Well you were way more energetic than I. I have 8 baby orchid trees, Bauhinia Monarda, from seed. They grow pretty quickly. Are you growing yellow esperanza? I have cuttings of orange if you are interested.
April
knolan thread
I love those little trees. Yes, yellow esperanza. Would you like some? I didn't know you could start from cuttings. Guess what I'll be doing tonight? I'd love some orange. Thank you, thank you!
I don't need any yellow. I didn't know cuttings were that easy either but my daughter told me that the orange wouldn't be true from seed. I have made several cuttings and they bloom right away. Will set some aside for you and make some more.
April
April, I don't have the orange esperanza and would love a cutting. I'll trade you a red brug seed for one? Deal or no deal? I also have some old fashioned pastel pink hollyhock seeds, guaranteed to sprout.
That's so nice of you April. I saw the orange for the first time a couple of weeks ago at the nursery and fell in love. Now I'm wondering, why on earth am I bothering to start these guys from seed when I can just do cuttings? If only I had tried. I went around the rest of my yard and snipped a bit here and ther to see what would root and what wouldn't but never bothered with the esperanza.
April, I'd like to make a trade with you but I think you probably have a little of everything I have. Unless you've heard me mention something. Or tell me what you're looking for and I'll keep my eye out (seeing how I'm spending my lunch hour at nurseries these days). In the meantime, at least let me pay postage.
Thanks,
Kristi
Hey Kristi - My Epiphyllum had two blooms on it last nght....That's numbers 4 and 5 for this year. We paid our homage to them around midnight......Tried to get a photo of Patchouli with them, but he wasn't at all interested!
Fly no problem, consider it done. I know that I have one that has been rooted for a while and has been blooming, will see if I have another ready, if not will take a cutting and let you know. As far as trades, I am not really looking for much at the moment.
Kristi I have a feeling we could meet at some in between spot and save us both the postage. I can always run into you during one of your lunch hours!
April
April, that sounds like fun!
Ceejay,
Do you think my little Epi will be okay with all of this rain we've been having. I don't want it to get drenched. Perhaps I should bring it in? How long have you had yours?
Kristi
I've had mine probably around 7 or 8 years...can't remember exactly. You put the cuttings in a pot, right? Mine is outside; I bring it inside in the winter. How many pieces did you cut it into?
Was I supposed to cut it into more pieces. Uh oh. I planted in a cactus/succulent medium but dipped in root stimulator first and then placed it on my back patio for full west sun. Another friend sent me pieces of the pink bloomer. I've seen some of the pictures on another thread (one grown in a greenhouse in th UK that is stunning!) and they are all beautiful. I was just curious how lon it might take for the girls to bloom.
Please send pretty photos!
I've come home early today. I was the only person on my floor in the building, my boss is out of town and I had nothing to do but twiddle my thumbs. I have about 20 pages to go in "Memoirs" ..... I think this afternoon deserves a trip to the book store. Amy Tan......hope you're sitting on the shelves waiting for me. ;>}
You could have cut each of those pieces in two or even three.... I am understanding that you dipped the edge in the rooting hormone and then stuck that end into the cactus medium? West sun isn't good. Morning sun would be better. Or trickled sun through the leaves of trees. The leaves will burn.
Perfect, I'll move to the front. Hmmmm....should I go ahead and give them a snip now?
Fly_Girl,
Here's a link to the orchid tree I have:
http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/130370/index.html
and a picture of some of the babies.
And some pictures of yesterday's labor:
This bed will be expanded in a few weeks. I need to throw mulch on the plants pronto.
I can't believe that my sweet allyssum is still blooming. The esperanza isn't today but it it 4-5 days and it will be full again. this is the baby esperanza.
And this is the next bed to get a major overhaul. Border and all. I went ahead and planted the foxgloves in it a 2 baby crepe myrtles. It has some blue plumbago that's just getting established. The whole bed is going to be reshaped and bordered (with stone, I think) and then I need to decide which plants to go there. I'm considering the cottage garden look here but I'm not sure. Thoughts? You wouldn't believe how much I dug up from there yesterday. Boy I wish I had a chipper!
Think I'll get rid of those ligustrums. Original landscape plants and I've never been happy with them.
K, it looks like you have been working hard and you are lucky to have a helper! That little orchid tree looks too big to ship. Do you want to wait until the swap meet? I don't mind, but I'll go ahead and send the seeds to give you something to do, hee hee.
You should post your pix over on the Garden Talk thread under Cottage Gardens, the area needs some traffic.
Good idea! But I'm afraid my little bed looks horrible in comparison to those pretty cottage gardens. I'll wait til it gets reshaped and have the border in. Then I'll post pictures and get everyone's advice.
I think the little orchid tree would be okay in a priority mail box as long as I pack it gently. How about I try it and see?
I just had to prune almost 1/3 of my poor lemon tree because of those scaly bugs. I went up to the local nursery and bought the All Seasons oil to spray. I didn't have to spray it last year but this year the infestation was horrible! All of the top new growth had to come off. It looks so sad. But I have a ton of lemons on it this year!
Did you get any Giant Swallowtail caterpillars on your lemon tree? They look like bird droppings....And is your scale the fluffy kind - big? You can just hand pick that off and stomp on it.
No, I didn't see any "bird poop looking stuff" ....this scale (if that's what you call it) gets into the leaves and looks like a snail has been crawling all over but eventually it sucks the sap out of them and they die. The leaves curl up really bad. Maybe it's not scale but called something else. I've seen it on all types of citrus trees. The folks at the nursery say you have to remove all infected foliage and then burn it (like I can burn here). I just rake it up and bag it for the lawn guys. The oil is supposd to be ok....won't hurt the lemons....just suffocates the bugs.
But you know, I did see very large butterflys in May playing with my blossoms. I'll be careful with any thing that looks like bird poop thanks to you!
Forgot to show ya'll what a little fairy left on my porch this morning. What a nice surprise. See Fly_Girl, they're not always taking things from the chicken houses. Sometimes they leave a nice little something......maybe they're happy I planted those fox gloves.
A good friend of mine noticed I had cleared most of the plants from my porch and decided I needed something there. The bench has a cute littl hole in it for a pot. It'll be perfect for the back when I start that cottage garden.
I love blue daze. Have it all over the place. You have a good friend, and I'm sure it's because you are a good friend.
Kristi, are you certain you have scale or leaf miner? Your description of inside the leaf makes me think leaf miner. Scale is definitely on the leaf (and stem), and you can flick it off with your finger nail. Leaf miners leave little squiggly paths inside the leaf.
Can you take a picture?
I'm sure you are right and it is leaf miner because it leaves the squiggly lines like a slug but the the leaf curls and dies. I had a feeling I was using the wrong terminology when I said scale. Nope, you can't flick this stuff off....it's definitely inside the leaf. Anyway, I lost so much of the new growth....it just killed me to have to cut it all off but it's my own fault. I waited way too long to take care of the problem. But, I didn't lose any lemons. CJ, you wouldn't believe how many I have. It's in a very neglected area of the yard so I'm a little embarrassed but here it is......
Wasn't my buddy sweet? She's one of only two that would help me with the school garden. and she's not even interested in gardening! But when she drove by to see how it was going and saw me, my husband and one other person there, she went home and dug up a lot of her plants and brought them by. I need to take a picture of it to show you. It's finally getting itself established.
Here's my poor lemon tree....this was after the pruning.
I just noticed, can ya'll tell that I really rely heavily on spell check at work? Geez! I wish we had it on here.
Spell check - I've said the same thing. I tend to try to type too fast and get my letters reversed. Very annoying!!!! I REALLY wish we had spell check!!!
I found this at TAMU about citrus leaf miner. http://insects.tamu.edu/extension/bulletins/l2471.html
And reading this, I realize that I may have it! My poor little tree - just a stick with very few leaves now that the Giant Swallowtail ate it up. It was just a stick last year when I planted it and I let the 8 lemons grow to full size! The poor thing had to be propped up, and it just about sucked the life out of it. I was a bad and greedy gardener. I should have removed the lemons, but I wanted them. So I have stunted the poor thing. Anyway, a couple of days ago I noticed that many of the new leaves were curled up and strange looking. Took some off to take into Extension, because this was new to me, and forgot them at home. I didn't notice the serpentine tunneling (I would have recognized that) but now that I've read this, I need to look a lot closer! It sounds like taking off those leaves and sealing them shut in a plastic bag, is a real necessary step. My poor little stick doesn't have many more leaves than the new growth because all the older growth has been eaten. And the lime tree - right next to it - has the same problem. Maybe that's where it came from. It is new this year. Rats!!
I'm greedy to. My plan is, after the lemons have ripened, Im going to prune from the bottom up. All of the foliage I lost today was on the top growth. You can see how wide it is, now picture it about a foot over that fence in the back all the way along the width. It was really big and I was proud (until I neglected it). That's how much I had to get rid of. My neighbor behind me has one too and his is infested as well. And it was last year too. I offered the remaining oil I had to him last year but he wouldn't take it and I think that's why I got such a bad infestation this year. At least according to my nursery guy.
I have so much work to do!
Looked at that website. See pictures. Figure 3 and Figure 5 are what my leaves look like. Figure 4 show the pupae which I've never seen.....perhaps they are microscopic or just too teeny for my bad eyes. From what I read, sounds like the oil might be my best bet but I need to reuse every 14 days until I see all evidence gone. This is actually what I did 2 years ago and after the 2nd application I again had to remove any leaf that showed any sign of infection and I ended up with an almost bare tree. The following year the tree grew abundantly but with not too many blossoms. I just can't believe I let it get this bad again. I saw the first signs in spring but again, I've really neglected this area. Shame, shame, shame.
Off to bed. Oops hubby is stirring and is going to scold me for being up so late.
Ta Ta!
Love the bench, that was a very sweet thing your friend did! Your lemon tree is so full of lemons! Think of all the lemontinis that guy could make!
Oh, I hadn't thought of lemontinis. But, boy they sure make the best lemonade I've ever tasted. Rachel set up a lemonade stand at the pool last year. Yummy!
Just bought a bunch of solar lights! Sam's has a set of 18 for $100....what a buy! And they're stainless so. no rust. I'll finally be able to enjoy my garden when I don't have the light of the moon!
Hope everyone has had a good fourth. It's been unusual with all if the rain. We all decided against cookouts so Hubby and I just went shopping all day to prepare for our vacation next week. I'm so very ready! But I'll miss talking to you guys!
Yep. Checked mine out and I have it too. First time. First time I've even heard of it. DH and I picked all the leaves off...we'll give it the oil treatment, and then watch real closely for any more leaves showing signs. One leaf we picked off had two eggs on it - I'm sure Giant Swallowtail eggs. So we put that leaf in a jar, and when they hatch we'll put them back on the lime tree. I probably shouldn't do that, since it's lost all of its younger leaves from the leafminer....and once I spray it, it will kill the caterpillar. Oh, yuck! I just hate this!!!
Where are you off to?
Isn't it sad? I think I'll have to treat mine every year, several times because of my "could care less" neighbor. I hope mine will come back with the vigor it had last spring.
We're going to Lake Buchanan in the hill country. We go every year and stay in a cabin right on the lake. This year we've rented all 4 cabins. My folks, sister and mema in one, my brother, wife and their 3 kids in the other, my in laws in another and then me, hubby, Rachel, my step daughter and another friend in one. We have so much fun. There's water falls to explore, caverns nearby, lot's of swimming (the lake is 10 feet from the back porches). We're only going for 5 days...wish it were for 10. I plan to RELAX, read and swim. We're hoping for the best !
This message was edited Jul 5, 2006 1:09 PM
Sad about your step-daughter, takes alot of courage to reach out. Maybe she is starting to realize what she's missing; her dad, family, being with people that truly care about her, even if she smokes, cusses and is Goth. Those are usually just strategies to keep people at a distance so they won't hurt her. Maybe we need a 'just vent' thread lol
Your vacation spot sounds like a pretty place!
I know of which you speak. All you can do is be there for her when she realizes she needs you. So sad.
The vacation sounds like a blast! Our family never does anything like that. We get together for weddings and funerals. Too bad. We tried to get our grown children and their families together with us for different experiences - one was river rafting and camping out along the way in Idaho - after we had done it with another couple and had a blast!!, and another at a guest ranch in Telluride, Colorado, all in one big log cabin (with several rooms), riding horses, camping out, etc..., again, after we had experienced it. But jobs and allergies and babies always get in the way. If they ever decide to give this any priority, it will probably be too late for us. Already, the horse thing is definitely out for me.
Whew! I finally went up and took pictures of the school garden I started 2 years ago. You would not believe what I had to go through to get this done. I finally joined the PTA Board as VP and was able to accomplish. But not much help from the school or parents. I was hoping to request a grant from the Urban Harvest Program but didn't get enough cooperation from the school or volunteers. This was accomplished by about 4 of us and some boy scout troops taking turns pulling weeds. My hubby and I worked our butt's off many, many, many days. I've seen it to it's fruition and Rachel has now graduated to middle school so there is a new parent taking over. I pray she will have more cooperation than I did.
It was really cool seeing the classes utilize the garden after awhile. The art class would go out and draw pictures, the kindergartners would go out and look at bugs. The first graders learned about butterflys. Every grade has now participated. This is my legacy to my daughter's elementary.
