Amaryllis Seedlings

I was asked to update the amaryllis I started growing from seed. They're sorta hanging in there. I'll admit the greenhouse is not a thriving environment for most of the plants. Now that I've dragged it back outside, it should start growing more healthy.

I know it'll be at least a year more before I can think of planting them in the ground. I just keep hoping their flowers will be awesome to look at. It'll be disappointing if they're flimsy and weak. The seeds came from a red amaryllis.

Dracunculus Vulgaris

My Dragon Arum returned, really early as usual, but I must say I'm stunned. The bulbs continue to hang in there despite the fact that it has been extremely unhappy in various locations over the past few years. This plant died shortly and never grew the entire summer.

I plan to dig these bulbs up as soon as possible and plant them somewhere in the backyard where it can get full sun. Right now, it gets only shade (to beat the summer heat) until evening comes.

I hope the new location I put it in will make it happy enough to bloom. The only reason I got this plant was to see it bloom!

Happy New Year! - Thoughts

Happy 2008!

I'm getting a bit concerned because usually around now, I am excited and can't wait to try something new but that feeling hasn't come yet.

I've noticed from the past twelve years of living here that the summers have gotten increasingly hotter and the humidity is unbearable. I used to be able to go out at any time during summer and be okay but that's not the case for quite a few years now. The humidity is always above 50%.

I guess this means possibly trying to find plants that do not depend on me. The succulents normally tend to do fine but it was a real struggle last summer because of the lack of rain in my area. It was between 18 to 36" below normal. My poor pitcher plant died because I couldn't keep water in its bowl.

Every year I tend to try something new. For a few years I grew pineapple plants! It was pretty exciting to see it bloom .. but then I lost interest. The plants suffered after coming out of the greenhouse so I just threw them away.

I've been unsuccessful with avocado. A friend suggested growing them for me and mailing the plants to me - but the thrill isn't the same because *I* want to experience it.

One year I grew apple trees. They got big enough but the roots were incredibly invasive. Wherever the pots sat, you can bet it was quite funny to try to relocate them because by then the roots grew out of the pots and went deep into the ground. I finally threw them away. I also had luck with tangerine seeds. I believe I gave them away for free after they got big enough.

I used to grow pumpkins but I live in an area where there's 6 billion versions of pumpkin-loving insects that attack the vines and the pumpkins themselves. I finally gave up on growing pumpkins.

I have a couple gourd seeds and pumpkin seeds that I may try and grow. I used to grow pumpkins before the summers became unbearable. I think I'll try to grow pumpkins this year and see if the types of insects have changed. I expect to lose the pumpkins but still have gourds.

I imagine I'll be growing birdhouse gourds this summer. Luckily, there hasn't been a type of bug that goes after them so they tend to grow with no problems. I just hate how they don't seem to grow very big.

Wet, Wet, and more Wet

Where was all this rain when we needed it during summer? It's been raining almost non-stop for days now. Everything is muddy right now. Even the greenhouse is full of water from the pooling water that backed up into it.

Normally, right about this time of the year, I get excited and can't wait to plant seeds but that just doesn't seem to be the case for me right now. Who knows, there's still time before spring before I can get excited. ;)

Garden Police

"Garden Police! Come out with your hands up!"

Man, I totally forgot about this show. I used to watch it over a year ago before I stopped due to reruns.

If you've never seen it before, the show is hosted by Shirley Bovshow & Michael Glassman. It's pretty neat how they act like police. They got the siren going, reviewing photos in their folder on their way to the perpetrator's home, then they slap up the police tape and drag the poor homeowners out.

A citation is quickly written up but it can be ripped up if the homeowners put in 'Sweat Equity' for two days to fix up the front yard. The Green Team is also brought in to assist the hosts and homeowners.

Another thing I like about the show is that they go to houses where the front yards are absolutely detestable. It's not like other shows where the yard or house already looks nice to begin with before they fancy-shmancy it up.

I wouldn't mind having an irrigation system installed in my front yard - but (un?)fortunately, the front yard isn't disgusting enough to catch their attention. ;)

Warm Temps persist...

There was a massive amount of rain that came through the area but what surprises me was that the temperature kept going up all night long. It stopped at 70 degrees. Man, it was humid out there but I can't deny that I loved watching the intense rain drown everything.

Come morning, I went to look around and to my surprise, I found out that a fire ant colony decided to seek a safe haven...



I have two pots of eastern prickly pear (the second in the upper right corner) and this pot is completely overwhelmed by the fire ants.

I can't believe that it is December. It's supposed to be winter with freezing cold temperatures. Who knows though... Starting tonight and tomorrow, it's supposed to plummet into the 30s before it warms up again.

Thanksgiving Cactus

You know, as I stare at this, I can't tell if this is pink or red. I thought at first, it was pink but it may be red. I can't be sure until the other thanksgiving cactus blooms but it looks like it is still in the process of growing new segments instead of any blooms. I'll have to watch it for a bit...


And also, to my surprise, the poinsettia I got last year is budding this year.

Thanksgiving Cacti & Christmas Cactus

Wow. I been meaning to update my blog. I'd take some pictures but once I looked them over, I didn't think they were worthy of a post. I was nudged into posting something so I decided to update on my Thanksgiving Cacti and Christmas Cactus.


Pink Thanksgiving Cactus


Close-Up of Pink


Dark Marie Thanksgiving Cactus


Yellow Thanksgiving Cactus


Left: Salmon Thanksgiving Cactus
Right: White Thanksgiving Cactus

Not only that.. but I was extremely surprised to see that my Christmas Cactus has a bud. I didn't think it would bud this year as I got them as clippings at the beginning of the year...


Christmas Cactus

Long time, No blog

Wow. I knew it was only a matter of time before the heat would make me lose interest in gardening. The past week's temperatures have actually been cool enough for plants to go from 'tolerate' mode to 'thrive' mode. It has also rained a few times and the plants are loving it.

It's really strange to see the plants thriving now when they just sat still during the extreme summer heat. Even when I watered certain plants every day - such as the birdhouse gourd - they still continued to sit still and just ... tolerate the harsh conditions. Now the birdhouse gourds are vining out and sending out tons of flowers. I wonder if it has enough time to begin to develop the new gourds that are starting to grow.

Um.. What else... Oh yes, the roses were removed and thrown away. It's a ton of work to make them happy and keep them blooming. When the heat and humidity made me water only two plants closest to the back door, the roses quickly stopped blooming and got all messy again.

I threw away all the tiny tim tomato plants. They stopped growing tomatoes even though I had them in partial shade to avoid the hot afternoon sun.

I'll try to remember to get my camera with me and take a picture of what's been happening.

Summer Smotherin'!

Wow. Humidity and Heat just don't mix together very well. I end up sweating like crazy before I can even walk down the porch steps. It's so smothering out there that I just can't figure out how people lived here in the old days before air conditioning.

I took a quick look around the place and haven't noticed anything new except that I'm not the only gardener here. Squirrels tend to bury corn from their feed and naturally, they grow! If they're in beds and out of the way, I just let them grow and pass it off to the squirrels when the corn is ready.

Don't believe me?

That's all growing in the poor Rose Bed. It's so choked out with grass and weeds. Poor things. I'm saving up newspapers to place in the bed (to be topped with mulch to finish it off) come next Spring so that it's just the roses and nothing else.