Random Happening's......it's been too long!

It's been way too long since I have made a post on my blog......I am just really finding it hard to write about plants that aren't doing too much, but recuperating from their move. They seem to be adjusting all right now, and some plants are getting a few flowers.



This is my Alsobia Dianthiflora .......the one I nearly killed last year. It is only throwing out a few buds, but a few is better than none. This pot of Alsobia is kept by a north window, whereas my other one is kept closer to a south window......the one with the lower light conditions is the one getting the flowers.


It isn't really visible in the picture, but there are tiny pink flecks in the throat of the flower. It is one of the prettiest flowers I have in my collection.



This is a pic of the seedlings I am growing of the fruit called "pitahaya" or dragon fruit. Officaially called Hylocereus Undatus. They are not the fastest growing plants, and it might take around three years to see a flower, but it's worth it, because these are really amazing plants.



I had to throw this pic in a post. Before I moved I had never seen anything like this in my life. There was a tree, and all over the tree was these golf ball sized spiky things. Turns out to be a Chestnut tree......I am not sure whether they are edible ye, but if they are, I am going to try and grab a few, and cook them up. Locally, these chestnuts make great children's war ammo.....lol.

Aeschynanthus Longicaulis Seed Pods

Well I completely forgot about this post, so I figure I better get it up. It was such a cool plant event at the time, and then with moving I completely forgot about it. I didn't notice this until I went to water the plant one day and saw a long string of fluff coming off the plant. When I went to wipe it away, I found it to be attached.


I have no idea what could have pollinated this, but I do remember trying to do it myself once or twice, so maybe I was successful. Other than that, it was strictly an indoor plant, and the only insects around would be the odd moth or housefly.


I collected the seeds in a baggie, and I had intentions of sending it to the gesneriad seed bank, but I didn't even find the baggie until yesterday when I was unpacking plants. I am not sure if they are still viable, but I am going to try and plant a few over the next few days, and if they are still viable, I might still send them off to the seed bank.


I have to admit that it was quite a unique thing to see, it's not something one sees everyday. The next time I get flowers on any of my lipstick plants, I am definetely going to try and cross them again, with hopes that maybe it was me and not a stray bug. All I did was take one flower off, remove the outer flower petals, and inserted the one into the other, and moved it around. We all know how it's done......lol. Complete botanical porn......for the gardener of course.

A Murder of sorts

What a graceful life it had. I never knew it's name up until a few weeks ago. It decided to put on an inquisitive show, which made me question it's character.....I didn't know it well.....What iwas it? Luckily, GardenWeb has a "Name that plant" forum, and they identified it as a Pepperomia (possibly glabella). What ever, it was one of those plants that I didn't really like, but my daughter decided to keep in her room. Everything seems to flower in her room, I just don't get it. I wasn't really impressed with the flower. C'mon, seriously,I like Hoya's, Schlums & African violets, and this was some weird little green thing, that kind of freaked me out a bit. It doesn't even compare to the flowers of hoya's, schlums, and gesneriads.......it would be like comparing a squirrel to a pancake......exactly my point.....it just can't be done, it makes no sense....lol.



I have been telling my daughter that she can't let her plants go bone dry, but at the same time said don't over water them either. So one day after school, she asked me if it was okay that her plants had been watered last night but she bottom watered them in a tray.....and they were still in the tray, full of water ( I admit to doing it too once in blue moon, and have never had consequences like this. When I saw her plant, I was in total shock. I had never seen a plant that went black like this. I have seen them rot, I have seen the effects of frost damage and I have seen them lose the will to live after being under and over watered. It was the oddest thing......it had to of been poisoning, it had to be murder. **LOL** I salvaged a few cuttings for her, but I didn't even check the roots out, it was way too far gone. And this is why we are told to never let plants sit in water for very long. An hour or two shouldn't hurt too much, but over 20 hours.....that tends to be a little too long. I guess it depends on the plant, and what you are using for mix, but generally this is frowned upon. Proof is in the photo below. A picture speaks louder than a thousand words.



I had mentioned in my post yesterday that the Dragon fruit seeds (Hylocereus) had started to sprout. When I went back and looked at my blog entry, I relized the seedlings were barely visible, so I took a few more shots today, with better close ups of the seedlings.




If you look really closely (clicking on the pic enlarges it for more detail), you can see that a few still have the seeds attached to them. Planting these particular seeds is a great thing to do with kids. My kids actually tried something new.....lol. They were amazed at this weird fruit I had brought home. The seeds are so viable that kids can plant them, and watch them grow, without testing their patience. Mine didn't even have the chance to ask "when are the seeds going to grow?" & "how much longer?"



So my hubby planted a few of these seeds in some rock wool, and they have sprouted already as well. We mentioned the thought of continuing these seeds in rock wool by buying a bigger cube of it (the ones in the pic are 1 inch by 1 inch), and letting them live in rock wool alone. We are going to try and get a hold of some bigger rock wool cubes. I think it will be fun to see what happens, and which ones grow better.

Baby Dragons!!

I don't think I have ever planted seeds that came up as fast as these "Dragon Fruit" seeds (hylocereus). It has only been a few days, and all three cups of seeds have signs of life. In each cup I used, there are at least 6 seedlings. I am going to let them grow a couple more weeks before I transplant them into separate pots.




Another one of my Lipstick plants (Aeschynanthus) is starting to bloom. It has been in direct sun for a while, turning the top layer of leaves a nice hue of purple. I have to admit that close up, the plant looks somewhat burnt, but at least it is throwing out some flowers. My Longicaulis lipstick plant is almost finished blooming. This one has been flowering non-stop for a couple months now.



I have made a new "blogging" rule for myself. I read so many blogs in the run of a day, but never really comment on them, unless I have something to say. I am going to start leaving comments on every blog I read, so that the blog author knows there is an audience. I am quite honored when people leave comments for me, so I figure I should return the favor and leave comments on other blogs.

Thank you everyone that stops in once in a while, it is nice to know that someone, somewhere is reading my blog with interest.

Why I love Nasturtiums (Tropaeolum majus)

I can feel Spring coming on. The air smells fresher, the snow is melting and plants around the house are starting to take off. I am more of an indoor plant enthusiast, rather than an outdoor one, therefore I don't plant things that require a lot of extra care. Here is where Nasturtiums come in.


I bought a package of seeds last year and spread them into a couple containers, and in my pitiful front garden. They all bloomed beautifully and once they were done, I collected all the seeds. This year I think I am going to start them early to give them more of time to mature. Mine was still flowering up until the first frost.

(photo courtesy of Flickr)

(I hope I "borrowed" the pic properly,
this should link back to the original site I borrowed the pic from,
I take no credit for this pic)

What is great about these you ask? It would be shorter to list what I don't like about it. Nasturtiums thrive in poor soil and they are very drought tolerant. My kids love them, because they can pick the flowers and make someone a little bouquet (there is so many flowers that picking a few is not even noticeable). Wait, it gets better, Nasturtiums are edible, both leaf and flower. I tasted the leaf, and it tasted somewhat like peppered lettuce. I can't even think if I tasted the flowers. I can't say it was gross, but I can't say it tasted great either I would be iclined to use it in salads, more as a garnish. The flowers can be used as garnish or decoration as well.

(photo credit to flowersoul.com)

I will continue growing Nasturtiums as they are easy and almost free (buy one package then collect the seeds from it, and you never have to buy more). They are so easy to care for. If you want guaranteed flowers in your garden or container plants, think Nasturtium.


.

dAmN mEaLy bUgS! & Yellow Datura's

Damn I hate these things. They make my skin crawl, and it grosses me out to no end when I see them. Really, what is their purpose? Do they really need to be part of the food chain? Would the world collapse without them? Can they at least stay off MY plants? Especially the Hoya's?!?

I took it as a photo opportunity, and grabbed a couple pics. If you really want to see them up close and personal.....then click on the pics, either way they are still gross. Then I promptly did the q-tip dipped in alcohol thing. The alcohol just kind of melted the mealy away until it was a wee blob of brown. And of course every other mealy bug ran and hid away, because I can't find another. Now I will be on Mealy watch for a week. GROSS!!


On a better note.....Double Yellow Datura's. Found some seeds today. I am going to have the best flowers for miles around.....lol.

(photo courtesy of TM Seeds)

Passion Flower Seeds

This evening when I went to WM, I noticed they had their seeds in already. As I was checking them out, I noticed Passiflora seeds. I already have one and would love to have a second, so I had to grab them. I mean look at the flower, who can resist that.


Now that I had the seeds, I figured I better read up a little. Some seeds need a cold period (stratification), some need bottom heat and some need to be roughed up a bit (scarification). These seeds need to soak over night before they are planted. I read that after soaking the seeds in water, the viable ones will sink to the bottom, leaving the dead ones floating.


There is a catch though, Passiflora seeds can take up to a year to germinate, so one must wait at least a year before the seed can be considered a dud. Well of course I have to see this for myself because I have never heard of this before. I have no problem planting both sets of seeds in separate containers and leaving it for a year. I think it would be really interesting too see what happens.


Now on the back of the seed packet it states that germination can take anywhere from 20-45 days. Every site I visited tonight said it can take up to a year. Are these "special" seeds that are guaranteed to grow? Probably not. Either way, someone is misleading someone .


So from seed to flower it can take upwards of 2 years (the seeds can take a year, and I have read that it can take a year to produce it's first flowers). Again I am getting conflicting information. Some say a few months: the seed pack says to plant them 10-12 weeks before the last frost and that it should bloom from July until the first frost. Others say a few years. Shouldn't they have to mention this on the package? I was expecting flowers this year. Most people expect that after planting seeds in the spring, they will see a plant in a few weeks and flowers by the end of the season. If I saw nothing for the entire season, I would assume the seeds were crap. Just a tad misleading I think.

I am still excited to grow them, a little disappointed, but still eager to do it. I didn't realize it could take so long until I read up on them. AND, I wonder if my flower is going to look like the one pictured on the package, the white flower, with the white and pink corolla's. I can't even find another pic that looks somewhat the same. I can find pics that resemble the purplish ones on the package, but I bought them for the pink and white flower. I guess I will see.......in a few months, years, who knows??

**EDIT** 24 hours later, all the seeds have sunk to the bottom, so there is no need to do anything other than plant them.