You can't see but Snow White has a slight yellow throat .
Last few days of May blooms
good ole' stand by Blue Mars
strep Tunnel Vision
I couldn't get a good pic of a baby bloom of Wakana
Never ever will I be without a Vampire's Kiss
Hi all!
I've missed so much I would never get caught up if I tried reading it all- you all just keep on adding to it! LOL I finally skipped over here and there and called it good. Seems like everyones having nice strep blooms. Some very nice ones. And Gail's been visiting her GC. Brenda went on vacation.....I missed alot in about a week!
Ahh, Diane!! So nice to see you back! My DH went out of town for an over night trip and I spent every free second playing plants! But today while I was busy I kept thinking "Where's Diane been?"
I took new pictures while I worked (played??) today but I'm too bushed to post the any of them!
Love your pics Gail! Blue Mars will always be a must have strep for me! I could have kicked myself today when I went upstairs and found two bags with strep leaves in them that were supposed to have gone out in your box yesterday!! I shouldn't pack boxes with grandkids here I guess! ^_^ I potted them up today so as not to waste them and I'll add fresh ones to the next box I send to you.
It has rained for over a week straight here but I shan't complain, really hoping it helps to dampen the forest fire hazard this year, I've gotten so tired of breathing nothing but smoke at the end of our very short summers the last few years....
Here is a picture of Kohleria Marquis de Sade from Monday ... I never get tired of the close ups on these...
~Brenda
P.S. I'll be joing the AA AV/ Strep group also ... LOL
Good Morning Friends :)
WOW, SO MUCH happens here in a day *lol*
First I want to say that everyone's pictures are just stunning!
We are all so lucky to have such beautiful babies and wonderful friends here :)
Lin, it sounds like you have been working your tail off. I bet it looks just awesome as you have such a wonderful display :)
Brenda, I have to ask......how do you grow your kohlerias and get them to bloom? Where do you have them. I have some on my light stand and they have sprouted from the rhizome about 2 inches but they just sit there. Not growing, just sitting there. And you seem to be able to make them bloom so nicely. What am I doing wrong? What are your secrets? *lol* I sure would like them to grow up and be big and bloom but they just sit there. I would at some point like to root cuttings of them all this fall/winter but it's hard to cut something that won't grow *lol*
Yesterday we got our first rain. Not a lot but a little here and a little there. During the breaks between the rain, I planted a bunch of seed in my annual planter pots. It was nice because mother nature watered them in for me :)
I had a few blooms yesterday but mostly all streps I've posted pictures of before so I dismantled them and did some crosses :) I also tried selfing the Alsobia San Miguel and pollinated 3 of the X codonanthus blooms with a Nematanthus. I don't know if any of them will take but it was fun trying :) I would say I average about 70% of my crosses take approximately so I guess that really isn't too bad. Of course, it's always the ones that I get real excited about that don't take but that is always the way *lol*
I also went through my stand yesterday and have 2 trays of AV babies/leaves/plantlets etc. that I'm bringing to my AV meeting on Wednesday and whatever isn't taken by the end of the meeting is going in the trash. I have decided I don't really love AV's too much. I have ones that I am keeping that are special to me (Playful Spectrum, Blue Dragon, etc.) but I don't want to focus on AV's. It's just not where my passion is. I plan to tell them that I am resigning from the club too because I don't really want to go to meeting to learn to grow something I'm not interested in better *lol* Just not for me I guess.
What a project I have this fall! I have about 75 iris that need to be moved. Silly me planted them where they don't get enough sun to bloom. The past couple years I thought maybe it was because they weren't big enough yet but I put a few in my front bed and as tiny as they are the have bloom scapes. So, needless to say....hubby said he would rototill me a border around the front bed so that I can move all my iris there. I have noticed that where the Iris are right now seems to be a really great spot for columbine. So I am going to try to find a bunch of columbine seeds this fall to put there after the iris are gone. That will be fun *lol* BUT, if I move them all this fall......next year I should have some blooms I've never seen before :) That will be awesome!
Brenda, your kohleria amaze me........they are SO pretty!
Kim
Wow,I have alot of catching up to do.
Gail,love the picture with you doo rag.It is priceless! LOL.
I could have put on a decent pair of jeans and shirt but I was working with my plants, Jan!
I, too, cannot seem to grow Kohlerias like Brenda does. Brenda, don't even think twice about the leaves you found upstairs. That is pretty much what I did to you only I couldn't even find the right plants. (LOL)
Just a couple of pictures this morning as I have been "puttering"
Lin, I wanted you to see my "keeper of the slipper" just resting quietly on my serene "island bed". I just LOVE her. She catches my eye every single day and I smile and think of you :) Isn't she beautiful?
Thank you SO MUCH!
Kim
Susan,
I wanted to share with you the results of the Roulette leaf you shared with me :)
I cut it in 1/2 when it arrived and planted both halves hoping for success with one of them.
Well.......lookie here :)
Needless to say, I'm NOT removing these babies until the are eating meat and potatoes and have drivers licenses *lol*
Thank you SO MUCH for sharing it with me :) I can't wait to have a Roulette baby to call my very own :)
XO
Kim
Oh Kim What a great picture it so peacefull looking I sat out on the deack and just listen and drank my coffee I just love to do that Even tho I live in the city its very quite in the AM
Dimmer(AKA) Kim
Kim Is you Mix for the babies just perlite or do you use others to start the leaves
Kim
Thank you Kim :)
I just LOVE living in the country. We have 3 acres and I call it paradise.
It's not perfect and there are tons of flaws but in my eyes it's paradise and I am VERY grateful for it.
Soon I will have 2 acres of wild blueberries to pick and I'm even thankful for the mosquito welts I know I will have as they hate to share the blueberries with anyone *lol*
I have tried many different ways Kim and my best success has been in perlite with a tiny bit of vermiculite. I don't seem to get as much rot this way. I think it takes longer but heck, I have the rest of my life :) Growing streps from leaves has proven to be very challenging for me and I think I am JUST NOW starting to "get it". If there were mistakes to be made, I made them *lol*
Thanks Kim
I no what you mean about the country For 17 years I lived with my Husband and we had 100 acres I loved it but I left and he still has it I couldn't surport myself up there so I came back home I lived up in the UP of Michigan I missed that part alot where I could go and get blueberrys raspberry any thing even the wild flower it was great But as each days go's on I get better maybe 1 day I will get something up there again
Thanks
Kim
When I was a kid, we lived in the UP! Talk about bone hurting cold winters!
Well Kim you may just be getting it and I lost it..LOL The first time I put strep leaves down I had a great percent rate.. This time I forgot how I did it and already rotted one try...LOL I have to take my time and just chill with it...LOL I forgot to put most of them in a dome... and when I did I rotted the one batch.. So it is a give and take with me...LOLOLOL I also learned that when adding bug killer not to get it on the leaves of the tiny ones... I see I have a few burnt leafs and it is that that did it...
Ok Terri (DG) our friend and her husband should be here any min. as we are going golfing... NOT me today I worked to hard in the yard yesterday but hubby wants us to come so we are going..LOLOL
Gail as always your pictures are lovely... I have two more pinks blooming today....
See ya later. My first meeting at AA AV. did not go well... They wanted me to go cold turkey and stop buying... Said I had to think about that one.... they said 21 step program... I told them I needed the 22 step program...LOL They said try to come back next week...
Hugs,
Susan
Susan, you are funny as there are just 12 steps in the AA or AlAnon program.
Susan you have me laughing again, not ready for the AA AV yet huh, I think you added a few steps there as it will take a lot more than 12 to get me to stop too!!! LOL Enjoy watching your husband golf and the visit with friends!
Kim your "Keeper of the Slippers" is adorable, I agree with Dimmer, it is a beautiful, peaceful picture!! I have a wild flower blooming all over the woods here that's foliage reminds me of your Lady Slippers but the blooms aren't close. I need to dig out my Idaho Wildflower book and find their name, maybe they are related??
You are on the right track with letting your strep babies be up to meat and potatoes before separating!! Loved the analogy and that is how I do it, big babies before I lay a hand on them! The number of babies you have on those two leaf pieces is amazing, I've never had so many from a leaf done AV style!!
As for the Kohlerias all I can tell you is they are in a north facing window in natural light. When I first got them (from Out of Africa, seller choice package of 10) they were nice sized plants and I topped all of them and planted the tips. The tips grew and the original stalk died back to the rhizome??? After that I left them alone and just watered them regularly with Eleanor's VF 11 and for at least the next 6 months all I enjoyed was foliage, they have beautiful foliage IMO! Then this winter, like February, the long leggy things started to bloom and a couple of them have never stopped! Others have died back to the rhizomes again and are just putting out new growth. So basically I have no idea what I'm doing with them, I just let them live on that shelf doing what they want and if they bloom I take pictures. LOL
And thanks to your inspiration Kim I have a strep cross that took!! Maassen's White as the father and Bristol's Tractor Beam as the mother! I love looking at that seed pod forming! ^_^ My others didn't work but I am happy to have one that did at this point!!!
I'm back to just enjoying foliage on Pearcea sp Equador right now (it is gorgeous!) but I see that new blooms are forming.....
~Brenda
Ok everyone ... since it's June 1st, I started a new thread. Hope it is okay. Here's the link: http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/856814/
WOW Brenda, SO MUCH to comment on :)
Would love to see a picture of your wildflower :)
Congratulations on your first strep cross! Sounds like some beautiful parentage :)
Thank you for the tips on kohleria. When you say north window, does that mean direct sunlight or just bright light? I have a hard time deciding what window is what in my house as I'm totally directionally challenged!
Love that percea. I just got a cutting of one that I am trying to root. Do you grow it under a dome? Can't wait to see a bloom as I think they are so cute :)
Kim
Kim, I love your angel girl.
Kim I too am directionally challenged!!! The proof being....... after asking DH yet again he says that the window I have the Kohlerias in is a "West" window not north!! LOL
Direct sun starts hitting that window at about 1:00 in the afternoon and then stays until the sun goes down....from May through September I have to have a sheer curtain on the window in the afternoon for the plants sake and the rest of the time the weaker sun just shines in....
I don't grow the pearcea under a dome but it almost died off completely (twice!) before it acclimated to living here at my house. The starts I have done from it loved a dome!! But I wasn't willing to dome the whole plant to keep it. So it was live or die where it was and it finally decided to live. ^_^
Look here, my baby chiritas from you graduated to a 3 oz cup yesterday!! They are doing great and Dreamtime is growing the fastest of them all!!
~Brenda
Nice chiritas, Kim!
Oh Brenda, your chirita babies look SO GOOD! You are doing GREAT with them! Won't be long and they will be HUGE :)
I find Dreamtime to be my fastest grower also :) I can't wait for blooms someday :)
I have all kinds of different chirita babies sprouting now :) This fall I should be able to offer some different ones to everyone :)
Now chirita are something I really enjoy growing from leaf :) I just find the challenge SO fun :)
Those look great. I was able to send everyone that wanted babies some too which is SUCH a great feeling :)
Thank you Gail for the compliment but it's really all Brenda as when I sent them they were just TINY little things in 1 oz. cups *lol*
I know just the right window for my kohleria Brenda. Thank you SO MUCH!!
Kim
NOT TRUE!!! ..... LOL ............... Kim, the start these baby chirita's had are why they are taking off and growing so well for me!! I have been busily searching my computer here for my 'before" pictures of the day they arrived and can't find them to save my life, they were tiny but looked perfect! ^_^
Here they are just two weeks ago, they sprouted up a bunch just since this picture in their little 1 ounce cups.....
~Brenda
OMG, they have grown SO MUCH since then!
I laugh as I look at how tiny they were and to be boxed up an mailed *lol* Goes to show you how much plants just want to live *lol*
You are doing such a fantastic job with them. Makes me smile from ear to ear :)
I love update pictures, don't you?
Guess what? My alsobia Miguel has another 2 blooms that should open within the next couple of days. I also tried to "self" that first blossom *fingers crossed*.........get it.........crossed *lol*
XO
Kimber
This message was edited Jun 1, 2008 7:51 PM
Kim, I am in the cleaning the shelves mode............you will have to do some crossing with Alsobia Cygnet and Alsobia Punctata that I am putting in your box............
It is fun to send tiny babies and see them as they grow up. I am wanting to grow outside so much, I am even sending you all the seedlings still in the original pots and you can make them grow, KIM!!!!!!!!!! (except of course for my obsession with streps still)
Kim will grow all those goodies up good!! ^_^ I do love those alsobias, so pretty!!
Gail I copied you yesterday and had a throwing out party!! Mostly AV's that were still young and already suckering so much it was ridiculous. Also a few bigger ones that had such blah blooms I didn't even feel they were worth trying to share. LOL I'll be finding homes for several semi minis soon. Gotta make room for the streps!! No real grooming involved, no suckers to worry about, not fussy about temperature, big beautiful long lasting blooms..... my kind of plant!
Thumbelina is adjusting well to Idaho and I LOVE this pink and yellow bloom!!!
~Brenda
I told Kim earlier today that I actually filled two big kitchen trash bags with ugly african violets. The only ones I am keeping and growing are the semi minis and all size trailers (no suckers there to worry about). I am through with those big avs.
I don't think I will ever get tired of growing streps as there are so many kinds. Even if I get rid of the last of one kind ........it seems that about 6 months later I look up from a leaf that was planted and get all excited again over the same silly plant.
Streps take a lot of abuse and that is great with me!
I also have fallen in love with these white 6" hanging baskets. I put episcias and anything I want in them under the light. I want to see how long I can get the stolons to grow hanging down and blooming. When I get some blooms I will show you what they look like. Dave'sviolets had them for about a dollar each.
Also, I have rooted lots of lipstick, etc. in these. Let me just take a couple of pictures.
I should say I am in love with both the 6" hanging baskets and jars of any kind.
a little of everything belongs in a white 6" basket (LOL)
It looks like the episcia on the left might bloom and they were stuck about 2 or 3 weeks ago.
Gail,
What are in the jars??? Ok I am going to get some hanging pots for the episcia's ... I have a couple and was not sure if to cut the stolens off or let it hang... hang it is..LOL
Susan
I seem to have better luck, Susan, with episcias if I either start with just stolons and put about 3 to a jar or about 5 or 6 to a hanging basket. Never have I had luck but this seems to be working.
I am going to go back and find an old picture I took in a nursery of the biggest episcia basket I have ever seen.
Be back.......
Missed alot again today I see....I hate when I don't have time to get on here much...Wonderful Pics Everyone!
Hi Cedarnest, I am getting ready to get off the computer, but I did find the picture that gave me the idea of wanting hanging baskets of episcias just once in my life.
WOW that is one large plant.... Thanks for posting about your pots and then these pictures... Gail how close to the light do you keep your episcia's?
Susan