Plant Propagation: The Basics July/Aug 2016

If I am home, the shoots never make it to the house. Mine blooms but never seeds, so I shall do the hide the seed outside sow this weekend and hope between the birds and bugs, I get some sprouts. Thanx. P.S. Swallowtail dying, came from radiator of truck next to me. I left him in the grass on a dutch clover bloom- dont expect resuscitation...

Aw, that was such a nice gesture...good on you! Good luck with the Asparagus too.

I have found asparagus that started from seed far from my bed, it is doable to start by germination. Have to water before 5 kids wake up

That was a nice a little thing to try and help , I agree ,,
Saying Hi there all
Seedlings are still moving along slow
Tomato
Pink aster
Leeks
Blue aster
Well the seedlings are beginning to show leaves , lol

That Tomato is just begging for a bite, lol.

The Tomato is good Robin ,
I might of goofed on some of my seedling ID''s Looking at them as above and photo 1 looks like rougher edges than a pink aster . it might be Fleabane , Leaves have the floret rounded ends ,

A good possibility is the Blue aster starting off with the bright red stem Meaning it might have some color to it rather than ending up blooming white .

While I am rambling , Here is a picture of a Goldfinch , Gobbling down Chicory seeds Not that good of a pic , you can see the yellow blob ,, it was fun to see ,,

I'm going to sow some Milkweed, I ordered a few different ones Asclepias hirtella, incarnata and tuberosa. Hopefully I'll get seeds from them next year. I love your seedlings and have my fingers crossed for some color for you. I was going to order some Erigeron too but forgot. I've been harvesting seed and canning beans.

Robin I can get you a few as they grow , the seeds are rather slow now
The smaller Hyperion lost it's seed pods so when the weather is right I will send it along , The fulva I cut back are trying to regrow now ,
I have some done D'oro seeds but rarely are they wanted , I let them drop ,
I was grinding up mulch letting my hands rest ,
Every so many years I seem to be back to the beginning
My butterfly milkweed (tuberosa ,bloomed poorly where it was dug up last year , but on the rebound it is ,
My incarnata is 6 ft tall this year , only two canes , never seen it so tall ,

That's really generous of you Ju, your heart is so big, it's amazing. Funny thing about D'Oro, that was the first 'want' on my list after I got started on Daylilies. I just had to have the most famous of them all!

Please only send the Hyperion if you're taking something of mine. I can't have any of this one-way stuff going on. Speaking of which, did your Pink Poodle double? I still don't have a scape on Electric Orange.

Has anybody heard from Jen? I sure hope she is fine. I'm worried and miss her a lot!

I suppose you you have to hold the grinder in the 'on' position

Robin a few for later then , the plants , I have not been looking through much info
only the threads lately ,
Jen is on the Back porch sometimes , couple nights ago talked for a minute ,

My Grinder , if that ? is for me , lol Stays on by itself , My hands get tired from digging or cutting , or opening any number of things Bottles ,, cans ,, jars , boxes , etc
I have not seen the pnk poodle in a day or two , if it was double I would probably have noticed , I will look in a while ,
That electric orange would of bloomed by now , soo next season , I guess it is , I was hoping with you ,

Yes the grinder part was for you Ju but I guess you were grinding to give your hands a rest. If your Pink Poodle isn't doubled I can start a cutting for you.

Robin Well that would make a trade The pink poodle here is building it's leaves
I love the plants , several of my coneflowers are not looking good at the moment .

I picked up a dead mole 8 inch this morning with a shovel ,, icky ,,, lol

Doesn't look happy , does this ,, me neither ,,, grrrrrrrrrr

My cats bring us their moles...wow- my phone and FB have scrambled my pics! Have to go poke at my phone settings.

The moles my cats catch are usually one to two inches. Ultra cute Racoon!

The mole this morning was huge , haven't seen many full grown here , I know they get rather large though , or can .

A few more sprouts planted today ,a little clean up for the pots , very little though that was ,

I took pics, but my fone storage scrambled them, will have to redo when I get back home. Also noticing that bloodred crepe myrtle here in Texas- just not the full bush covered blooming ones that I saw in Arkansas.

Sorry to hear about your phone troubles Kitt. It's especially frustrating to lose pictures. Every once in a while I still think about the ones I lost from 10 years ago. Your Arkansas Crepe's sound intense, as if that's the place to grow them.

As again , A hummingbird was waiting for me to move away an elbow's length away while I did these

ooops wrong button ,,,, these

The season moves north, Miipii, crepe myrtles have so many shapes- few people realize they are trimmed up off the ground to minimize spiders, chuckl. Since they have sorted themselves out, crepes, turks cap which is wild here, an aloe about to bloom, and a picture of the wild mustang grapes about to ripen. Will collect that other crepe myrtle of deep red when I get home

I love pic #2 with the tall trees backdrop, your yard looks great. I let a couple of volunteer grapes grow to see if I can collect some fruit, this is year 2 and no fruit yet. I may have to rip it all out if it doesn't produce anything, otherwise it's just taking up space a Rose bush would rather be sited.

Beautiful pics. I bought 3 grapevine spring 2012 and haven't had a grape yet tho 2 are still alive. Mustangs seem to have fewer things eating them. When I was in 6th grade we moved into a house with grapes on the back fence and no side fences. We were eating dinner in late summer when all the neighbor kids, like 20 or 30 rushed into the yard carrying bags to fill with grapes. Our dining room Windows gave us a clear view and one of my parents yelled out the door and they scattered away. That is how we learned we had grapes and they were ripe. That was Michigan. Texas is not so fruitful.

This message was edited Aug 1, 2016 3:05 PM

That was a fun story Gypsi! This is year 2 for my grape and this year it quadrupled in size with lots of foliage (the Japanese Beetles love), but no sign of blooms (sigh).

The mustang grapes can take 7 years to fruit. I layered 2 female vines from my grown female and they fruited the next year still in the pot. I had taken a Y and buried it in the pot- it took the whole season to root, but when the drouth hit and the pot had water that grapevine rooted to water itself and the grapes were awesome. We pick them green to ripe and boil down for jelly. Cooking ripens the green ones and pectin is highest in those green grapes, chuckl. Sweet grape. After it rooted, and fall set in, I cut the Y so there were 2 plants. Hmmm, pix loading how they please again. That light was the stormclouds and how it changes and reflects light - like this driveway pic.

I reading and enjoying , Nice pics all , delightful scenery Kitt ,
I have some concord wild type here , There not looking bad , turn purple when ripe, birds get most ,.

More potting for next season
red Erigeron Smooth Blue Aster

I agree, this thread is very enjoyable. Yum, wild concord grape, that sounds utterly sweet.

The woodwork around your place is really nice Kitt. It sure looks like things have recovered from the flooding...beautiful pics.

All sand, dry creek bottom so it passes thru, its hard as concrete now, but the crinums are blooming again. Firdt thing I did this morning was watch two tiny hummers check the feeder and piss off the fire ants in one bed I was weeding. Then drown them. I need to get a pot of water boiling for them so I can get the last corner of that bed cleaned. Hungry for a pot of pinto beans so gotta swing to the store...

Kitt Nice Bloom , I love the Anole Gotta go to the store now at noon , I do , lol

Fire ants, oh my...do they have any natural enemies other than human? I bet they'd kill the Anole. With the hard rock ground I bet the moles moved on. I'm sorry to hear there are undesirable, long-lasting effects from the flood. That's got to be tough to deal with.

It just is Miipii, not abnormal here. We are under burn ban- people pitching cigs out the windows get reported -if fires blaze up they get visited.
This is a bloom or two from the dark red crepe myrtle. Its young and slender tall instead of bush type, so blooms are lesser here. Those in Arkansas were large bushes with fire tipped blooms- by the way, new foliage on these crepes is a red bronze, too.- A baby anole where I was aggravating the fire ants. We have to watch with 18 wheelers cuz the ants will infest the walls of our trailers, I carry a repellent for my tires in the south. Phew its a steam bath now the suns up higher, so indoor chores now. Fireants do have a natural enemy- a wasp, but we dont have that variety this far north to my understanding.

This message was edited Aug 2, 2016 12:19 PM

Oooh! A visitor on the lantana! Maybe a Soldier bf?

Thanks for the Crepe and Anole pics, those are a real treat. I love that Lantana visitor, what a beautiful orange!

Those summer visitors from the Tropics are Bright .. Nice Kitt

1 Cane Sorghum 3 ft over my head ,
2 Sunflowers
3 Zinnia with Tithonia starting behind
4 Jerusalem Artichoke on wasted space ,,, We will take that ,

I use boiling water on my fire ants too if I can find the hill. And on crazy ants, as there is not only no natural enemy to them, there isn't even a pesticide that isn't a controlled product. I know how good it is to be home Kitt. however this morning I opened my door and found a kitten. going to give him/her a bath, trying to find a rescue because the alternative is the humane society. I simply cannot keep.

And we lost a cat. Dobby has disappeared after learning to climb trees, sigh. Gyp, pix on Fireside Chat - knew I was feeding bees, but

saw them, told you how to harvest the wax the easy way. Takes a wooden or maybe even stout cardboard box, old window, metal bowl with hardware cloth or screening over it, and an old t shirt. now that is some serious propagation. Found a kitten on my porch Kitt, want me to hold her for you? (she goes to rescue or shelter tomorrow not safe here, too many dogs)

I have no way to take her- and I suspect an owl I heard this morning, snakes under our trees, dogs are the least of a cats worries down here. Sigh, some things just don't ever work well.
We appear to have lost Keith, Jen, and Sharon. Hope you guys are well.

We have hawks and coyote. Trying to get kitten into a rescue. They do seem to be elsewhere

I'm going to say a prayer for the kitten Gypsi, you can't save every abandoned animal out there. Shame on the people that can abandon them in the first place.