Plant Propagation, The Basics, January 2017

36 pots huh? That's a lot! I hope you didn't overwork your recovering hand.

my grandfather planted by the moon. The old farmers almanac has planting dates for each year including the moon sign and phase. Plant above ground crops on a waxing moon when it is in a water or earth sign. (virgo is earth). Plant below ground crops in a waning moon in water or earth.

when the moon is in air or fire pull or burn off weeds, prune things you want to stay pruned and not grow back right away.

I have modified it. I plant in water/earth signs and just before rain is forecast regardless of sign. the onions went in just before rain, the greenhouse stuff after the rain started, all moon in virgo.

I have 5 dogs and 2 cats, haven't had a mouse in my house since 2005. Greenhouse is another story, glue traps for rats out there now.

Aha ,, Zodiac ,,, Gypsi , I plant when it rains , (

Keith Sleeping cat mouse traps , no mouse in the house here

Love the plants and that bright red Salvia is cheerful

Gypsi I planted some onion seeds yesterday ,, hmmmm ? I don't know ,, A killer joke happening ,
A natural Zodiac ,? garden fun , onions , onions , fa la , la ,

This message was edited Jan 18, 2017 6:24 PM

My grandfather farmed 44 acres in southwestern Michigan and planted by the zodiac, but it rained like 3 days a week back then, just a little and he didn't have to worry about drought.

Me. I plant just before it rains if at all possible, and I water seedlings with rain water if at all possible. If not, I water them with used fish water.

Debra your plants are beautiful

I was taught planting in the full of the moon for above, dark of the moon for root crops. Taters went in before St Patricks Day(March). Never could figure what planet went where. I DO know the elemental signs with the months. I am Aries, primal fire. Taurus, primal earth, etc. Confusing because my birthday isnt April...I knew for my zone here it was recommended starting seeds in Jan, but further north the recommended time is Feb and so forth. I know Houston is being slammed with water when I expect dryer days.
Pictures are anomalies...I was home when it hit 20* last month. Last year I doubt we had a freeze at all. Winter blasted vanilla grass and butterfly iris, but behind it the lorapetulum is blooming. The liriope looks horrible and needs a haircut, but the paperwhites have buds and the dry creek is running full. Onions I planted 6 wks ago doing great- if a little watery in the stems...my lycoris didn't bloom, they came up as leaf instead...but the creek is dropping so far!

Wow Kitt, your area looks challenging. As far as moisture goes, it's feast or famine.

Would you believe we are forecast to get our share of the freezing rain you guys had over the next few days. Beautiful sunny day and plus 2C right now! Crazy for mid January up here. It will be really hard on the deer population if they have a frozen crust on the snow to break through for the rest of the winter. They become very easy prey for the wolves who can then run on the top while the deer are slowed down when breaking through.

oh dear, hadn't thought of that

Oh no, I hadn't though about that either. Thanks for for bringing that to our attention Keith...shoot, that puts a damper on my day.

You know , the old US as Americans joke ,, Feed the Deer Bird Seed .. Shoot at the Wolves , ?

Chuckl, nature trims her bounty by push and pull, give and take. Most of our deer, and antelope migrate before being caught in the plains, shortage of deer in one yr means shortage of wolves in following years. Some of these things may pull out of their roots and revive in the Spring, many of the plants my dau and I plant are accustomed to feast and famine. Not in an area that runs short on plants....

Funky snow art being created by mother natures freaky slow motion January thaw. First 2 are off the back of the greenhouse where I tacked on a lean-to last spring to store the snowmobile. These are both tin roof buildings is why you get the glacier like slide. Wendy snapped the one of the barn turned storage shed last night when she came home from work. It is a little higher off the ground so had broken by this morning. The eave of the greenhouse add-on is about at my head so it has really curled up without breaking. I got those shots this morning.

Woa, that's cool Keith, who doesn't like snow art?

I only like snow art if it is gone in 2 days.

Wow, Keith, that is very interesting! Pretty, too. I grew up in the Great Lakes area, lots of snow was a given throughout the winter months, but I don't remember ever having seen anything like that! Thank you for sharing!

Rusty

Thanks guys, got to try something off the wall once in a while to keep it interesting. Got a kick out of your comment Gypsi, however the gone in 2 days doesn't happen here!

if it lasts a week here we had a classic blizzard that will set records for 20 years

Earth around here is Gurgling when you walk on it from all the rain , Been a long time since I have seen snow like that , The art of that hardly ever ,
Last Blizzard I was near was 1978 ,,

Snow is pretty , but it can stay at ski elevations as far as me ...
62 degrees earlier today ,

Have seen both the roof art and some glow igloos made of frozen colored ice blocks. I can see tbe mess I could make of trying to build an igloo, but they were pretty. Yup, Ju, Houston swamps definitely slurping and sucking and sinking here too. Has rained every day I have been home, kinda smelling a bit moldy and musty too.

Lol i used to plant in the moon and this and that.. Maybe that explains why some do and some don't. Oh, ad Keith, if you have one, there are others. Hope you get the whole family! We caught 13 in one week last year in the garage.

Sun is shining, it calls to me, the dogs are barking, come and pet me, the squirrels are gathering, waiting for me, the birds are singing, Spring come to me. After getting my dog kisses from all around, I have planted: Frostweed, Gaura, Columbines, Poppies, African daises, lettuce, spinach, milkweeds, perennial red hibiscus, iron weed, dames rocket and asters. It is early , yes, but these are the times I do my thing. I put Vaseline up and down the steel hangers that hold the bird feeders, so that I can watch the squirrels leave their safe zone at the feeding tree and try to get on the ones in front of my window from the roof. I have spread barberry branches all over the tops of my pots and around the pear tree. Let the fun begin! Oh, Yes, The Robins? They were here a month ago.

But, aren't they cute? I didn't even know we had mice in the area until our cats started bringing them home.

yeal , they are cute, I just don't like the idea of them living inside my cedar siding is all. Now the garage has been cleared so far, the traps outside have to be hidden so I don't catch birds, and so far, there have been 3 caught from behind the cedar siding hiding area, I covered the trap up with the toadstool ceramic frog house thing. Wish we had a feral cat around here.

No rain due in next 10 days, moderate drought coming on, send rain

Dry season in Dallas. Gulf air cant get the cold air to push north so rain can get to ya, Gypsi. Things - weather especially, is still happening a wee bit early, not sure we will get as hard a freeze as we have already gotten down here again. My paperwhites havent bloomed yet, dill didnt show up at all. I keep picking up the wind pruned branches and piling them onto a burn pile, no help for the massive amount of sweetgum balls...maybe the next flood will take them down the creek...catch ya later, alarm clock set for early...

Sweetgum are such beautiful trees, too bad their seed pods are little land mines.

78* soft breeze, lorapetulum blooming, pines swaying... and I am heading north. Sigh. Did I mention the pollen? Not as bad yet as it will get to be...beautiful day and I am sleepy

Stay awake Kitt. Will be that warm here tomorrow, then it gets cold again. Was nice today. 66 and sunny. We cleaned a pond. No time for the garden I needed to work

what does a sweet gum look like? was nice yesterday, nice today, supposed to gradually get back to winter later this week.. my bulbs are showing up too early!
I hafta look up this lorapetulum.. I gave a friend my chalice vine plant that never bloomed for me. Today he brought me it's first bloom. It was huge and darker yellow..
He is a master of propagation, he said he is making me some new ones to try..
I give up on things after no blooms for a few years, then someone like him makes them bloom. *sigh*

Debra nice planting list , A sweet Gum has star leaf shape , A sticky Bur type seed pod , spike form , Like a beech seed pod only much longer spikes

My jugs planted outside are open for a few days frost free temperatures and all
Cold rain going on here now

Under my desk lamp

First sky Blue Aster sprout If you know how small a Aster Sprout is ,,lol this was difficult to show Now to see if I can grow any past 4 inches tall

This message was edited Jan 24, 2017 7:09 AM

http://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=LIST2

Sweetgum is our showy tree in the fall. Liquadambar.
Lorapetulums, and that one is burgundy, are Houston's Spring show...I believe a var of a witch hazel...
Looks good so far Ju!

This message was edited Jan 24, 2017 2:06 PM

I've never seen a lorapetulum, but when I buy a new house I always plant one sweetgum to remind me of fall in more colorful climates (that have those awful freezing winters afterward)

If every sweetgum ball was fertile, or hadnt been eaten by the squirrels, they would be as awful as those Chinese Tallow Tree seeds. And they hurt.
Had a rock bigger than a walnut chunked at me in Little Rock. Broke glass on the inside as well as pulverized the outside. I wasn't even close to the dump truck that spun it from under his tire. Still have my windshield, so trying to get the splinters cleaned up.
Those blue/red lamps I got are on trial at the house- hoping they keep the plants healthy. Catch you guys farther north where my wifi works...

I don't think sweetgum balls are all that fertile as I have never had one sprout, maybe I got hybrid trees?

Scary about your window. Bet you have a better solution than my clear nail polish to keep it from starting a crack?

Crack away! They will replace it soon as I hit the shop. DOT isn't forgiving of semi windshields cracks- too rough a road, too much potential side effects. I did call Little Rock state and hwy maintenance, they will be inspecting for the crush rock scattered along the road
Near St Louis, windy 25mph gusts bringing in the new cold front. San Antonio trees were looking greener- might be the lichen, but even if they were greener than gray, winter isn't over and other trees are ignoring 78* days.

I'm sorry to hear about the cracked windshield too, I can imagine the scare-the-bejeebers-out-of-ya loud crack that rock made. Of course it had to land right in your line of vision.

I've got high hopes for your blue/red lamps, I can't wait to hear the results of the trial.

Windy and 40 temps are going to the 20's by tomorrow night I will cover my jugs again , Wanted it to rain on the seeds in the jugs for a while , it did , A lot of to wet to dry with the jugs and pots ,
My eye gets follow up tomorrow ,

Good news should be..."your eye's is healing quite nicely"! I'll be waiting for you to tell me I'm right--please be right -- please be right...