Wondering what things you did in the past year that you are continuing
3 years ago
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- 3 years ago
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Did you ever wonder what that 4' pot you were about to buy....
Comments (23)Billy Rae, they grow wherever they can, LOL. I started collecting plants seriously when I lived in Los Angeles between the years of 1985 and 1992. I was able to bring a few here to Florida when we moved here in the summer of 1992. The house we moved into initially and lived in for 11 years was a 1920's Historic Home that had a 240 sq ft sunroom, what is called here a "Florida Room". Almost every house built between 1890-1930's has a Florida Room, which is basically a large screened porch where people would sleep in summer because it was cooler there and there was no air conditioning. The people who we bought the house from had glassed in the screen portions with 8x8 plate glass windows and it was climate controlled. The room had a tiled floor with a drain in the floor and an indoor hose spigot so in the old days they would just wash the sand that blew through the screen out via the floor drain. Of course I immediately started collecting plants once here, LOL and ammassed a huge collection very quickly of orchids, bromeliads, heliconias, and many others that could not stay outdoors in winter and had to be drug into the house and into the Florida Room. We outgrew that house, and in 2002 we moved out to the "country" to a 5 acre property and I was able to build this greenhouse. The Florida Room we have here is very small and gets poor light, but I do keep some houseplants in there year round. Everything else that would have had to be a houseplant, or and "in and out" plant, became a greenhouse plant. I didn't want the artificiality of benches and shelves, the plants that I had did not lend themselves to that anyway, I had 30+ gallon tubs of 15-16 ft tall heliconias and ultratropical gingers that needed to be planted. SO I decided to use the greenhouse in the style of a botanical garden tropical conservatory. It is in its 6th year and I tinker with it constantly. I have collected shells, driftwood, rocks, and all sorts of stuff to use to make it look like a natural setting. I have planted everything I can, mounted as many of the orchids and bromeliads as I can, and tried to minimize the use of containers, but there are still a lot of containers, especially hanging ones, because floorspace is, well, gone now. I can only plant new stuff if I remove other stuff. So I Have had to be creative. I wanted water in there so I have a 20 ft stream and a pond, and am building a drop fall/fountain that goes into a stone basin now. Here are a couple more photos...a prime example of why I can't keep some of this stuff in my house (and its not hardy here)...this is a rare palm called a Salacca magnifica. It is heavily armed...the undersides of the leaves have large rigid spines. Its what is called an "entire leaf" palm...there is basicaly no trunk. The leaves at present time are approaching 10 ft in length, at maturity a single leaf can be 20 ft tall/long. I have only had this palm for a little over 2 years, it is very fast growing. It would be way too dangerous in the house, and I would not be able to move it. So I had to plant it! This is another example...this is a photo from last year about this time when the Jade Vine was in bloom. This is a very highly sought after rare Tropical liana, Strongylodon macrobotrys. Tons of people want this vine, and are willing to spend $50-100 for a plant, thinking that they will be able to keep it in a pot on a trellis and bring it in the house in the winter. But in reality, that can't be done. This vine is a tropical creeper, its name in Phillipines where it comes from is Emerald Creeper. It will engulf everything in its path (I have to prune mine constantly) and won;t bloom until it gets a big woody trunk (usually 3 years after planting). I got mine as a trade when I still lived at the old house, and would never have been able to see it bloom like this as a houseplant: I don't look at my greenhouse as separate from my house. My original dream was to build this kind of place ONTO the house, where you would just open a door and step from the house into the greenhouse, and they would be continuous. We tried to figure out a way to do that when we moved here, but the renovation would have cost over $100,000. It just wasn't doable. So, I consider this my "second Florida Room". I just have to walk a few steps down the driveway, not out a door, LOL....See MoreWhat Did You Do In The Garden This Past Week-End?
Comments (17)Temps are unseasonably warm in Sacramento, and it's dry. We only get 19 inches of rain a year, mostly Nov-Mar. We should have 11 inches so far, not the 6 inches we've logged. The roses are pushing new growth.So, we are pruning here with great urgency. We had a pruning party in the Sacramento cemetery rose garden on Saturday, and had about 15 people working hard. We are never exactly "done" there, if "done" means touching every single rose, but we've got most of the top priorities completed. We get together a handful of volunteers every Wed and Sat, and I stop in and prune a few roses whenever I drive by, so things are in fairly good shape. At home, things are more dire. I need to be doing ladder work to take care of my arches and espaliered roses. It's wonderful to have them bloom, but the work involved to keep overly vigorous roses in bounds is almost beyond me. I'm "only" 57 yrs old, but my hip's bursitis hurts badly enough to keep me awake at night, and getting up on a ladder is hard work, and hard on the joints. So is climbing underneath a rose. I've got the easy stuff done - but haven't quite completed Phyllis Bide, and have the monstrous Handel yet to conquer, and another arch and espaliered fence to deal with. I'm also still nibbling at the Teas and Chinas - don't really know how to deal with four-yr-old plants that are performing well but getting big for their spots. It's supposed to rain again Thurs and Fri, so I'd better get out there and get up on the ladder. My goal is to be done with my climbers in the next few days. Wish me luck. Wow - this is all a bit gloomy. The good news is that early daffodils are blooming, the birds are singing, the earliest fruit trees and daphne are starting to bloom, and it's wonderful to have a public and home garden to care for and enjoy. Life is good - and will be better when those !@#$%&* climbers are done! Anita...See Morewhat new to you mail order companies did you try this year?
Comments (17)I ordered from Digging Dog for the first time this year. They had a Valentines Sale on the internet, but I screwed up my order, so I had to e-mail, then phone, then phone two more times. When I finally got hold of someone they were very nice and took care of the order so I got the special. Then, they experienced big delays in getting plants from their supplier. This meant my plants were two or more months late getting to me. They gave me opportunities to cancel, but I did not...never thinking that brand new plants going into my soil just as my summer heat comes in is not a good idea. Bottom line, some of the plants died. I don't think it was entirely their fault. I should have cancelled the order. The plants that survived did wonderfully well, and I am wowed with the Rigoletto miscanthus I got from them. It has the purest white variegation I have ever seen on a grass and only gets 4'x4'. I have never seen Nichols Garden Seed and Nursery (Oregon) mentioned on this forum. They have a really great selection of flower, herb, perennial, and vegetable seed, their prices are reasonable and their packets have a generous amount of seed in them. I tried them after reading "The Bountiful Container" a couple years ago. Their seed packets had so much seed in them, that I have pretty well given them my allegiance ever since. I would also give high ratings to Forest Farm, Greer Gardens (the biggest plants I have ever received from any company), Plant Delights, Old House Gardens, Brent and Beckys Bulbs (a few perennials too), High Country, and Lazy S's. All these companies have excellent products and customer service. When I need large amounts of seeds of a kind, I order from Hazzards Greenhouse. They are a wholesale company, but do not have a minimum order requirement. Their seed is of an excellent quality and you can save ALOT of money if you need at least 250 seed of a kind. (With careful storage, I have been able to use one pack of marigolds three years in a row now.) I have also ordered plants from E-bay over the years. Once and only once was I ever dissatisfied. The plants were chrysanthemums, but the wrong variety. By the time I knew that it was too late to complain......See MoreWhat did you get this year that you ended up liking the most of y
Comments (26)This year I added some green hosta (not something I do often). My favorite green additions: I really liked the fat, rippled leaves of Lakeside Old Smokey with white backs: Blue Monday has beautiful heart shaped leave that look like a green version of Moon Lily (one of my favorite golds): They don't look like much yet, however I'm already looking forward to next year as both plants had a number of eyes. I also liked Sara's Sensation and am looking forward to the very wide margins as it matures. It also handles a lot of sun well: All of these may not look like much now, just wait!...See More- 3 years ago
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