Spring NE Roundup - Saturday June 28th

I use whatever I have on hand Carrie... sometimes perlite, seed starting mix, potting soil with perlite mixed in, those sponge plugs that look like brownies.... or just plain water if nothing else is on hand... they all work but using media is better than water... easier to transplant when the roots aren't so tender

see it's bad we live so far Kassia... you could go around my house taking cuttings till you drop.. like i usually do

any one want my tradescantia i dug up last year... I stuck them in pots because they didn't float my boat... they are in my regular garden soil but still alive... got them from spring hill ... don't know what kind it is just said mix... I think they were purple or pink... goes to show you how little I cared for them I can't even find a photo of them blooming... but i have 3 or 4 small pots with the clumps in them

Bring 'em along; I'm sure someone will take them off your hands.

Just to reinforce what was mentioned before ... Carrie ... I root my coleus in any soil available, too, as long as it's clean and hasn't been used before. I've had pretty good luck doing that, as long as I remember to water the cuttings daily for about a week or so.

As for growing them from seed, I started mine on the 29th of March, and they are about the same size as the ones in the photo above. We coleus growers must be very patient!

I put the watersorb under media... and cover it.. let it be until they root... cuttings seem to grow faster then the ones grown from seed... sometimes i use rooting powder... and sometimes not

when I dug up the trades. I actually said to myself someone on Dave's will want these.. let me stick em in a pot

I brought home some (pun warning . . .) garden variety coleus last year from Kassia's, and it is possible DH had never seen coleus before. He was very impressed, and he usually only likes overtly flowery things that are orange and purple! I got points all summer for those, and I didn't even do anything exciting or exotic with them.

Good for you, Carrie.
Were you able to over-winter them in the house?

Oh I didn't even try! I let them go to seed! But I did buy some pedigreed coleus from rosydawngardens.com with which I am practicing new motherhood. (The sleepless nights and everything. No diaper changes - yet.)

My goodness, Carrie. I think you may have caught the coleus bug! So many colors! So many varieties! I haven't ventured into a purchase from Rosy Dawn yet, but I have salivated when viewing their website. Perhaps next year I can save a few pennies and order from them, but not this year.

My first order, the shipping was more than the plants... (My only order.)

I have to wake up! DD#2 asked something about the expression "holy mackerel" and we ended up talking about Batman (Adam West) and Robin (Burt Ward). I showed her an episode on youtube, and then she went out to lunch with her Real Father and I've been watching episode after episode. I feel stupid, or drunk. THIS is why too much TV is a bad thing - it leaves you with this drugged, waking-up-from-anesthesia feeling.

Candyce, if my coleus is/are still alive by June 28, I can try to bring you cuttings. If Allison doesn't bring enough for everyone. . . I really believe these rosy dawn coleus are different from seed grown ones. For one thing they're ALL clones, so if mom trails, mine will trail too. If they live that long.

You got me wondering: http://verbmall.blogspot.com/2006/06/holy-mackerel-kingfish.

HA! You need to do a search on Holy Mackeral because the link doesn't seem to get you where you want to go, but the explanation is very interesting! You never know WHAT you're going to learn on DG!

You know, "Holy missile-launch pad, Batman, now what?" "Holy Adam's apples, Batman, what next?" "Holy pie throwing contest, Batman, now what?" And the abandoned cake factory or abandoned crayon factory or abandoned long underwear factory outside of Gotham City. Definitely when manufacturing was not out-sourced!

Carrie ~
How sweet of you to offer to share your coleus babies with me. I'll accept them and care for them with lots of love and attention.

Candyce - I'm not sure you noticed quite how many "if"s were in that sentence! So far, the first batch shriveled from lack of water, but the parent plugs are still rooted. I'll bet when it gets warmer, they'll grow more. (The watering INside is so much less regular.)

Bucket count so far... about 20.
I also have about a dozen smaller black ones. These are the types that they put the cut flowers in. I guess they are about 1 gallon or so.

Right now they're stacked up in my living room.
Mom just looks at them & shakes her head.
LOL!

Nancy

Oh my goodness Nancy!! I was thinking of you and your buckets the other day as I was attempting to explain to my incredulous family what a home-made self watering container was and why I needed two buckets that had 4" reservoir between them when they sat inside each other. "But Mommy, this one already has a built-in saucer, you don't need to worry about spilling water with this." I think the initials are HMEB or something (home-made earth box? I can find the link!) but I am eagerly looking forward to your contribution - and to you and to your mom's cake, too! I'll fetch the link in case anyone else is as crazy as I am.

There's one here (scroll down to the bottom. it continues on pg 4) ....
http://www.motherearthnews.com/Organic-Gardening/2008-04-01/Container-Gardening.aspx?page=3

the pic that goes with it

Nancy

I had this one bookmarked... going to try it too

http://www.josho.com/gardening.htm

Thank you, thank you, the one I was looking for from Allison, and one with a use for the extra funnel we happen to have from bucket-lady herself!!! THANKS A MILLION! I was looking, but I forgot how to find things I had tagged. Now to wait until June 28 - or to keep the poor patio plants alive until then. (I'm growing Jan's single serving cantaloupes.)

Yes. I noticed the 'ifs'. But I have faith.

I don't. I appreciate yours.

Oh, Candyce, bad news. My pot of rosy dawn coleus met with an untimely catastrophe! It fell off the plant stand outside. The trailing plum one, I forget what it's called, is ok, but the other ones that I was worried about were just little lumps, the roots hadn't spread at all. We put it all back in another pot (it would really rather still be in a greenhouse with temperatures like today's!) since the (blue) pot it was in to begin with smashed to smithereens. A few other purchased annuals I had just potted up crashed too, but they were still supposed to be just cubes of potting soil with flowers sticking out the top! I think I ordered my coleus too soon.

that's a shame... sorry to hear that

Me too! :-( Luckily, the only real casualties were the pot and the coleus that were more dead than not anyway. That trailing coleus I was so excited about last year is still hanging in there. But Candyce's faith . . . well . . . may be misplaced.

edited for typos

This message was edited May 20, 2008 11:23 AM

I am so sorry, Carrie! Such a bad thing to happen! But, I will apply my faith (and yours) to the trailing one. These things happen, and it's upsetting, too.

Tell me about it! I think we'll be ok on the trailing one, unless the cold didn't do it in!

It got pretty chilly here, too, last night. So far, though, the plants we were hardening off still look OK. Some even look better than they did on Saturday when we put them out! Go figure!

My hardy begonia bulblets were really getting off the ground under grow lights, so I put them outside about a week ago. They look a little stiff and woeful today, it's been so cold and yucky. But, that's spring in New England! In another couple of weeks we'll be whining about the heat. Oh well....Really looking forward to meeting everyone, should be great weather by then!

Monday predicted to be in the 80's.

I am looking forward to the warmer weather, for sure.

Drumlin, I was JUST saying that. In a few weeks we'll be complaining about the heat!!

We New Englanders are never satisfied with the weather, dontcha know!

If it ain't the heat what gets you it's the humidity!

Heat? Humidity? It cant get hot or humid enuff, send it north please.

Well, I was quoting what we generally say around July or August. I mean I myself personally would never complain about the weather (LOL), but that is the phrase that is tossed around. Today it's plenty humid but way too cold. The plants seem to like it, though.

It's too chilly and breezy for little Miss "M" and me to be outside today.

I think it has gotten chillier through the day here. It didn't seem as cold when we walked this morning. On our walk we saw our first lady slipper in bloom. Every year my DH and I do a count of the lady slippers along the road by the pond. Our count last year was 286. I'll try to remember my camera tomorrow to see if I can get a decent shot of it. I cleaned up my potting shed this afternoon.....a good way to spend a cold, raw day.

Kassia,

Wow..I've been behind! I would be honored to attend your RU again this year! Last year was pretty much just bring what you want to share with food and plants...it certainly worked well! I recall that interesting and tasty "sandwich" your family made..the one with layers..:-)

I'm totally in to my "Iron Cross" from Andy and was able to pass it along to other Happy Campers.

I've marked my calendar for the 28th!!!

I can't wait for this weekend...for the smell of the warming soil, awakened insects buzzing about, my dogs rolling in the grass while I garden...doesn't get much better than that. Oh..except at about 5:00 when I have a glass of wine, wander the garden area making mental notes of my hard work and even more challenging work ahead! And my DH makes dinner. Keeping my fingers crossed. LOL

So good to hear from you!!!!! my pleasure to add your name to the list!!!! (Linda right???)