Plant Propagation Discussions - Sept 2019

It is Summer past, and time for a new thread. Discussions, queries and pictures here. From where we came

https://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1501773/

Kitt ,, I give that a sunflower

Thanks for that Kitt. It was definitely time

Chuckl, yes it was. Jim, I will TAKE your beautiful Sunflower and raise you one 100* tired front porch. I have one bed fully leveled and have been imagining watering systems. PVC drips are on my mind, but while it works cleanly in my mind- experience is laughing it's mouth off at me, 😂😒. I did manage to get one trellis oiled and reassembled before caving to the copious sweatbath and retiring to a/c. I need rain, 4" would make me happy!

I tried to photograph hummers today and failed. I think. for some reason they like to perch in my big pine but when I pull out the phone to take picture they fly away. or by the time the camera takes the picture, the bird that was there isn't. except this one, who was perched on the dead branch of my rosebush. With my distance, this is best I got. Daughter and grandkids brought me flowers today too
A leopard frog hiding under my dead iris pot. (aquatic iris I thinned by just removing from a small pond). This morning's tiger swallowtail. Hawk moth at night, when taking the trash out. her caterpillar fed on my vitex. (looks like a much larger tomato worm)

This message was edited Sep 7, 2019 8:45 PM

The worm the hawk moth came from actually eats vitex instead of tomatoes (I consider this a big plus)

Twice the size of a tomato worm. I pruned the vitex and found him amongst the prunings and put back in the tree

Thanks Kitt for new thread, your front porch is so inviting, and I still dig that Texas windchime.

Ju, love all your morning glories, of course that sunflower is awesome, saw it on the other website...need to put that one in the photo contest.

Gypsi, was really nice of the kiddos to give you flowers. Hummers are camera shy here for sure, big worm and cool frog, at first I thought is was a pic of a chopped up snake...LOL.

Dang squirrel got in my house last evening through laundry door not shutting all the way. The freaked out thing was running all over the kitchen knocking things all over the place, dog barking her head off was not helping matters. Finally it went up into the curtain valance to hide out.
My son had the idea of using the oven mitts to capture it so we wouldn't get bit. After two attempts I got a hold of her squealing and biting my mitts and tossed her back out the door, with dog chasing behind, she never had so much fun. We laughed so hard afterwards.

Really nice to see all the posts during my afternoon break. Your front porch does look very inviting Kitt and I got quite a chuckle out of your squirrel story Sherri. Always paranoid of that happening!

oh your squirrel is a thriller Sun.

I am tired, there was a pond. more later

Leaned down to turn off the yard sprinkler and now those tiny fireants are firing up my skin, 7 bites, and no, they weren't there earlier, (do not scratch, no, no, no) and if that poison works, they won't be there later. Darn. I have visiting hummers this morning- I know because there are so many sharing the feeders- that were about empty. So I added a 7th feeder, topped off the blackseed for the goldfinches, noticed a cardinal and a LARGE Red Headed woodpecker watching me and the backside of a BlueJay...ran Ms Warbeast to vet who assured me the knot in her gut was her body adapting to last Mondays sutures, and have hid indoors away from the sun all day. Snuck out and watered stuff and made a note to self to harvest those herbs. Had a deer a night or two ago nibble on its way past the garden- my basil leaves on one plant, since I have 8 or 9 of those, it didn't bother me.
Am attempting to locate a source of Brassica alba seeds to grow and harvest, not having any luck yet- my internet thinks I just cook green stuff. Brassica nigra too, sigh, so back I go to sift thru the chaff...

I've had quite a few hummers this year but not as easy to see when they are picking from turks cap and flame acanthus scattered along the fence, down by the street and only one in a flowerbed. For some reason one hummer wanted to perch on my pine tree. no photo, guess it's just a safe place to rest, until I tried to take a picture.

with all the rain here this spring and my nematodes, haven't had many fire ants, but the carpenter ants are after my porch again.
No new pictures except yesterday's waterfalls and they aren't finished, I go back tomorrow, had to rest today

I was surprised to still see a hummingbird here on Sunday. It was feeding on my new reddish thunbergia by the front door. We have had near frost so I thought they would be gone.

Near frost, shudder. Even with temps brutal at 90/100, that word makes me cringe. Frost. Sweetgums are yellowing and dropping leaves now, as well as a few Sand Oaks. Harvested basils, more to dry tho. I harvested the Pineapple Sage, not keeping it. It just has no aromatic value to me.
Dripping a tiny bit outdoors, don't expect to get a measurable amts tonite- way too much thunder to get water out of those clouds.
12th and 13th will sow the chard, spinach lettuce and oats, if I live thru 'surgery' tomorro. Had a malignant blurb hop onto my arm, grrr. Fire ants bites are little pockets of poison and I can no longer feel them.

hope surgery goes well Kitt. My last 3 days.... these are "after" shots

This message was edited Sep 10, 2019 8:38 PM

Wow, that is just beautiful Gypsi, love how you incorporate the plants into your ponds and fountains. One of your best yet.

Kitt, hope surgery goes well. Ants are ridiculously bad here this year, never so many, maybe because we had a drier hotter summer than usual. At least they're little black ants and don't bite. We do have fire ants, but thank goodness none in my garden, too shady for them.

Keith, that is cool you still see a hummer, I'm with Kitt though, frost makes me cringe...don't even want to worry about that yet.

Temps seem to be getting back to normal here again. Some clouds in the sky today, another tropical disturbance coming this weekend, but should just be a rain maker, my garden will appreciate that.

The boys Simba and Oreo (brothers), see little gray Izzy in background, she always stays behind them, we call her the gray ghost, no one who visits us every sees her, she'll stay under my bed till they're gone.

Kitt hope that goes easy and well for you , quick recovery wishes

Gypsy me too .. love the water and stone designs ,,green space extraordinaire !

Sun love the Kitties , the boys look interested ,,
Mingles chilling on the project room sofa be 4 next week ,,
Smiling like he is anticipating something ,,

Good luck Kitt. Thanks for sharing your pin wirk Gypsi and the felines Sherri and Ju,
Was a short day on the chicken coop for me and probably one more day when Tennille gets done painting and rubberizing the floor. Terrible weather for those jobs to dry.

oh my sympathies on drying paint in cold damp weather. but it will be worth it when done. I am guilty of not designing that waterfall system, they are actually 3 pondless on one dirt mountain in the middle of a parking lot. But the company that built them does not do repairs or service and has actually left the pond business. It is very seasonal and tough to have enough staff when it's busy and survive when it isn't. so a lot are closing, this is good for me, as we have steadier work. I will probably be adding some more plants in the between spaces if we start to get rain, thinking some sedums, stuff that doesn't take a lot of irrigation.

Sun your kitties are just adorable. My female cat is 10 this year, and no one ever sees miss Miley because she hears them come in the door and vanishes. Cuchulainn is the ambassador of cat.

Miley is a bit of a tortie. Cuchulainn is a bit of a Maine coon. (probably only half though, he was a pound kitten and only weighs 12 pounds) He is the one with the black paws and glorious tail who scared me half to death when I found the antifreeze yesterday

This message was edited Sep 13, 2019 3:26 PM

Love Mingles smiling face, good dreams.

Keith can't wait to see the coop finished, hope weather holds our for you.

Gypsi, beautiful kitties, I had a Maine Coon when growing up, moved across country twice with us, lived 17 years. Our little gray Izzy is only 12 pounds, she's about nine, the boys turned 11 on July 4th.

Lucy and Emma- it's the lure of hummingbirds. Emma is moving to Pensacola on Monday. Sigh, now I get bees, and in the wrong place, naturally. Finches leaving the hummer feeders alone. Hummers drawn in today by my sander on the porch- I suspect it drew the bees too.

Gypsi cute kitties

Kitt wonderful to have all those hummers Mingles loves to watch birds also ,,

Some blooms

Nice colours Ju..
I believe I am finally finished my part of the chicken coop. Tennille still has to get the rubberized coating on the floor and about a foot up the wall. Weather has not cooperated when she is off
1) outside view of the poop shute
2) inside view of above wall with roost and roosting litter box
3) nest boxes
4) back side of nest boxes with external collection hatches

I see one more place needing metal fabric oxdrift- right there that small place above the door. So many animals can climb up the walls, the metal fabric- have even seen snakes climb down here in the south. So many animals are born thieves and smart at knobs, latches and catches, and fit spots you couldn't believe they could get thru. I like the idea of a rubberized floor...as long as washout actually drains...
Another thing you might consider is a tin can (trash can?) to store feed in, tho I have seen rats open light weight trash can lids- we always kept a heavy 1/2" steel lid on top of ours instead of the trash can lid

I see what you are referring to Kitt but that fabric is to keep the chickens on the right side of the pen, not to keep critters out. That is a partition that divides the pen and the entry door will not be left open to the outside world. . We would have covered it anyway just for looks but the hardware store no longer sells the fabric by the foot so it would have meant purchasing another roll for an area 6 inches by 2 feet. Sharp eye though! LOL

Yeah, I had baby chix escaping places I didn't think rats could get to. I learned slower than I wanted to...I personally would use the whole roll- I have moles and my beds have it under them so I have use of such leftovers, chuckl. Your yard is so neat and clean looking. My yard looks like a swamp might- tall St Augustine, leaves falling like crazy and tree branches dropping and thrown by those blasted tree rats...am busy trying to get fencing around my beds to keep deer out- with this rain everything is jumping...

That is some coop. will take a closer look when I get back to the computer, might be monday. work calls.

Bees found the basil finally, it took some leading on my part tho, and denying them the hummer feeders. Seeds thrown out 7 days back, the ones that didn't sprout are just now showing up. Prob the rain instead of the water hose...but I suspect it may be marjoram and not tarragon, oh well, chuckl. This circle of seeds are how I planted the lettuce mix seeds. Rain was hard on heavy plants, I may need to harvest more leaves....

did you give them honey to lead them to the basil? They will go anywhere for honey, but I usually offer sugar syrup unless it's my own honey

I was desperate Gypsi, I had a tiny jar of Burlesons wildflower honey, waffle syrup and added some of the hummer mix on top of the honey and waffle syrup. It took them 30 minutes flat to be licking the clean plate. I had to move all the hummer feeders off the porch, then slowly walk them up to the garden, took 2 days because I was hanging the feeders back up in the evening. I have 5 feeders now under the pines instead of on the porch, and the bees are up on the basils. I even managed to get them off the porch before I had to go pick up the dau and SIL at Hobby the night before that heavy flooding hit in Houston. 2 good moves since I didn't get stuck in that heavy rainfall that night. How thick do you make the sugar syrup? and I use filtered water for the hummer feeders as our water is iffy some days.

Keith that is really nice ckin coop, you did a great job.

Ju, that goldenrod is so beautiful, can't wait for it to start blooming here, nice bee catch too.

I never did put hummingbird feeders out this year, I'm just not as good at keeping them filled with fresh sugar water, and ants take them over, and this year lots and lots of ants. Hummers still coming around to the flowers.

Ants, yes, I caved and got the Tanglefoot. Reminds me of rubber cement, but it doesn't dry. I occasionally wash the dead ants off and re apply, but have been washing the area under the feeders down twice a day anyway. Has worked wonders, but I will have Tanglefoot for a long time... I had 4x as many hummers this year than usual, and for a lot longer period of time.

I got Tanglefoot on my beesuit and it's still there after 3 washes. hmmm. Bee syrup:
2 cup sugar to 2 cups water, dab of vinegar (maybe half a teaspoon but precision not a concern).

winter bee syrup, 3 plus a bit cup sugar to 2 cups water. Easier for them to evaporate and store. The plus a bit, when I can't get anymore to dissolve even though I started with near boiling water. I never boil the bee syrup, just the plain water before, boiling changes composition, and this is again, with a dab of vinegar to invert it.

Noted and saved, thanx. Only 2 hummers left, but I suspect they are still traveling thru here on the way south as the feeder still empties fast. Volunteer plants still need thinned out, and new beds seeded. The moon has so much water in the top of the ground right now I hope the plants can survive it, chuckl.

sounds like your all getting decent weather to do all the goodies and gardening ,,

Some of the seedlings for next years blooms
Tall White Echinacea
Mystery Gaillardia )one of several
Coreopsis (tall yellow prairie type
Butterfly weed (tuberosa
Perennial early sunflower (one of two ,,

Tanglefoot advises mineral spirits or oil as it has a chemical composition...seeds thrown in ground today are oats and crimson clover, fingers crossed.

I need to get crimson clover in but when I tried to clear the area sunday I watered first and the chiggers got all the way to my neck. I was in sandals and no sulfur, oh silly me.

Maybe I can get spots out of bee suit before I wash it next, thank you Kitt.

Good looking sprouts there Ju!

Looking good Kitt and Ju.

I don't know how many different ants I have in my garden but the little black ants are taking over. I have big old bricks around where the azaleas were and pulled them up to redo them straighter, every single one had a colony of ants living between them, lots of eggs. Sheesh.

I have two or three hummers hanging around.

Well, I didn't EXPECT to be propagating fungus. Guess they are from the wood decomposing. 2) Spotted at a revisit to Dermatologist chuckl, 3) still getting bugs I can't find- yet- on the basil. 4&5) tall pink ruellia blooming for all it's worth.

That the dermatologist's vehicle...grin. We get shrooms here when it rains a lot, but haven't been rain.

Hey, all I saw the photo contest has started, I think Keith should put his great containers in, and Ju, for sure your sunflowers, and Kitt your cute kitties, and Gypsi your wonderful ponds. If you win you get a free year paid for.

Maybe I should try that Sun. going to be on the computer doing bookkeeping this weekend, might have time to upload some pics, thank you for thinking of me