Debbie there is a great place there ... Schrudbackers or some such - they are stunning and about this time of year they are half price on everything or almost! Let me look it up a little - unless you have already been there! I bought several trees for 3-5 each... very good deals.
Dallas Plant Swap - Working out our date and place.
Actually I'm near Gruene pronounced "green" spelling?
Yep you are right by it!!
We have been there many times. Go to Buck Pottery in Gruene - I love that place.
I wish the Rockin' R would just hire my daughter and her friend.
Schumacher's Hill Country Gardens - well worth the effort and great prices.... call ahead and he will give you the tour to boot!
with 2 teenagers and assorted oversized (and I do emphasize oversized) stuffed animals from where else, sea world, and all the clothes that have been bought; my cuttings are all there will be in the car coming back to Houston--because there will be no other room.
Right now we also have a truck with us but it may or may not return to Houston. If it does, I'll hit the nurseries again--Schumacher's didn't have anything that we don't have in Houston but it was very nice to visit, esp. without the teenagers.
You must have some great places then in Houston - I found a car load of plants there last year.. ... .. then again he gave me a great deal - a really great deal on everything. 10 for a back seat full...
Houston is the 4th largest city in the US--if it can be found anywhere, it can be found in Houston. And we do have great garden nurseries--they are just stretched out all over everywhere.
And we get lost looking for every one of them. LOL
I have been doing better--lol--I now have a stack of mapquest maps to all nurseries stapled together in the glove compartment--whenever the urge to shop comes over me--I can go from one to the next now easily.
Remind me next year when the guy has the daylilly sale again--I vow to be on time!
lol ...
My big local choices are Fosters and a local noname both with the same 10 plants they always have... argg.. there are some I have heard about but they are way tooo far. So I head to Hill country - the prices are better there too.
They don't have decent nurseries in Dallas/Fort Worth?
Some that are ok but nothing great from what I have found - a lot of folks use the mail order or just share bits becuase you cannot find things.. now there are some great ones in the North of the city but those plants came with pretty price tags!
Me again
Is there a link that might be something akin to The Idiot's Guide to Rooted Cuttings?
I have a Pink Plume plant that is supposed to be easy to root, but I haven't managed, I have a Pink Hybrid Brug that is budding now for the 3rd bloom this year and some hardy yellows (again no name) that returned from roots. If someone knows how to roots cuttings and y'all are interested I'll make some. The attempt last year I made failed and I didn't try again.
I have salvia Black and Blue as well as Argentine Skys. I think I just dig up some babies on those....even I can do that. I have a large Jerusalem Sage that blooms beautifully each spring. I can make cutting from him too, but don't know how to work with this kind of plant so even a little direction will be followed happily...where do I look to learn is as little as I need.
I like to save seeds from different really brightly colored pentas and have some tiny babies now that will be nice plants by then. You'd have to keep them alive for next year but that doesn't bother me so that might not bother others.
I'll have other things like some sedums that I don't know the name of but got from a few transplants and now are really happy. If no name is not an issue, I can definitely share.
Thanks all
cynthia
I would love some black and blue salvia. You should be able to strip most of the leaves and stick those in potting soil--keep wet and in the shade (that elusive substance in Texas).
Cynthia, I use a soil mix for rooting plants that I or my husband blend at home.
2 parts cheap regular potting soil
2 parts peat moss
1 part perlite
This makes a very loose but water retentive soil that works great for rooting cuttings.
Take the cuttings from not too soft a growth, they should have some substance, it it is too soft it might not root.
The cuttings should have two or three leaf nodes, remove the leaves from the lower leaf nodes and from the second if it has three. If the top leaves are large you might want to cut those in half, if not leave them as they are.
Be sure that your cutting will have at least one set of leaf nodes in the soil.
I use the small styrofoam cups because they are deeper and also take less soil than the square ones.
Fill the cups to 1/4 inch of the top and water well. Insert your cuttings and water well again making sure to wet the cuttings leaves.
Put them in total shade, and water every day, if windy and extremely hot twice a day, do not let them dry out.
In two or three weeks they shoud be rooted, depending on the plant.
Well I hope that helps, let me know how it works out.
Josephine.
brugs - to root cut a section of stem or trunk about 6 in long. Lay this across the very moist soil sideways with no leaves ... in 6 to 8 weeks the logs wil grow and do great.
Good tip Mich, I have never rooted brugs, but now I know just in case.
they root like nothing else...
BTW my cuttings look great doing it your way!
Josephine, thanks so much! I'm getting ready to start cuttings for the swap and your instructions will be very valuable. Now I have to measure my minivan and see how many cups the back will hold (LOL)!! The cups are a great idea because the plant name can be written right on them for the swap!
Oh my I goofed! Josephine I used one part everything, because it was all I had and I could not remember. I will start over Sat. This time I copied your receipe. The vitex bush dont have nodes. I could not get a piece that had a good tip on it. I think the Fringe Flower is doing something tho. Mitch its red orleander time ... I go to the bank friday nite. ;)
No harm done Sylvia, it will probably work out anyway.
Josephine.
Red - oh yea.
I have vitex going here too and they are sooo easy to root - look up hard shoot cuttings or I can give you some details. I picked up my grandmothers garden book and it gave loads of info on how to do hard shoot cuttings.
mitch and Josephene, this is great informatin.
Mitch, My brugs are about 5 ft tall. Do I cut the log from above the "Y"?
Do I literally lay it on top of the moist soil? I tried something last winter. I cut small sections where there had been leaves to prune them back. I buried them in soil in my greenhouse and in a plastic windowbox. I thought that would keep them moist. But none took.
So, to be really simple here: I cut a 6 inch section from _________ in the plant
I remove the leaves____________?
I lay it on TOP of moist soil that is about ___________ deep?
Do I cover with a plastic bag?
Can I use a plastic container from produce?
Do I close the lid, but have holes in it as I do for seed germination?
Sorry to be such a nudge
cynthia
No probelm -
Yes never cut below the "Y" or you may not see blooms for a while.
Put the leafless log sections half buried in the soil on thier sides... I wish I had a photo now of this... it should be very hard but still green - and about the size of you thumb thickness or more. Thus you will have a hunk of the top that might root in water but might not left over. if there are leaves in this part you use it is not ready then to make a cutting - the leaves need to be past where you are cutting on the whole - it can be done but on the whole this si the general rule.
burry it half in the soil on its side - there needs to be old leaf nodes on both sides - these wil make root and branches.
give it bright sun just like the plants like - do not cover and just wait... they will root first but it will take awhile - 6-8 weeks from what I have seen to really see growth. If they are still green you are ok. Keep it moist, not too wet or they will rot out.
If you have parts with leaves you are trying to root get them 12-15 inches long and remove all the leaves but the top three or four. Place in water in a bright window and change that water everyday. You will have 1/2 or so of these root and able to plant them up once you see 4 inces or so of roots. The big problem here is keeping the soil wet when they make the change from water to soil. It helps to add a cap full of H2O2 to the water each day to keep everything clean. You can make a bubbler and keep everything growing in the water and get 99% to root in water but I have never messed with the cost of doing this one..
These are one of those plants that I am working on giving away right now - my foucs is changing from tropicals to more natives.
Is anyone going to bring Obedient Plant to the swap? belive it or not my died! I would love to get a few ....
If anyone wants some brugs I will be digging mine up and giving all of them away this year. Will only keep four of the doubles for pots. I too am like Mitch. going with what takes less maintenance for the 1,5 acres I have to tend to.
Will be rooting Coleus for the swap. Have 14 different ones to chose from.
Will have the same Canna's to give away also.
TA - do you have any coleus for full sun? I would love to try one if it could take the sun..
Brugs are a bugger to keep up are they not?
Most of mine will. Have three that will not.
I have Daturas that like the sun.
I like a lot of people have stretched myself too thin on keeping up with annuals and tropicals. Am going native. LOL
Same here Ted - too much time in the nonnatives to make them worth the effrot. not to mention that there are so many more song birds here now. A few iris, Daylilies, and stuff that reseeds is the only thing that I am keeping here but I would love a little of the coleus if it can take the sun or for a great new bed that needs some punch in with the native grasses I keep trying to grow in there.
Will fix you up.
Mybe I have scoolie out of Mckinney talked into coming and she has some to trade also.
great I have found folks to come too... some from both of our churches and work and ... who knows where else!
"The obedient plant died."
sounds like a movie...
I can bring obedient plant.
I know I'll have lots of Indian Chief historic iris:
mauve standards, burgundy falls, blooms sort of early/middle season.
& if anyone wants to pick up some before the swap, please let me know.
Location is right down the road from Mitch.
Does anybody have some dwarf or short really red red cannas?
I am infatuated with that brilliant, lipstick red color...
If you want any of the following, please let me know, & I'll make every effort to bring them (not enough time or presence of mind right now to plan for a carload of "whatever" stuff!):
Achillea Paprika, or red yarrow, short groundcover type
Salvia Black & blue
Sedums: Autumn Joy, similar lavender, smaller one with shiny leaves & bright pinkish-red daisylike flowers.
obedient plant
fushia 4 o'clocks
canna Conestoga (lemon yellow)
canna indica Indian Shot
baby trees: Golden Rain
crepe myrtle, think they're mostly white ones, not Natchez
maybe pecans; they're temperamental
oaks, think red oak but no guarantee
white datura, or seeds
orange Kwanzo daylilies
Ted, the Elephant Grass is doing well,
& the new flower bed says thank you for the bag of sheep poopie!
Mitch
I have Sun Coleus I can root. I have a lot of different. I have a sad history with them. LAst year I carefully rooted them and stored in the greenhouse. Apparantly some rodents thought they were tastie. I'll make more this year, only keep them in a large pot that I can tote in and out of the house...winter rumba or bust!
I do know that while they root easily now, as we near fall there is something that keeps them from rooting, perhaps it is the temperature. I'll remember to root some in Sept. I like them in both Sun and shade.
cynthia
Hey Sylvia!! You should swing over and look at the gardens here - the patch of grass is all but gone - and a new large pond graces the left side of the yard. I would love some of the Iris Indian Chief - you should see all the Iris back here growing. I think we have most of the same now - Iris wise that is...
yep it died - I thought it was one of those big bad spreaders that would take over .. it got a foot tall and then this week just died.
BTW - the tree you gave me at the last RU is now taller then me - I think it liked getting out of the pot and in the ground. The Redbud is doubled in size too! They are doing great - thank you!
Mitch
cynthia - That would be wonderful!! I had no idea they did not root well in the Fall... I have only been doing most of my cuttings beyond Brugs for a year now and just getting the swing of things in those...
Mitch please bring something to RU to demostrate how you are doing the "Y" thing. So you did not find tips on the vitex either?
Sylvia@work
The Y thing is for Brugs only - everything else needs to be done the Frostweed way. Fro Vitex I made the cuts from one new years growth (about 8 in long) I cut the growth tip off the tip and removed all but the top four leaves. I then used the soil mix Josephine told us to use and put it all in a empty 2 liter with a hole cut in the bottom for the water and the top 1/3 cut off. I filled the soil and added the cuttings and watered, then I stuck the top in the bottom so it made a mini greenhouse type thing. I put this in the shade and watered - they are 3 weeks old today and new growth is going! Not only that but some of the Prenns that I did this with have tried to bloom. I cut the blooms off but they tried!!
If you would like remind me and I will give you a brug to play with.
Mitch
Are you ever in ARlington? If you are coming through sometime this summer email me and I'll have some waiting for you. They root in this heat in a few days and grow like weeds. In shade they are smaller and rather drab but I like their size. In the sun they are really vibrant. They seem to need much less water than the shade varities.
anyway, give me a holler and I'll at least have cuttings wrapped in wet paper towel and a jar waiting for you.
cynthia
I am sure I will be by - maybe we could both meet over at Frostweeds place - if you have not been over there you really should. I go for the ideas and the great friendship. What do you think? Do you work days? Would next Tues work for you in the morning(8 or 9ish?) pending talking to Frostweed.