Indoor gardens fall winter 2013

Wow Gita! You really do have a jungle!
But everything looks so nice and orderly!

Come on, amaryllis, come on, you can do it, you can do it!!!

Seeds on my Asparagus densiflorus 'Sprengeri'! I'm thrilled it's doing so well indoors.

I ended up bringing only a handful of the tender perennials in for the winter: my Asparagus fern, Kalanchoe, Persian violet, variety of Coleus, Fuchsia Gartenmeister, Lipstick plant, and the 3 amaryllis bulbs.

Most of them seem to be doing well. The coleus especially are growing like weeds. However, the Fuchsia is quite fussy and prone to spots of powdery mildew. The lipstick plant is growing very slowly.

(1) 2 of my amaryllis bulbs
(2) Asparagus fern
(3) Persian violet--always been a prolific bloomer for me
(4) Fuchsia
(5) Coleus (Wasabi, Inky Fingers, Mocha, others)

Cat--

The neck of the Amaryllis can be cut back-level-to closer to the bulb--assuming
there is no growth of leaves yet. You do not need to keep that old, long neck.
I take a sharp knife and cut straight across...

I have never seen an asparagus fern that looks like yours!!!
The ones I have had --the needles are all, uniformly, along the stems.
Yours looks almost like an evergreen....

I used to grow out their seeds eons ago....they grew OK--started out looking
like a single blade of grass...
G.

OOOoohh, that PERSIAN VIOLET!!

I've NEVER had an orchid re bloom before

Oxalis beginning to bloom again

Getting blooms on Gita's Peruvian Plume Flower again

Love the yellow and magenta blooms on this cactus

This one little Jasmine blooms perfumes the whole room.

Here is what MOBOT says re Asparagus fern:

"Easily grown as a houseplant in St. Louis because it tolerates a wide range of temperatures, does not require high humidity and is easily pruned. Best grown in a well-drained, peaty potting mixture. Best sited in bright indirect light or filtered sun, but avoid direct hot afternoon sun which may cause the leaves to yellow. Water regularly from spring to autumn. Does not require winter dormancy, but appreciates a resting period with reduced watering over the winter months. Regular temperatures in summer and minimum 50 º F in winter. This plant is often taken outside for the growing season and brought back inside in early fall. Pinch back stem tips as needed to maintain plant form and promote dense foliage growth. If plant loses its attractive shape, stems may be cut back close to the soil level to regenerate."

I never tried pinching mine back to promote denser growth. Bet that would help. A reminder that 'berries' are poisonous to pets and they drop and roll so they got my cat's attention!

This message was edited Nov 11, 2013 11:15 AM

Gita, I just fell in love with this particular variety of asparagus fern because of the feathery, delicate texture. Coleup, I have not pinched mine back either but might be worth a try.

Roses, what gorgeous flowers! What a great idea to grow the jasmine indoors and enjoy the fragrance. I'll have to put that on my to-do list. :-)

Catmint: Can you tell me more about the Persian violet? It is beautiful.

Roses: What kind of jasmine is that?

Happy, it is Exacum affine.
From MOBAT:
"In its native range Exacum affine is an annual or short-lived perennial and is suitable for permanent outdoor cultivation only in humid tropical and subtropical areas. Grown as a pot plant, this plant requires a well-drained, but moist potting mix. Exacum will tolerate good light but not direct sun. Grow warm with 60° to 70°F night temperatures. They flower for an extended period, but are very difficult to keep growing after flowering, but cuttings can be taken successfully."
http://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/PlantFinder/PlantFinderDetails.aspx?kempercode=b554

I have been totally amazed at mine because it has just kept blooming and blooming. I had it planted next to my front porch steps, northern exposure with morning dappled sun. It has taken the move indoors to my northern exposure window without skipping a beat. It's interesting how some plants just bloom and bloom for me, but others (like my balloon flower) just never seem to find the right conditions in my yard to thrive!!

I am happy to try to root a cutting with it, although I have not really done this before!

I'm pretty sure it's some kind of Arabian Jasmine Sambac. Very easy to grow. I once had a Madagascar that died after I took it in for the winter. Actually it started to go downhill slowly once I brought it outside one late spring.

My Indoor garden is pretty colorful---thanks to all the CC's blooming.
SO pretty!!! All the ones JB gave me 2 years ago are blooming.
Also, many of my bigger ones that have grown from single sections
into decent plants and are now blooming....
The absolutely prettiest color turned out to be this pink one--
that blooms so well--and has now lasted over a week.

I am using the task lights again under my kitchen cabinets.
Seems a perfect place for them--except I have to rearrange where I keep what.

My bigger pots of CC's I put on a multi-tiered plant stand that I use outside.
Had this brainstorm! Why not use it inside by my LR hanging lights?
Turned out just perfect.

Some pictures for you all:

1--A group of the pink ones and JB's "Twilight Tangerine" one
2--Close-up of the bloom from the pink one.
3--Close-up of JB's "White Christmas" and "Orange Christmas".
4--Asst. CC's blooming under the task lights in my kitchen
5--The larger/older pots of CC's on the tall plant stand. Sorry if it is a bit
out of focus...I may have not switched back from macro to regular focus.

Some more----

1--JB's "Peaches and Cream"
2--Macro of blooms of the above
3--Bloom of a red one--got some small, broken off sections of this from Lowes.
4--The usual fuchsia and white...
5--My all time best one, now rivaled by the soft pink one, The salmon CC.

Gita

Just beautiful, GIta. That fuchsia and white one and the salmon one are gorgeous.

Cat--
Would you like to start some from leaf-sections? That is what i do.

Since i cannot trim them back until they are all done blooming--the seed Swap
may be the soonest I could get some cuttings to you.
I still have a lot of "babies" that have never bloomed and i still do not know
what color they are. In gardening--patience is a virtue!

Suggestion----
As you shop Big Box stores or any others that sell CC's (Christmas cactus),
check their after-Holiday racks of CC's. many of them will be clearanced
after Thanksgiving. Out of bloom--just leaves...
People dig through these racks--lift and move the plants to find the best one.
In the process--many small sections can break off.
That is what i collect....enough to start a whole new plant. Just mark the color--if you can.
If not--then you will have to wait until they bloom (may be 2-3 years) to find out.

Be creative! Gita

I just found this thread. Peaches and cream is wonderful Gita, they all are. I have some CC with buds, will take pictures when I can.

Hope all is well.
Paul

Seems like I got this 'un-followed " somehow

I just found the third of three green caterpillars munching around my plant shelf! Caterpillar frass on the indoor plant shelf- if THAT'S not a surprising sight…two were on Coleus the third on Jasmine.

There are only a couple of places in my house I consider "worthy" of
taking a picture of any plants.
As you have noticed (I am sure) mo0st of the pictures of my CC's are on my DR table.
There is a bright chandelier-type light right above it. That is where I took most of these.
BUT--the tone of any color is not all that natural under lights. Oh--it looked good--deep shdes.

My other place is on top of a ladder shoe rack (ex plant stand) next to my bed
by a very bright window. Here I get more natural color and tones of color.

Third id under my task lights--which are 2' long fluorescent bulbs--each like 20W.
This provides a good, soft color to my pictures. Sometimes, just not sharp enough.

For none of these I have to use a flash--but if I do Macro--sometimes, it will flash.

Example of a difference:
1--Here is the "White Christmas taken under my DR light. brings out a bit of the oink blush.
2--Here is a close-up of the same by my bedroom window--natural light. Pink not so obvious.
3--My Salmon CC close-up under the DR lights
4--My salmon CC, whole pot, by my bedroom window.

I like them both--but each shows a different tone.

This is just as a FYI for you all......Gita

Gorgeous! :-)

I found a pot of hyacinth bulbs in the garage that I had forgotton about and now they are growing. They are about 2in tall. It's pretty dark in there so I'm surprized. I wonder what I should do with them, it doesn't seem like I should leave them there in the dark. Should I put them outside or bring them in the house?

I vote for bringing them in the house and enjoying some hyacinth color this winter! :-)

Since they are trying to grow, bring them in, and give them light, water and gentle food. They should be a nice midwinter treat!

I agree. Now that I don't have my head stuck in the Hosp room all day long I hope to post a few pictures and talk a bit. Ric and I are still sharing one computer so I still won't have as much time to post but it sure is nice to have Ric back home. There are some very nice plants blooming in the GH. and I just put some of the succulents together into a nice pot to over winter them.

Talking about "what is that bulb??"--I saw a bulb down in the shop a while ago
and thought it was a Calla Lily bulb I 'rescued" from the chute at HD--
so I potted it up and was going to let it go dormant in a pot...

Well this thing started growing--and when the leaves grew out--it was a small Dahlia.
It was one of the bulbs I dug out from Olga's bed while she was away.
S0--what do i do with a fully leafed out Dahlia this time of the year??
These would be the small, edging dahlias...

G.

LOL Gita, I have a couple of Dahila bulbs that are putting up shoots, too.

I would like to ask everyone how all their cuttings are doing??

Whatever you are trying to propagate by cuttings--how's it going?
Too early for seeds discussions--but cuttings--sure!

Please share here....i think this fits fine under "indoor gardening....

One thing I want to say about my Acalypha cuttings is that--the more drab ones--
browns/olive greens/almost no reds ones are all rooted and doing OK.

Try as I did--on several attempts--I could not get the pretty dark reds and greens to root.
They all just shriveled up and died.
How did YOUR Acalypha cittings do--for those of you that had these?

That would be SallyG--Karen--Paul--and me. How are they doing for YOU?
G.

Mine I transplanted to a greenhouse and are doing OK. I haven't tried to propogate them yet. I'm waiting for them to bounce back from transplant shock.

You have access to a GH, Paul? I'm jealous....

My original Acalyphas got cut back and I slipped a 2gal pot over them,
bottom cut out, and filled it with leaves. Will pile some mulch arounf the pot...
Kind of too late already. NOT expecting miracles here...it is more an experiment....

The GH I shop at will have these again. I will replace them if needed. $3.

Paul--have a wonderful, warm Thanksgiving....Where are YOU chowing down?
I am going to my daughters and her DH, who will grill the turkey no matter
what the weather is.
I am bringing the stuffing, gravy makings, Hart's Corn pudding, and my wine.

Glad HD decided NOT to stay open on Thanksgiving! Many stores are
opening later in the day--just to grab a bit more $$$$$. Shame on them!

G.

Yea. They seem to be very tender plants. But you never know. $3 is awesome.

I have three thanksgivings in two days. Whew. One tonight and two tomorrow. I'm making a butternut squash dish and a kale salad for tonight. And for tomorrow I found a recipe for spicy sweet potatoes bites topped with kale and goat cheese. I've been on a bit of a kale run recently.

hi, Gita. Both the Maya and the Dr. Seuss are doing well and have tiny, healthy, growing leaves on them. :-)

Gita= I have coleus , a few kinds , are doing OK. Only one of a very dark almost black purple, that one is struggling. Some 'chocolate' is in a pot with begonias and doing ok as a potted plant. I hastily stuck some Plectranthus without a humidity cover and they seem to have mostly taken.
My two attempts at Acalypha cuttings failed. The three that I moved very late immediately dropped all their leaves. I moved another to my very warmest spot.
Brazilian Plume cutting just finishing blooming again and looking lush.

wow Terp- sounds great!

Catmint you'll get a kick out of those brug cuttings! I fell in love with the Maya leaves when Gita showed me one from cutting a few years ago in February.

I stuck a Plumeria cutting this summer and that is under light. I just could not kill the mother plumeria tree but it is very awkwardly shaped now. So it is uprooted, bagged, and looking bizarre propped against the well pressure tank in the basement.

I tried some cuttings (including your Inky Fingers, Gita, and ssgardener's begonia, and some Thai basil), in a "Forsythe pot" -- see http://www.extension.umn.edu/distribution/horticulture/components/DG4419.pdf

But I used Tapla's gritty mix instead of vermiculite (various comments I read on Forsythe pots suggested other medium could be substituted). For environmental reasons, I don't like to use vermiculite -- and in any event I didn't have any on hand.

The Forsythe pot appears to be working ok (it has been up and running a week or so), but I'm not convinced the mix is holding enough water. The coleus is looking a tiny bit limp - not badly so, but enough to question whether this would work with something tough to root. Maybe 100% Turface would work. I think Perlite is considered to not hold much moisture, while vermiculite is the opposite and can get soggy. The plants I am trying to root are all easy to root, so I can't reach a conclusion on the efficacy of this method even if all the cuttings root.

UMD_Terp -- what kale recipes have you found to be the most successful? I love kale, but have a balky family.

Gita, here is a photo of your 2 Brug cuttings--hope you can see the little leaves growing on them! :-) Also, your coleus cuttings continue to grow.

One of my amaryllis is getting ready to open! Bulb #2 (below) is finally showing some growth.

I'm afraid that my third bulb (below) has not shown much growth of any kind, and even its roots look miserable. :-( I'm not sure why. I wonder if there's anything I can do?

Well I'm trying three different reciepes with Kale for thanksgiving. A butternut, quinoa, kale, bacon mix alongside a kale and brusselsprouts salad. For an appetizer I'm making spicy sweet potatoes kale and goat cheese bites. I'll take some final product pictures and let you know how they turn out.

wow Paul, those sound delicious!

Paul: They do sound good -- and I'd love the recipes for any you sound especially successful!

Catmint: On the amaryllis -- be patient -- I have found wide variability in how long they can take to show signs of life.

happy, i feel like a forsythe pot and a very open mix like tap la's are not going to work together for rooting. are they covered for humidity? if covered maybe it should work.

No, SallyG, I didn't cover the forsythe pot. I usually do cover cuttings when I try to root them, but I wanted to give the forsythe pot a fair chance. Next I'll try it with vermiculite.

Happy, thanks for the Forsythe pot link! I'd never heard of it before. It's a great idea for someone like me who has such a hard time keeping cuttings alive. The sambucus cutting I got from you is doing great!

I wonder if the Forstythe pot would do better with the gritty mix if you also provide bottom watering. The clay pot may not be releasing enough water for the Turface to stay moist.

Once I had a cactus container sitting in a saucer of water (forgot to put risers under the pot), and the mix stayed moist.

I was *very* late in potting up my amaryllis. I need to seriously consider providing bottom heat if want them to bloom by Christmas.

Paul, now I want to add a kale dish to tomorrow's meal. :)

Cat--

In the 3rd picture of the Amaryllis bulb---it looks to me that the "neck" of the bulb
is too long and should have been cut back. I do this every year...
After all the blooming and growing the "neck" elongates with old growth.

A few weeks after the beginning of the dormancy (all leaves have yellowed and fallen off)
you should take a sharp, clean knife and slice the "neck" straight across closer to the bulb.

If you look in your picture--there is a bloom bud coming out from below all the "neck" layers.
That should tell you that all that "stuff" above the bulb is NOT necessary.
It is just baggage! Can you see it looking at it?

The bulb in the last picture looks like it could use the neck trimmed down.
The worry I have is that, just maybe, the new leaves and the bloom MAY already
be on their way inside the neck. That is why you cut them back way before
they would put out new growth.
I would chance it and cut it off level no longer that 1" above the bulb.
Do it in baby steps--and see what shows....

Cutting the necks back opens up the tight rings of the leaf remnants the
new growth has to navigate through...You caan, immediately, see if the
growth is a bud of just leaves.

I will go downstairs and take a picture to show you what i am talking about.

G.

Here are 2 different pots --they are still bone dry--but some leaves are trying
to come through. They were there before I even brought them in, so they don't count!

See how I have cut the necks straight across? I do this every winter....then I wait....

ssg: I have the forsythe pot sitting in a saucer, and while I haven't added any supplemental water, water has collected in the saucer. I think if I had used vermiculite, the vermiculite would absorb the water so that it wouldn't collect in the saucer. That will be my next experiment.

Gita: I didn't realize that one could cut off the amaryllis bulbs at the neck. When I take them inside at the end of the season I turn them on their side, and all the leaves drop off. They end up looking exactly like yours -- just as if I had cut off the leaves.

I also wanted to say that at the HD--ALL the Amaryllis in those gift boxes
are sprouting and trying to bloom. Seems soil is NOT necessary for +
these bulbs to bloom.
All the energy it needs to bloom is already in the bulb as it is shipped.
Planting it in a pot of soil mix allows the bulb to get anchored, grow roots,
lots of leaves outside in the sun, and return energy to the bulb by withering
leaves for the following winter's bloom.

Found this information--VERY thorough.

http://www.rochestergardening.com/bulbs/amrylcar.html