Plant Propagation the Basics Oct - 2015

Very pretty Debra, I sent you a Dmail and forgot to remind you to send me some fuchsia Hibiscus seeds. Have a good sleep.

I am arid, south Fort Worth, not sure what zone though, I am guessing 8? I found Frost/freeze dates on DG but not zones. Definitely arid though. If I didn't water everything would die.

and my gaura is constantly visited by bees but the seed pod is maybe 1/4 inch long, I think it might be a sterile cross.

Yes Gypsi penstemon and maybe lady in red salvia as a sage , might and probably would grow where you are , takes a good size plant to set in he ground to be sure .
Southeast of there in Mesquite Tx there use to be a lot of sage , etc salvia , agastache , etc ,a native penstemon to there does exist ,

well salvia does ok in my beds closer to the house, although I lost my lady in red out on the lot. I am working on a drip irrigation system for the lot by next spring

Gypsi you're in zone 8a, that was a good guess.
http://planthardiness.ars.usda.gov/PHZMWeb/#

Gypsi, there is nothing like a regular watering for plants. Ever since I got the drip system on my container plants on the deck they have been so pretty. They were before also, but nothing like with regular water. Also on lawns. if you have grass. Even in Seattle, where you would think you wouldn't need to think that much about watering them, when I put a sprinkling system on my lawn it was gorgeous.

I had it set to go off at 5 o'clock in the morning for 20 minutes on each line, and the lawn was the best I ever had.

the lawn is on the drop the hose system, and so are my larger trees. The air has been so dry sprinklers lose most of the water to the air. I let the bermuda go dormant, it is a nuisance anyway, and my saint augustine I just let it get tall, so it shades its own roots, and drop the hose on a slow run near the trees every couple of weeks. It is simply too expensive to have a proper lawn in Texas in a drought. I don't need one, except to stop the wind from carrying off the dry soil.

(back yard where the dogs run is dust, the grass is gone. No amount of sprinkling that is less than my mortgage can fix it.)

but a drip into pot gardens and flowerbeds I think I can swing. I have put them where the grade carries whatever rain we get to them, and the flowerbeds are next to my foundation.

Kitchen water is gray water for the back of my garage foundation, I stuck the greenhouse there to slow evaporative loss as well.

Yep , Looks like Cacti it is ,lol
Sounds as dry as Gypsum Gypsi . Not that Humorous though I know , I have been there ,
Reminds me some of gardening downtown in the city ,The old cement lot plenty of 100 degree temperatures ,
There are a few plants that will take that , Still in desert conditions , it takes a good size plant going in ,most of the time, to have much of a garden variety ,
Plants , even natives in such extremes ,still need time to adapt , not easy at all

Well I am learning about permaculture, and I have got a lot of stuff thriving but I do think I should give up on dahlias, the grasshoppers just nail them, I moved 2 to a pot to see if they would resprout, and they rotted instead. If I buy any dahlia bulbs next year I am potting and screening them!

I won't bother growing anything if cactus is my only option. So far it is not, but airborne moisture is wasted moisture so I have got to quit using sprinklers and get the drip system built.

I am not desert all the time and the soil is topsoil with clay so what would live in the desert won't survive the 10 inches of rain and gloppy clay when we get it. Permaculture has some answers. I built wales so my pear tree didn't drown when it started showing black fungusy limbs, and it worked, re-routing the water worked. I have a lot to learn and a lot to do though.

Gypsi, where did you move from when you went to Texas? My 85 year old sister and BIL, just moved to Texas from Stockton,California. They were having the droughts there too and her beautiful yard was drying up. Haven't heard lately how they are doing in Texas.

I left Michigan in 1976 and moved to Odessa, in 1979 I moved to DFW. We have been in a drought most of the time since fall of 2010. Broke and got 10 inches of rain in May over a 26 day period, maybe more than that, filled up all the reservoirs. Has now been 29 days since measurable rainfall at DFW airport.

Wow Gypsi, it sounds like quite the challenge. You're obviously not going down without a fight. I'm proud of you!

My grandfather planted by the moon. I plant by the rain forecast, as seeds germinate better with natural rainwater than the garden hose. I started gardening in 1985, it is a matter of knowing what to plant, what not to bother with (I have not produced an edible cucumber since the early 90's,) and our climate is changing. It is hotter and drier, a LOT hotter and drier, than it was in the 80's. A 6 week drought was the norm, every summer you could take that to the bank. But 5 year droughts are new. 70 days above 100 in a year without volcanic activity (1980 was the last before 2011), that is new too. We used to get rain a couple of times a month. Not any more.

Permaculture - well I grow some herbs and vegetables as aquatic bog plants on my fish pond, unforunately spider mites got my pond tomatoes this year and I was too busy to beat them back. some things I grow in the ground, some parts of my ground I put weedblock and mulch on top as they are too hard to get wet, too much hill, even for wildflowers. I learn something new every year.

We are expecting 4 inches of rain on Friday. My guess we will get 4 inches or we won't get any, ya never know.

You must have a good reason for staying there. I know so many parts of the country have problems. I guess I am just waiting to see what ours is. Kinda like waiting for the shoe to drop. Will it be an earthquake, invasion from Canada? LOL, we already have that. On the coast they are buying up homes etc. Just for a second home? Not sure why. And, I don't mean on the water. Just in our country, miles from the coast. Guess I should have said on the West side of the state. Would have been more understandable. jen

My children are here, my grandchildren are here and my business is here. I tried to move about 11 years ago and am glad I just rented the house out. Every place has its problems. On the bright side not nearly as many mosquitoes or fleas with the low humidity, and I can usually grow swiss chard and broccoli and have fresh veggies all winter. I remember Michigan winters. I left as soon as I was old enough to head south. I am pretty used to sunshine. My granddaughter wants to go to college in Washington state in about 3 years at which point I will probably rent the house out and go up with her. Probably. no promises.

Out of all the schools and different states, why did she pick Washington? That is cool. We have some very good schools. Any particular one?

What you listed are all very good reasons to stay there. Good for you. What is your business you mentioned? Next question, you see I am very nosy, not really nosy, I just love to find out why people do what they do. Anyway, just wondering why you would come up here with her and leave all the other things you named?

JU is about to tell me to mind my own business. LOL. Sorry, I love people and their issues. You don't have to tell me anything. That is what is so good about emails and electronic visiting. ttyl, jen

I'm glad you are here, Gypsi. We all seem to hold each other together sometimes.
Robin, Ju, Jen, and all, here is the Gaura this am, it is so pretty. all from a few little seeds sheese!
Somehow we are bringing in the banana ( Again)
The glories are spitting seeds like crazy..
my gardening buddy to the south, Oriole, and my gardening buddies to the north, Dottie, Wesson and Scout. LOL

I build repair service and maintain koi ponds. And I am approaching the age of needing a slightly less strenuous career. Not sure exact school but she has said something about Tacoma.

In my life I have been a telemarketer, a bookkeeper an office manager a free lance artist and a writer (one non fiction published, on fish) I would like to write more and move less rock within a few years. Pulling a trailer and managing a crew of young men that appear to have set out to injure themselves and destroy eqpt is stressful, although we do beautiful work.

sounds loverly, Please come here and build me a waterfall pond in my ugly basement garden :)

oh no I don't think so. But I hope to have pdf's of plans available for sale, reasonable, complete with photos and material lists for specific projects including small ones, in the not too distant future

You are awfully ambitious Gypsi. Let us know when you have your plans on line.

Debra your pictures are pretty cool., Love the garden buddies. Bet you have treats for all of them don't you? We used to go to a house for garage sales and the guy said his neighbor always brought oreos out to his steer every morning. Wonder if he gave her a steak at butchering time for fattening the animal up. >smile<

Oh Debra, meant to ask you if you have the banana planted in a tub and then planted in the garden? You must or it would probably kill it to be yanking it in and out of the soil every spring and fall. So, does it go into the basement with the rest? btw, Your basement garden is not ugly. It is beautiful, and a lot of work. You need an atrium in the middle of your house. Upstairs with a whole glass ceiling/roof. Must be shaded tho. Wouldn't you love it?

I feel useless Jen, you just asked and said just about everything I was going to, lol. If I had done all the asking I wouldn't have gotten the benefit of your sense of humor. Lesson learned, read more, type less...

ok Robin, I am going to stay off of here except to read your posts. So, have at it. I am just going to sit and enjoy your and everyone else's conversations. So, you better say something. LOL, jen

Whoops, one more thing. There is nothing wrong with your saying the same things. Debra would like to know what you think of her plants, pictures, etc.

And Gypsi too!!

I always think their great , The photo's , thank you Debra !!! A living thread and garden ,
A dormant Swamp milkweed Asclepias incarnata

Hi from work. Jen you asked earlier up there if I had done all that work on the weekend after I worked here, and I had that day off so the answer to that one is No.

We have been bringing the banana up and down the stairs for three years, Joe digs it up ( usually with a couple babies) and he hauls it into the house in a tub with handles and the two wheeler down the basement stairs and then we both manage to get it sunk in to the empty 3 and a half ft deep sump pump well. ( it never worked so we gutted it) previously it has been fine. This year, I don't think it is going to be that easy, and he is really really in love with that banana tree.
I wish we could just have an extension gren house with vaulted glass ceilings like the atrium you suggested, but right now he is more interested in painting the new extra bedroom. It has been occupied for 26 years by the same person and now she has moved out, and he is getting 26 years worth of tape, tacs, nails, pins dirt makeup you name it it was a girls room. LOL he has gotten the ceiling painted and the windows cleaned so far, and we still need to pull the carpet and check out the wooden floor under it. *whew* good thing I have a list of things for him to do everyday.
I have been finding fat juicy slugs under my pots as I bring them in to clean, and Gamera has really been enjoying them. Now she is looking up at me when I go down there like she is expecting some food. SPoiled turtle.

Jen, that lesson wasn't for you, it was for me. I'm gonna have to pay you a visit if you don't keep typing. Don't make me come over there!

Geesh, kids these days.

I am enjoying this , some fun , Makes me think of hen and chicks ,, he , he ,

Debra love the slug pot soup story , lol extra meat in the moisture on the half shell??? ,, lol Slugs on the Shell Sandwhich ,

Let see , today , trying
Small iris start
Hibiscus (dormant )
Bamboo
Larger iris for re-planting

Turtles eat slugs? I need a turtle. Maybe my crayfish would eat them?

JU, is that the bamboo you started from seed a couple months ago? If so, it is doing great! Lookin' good!

Don't know about crayfish, but ducks love them.

So Debra, you are saying you do not have the banana planted in a tub that you move, you just pull it out of the muck and plant it in the basement where you have a spot all waiting for it? i amazed that it lives and grows with your doing that. And all the work. Good grief. He must love that banana. Maybe one of these years it will favor him with a banana fruit. lol I am sure he does that because he loves the banana tree owner. Where did you get it to begin with? How big was it? I find this truly interesting.

So, what is he going to do with the extra room?


Well Robin, these computers show no favorites. All you have to do is type and hit send and you will be the next in line, no matter what. Just say whatever you are thinking and spit it out.





































11

I am too tired to think. Got my truck back, trailer is re-wired with new taillights and I did the crawling under it. We have a pond to fill in for tomorrow, preserving artsy landscaping and retaining wall but eliminating a drowning hazard for the new owner's toddler.

I am indeed ambitious. I have felt so free since the last child moved out, and I divorced years ago. So no one can tell me I "can't do it". And I do quite a lot. I also have 5 good sized dogs (37 lbs to 100 lbs)

Goodnight. I will not be gardening til the moisture gets here friday I think. Wish I'd have done bees this morning but they would have given us a hard time getting the trailer prepped

ya'll stay warm and dry and enjoy

I think your crawfish would eat a slug, big time.

My moon snail ate my left over pear center, and Gamera also finished off a part that was too ripe for me. I HAD 5 beautiful gold fish ( left over bait fish from 5 years ago) but, I killed them deader than dead. I didn't wait for the new tank water to be rid of the chlorine before I transferred them, so now I am down to one snail and two tortoise ( turtles) and they are not water turtles. I was so sad and felt so guilty for being in a hurry after all these years of having them, Joe and I took turns taking bugs we had caught including flys and skeeters to watch the jump at them. *sigh* I have two goldfish on my Christmas lIst now. Still have the tub and all that stuff going, just a lonely old moon snail getting really big.

I had an idea for a water fall garden and small pond in the basement, in the corner end that always leaks when it rains for three days solid, but I havn't got Joe talked into it YET>
It would be nice to have a retaining wall inside as a planter, the small water fall and a small pond, and then all I'd need is a bird or two .. LOL

The banana is planted in ground, it is in the front yard triangle, It started out about a foot tall. It is as tall as the house now. He just likes keeping things he has invested time in is all.
Ju, I want to move kopper king hibiscus, but it is still green and leafy, should I wait until first freeze?
Supposed to rain tomorrow night and Thursday night, so it will be nice to get that. We will then dig out the brugmansias and orchids and ee's from around the pear tree.
2011, 2013,2014, and NOW my 2012 and 2010 pics are on another thumb drive, sorry.
Last pic if you click on it, you can see one leaf left of it up in the window, it is in the sump pump..behind the crinum, which I gave away this summer.

Debra I have a terrible time moving Hibiscus , almost impossible not to break the tap root ,
when dormant is about the only way I have ever been able to move one ,

I had to lift a Greggi Salvia today, Hope I can keep it alive, I didn't get a root longer than 7 inches.

Yes indeed , Gypsi , long tap rooted plants are a terror to move , Reminds me of an annual Sunflower ,, digging it , lol not likely ,
Seed cleaning on and on , setting up for wintersow ,
I am more of hopeful than successful garden bug , these days ,

A saved Basil

I just cut back the monster 4ft tall and round pot of coleus downstairs and made cuttings, Joe is gonna have a fit!
He was very proud of that thing.

Oh oh Debra...blame it on the turtle.

Debra!! You cut up the banana tree????? OMG now what? You think the cuttings will root? Ya know what? Bet you do it. You are going to have your own banana plantation. Have to get Joe one of those pith helmets. I can just see you guys. Bob said he read somewhere that once you harvest the bananas you have to start a new tree. He said he read it in Uncle John's Bathroom Reader. LOL, you can take it to the bank.

OH Robin, you hit it on the head. Now they will have turtle soup.

Well JU, the answer to moving Hibiscus is keeping them in pots. LOL,I have one in an 8 inch pot. I didnt think it would grow like it did and it is almost 3 feet tall, a shrub in this pot. Bob planted it in a large resin pot. Pot and all so the roots would not be disturbed this time of year. So, if it has a tap root like you talk about, it should be growing up and out of the pot soon. Maybe make another plant. I'll cut it off like Debra does.

Went to the Ophthalmologist yesterday and now have an appt. for an MRI on Sunday. Guess he wants to see if there is anything in there. Gee, they are having a 2 hr. show on a brain surgery Sunday on NBC I wanted to see it. Will have to set the DVR. Maybe it is on me and i don't even know it. Actually, the patient is suppose to be awake watching this surgery.

Just been reading Gypsi's post again. Good grief girl you sound so happy to be on your own and ''FREE". Free to make your own decisions without having to argue with someone about them. LOL, great feeling huh? You sound like you are doing something you really enjoy with your business. Just make sure you have enough guys working for you so you don't overdo your own health. I am sure I messed up my body in my years of being in that situation just by doing very hard, heavy work in my yard and house. The old joints finally wore out.

Well, I have an appt. for a blood draw at the clinic this morning, so must get busy. Ttyl, jen

I think the time has come for a Bobcat and a heavy equipment license actually. 19 year olds these days prefer video games to dirt moving, lol. will catchup later.

The backhoe thing gave you an idea Gypsi ?

A garden restart