Peek into the Greenhouse on the day before Bloom Day

I am slow about removing plants this year except for Schlumbergera and other jungle cacti which have moved to their summer home.

 

Rhipsalidopsis is blooming on the summer patio.

A last Hippeastrum: Apple Blossom

This Amaryllis is in bud behind tomato blooms may be orange. 

This is the year of the great Tomato Trial to see if

tomatoes will produce in high heat. I picked a ripe tomato today from the plant that spent the winter indoors. That plant, brought indoors last August still has tomatoes and occasional blooms. 

Four new container plants are in place and blooming. 

Begonia cutting.

Begonias do well in heat

I want to get some Geraniums -- Pelargoniums if you're not from the South.

White Kalanchoe

It's time to hang some shade on the west end. Already using mist when the sun shines. We had a black snake last week. Ike the cat did not welcome the snake.

Happy Bloom Day.

Greenhouses Fill Up Fast

Everything in a pot is safely inside. At least I think so. Pots of Calla Lilies line the south edge under the bench. I combined 4 pots of Angel Wing Begonia into one and tucked the other one between some Arrowhead vine that spent the summer where they are. The Areca Palm will be moving around until it settles. Wax begonias are heeled out in a basket to just survive until spring when they'll be divided, rooted and set in a shady bed I have planned.

Is there room on the pebble trays for all the cuttings 

I still need to take and some Hyacinth bulbs to force?

An empty plastic pot and a couple of saucers mark the only other available space. I need room there to get to the tomato plant, which has a turning fruit.

Burro Tails spent the summer outside and reached some size. Every broken piece is rooted. 

There were no big pots of Christmas Cactus last year. They tend to grow. I have teeny cuttings and 27 mid-sized plants besides these.

 Blue pots and green pots hold mid-sized Christmas Cactuses, except for 2 or 3  in yellow pots on another shelf that have cream colored (yellow) blooms.

One of my secrets: inverted pots that elevate plants that need room to hang are often cracked pots with the broken side hidden from view. 

Just remembered there is a pink wax begonia in the ground that 

I meant to dig and pot....

Bromeliads tend to grow during summer, too.

The upper shelf holds some rooted bits and pieces.

I hope you are entertained by a peek into the greenhouse. The potting bench still holds a lot of non-plant material that needs moving to the tool shed so there's room for the cat, who is being very patient about all this.

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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Work, Busy Work, Getting Rooted Cuttings Planted

I was reading another blug where the writer said she worked outside as long as she could and then went inside to read and write. I go inside to make more lists.

I can cross off my lists the 3 dozen Pentas rooted over the winter.

April, 2012

Everything is later this year. This time last year, pale pink pentas were blooming where I'd set them in this bed, along with tall plants of Verbena on a Stick. Five of these pentas have put out new growth from old roots. I added five rooted cuttings, only two of which are yet brooming. There is one tiny Verbena bonariensis about 2 inches tall.

I doubt it makes any difference to Butterflies if Pentas are planted by color. White Pentas are in the Yellow Rose bed, old joined by new cuttings.

When the Pentas in this bed really get blooming, this Iris will just be spiky foliage.

Rose pink and what we call 'Miss Julie's Favorite' pink are in the Pink Rose bed, again old plants and new.  There were only 3 each of dwarf lavender and dwarf red with a white eye to put under the Magnolia. Red Pentas are in yet another bed.

There are more than a dozen Chartreuse Alternanthera rooted; a tray with several Datura seedlings needs to grow on a bit before they're planted. Brugmansia cuttings are in the ground. They were pale; greening up since planting.

This time last year Brugmansias were much bigger than this year.  The plants were bigger; this precocious Brug cutting has a bloom larger than the plant, so big that the bloom lies on the ground. Plants returning from roots are much bigger and greener, but there are no other signs of buds so far.

 

 

The Brug where I found the snake last week is the last to put out leaves, so far just tiny buds have appeared. I wonder if the reptile frightened it out of a month's growth? That's the same bed where I planted rose and pink Pentas today. I carefully pulled the pine straw back with a rake with a long handle before I planted and dug holes with post hole diggers with sharp edges.

 

Rhipsalidopsis, Easter or Mother's Day Cactus

 

 

 

Most of the rest of the greenhouse plants are Epiphytes that remain in pots, Bromeliads, some Kalanchoes for next winter's bloom and a few other exotics that can take heat and enjoy high humidity since I have to mist to keep temperatures down.

 

 Linking to Tootsie Time for Fertilizer Friday -- I have to remember to give the newly planted Brugs a bit of fertilizer so they will green on up. Go see what everybody has for the Flower Flaunt and encourage Tootsie, whose father needs prayers.