the next time I buy more plants! LOL
Today I spent $77.00 on plants. I bought:
Two Adenium obesums for $25.00 each
I'm Not Buying Any More Plants Until...
A Kalanchoe for $5.00. Is this thyrsifolia?
1 Brugmansia (I don't know what it is) for $5.00. It looks pretty pitiful but for the price I'm willing to work with it.
1 Alocasia 'Hilo Beauty' for $10.00
1 Bromeliad for $7.00. Is this a Billbergia 'Hallelujah'?
I also bought pots and hanging baskets from Big Lots. The Force is strong in me but it wasn't strong enough to keep me from blowing my plant budget for the next two months. LOL However, if I need more plants before I replenish the budget, I think that I can buy less food...
Delecie, Your adeniums are lovely. I just spent a fortune on Adeniums as well. I think I paid $55 for the two that I got. These came from Mr. Ko in Thailand and are called "Noble Concubine" and "Harry Potter." They are from here: http://www.adenium.com.tw/ They are the smaller ones on the table on the right and on the left:
Thank you for the link Clare. The Harry Potter and Super Noble Concubine flowers are beautiful and the music on the site is nice too. I look forward to seeing photographs of yours when they bloom. I was compelled to buy the two that I bought today because I don't have those colors and I've never seen that size for $25.00. The cheapest that I've seen that size has been $60.00 or more. Do you have one with variegated leaves? I'm going to order one from Chris (buriedtreasures on DG). On second thought, I should order two. When my mother sees mine, she'll want to take it home with her so I should have a back up. :-)
Sure, Delecie. Noble Concubine is about to bloom so I'll post pictures when it does. I really like that color pink you have. I bought a bunch of seedlings from Phil at Cornell University, and a few of those have bloomed, but most have not so I'm waiting to see what colors they will be before I buy any more. I don't have the ones with the variegated leaves...yet! I will have to get one one day. Here is Phil's link in case you are interested. He has them at a great price: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2352887754 Here are some of my seedling flowers below that I got from Phil when they were blooming in the portable greenhouse in March.
Here is my big one that I got from Home Depot a couple of years ago.
delecie - what a deal on the Brug... please check it for spider mites and aphids, real close. Day before yesterday mine were fine, today several have aphids.
Your plants are beautiful!!!
Judy
Thank you Judy. Do you know which Brug I bought? It wasn't marked at the nursery.
Clare I love the shape of your Home Depot Adenium and your seedlings look good and healthy too. You certainly have the Midas touch with whatever you grow. :-)
Delecie, your Brug looks like cultivar "Peaches and Cream." Thanks for the compliment, but I only show pictures of the things which are doing well. You should see the stuff I kill!
Delecie,
You've got it almost as bad as me!! I tell myself every day i'm not buying any more plants. And I don't until I go back to a store like lowes or hd.(LOL)
David:
HD is my favorite store. I need to go there today for soil which of course means I'll be surrounded by plants...Help!!!! LOL On a different subject, a few years ago you sent me a beautiful Versicolor Peach cutting and this has become my favorite brug. Your kindess and generosity has given me so much pleasure and added so much beauty to my garden. I wanted you to see how it has grown. Once again, thank you very much!
Kin:
We will make a trade. I will send you those pots, you can send me your cookie jar. LOL Okay, all kidding aside, when I want nice pots, I shop at Marshall's or Big Lots. Those pots came from Big Lots and the large one was $14.99 and the smaller one was $9.99. I think those are reasonable prices compared to the prices for pots at the Home Depot and some of the local nurseries. I love beautiful things but I want a bargain! :-)
Clare:
Thank you for the Brug ID. As I mentioned above, it was pretty pitiful looking but the price was right. The 6 inch pot it was in was sitting inside of a larger pot that had another plant and some weeds in it. When I attempted to lift it, I had to really pull on it because the roots had grown through the pot into the soil of the other pot. By the time I got the poor thing home, it was really droopy and needed a good soaking. Normally I won't buy root bound plants but for $5.00 I figured it deserved a chance.
Delecie,
looks like you're doing something right. That turned out to be a really nice tree. It never got quite that atll for me though.
I no longer have the plant either. It decided not to return the next year. It did get replaced though with versicolor orange which I think I may like a little better than the peach.
Plant collecting in general is becoming a problem for me because I don't seem too know when to stop. It doesn't make any differance where I go, be it to a nursery or HD or Lowes, if I see something that I like and don't already have I feel that I have to buy one or two or three!!!
It's like gambling,it's a real addiction and you have to admit to yourself when you have a problem. And my problem is i'm not satisfied with just one hibiscus or one hoya or whatever it may be, I have to have at least 25-30 of each.
I am already in need of another gh for which I have plans to start construction on sometime soon. If I don't get it built I will sure be in a lot of trouble come winter.
Glad to see that your V peach is doing well for you and that you are getting some enjoyment from it. The V orange flowers are super long and hang low like the ones on V peach but are much darker in color.
David:
If you have a photograph of your V. Orange, please post it here. I'd like to see it.
I know what you mean about the plants becoming an addiction. Although I only have shade in my yard under a huge avocado tree with surface roots, I keep buying plants that need shade and I have to keep them in pots under the tree. When we're threatened with hurricanes, I then have to find some place to store the pots. Last year it became quite tedious and time consuming to move all of those pots. As far as brugmansias go, my addiction has actually waned. None of my brugs compare to V. Peach so that has made it easier for me to discard a lot of them to make room for other plants that are less labor intensive. However, I'm now addicted to aroids and variegated plants. I made a good find/buy on Friday and I hope I can find my way back there again! :-) http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/512481/
Delecie, you got a bargain, and with a little watering and repotting, it will be as good as new.
David, I used to be like that too when I started out gardening. It is a bit of an addiction because plants and gardening are therapeutic in a way and can fill a void that is present. The problem that I found is now I have to care for the hundreds of plants that I have. I have to water them every day, repot them, fertilize them, prune them, and pick up their leaf/bud drop. I can't go on vacation, and I can't skip a day. It is a lot of work. It is so much work that now I can't look at a plant in a store or nursery without thinking "more work." So, I guess what I'm trying to say is eventually you will be cured when you are plenty tired of all that work. I've run out of room too, and that helps to keep me in check. There are plants that I would like, but I put them on my "some other time" list.
Claire,
My problem is not that I just started growing or collecting, i'm 38 and have been doing it for a while. My problem is not knowing when to say enough is enough but I dont seem to tire of working in my yard or with my plants.
Delecie,
Sorry I dont have a pic of V orange to show you but if youd like a cutting of it send me your home addy and i'll get you one going. If you like the V. peach, you'll love the orange. The fragrance on it is one of the sweetest you'll find.
David, I just meant that, when you get tired of all the work, you will know to say "enough." LOL! I'm only 40, and I'm tired! LOL! My sore back says, "enough!"
And then some kind person offers me plumerias from Thailand...LOL!
I am already starting to feel the back pain. That is probably from about 8 years ago when I was big ointo daylilies. I raised them in beds bordered with railroad cross ties and I used to move the ties al by myself. Guess i'm paying for it now.
Besides spending a lot of time in the gh and my yard I also have a paying job that I work at a minimum of 55 hrs per week. I also do contracted work for the same company 4 times a week at night but not on the payroll.
I have 3 plumerias. One is a LARGE tree one is about a foot tall and one is only a few inches tall and still trying to root.
I have thought about aquiring some other different varieties of these also. See it just never stops we always want and want and want!!!! Plant people are like kids in a candy shop,but with us it's the plant nurseries that we can't go into and come out empty handed. Or at least I can't anyway!(LOL)
This is how my plant collection looks right now as far as numbers go.
tropial hibiscus (around 30)
hoyas (around 50+)
cacti & succulents ( well over 100)
tons of perennials
and odds and ends of different plants(around 100)
And you know what? I have a guy i'm talking to right now about placing an order for more cactus plants. And it's not that I need them, I want them!
We really should start an AA type group for us plant nuts.
LOL, David. I can relate. I think we all can relate. We are a support group of sorts:-) Take care of your back. I know how awful it is to live with back pain because I do most of the time, but that doesn't stop me either from lifting heavy pots and a 70-lb. bag of potting soil, but it does slow me down.
That's an impressive list you've got there. I'm a renter here so I know that I will have to move everything that I have some day. I decided to put as much as I could in the ground here on this small piece of property. It was in desperate need of landscaping so, since I bought every plant in sight in the beginning, I had lots of things to plant. I figure that I can take cuttings when I have to move again. I put in about 20 different brugmansias, 10 different lilacs, a row of plants with purple flowers, and about 10 different Passifloras. I also put in my much-beloved collection of Michelias too. I've put in at least a hundred plants here. The rest, I keep in containers. I have collections of wisteria, plumerias, epiphyllums, adeniums, gingers, and other fragrants and tropical plants. I'm not sure what all of my numbers are, but I know I have over a hundred plumerias easily and about 50 adeniums. Our next move is out of state, and so it will be a struggle to move everything. I suppose that keeps me from acquiring more also.
I hate to be an enabler but do come over to the Plumeria Forum and visit when you get a chance. I would love to see pictures of your plumeria flowers if you can post them.
David:
Thank you for the offer of the V. Orange. I have one, I'm just waiting for it to flower.
You and Clare have impressive collections. I've been thinking about documenting mine but I'm a little apprehensive about seeing the evidence of my addiction on paper. :-) I have less plants than I had a month ago because I gave my 8 tropical hibiscus, 6 crotons, and other assorted plants to my Mom. I've also started sharing my Plumeria seedlings and I've started composting my duplicate Brugmansias and the ones I no longer want. But, I'm still buying other plants...LOL
Delecie, you might want to wait a little while before you order from Chris. I ordered the variegated adenium (among other things) from him a couple of months ago, and haven't gotten it yet. He hasn't responded to my last davemail or regular emails, either. I've ordered from him several times before without ever having a problem, but it looks like he's having some kind of trouble right now. I don't know if he's just swamped, or having computer problems.
I love Big Lots, too! My favorite place to buy pots is Garden Ridge, especially when they have a sale. Tuesday Morning is great, too. Home Depot is better for pots here than Lowe's, and both have adeniums part of the time. I bought an adenium from HD a couple of weeks ago for 13.00, and two from Lowe's this weekend for 15.00 each.
Delecie,
Year before last when I first got into brugs I ended up somehow with about 115 different varieties. After seeing them bloom and realising just how many of them looked alike you wouldn't beleive how many went to compost.
Since that last fiasco where I sent out over 500 cuttings and then got nailed to the cross over it, I just throw unwanted brugs away rather than be attacked by people who don't even know me.
I now have less than 15 varieties of brugs in my yard and can't really think of any that I HAVE to HAVE.
It doesn't bother me any more to just throw undesired plants onto the compost pile. Especially if something doesn't perform well for me. I will toss it and never give it a second thought.
I haven't documented all of my plants yet but should do it one day just to see what all I really do have. The numbers above are just estimates of those plants and i'm sure there are many that got overlloked. My problem with the perennial type stuff is that once I plant it I always throw the tag away and then I have no idea what the plant is unless it is.
Claire,
Only one of my plumies is of blooming size. I don't know a name for it. I bought a collection of 3 from QVC some years back and there was suppose to be a pink one a white one and a yellow one. Well all 3 ended up being alike but by the time they all reached blooming size it was too late for me to let QVC know because it took a few years for them to get that big
The bloom is yellow center with a white border. The next largest plant is only about a foot or more high and should be hot pink or at least thta's the color I was told it would be.
The nub that is trying to root started out about a foot long and has been cut back to where it is now only several inches. It just kept dying and each time I had to cut more off of it. I kow for a fact that it is hot pink though becasue I took the cutting myself from a blooming plant.
This is where my problem comes into play. I go to all of these huge shopping complexes around Myrtle Beach or visit the nurseries or Lowes and Home Depot and see these new things they've gotten in and then I have to come home and start looking for the online.
I got my latest plumeria cutting from the master landscaper at Broadway At The Beach hear in Myrtle Beach. Well then I came home and started looking for them online and that's how the problem begins because for some reason when I get a plant like this (plumeria) I don't feel like I can stop with just having one. I have to have at least 10-15 or more. You know how it is you have to have on of each color!!!(LOL)
Then the work begins, You've got 10,000 plants to take care and then you have to find some place to keep them,this is why I am now having to build a second gh.
I also have to find a spot to sit all of the big pots around my yard come spring then when I mow the lawn I have to move each one of them. I solved that little problem this year though. I am in the process of moving the big hibiscus and larger plants down to my job to liven up the offices,pro shop and restaurant.
Well I guess I need to get off of here and go outside and be productive on my one day a week off.
David, you sent me a bunch of brug cuttings then, and I've appreciated them ever since. I don't understand how people can attack someone for GIVING them something, no matter how it turns out.
Ronna:
Thanks for the info about Chris but I figured something was wrong on Saturday. When I tried to pay with Paypal, I got a message that he wasn't currently accepting paypal.
I miss Garden Ridge a lot! We used to have one in South Dade but it closed a few years ago. I didn't know that and showed up to an empty building with a shopping list. That's when I started buying pots from Big Lots. I bought an adenium from the Home Depot a few years ago for $14.99. However, it was no where near the size of the two above and it is no longer with us. :-(
David:
I know what you mean. I don't feel like I have to have any either. I was addicted to Brugs for a while but now I see them for what they are, just plants, like any other plants. If they die or are unwanted they become compost material like any other plant.
Enjoy your day off and happy gardening!
David, it sounds like your yellow and white one could be Celadine like the picture below.
There is a hot pink plumeria cultivar called "Plastic Pink," and it is very hard to root. I had three cuttings sent to me this fall, and all three rotted faster than any plumeria I've ever seen. A nub is going to be tough to root. I've managed to root a four-inch cutting before, but that was the smallest possible for me. Remember to give it lots of heat and sun while rooting.
Believe me, I understand the problem all too well as it is my problem too.
By the way, I've often heard of people buying one color at a Hawaii airport or a flower show somewhere, and it turns out to be another color. That happens a lot. The way to avoid that is to only order plumerias from reputable sellers. I have a list of reputable sellers that sell on eBay if you want it. Also, Florida Colors and Maui Plumeria Gardens are top notch and reasonable. I do not want to add to your "problems," but if you want to gamble on the colors you will get, Aloha Palms sells cuttings for $1.99 each (five cuttings minimum), which is a way that you can get different colors and not break your pocketbook. But you are right. These get to be trees and quite large in time, and they would each need a spot in the greenhouse for the winter.
Here are some links:
Florida Colors: http://www.floridacolors.com/
Maui Plumeria Colors: http://www.mauiplumeriagardens.com/
Aloha Palms: http://www.alohapalms.com/cgi-bin/store/agora.cgi
Delecie, you definitely got a haul. The adeniums looks awesome! Where do you put your adeniums? The brug that you got is it the variegated one? I brought out the brugs that I had in the basement finally. Only lost two of the big ones. I think a seedling and one I got at Muttart Conservatory. I'm not sure but I hope it wasn't the variegated one. That was the only one I had. I gave everything the Mighty Plant and the Messenger. I hope I get some Y's this year.
Clare, very pretty plummie.
:) Donna
Delecie - - love your plant purchases,especially that awesome Kalanchoe!
David and Claire - do either of you ever prune your adeniums to improve the shape or to encourage blooming?
Thank you Donna. The brug is one of the variegated ones. Although it looks sad above, I'm going to give it plenty of water and cow manure and hopefully it will start growing in no time. I'm going to plant the adeniums in the planters they're sitting in and they'll stay outside in my back yard. They like full sun and they're outside year round.
Hi nat:
After managing to keep my Adeniums alive (I'll post a picture later of one that I've had for about three years), I decided to branch out and acquire more succulents. I don't know if I over paid for the Kalanchoe but I was instantly smitten by the shape and the colors. It even has one or two babies in the pot.
I've never pruned my adenium but to encourage blooming and it's overall health, I give it osmocote and water it regularly during the growing season. A landscape designer told me to fertilize the adeniums once a month but mine have done just fine being fertilized once a quarter.
Nat, I've not pruned mine yet, but I know you are supposed to for the best blooms. I've struggled with this issue. See this link: http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/tropical/msg051956532426.html?10
Also see this one: http://www.tropicanursery.com/adenium/cultivation.htm#pruning
This message was edited May 24, 2005 12:29 PM
Claire, I pruned one that was given to me as a "rescue" plant last fall. The branches were tall and spindly - with just a few leaves on each end. I haven't seen blooms yet - - but it went into a semi-dormant stage over the winter and is leafing out nicely now.
The reason I asked is I have been eyeing my 3 year old adenium that has a beautiful shaped caudex - - trying to rethink how to reshape the branching (several which are getting too long). I also have a couple of Thai seedlings that I started this past winter that I also need to pinch.
Nat, what would you do with this? For some reason, I am hesitant to prune my adeniums!
Clare, If it were me, I would prune it back in two stages. That way if you aren't happy with the results, you aren't totally left with a stumpy plant. Maybe take out 3 of the longest branches, and then the others in about 2 months. That's what I am going to do with mine. Maybe when I get comfortable doing this, I will have the nerve to wack them back all at once in future years.
I will warn you - - wear rubber gloves. They will weep for a couple of hours and the sap can cause skin irritations.
I am off work on Thursday and I'll do mine then - -with before and after photos!
Nat:
Here is my Adenium on December 4, 2003:
Here it is today:
