Morning Glories 2007 #35

I will try to get a better pic but she looks awful. Lost most of her lvs and not
just due to whatever pest is bugging (lol) her. She seems to drop most of
her lvs for winter flowering every yr. Will send a pic from this past spring,
the biggest leaf was already good size. Will send it asa I figure out how to work the stick mule? my older pics are stored on. Going off-line to open the thumbnails
and find the pic.

Not as much foliage showing as I thought. This pic taken 5-21-07 after I brought the vine out of the g house. I had cut it back to the base Nov 06. It put out
new growth this summer but didn't reach potential since I didn't give it the bigger pot. Doesn't appear to have affected the # of flowers, it's loaded with buds.
This vine doesn't give me any flowers in the heat of summer.

I had read that plant only flowers in the wintertime, patootie, it sure has a nice flower.

I agree! Very pretty blooms! :-)

Thanks Joann, Joseph and Becky. She's a keeper even if she's such a
monster that she's hard to store, even in the g house. The 2 yrs that she got so big, I had to cut her back to fit her in the g house and so cut off some of the would be flowering stems.
She's never made any seeds for me. Last yr I rooted a cutting but did
something stupid and lost it. Will try again later.
Joseph, you're right about her bloom time. I only got 2 or 3 more flowers
after this pic in May 07. The cooler nights or shortening day length trigger the buds.
in late fall or early winter. Ochracea has the same bloom time.

I may have to think about growing this as a houseplant; I'm pretty sure it wouldn't appreciate blooming outside in the winter here! LOL.


Joanne

Becky - don't you have any MG's growing outside anymore? Doesn't anyone? Just curious....

Joanne

We had a couple of freezes here and there is nothing much outside except the desert pine and Mexican Elder trees still green. Everything else lost their leaves or froze.

Joanne - Love your snow photo! How beautiful the scenery. No snow here ever. It has been unusually warm. 80's today! I am convinced it IS global warming. I still have MGs growing, but I am battling rust again and my vines look horrible even though they are continuing to bloom! I think I have the rust under control and then it gets windy and rainy again and the rust shows up. It's been a losing battle! (sigh) I garden for butterflies and hummingbirds, so I try to avoid using pesticide or other chemicals as it may poison these wild creatures.

I recently got my very first hummingbird and there are lots and lots of butterflies here currently. I have been posting some short videos on YouTube for the Butterfly and Hummingbird forum. I just love my little hummer. It's so cute! I believe I have 2 now as I saw the one chasing another hummer yesterday. Can ya see me SMILING!!! Three years I have been planting and designing my garden beds to attract hummers and adding sugar water feeders. FINALLY ... my first little darling birdie! YAY! I am so in love with this little bird! They are just the cutest little things. I hear them squeaking somewhere up in my Oak tree! LOL! I saw the territorial hummer chasing black birds and pigeons out of my backyard 2 days ago. LOL! They are fearless! And it's so funny that all those bigger birds are afraid of them! It just cracks me up! Here are the links to some of my videos. Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zAPt5ZadUk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rzWL75K_Mgg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lyKrsl_AKDU

Oh Becky, another day in Paradise, for sure! Loved your videos; they are wonderful! Hilarious the way the hummer kept going back for a look at the little frog.

I understand your excitement over seeing the hummer; believe it or not, we actually get them up here in Calgary in the summer time. This is the first year I actually saw one here - in my garden - and I was beside myself. LOL.

Joanne

That is way cool, Becky, loved the videos! What kind of camera are you using to capture the video?

Joseph

Joanne - Thanks! That's really awesome that you also get hummers! Aren't they just the most absolutely amazing birds you ever saw?!

Joseph - Thanks for the compliments on my videos. I mainly took the video just to prove to everyone that I do indeed have a hummer coming to my yard! LOL! But now it is becoming so much fun to make videos about this little bird!

I bought a Panasonic PV-GS250 video camcorder. I bought it a couple of years ago when it first came out and it was a bit on the pricey side. Now it is much cheaper.

I don't remember how many pixels. I can't find my instruction book, but it came with the standard stuff including a remote control. I plan to try out that remote control next. I have to get a new battery as the one in it is dead. I bought an extra rechargeable battery for it and the tripod and a small rechargeble top-mount spot light. You might want to look it up on an internet search to find out more info.

I really like this camera! But there are so many out there now and all the prices are very reasonable. So I don't know how good it is compared to other camcorders. It is very small compared to the big clunky ones from years ago! I had one of those! LOL!

Since my little hummer is pretty predictable first thing in the morning, I can set the camcorder up on a tripod and start recording and walk away and wait. Usually within 5-10 minutes of filming, she arrives at the feeders. I have several video editor programs that I use to create and edit these short video clips. The editing programs I use didn't come with the camera. I use Roxio Movie Studio. (I think someone bought them out ... possibly Sonic.) When I upload a video to YouTube it only allows you to upload a max of 100 MB. So I have to keep the videos very short.

Anyway, I hope this helps. I usually do an internet search under "Digital Camcorder Product Reviews" to see which are rated the best. That's what made me decide on the one I bought for the price range I was looking for. Good luck finding the best one for you if you are looking for one yourself! Thanks for asking! ~Becky~

This message was edited Dec 30, 2007 12:05 AM

Thanks for the great information, Becky! I will check out the digital camcorder products now. I bought an old Kodak digital camera that will do timelapse photography so will have fun with that this summer. I noticed there were many hummer videos on YouTube, isn't the ones showing the hummer feeding directly out of their hand amazing??

Joseph

Well, I guess I could drop in a picture of my last blooms of 2007, while there's still some 2007 left to do it in.

These are grown from a randomly-selected seed from the "random but probably blue" batch. As it turns out, it's a Picotee Blue double, but with a distinctly pink throat, instead of the white ones I am more used to seeing. I had some red and pink flowers out on the balcony that the blues might have cross-pollinated with, if that's the way that it works. Regardless, I thought they were kind of neat, since they came from seeds that I got from my first successful attempt at growing morning glories -- sort of "closing the loop", I guess.

seamus, those are charming! Did they produce seeds?

Jackie did you start your Stictocardia from seed? I have one from last summer that did well. got funny little buggy things when I brought mine in the house but, seems to be holding on. I can't imagine I have to wait 2 more years for flowers!! I never used the Bayer I may have to look into that.

Becky love the hummer shots!!! I could watch them forever in the summer here!!

Seamus love the Picotee!!! I would love to trade if you have any seeds!

Ronnie, mine came from Logees, a small plant that didn't stay small very long.
I got a bloom or two when I repotted it out of the small pot it came in. It's bloomed
every yr so yours should bloom. Give it a sunny window if you have a spot.
You can feed it a little but I think it will bloom without food. I never remember to feed mine. LOL

Jackie

Revclaus and Luvsgrtdanes:

The blooms pictured were from just a few days ago, on a vine that I have growing under lights indoors. The doubled blooms can't produce seeds because the reproductive bits get modified into petals, but it isn't a 100% sort of mutation, and the day after I took the above photo, I had a pair of normal blooms, which I hand-pollinated; hopefully, they'll set seed and continue to maturity.

This was from a vine that I started in order to "test" a set of germinating instructions, and didn't decide to produce blooms until just recently when I set up another light rack - I guess it liked the extra boost of illumination. Now that it's made flowers, I'll be replanting this one into a pot and seeing if I can't get it to make some more blooms and set more seeds.

That'll be interesting. Keep us posted.

Here is my last recorded outside ipomoea nil grown outside about mid December. I think December 17


Karen

The cold hardy champion is this ipomoea purpurea though I believe the porch light may have given it a advantage. It was blooming this morning one inch blooms.


This picture was about December 20 ish

Karen

This message was edited Jan 1, 2008 4:32 PM

Been busy with helping out my mother after heart by-pass surgery. Thought I would take a mental break and post some bloom photos from Monday. I still have vines blooming, but the leaves are not looking too pretty due to rust. I've lost the battle with that MG fungus. Too much humidity here.(sigh) Temps are supposed to dip around 36 degrees tonight! Love it! Wind chill of 26 degrees! LOL! Me and my dog, Lady Jane, took a brisk walk tonight! I'll be curious to see how the vines and other plants in my yard do tonight. I was moving my Brug starters into the garage.

Here is the first bloom photo! Enjoy!

This message was edited Jan 2, 2008 10:26 PM

Another bloom.

Rebecca bloom.

Always a favorite. Still nadda single seed pod. :-(

Indigo Feathers?

Setosa (Brazilian MG) seed pod.

Unknown pink triple feather.

I know that this Cosmos is not a MG, but thought you might have visions of Spring by looking at this photo! :-) White Peacock Butterfly showing off on the bloom.

Ha! Now that's more like it!! Beauteous blooms & butterflies. Thanks for posting Becky. Hope your Mom's doing okay.


Joanne

yes - visions of spring - keep 'em coming, Becky. Sending positive thoughts for your Mom, too.

karen

Joanne & Karen (blu) - Thanks for sending good vibes for my mother's healing after surgery!

Karen - This one is a beaut! http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/fp.php?pid=4348877

This message was edited Jan 3, 2008 10:43 AM

Sending more good vibes your way! I spent about a year helping my husband "survive" his bypass surgery. It's no walk in the park! He has been doing well for the past 9 years since then and he certainly wouldn't still be alive without the surgery. I hope your mom does well, too!
Beth

Becky, glad your mom finally had her surgery. Dreading it was probably
worse than the surgery itself. Hope she continues to feel better each and
every day.
Great pics everyone.

Well you all did it. You hooked another lurker to the magic of Morning Glories! I've been doing my homework and thinking about, and literally dreaming about these superb and spectacular flowers. I just got my new JMG first seeds started in my new heat & humidity chamber according to Ron's generous tutorial and I just want to thank you all for being passionate and informed and contributing to a beautiful art form that is not so well known here, even in DG. In the coldest days I tried to find pictures of the hottest flowers and you all provided me a spring board for a new obsession.

This little chamber is in my cabin studio right next to my computer so I can watch 'em go. There's a big outdoor umbrella on the lowered ceiling to allow the heat & humidity to circulate freely and the radiator under the panels keeps the soil warm. Any more suggestions are welcome.

Blooms Away! and thanks to Beth for the help and extra words of encouragement.

and if anyone has suggestions for grow lights and soil and fertilizer or anything for a new newbie new girl, I'd love to hear all about it. How many of you grow them indoors? and how long do the nils normally last if you keep them indoors or bring them in in the fall?

Soulja - I noticed at one of our Walmarts, they have 2' shoplights - including 2 bulbs - for about $8.00 each. I'm going to get myself two of them. Walmart also has 4' shop lights for just under $9.00, but the bulbs are not included. I think the 2' ones have hanging chaines . . . not sure if the 4' have chains . . .

The nils I brought in before the first frost are still blooming sporadically. The key to how long they keep blooming seems to be if you let them set seeds or not. A plant with a heavy load of seed pods will stop blooming and put all its energy into maturing the seeds.

I like your set-up Soulja. What is the temp where you are growing? I've tried flourescent grow-lights and they are okay if you put them close, right over the seedlings, so the seedlings don't get leggy. If you really want to get serious about growing inside, I highly recommend a Metal Halide grow light. There is no comparison.

I'm going tomorrow to Cincinnati with a cousin to get his $450 grow light that he's not needing anymore since he's in med school in Grenada. I don't know what it is yet, but I imagine for that price it'll be better than these little bulbs I got at the hardware store! I will also get a thermometer for the chamber, a ph meter and some fish emulsion and good soil and whatever else is left over. (score!) Right now it feels cosy in there and the soil is nice and warm. Is there a perfect temperature recommendation? I think I heard 72 degrees. Also I thought I read somewhere that you water from the bottom at a certain point, is that what you do Beth?