Dog Days in and out of the Greenhouse

There's not a lot to peek at in the greenhouse this time of year.

Water from the misting apparatus collecting on the bench below grew some interesting fungi.

A rooting rate of 75% for Lantana cuttings taken a couple weeks ago. I had to remove 3 that never came out of a wilt. I always need a few more chartreuse alternanthera. Two of three Duranta look as if they'll root. Duranta is a good blooming greenhouse plant for winter, so one or two small are good to have.

Outside, Schlumbergera, Rhipsalidopsis, Kalanchoe and Calla Lilies are in light shade on a little patio with a little morning sun. Some are on makeshift benches.  

Cycad seedling

Epiphyllum oxypetalum has buds. There's been some bud

drop but we'll have open buds soon if I can keep the 

watering schedule. 

I potted up a single tomato plant for the greenhouse, grown from a tiny sucker off a Better Boy plant before it was planted in the garden. I didn't take a picture; maybe when it has little tomatoes I will.

We spent much time late yesterday finding tomato worms that were eating my tomatoes outside. I know they grow into a lovely large moth, but they strip the plants in a very short time and have to be removed in a no-spray patch. Some fat larvae were four inches long and very green, easily hidden by arranging themselves along stems. One that had eaten nearly half of a small tomato was a little fellow slightly more than an inch long and still brown. Imagine how many leaves and tomatoes he would eat before he reached 4 inches long.

I'm watering the beds on either side of the greenhouse. I hope by next year they'll be mature enough to show off in the manner of Claus Dalby's greenhouse beds with white flowers, my inspiration. 

April Peek into the Greenhouse

Alison reminded us that it is time to look in the greenhouse again. Hers looks swell. She has seedlings of all kinds and even a blooming Brugmansia. Here's mine:

I washed the outside last week before the rains came.

What looks like a pile of rubble to the left is the new Urbanite and brick patio.

Evacuation started here when I thought cold weather was over. Some of the plants I moved out shivered for a night or two, but nobody froze. Epiphyllums are on a bench under the cedar tree behind gardenias and things, ready for warm nights so they can bloom.

Tomato plants got to stay inside a little longer because of the

cold rain. What looks like yellow leaves at the bottom are labels.

I haven't decided where Bromeliads are going to summer. Red Begonias and Alternanthera can go with them, or somewhere else. The rest of Begonias are already outside in shade.

My Easter tableau looked more like Christmas, but that's an

Easter Cactus. Rhapsalidopsis.

Here's where Rhapsalidopsis and Schlumbergera are summering.  

 Urbanite and Brick Patio. Surely you didn't think I was going to sit out there in the summer? Jungle cactuses summer in this same space last year on this same table. Now there's more room and I won't have to walk through weeds.

A closer look at brick seams between the broken concrete.

Another, bigger  Easter Cactus at back left. All tiny pots of 

Schlumbergera cuttings have been bumped up to the size that fits into cache pots. They are of cache pots for summer so they can easily drain after a rain. 

Waiting for summer homes in the ground are Pineapple Sage, Porterweed, Chartreuse Alternanthera and others.

 Propagation is an on-going process here.

Every little succulent leaf that falls gets to start life 

as a new plant. Every broken piece of something

goes into a pot to root, which is why I have too

many Epiphyllums and more.

If you haven't a greenhouse, then you must have a bright window or a grow light somewhere. Orchids are blooming in an east window here. What's blooming at your place?

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