Julie, sorry about Little Bud. :(
Clare - I may have to make a trip to Costco tomorrow to see what they are like. After the big pots are done blooming this year, I'm going to tear them all apart and repot. I think it has been four years since I last did it.....will throw out all the existing potting soil, clean up all the fronds and repot in more than the existing three containers. Hopefully I will get them marked for color and size which I keep threatening to do, but never seem to get around to it.
K - I think we have twins.....some of mine look just like that!
Donna - I've never bought from him, have you checked the GardenWatchdog? Let us know if you do order plants about condition etc.
The Epis Are Here, The Epis Are Here!! 2005
Candy, they were a great price for urns -- around $30 each. They were a neat gray color too.
Donna, I've never purchased from him either.
Here is today's picture:
There is one comment made and it was good. Someone else had told me about Jim's. I'll keep you posted if I do buy some which I probably will. The problem will be which ones.....lol.
:) Donna
Thanks! That is DH's hand, I was taking the pic. His hands are much bigger than mine. Those flowers were huge! I can't wait to see them this year!
K :~D
Clare, that flower is sooo beautiful I can't come up with enough superlatives. You must smile every time you look at it.
Kathleen
Thanks, Kathleen:-) To tell you all the truth, the colored day-blooming ones are beautiful, but it is the white night-blooming fragrant ones which really excite me. I'm a big fragrance buff, and I want all the flowers in my garden to be both beautiful and fragrant, but I make a lot of exceptions:-) I think, for the most part, the day-blooming colored ones are not fragrant and the night-blooming white ones are fragrant; right, Candy? But it is nice to add color to the garden too.
Only my white day blooming ones are extremely fragrant, the pink ones don't have much of a scent at all. Before we moved here 7 years ago my Epis all lived in an enclosed pool area and when the white ones bloomed it was almost overwhelming, similar to the amount a fragrance from a Brug at night in the garden. I don't know if my experience is true of all Epis or not.
Got all involved in the garden today......major pocket gopher invasion, so I never got to Costco today Clare, but am determined to hit there tomorrow and a few nurseries that are on the same course......gotta make that gas usage mean something!
Candy, I know what it is to get wrapped up in the garden as you complete one chore or task after another.
Thanks for the info about the fragrant white day-blooming epi's. I did not know that! I think I do have a white day-blooming one and will check it for scent when it blooms. You may have lucked out and got a special day-blooming scented one because I think most day-bloomers don't have much of a scent, but I could be wrong about that. As my day-bloomers bloom, you can bet I will be sticking my nose in each one and reporting back:-)
Candy, my E. oxipetalum that I had all those years ago was SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO fragrant that it made my entire house smell terrific for the whole day after it bloomed (it was inside my house when it bloomed). It looked so sad during the day, but the fragrance lingered so nicely :-) I hope this one will be similar. Although I'm still concerned about the one I have now being a real E. oxipetalum.....time will tell either way :-)
-Julie
Oh and Candy, I meant to say how surprised I was to read that you only moved there 7 years ago! I thought this was a home you'd lived in for decades!
Hi Julie -
Just off to bed here, while you are just getting up.......it's a big world out there!
We moved here in 1998, began landscaping spring of '99....this is part of the backyard. Can you tell this is several digital cameras ago????
And this was 2001. The greenhouse now stands where the arbors were originally located.
Candy, I'm, I'm, I'm.....speechless! Look at all you've done in just 7 years! In your pics of today it almost seems like your garden has no borders....with so many twists and turns and hideaways. WOW! If you've done all that in 7 years, I REALLY can't wait to see what you'll do with your new gigantic garden! I'll be here, on the edge of my seat :-)
-Julie
Well, here's an updated pic of my largest Epi buds. Now I'm convinced this is indeed NOT E. oxipetalum. :-( The bud is about to open on the largest one and it isn't anywhere near long enough to be the one I used to have. The bud on my old plant grew to nearly two feet....growing first upwards, then arching downwards and finally the tip of the bud "stem" arched upwards again days before opening.....and the flower opened with a slight upwards tilt and was about 8 inches across and had a lovely scent. It opened in mid-July at around midnight and lasted until morning. Classic E. oxipetalum scenario as far as all the literature I've read on it is concerned. So this one that I have now, seeing as it's about to bloom in April and the bud growth habit isn't anywhere similar to what I expected....I just don't think it's E. oxipetalum. I'm sure it will be lovely. And I will adore it. But I'm pretty disappointed seeing as I was so happy to have finally (after a decade of searching) found a replacement for my old plant that I loved so much.
Also, the buds I was so happy about on my rikrak cactus turned out to just be baby stems afterall. Drat! Oh well.....
In any case, here's the updated photo of my largest buds on my Epi. :-)
-Julie
Candy, those pictures are great! I didn't know you had so much room:-) I guess I pictured you living like my brother does in San Francisco in one of those houses so close to each other with barely any gardening room!
Julie, I'm so sorry that you don't have Epiphyllum oxypetalum, but I'm sure that what you have will be beautiful! That bud is huge! I can't wait to see what it is. I bet you will find a Epi oxy one of these days when you least expect it.
I'm hoping that your white one (mayve it will be peach or pinky?) is like mine.....extremely fragrant! It looks to be about the right size, I remember one year when I only had one white bloom....but it was 12" across! I've heard that debudding them (like you would a Dahlia to get a show quality bloom) doesn't really work with Epis.....the flower is gonna be what the flower is whether you de-bud or not. Don't know if it's true, but I'm not about to try it out. LOL
Clare - we have 1/4 acre because we are way out in the burbs. I guarantee it isn't very big when you take the footprint of the house/garage/driveway out of it. The thing that has really saved me is having the open space beyond the back fence where I have been gardening in a wildland setting for about 5+ years. That's space that I'm now using to propagate cuttings and such for when we move sometime next year.
Oh, my, Candy. I didn't know you are moving. I feel for you. Moving is not easy. I plan to do the same thing, and when that time comes, I'll be propagating like crazy also. Our move will be out of state, and I just don't know how much I will be able to take with me. The worst case senario though is that I will take epi, plumeria, and brug cuttings and throw them in a cardboard box and move them like that and start over. The best case senario is that I can move all my container plants as they are. I hope you are moving to a bigger place:-)
If we can ever get through the BS of all the paperwork, it will be sometime next year. And it will be bigger and I will be taking at least 75% of my plants with me. That should leave a reasonable amount of plants for a yard this size......besides whoever buys it will probably bull-doze it and put in a big LAWN & POOL!
There's a thread from last summer Field of Dreams:
http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/448023/
Candy, that is an amazing thread. I never get over there to that forum, but I should. Congrats on acquiring a wonderful piece of property! How wonderful that will be for you. I'm so jealous. I'm after the same thing as you but can only afford Colorado soil, not California soil. I can't wait to see your new place as it develops and comes together. Congrats on owning a little piece of heaven.
What an incredible piece of land. Congratulations on your success Happenstance, that is an amazing area. As a bit of a newbie to this whole retirement thing, I can relate to all of the things it takes to do the BIG move. When Pam and I left the coast for this bit of land (10ac total/ 5 in use) I was and am still a bit overwhelmed by all of the setup for a combination horse breeding ranch and hopefully a one of a kind garden. After several trips back and forth to Europe, Canada, Mexico, East Coast U.S., and the Midwest purchasing the foundation mares, I got to learn how to build corrals, barns...and all the other structures needed for a horse ranch....the permits, inspections, and red tape were a nightmare I don't want to repeat.
It actually took three years of horsie stuff before I could seriously begin planning and building garden spaces. You are waaay ahead of the game.
What a great spot, cheers to you!
Candy, what a beautiful place you will have. We just moved into our little piece of heaven a year ago last week and though we are still close to traffic (the hwy to the casinos), being able to look out the windows and see pine trees, critters, birds, and mountains is wonderful. DH and I often stand at the window together and just look...
Glad your easement troubles seem to have been mild and here's hoping your grading goes (or has gone?) smoothly. We could have used Arnold around here a few times, too! Wait til the inspectors start --- OY!
Kathleen
Hey, Clare, there aint nuttin bad about Colorado soil! I'd take it over California any day! Some of the best memories of my childhood are from the years I spent in Colorado :-) And there's nothing in the world that can beat the Rocky Mountains....in my not so humble opinion :-)
-Julie
Yes, beautiful piece of property!!! I'm moving too, in a couple of weeks! I'm so excited!
My 2 epi's are finally blooming!!! :)
This is the smaller flowered one, pink.
And this one is reddish/pinkish and HUGE flowers! I've only them for 2 years.
I'm not a very good photagrapher... but at least you get the idea.
and this shot I think shows more of the pinkish color in it...
Glad you all enjoyed the info about my Field of Dreams.....but we have flowers from Jody!
They are wonderful Jody, I especially like the first paler pink. So pretty! Rainy and drizzly again here this morning, hope it burns off and we get some sunshine in the garden. I am assuming you have yours inside or in some sort of GH or sunroom?
Thanks Hap!
Yes, they are in the greenhouse. I'll be putting them out for the summer soon. These things have gotten huge and need to be bumped up a pot size first though. Whoever said they are ugly sure was right! LOL. They look their worst this time of year after being in the cool gh for the winter. At least they have amazing flowers to make up for it.
Rainy here today too with a cold front coming through causing thunder showers. It's ok though, we haven't had any rain for a week or two.
fabulous flowers! Just gorgeous.
Had to come back and take another look at your light pink Jody.....I really like it!
I'm losing track of who has flowers that are ready to pop, but I'm betting that Julie is probably gonna be next!
Only my small one in the GH is even close.....and it's holding out for warm weather. :-)
Jody, your flowers are lovely -- that darker one is almost neon.
Kathleen
Jody, your flowers are awesome! Thanks for posting them!
Julie, thanks so much for the encouragement. It's the short growing season that I am worried about, and I will have to have a greenhouse because my favorites like Brugmansias, Plumerias, and epi's won't be able to live outside during the winter! I've been so spoiled here in that I leave everything outside all year long, and I can play in the garden in barefeet and shorts in January. I won't be able to do that in Colorado! But at least I will be able to afford a home there. Me no likely to be cold! The other thing is I don't want to be old and cold. I can see myself having to go shovel the driveway in 20 years when I'm 60 just to go to the store. I'm a spoiled California girl for sure.
Very pretty Epi's you have Jody.
Hoping for alot of trades...........I have a white one that gets 12" across flowers that I would love to trade for some colors........Please Please Please...Jumping up and down with a pouty face :o { LOL
That is after yours quit blooming..........anyone?
Just thought I'd try..............................................................................
Blessings,
Sandy ^8^
We can create a trade group after our blooms are gone. Each of us can list how many of which color we have available and can take requests by "first come, first served". Does anyone have a better idea? This is pretty simplistic.....I'm sure it can be improved upon. We all would love to increase our personal Epi communities!
Karen :~D
Does this mean I am first ;D?
Just kidding......No not really. Would I be first? Huh Huh Huh....
Ain't I cute :o) LOL.
Blessings,
Sandy ^8^
Either that or we can do a "blind" trade. #1 person on the list of participants can start, say, send 5 leaves to #2 person on the list, then that person sends 5 leaves on to the next.....might be fun to have to wait to see what we get.......might be easier too.
K
Mine took about 7 years to see bloom the first time. Boohoo..I haven't liked anticipation since. I could never find anything but white when I stumbled across them here.
I have small 1&1/2 inch bloom, medium bloom 3-4 inch and the 12 " bloom but all white. The smell is spectacular on the big one. Small ones don't smell too shabby either.
Blessings,
Sandy ^8^
May I be included on your trades for the epi's?
Really don't know what I could offer, as I am just now getting started in them due to some very generous traders.
I know that I have a white night blooming epi coming in a trade.
Maxine
I would love to be included in trading of epi's. I have Night blooming rooted white, red unknown name cuttings, another I was told is Showboat cuttings , but not sure now. Here is the picture.If someone knows the name plmk. It is in bud right now , so I would have to wait until after it blooms.
Patti
Patti, I don't know the name of yours but is sure is pretty! Thanks for sharing it with us!
-Julie