Busy Work

Hippeastrum

Yesterday was sunny with some wind. I hauled out a couple of pots of seedling Amaryllis that were getting hit or miss watering behind bigger pots of something else so they can get better care.

Seedlings planted in 2012, photo from 2014.

Bulbs have doubled in size now and have new growth.

I divided another cluster of Amaryllis seedlings that were in a single pot. There are now 8 small pots; two pots have 2 small bulbs. This is the kind of busy work that I most enjoy.

Hyacinths

I brought a pot of Hyacinths into the house  -- the pot on the right. When they reach full bloom I am mostly done with them. Joy for me is in the growing. 

Likely one bulb of Woodstock and 4 of Jan Bos. 

Candytuft

Other busy work took care of Iberis. These are heirloom Candytuft that I have had for more than 40 years. They moved once again because there wasn't room for the tractor to easily come through with a scoop to move dirt from beside the new shed site without running over them. 

Note: the concrete slab for the Mule Barn is curing, forms are gone and the building is being fabricated in Doerun, GA.

I replanted Candytuft farther back in the bed and took cuttings. A dozen cuttings: some new growth pieces and some with hardened stems just to see.

Geraniums Are in my Plans

One of the Swedish bloggers that I read had photos today of her Pelargonium plants. She took 70 cuttings from 10 plants and said she had 60 more to stick. That will make 140 plants total because the 10 old plants looked great.

When I read that a local high school plans a plant sale next month, I decided to buy a flat of 15 Geraniums (Pelargoniums). Maybe I should rethink that. If they all live, imagine the cuttings I will be compelled to take late next winter.

I haven't grown Geraniums that I remember since 1975. We had a Boston Terrier who always stopped to smell the geraniums when he went outdoors. When he died an untimely death, I planted Geraniums on his little grave in the back yard and inscribed his concrete slab, "Here Lies Happy, a better man than what shot him."

Rootin' and Sproutin' and Dividing

'The wind is fierce here today. It got so rough I closed the greenhouse at one point. The sun came out and we opened up again, turned on the fan. Ike the Cat was right back in there, his favorite hangout.

Rhipsalis from a tiny pot I bought in late winter, now divided into 3.

The smallest piece is back in the original 2" pot.

Tillandsia pups. Unlike other Bromeliads these grow in the center of

the plant rather than around the mother plant.

 

 

Every little piece that fell off my Burro's Tail Sedum was saved and placed in a 5" pot.

Most have new growth. The one

at left was a piece, not a leaf.

 

Salvia leucantha divisions

 

Cassia alata seedlings, Candlestick Plant.

 

Iberis that rooted has blooms.

 

Heirloom tomato seedlings, no true leaves yet.

 

Busywork: I hauled the bricks out that I hauled in yesterday, disassembling the rough shelves and reassembling them on the north side outdoors. Now I've decided that there might be more sun out there than the epiphytes want. When the winds settle and the sun is out all day again, we'll see. It's hard to remember the sun's path in a particular spot from year to year.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Toads in Flower Pots and Heirloom Tomatoes

'Delmar' dug in in a pot where I put Duranta cuttings to root.

Only 2 of 5 rooted. I think Delmar may be the reason for failure.

He sits in this same position for days. I wonder how many fruit flies he catches?

 

I first noticed Delmar sitting in a big clay pot where I'd put a dozen or more little succulent leaves off the Burro Tail Sedum I bought. They have teeny leaves formng on one end, pinhead sized. There sat Delmar. No insects about, but the pot of soil with vermiculite on the top must have been cool  

or Kewl, to Delmar. I moved that pot out of his reach and he set up housekeeping in the Duranta pot.

 

Elsewhere in the greenhouse:

 

Mixed success with rooting Iberis.

 

I planted tomato seeds this week.

 

These are seeds I won in an online contest by Dirt du Jour blog.

They are from TomatoFest and are the collection known as 'Gary's Favorite'

-- Gary being Gary Ibsen of TomatoFest.

 

Each packet has about 30 seeds. I planted a few of each. They have such glamourous names as 'Green Zebra' and 'Dagma's Perfection and 'Kellogg's Breakfast' and 'Black Krim.' All heirloom tomatoes.

 

Gary, and Dagma Lacey, are currently active in supporting numerous urban, school and community gardens world-wide with their TomatoFest Tomato Seed Donations Program in their effort to support bio-diversity, ensure that heirloom tomato varieties will be preserved, and to feed those in need.

 

I also planted seeds of Candlesticks (Cassia alata).  There is one plant up of Pride of Barbados.

Pride of Barbados outside have new foliage coming from roots, only 3 have no growth. Yet.

 

Seed trays are up high where Delmar can't hop. Any insects will be taken care of by the anoles that frequent that bench.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Blooming Inside and Out

An updated version of this post is on Secrets of a Seedscatterer so you can see what a difference two days made in bloom.

Outside, Hyacinths in pink and blue, white Iberis and yellow Daffodils. Could it be better?

Hyacinths in the greenhouse, showing color.

 

\

Blue Jacket