Gerberas

   Last fall I saved six Gerberas from the frosty winter.Today I decided to divide them and now I have twenty three.How cool is that.I also learned something about them I didn’t know.

     I read you could let them go dormant in the basement for the winter,so I decided to try.I let one go dormant under my growing bench.Layed it on its side,no water,and no light.I got it out today to see how it was doing.Pulled away the dead leaves and found in the center new little leaves just waiting for water and light so they could grow. I’m sure it would have made it till April like that if need be,but I dumped it out of the pot and divided it too.

 

I have  white,yellow, pink and two different reds.Now I  need to find some place to plant them outside this summer.

Date Palm Seeds

  Yesterday I planted Date Palm seeds. They have soaked in water for two days.I put each one into a separate pot in potting soil.Placed them on the heat mat set 85 degrees.Covered them with a small piece of glass to keep the moisture in.We’ll see what happens.

I also divided one of my Majesty Palms.I have several that have more than one in a pot and they look very crowded.I really didn’t know how they would respond to being divided so,I think I will just do one pot for now and see how they do.If after a week or two they look alright,then I’ll do the rest.

Have been treating the plants under the lights for Fungus Knats for the last two weeks.One more treatment this friday, and they should be done.The don’t seem to be any flying around.

Well,I also found out 2 days ago that the boys here at the church are going to set me up another string of growlights.ALRIGHT!!They want me to grow more of the plants for the yard from seed.OK,I can do that.

Outside Plants

  Ok,now that you’ve seen some of my indoor plants,lets see how the daylily seedling are doing.As you can see     they have grown quite a bit since last posted.

Here you can see my little   Arisaema triphyllum.They have been in the fridge since fall,for their cold treatment.I planted 6 seed just to see.The rest of the seed will stay in cold storage till spring. Just could not wait.Had to try a few.

And lets not forget the Hostas…

  I don’t know the name of this one.I just call it Greenie.

Yeah,I know what your think…”You live in zone 5 and it’s January,way too early to be starting plants”. Well, maybe,but so what.These are for the most part Perennials anyway and going to be in the coldframe by the 1st of April,hopefully. Just in time for me to start my petunias.Waves.100 of them.

  This is a tray of cuttings that I took last fall just before the firrst hard frost. You see here…Catharanthus roseus (Madagascar periwinkle ),Vinca Vine Expoflora, a Hollyhock seedling and Pelargonium x hortum cv ‘Vancouver Centennial’ Geranium
that I picked up at the home and garden show last spring.  Here’s a better shot at it.Isn’t it nice?

My Indoor Plants

 

Draceana marginata

       Well, it’s been a while since I’ve had time to post.It’s a new year.Same old stuff.But,I got some new pics of my plants.First the indoor plants:                    

Majesty Palm ( Ravenea rivularis)  Didn’t know anything about Palms when I purchased these fron Wal Mart.Thought their cheap,lets try these.(I ended up with  five of these.) Bought them,got them back to the church…now what?So I started reading about them.The first thing I read was…”These are the WORST palms for inside.They like lots of sun,humidity,water.” Oh crap!!But I kept reading and trying different things and they seem to be doing pretty good so far.Have had they since March of 2008.Not yet a year.But,we’ll see.The other palms I  have are Chamaedorea. But I don’t know which Chamaedorea.I thought at first it might be C. elegans or Parlor Palm.But the more I looked at it the more I don’t think so.I’m thinking now that it is possibly Chamaedorea seifrizii or The Bamboo Palm.  You can see here how the stems form a clump and is not a bunch of separate plants.Anyway,this is a much better palm for inside.It comes from Mexico and Guatemala in the rainforest,where it grows as a understory plant,reaching a height of only 10 feet or so.

Dieffenbachia.  This is a very nice Dieffenbachia.I don’t know the variety,but would like to.It’s one of the larger varieties,or so it appears.Very nice bright leaves.No problems so far other than a few spider mites.

    Spathiphyllum…This poor guy was all but dead when I took this job.But I repotted him in frersh soil and a better pot and look at him now.It grew out of the first pot and had to be repotted again.And it has bloomed several times.It’a very  large plant .Has deep green leaves,and a large white arum type flower. Another that I don’t know the variety,but would like to.This plant does not like to dry out.

I was originally hired to take care of the outside,yard, flower beds ect. But we decided we wanted a few inside plants.NOT one of my strong points,inside plants.But,I am learning.Quess thats part of the fun.

Royal Palms and Daylilies

   Well, I finally got all my new little daylily babies potted up. I ended up with 180 new little daylilies. They all look really  nice and healthy. And by the way,I ended up with two seedlings that where white.One has died.I suspect the other will follow suit shortly. Also, noticed  that the  six Arisaema seed, planted on Nov. 25, seem to be germinating.The barberry, planted the same day,  don’t seem to be doing anything.

    It was decided thursday, that we would plant the Royal Palms,pots and all,outside next summer.I’m thinking this is a bit risky.I’m kind of torn here.I know,and want to, plant them outside in the summer because I think it would be good for them to get some summer sun. On the other hand, I just know that someone is going to steal them. I’m also worried about the same thing with reguards to my growing beds I need to build next summer. I next to build beds to grow  my Daylilies for two years before they go into their permanent spots in the garden. We have neighbors that don’t stay on their own side of the line,if you know what I mean.Stuff comes up missing. O.K.? And,besides all that,I’m not sure how they will look out there with th non-tropical stuff.

O.K. on to something else. I have always wanted to raise some worms. Still do.I think I like the European Nightcrawler (Eisenia hortensis). They are a slightly bigger relative of the Redworm.If I ever get the money to try this,I think they are what I will start with.But that will probably be a while now,with all the lay-offs at work and all.Someday.

New pics

 Got some new pictures of my seedlings. These are all daylily crosses.Bought these seed  online.Don’t know exatly what they will be.That’s just part of the fun in it.

   In this picture you can see a seedling with yellow leaves.This one will most likely die when the seed runs out of food.  These are my Hosta babies.Just some seed that I picked of one of my Hostas at home. And so ,while it is cold and snowy outside, I already have a just on spring.

First Snow

  Well, it happened. The first snow of the season.Well,the first one to stick anyway.There have been flurries on and off for a while,but this is the first one to stick.Not much so far,maybe half an inch or so,but still.Snow..Yuck! Now comes the bad part. The snowmobilers.I hate snowmobilers,they have no respect for other peoples property. Every year it’s same thing. They run up in my grass  and tear it up.Then I spend all the nex summer trying to fix it. Just to have them do it again.Been trying to get them to buy a fence to put up there,but the people with the money just don’t care. Then again they are not out there fixing it every summer.  I want it to be spring now.

Quiet Day

   Not much going on today.Pretty quiet.Went to the church to check on my seedlings.They are fine and growng quickly.Put the rest of the Hosta seedling in six packs.Have a lot of lilies coming up.did notie something that is kinda curious.All the lily seedlings are a nice green color exept for one.It’s a pale yellow.Don’t know what that means,if it’s going to live and stay yellow or if it is sick and just going to die.I guess time will tell.

  I spent most of last night checking for the moon signs and the dates to plant the Wave Petunias and Marigolds for the church. Figured out that between April 2 and April 10 is the best time. Never really planted by the moon before,though I’d try something different.
  Also looking for a tree for out be the church sign.Has to be able to withstand heat,cold,wet,dry,salt and wind.I know ,that’s a lot to ask for but that’s what we need.

Cleaning Day

   Today I’m in the process of cleaning my indoor greenhouse.I have emptied it and then will wash walls and shelves with bleech water.Gotta keep the nasties away.

Ok thats done .Wouldn’t beleive how much more light there is when that white paint is clean.Just wanted it clean for all the new babies coming later on.   

  You should see all the Daylily seedlings coming up. I planted around 250 seeds and I bet almost everyone is going to grow.

http://backyardgreenhouses.com/ecom.asp?pg=products&specific=jphrppi4&gotogrp=30&gotopgnum=1

Wouldn’t it be cool to have one of those? Now if I could just talk someone into buying me one.

Happy Thanksgiving

This is my newest Coneflower (Echinacea )  ‘Tiki Torch’.The picture really doesn’t do it justice. It’s really a nice pumpkin orange. A very different color for a purple coneflower.

What’s the point?

   Why do grown up adult people insist on walking through or standing in a flower bed? I just don’t get it. I work for a large church in my town,and am a member, and I do the gardening here. I can work on a flower bed or a garden for weeks,and when it’s done they just walk right on through it. What’s the point of trying to make a place look nice if people don’t have enough respect to walk a few extra feet to go around a flower bed? Just had to get that out.

  Oh..BTW,today is my birthday.HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME… …

  Starting to see baby daylilies starting pop up. Still only one Hollyhock. The Hosta babies I put into nine pks. yesterday look good. Don’t think they even knew they were moved.And I think I forgot to mention that yesterday(Nov. 25) I took some cuttings from the Dieffenbachia by the office at the church.

  Oh,and my friend Ron dropped of a big bag of plastic pots today, so I will need to bleach all of them and get them ready to use.Ron is a volunteer gardener and helps me around the church. Thanks Ron.

Arisaema triphyllum and Stuff

   Today I planted half a dozen of the Arisaema triphyllum seeds that have been in the fridge.They still have a little over a month before I was suppose to plant them, but I just wanted to try a few to see what,if anything, happened.

   And also today I transplanted nine of the small Hostas into a 9 pack. And I  planted 5 barberry seeds (Crimsom Pygmy) I collected from one of our bushes at church. One of the Hollyhock seeds that I planted on the 22nd germinated. Three days,not bad for five year old seed.

   This is one of my Chlorophytums that I had in my greenhouse at the church.

   You saw my greenhouse in the blog yesterday. Actually the tall set of shelves.Had two of these plants but had to give them away to make room for other stuff. Kept a small one to grow and get cuttings from. They were both beautiful plants. And they are quite easy to start new plants from the little plantlets. I have found that the biggest bunches of these plantlets make the best and fullest adult plants.

   One more before I quit. A pink Snapdragon, antirrhinum majus.

Indoor Greenhouses

  Well, I got my daylily seeds and today I did some planting.Planted 12dozen in 4″x 4.5″ pots.Used half and half potting soil and compost. Put them on the heat mat at 60 degrees. And under the lights.  

    This is my germinating bench.Has three light fixtures and a heat mat.It is now very full of Daylily seeds.The tray you see there has Hosta seedlings in it.

 This is where I grow my plants once they get transplanted into bigger pots.Three shelves with six fixture per shelf.And I use the Daylight Fullspectrum tubes.

This is one of my Gerberas that I rescued from the winter this fall.I brought in 6 of them and they are doing great under the lights.

Hollyhock Seeds

  Yesterday I planted some Hollyhock seeds that I’ve had around for probably four or five years.I don’t know if they will grow or not but thought it was worth a try.

  Today I counted the Hosta seedling again. There are now 10 of the dwarf varigated leaf and about 50 of the plain green leaf.They are growing fine and have a nice bright green color to them.Have turned the heat mat down to 65 degrees.

  I have some seed off of some Gerbera Daisies that I brought inside for the winter. Going to try to germinate some of them.

   Still no sign of my Daylily seeds that are coming in the mail.

Cold and Cloudy,again

  Today is cold ,cloudy and windy.And did I mention COLD!! Yesterday it was 50 degrees.Today we’ll be lucky to see 30.

 Just got a new updated count on the hosta seedlings…now  8 from the dwarf varigated seed and about 32 from the large green leaf seed. They have a lot more green color to them today than yesterday.

Getting in a hurry to plant more seed.Wish it was closer to spring.

Need wood to build raised beds behind the church for my new growing area.going to need atleast 4 growing beds and hopefully 4 cold frames.Will have to figure some way to keep the deer and rabbits out.Yeah,good luck with that.

Pastor Dan said he could hook me up with some friends of his who have perreniels  to give away.

airlayering,Schefflera

finally went and airlayered  the huge shefflera we have at the church. A little nervous about doing it.But we’ll see how it goes. I’ll try to get a few pics.