I miss my plant babies :) But, having a wonderful time here in Mexico. Ran across a beautiful flower mystery the other night. A waiter gave one of the kids a flower. It was a beautiful bloom, 2, 2" blooms attached by a woody stem (so guessing from a shrub?), 5 petals, no stamens, buttery yellow with a deep pink blush on the outside, and the strongest honeysuckle type fragrance I've ever smelled. When asked, he said it was called Flor de Mayo. I can't seem to find it in the plant files or elsewhere (just lots of places that use that name). Anyone have an idea what it might be? I'll post this in a more appropriate forum to, if my connection holds...
Seed Swap & Chat # 55 - sowing and germination
i googled it and found this...
Orchid´s are the national flower from Colombia and Venezuela. They call it “ flor de mayo” ( May flower). Are known about fifty species of this type of orchid,
Hmm, looks like a plumeria, which I was guessing thinking but no nothing about them. Googled it and it says the yucatan name for plumeria is may flower. Lots of common names listed that aren't in Dave's! May have to see if I can grow them indoors... heavenly!
that would work too then.
From your description it sounds like a Plumeria. I have a couple in pots. They are pretty tricky to grow here, I've lost one already. And one of the two I still have had some tip rot this winter. The one that seems to be doing pretty well is one I bought at a local nursery - it had flower buds on it but only one managed to open that first year, the rest of the buds dried up and fell off. It didn't flower last year. That one is in Miracle Grow potting mix and seems happy while the other that had the tip rot - I put in regular MG potting soil and I think it stays too wet. So I would recommend potting in the cactus mix if you do try one. They don't like too much water, that is how I lost my first one, I bought as a cutting in Hawaii. We had that one going for a while but after it was outside in a long stretch of rainy weather and it died from rot. It never hurts to try though, I refuse to give up and am praying for blooms this year. There is no more beautiful flower fragrance than Plumerias (in my mind. : )
This message was edited Apr 8, 2010 11:11 AM
Well, we finally got some rain and glad to see it come too, maybe can get back outside and get something done. The pollen ha s been so terrible and everything covered in it was having trouble breathing even though I eat a lot of honey which helps with pollen allergy.
My Iris have been blooming like crazy. Nice to see some color while I look at all the work that still needs to be done. A couple of my hummers are here. Poor things looked so pathetic and skinny. Just wish things would hurry and bloom for them, but at least have the feeders up for them.
Ella -- it does seem like your area is either feast or famine... meaning, either you are getting so much water you are washing away, or you are dry as a bone. no happy medium down there??
Before this chilly weather moved in I put two of my feeders out thinking it was going to warm up early it's 32 this morning!!! I bought a new hanger this year so I could put one feeder in front of the living room window so I could watch them eat from the house I love watching those little thangs :)
I never have alergies and do believe I have them this year my nose has been running 'like a sugar tree' the last few weeks, is what my mom used to say lol
I got a lot of seeds sown yesterday 15 trays and a bunch of transplanting, need to get in the garage today and put up one of my little greenhouses my annual geraniums are growing out of their 3" pots and need a bigger home so they will have to be put outside this next time it warms up figure they will be alright in there until it warms up for good they can take the cold unless it really gets cold again for a long period of time. My Lisanthus are looking good and growing like mad too! They will be staying in the nice warm basement for a while though lol
The neighbor's irises are getting buds on them but mine are still just sitting there for now :(
That's about the way our weathr is too never a happy medium anymore! Already it looks like it's going to be a dry summer not like last year and raining all the time!
Ella, my hummers are back ... only I call them Bumble Bees. lol
Since it rained like crazy yesterday, I guess I better go spray the 'deer and rabbit' spray on all my spring blooming bulbs. those rabbits will mow them down again. My poor grape hyacinths are blooming one centimeter from the ground, only way they can bloom before the bunnies get them.
I should take some pics of them and my half eaten tulip blooms. lol
I planted spring bulbs one year and the darn chimpmunks went right behind me and took a bite out of each bulb :( Found them all on top of the soil about two hours later! Haven't planted any since except my daphs.
One time I planted tulips. Planted hundreds of them in one gallon pots. Had yellow and purple. Had them a couple feet up in the air. Was the first time I had tulips here and haven't had them since.
I went out the next morning to water them and had fits and a half. All the purple one s were dug up and the squirrels had taken one bit out of them and throwed down. They dug up the yellow but like started to eat and decide d they liked the purple better. You could tell all where they sat too as they left little squirrel butt indentations in the soil.
My son laughed as me carrying on at them and walking around holding a bunch of chewed bulbs in my hand. I tried to replant them all and made him help try and build some cages to cover them, but they didn't grow and bloom. They turned into a rotten mess I had to clean up and throw away.
toofew... I noticed a big bunny out back too the other day. had a bunch of them for awhile but they have become road kill and the wild dogs have gotten most of them which is why I was surprised to see this one.
If they just eat the weed and grasses it ok, they can stay, but about the time they start eating my plants, well... it won't be pretty for sure. LOL
Thanks for the tips Meredith! If I ever get all of my seedlings and coop purchases planted, I will definitely investigate a plumeria for the house. Do they all have the same heavenly honeysuckle like fragrance?
You all are reminding me why I have so many daffs and not many other spring bulbs. Critters leave them alone at least! Would like to try tulips sometime though.
I know they all have a similar fragrance but I have been informed on the plumeria forum that the straight white species one is the strongest and that is the scent I fell in love with. I fell in love with the fragrance because of a lei I brought home from Hawaii. It was awesome! Even my dd who was 1.5 at the time would cry if I tried to take it off her neck lol : )
Here are a few of my Rabbit food tulips.
toofew, those tulips are so cute didn't realize they had short ones see I know nothing about bulbs lol One person on DG persone told me on DG's to plant daphs with my hosta to deter chimpmunks and voles is the only reason really that I have daphs. I was poking around some hosta the other day and one has disapeared and a big hole where it was so some kind of critter got that baby!
OH... hey Lea... do you have Golden Tiara?? I need to divide mine.... i have a bizzillion eyes.
LOL I'm dividing mine this year too :) And a little blue hosta think it's called Blue Skies haven't thought about the name of it in so long they don't look like much just coming up but when they do they are all over the place they are the same size as the golden tiara do you want any of that one mine doesn't look that blue because it gets sun in the afternoon hoping after I move it I can see some blue in it lol
Here it is:
http://www.mickfieldhostas.co.uk/varieties/0017.htm
I was out moving plants, weeding and puling up the **cough** thug Yarrow and tossing it in the compost tumbler.
Is it OK if worms end up in the tumbler?? I mean, there is plenty of 'food' for them, but i dont know if the heat could possibly kill them. though it's not that warm now...
Hi everyone, I started a thread on the Cottage forum with a bunch of my new daffodil pictures and some other spring bloomers. I didn't want to go off topic here and bog down the thread with a ton of pictures. :) http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1086842/
This message was edited Apr 10, 2010 8:12 PM
LOL The heat would probably kill the worms :) You probably have enough of them they will be good for the compost too lol
I dug an astilbe up and OMG the tree roots were all in them back in my big shade garden! Found my cinnamon fern I was happy about that forgot I had it :) Glad I saw it coming up because I remembered two other ferns I have back there one is coming up and the other one isn't up yet I keep thinking I need more ferns and have way too many for the space I have now but I'll find a place for them lol
Does anyone know if the Krossa Regal reseeds? I've had these ones forever and was digging one of them up today and saw a bunch of babies looked like they were from the KR they were already a blue/gray color is that possible? It may have been all the rain we had last year cause they are up about two inches I really think that's what they are there wasn't any around the other one though. I can't imagine these seeds coming true haven't noticed them having seeds but don't go down there much lol
Yes Lea... i do believe so. the many seeds would fall to the ground and germinate.
I do not think they would be "exactly" KR as it may have been bred with another.
Usually hosta babies come out all green, and rarely look like the parent. .... but ya never know what you're gonna get.
Well IF I ever get the time I'm going to have to pot up a few seedlings just to see lol Or if not I'm sure they will still be there for next year lol These aren't green at all not like I've seen with hosta babies that I tried one time nothing like those in color so I've got my fingers crossed I know they may not come true but they look pretty good right now I'm all smiles lol
I have Krossa Regal and haven't had any seedlings yet. Let me know if they sprout! :)
Anyone know if Scabiosa does okay when started indoors? It is the hardy annual purpureum type. I started some blackand white mix last year indoors and only twoplants made it to bloom. They only got one flower each before frost!Not sure if they willgrow quicker from adirect sowing or if they need an indoor start here.
I have a feeling these are seedlings from last year for some reason maybe because of so much rain last year I don't water my bed down there like I should and it was really ignored last year but they are small 2 or 3" maybe I hope I get a chance to pot some up and not forget them here lately I have so much to do I tend to forget some things :)
Going out of town for a week or so.
I got everyone's Comfrey roots they requested mailed today, EXCEPT Mindy and Marti. I will mail your as soon as I get back, I promise!
Patricia
Herbsprit that's fine with me LOL I have so much planting and digging going on right now a little wait for that doesn't upset me at all. I have sprouts of things from the piggy swap but waiting to see if I manage to keep them alive before I say what is up. I can sprout fine it's growing them big enough to plant out that I have trouble with but so far so good.
Thanks herbspririt, I wil be looking for them.
Have y'all heard about Comfrey compost? I read that a tea made from it has an analysis close to a lot of organic fertilizers, plants love it!
Meridith, started all my scabiosa in the house and they outside now. I having a bit of problems with mien from last year. They all blooming away like crazy out there, but the plants don't look so hot this year since I transplanted them. They are not spreading out. Have no idea why yet.
Neal my comfrey leaves are almost big enough to start the tea with I'm just waiting :) I hear you can use them for mulch around your tomatoes too, from what I understand, I read it somewhere that you are suppose to pick the leaves often anyway.
Here is what herbsprit sayd about comfrey:
COMPOST TEA WITH COMFREY
HERBSPRIT
It's easy, just cut back as many leaves as you want and put them in a container (I use a rubber/plastic wheelbarrow as it does not rust). Fill with water just up to the leaf level. You would not use one leaf with a bunch of water, you would use several leaves with water to the level of the leaves. Just as if you were making tea for yourself with loose herbs.
Also, it's better to use a wider base container for this, as it holds more water up to the leaf level, AND there is more surface area for the leaves to be exposed to the water. Let it sit a couple of days and then use the water (and the leaves too- they make great compost). When it's cooler I let the water sit a week or more, when it's hot I can't go past 2 days as it really starts to stink! When it starts to stink you know it's ready. Use that tea water to water you plants in the summer and they will love you for it!
Comfrey leaves are a fantastic natural source of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium.
Researchers in British Columbia analyzed the NPK (nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium) ratio of comfrey leaves by air-drying them and analyzing the powdered leaf tissues. They found that the leaves have an impressive proportion of 1.8-0.5-5.3. To compare, kelp meal has an NPK ratio of 1.0-0.5-2.5, and homemade compost ranges from 0.5-0.5-0.5 to 4-4-4 (depending on what ingredients you use). Comfrey is also rich in calcium and many other valuable plant nutrients it mines from deep in the subsoil.
Borrowed from: http://www.organicgardening.com/featureprint/1,7759,s1-3-81-...
Sally just had a DG article on comfrey & its uses, also: http://davesgarden.com/guides/articles/view/2828/
What is the name of the grass seeds that you guys were growing for your cats last winter? I need to get some for my sick kitty. Thanks.
Yes Star that is sort of what happened to mine, most of them just sat there and didn't look like they grew. I am notorious for not getting things planted until July, so maybe it was just too hot and dry when I planted them. Or maybe they don't like root disturbance and I had sowed them in a jug and split them all up to plant, so they had a lot of root disturbance. Maybe I'll just be a bit more careful with them this year.
This message was edited Apr 14, 2010 5:38 PM
Wasn't that a variegated wheat grass? ..or rye grass?
I planted wintersown seedlings today, and was thrilled to have Snapdragons ready to set out! Here I've started them inside under lights in January or February the last couple of years, and they took till nearly May to get big enough to set out. This was so easy, and I got 'em out way earlier!
Does anyone have any comfrey seeds to trade?
Thanks, Evelyn
Sorry, I have no comfrey, I don't even know what it is Lol
Ooo Gem, that is great to know about snaps, I haven't had the best of luck with snaps myself. I think part of my problem is my soil here. Not quite what they are looking for.
Yeah, snaps really take a while as they are so tiny when they are born...but we were tiny, in the beginning...LOL ^_^
Lynn, what's wrong with your kitty? :( I'm sorry your kitty is sick. I will put him in my prayers.
ants
Ginger is getting better. She had a complete blockage and couldn't go poo. She needs more fibre in her diet. Also, she ate a bad rodent or bird and that made her sick. So I want to plant some of that grass for her to eat.