OK -where is everyone tonight? I finally get an evening to join in the chat and there's no one to be found?!
A NEW Day of Gratitude and Love
Hi Ladies,
I am sorry I was not around much today and I am now going to bed and I hope I feel better tomorrow... I am sure I will.... Everyone has GREAT pictures...
Hugs,
Susan
Diane, are you still around? I am going to (for fun) take all the stress out of this show after talking to the president. I am just going to make 5 terrariums for sure for sale only and 5 dish gardens. This will be fun using all the weird and different plants. Then , whatever looks good on the 18th of February I can make a decision then.
But I love to make terrariums and dish gardens just for fun!
Great idea Gail! ANd fun too!
Can you believe it? My husband sold a gun I gave him for Christmas several years ago and said he would buy me a plant with some of the money. We went to Home Depot and Lowe's COULDN'T FIND A THING! Not even a sad-looking AV could I find....
since I don't have anything blooming I am going to pull from this past January when I got my very first African violet. I have pictures and just don't know where they are in my files.......we just need color in the winter even if they are old pics.
These pics were from January so they must have been some of my first ones.
Hi Ladies. Just got home from our Basketball game. We won ... not much competition at all, final score was 97/49 against a team from Boston.
Diane: Good going on your episcia stolons! I bet you get roots before too long and your babies will grow big and strong! Yep, I am like Gail when it comes to plants - just jump right in. I have had times when I only have one plant of a certain thing and worry that if I butcher it, the mom plant might die too but I do give it a try and figure oh well, if it lives, it lives - if not ... try again! Eventually it might work. LOL.
Susan: Sure hope you feel better and have a much better day tomorrow! It's no fun, the pain and suffering with (sp) fibromyalgia. I will wish for you a good weekend, pain free.
Well, I am tired so I am heading to bed here shortly myself. Busy weekend ahead .... more B'Ball tomorrow night and visiting some friends tomorrow or Sunday.
Yeah for your team........love sports..........
just playing with old pics..
this makes me reminisce
just a walk down memory lane
Sinningia 'Scarlet Red'
Lin- I hope you're right about the stolons! Time will tell...
I looked for something in bloom earlier to post but could only come up with some sparse blooms on Kalanchoes and one lovely but lonely bloom on a Geranium!
Rob's Cool Fruit mini
*******Diane, these are blooms from this past year........not new ones! Can you tell how bored I am and don't want to go to bed yet!
Ok, since Gail said old pic's are okay ... here's Episcia fimbriata Blue Heaven. Photo taken in September.
i don't have any names on anything......new? still keep doing the same thing with names
Love that plant, Lin.............hey, by the way, I am not captain of the family (lol)....or that is what my children often say, "Since when did you become captain, Mom?"
I don't know what happened to my Blue Heaven except that it went that direction
No idea who she is............let's play this tomorrow...I am tired, too!
I would love to see color in the month of January and we don't care how old the pictures are, do we!
Hi Ladies,
My husband is snoring so bad I had to come and put ear plugs in.... I kept him up lastnight and working 12 hour shifts he is tired tonight...
I would like someone to show me how to "wick" a plant and I also got a grid lastnight Gail and I really am not sure what I am to do with this so if you could kinda sorta take it a step at a time when you have the time.... I really don't think I need to worry about that at this time....
Ok off to try for bed again.
Hugs and Love,
Susan
Wicking just means putting a loop of acrylic yarn or mason's twine up into the pot so it makes good contact with the potting mix and dangles out the bottom hole of the pot. I've also read about people cutting up nylon stockings for wicks (cut a half inch section of leg of the stocking, then give a pull to stretch it out). The dangling end then goes into a reservoir of water... this can mean putting the pot on top of a margarine container, with a hole cut in the lid for the wick to go through and water in the container. Or you can get creative with more decorative reservoirs (wine glasses, etc). You can also use a grid over a nursery tray as a community reservoir. Either put the grid over the rim of the tray, or set the grid down into the tray and support it with something like a bunch of golf balls underneath. Fill the tray with water, not over the level of the grid. Put your pots on top of the grid, with their wicks dangling down into the reservoir.
That's the basic idea.
WellI missed out on the fun again! Doorbell rang at almost 10:30 and there is my daughter, sonin law and baby! So after I let them have it for having the baby out at that tim eof night I grabbed that baby and played until almost 11:00.
All those pics were wonderful! Every time I thought - Oh that's my favorite_ I see the next one. But I have to say that little variegated one with the PINK flowers was just too sweet! Just looked back at it - Cool Fruit mini. Adorable
Susan- My husband turns in to a grizzly bear every night, not just on nights he's extra tired- I feel for ya! As I sit here in bed typing on my laptop with him growling next to me.....yea
Good morning everyone! I hear y'all regarding the snoring husbands! Mine snored most of the night too, keeping me awake. I finally went to the other room about 3 a.m. I'm dragging today. Haven't slept well the past two nights. I require @ 7 hrs of sleep to function well and the past two nights I have only slept maybe 4 to 4 1/2 hours each night. I wish I could nap during the day but have never been able to do it for some reason. I will get real sleepy and lay down and can never get to sleep. I think it's all psychological ... seems like I can't get the mind to shut off, lay there thinking of a thousand things I need to get done!
:) I guess I should get busy - have so many plants that I need to move back outdoors. It's supposed to be in the 70's the next couple of days and back into the 80's next week! Yippee!! My plants are doing the happy dance along with me! **** ~~~~ **** Can ya hear them singing? Sunshine and warm weather! I hope for an early spring for everyone! Hey, I know it's only the beginning of January but a few days ago I walked out to the back deck and there were hundreds of Robins flying all around and one huge tree covered in those pretty birdies! We never see Robins this time of year. Maybe they are headed south but usually we don't see Robin's in this area until late March/early April.
Have a great day everybody!
Well today is our big 'hurrah' for warm temps! 70degrees. Then starting to cool again but at least not as cool as it has been- 50's some days next week.
I didn't know if I should start a new thread, but I have a question. When I violet has another plant in the pot as it grows, do I separate them?
Let me help you find a tutorial someone has done on separating the babies into solo 3 oz cups, Sally..................be back in a minute..............
Rachels Reflections is great and here is her site for separating babies:
http://www.rachelsreflections.com/separate.htm
Also, www.violetbarn.com has great tutorials also.............
good luck
Ok, I figured I needed to separate them. Thank you. I will go to the links now.
Sally,
that is a very pretty plant and what type is it... could you give the common name as I don't know most of the latin one..
Hugs,
Susan
Sally, do you mean you have a leaf pot with more than one baby plantlet growing, or do you have a mature plant with a second plant/crown/sucker growing from the same stem? Either way, separation is possible and probably the best course, although I do tell people that if they like the looks of their multi-crowned plant and aren't planning to enter it in a show, just to let it do its thing. :-)
That is a purple potato vine, not a sweet potato vine. Solanum seaforthianum purple potato. I have white ones and I had this one in a big container. It passed away.... I am looking for another.
Critter, I think it is a baby plantlet. Seems like a twin. I will take it apart soon and see.
Sally, I am confused. Did you plant a leaf and get babies? Or did it just get another crown like Critter said?
Sally, I love that plant. We used to grow them at Brookwood Community in Houston.......they are very tender aren't they?
Oh, I found Sally's lovely plant by googling! Here is the Plant Files link: http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/31445/
Gessiegail, it is not from a leaf. Just a plant that seems crowded really. I just looked again. I think it is one crowded plant.
It's probably a sucker. It'll probably pop right off from the main stem with a little pressure (or you can cut it away). Sometimes if a sucker is right at the base of the stem it'll have a couple of roots, but usually not. But if you can remove it as a relatively intact little crown, you can root it in a little cup of just barely moist light potting mix. Put a dome or a plastic bag over it to keep humidity around it while it roots.
Sally, I am just learning how to shape a plant (meaning an av) and it is harder than I thought it would be. I use toilet tissue and keep changing it up and over a leaves to see which leaves need to go and which need to stay. She was trying to show my how you take the center 3 and then go down another layer and do the same.
I am ready to switch to all streps...........you think I am kidding...........when I get these to 'market' at the Mother's Day Sale in May, I am going to be very careful about what i buy. I can't grow this many plants (well I can but I may have a breakdown .......lol)
I have been moving solo pots up to 21/2" square with larger (#36 string) and I have been planting for days and not even half way through (but almost half way through)
Lin, isn't it a beauty of a plant. You could grow it in Florida where you live in a protected area. (meaning it doesn't like high winds) Solanum seaforthiana I think I remember the spelling???????????
Uh oh,,we need a picture for my post!
Yes, a sucker maybe. I need to get a pic. of it.
Oh Gail, that's a beautiful plant too ... if I'm remembering correctly, is it Stromanthe? I Love variegated foliage and also love the pink/burgundy coloration in that plant.
Wow I have that plant in my kitchen area... I love the colors of her....
Hugs,
Susan
Mine is not doing well. A nurseryman told me it only can take distilled water. Is that true??????
I know the Stromanthes roots are very sensitive to chemicals. They are related to the Calatheas and Ctenanthes etc.
I had one (didn't know what it was, but it looked like that) that I used regular water on, and it seemed to do fine... until the whole pot got awful mealy bugs. I still don't know how that happened, as the pot was in a room all by itself! But because of that, the bugs got pretty advanced before I really noticed them, and I ended up just trashing the plants rather than trying to treat such an infestation.
However, I do have several plants that weren't thriving until I started using filtered (not distilled) water for them. So you might see if chlorine is causing a problem by switching to filtered water for a couple of weeks and seeing if it improves.