Plant Propagation: The Basics July/Aug 2016

Bathed and de-bugged, please do pray Mipii, I have a connection inside a rescue with an excellent fostering and placement record, or the HSNT shouldn't be very full,

Done Gypsi!

Veronica First Love
Echinacea Cheyenne Spirit
Chocolate Daisy

Purrrrrteee Robin ,,

Red Castor Bean
Swallowtail , Scabiosa

Thanks Ju, so are your blooms and butterfly!

Rescued!

Mine are still in the dark , me too ..

If you enlarge this looking center you see the a kitten almost a cat playing a hood among the stars ( imagination required ,, lol

Monsters in the dark, golden glows, no imagination needed

Amen Gypsi!

a few photos while the 6 year old watches tv. trying to get fall peppers and tomatoes going. cuttings from tomatoes aren't taken yet. They will be going in the bog filter in the 4th picture with the ajuga and vitex. Winter squash starts photo 5. photo 1 the snake that ate my frogs. It has departed for other planes of existence. 2 and 3 are mystery photos. The plant in 2 is about 6 ft tall and leaves remind me a bit of echinacea but the flowers are small and white. #3 with the yellow flower just popped up in the front flower bed, don't know what it is.

I got some Iris seeds Today , First in a long time ,
Size of peanuts ,
The pinkish iris the seeds came from
3 is Chinese Privet pods

hmmm. My aquatic iris have huge seed pods on them, the really nice dark purple and virginal white japanese type. Any idea when I should harvest? The pods are still green

I only have the German Bearded Iris the seeds are left until the pods begin to open

Have been to the city (Winnipeg, Manitoba) for a few days. Mushroom picking came to an abrupt halt for the time being. Was 8 days between our first pick and when we returned. Was very hot and dry during that time and everything shrivelled right up. Trip to the city may be leading towards a crazy busy fall for me. We have been mulling over the idea of renovating our kitchen for a long time. We have homemade cabinets that I built over about a 3 year period way back when we first built. We met with a custom cabinet builder yesterday and are just waiting for a quote. If it is a go I will be well occupied for a while starting late September dismantling and preparing for new. Both exciting and scary.

Today's photos:
1). Top of waterfalls
2). Dahlia in foreground is a bloom I have been anticipated all summer. Planted 3 and this is the only one that is doing anything and it is very slow
3). One of two identical pots on pillars at the entrance of the Japanese garden with burgundy bliss oxalis, Tiger Eye Gold Rudbeckia and Purple Millet
4). Coleus bunks finally starting to look decent
5). Tiny backyard pond in background

4 more to follow
Keith

1). Tumbler red impatiens
2). Update of lattice wall planter. Amaranthus almost getting too tall
3). One of many succulent collections
4). Another view of lattice wall planter
Keith

This message was edited Aug 5, 2016 10:58 AM

Very nice plantings Keith , Absolutely Gorgeous !!!
Planter settings are always cheerful ,,
Renovating a Kitchen is always hectic feeling ,even when your calm about it ,

Beautiful Keith

Oh my Keith, your plantings are FABULOUS! You are a master at container planting! I've got to say you did really well with the 40' planter and totally didn't have too much yellow given the fact you've got so much red and orange planted below. Man you've got a knack, my hat's off to you!!! :)

Thanks guys

NEWS FLASH
There is a vicious war developing in Oxdrift between Keith and a groundhog. I have seen evidence of its presence in the Japanese garden for some time however, don't bother me and I won't bother you. Well I guess when we left town for 2 nights he decided he now owns the place. Well we will see about that!!! Last year the same thing happened and that one is no longer on this earth. I never noticed when we got home last night but as soon as I went out this morning I noticed that it had started a major dig between the house and our front step. Last year once I won the war I had stuffed the space between the house and the step with a couple of concrete pavers on both sides so that this could never happen again. Well somehow this culprit removed both pavers on one side and has now dug out a pile of gravel big enough to fill a good sized wheel barrow. I have stuffed moth balls inside the dig as well as 2 other digs he has in the yard and thanks to Wendy searching for a remedy on the internet I have even peed on the pile of gravel. Needless to say Wendy was not impressed with that but she was the one that searched it. I will keep you posted

Depends on the season for the peein - prob do better with somethin like cougar pee...luck with the rodent. Kinda like mobsters, get rid of one and another one moves in. Some folks plant in metal fabric baskets- like I do for moles. LOVE the color blends, that is talent. I see that dahlia- finally. Everything here has turned crispy critter about a month early. Wicked summer abiut to happen.

I hate groundhogs when they start digging ,and that is all they do , grrrr

Some of the Candy Cane zinnia today , ones a little chewed ?

hmmm. how about some dirty cat litter, ammonia will run Texas moles to someone else's yard

Well as long as there was only 1 groundhog the battle is over. However for future info the pee and mothballs were ineffective. We were a little late rising this morning and when we first went out it was very obvious that he had been back under the front steps. The mothballs and a lot more dirt had been tossed out. Then we did a stupid thing. Assuming he was still in there we tried another suggestion that Wendy found on Google. Apparently they don't like to be wet so we got the garden hose and proceeded to try to flood him out while I stood on guard with my trusty gun. After quite a while and no luck I suggested Wendy go in the house to make sure we weren't flooding the cold room which is just inside from where we were flooding. Need I say more. So now we are trying to dry that up. So while I was standing on guard with the gun and Wendy really doesn't care for bloodshed she had been checking the other digs where I had placed mothballs yesterday and had reported back that there was no sign that he had been back to those spots. Shortly after we stopped flooding I went to the Japanese garden without the gun and lo and be hold he was out there under the old chicken coop trying to get rid of the mothballs. So after returning armed and waiting very impatiently he finally stuck his nose out far enough and I'll spare you the rest of the gorey details. So now it's just wait and see if he had friends or was alone. Don't ask me why one animal should think he needs a home and 2 cottages in the same yard

I'm glad there's an end to that saga and thanks for sparing us the gory detail...I'm with Wendy on the bloodshed.

Hope no friends

Yes good that is over , a concerning possible ,, It's a family feud now , There are always relatives ... eeeek !!!

I'm the spotter

You sure propagate some pretty kitties Ju

Thank you Gypsi ,,Here is the largest , it is about large enough (already is ) that it needs to be moved to a larger space .
Filled the propagation tray (dish) very quickly , grows at a wisp of anything , seems to like the light as is for now ..
Quick grower , self sowing , rapid spreader , possibly could be used as fertilizer for other flowers . sometimes has sharp thorns

He is really growing fast, keeps those thorns hidden, does he?

The others all have large heads large Eyes or are small ... I don't know about propagating any of these anymore ..


thorns are still developing

This message was edited Aug 6, 2016 9:06 PM

Oh Ju, I love them, they're so adorable! Is the one in the sprouter ready to transplant? Is it the one with white feet?

Robin no , The one in the sprouter is all gray Second photo above white boot feet on the yellow bag ,, all five there all different ,,,

Camo taking a snooze 2 Mingles not a good photo when sets up straight , he is as tall as the box . and is a pretty Feline Domesticus , for a feral happening , He has pretty form and shape

Chuckl, good shot Oxdrift! Yup, always relatives. Okla sundown, red crepe myrtle, top heavy basil

Wow Kitt, that red crepe myrtle is quite an eye catcher!

Good day in the mushroom patch today. Rains we got on Monday and Wednesday nights brought them right back.

took cuttings from 2 Amish gold, 1 better boy (burgess) and 1 cherokee purple and stuck in 4 inch pots on greenhouse tray just now. Moon is waxing and in scorpio, best luck I can give them. gets hot in there but area right by fish tank doesn't heat up as badly. and you can see another bit of flame vine rooting right next to them. The only hormones come from the fish.

Fish hormones? Lol, I know Fish poop is good for plants. That's a good way to propagate, just ask Debra.

instead of rooting hormone. I have a bottle of rooting hormone but it mostly stinks of B12 and has less than a 50% success rate. I rooted a tomato cutting too late in the year last year, hoping not too late this time. My early girl seedlings should have time to fruit anyway, they are 72 days and were started before August 1st

I grew a 'Patio Tomato' this year and wouldn't waste my time or money on another one. I've been canning Roma I've been growing at my SIL's property and can't wait to dig into those jars this winter.

Hmmm A Roma Tomato ,, I have a couple containers in the fridge of those

A toasty 94 degrees it was today

I grew my tomatoes in Tidy Cat buckets (with a couple of drilled holes and gravel on the bottom, garden soil with mushroom compost dirt) and they were good. I did it because a daughter did it last year and hers were good. my soil alternates between concrete and watery silt, and that is very hard on tomatoes. I will be moving my Tidy cat buckets to the east side of the house if I ever get that flower bed dug, to maybe pull a few small fruits. Hers fruited last year til December I think, or the plants froze but the fruit didn't and she left it outside to ripe and continued to pick it. We had a very mild winter.

I planted at least 20 garden tomatoes in dirt last year with mushroom compost and they all burned up. Put half a dozen on the pond bog tray and they got spider mites and died. I don't think I got a tomato from my garden last year. So buckets were worth a try. So far I gave away 10 early girls that I hadn't managed to eat when I took the kids camping, and ate up all the Amish Gold and Better Boys that ripened after I got back. And one almost pink tomato, not sure what variety, I lost the stick.