Plant Propagation The Basics ,October 2016

bet that amaranth doesn't go crazy where you are.

Beautiful weeds Ju! I wonder why they call it Smooth Blue Aster, unless the leaves are smoother than most?

Gypsi The hopi dye red amaranth and red root amaranth are the only two that self sow

Robin I believe that is why , Next up i will try sky blue aster I am having trouble getting the pink aster going

Here are a couple of winter sown From Debra just now showing and are tiny
1 a meadow rue
2 I don't know Coral Bell ,or Umbrella flower ???
3 A pot of Coneflowers a bit larger
4 Silver Spotted Skipper
5 a tiny I don't know Either

Here is one I tried growing myself from different seeds of aster , wild ones here that is
1 not an ideal photo of a light pink , florets look darker instead of the light pink they are Lower left is a different plant
2 Here is a usual Their both a calico type aster , or near the roadside types You can see some difference

love them both, I found some smooth aster from seeds out front as well as the two you posted above. I love how they look and I trim mine down and they bloom all year.
your baby columbine is so cute! :D
my tithonia went thru the fence...my mums are blooming everywhere..all from seeds.. have to figure out what is what..silly wild somethings, and in the basement so far.

my salvia's are going crazy..smooth blue aster ..and purple domes..

Beautiful Debra. Its going to be 90 here this weekend, my greenhouse is a mess.

The beautiful blooms you guys are showing tells me I've got to plant more late blooming varieties and/or long blooming varieties. Perhaps more annuals in my beds would do the trick too.

I grew greens earlier here now it is my beehive , aster field , sounds like a swarm , bees just eat this up ,,he ,, he ,,

2 is Giant Puffballs

oh gosh Ju, I love those puffballs, I am glad you keep bee food around your place. Robin, I'll send you some seed heads from all my late bloomers. A few here and there really helps keep the garden bright. At first frost I will cut most all of it back. That usually doesn't happen until end of October and sometimes not until November now. Then we will trim the non blooming shrubs and cut back the perennial vines on the arches. I am sore already just thinking about it.

Oh Debra, that's really gracious and kind of you but I owe you, please let me know what you'd like of mine...please!

Puffballs! Ju, you can grow puffballs...cool. Yum! That's also quite an Aster field, impressive. Who doesn't like blooms en masse?

Ju, I was just thinking about puffballs the other day! They don't grow here, as far as I can tell, have never seen one. When I first came to Texas, I would ask people about them, most thought I was crazy. Do y'all eat them? They were always such a treat when I was growing up!
Rusty

Rusty the Puffballs taste like tasteless sponge bread I have boiled them into gravy , These are in the neighbors yard , chicory , Phlox the aster and my annuals are about it (fall) here , Sunflowers are iffy this year.

pic of one next to a size 10 shoe Approx ,

Every year I make cuttings from my 8 types of Coleus and plant them in containers on the shady side of my yard.Today I decided to bring them to my front yard to beautify the front garden bed.

cytf Beautiful !!!

Debra I love you Salvia and asters !!!

I did get a Pink aster Sprout today ,, after complaining lol Yeah . hopeful ain't I ? grin .
I am not putting the effort in required lately with my plants , so not up to looking .

Ju, I never would have thought of boiling them. We'd slice them into slices about 1/2 in, maybe a bit thinner, coat lightly with seasoned flour, just a bit of salt & pepper, and fry quickly to a light, golden, crispy brown. Absolutely delicious! Can't remember if we peeled them first or not. That was back in the 40's, early 50's, can't imagine why I don't remember about peeling. (grin) I know they had to be a very pure white, and firm and white all the way through. My mother said they were turning to poison if they were starting to get yellow inside. Once they turned totally to powder inside, it was fun to stomp on them to see the 'powder' go flying. Yes, I was easily amused, kids back then didn't have all the things they have nowadays, especially on a farm out in the country. But I wouldn't trade those days and the memories of them for anything in the world!
Cytf, love your coleuses. (How DO you plural that word?? ? ) My mother, way back when, had some like the one between the 2 deep reds in pic 4. She would take cuttings every year, and kept it going for as long as I can remember. I've tried a few a time or 2, but no luck. Then I found out that what I had bought at the nursery weren't coleus, but something else, don't remember the name. Don't know if that's why they didn't root, or if it was just my non-existent propagating talents.
All the pictures of the gorgeous flowers on this forum really make me want to grow things! As long as I am sitting still, the desire is there. As soon as I stand up, or move, Arthur Itis starts hollering "No you don't". Sure wish I could ditch him! ;^)
I did finally find some vermiculite, so come January I'm going to try to root some Hibiscus again. I've been told that Jan. is the best time to prune them here. So we'll see what happens.
Rusty

Rusty hope you do well with the Hibiscus , when I am away from plants and gardens I miss them also ,,
Doing My fall planting of flowers with jugs , two jugs making one I fold the corner of the bottom and staple adding a drop of super glue Top jug I cut at the bottom line of the jug , Temperature it does not seem to make any difference in all the variations I have seen done , and they stay together securely ,
and greens now
it is raining here now

Rusty, the plants you thought were coleus were probably perilla. A common one is Magilla Perilla. They look very much like coleus and are more tolerant of sun

Puffballs, we'd just fry them up like mushrooms in some butter. We washed the outside but I don't think we peeled them.

Cytf, now that's getting more bang for your buck, your Coleus look good.

This message was edited Oct 13, 2016 10:52 AM

cytf , your coleus is really beautiful. Beautiful !!!

I got timed out I will return in a while

Thank you garden buddies , I tried something new this year.We retirees have to garden smart .lol

Took a day off reno today to put all my roots away in boxes of peat moss for the winter. Elephant ears, 2 different cannas, 2 callas, 2 dahlias, gloriosa climbing lily,bonfire orange begonia. Also planted my fall bulbs; tulips, daffodils, and lilies. Neither of us could sleep last night so we got out of bed and emptied boxes into the new cabinets until 4 AM when we retired to bed until 6 when the alarm went off. So needless to say I am quite exhausted so please excuse me if I do something stupid like not post the picture. There is definitely going to be a lot of kitchen wares that don't go back int cupboards. But who needs 15 casserole dishes.

Yah, I only need 14, but then I live alone.

doing 2 years bookkeeping in 2 days has been inspirational Keith, I get that exhaustion theory, finished putting the trailer up and closed the gate at 11:30 last night, ate dinner at midnight, only to tackle the computer today. I wish I could go play in the garden

me 2. wishing I could go play in the Garden. Now, my newly painted and emptied daughter's rooms are now filled with 40 yr old Charlie stuffs, all neat and tidy, but definitely, not my stuff any more. I have been moved into the basement for all my seed sorting and now am being advised to "pack" my stuff up in an organized manner, by a son who is organized in every way except his financial decisions. :P:P:P so glad I am at work today, NOT!!! Why do I keep getting all this medicare stuff??? I am not 65 yet!!! *sigh* ( back to work, sorry to complain)

I get it Debra. Totally get it. do wish I could plant the pots of stuff in the front yard, lift and move my Texas sage that is looking fungus-y again, and the every growing if it gets watered Turks Cap, but the computer has me again today. I bought a smaller house when the oldest 2 kids went, not even the youngest wants to live in a place with only one bathroom. And help pay rent.

you know i have tried and tried turks caps. it doesn't grow for me. how do you do that?
I also can't seem to get that little blackberry lilly to grow. ( or what ever it is called)

I have however, gotten really good at cuttings. after four years , now I can do cuttings.
still at work.. frustrated, ready to go home, figure out how that banana is going to fit into the basement this year.. it is too tall to sit in the sump pump hole upright, thinking of leaving it bagged up on the bottom and laying it down, I guess if it wants to keep growing it will "lift" it's head up? Charlie and Joe will bring it in , and Charlie will over see the "move" since that is what he does every day. ( he works for a moving company) so basically banana bottom part will be bagged, laid horizontally (B)-------------WWW

I can't keep Blackberry lily alive here either , I am trying turk's Cap again this winter
Lillium Michiana ) something like that , For now I am stuck on Aster and Echinacea
Blooms are where you can find them thing ,,
Still placing easy to do's as little plants hoping for lots of blooms in the seasons to come ,

Debra have you ever had bananas from that monster?

Debra I owe you a cutting or a plant. As soon as I get some turks cap lifted, as long as the weather is still warm enough on both ends, your cutting is coming. This is what happens when it is at the bottom of a hill on a rainy year. Thing is 6 feet high, about 8 feet wide and about 4 ft thick, from fence to front, covered with humming birds and butterflies

Woa, that's a lot of Turks Cap!

I'll say! Man, is it tall or is it a hopper? That is really colorful. Moist soil bed then? Maybe a bog area?

Almost bog. Tall individual spikes coming up from the ground. Wet ground, good full sun gets you a giant plant, and it is not fun to dig a giant one out (moved it out of my front flower bed a few years ago). so choose a location on low ground by a fence where you don't want to have to weed or mow and turn it loose. Dies back in winter. Returns in spring. In your climate you might want to put your leaf pile on top after it dies back. Nothing seems to eat it.

It is a Host plant for a More Northern type of swallowtail Butterfly , or so I hear or have read
raining here steadily for a while now 70's
Might spray coat a few trays in the garage

Here an Aster , There an Aster ,fields of Aster

wish I had a "like" button... we moved iin 13 more big plants, I am almost done, still have a banana tree, two huge brugmansias, a giant colocasia, and a giant agave americana varigata. Oh yes, the giant hanging cereus, the passion vines, and a ylang ylang tree. SO TIRED! and it got up to almost 90 with high winds all day. Bah hmbug!

Debra it wears you out pretty fast moving plants around ,
I was taking root cuttings of the Penstemon today . got a pull in my knee , not suppose to ache from garden stuff ,
During up coming I have sky blue and flat topped aster to plant lots to do
Just moving along to someday

One of these days Debra, you're gonna want to trade all those Tropicals in for a field of Asters. Ju's Asters look so easy peazy, I bet they can take care of themselves!

Debra,

I have a greenhouse, but if my white ginger that has never bloomed gets any heavier it is going to overwinter under a shrub. you have more oomph than I do. That is why I like tough perennials.

sunny 80's day
Bamboo outside
Feverfew one of Many set for next year
Coin Gold Marilgold
The Smooth blue Aster seedling doing the best of them
Chicory in the Aster , still blooming