Smug Blooms or Not
Here are some from today and yesterday. Rain came through and cooled thing off temporarily.
Smug ffo - I bought this from Woodhenge a year ago in Spring, and it first bloomed when I was out of state. My husband photographed it then, and I thought his camera captured incorrect colors. It bloomed this morning, and I asked myself if it is the right cultivar. It looks vaguely similar to Reed's photo, but the colors are just not the same. No way would I call this petal color near white cream - kinda dirty gray here. The eye is described as rose in the written description, and I thought that meant rose pink from the photo. Maybe it was rose red in the Woodhenge garden. Here it looks plum. We'll see what subsequent blooms look like.
Freudian Slip
Fighting Fire - Poor plant nearly died over the winter. I started Spring with three fans. Now I have one. This very small flower is blooming on a 6-inch scape. I will cut that scape off today, so the plant can conserve its energy.
Heartbeat of Heaven reblooming - The color is light on this bloom, but yesterday's was nonexistent. I'm not sure this plant was meant to grow in Southern climates where the hot temps fade it so badly. It's on the move-out list. The plant was left very wimpy after winter and all the original blooms on two fans were splotchy.
Lost Love lost a lot of it's orange tones this morning. I looked pink to me.
Moonlit Masquerade - I had two scapes that bloomed midseason. The others are blooming late. Weird!
Miss Goldie Gold Digger
Coral Majority
Trance
August Cheer - After six years it finally has one scape the registered height - 34 inches. The other three are about 25 inches tall - the usual in my garden. It will not multiply and is on the move-out list.
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sherrygirl zone5 N il
5 years agolast modified: 5 years agoRelated Discussions
What was your most exciting find/buy/event this year?
Comments (36)Hey, Sam! Glad to see you're back, and very pleased to find you posting on this thread. A trip to the Botanic Garden in DC must have been thrilling. I've never been there. Now you're makiing me wish I had. I guess besides orchids, they must have every kind of plant as well. Sounds really wonderful and exciting. I would probably get arrested for trying to pinch off a cutting here or there :) Looks like you're in love with Brassavolas. I don't blame you, I love plants with fragrance, too. And Bs are so tough, just putting up new growths on all sides. I used to have a couple of Bs, a nodosa and Little Stars. Jiminy Cricket was on my list. The scent threaded thru the house at dusk, really lovely. The Little Stars would put up 10 or a dozen spikes in the fall. Always a treat. Yours sound like they have really strong fragrance. Mine were only faint. (Or my nose wasn't good at picking it up.) Never was sure which it was. Glad you're having a great summer, with spikes on your nodosa, and new leaves on the phal. If it's rootless, try some root hormone on it. My summer is being great, too. I do love summer since I started growing orchids. For all the growth and flowers. I'm not surprised you've converted your friends to orchids. a) they're beautiful and b) your enthusiasm is catching. Please do post your pictures when you have time. I'm looking forward to them. Your pictures are always beautiful. Hope you took some at the Botanic Gardens. as you say, Lata...See MoreA friends cottage garden
Comments (23)C, I'll probably see Frank next week and I'll ask him what he used but I think the the coppery looking border are probably something like terracotta colored tiles and the pansies are in a wire basket lined with spagnum moss filled with soil, the pansies poked in the sides as the basket is assembled. The link below shows how they make their baskets in Victoria, scroll down to the Victoria hanging basket brochure and click on it. DH and I made 2 huge baskets like this about 20 years ago, each had 75 or more plants in them. Very heavy, today we would have to mortgage the house to buy all the plants we used and would probably end up with hernias trying to lift them in place LOL, the smaller baskets are very doable though. If you google how to make a victorian basket you'll find different combinations of flowers used, just pick the flowers that like your climate. Annette Here is a link that might be useful: Victoria's baskets...See MoreNorCal Plumeria growers anywhere???
Comments (49)Hey all, I'm in Antioch & I've been growing plumerias successfully for almost 10 years. I have 2 excellent plants that were gifted to me by the professor of horticulture @ cal st. Hayward, unfortunately I forgot what they were. I recently bought a cutting from a plant sold as pops red, but actually was purple, can't wait for roots! One of my 2 from the professor just bloomed for the 1st time in 8 years......exciting times! I've noticed that soil is one of the key elements when growing plumeria. I usually use cactus mix, but decided to switch things up this time & mix my own. I used some fox farm happy frog, ocean forest, 1/8 & 3/4 in volcanic rock, & some moss I harvested. This mix is fast draining but still holds some moisture. Light is another vital part of growing healthy plumeria. I give my plumies all the sun they can get, & I'm rewarded with amazing color in my plants! A couple years ago I got a bad case of sunburn, down to the inner stalk, so I learned to cover my plumerias durring the really hot days. Plumeria love hot weather, I've noticed mine will gladly take heat in the hundreds. Unfortunately they don't like cold, so when the nights get below 45 degrees, it's time to bring them in the house. Watering, in my experience can range from weekly, to almost daily, depending on conditions. It was 106 for five or six days straight right before my plants bloomed this year so I was giving them water every day. I've noticed a bit of vertical leaf curl, not sure if its from water because my cactus mix is fast draining. Anyway, the colors are absolutely breathtaking this year! As far as rooting goes, I make a fresh cut at a 45 degree angle with a razor blade. Then I make a few verticals cuts with a potatoe peeler to provide more area for rooting. After that, I walk to the back yard & grab a fresh aloe stalk. I filet it and scoop all the gel out into a blender & add some water. I poor the mix into a bowl & add some fulvic acid, potassium silicate, & some blackstrap molasses. Then mix . Following that, I dip the fresh cut stalk into the mix. Some people like to use clonex or root tome, but I find this mix is far superior. I had some old root tone lying around so I threw it on for the heck of it. Finally I plant it in a clear plastic pot with holes drilled into the bottom. the clear plastic provides a humid enviornment for the roots, whereas the holes allow for oxygen & watering from the bottom. dont forget to add an egg under the stalk before you plant! Regarding fertalizer, I don't buy in to all the hype that a lot of plumie guys preach about fertalizers with high npk. These things not only kill the bacterial life in your soil, but also will lock up the nutrients over time! I mix fish emulsion, Jamaican bat guano, kelp meal, fulvic acid, & some black strap molasses (to feed all the hungry bacteria in my soil). Sometimes I switch it up & throw some potassium silicate in there. The npk of the mix, without the potassium, is about 10-12-20. I give them compost tea a few times a year & some enzyme tea once in a while. I fertalize once a week. This mix has worked very well for me! If any of you would like to get a look at my plants, check out my post, "Help with identification" on 7/9/13. The colors are really amazing this year! Hope my experience growing plumeria in the SF Bay Area is helpful to someone! Peace...See MoreVelvet Throne, lates and reblooms
Comments (20)I am a Velvet Throne fan too, what a beautiful red. Smug is gorgeous, and so is Dearest Valentine. On a side note, one of the plants we got from the convention bloomed. The name is completely eluding me now, but I think you said yours scaped too? It is beautiful! I did not get a pic before the storms hit, we have flooding in out back yard. I am sure the flower does not look like much now, sure wish I got a photo!...See Moreshive
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