Coleus experimentation

I love coleus but I'm very miserly too; I expect to walk out of the garden store with three pots of different coleus, go home, cut them up, and end up with a dozen plants per. And when I root them, my goal is to produce new plants with roots (of course) and a doubled stem before I put them into the ground.

And this is just what I did this year, but I'm not really satisfied with the rate at which they are rooting.  I read recently that plants generate a rooting solution, so if they share a pot with another rooting plant, their growth will be spurred. That sounds good.

I had cut off one long sprig for rooting, and then cut that sprig in two.  I am noticing that the middle part, which looked like a poor balding orphan when I stuck it into the pot, is looking quite perky now, in fact, better than its leafier big brother. Because the leafier big brother was putting his energy into sustaining those big leaves, when it came time for him to be clipped to make room for the doubles, he was in a bad way. 

So now I am trying a different way of rooting my cuttings. I have two batches of new cuttings.  On one batch, I've removed all the large leaves, and they look like pretty helpless soldiers. They're sitting in an inch of water now because their stems are so very short. The other batch still has the top leaves on, but I stripped all the side leaves.  

This particular breed of coleus is very prone to doubling.

Winter vegetable garden

Winter vegetables:

Beets. She describes Bull Blood as being her favorite.
Order seeds:  http://www.johnnyseeds.com/p-6310-bulls-blood-og.aspx
Place in a bin in backyard.
http://inmykitchengarden.blogspot.com/2007/04/how-to-grow-beets-from-seed-and-why-you.html

June

2021

6/7 Willow Tree, bought Juniperus procumbens 'Nana' or dwarf Japanese juniper and Victoria blue salvia to line front path. Juniper will grow 4 to 6 inches a year and reach 4.5 feet. Salvia will grow to a 1 and 1/2 feet tall and 9 inches wide.  Needs richer soil. 

Fertilize citrus and avocado

plant moss roses and zinnias

2020

6/11 Went to Willow Tree with Bethia, where I picked out a crossandra and some Corsican mint. Not very sensible choices, but it was love at first sight. Now I just have to figure where to put them. 

6/30  Just Fruits and Exotics have shipped an Australian Green Finger Lime  and Sugar Belle Tangerine. They are unboxed and standing in the shade, waiting for their final resting space.  I'll definitely wait for the rains.  Tangerines ripen in November, and Limes are everbearing -- when they turn color and 'feel full'  Tangerines are on trifolate or sour orange rootstock so should like acid soil. ???

On a less cheery note, still working on thinning the bamboo, and yearning for a better backyard plan. But backyard serves no real purpose except as a path from Janie and Claire's cars. Got to plan around that.

2019

Rain lilies went to town after I separated them and planted them along the path!

Update:  Avocado tree is doing okay. It was blighted this spring, so no crops, but it's looking ok.  All the Santa Rosa stuff perished long ago. 

This year's new plantings: a really gorgeous Celosia which I'm trying to propagate. Just took three cuttings, and only three because I hate to denude the plants, they're so full and beautiful.  Looks fantastic with the red-leaved coleus, which I'm also working at propagating. 

I have a lot of purple shield which have graduated to pots on the window sill of the porch.  They're such a beautiful true purple, but they can't take full on heat.  I would put them around the palm tree but I think they'd burn up. They're very effective in pots near the door, but they should have something with them. I'm not sure what.  Maybe some flower.  

2014

Many new plants!!!

Mexicola grande avocado tree, courtesy of my sweet Bethia: If you do get just one tree, here's a tip to increase fertilization: Spray flowers with a weak honey water mixture, like 1:10.  The bees and wasps will be all over it, pollinating away!  Really worked for me.

It is sometimes called the year-round avocado because of its long harvest season. To extend the harvest, store fruit for up to six weeks in cool temperatures. The fruit matures on the tree but ripens after it is picked, so delay picking and store in a cool place to provide avocados almost all year. 

Moringa tree: In front yard, again, courtesy of my sweet Bethia: I'm expecting a bumper load of nuts...in about five years.2011

Home Depot: Broke down and bought a mini pink which I've almost killed already. Bought coleus which I immediately began to snip up and propagate with great satisfaction. Bought luscious begonia which will probably be dead by the next time I read this, bad me.

My order from Santa Rosa Nursery arrived: 

Items Ordered:	Price:	Status:
1 of : Buddleia davidii White Profusion	$4.99	Shipped
3 of : Gaillardia Mesa Yellow	$8.97	Shipped
1 of : Sedum Hot Stuff	$2.99	Shipped
1 of : Sedum Lemon Ball fall	$4.99	Shipped

It's not such a hot idea to order super cheap on sale plants; they arrived very root bound and droopy, the lower leaves burned yellow. I ripped out some whip-and-a-chain beach sunflower and replaced with gaillardia I planted Buddleia by the bougainvillea and hope it will be answer to all my dreams. I'm eager to see my sedums take off -- their leaves look radically different.

Also bought on impulse from Home Depot:  Calarhea. Medium light, moist soil, and warm home temperaures of 70 - 75.  Meant to be just a houseplant? Remarkably beautiful leaves.

My four cubic yards of dirt quality mulch from the city was probably at least one cubic yard too much, but oh well, I'm not through yet. Tired, but not through.

2011

A beautiful red bloom on the hibiscus, amid the beach sunflower.  I fertilized with fish emulsion last week, and this week, the hibiscus do seem to be blooming better. The fish emulsion is stinky, but it's fine stuff.

 I'm thinking a little purple queen near the wall would do well and look good.

Chocolate Chip Bugleweed

I bought two of these ajugas to fill in my planter in the front, giving a little spiky height to the mix of purple petunias. The purple and blue were very pretty together, and I let them go for a while in the pots after the petunias were shot.  They spread out a bit, and I separated them to fill in the area by the seagrapes, ripping out the obstreperous beach sunflower. They are so lovely, and they are multiplying before my eyes. Can't wait till they bloom in spring! I moved the mulch away from their leaves so they'll continue to have plenty of room to spread.  12"! Can't wait to be able to divide them and put them in other locations.  John Markowski points out they're great groundcover because they're so thick the weeds can't get in. A self weeding groundcover.  

More excitement: I started the moringa seeds Bethia gave me last week and a tiny sprout was up this AM. 

Nutrition from moringa: Vitamin A 6780 mcg Carrots: 1890 mcgVitamin C 220 mg Oranges: 30 mgCalcium 440 mg Cow's milk: 120 mgPotassium 259 mg Bananas: 88 mg Protein 6.7 gm Cow's milk: 3.2 gm

Which is all well and good, but when will I actually start breaking off the limbs and chowing down? They're supposed to grow 20 feet a year!!!

Fruit Trees

So sad. My four citrus trees no longer bear fruit due to greening, the Chinese imported bug that infests them all.  They still look ok, and they still bloom, it's just the fruit is very woody and flavorless.  Marty is all "But they're still trees!" but I want to be able to go out in my garden and pick luscious fruit, at least for some part of the year.  Bethia & John bought me a Mexicola Avocado, and I planted it outside Janie's window. Unfortunately, I didn't realize at planting time that it's a very tall tree, so I hope I didn't plant it too close. It's doing very well, shooting up daily.

Everything is growing wildly because of the prodigious rains we've had this summer. Rain every day, just like in the old days. The bamboo outside my window is wonderful, and I've started a nice new clipping of red-leaf hibiscus, which I swiped from Bethia.  The maple leafed shape foliage is a beautiful color, and the leaves are tart and tasty.

March

2012

March 10, bought two beautiful bamboo graecilis plants from Island's Bamboo in Pinellas Park.  I hope they do well in the shady location where I've placed them. It's wonderful looking out the window at their pretty leafiness. The people at Island's Bamboo were very, very nice, and I saw the fencing of my dreams there -- bamboo framed out in redwood.  Really gorgeous.

2013: They're taller than my house, and the three little stalks in each clump have multiplied so nicely. My window now looks out onto a garden instead of a fence.  

Planting calendar.

Sprout robot is an adorable website that tells you what to plant -- by zipcode! It'll even send you the seeds -- for a price.