho for many years I shared my living area with another, its always tight. Truck drivers retiring always laugh at the new fad of tiny homes. Mine will be small, but me and mine love the outdoors anyway. My current 'home'- 'command central and bunk' pantry and clothes storage, such as it is. Please excuse my mess - my clothesline doubles as table occasionally.

There was a day when I could live tiny and today I find it too much work, such a luxury to have drawers for things and closets and whole rooms. My house is only 1000 square feet but it is efficient to heat and a/c, or fairly so, and it is enough for me and 5 huge dogs, so that is where I plan to stay.

Our house us actually only 960 Sq. ft on main floor and 880 in basement. Screened in deck on back gives it a bigger look. Kitt your truck cab loos almost like an airplane cockpit. I've actually never seen the inside of one of those. Thanks for the insight.
Keith

The Hosta is beautiful Keith and so is your wormwood Ju, it looks like a yellow Feverfew.

Thanks for the memories Kitt, I remember having no problem living in my sleeper, I had all of the comforts of home. My problem was not spending enough time in the bunk. Too much driving, not enough sleep.

Debra I was (am) waiting on a few things before I get you some seeds Feverfew I have a few small plants of , and the larger one remaining will set seeds here in a while . a long , long blooming plant , I use a very few small leaves in tea ..
I have not forgotten anything , and I have a smaller purple milkweed it looks like from wintersowing seeds from you ,
My seeds and labels need updated , I am being slow to get to that ,
Some zinnia are about to bloom soon , Basils are up and looking small but good
Lettuce and bet juice from the garden , Greens are there but suffer some in the heat ,
I have to re work all my ideas for a better look very little out there the way it should look , ,

Artemisa Going crazy
2 Campanula reblooming
Feverfew just under the Campanula
Red Hollyhock
Lavender

Is anyone else having trouble posting? I have made multiple attempts to post 2 pictures with script and seems to force me into edit mode and just gets stuck there and will not post. I am going to just try to send this as a test without the pictures. Maybe they are the problem
Keith

Ok obviously for some reason those pictures are the problem". Honestly I was not trying to send nude pictures of my wife! First of all I had problems e-mailing them from my cell to my I-pad. Thought I had lost my marbles because I was sure I had sent them and 2 hours later they were not there yet so sent them again. Still didn't go so I did a complete shut down on both devices and then both copies sent so I deleted one of each. From there I was able to upload the images but could not send. Thought it had something to do with having deleted the duplication so deleted both out of my I-pad and resent. Same thing. Gets hung up in edit mode and will not send with the pictures. Any computer geeks among you with suggestions?

New theory. Going to try to send each separately.
This one is for Pistil. I got my Fathers Day present from the kids a little late. Anxious to try it out tomorrow. Thanks for planting the seed. It should work great it all my paving stone and the black crushed rock driveway.
Ok now what happens when I hit post reply?

Keith Sometimes blocking happens if a photo is a) copy , image 1 , image 2 .. if any of that is there , encoding will block the transfer or download ,
Like downloading , or copying to a printer , it will block unless page and permissions are perfect , ( not likely the perfect ) lol

aha ,, have fun with that , and encoding decided you were not doing advertising after all ?

This message was edited Jun 25, 2016 1:55 AM

Friday. Vacations. Restricted, overloaded bandwidths on wifi. IB cleaning and updating at busy hour. I had same problems on several different sites, Keith. Think the Chinese are back to hacking the rest of the world. I just wait for mamas to send the kids yo bed before I try to upload on those days. Try in the morning before the kids all roll out of bed...

Ok now that was really weird! Guess I will try the other one separately.
If this one goes it is my pink Sorbet Peony just showing its splendour

Chuckl, its Cinderella hour- you shouldnt have any more problems

OK, that was all very strange!!!!!
Good night folks

Cinderella and pink sorbet , Can't beat that , !!
Nice Peony , Beautiful in fact!!!

Well guys, it's a good thing I photographed that peony yesterday because it stormed over night and that is the end of it. It sticks up so high above the cage. Same thing happened last year only it got mangled way worse that time. I was afraid of that so luckily I took pictures before it was full out
Keith

That happens to mine here also , about once every three or four years they last a while , Most years rain and storms smash them down to the ground ,

Love cloudy days for taking pictures.
#1. Hostas in Japanese Garden
#2. Lysamachia ground cover in section of Japanese garden. This was one of those "accidents" several years ago. I put a plant on a little mound in an area of black rock chunks as an annual not realizing that it would act as a perennial here. It is very invasive but is quite well confined here and acts as a very effective control for other weeds. Every winter the deer dig through the snow and forage on it and in the spring it looks like there is nothing left. But the roots are still there and it makes an awesome colour contrast to everything else
#3. I believe this is a German iris in front and Solomons Seal behind it to the left and more Hostas in the Japanese Garden
#4. With the staining completed this week I finally had time to clean up some very neglected areas of the yard. The bog at the back entrance to the Japanese garden now looks like someone loves it again!!!
#5. Lone iris in the picket fence garden off the back deck

That is a Beautiful setting , Very Nice !!!


Red Volunteer might be the lone survivor of last years

wow on that peony! and lving all the colors. Picked a couple more maters for lunch. yum. too hot to play outside now on my day off. We trimmed the pear tree. Joe mowed.
Ju, you sent me this lily, I had it under the pear tree, it was two inches from the ground in bud so I picked it before the rain.. what is it? the flower is as big as my head almost and smells wonderful. I am moving it to the north fence with the other giant lily.

Nice lilies Ju and Debra

Debra when I got that it said " Giant White Lillium " That is all I know about it , That and I like the Blooms , lol
And Yes It is Hot !!! Whew !!! We !!!

Debra Mine won't bloom until the obedient plants start , several Have buds , both the obedient and the lillium , Yes all wonderful blooms ..

Beautiful Peony Keith, I just planted my first Peony last fall and my pick was Sorbet.

It would be nice to see a pic of that lily blooming with the Obedient plant Ju.

Your giant Lily border looks great Debra, what to you have lining the bed?
H. Apricot Sparkles
H. Joleyne Nichol
H. May May
H. Aunt Wimp
Columbine Clementine White