Filling with Plants and Pots

It is not as exciting as it used to be. Am I jaded or just weary?

 I brought Amaryllis into the Mule Barn for a rest. Foliage died back and new leaves emerged, so 4 are in bright light again, hoping for buds soon. I took one out of its pot -- the roots are pretty and white. The tops of the bulbs were kind of soft but the widest part is firm. I scratched away the cedar needles and left the bulb tops exposed. Not going to repot, just give a little fertilizer later.

I have containers of Burro Tail Sedum growing from little beans that broke off. 

 Episcia, new this year. It had a little worm, I saw frass. I can't find the critter. Yet. Those little green bits are tomato cuttings, more experiments for the winter.

Amaryllis, Bilbergia and Rabbit's Foot Fern

  The two pics below show shelves on the east end of the GH.
Tomato vines are vining across the top in front of the fan.
The next shelf has mostly aqua color pots,
few are filled yet except for a couple of Christmas Cacti.

 This shelf has Christmas Cacti in square pots: one each of yellow, white, peach, pink and red. A fern planted itself in one.

Here is a broader view below of the two shelves above:

 

 Bringing the jungle cacti into the greenhouse. The old Easter Cactus that belonged to Miss Winnie is still alive, needs to be cut into pieces and new plants started, a plan for next spring because so many pots take up room. There are 3 good pots of Easter Cactus.
I'm 'bottoming' some of the Cacti with new soil in the bottom of the pot and taking off all the cedar needles that fell into pots.

Bird's Nest Fern reached enormous proportions. Nightblooming cactuses are indoors.  The cactuses are going to be underneath where the tomato plant will eventually crawl past the tin rooster and rest over on the wicker shelves. One that didn't fit is under the shelf with the Bird's Nest. One long limb I couldn't make behave I just cut off and stuck in a pot of soil that was sitting at the door.

 The tomato vine is crawling right on over past the rooster. This is my experiment for the winter, to see if the same tomato plant can continue, topped with fresh soil and fertilizer.

 These are new this year.

 Mistletoe Cactus is one of my favorites. 

I'm disappointed in the Bromeliad tree. They lost a great deal of leaves in summer heat and look sad. It stayed inside because it was so heavy to try to drag out. I have some nicer Neoregelias and some pups coming on from the potted Broms that bloomed outside. Notice the Persian Shield growing behind the 'tree.' It needs cutting back to encourage new growth which might help the looks of the 'tree' too. 

 Burro Tail. There's lots of these.

 Empty cache pots are everywhere, awaiting grouping by color and filling as needed.

Brought Staghorn Fern in last night. It rejuvenated itself out under a tree.

What Blossoms We Missed in the Last Peek

When I posted the Spring peek into the Greenhouse, I missed these beauties completely. I found them today when I moved out the Epiphyllums and relocated the Hippeastrums.

 Burro tail sedum blooms! I could hardly believe it.

How did I miss these?

They were kind of hidden and there are not many of them.

Sedum blooms were revealed when I moved these.

Once the bulky Epis moved out, there was room for all the Amaryllis pots in one place, or so I thought. I discovered another pot, the one that bloomed before Thanksgiving, when I was looking at the Bromeliads, the next project for moving.

Another Apple Blossom bloomed -- the one on the potting bench-- my favorite only because it has fragrance. I love catching that fragrance, especially on days like today when the cat barfed up on the greenhouse floor.

What I thought might be seedlings turned out to be mostly offsets of Exotica that I dug last summer. Some of these have bloomed and have another bud. One that has not bloomed finally has a bud tip showing in the dark pot with the yellow tab. I think it is Spartacus. My best intention is to have every bulb labeled soon.

End of Year Peek into the Greenhouse

Christmas Cactuses are mostly finished. I deadheaded a few. It is time to think, just think about what seeds to plant and when.

Cuttings of Kalanchoe at bottom left did not bloom in time for Christmas. These are white -- I should have bought a pink or a red last summer to start cuttings for Valentine's Day. On the stool are cuttings of pink Pentas and red and blue Porterweed for next summer. At least one of the Pentas is forming buds now to bloom in the greenhouse until warm weather.

Bromeliads take up a lot of room.

Bromeliads on a tree.

Persian Shield cuttings over behind the Bromeliad tree may bloom before winter is over. They seldom bloom outdoors but I had blossoms last year. Purple Heart tucked in there has some pink bloooms.

It was a struggle but one little greenhouse pest control helper 

made it it from a Shrimp plant leaf to a Ghost plant rosette.

Next year's plans include having 4 tomato plants for the winter instead of one. We ate ripe tomatoes on Christmas Day. We would like to have enough to give some away on Christmas next year.

Another plan is to repot Russelia alone and dump the Graptopetalum which is kind of naked now. Russelia and Graptopetalum made a great show when the Ghost plant was newly rooted. Russelia requires an ocean of water to bloom continually indoors.

In order to make room for  more tomatoes some plants are going to have to move outside permanently. Spider plants have increased to a point of too many indoors. I'll take some of the planks off the end of the shelves where the spider plant sits and underneath to make a sort of tomato cage in the northwest end of the GH.

More tomatoes can sit where there are many spider plants this winter:

 Spider plants are root hardy in the ground here so these may become edging in 2015. I brought in every pot when cool weather came.

Improvised planter with succulents.

It's hard to decide who goes and who stays when things get crowded. I can always give away a few Schlumbergeras. Epiphyllums are taking up a lot of room, too. Pots of Amaryllis that sit around and wait to get going could go in the house. I used to start Hyacinths in the laundry room and keep certain cuttings there, too. 

I may change my habits to accommodate more things to eat. Peppers and eggplants did well in containers before. We can grow cole crops, lettuce, onions and greens outdoors. 

What are your plant plans for 2015?

Improvisational Planter

Tiny seedlings and rooted pieces take up too much room.

I looked at vertical planters online and wondered if I could improvise some kind of planter. I was thinking of using hardware cloth but how would I hang it and what to line it so soil doesn't wash out.

Hardware cloth fashioned into a half tube and stapled to a 30" x 4" board.

A long piece of oak bark off a dead limb in the materials collection fit on one side.

The other side has pieces of lichen-crusted sticks.

Long fibered sphagnum moss lined the planter to hold soil.

Plants used include rooted Graptopetalum rosettes, Burro Tail Sedum, Mistletoe Cactus, Schlumbergera and a Kalanchoe.

It may not hang vertically, but it holds lots of little pieces whose containers took up room and were not attractive. It might look good as a long table centerpiece. This project used up materials that were taking up storage space while they awaited an inspiration and cost nothing.

Just a Peek, There Is a Freeze Advisory

I'm not ready. I didn't take cuttings in August. Late cuttings look poorly; I may dump some of them.

Rethinking, always rethinking. Perhaps I'll plant more Tropical seeds in the spring for an early start of Ricinus and other exotic plants. I've saved many annual seeds. The tray at right upper holds bits and pieces of rooted plants where tiny pieces broke off. I can't resist rooting. There are 2 pots across the way full of Angel Wing Begonia. I was compelled to root that one little piece that broke.

Wait! It's time to plant November seeds and the beds are not ready. Jonquillas and Narcissus await planting. I didn't bring in pots of Amaryllis -- if frost burns the leaves I'll cut them back and let them rest which they should be doing anyhow.

 I so enjoyed this Amaryllis that bloomed kind of out of season and is fading.

This is how a collection starts -- in 2012 this was a single tiny pot of Burro Tail. I saved every little piece that broke and every little bean-like leaf. You can't see the yoghurt cups with more little rootlings.

Ah, Autumn. Comes the buds of Camellia sasanqua beginning to show white. Late this afternoon I plugged in the heaters, checked the thermostats and shut the greenhouse doors.

Barely Inside the Greenhouse

Peeks into the greenhouse are of little interest these days. I mostly go in to turn on the vent fan, start or stop the mist system and do things with water.

This is my hope for tomatoes in cold weather. 

Started from a tiny sucker in the axil of a bigger tomato plant, it sat around rooted, waiting for a home. I finally put it in a big nursery bucket. Too hot now even outside for fruit to form, it should start to put on tomatoes come cooler weather.

There are a few plants left inside that never joined their friends summering outside in shade. Every little piece of succulent material is saved and set to root.  

Yesterday when I checked on the post garden, a squirrel had dug into the pot of Burro Tail on the left below. I have BIG pieces to root now.

Sedum morganum could go back inside. With ample water they can tolerate the high temperatures hovering around 100 degrees at time inside the greenhouse. 

Maybe the cat can keep squirrels out.

I keep looking at containers and wondering just how many will fit in there.

I can give the Firecracker Fern (Russelia equisetiformis) a haircut. Some years it blooms all winter. Long stems on Graptopetalum in the pot with it could stand breaking off and re-rooting with shorter stems too. On the other hand I kind of like the sinewy shape the stems take.

I made a mistake, moving Calla lilies to sunnier spots outside the greenhouse. Some leaves are sunbleached. I moved them back to shade. 

Inside the greenhouse, I pulled out a great bale of purple alternanthera that was reaching for the rafters. I pulled the front half of the south side; much more remains. I think it helped some with shade but shade was beginning to crawl to the center of the room.

While the days are so hot I tend to stay in the house, only going out to water and check on things. There's a heat advisory today. Temperatures are not predicted to get to triple digits, but the heat index may approach 109º because of the humidity.

Outside for Summer, Line Up for Haircuts

Burro Tails and Mistletoe Cactus. I saw these displayed together on Martha Stewart's blog. Of course her burros have 4 foot tails and the Rhipsalis matches that length and there was a Selloum Philodendron.

My mistletoes would be happier in bigger pots and I will oblidge.

 Last year this was a single Tillandsia cyanea, now three. The stem from the bloom of the original plant is just visible in the center. I gave it a tug; it is firmly attached. I like these Viet Nam pots. I put the Cycad seedling in one that matches this one. It is already outside with the Christmas Cactuses.

I brought over one of the pots of Chlorophytum comosum, Asparagus densiflora 'Myersii' and a white Begonia from the Front Garden. I've had this pot for more than 30 years. The patina is real.

 Purple Heart and Persian Shield have almost outgrown their planter. A haircut will do the Setcreasea good, getting those bare stems off. There are more of these in the greenhouse. Sometimes I get carried away with cuttings.

Another candidate for a haircut: Firecracker Fern. This Rusellia also has split ends. Its graptopetalum companion has some leggy stems, too. If there wasn't a water source very near, I would never have brought all these out so far from the house to seek shade. 

I've far too many plants in pots and lots of them are asking for division or haircuts and rooting the trimmings. I am afraid to pick up any pots of Christmas Cactus -- I know they have roots sticking out of their drainage holes. I bumped up a half dozen that were in really tiny pots.

My immediate goal is to get everything out of the greenhouse before the temperatures get really unbearable.