Plant propagation - the Basics, April 2017

cytf Me too , pretty . pretty ,pretty ,
Iris starting

Gorgeous. and keith a word about perennials that have to be kept in a greenhouse. They are heavier every year. You might reconsider... The great freeze that nailed my greenhouse in December kind of helped my decision making on a couple of plants. That 60 lb pot was a bit much and the white ginger tree had never bloomed for me. Its gone now.

Tomatoes on the pond tray all started in the greenhouse. No fruit or bloom but looking good

Think you must have misunderstood me Gypsi. I wasn't tasking about perennials that have to be kept in pots in a greenhouse, I was talking about in the ground hardy perennials. You can't keep perennials in pots here in the greenhouse here because it gets way to cold unless that greenhouse is heated all winter. Potted perennials would need to be kept in the house here like Debra and I'm not going there.

is anything hardy up there? Laughing, I thought only rock and pine trees survived
and tundra

The selection is limited but we have a few choices. Lots of hostas and they are one of my favorites.

Its was a beautiful day here today 65 degrees,so I decided to paint my Rain Barrel .Starting stencling but I made some boo boos then decided to paint some palm trees and creature a shape of a flower and stems. Eventually I had a Masterpiece.lol These are different views of it.

Hi juhur7 that pretty early your Iris is blooming.Its beautiful.Only my Primroses are blooming ,ever thing else is just shooting up.You must be warmer than Zone 6 ,because I am in Zone 6 too.

Nice idea on the rain barrel. Mine are either blue or shopvac orange.

Keith, my hostas died last winter, I thought of the hard freeze, guess maybe it was the winter drought.

cytf Depending on what mother nature decides , anything from Zone 5 to zone 7 . It's ridiculous , I have seen it still snowing in June , or Flowers blooming in February , it's crazy ,..
1 Peas
2 poppy
3 oregano
4 Today's homemade mulch needs sifted

Hostas- the north grows hostas like Texas grows Johnson grass. Different cold. Different soil, Texas hostas just dont thrive like they do farther north.
I spoke with an older woman in Tn that tells me they have 5 'little winters'- it has gone from redbud winter to dogwood winter now. Then there will be blackberry winter...i forget the last two...blackberries have been ripe at home for last 3 weeks. Its that time slip again- bit this summer feels colder than memory thinks it should be...

Hi Gypsi , did you plant your Hostas in shades like under evergreens because I think that will protect them from the harsh winters , I have mine planted on the a north side of my yard . We have some harsh winters here sometimes.

I put them under pines BUT I may not have watered enough. Last time I looked they were not up yet

Another Iris
Tribbles taking a birds eye view

Is anyone else having trouble posting today

This is my 3rd attempt at loading these pictures and one finger typing dialogue to go with. I am just going to try as is now and if they go I will send the dialogue separate.

FINALLY!!!!
My new equipment I think is giving me a lot of grief. If this continues you won't see much of me this summer. Right now I have nothing but time so can persist.
#2. Oxdrift Propagation House has gone through a reversal of seasons. Friday was a gorgeous tee shirt and shorts day. Then Saturday when we had our Winnipeg trip everything went for a poop. Then yesterday and last night we got all this white stuff back. You may be able to see that the left side of the greenhouse is not even warm enough to melt the snow off the roof. I just expanded to the entire greenhouse in the last week. We don't usually have all this ugliness this late. Once I open the whole thing it's a lot harder to heat. The stove is in the right side area and I try to circulate the heat to the left with fans blowing in and out but the left side is always a minimum of 10 degrees C cooler. Challenging to say the least. If anyone has the Daves Garden calendar the wagon in front of the greenhouse is the setting of the cover photo. Hard to imagine right now.
#1. A peak at the formation of the 2017 garden inside
#3. A succulent propagation experiment that I saw on Pinterest. It's a slow process but there are babies developing

This message was edited Apr 25, 2017 9:59 AM

Springtime woes, compounded by electronics. Va Dogwoods I recognize

Very nice Kitt

Well the weather stays crazy and unexpected Keith , Nice plants in the Greenhouse Only my letters keep doubling as i type them in ,
Dogwoods are in Bloom around here also Kitt ,


1 Garden Peas are Blooming
2 Perennial Basil has returned
3 Milkweeds are up

It hasn't "snowed on the dogwood" yet, so it is to early to plant tomatoes or any other tenders. In years past, I planted earlier and just covered them. Some recovered, but it wasn't their best year. Some of the small ones just never grew. For us, here, it is better to put them out after May 15th.

This message was edited Apr 25, 2017 5:49 PM

Evelyn , Dogwood here ,
and Yellow Pear Tomatoes , bloom setting

Everyone was expecting an Easter freeze around here so held off on planting tomatoes. I threw one in between the sweet corn in february, the rest I put in pots. Some easter freeze it was in the 90's last week.
I put the yellow squash and broccoli on the pond tray (which already has a fair number of tomato plants on it, on sunday

that hornworm doesn't look like a tomato worm and is on a wildflower. I can't find a matching picture. any idea what he is?

it is summer here. The broccoli plants near the main garden were all holey from bugs or caterpillars. The one in the onion bed nested between wildflowers has been getting too much bloodmeal, but not many holes in leaves, and just the outer leaves not by the "weeds"

This message was edited Apr 28, 2017 5:49 PM

wow did not realize everyone has a different climate challenge. I am getting rid of all the big 100 lb plus potted plants next weekend with a one day plant sale. everything is up, bloomed or about to , it is raining here. wish I had a dog wood tree, love those things. I have three iris blooming lavender, yellow and purple. Went to dr yesterday he put me on a new drug for "ANGST?" what ever that is..bleah, there are no guarantees in the health industry.,my poor arms are so bruised from them trying to find a vein that wont "blow" anyway, I have not gotten a lot of stuff mailed out yet, but ALice you are next.
here is the yard garden views so far..century plant out in corner, donating it to botanical gardens this fall, it takes a hundred years for it to bloom, I won't live that long....Alley tub full of a "cutting that took" of red honeysuckle , looking north east,looking southeast, goodbye cedar tree out front..( yes I hugged it and cried)

The old fashioned pear tree did not give pears this year. the over head branches from the big elm next to it was over it and cut the sun out, so those tree guys trimmed off the elp and now there is dead wood for them to take off the pear tree, as well as taking down the maple that was two inches around and is now 35 years old and hit by lighting. That will be next. they also cut down the dying redbud from the alley so that is good. more pics of things called blooms and seedlings oh Cytff, i was going to paint my three rain barrels, but Joe said no now you can plant stuff around them to hide them lucky me. LOL wild black berry with goji berry, it is starting to explode with blooms and I have been digging up babies from the runners it put out in the surrounding yard area.anyone want a thorny black berry? Wow a big storm is on the way.. 80 mph winds I am hearing the news say dang.
mustard blooms, primrose with monarda, iris, milkweed from Ju

Everything looks so lush green at your place Debra. Still dealing with the white stuff here. Looking more promising next week

This thread has a bunch of very pretty pictures , from Everybody !!!
Cold and windy and wet here , Tomorrow is suppose to be in the 80"s with sunshine
I will get some pic's if the moments present ,
Debra , your Milkweed looks better than mine here , as long as they grow , bloom bring Butterflies and bees , it's all good , lol
Not a bunch of plants from wintersow here But I got a few , as said , it's all good , only better when you (me) get it right on .

Ju ~ Nice iris. Do you know their names?

Debra ~ So many lovelies you have there. It is just beginning to get warm here, but it could change on a dime. "Old Timers" here in El Dorado county say to not put out your tomatoes until it "snows on the (blooming) dogwood" . The dogwoods are finally in bloom up here, but so far, no snow. I wouldn't be disappointed if it didn't come this year.

Thanks, it is soooo cold and windy, most plant nurseries have their stuff covered since lows are in the 30's. My Tropical stuff is almost all out, so far they are just pouting, when the sun gets warmed up they will smile again. We have gotten over 3 inches of rain last month and there are people under 12 inches of snow in western Kansas. I am South Central. I think that snow would "do me in" so to speak -at this time LOL
Jack in the pulpit has a little colony now of about 5. I need to get pics of it.

We have gone from the 80's to 50's and30's again here with rain and cold wind ,

Evelyn other than Conjuration and one other I do not know the names of most of them ,

Debra My tropicals look beat , outside the peas , beets , turnip , and poppies are having a good time, They like the cold days after a rare hot sunny day ,

I am not having a good time with the colder breezes and so forth for the first time in decades my sinus's are driving me crazy ,

Nice leopard plant Debra! Wow

Ju, I know how you feel. I am on vaCATION, SITTING HERE FREEZING, ( IT IS NOT THAT COLD OUT BUT IT FEELS THAT WAY). OOps stupid lap top. I didn't know what that one plant was, I kinda grabbed it from a woodland area a few years ago and planted it under the old pear tree.

Debra, can you D-mail me your address please? I have some Primrose to send you. Speak up if anybody else would like some...

awww that is pretty..I have the pink one. it is blooming now. Went to Heart Dr for check up, staying on meds, go back in three months. It is supposed to warm up here soon.

I'm trying to propagate some butterfly weed seed but no luck so far. Anyone have any suggestions?

Butterfly weed , Mine won't usually germinate until mid or late season , bloom sparingly their first overwintered or adult year , Long process ,
My only success from seed this year , A Cinderella Incarnata (white swamp Milkweed . )