Busy Work in the Greenhouse and Out

Potted up Kalanchoe cuttings, 7 of them in 4" pots. 

They'll bloom white probably after Christmas and look festive with red geraniums. 

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Kalanchoe roots so easily. 

Potted up the Lemon Grass that I pulled up and almost let die. It has white roots and green stems. Hopeful. Also pulled up another 4 culms and potted in a single pot. It has a better chance because it did not have to sit around and decline. Lemon grass is wonderful for plantings, come warm weather next year. Pets love it.

Am I the only one who sets pots in out of the way spaces and discovers sometimes that something recovered and it growing? A moth-eaten Pentas that was nothing but stems has new growth at every joint. It will make a great winter pot with red blooms, given time and perhaps a larger pot. 

A Brugmansia cutting, likewise. Nothing like a little rain to bring things back from the dead. I put it in the greenhouse with the Pentas cutting and a Persian Shield back from the dead, too. 

Meanwhile outside Brugs are having another round of bloom.

Most Camelia seed pods opened without my finding them.

This one had just one fat seed. I will likely be 80 before it made a bloom,

but the promise in a Camellia seed is too much to pass up.

If you wonder about the woolly gloves, they're cotton knit, just something to keep potting soil from under my nails and off my skin where it makes me itch.  I kept them on from habit when I wandered off.

When I Fail to Pay Attention

Sometimes I can walk right by plants and forget they're there. It happened to some jungle cacti after I moved most of them inside. I set some larger plants on the makeshift bench where Epiphyllums usually summer. In an out-of-way place, they were simply  overlooked.

While I wasn't looking, this Rhipsalidopsis made fruits after it bloomed for Mother's Day. Should I plant seeds when they are ripe?

These two Schlumbergera put on buds. 

Oh, see the wire basket? Inside it are cycad seeds. A second one has growth. 

 It's windy and rainy today. While we're out here you may as well have another peek.

I bought a single Perlargonium this summer. Next year I want more kinds.

Empty containers await whatever turns up in the next few days. There are Kalanchoes that need bumping up into larger pots. I found a discarded Epiphyllum leaf under the Epi bench. It had greened up, put on a new leaf and rooted. You know what that means....

Purple Alternanthera weaves it's way among pots near the floor. 

 Hippeastrum bulbs are in place to see who throws buds. I would like to see an Amaryllis bloom by Christmas. Red and Chartreuse Alternanthera cuttings are in place in mugs to root. A handful of cuttings will spend a whole winter forming a mass of roots, easily teased apart in spring. You can't see the dozen Pentas cuttings on the floor. I'll be taking cuttings from now to frost.

A panorama makes it look as if there is more space than there really is.  Far left is Amaryllis seedlings and offsets and mistletoe cactus. The Bromeliad tree is stuffed in between those and the shelves where the Geranium shows off has bromeliads that are not Neoregelias on the next shelf. Epiphyllums are back there behind the potting bench around the vintage plant stand the rooster stands on. I stuffed the parlor palm under at the end of the south bench -- there's a new palm start behind the Geranium from where I pulled out a culm by accident.

The step stool holding fertilizers is what I use to climb up to water the things I can't reach. It's a seat to perch on, too. I have not yet brought in the heaters. We are still balmy here with cloud cover holding in heat during the night as well. Rain was sparse; wind was plentiful. I was raking pine straw when a dead limb bigger than my arm fell to the ground. Scary.

On Second Thought...

Maybe I'll just go ahead and leave the blog open to visitors. The content will change to reflect more plans with details of what goes on.

More notes from last week:

Plan to put the Burro Tails up high with rhipsalis for contrast.

All Christmas cacti together, Easter Cactus toward the back because they won't bloom soon, can trade places later.

Hate the room that it takes for Epis, but I'm bringing in all three, haircuts for 2.

Two tomatoes. two tomatoes, repeat after me.

Too many Spiders, I know. Repot the Foxtail fern separately.

LIne up just six Kalanchoe in green pots, a couple of extra pots just in case, to keep them.

Geraniums in white pots on potting bench, one big one in a clay pot.

A popular blogger disparaged trinkets like my tin rooster this week while gushing about a California vendor who features ceramic gnomes. My rooster is a sentimental piece. 

The last time I saw my late brother the Colonel, he was at a posh nursing home in Florida which he believed to be a motel. The facility had a beautiful atrium garden with a tin chicken on a post near the center. My red rooster, one of yes an ark full of imports, reminds me of that visit.  I had no camera with me, but made from memory a detailed list of the plants when I got home.

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Christmas Cactus in Aqua pots, Red Ch. Cactus in Green pots  

Amaryllis on north shelf, bring to a prominent spot as they bloom.

Agapanthus, dug and potted as suggested by Claus Dalby. It goes indoors after light frost.

Find a nice spot for the areca palm -- and the small one that grew when I pulled out a culm by accident.. 

May yet dig the bird of paradise, maybe an Alpinia

Repot Firecracker Fern. I really want to throw it away, but take out the Ghost plants and it might be a nice plant again. Think I'll just put the Ghosts along in front of the  pole cuts but Squirrels will probably eat them.

The list goes on and on, reminding myself.

Last Peek before Greenhouse Journal goes Private

Most plants are inside except for Agapanthus in pots that according to Claus need a bit of frost to render them dormant before they come inside.

Epiphyllums are in the left corner around the tin rooster and his perch. Most Schlumbergeras are in blue pots and green pots on the right and behind them as well. It's time to start watching them for baby teeth buds. Commonly called Thanksgiving Cactus, I tend to call mine Christmas Cactus because they start bloom at the end of November lasting into January. I do know the difference (see sidebar note). There are some 'Easter' cactuses at the back.

 Scandinavian blogs that I read have Pelargoniums in their winter greenhouses. I'm imitating that trend.

 Sacrificing space for the Bromel tree was a hard decision. I could have a table and chairs. Burro tails and Mistletoe Cactus are everywhere. Some of the Burros lost beads to squirrels while they summered outside.

 There are some overripe pears behind these Bromels to encourage bloom.

Some white Shrimp Plant cuttings need to be brought in soon. This red Shrimp volunteered in the greenhouse floor, surviving panel scrubbing and furniture moving. Back in summer it was very pale but has color now.


Recently I started keeping a little file on my desktop with thoughts at the end of the day: what I did, what I meant to do, what I might do another day. It would not make for interesting reading except for myself.

My plan right now is to make Dotty Plants a private blog and put everything that I hope visitors find interesting on Seed Scatterer blog. Transferring my file to a blog will allow photos so I know what I'm talking about when my words grow cold after a day or so.

 Here's a sample of my recent notes:

Made succulent pots and stepping stones from what was left over when we poured cement to make a triangle landing in front of the mule barn entry door. Didn't think to get everything ready the night before, so I was grabbing any container and improvising on the spot with some random broken tiles and tessarae from another time. Dog prints showed up on fresh concrete, smoothed out as best we could on the landing. 

___Pot up Ricinus. 

Took 9 white and 9 pale pink Pentas cuttings. Hope I'm not doing it too late. 

As Pots come into the greenhouse, if they're too far down in the pot, I pull out the plant and put a scoop or two of potting soil in the bottom of the pot and fill in around the newly elevated plant. Sometimes they cry out for a top dressing of fresh soil instead.
Epiphyllums cried out for repotting but it will wait until spring.\

Cuttings:
Chartreuse and Red Joseph's Coat in mugs, newly scrubbed
__ Pentas -- make bouquets that can root or not. Red, close to Christmas.
White Shrimp. Don't need red, there's a sprout in the greenhouse floor.
Think about taking Porterweed cuttings?

A great part of this might not be necessary for any eyes but mine.