Clippings by newbie_2007 - My Clippings

Good morning folks. I brought my purple fountain grass in. Tonight, we will be at 36F. I don't want them to get hurt. I remember this plant is only rated zone 7. My neighbor also has this plant and he tried leaving it outside with 4" and 8" thick mulch for 2 years and never came back. It was in his garden that I learned about this plant.

Anyways, here are some pics of before and after. I'm hoping, they'll make it inside the house.

Oh, I also brought in some ants. LOL. It was in my neck, my arms. The ants were slow and never bit me. Also, the ants were coming out the pot. Maybe they thought it was summer. LOL. Hahaha.

Another thing I noticed about this grass. They have deep roots about 14" down. :)

What are some new varieties in the world of grasses and which ones do you really like??
I am a grass a-holic from a long way back. At one time I had 130+ different grasses (counting cultivars) growing in my garden. I have a few less than that now due to natural selection (mine & natures). Some where along the line I stopped buying all the new varieties.

Newly retired, I'm ready to take up collecting again. Help me out, get me excited about some of the newer more exciting grass species or cultivars.

I am interested in all grass genera.
As you might guess by my user name, Achnatherum calamagrostis is one of my absolute favorites! :o)

I have a lucky bamboo that is tied with ribbon.
The stalks are pencil size and the ribbon seems to be cutting into the stalks. Should I remove the ribbon? Lots of fresh growth from each stalk and it looks very healthy. It is 8 inches above to pot. Will the ribbon choke the stalks and later kill the plant? It's in stone, how do I know when to water? I have searched the web but my ? aren't satisfied.

Rory

I started my bulbs 8 weeks ago. One has nothing going on and the other two have only two leaves and third leaf starting. I cleaned the bulbs and used MG and water. They are in a south facing window. How long does it take to get to the bloom. Frustrated! Anyone got some pictures to cheer me up?

Lessons on Amaryllis

New at this but from help from you guys I daared to clean and re-pot. These are the pics, so I hope I did it right.
If it is correct then pics of flowers should follow by Christmas.
Again, thanks for the support group.

Red Lion that has never bloomed - Year three

Wish me luck!

I created this barrel 10 years ago and can't remember the names of the plants I used. Have moved to a new area and would like to re-create it.
Thanks.

What I have seen with the South African, Hadeco bulbs lately (this year), that a lot of the bulbs had scapes emerging with the top of the bud chipped or cut off... I think they have emerged while the leaves were still on the bulb, and when the bulbs were harvested, they cut the leaves and the tip of the bud too. I had a Fanfare coming to me like that which Jodi took, since the other one was a little rotten, so I performed surgery on it and kept it to myself. But I have a Stars & Stripes with the same top cut off, and I have seen a lot of bulbs in the garden outlet having the same treatment... I assume that this happened at Hadeco already.
Now... San Remo is not from Hadeco. Sometimes it happens that the first scape brings a little (or lot) distorted blooms, but usually the second and/or third scape are a completely different story and they tend to look nice and wonderful. Probably because the bulb has grown enough roots already...
I have gotten a lot of bulbs that bloomed for me distorted first, then showed up their real beauty in subsequent blooms. I am not saying that you should not complain if you feel shortchanged, but I learned, that this kind of things happen from time to time. It might even happen that JS will replace the bulb for you. Who knows...
Please post the picture here.

I have a few ceremic containers that I'm wanting to plant tulips in for spring. I'm afraid if I leave them out all winter, the containers will break from the cold. If I plant the tulips in them and put the containers in the garage for the winter, do you think this would work? The garage is not heated but also gets no light. Any Suggestions? Thanks

Over-wintering my Hydrangeas

I want to cut blooms and stems with leaves for a display inside the house. Is it OK to do this with my new ES and PW Venice/Vienna. When should I stop harvesting the blooms to be sure I get blooms for next year?
These plants have only been in the ground (5 gal) for a few weeks and the blooms are starting to open.

I've always liked my PVC cages the best..naturally I'm
prejudiced since I came up with the idea.

You can make them any size you want. Mine are 7' tall.

Wind doesn't bother them unless you have a tropical storm
or hurricane.

And you can put a clear plastic garbage bag over them
to make individual greenhouses for your young and tender
plants.

Follow the link.

Here is a link that might be useful: Tom's PVC Tomato cage page

I have sixty house plants in one room with a southern exposure. I've noticed some fungus gnats have gotten quite a foothold in the plants, especially those I'm growing from seed. I've been using Ortho insecticide, but it doesn't seem to be doing the job and I don't want to keep spraying and possibly damaging the plants. Any suggestions most appreciated. These appear to be the only pests I have. I think its because I tend to water in the evening after I get home from work, and the water is not evaporating as quickly as it would if I were watering in the morning - is this a legitimate concern? Should I switch?

I've got some little gnat/fly-like critters flying around my apartment. Not so many, but even one is an annoyance. From what I've read, fungus gnats seem to be the likeliest suspect. I don't see any signs of damage to the plants (other than what I do by my mismanagement!!!)

What I do find is little spheres, that pop if you squeeze them, in the upper layer of the potting mix. They're a pale ivory or cream color, about 1/8th of an inch in diameter.

Someone told me that these might be fertilizer pellets put in by Scott. I don't place much credence in that.

I'll try some of the treatments suggested in postings here, but I'd like to know about these little alien spheres.

Thanks.

I have noticed that a lot of people try to discourage growing amaryllis from seeds. I have had very good success. I have access to a local university's greenhouse. I took the seeds from two different amaryllis and placed them on vermiculite underneath a misting bench. I waited until there were short green leaves and then transplanted them into small pots with potting soil. So far after two seasons of seeds I have about 170 different seedlings. The ones I did last year are about 6 inches tall already. I am excited to see what colors will come out because I chose two different colored parents.

If I can do it you can do it. It is almost fool proof and you can use a small artists' brush, a q-tip or even just dab the pollen sack onto the stamen once it has opened. If you see my blog entry on Amaryllis pollination I have pictures of what the pollen sack and open stamen look like. Basically you just want those two parts to come into contact.

In a few weeks I had big Amaryllis seed pods as you can see from the that photo. And here is a photo of my Amaryllis seeds all nice and healthy waiting to be sown.

If you need bigger pictures let me know and I'll post them on this thread

I stored my bulbs in my cool garage and recently brought them in just prior to them showing any growth. I watered them and placed them in an east facing window. They have grown nice foliage but have shown no signs of putting forth blooms. They did this last year as well. What am I doing wrong and is there a chance to get them to bloom yet this year?

Amaryllis stage of growing by Maria

Hi Everyone:

Before I get onto my post, I just want to say how much I've enjoyed skimming through the other posts and getting good nuggets of information and seeing the wonderful pictures of people's Amaryllis AND the beautiful creations from various different crosses....I'm truly envious.

Now...onto my post. It concerns fertilizing. I'd appreciate any insight you folks can give on the type of fertilizer that is used generally for Amaryllis. I seem to observe that people are suggesting a low phosphorous (middle number) fertilizer that has a higher K (Potassium - end number) ratio. The nitrogen seems to be equal or lower than the Potassium. The part that I don't fully understand (and this of course comes from my horticultural background and degree etc) is that why isn't a fertilizer higher in Phosporous used as this would or should stimulate more root growth and when needed, better flowers. We all know that a robust root system will result in a much better plant, more leaves and hence bigger bulbs. The fertilizer I have now is one that is lower in the phosphorous but higher in Potassium etc. and even though I used it last year for my Amaryllis, the bulbs didn't seem to size up all that much (despite the fact that on some of them I had up to 15 leaves or so).

So I'm curious what the missing factor could be. Again I'm using 400W High Pressure Sodium bulbs which are on for about 12 hours a day (6 in the morning to 6 at night).

Thanks again for all your help.

Gerard.

Hans - In Fertilizer #4 question you said the Potassium was too low when at these numbers 10-10-4. I know that Nitrogen is for foliage, Phosphorus is for flowers and roots and Potassium is for the overall health of the plant.
What amount should that be for amaryllis? In comparison to the other numbers? Should I be using 5-10-10 bulb fertilizer instead? In addition should I use bonemeal as an extra source of phosphorus?
I guess I can devote a little more extra work to the amaryllis, they're worth it.
Thanks.
Clare

I really must say that I have had quite the Endless Summer with my Endless Summer Hydrangeas. My very first blooms began in the Middle of June. Here it is Oct 21st in the mountains of Vermont and mine just keep producing more new flowers. This is really unexpected and very nice. I've read of others who have had problems with ES, but up here I find them to do amazingly well. Most other plants have succumbed to the cold and don't look too good, but not the ES or roses.

Another thing is that I have not deadheaded the ES in a couple months and the flowers dry and slowly fade and change into the most beautiful hues and they hang on for months. I love these plants. Right now its Endless Autumn. Cheers, JK

You're not really starting to pick out your spring planting already are you. My wife threw away my 2007 seed catalogs (wood stove fire starter), she thought I already received my 2008 ones. I told her "If I had, they would be in the bathroom magazine rack instead of the 2007's. Man, some things just shouldn't be touched.
I think I'm gonna be sick! If she ever wants to see her "scrapbooking" magazines again, she'll have to swear NEVER to do that again. In writing!
ARRRGGHHHH!
Tell me you're NOT using your 2007 catalogs. I didn't really need them right? I just drooled over the pictures anyways.
Dave

I think those are the concensus pick of members here. Plus I have them in galvanized and flat sheets that I use as panels & ''stalls'' as well as bent twice into 3ft+ sided triangular cages.

Mark

Tomato cages from Mark

I got two rows in today, one of Persian Star and one of Polish Hardneck, both of which came from The Garlic Store. HUGE cloves.

Now is when our grasses are looking their best ~ why not share your favorite grass image for 2007.
Here is mine - a bed planted up in 2006 - only one year old!
Aren't grasses amazing!

Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

Ideas for types of grasses

I had ONE plant that came up from the seeds I planted, and it's a beauty...It is now however covered with small flowers at the tops of each "branch" I assume that this would be like what you would do with a choleus, pinch off the flowers to keep the plant growing so it wont go to seed?

is this accurate?

I can post a photo if necessary.

I have been so inspired by reading this forum, and especially amazed by the sheer number of varieties people grow. I only have space in my raised beds to grow 6 plants, and I wonder what 6 you would choose if you had to limit? Oh, this year I grew Lime Green Salad, Church, Cherokee Chocolate, Currant, one that had a fuzzy skin like a peach (have forgotten name) and Rutgers as a safety net. Of this lot, I would repeat CC and Church.

Getting ideas for next year

I know this probably isn't the correct forum for this, but I'm getting desperate. I posted in 2 other forums but they don't seem to have any traffic so I'm not getting any answers to my question.
I'm posting it here sense this forum looks pretty active and I'm hoping someone here can help me.

Here's my question...

I need to put click-able links to my plant photos on my trade page. But I can't figure out how to do it?
Right now I have the photos on my trade list. Problem is, there's so much there that it's very slow to load and some times people can't get it to load at all. My photos are stored at Photobucket. Can someone please tell me how to make click-able links? I'll be so grateful.

Thank you.

Joy

Needing help setting up Trade list and Journals

I would like to again this year trade some heirloom/open pollinated tomato seeds.I have a good selection(I think) to choose from.I also may be interested in some beans,sunflowers,herbs,melons,ands small fruits.
Thanks,Ann.