Happy Thanksgiving, Dainty Little Violets
dbarron
6 years ago
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Thanksgiving or Christmas cactus? Groundhog day cactus?
Comments (56)Purple, I've enjoyed reading this thread and wanted to add my $.02 worth. The first thing I noticed is that the stems appear to be flacid.....wilty. That could be caused by over OR under watering.....whichever might cause the roots from being able to access water. In this case, I wonder if the water you're applying is evacuating before soaking the whole soil volume. One thing about these plants (all plants) is that though they need to dry out somewhat between drenchings, the potting soil must be completely saturated on watering day. This is true for all plants, even those cacti that are native to extremely arid regions. Have you ever seen "Medicine Man ", a movie starring that gorgeous specimen of manhood Sean Connery? It takes place in the rainforest of Brazil. There are scenes of my lovely Sean ziplining through the forest canopy, sharing the scenes with huge epiphytic cacti and other plants. Really neat movie. Plus, it stars Sean Connery. I get that it's difficult to understand how those prickly, barrel shaped desert cacti have ANYTHING to do those graceful rainforest plants. Here's what I "think " is a good analogy, but don't laugh at me toooooo hard if it really stinks. Take your dog into consideration for a moment. It's a mammal. So are you and the pesky squirrels in your yard. Big differences amongst those three mammals yet they share essential similarities. Still with me? Now, think of those incredible bottlenose dolphins familiar to anyone living in coastal areas. Superficially, they seem to have so little in common with your dog, but those porpoises are just another type of mammal. They live in a different environment, for sure, but the similarities are much more important than the differences. You just need to try to provide the kind of environment your dolphin needs. :-) Dorie...See MoreWhat I Did Thanksgiving Day
Comments (14)Thanks, you guys... I put the leaves in moist vermiculite, in just a simple plastic tray... I use a large syringe, minus the needle, to re-moisten the medium. I just suck up some water with it, and then expel the water between the rows and around the edge... I do hope that works good enough, but I suspect it will. It's very helpful having veterinary supplies at hand... a lot of the tools are useful for working with seeds, cuttings and seedlings... such as syringes! I used rooting hormone powder on half of the leaf stems, and left the other half plain... Rachel's Reflections recommends not using any for speed of baby development vs. using the powder and getting mainly roots. I figured half and half should get me what I'm after... I've had African Violets on and off over the years... they've alway been a nice addition to my plant collection, but they've never done well for very long, and so I've never been bitten by that particular bug... this is the very first AV that has ever bloomed for me for any length of time... and has managed to stay alive for this long, and through a few moves! I probably won't collect too many of them until I have more space to do so... I'd rather save the space for bulbs! Hehe!...See MoreThanksgiving cactus falling apart
Comments (38)That's nice... an entire morning's worth of posts are gone. I responded to Mary's query earlier, and now, it's not here. What I basically said was... I never used the words "thrive" and "pot bound" in the same sentence... and I never would. Mary said "thrive". Pot bound roots are not conducive to a healthy, thriving plant. Sure, some plants have evolved to grow in tight spots... but not the majority of those we call "houseplants", and stuff into confining containers to grow. Ask yourselves why a plant blooms when it becomes pot bound... what is the scientific reason behind it? Why do pot bound plants offset, or produce flowers, or stolons... or any other way they have to reproduce? Why? What causes that reaction? It's simple. Logic tells me that when a plant is threatened with potential demise, it will rush to reproduce. The core goal of any living thing is to procreate, to reproduce so its genetic material is carried forward, in its progeny. When the roots of a potted plant become too crowded for the space it's in, the plant feels stressed. It immediately begins preparing to die, and this includes procreating before it expires, or before it loses the energy to do so. If a plant is not pot bound, it will still bloom. It will still produce offsets or stolons, or whatever... it has a genetically ingrained blooming schedule. As long as all the cultural conditions are right, the plant will bloom exactly as it should, exactly when it should. By forcing a plant to be pot bound, what you're doing is actually stressing the plant into procreation/reproduction. You're forcing it to procreate out of its normal genetically pre-programed schedule. There are many half truths and fallacies floating around the gardening world... most of them can be dispelled by finding out why and how plants do what they do... most of it is very elementary scientific information....See MoreWhat new dainties have you BOUGHT this year?
Comments (13)not sure what was meant by "dainties", but by the looks of the replies - about anything. I'm more into the "shrubby" stuff, but I do have a few perennials on my list From Dawes Arboretum - Pinus cembra 'Chalet' From Yew Dell Gardens - Crataegus monogyna 'Inermis Compacta' Acer triflorum Hydrangea quercifolia 'Little Honey' From Cox Arboretum - Buddleia x weyeriana 'Bicolor' Hydrangea paniculata 'Little Lamb' Hydrangea paniculata 'Quick Fire' Hibiscus syriacus Lavender Chiffon Cotinus 'Young Lady' Deutzia gracilis Chardonnay Pearls Leycesteria formosa 'Golden Lanterns' Rhamnus frangula Fine Line Weigela 'Pink Poppet' Viburnum farreri Nanum Clematis 'Huldine' From Boone County(KY) Arboretum - Taxus cuspidata `Minute Westons' From Oakland Nursery - Viburnum plicatum 'Summer Snowflake' Physocarpus opulifolious Summer Wine From Fairweather Gardens - Clematis Kiri Te Kanawa viburnum nudum Viburnum setigerum From the Cincinnati Civic Garden Club Sale - numerous perennials and a fuschia with very colorful foliage From Greenfield Plant Farm - Thuja occidentalis 'Malonyana Aurea' Pinus leucodermis 'Compact Gem' From Baker's Acres - various coleus and tender perennials like Duranta 'Gold Edge' And from Lowe's - Achillea ptarmica 'Stephanie Cohen' Leucanthemum superbum 'Becky' I sure hope my wife doesn't put a $ value on this list LOL...See More
dviolet1
6 years ago
Rosie1949
6 years ago
Paul MI
6 years agodviolet1
6 years ago
Jeff Zenner
6 years agodbarron
6 years agoirina_co
6 years agoRosie1949
6 years agofortyseven_gw
6 years agoirina_co
6 years agoRosie1949
6 years agoirina_co
6 years agoRosie1949
6 years ago
terrilou
6 years agoRosie1949
6 years agofortyseven_gw
6 years ago
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