Plant propagation the Basics March 2018

I thought that might be what that flower was, I was gifted one by a Dave's garden member at a round up years ago, lost it in a freeze.
Florida is nice in the winter, but it is 39 this morn, way too cold for me. Wish I left my greenhouse up. February was a big tease with warmer than normal temps. My bad for letting my guard down, I know better.
Loretta love those blooms, hard to believe under all that snow.

Loretta was thinking the same about the flowers

Sun , plants have as bad a time with weather as us sometimes .

Keith to your Great White North it is minus 6 degrees here ,, too cold ,,

Debra ,,,Zoooooom purrrrrr ,,, no snow in years ? I couldn't imagine ...

Sherri, believe it or not, we are not far apart in temps but you will probably warm up by this afternoon. We are only going to hit 40 and we might get another Nor'easter by Monday according to the American Model.
That morning glory is a beautiful color, Debra. It's new to me.

Had a fun day outside it got up to 72, kinda dry, but I went ahead and scattered some seeds from Ju. Pretty excited. I love throwing seeds out. There are a lot of pretty morning glories. And 4 o clocks..

Debra Yes those are very nice !!!

looks like this here
willow

I only bring one or 2 pots actually INTO the house. Ice plant cuttings, and my italian oregano I started from a cutting from a customer. Kick more into the greenhouse.

The early freeze of 2016 took care of the big heavy tropicals, and I don't miss hauling those pots into the greenhouse.

Took a few shots today while I was on my walk. This is a trail that I keep packed with the snowmobile along the creek behind our house . It is a nice change from walking the road. I try to get out for a walk most days ranging from 2 to 6 miles. Today was approximately 5 miles. Was a little too sunny for good picture detail. In the first picture the group of evergreens on the left side I planted 38 years ago. My first career was as a forest technician for the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources. In the spring of 1980 I had supervised a Boy Scout tree plant and took home the leftover trees. I will always be able to remember the date as Wendy was pregnant with our 2nd daughter that year. It has been very gratifying to see them grow over the years. Will try to get a clearer shot on a cloudy day.

Wow, did I ever screw that one up. Thumb nails again. The picture I was talking about with the trees I planted didn't even get posted . This should be it

Keith , Very serene ! The story also with that !!!

Gorgeous. Untouched. nothing like that here. we get snow it fakes us out for a day or 2 then its crowded city again

I don't miss the snow, but I really would like to miss the weather here, too. I scooped my 6 milkweed sprouts out of their swamp and planted today. Also transplanted the peppers and 2 tomatoes into my 5 gal containers. Have to finish tomoro. Got up to 83* when the sun came out, so watered everything. There was a promise of rain, but those are getting to be just promises. Still hoping for gray and rain tomorro. Found this guy dodging my sticky willy weed clearing. Velcro weed, nasty stuff. Also hung out the hummer feeder since we should start seeing them this week.

Thanks Ju and Gypsi.
Peppers and tomatoes looking really nice Kitt

Beautiful peppers, ugly wood scorpion. So far I've had no scorpions here

Oh Keith, how beautiful! You are so blessed. Ju, is that pussy willow? wow, I just cant seem to grow it here. Scorpions, ? UGH, I killed one inside the cabin last summer while we were in Oklahoma at the Catfish Noodling contest. It was headed for th kids on the fold out bed, and I swooshed down and saved them.. LOL it was not brown, tho. *shiver* Kit, you are going gangbusters, as are you, Gypsy. I'm just kinda hmm throw a few seeds here, a few there, okay I'm done. :P

Debra yes it is pussy Willow That and the sandbar willow are butterfly hosts
Yesterday I moved a small Forsythia from seed or runner I couldn't tell ,
I am going to try more cuttings I tend to forget about them though , (not good ,
Garlic , onions , small sprouts happening , but the 25 and such night temperatures mean I have to wait to do anything much outside

1 & 2 couple of the seedlings from the Electric Orange Daylily (Hemerocallis )
3 Small Forsythia about to leaf , has nice roots .
4) 1 of Three Cuban Oregano plants that made it through (indoors)
5 Asiatic Lilium sprouts ,indoors ( Have some yellow ones outside )

1 Dwarf Daffodils
2 ,3 Penstemon waking up
4 onions

Good evidence of things to come Ju

Keith My anticipation is not like it use to be , However I sure hope for more blooms all the time

I've gotten slower the past few years
Blooms will happen soon here ,

Kitt Wood Scorpions ,,, oh my
you also Debra ...

My butt hurts. My knees hurt, but by golly I got 2 year old pond underlayment completely covered with bermuda grass through its 3 inches of mulch UP. so I can seed tomorrow. On the bright side there were maybe a dozen sprigs of actually in dirt bermuda I have to dig up first. On the down side I hurt.

And I think I have a propagation treat awaiting me, some old rare seeds of species unnamed and unknown but in 1992 sold as butterfly weed (and it is NOT a milkweed), I' put a few in a plastic bag with a paper towel and rain water 3 weeks ago after slightly abrading them, very tough seed coat. And I think I see one sprout. I only have about a dozen seeds left, something has to work. Seeds look like a lupine, the bloom is not unlike a lupine but bright orange yellow and low to the ground.

Sounds exciting to me, Gypsy. I love trying old or unknown not quite sure what it is that I'm planting so here goes... :D Someone tried to give me this beautiful amrayliss theother day, I just took the seed pod. Gonna send them out it was a giant red and white water colored two toned one. I am not good with those things.. I feel your pain from that work , Alice... take care tho.. Ju, Keith is so right, you have so much going to burst out and race to the color show soon!

well part of them have a gel coat, and may be beginning to mold although I didn't see any mold so I rinsed in bag with peroxide before moving to clean fresh potting mix wet with rain water, in a chinese food tray with lid under lights in fish room. Some don't have any softening yet, some are in between. No definite root on any, but given them time I have spent observing or doing anything, at least not moldy yet.

Debra usually I try lily seeds and amaryllis by floating them in water to start this time no set or room to do that , I will have several blooms every year more ,
I'm going to work on increasing the heard that does bloom and does well here ,
Light snow here 23 tonight, tomorrow 21 degrees is how I lose plants outside this time of year , Older perennials have trouble with the weather here when it is like this ,
Gypsi sore ,, I have felt that way , Always seems to be that big rock that needs moved the day after too ,,eeek ,,

Kittriana, those are healthy looking tomatoes and peppers but I might take the snow over the scorpions! Thankfully we don't have those.
What a blue sky, Keith! So pristine! It must have been nice watching those trees grow through the years.
Sorry you are in so much pain, Gypsi. The gel coating on your old seeds sounds promising. They must have been something good if you saved them.

Whoooopee! Christmas in March! Garden Amaryllis, Red Lion. The sprouts have stalled, waiting on warmth, I am sure. I am wondering if it will bloom BEFORE the salvia gets taller than it. I ache. Didn't move a single rock yet. Dentist tomorro digs those wisdom teeth boulders out, sigh.

wisdom teeth not fun.

Kitt Nice spring looking Amaryllis

Garlic
1 red 2 brown
3 Lilium from last years seeds

Keith just love those beautiful photos, I looked through them a few times.

Kitt, the vegetables looking good and healthy, scorpion looks big, we have little ones here, but rare. Good luck at the dentist, I had those out a long long time ago.

Debra all those flowers are just lovely. Your temps are warmer than down here.

Gypsi, I feel your pain, so much work in the garden, but think the last of the leaves have fallen, dug up two small trees, Guess pain means a work out...I dunno?

Ju, are you sending those cold fronts down here??? Quit it, please...LOL.

Got my grandson here today, he's ten, going to plant some caladium bulbs and go to the garden center so he can get his free plant.

Temperatures will warm a bit for the weekend, might even see 80F before next cold front. We sure need rain, well sounds like it is struggling, burn ban went into effect yesterday for our county. A little spit of rain last Monday filled my rain barrel back up at least.

Rains been missing me, got .01" so watered. Caught what little I did get and poured it over to a gal jug. Our pollen is still heavier than the dust in the air. Still cleanin the ground, last year was too wet. The poison ivy is next to address before it blooms and goes virulent. Caught these 2 doin the nasty near my garden. Slug with shell is different than what I usually see. I dont normally see the scorpions unless they are warming on the rocks, he is little, maybe 1.5" or maybe 2". A knife my honey has made, black walnut handle. He has been the 2nd best Tenn welder in his day. Some kind of acknowledged achievement- his teacher was #1 in Tn state...
I got stuffs to do so will check in later

This message was edited Mar 18, 2018 2:01 AM

Kitt Nice knife ,, Honey sounds good ,

Sun ,, I only wave it on to go past ,I can't help where goes
A Snapdragon
A Big Smile Daylily

Kitt the yellow liquid is pollen in rainwater? Ju, seedlings are the hope of winter's end.

whoa! nice knife! Sun, isn't this weather crazy? Still waiting for rain here, had to water yesterday. *sigh*
Ju, you babies are looking good, and Kitt, forgot to mention it looks like you guys live in the woods there.
Alice, how are you doing? Hi , Loretta, are you ready for spring?

Yup that yellow is just pollen, I caught roof drip, but when roof is dirty the water is brown, not yellow. Oak, pine, & elm in bloom so heavy, you can see the pollen falling in sheets. I think the pollen should settle, that may clear that water up some. I shall try to.get a pic of how the pollen drifts up in piles tomorro. More burning to do, still checking how a mole entered my protected bed, had to replant a tomato... something dug in the pots and knocked one off. Stem broke, but roots on the top above the break, so I planted it in ground. Maybe it will survive. Monday is the day to plant above ground plants here, so readying more seeds.

For any of you who were following the discussion I had a little while back with Sherri and a few others about the existence of black bears in Florida:

This has been really bugging me so I did a bit of searching on Google this morning. What had me scratching my head is the fact that in Canada these bears spend months in hibernation under the snow in a den created just before the first heavy snowfall. Their cubs are born during hibernation. It seemed weird that the same animal could live in a state like Florida with no winter as we know it. As usual Google didn't really present the exact information I was looking for however I found that the back bears there are actually a subspecies called Florida black bear and they range into the southern parts of 3 other states which I believe were Alabama, Georgia and Mississippi. It sounds like the female still goes into a semi hibernation stage to give birth in a den however not snow covered.

Fl black bears are smaller than northern cousins, but animals that need a hibernation ( inc gators) do so in Jan I believe. They are still a problem. Keith? That Daniel Boone song, killed his first bear with bare hands? Those Tn black bears were size of dogs or a bit larger if my history serves me. We also have panthers? I think?. Even our Fl deer are smaller than northern ones, still can wreck a car, grrrrr, and far more prone in the south to attack cars than those farther north. Different seasons.
Deb, wild area yes, but we chose not to clearcut the property when we moved the house in, every so often, my son in law and I go to trimming the growth back to where we have more yard. I aim the camera so as to miss the neighbors houses - one of them even keeps horses out here - and dogs as big as the horses, chuckl. Now our neighbors who did clearcut whine at us when we open areas up. Seriously verbally whine at what we do to our trees, even tho theirs are gone.

I live on old pasture land, I planted trees on arrival 17 years ago, had to put a split rail fence around the lot with a no trespassing sign or people thought it was a park and came for a stroll, horse people rode through it, I have mulched paths, it's pretty nice now

well, I dunno about bears, but if u charge admission, Alice, I 'd gladly pay to walk about your property.. :D

Gypsi ,Not as many places t walk or ride anymore causes that I suppose

Debra Brings to mind Walking with Dinosaurs ,, Maybe they should do a Walking with Bears ,, to me though , neither sounds really fun ,,,lol ,

Pinned some Nanking Cherry branches down , Staked and covered them , another try for more , BES plants are starting to appear , still in the 20's at night ,

You are welcome any time Debra. I didn't know I had a park til the guy knocked on my door, wanting to dig up the baby pine tree. Sadly the drought got the baby, I've not had another start.

Hi to you too, Debra - I'm ready for spring but we are suppose to get another Nor'easter tomorrow. Here is a Petasites that bloomed under the snow so it's a little mushy. Here are a few seed attempts. So far I've got some germinating but I was stupid to leave the containers near a South facing window so I also fried a few and I knew better. Here are a couple of seed packs I picked up at the Philadelphia Flower Show this year. This might be the first year I didn't come home with a plant.