Foliage and The Attack of the Mushrooms

What's with all the mushrooms?

Yesterday and today I have picked out over 12 mushrooms. They are everywhere in my containers. I believe the soil conditioner has mushroom spores in it. Now they are coming out all over the place. They day after a day or two anyway. I'm just so frustrated with them today having popped up in all my new containers.



I'm not positive but I pretty sure they don't harm anything at all. I know plucking them out won't get rid of them but oh well. They are interesting to see I guess.


Amaryllis Minerva pushing out new leaves.


The snake plant pushing out new leaves. Slowly but surely I'm getting more leaves. Maybe next year I'll have a huge snake plant like others I see around.

My Amaryllis is still making leaves non stop. I just discovered these new leaves yesterday. I wonder how many more the Amaryllis will make before it needs to rest.


The corkscrew vine has started to climb it's way up!


Juanita Hatten Bougainvillea making a comeback. It's been growing fast over the past week. Soon it should be large and in charge again.

Green Thumb Sunday: I've got Buds!

Dianthus barbatus Pinocchio Mix has buds.

Many of my plants are in bud. This makes me very happy because I've had hardly any flowers on my balcony. For Garden Bloggers Bloom Day this month I'll hopefully have plenty of flowers to show.



Hibiscus Rose with many buds.

The Hibiscus Rose has many buds. There are about 5 and all at the same stage. These pictures above are taken on different days. The buds are about to open any day now maybe in two days. They might just bloom way before GBBD but I'll be taking pictures and count them anyways.


Sweet William tall double flowering mix with buds

The sweet william are looking like they will have some blooms soon. I'm excited about these since I've been waiting for a while to see them. I'm still so surprised I got some seeds to germinate at all.


Pansy corso mix bud.

This pansy has actually opened today. It seems whenever I buy a mix plant either seeds or the actual plant...I really don't get a mix. The only one that I really did get a mix was the candytuft. Maybe when the other ones bring out blooms they will be a different color. So far they have been blue but still beautiful. I love blue anyways so I can't complain.



Evening Primrose Buds

My evening Primrose has been packing on the buds for the past week or two. There are about 4 or 5 that are enlarged and ready to burst. Then there are around 8 little ones dangling and waiting for their turn. I just love love the evening primrose blooms. Seeing them on the side of the road in masses makes my heart flutter. These might be a weed/wildflower but I would love a large part of my garden to have them. Who cares if they take over it wouldn't bug me at all. I say this not having a yard. They probably would bug me if they took over at least until they all bloomed.



Corkscrew Vine is starting to climb.

Okay, this is not a bud but still just as exciting. The other corkscrew vine has finally started to vine and reach up. So now I get to weave this one up and over to the right to meet the other corkscrew vine that has been climbing for month. I do hope these flowers! I can't wait to see the snail shaped blooms in their great purple cream and white color. Maybe I might even get seeds from them. I won't get my hopes up on the seeds though.


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Take A Look At My Nook Continued

Left side of my balcony garden.

Last post I wrote about the right side of my balcony. Now it's time to see my left side. It doesn't have nearly as many plants as the right side does. The storage closet makes it difficult to pack in all the plants. It's the only corner/side I get some shade for part of the day. This is where I put plants that will fry on the other side. There is a downside to the left side besides the storage closet. The left side is where my glass sliding door is. The glass can really reflect the sun and sometimes makes it even harder to have plants live in front of the glass.


Lower left corner of my balcony

The lower left corner has the wanna-be bonsais and the plants that can burn or I just stick there just because. This corner doesn't change much at all. It changed yesterday and got some new transplants and a plant repotted. It got some seeds, lost a bonsai, and gained a plant in the course of a month. Even though this is my "shade" corner it really doesn't get much shade at all. My maiden fern does suffer here once winter fades away.



Starting on the left are some Stock seedlings that were transplanted from their other pot. It was getting too crowded for them in their old pot. I thought a new pot and plant in this area would be nice. Behind that is what used to be the variegated dracaena. I left it outside during the winter and don't think it lived. It's said to be a houseplant but the women who gave it to me had it outside but on her covered porch. I don't have a covered porch. Also in the pot with the maybe dead dracaena are some devil's backbone. The old women gave me the whole pot. The devil's backbone I think it's rather past it's prime and could possibly be thrown out. I'm just seeing how it fairs for the next month or two. In front of that pot is the snake plant. These are doing great and new leaves are coming up every few weeks. On the table starting in the back is the Weeping Dwarf Crape Myrtle Sacramento. The crape myrtle is doing wonderful I'm so excited about it. In front to the left is a peat pot with a hyacinth seed in there that will hopefully grow. The two bonsai pots next to the peat pot have myrtle spurge seeds. There are a few seedlings of myrtle spurge starting to come out. I'll show you the seedling later in the post. The last bonsai pot on the table has the Jacqueline Hillier Elm which I'm not sure made it through the winter. It was starting to get new leaves in November and since then lost it's leaves and hasn't had any signs of new growth. I can only hope it comes back like the Crape Myrtle did. To the right of the table in the back is the newly repotted Hibiscus Rose. It has about 4 buds that should be opening up at the same time in the next few days. It's be great to have more then one bloom open at the same time. In front of the hibiscus to the left is a black pot with the knotweed (it's been trimmed recently...it got really roughed up), snake plant, and some unknown green plant that hasn't really grown. The last pot has the ferns it in. Right now the Boston Fern is doing good. I think the Boston Fern does better on my balcony then the maiden fern. As you can see the maiden fern is brown on the edges. Just a month or two ago the maiden fern was lush and green. Now that it got hotter and the sun has gotten stronger it's not doing well. There are baby ferns that are very slowly growing.


Upper left corner of my balcony garden.

Lastly the upper left corner. This corner also doesn't change much. It hasn't changed in many months now. The last addition to this area was the snapdragon. Before the snap dragon nothing much had changed. When I got these plants and pots this was the first place I put them and the place they stayed. This corner is the most lush corner is my opinion. It used to be the most unlush corner when it started. When I bought the plants they were tiny and so small. They quickly grew in no time.



Starting on the left side. The pot on the left contains the Dianthus Pinnochio Mix and the Dr Ruppel Clematis. The pot next to it contains the pink snapdragon. The last pot has Campanula blue clips (not doing well and is still so tiny), Columbine Star Blue and Allium Joystick Mix (which hasn't turned out to be a mix at all). There is also some lemon balm usually on this side but it's to the side of the photo. The lemon balm is infested with spider mites. The spider mites have gotten on the columbine. I'm finally going to throw the lemon balm out like I should have many months ago. I don't use the lemon balm for anything and I don't really like the smell. The scent of the lemon balm reminds me of mosquito repellent. That is not my favorite smell at all.

That's it for the left side of my balcony. Now you have seen it all. Not very exciting I know. It will grow out and be great soon. I'm awaiting for my vines to take over the metal railings. I have the one corkscrew vine that is spreading it's self fast on the right side. The other corkscrew vine just started to grow out little vines and is near the center rail to hopefully start were the other corkscrew vine may stop. I wouldn't be surprised if they overlap. That would be scary if the corkscrew vine did grow that big...it just might.


The right side of my balcony with new pots and reorganized.

Since last post I have changed the right side. I told you it changes often. I'm constantly moving things when I get new seeds or plants. I moved some pots around like the corkscrew vine, the jasmine, the devils backbone and the evening primrose.


New Pots with transplants and seeds.

Some new pots moved in. I got the rectangular planters finally to put my parsley seedlings and dimorphotheca aurantica African Moon seedlings. I know they aren't spaced right and will get crowded soon but I just can't throw good seedling out. After all it's containers and things will be compact. The three little 4" pots have poppy venus, heavenly angels mix peony poppies, and lt blue mt fuji morning glory seeds in them. The large pot has English Lavender Dwarf Hidcote seeds in it. Now I get the thrill of looking for new spouts again.


Myrtle Spurge Sprout

Speaking of new sprouts. Here is the Myrtle Spurge starting to peak it's head of the dirt. I'm glad that it sprouted even though I'm scared. Just not so sure I will like this plant. I guess I will never know if I don't try right?


Godetia buds!

I'm very surprised by this discovery. My godetia has buds! I will get to see blooms of this plant after all. I thought it wasn't doing well since all the lower leaves browned and just fell off. It looks to be doing well enough that it will flower. This was the only seed that sprouted after two tries from the same packet. There are even some seeds left for me to try again some day. I'll wait until after the blooms to see if it's worth finishing off the seed packet for maybe a lucky seed to sprout.


Corkscrew vine making it's way up and to the left

Lastly I'll leave you with the beast of the balcony garden. I still can't believe this is the fasts largest growing thing I have right now. This corkscrew vine was the sickest plant I had just not to long ago. It had some mildew or something and all it's leaves fell off. Now it's climbing it's way up up up. The middle vine finally reached the second top bar. Now it is being wound to the left. The far left vine will get wound up the top bar. The far left vine will probably just get around the other bars...maybe. You can see I really didn't think it deeply about where I was going to wind these besides up and left. I'll figure something out I'm sure.

Sorry for the long post! There was just so much to say today.

The Best Day A Balcony Gardener Can Have

Today was the best day I could possibly have. I got my paycheck today. We all know what that means, right? Paycheck day means I get to go buy everything I have been meaning to buy for 2 weeks but had not money to buy. I made my list of all that I needed. The list consisted of many pots in different shapes and sizes but terra cotta color, fish emulsion, and seeds. I've been feeling like my balcony could use some more plants. My husband would not agree with that statement but he really doesn't care. It was a plan today to go to the park and walk around with Kasha our dog. On the way there I just wanted to pick up my garden items to save some gas.

First stop was Family Dollar. Now anyone that has one go check yours out for some nice plastic pots and hanging baskets. I got 2 small rectangular pots for $1 each and a square pot for $1 also. I should have gotten the other larger round pots that were $2 but I thought that the garden center had them cheaper (I was wrong). Left Family Dollar with 3 pots for $3 and a few cents.

Then to the garden center. I quickly ran in and headed to the pots. Sadly they only had three 4" plastic pots. I picked up the three 4" pots a 6" and 10". Then a 6" and two 4" but ceramic. Then over I ran to the fish emulsion, gah 8.99. I'm a cheapy that 8.99 seems expensive to me. I turned around to the other wall and quickly picked out seeds. I normally always get the Ferry Morse seeds just because they are cheaper. This time I got some Botanical Interest seeds also because they had some varieties I wanted and tons of information. I dislike Ferry Morse because they don't have really any information on the plant just how to plant them. It was nice to open the Botanical Interests seed packets and have tons of information on the inside that I could ever ask. I picked out my seeds and checked out. I'll tell you the seeds a little later in the post.

Off to the park we went. Me and my husband hadn't been to this park. I really wanted to go bike riding. Sadly my husbands car is out of commission for the moment. We always hook up the bike holder to his car because it scratches really badly and his car is old. My car is new 2005 and it will not get scratched. Anyways we went walking instead and brought Kasha with us. I was in a hurry because of her. She's not a fan of the car and squeaks and just is very uncomfortable. We walked for quite awhile. This has been the first time in a long while that my husband and I have gone to a park. When we lived in New Hampshire that is what we always did. We'd walk around and bike at the state parks. Sadly the ones here don't have beaches or lakes...at least not the ones close by. It was fun anyways without the water. Many trees and winding paths. There were tons of mountain laurels. I could smell them when they were coming up before I could even see them. My husband was uninterested of course. He'd yell at me to keep walking because I'd always stop to smell and admire the flowers when I saw one.

Now to my seed purchases. I know it's probably getting late to plant seeds here. That sounds strange since I know many people further north haven't been able to start all their seeds. Our last frost date is March 15-24 or somewhere around that. Many of the seed packets say sow how ever many weeks before last frost date...oh well. I'm sure it will be okay. If things don't work out well I'll learn from my mistakes.

Lobelia Crystal Palace

Hare's Tail Ornamental Grass

Rock Soapwort

Lavender English Dwarf Hidcote

Statice Sinuata Blend

Those were all the great seeds that I purchased. I needed some spreading plants and some tall plants for my containers. Even though I'm sure my containers will probably only be one plant each as they mostly always are. When I got home I went straight to planting and transplanting and repotting. I repotted the hibiscus. I had a feeling it was really root bound and I was right. This time I was patient and let it get used to my balcony before transplanting it right away. It was a struggle to get it out of it's container. After that I took out some stock seedlings from the stock and bijou sweet pea pot. There were too many in the container so I put 4 in a container of their own. Then the parsley big mountain and the dimorphotheca african moon were transplanted into their own rectangular pots. I planted some poppy venus and some heavenly angels mix peony poppy seeds in their own 4 inch containers. I put a seed of the lt blue mt fuji morning glory in a 4 inch pot since the others aren't really fairing well like I had hoped. The Lavender english dwarf hidcote went into it's own 6 inch pot. The rest of the seeds were planted in the tray that I have been growing seeds in. I had a caladium bulb that I bough a month or so ago. The caladium bulb was planted in the square planter and put right beside my computer. The ghost plants were thrown out since they were not doing well and I just didn't like them. The nice caladium is replacing the ugly ghost plants. Hopefully the caladium likes it's home by me and the computer.

What a busy day it was. I noticed that my myrtle spurge was starting to come up in one of the pots. Hopefully it comes up in the other pot too. No sign of the hyacinth bean coming up that I planted a few days ago after the spurge.

Weeping Dwarf Crape Myrtle Sacramento

Weeping Dwarf Crape Myrtle "Sacramento". This is what it looks like now.

It's time to talk about my special tree. The Weeping Dwarf Crape Myrtle Sacramento. I bought it from a local nursery last year. It was purchased not because it was weeping or dwarf or a crape myrtle. I had plans to make it into a bonsai. Now as you can tell it did not work. The trunk overlaps so it can't work for a bonsai unless I cut one off. I just don't feel comfortable doing that right now. It may never become a bonsai but it'll still be my mini tree.


What it looked like the day I bought it.

When I purchased the crape myrtle it looked beautiful. It was in bloom with great foliage. The nursery helper had told me it gets about 2-3ft. Now I had plans to keep it the size it was which is about 14 inches tall. I believe this was the first plant I got or one of the first. Being so inexperienced I didn't acclimate it to my blazing grill of a balcony. I went and purchased a wooden planter because I wanted something rectangular but not thin rectangular. The wooden planter was the only one I found that wasn't so slim. Then I went and found a stand/table to put it on. I even bought stain for the planter because I didn't like the color. All those items were bought the day after I bought the crape myrtle. Then I stained and waiting for it to dry. I then mixed my own soil. Which it wasn't what is recommended but thankfully I mixed and didn't just use the plan potting soil I had or the tree might be dead by now. So here is what I mixed...please do laugh at me. It was some potting soil and orchid mix...yep orchid mix. Orchid mix really is still good because it's just a bunch of chips and charcoal with other stuff. I had a good mix even though I wasn't potting an orchid.


No more leaves.

Soon afterwards, probably a few weeks, all the leaves went goodbye. Now it wasn't time for that because all the other crape myrtles around me still had leaves and flowers. I didn't think much of it and just assumed oh transplant shock it should come back soon. It was bare for many many months, about half a year with no sign of life. I hung on to my crape myrtle and still watered it in hopes it was alive but just sleeping.


Signs of Life.

At the beginning of march all my waiting paid off. I was wishing and hoping that it would still be alive. Around me I was paying attention to the other crape myrtles that were starting to get buds. I hadn't seen any on mine yet. They appeared soon, the signs of life. Some great buds popped out all over the tree. I was beyond excited as you can imagine. I had killed quite a few other plants on my balcony. To not have killed one of my first purchases is a miracle.


Crape Myrtle now

It's now going strong and growing like crazy. I can't wait to see the flowers again.

Wordless Wednesday And My 100th Post

Brugmansia at the Botanical Gardens 2007.

This happens to be my 100th post. Not so wordless but I had to say it.

Take A Look At My Nook

Right side of my balcony.

Now all you readers I'm sure are dieing to see the big picture. I've been avoiding showing my balcony. I'm not sure why I just don't feel I've made the jungle I envisioned. Like I mentioned before I have many times just stuck plants where there is room in a container. Things look a bit different now. I'm always moving containers around so it never stays the same for too long. Let me show you the right side of my balcony. If you come out of my sliding screen door this will be on the right.

Here you see the big green planter. The green planter right in the middle contains many things and is always changing when things die. Right now it has dianthus tall double flowering mix, grape hyacinths, one hyacinth woodstock, a candytuft, phlox of sheep seedlings, and possibly dusty miller seedlings. Right in front is a tray with little pots most are plastic some are peat. There is the dieing sweet basil, the two dead coleus, and needpoint ivy in peat pots. In plastic pots there are dimorphotheca aurantica african moon, mt fuji morning glories and gaillardia razzle dazzle. In front of that tray is my seed tray that has parsley big mountain, laurentia, and more dimorphotheca aurantica african moon.


Upper right corner to the left of the large green planter.

This is the upper right corner of the balcony. Here to the left and in front of the large green planter in the orange pot is the cocktail vodka begonia. It likes this spot a lot. I had it somewhere else and it wasn't happy. To the left of the begonias in the large container in the corner is the juanita hatten bougainvillea. It doesn't look like much now but hopefully it will come back soon. In front of the bougainvillea are some daylilies..not sure what varieties any more, maybe cold harbor and windsor castle. In front of the daylilies in the black container is the unknown jasmine. I'm not sure if the jasmine would do well somewhere else. I haven't bothered to move the jasmine but maybe I should. To the left of the jasmine is the not fairing well two woodstock hyacinths, the thriving candytuft, and the not so well godetia. If front of that container is the evening primrose. No blooms on the primrose yet but there are many buds. Lastly to the right of the evening primrose container are the newly transplanted grape hyacinths. They were in a glass bowl and just weren't doing well. It was intended for them to be forced inside but I never brought them back in one day.


The bottom right corner of my balcony to the right of the big green planter

Lastly my bottom right corner. Probably the corner I like the most. Things do fairly well here because they get sun but aren't blasted like the upper right corner. Lets start in the back. Right behind the white container and super large container hidden is the corkscrew vine. It's nicely climbing it's way up the railing. Pretty soon I'm going to have to make it go to the left. The white container has stock tudor tapesty and sweet pea bijou mix. To the right of that is the super big container in the corner with many dayliles. Each is a different variety of daylily I'll see which is which when/if they bloom. To the left of those two containers is the flowering pansy. In front of the pansies going left to right is mint, then corkscrew vine, then the minerva amaryllis. The large rectangular container has daylilies and grape hyacinths. To the left of the rectangular container is woodstock hyacinths in the glass vase (shame on me) and devils backbone (someone kindly found out what my mystery plant was). To the right of all of that are 3 little pots. 2 pots have gaillardia razzle dazzle seedlings and 1 has a grape hyacinth. There is another little pot hidden between the pansy and mint that has more grape hyacinths.

That is my right side. It contains the most of my plants. I know it's ugly I should have spared your eye. Nah I like my corner. It's my first spring so next year I'll know what to do better and actually plan. Sorry for all the misspelling and grammar mistakes I'm horrible at my own native language, english.

New Blooms and New Planted Seeds

Hibiscus Rose

Over the past few days some new blooms have been appearing. I previously showed the pansy and it's bloom bloom. I have been awaiting for the Hibiscus to bloom. There are several buds on the Hibiscus but one was really rearing to go. Today I awoke to a wonderful site. The Hibiscus had bloomed and I finally got to see what it's flower looks like. It is gorgeous and you can see. I never really inspected a hibiscus bloom up close. Very beautiful and I love the color. I noticed that many things that are bloom on that half of my balcony are the same pink color. The snapdragon, the armeria, and the Hibiscus all with pink blooms. That's a sign I need to chose other flower colors.


Armeria Joystick Mix

The Armeria is starting to bloom. I thought this was supposed to be a mix what happened? So much for that looks like I'll be getting mainly pink blooms. I've never seen an Armeria so didn't really know what to expect from the plant. The foliage is very interesting and grass like . The blooms so far look to be very interesting. I like them so far even though they aren't fully open in all their glory.


Myrtle Spurge seeds have been planted.

Since my peruvian myrtle died on me I had one empty bonsai pot and another one I got to use. Well I don't see myself ordering any little shohin size trees to try again any time soon so I might as well use the containers for something. With all the posts I have read lately about Myrtle Spurge/Donkeytail I just couldn't help myself. I had purchased seeds at the end of last year. After I got them I did really want to have the plant anymore. Now I'm re-convinced that I can live with it. I planted them in the bonsai pots and hope for the best. I have no idea if they will survive in these shallow pots but I'm sure I can always repot them later. Lets see if anything sprouts. Remember I have good luck with planting seeds in pots and not flats. Now I probably jinxed myself and nothing will grow from pots ever again.

New Discoveries on my Balcony GTS

The one Pansy Flower.

The Pansy has a flower. It is slowly opening up. My hubby is excited because these are "his" pansies. He picked out the seed packet but his first sow didn't work. I sowed him some more and here they are grown and starting to flower.


Bougainvillea sprout?

I really want to throw the Bougainvillea out. It died back this winter. I didn't bring it inside hoping that it would have done okay. For a few months I waited for some buds or something. Nothing happened so I scratched the bark and it was not green. I cut it back and was about to toss it till I saw this growth. Does this mean it is still alive and will grow well this year? Any Bougainvillea growers give me advice. To trash or to keep.


A mushroom

Next to the Bougainvillea growth I spotted something white. I couldn't tell what it was from where I was looking. So I touched it...it felt hard. I yanked it out and discovered it was a mushroom. For some reason I was excited and showed my husband and my dog. Then I went ahead and put it back in the pot. Yeah I'm not sure why I'm keeping it. It's my first mushroom give me a break.


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Oh No I've Been Tagged

Linda over at Garden Girl tagged me. I state 10 weird or random facts about me. Most of these facts my friends and family know. But since everyone online doesn't know me well they will be new to you. I'm supposed to tag 5 more bloggers after this to do the same. I won't because I swear every blog I read has already done it. So if you haven't been tagged and want to share please do.

1. I have two different colored eyebrows and eyelashes. My right eyebrow is blond/brown and so are my right eyelashes. My left eyebrow is black or dark brown and same for my right eyelashes. Not sure how this happened. None of my family members has this. I've never met anyone else that has had it.

2. I have a blond streak in my hair that I have had all my life. All natural not dyed. Not inherited either...at least not the blond. My grandfather who I never met (he died when I was very young) had blond hair with a few black streaks. Now I have met others with this but it hasn't been as obvious as mine. It gets really blond when summer comes and I wear my hair up.

3. I've never been stung my a bee. Never broken a single bone. Never came in contact with poison ivy. Never been to the emergency room. Never snowboarded or skied or surfed or tubed or rode on a sled even though I lived in New Hampshire for 10 years.

4. My parents were born in the Azores Islands. My sister and I were born in the USA. I can speak Portuguese but not fluently. I can read most of it and understand almost all of it but only if it's islander speak. If I watch the Portuguese channel I have a hard time with their accent. Now Brazilian I can only grasp a few words every few sentences. I'm really good at noticing if people are speaking Portuguese. There have been a few cartoons that I have caught it on like Family Guy.

5. I'm good at most art mediums except for pottery and graphic design. I was going for a degree in graphic design...how strange is that.

6. I rarely ever wear dresses, skirts, or shorts. I have leg image issues. I have muscular legs. Don't ask me how I got those because my mom, sis, and dad have chicken legs. What happened to me. I've always had muscular legs even though I'm a petite 5'2". Plus they are pale as a ghost.

7. I'm very food picky. I won't eat meat if it has fat on it. I don't like my food to touch the other unless I plan on mixing it together. Something can become unappetizing because of it's texture. I don't like to use the same utensil on different foods. Not a fan of red meat or fish. But I like pork cartilage.

8. I can eat a lot of fries, spaghetti and broccoli. When I was younger I never ate breakfast only 1 large meal a day and a few snacks after that meal. I would eat the same thing for about a year. One year and probably more than that I would come home from school and eat the biggest bowl of spaghetti with butter and Parmesan with a huge head of broccoli. I would still love to do that now. I could eat pasta and broccoli every day of my life.

9. I've never lived in the middle of the USA. I've lived in Texas, California, New Hampshire, Maine, and born in Connecticut.

10. I forget how to dive and swim if I don't do it for a long time.

I'm sure that bored you to death and made you hungry. I know I'm hungry now.

Reaching For the Sky

Dr Ruppel Clematis

My vines have been reaching for the sky and sun. Besides the reason that vines are my favorite I have been loving seeing them grow. They grow fast once they get going. Every day I can expect to see some new growth or some higher twining up. My Dr Ruppel Clematis has had more new growth very quickly. One day I look at it and say, "Man no growth?". The next day I say, "Wow when did that grow so much".


Corkscrew Vine climbing up and up.

The Corkscrew Vine has been working it's way up my balcony rails. Every day I have been twirling the vines around the bars. One vine has been going at it for about a week or more now. The other two it was a hassle to get them to hang on to the bar and not something else. The left vine wanted to twine around the grape hyacinths. The right vine wanted to twine around its self and center vine. Now I got all three on their bars going up. Eventually I remember that Vines like to twirl counter clock wise. After remember that nice piece of information the right vine finally stuck to where to the bar. Once they reach the top I'll start twining them to the left.

Ignored Plants On My Balcony

The one surviving Coleus.

I noticed I have been ignoring some plants on my balcony. They don't get their photo taken of very often. When they do get a photo session they don't get posted on the blog. For some reason I feel like I take a lot of photos of some plants but really I don't. This one Coleus is the only survivor out of 3 that I had. One was purple and the other was I think like this one. I left the two outside to deal with the elements but kept this one inside. The other two got a freeze that killed them. This Coleus has been setting out new leaves like crazy lately. I've been pinching back trying to keep it compact and branch out and leaf out more towards the bottom.


The unknown gift plant.

This is the unknown gift plant. I don't take many pictures of it because well it hasn't grown much at all. I'm not sure what it is that makes it not the growing beast I was told it would be. A friend gave this to me and said hers grows like crazy every year. She gave me some cuttings and had no idea what it was called. It turns pink some times but I don't know when or why. I like this plant really I do. It's just camera shy that is all.


A corner of my Balcony never before shown.

I'm sure all that read this blog wonder why I never show my actual balcony and my container massings. Really I just don't like the way my photos come out. I like my photos up close and personal all up in the plants face. And I slacked off after November and stopped sweeping my balcony. Things started to get dirty and pieces of plants everywhere. It's not a very nice site. This is a corner of my balcony, the upper left hand corner if looking out my sliding door. The black container is back in it's corner (bottom left) and no longer there. In the corner is were my dianthus pinnochio mix and dr ruppel clematis are. Then the snapdragon is tucked in between the pot with the dianthus and clematis and the pot that has the campanula, columbine and armeria. Next to that is the tiny pot of over crowded lemon balm that is infested with spider mites. In the black container there is a mystery plant, a snake plant, and the knotweed. Trust me my container mixes are less then spectacular. The black container I just shoved what I could because I didn't want the cuttings and plants to die. I had minimal containers so many things just got stuck in the same home with no care to how they look.

Little Big Mountain Parsley

Parsley Seedling

My Parsley seedlings are finally getting bigger faster. It always worries me when my seedlings take a long time to grow up. I'm always in fear that they will stay that size forever or shrink back to the ground. Once they take off they grow in light speeds. These were shrimps forever and then slowly got their curly leaves. Now everyday they are bigger and bigger. I went to Family Dollar with Hubby to pick up some toilet paper and saw they had some plant containers. Of course I'm excited because I am a cheapy. Sorry frugal me and I have no money. 64 dollars to be exact is what I have. There is not shame in that I swear. Anyways they had these cute rectangular planters that were small about 8 inches by 3 or 4 inches. The first thing that popped in my head that I could plant in this was my Parsley. So I will be going back tomorrow and getting me some rectangular plants and of course the bigger round ones. I used to be one that loved the terracotta pots and wanted nothing else. Well after having to water those 2-3 times a day when it gets hot I don't like them any more. The plastic ones keep my plants from having to be water multiple times a day. I don't mind watering multiple times a day but sometimes I just can't do that. There is nothing more stressful then having to go to work or school, but all I can think about is how this plant and this plant really needs water right now and will be wilted by the time I get home.


Another Parsley seedling

Now I have been trying to keep my containers slightly unified. I had to change from terracotta to plastic. I accidentally have some green planters, a few black ones, and some white ones. The rest are terracotta colored but they are plastic. I do have a ceramic white one but it fits well with the plastics. Now I'm trying to keep it all terracotta but the black ones really kind of stick out. I'd like to say I should just get rid of them.They probably heat up the soil way more then it already gets heated up to begin with. Maybe I'll get the guts to just take them out and maybe use them for indoor plants instead. Yeah that is a great idea!

P.S. If you have a family dollar those pots were, well a dollar. I'm not sure what the others were priced. There were some nice ceramic pots too that said 5.99. I'm not sure if the ceramic was for 1 pot or for the pots stacked inside too. Anyways if you are a cheapy also go take a look.

Wordless Wednesday

Bat Faced Cuphea

What Gardening Meant to Me as a Child

Japanese gardens at San Antonio Botanical Gardens.

Today I was thinking of my dream garden and how I would love to be sitting on a nice bench in nice weather today. My dream garden is much of what I saw as a child in movies and TV. A well manicured garden filled to the brim with lush green. Everything in it's place looking lush and full but not so over crowded. The perfect harmony of flowers and foliage plants. I would love to have an Asian inspired garden where everything looks so balanced. I can't seem to wrap my head around how to even create that type of environment. Every time I see an Asian themed movie there are always these wonderful gardens. Wonderful water features are included with super large Koi. Flowering trees are everywhere and all these interesting shrubs and trees.


A great sun dress from Zappos.com

I some how got the image of gardening in a sun dress. I've always wanted to garden in a sun dress and thought it was the way to garden. Every women gardens in a sun dress right? Well no, maybe a few who don't really get down and dirty. That is one thing I never thought of with gardening. Dirtiness never crossed my mind in my dream garden wearing my sun dress walking on my path through lush plants. It's funny how when your younger everything looks glorified.

My favorite movie was The Secret Garden, the 1993 movie and not the one before that. Who hasn't watched that movie. That was the perfect garden to me. I wanted to be there in that movie as that girl in that great garden. Where walls were covered in ivy and climbing plants and there was a door leading to a secret garden.


Vines everywhere at the Botanical Gardens

Since seeing The Secret Garden I've seen photos of houses covered in vines. Walls covered everything covered and that I wanted in my garden. I never heard of ivy being invasive or any plant being invasive. As a young girl I thought plants all were perfect where they were put and grew to whatever size and never thought to be a problem.


Rose Garden at the Botanical Gardens

Lastly every garden would have roses, tons of them. Who hasn't seen the movies set in Victorian times with rose gardens. To me a garden had to have a rose garden. Gardens were to be sectioned off in themed parts. There were to be walls made from large shrubs that you could walk through making some sort of maze, and perfect symmetry. That was what garden wall all about to me as a young girl. I thought it to all be perfect and piece together.

All those images of the perfect garden has influenced my thought of the perfect garden now. I still want all the things I wanted as a young girl. That sun dress in the perfectly put together garden with large shrub walls, roses, ivy, and a secret garden but Asian inspired.

New Buds

Dianthus Pinocchio about to bud.

Well I have some two sneaky plants that decided to bud after bloom day. How dare they hide from the event. My Dianthus has some fuzzy stuff on one side which appears under their blooms. I'm assuming this is what they do before they bud and make some awesome flowers. I'm really excited to see this bloom! I'm a fan of the Dianthus but have not seen a Pinocchio mix in person. Even online I can only find a couple of pictures of the blooms. Some day soon I'm hoping for some flowers to show.


Armeria Joystick Mix buds.

The Armeria has about 5 buds. These were not here yesterday, I swear. I look and inspect my plants almost everyday. They can't hide things from me for long. Apparently the Armeria wanted to wait until night time to start showing those buds. This is another plant I'm excited to see the blooms of. I got this as a freebie with a plant order I purchased online. It's going to be an interesting combination with the grass like foliage and round blooms on long stems.

Sadly today I found that my spearmint has ants which brings aphids. It's a never ending battle with the ants and aphids on mint. They didn't used to attack my spearmint when I had the chocolate mint. Now that the chocolate mint is gone the spearmint is it's new friend. So frustrating if only there was a solution that would make them gone forever.

Then and Now Daylilies and Mint

My lush mint now.

My Spearmint that I planted from seed way back in October is nice and lush now. I really thought I had posted more about my mint but found hardly a post about it. That means it's time to introduce the mint. I love mint and would have many planters of it but I like to try other plants too. Now I have many photos of my mint in every stage possible. This is why I was surprised I had no posts on it.


The mint in February before being repot.

Way back in October I sowed my mint seeds. They were very slow starting. So slow starting I thought that they wouldn't make it. I had heard how mint just spreads like crazy so I really thought they would start out fast. They took their time but have gotten to a nice lushness that is every growing everyday. The picture above is of the mint in January. Once it really started to take off it quickly outgrew it's pot.


Baby mint seedlings in October.

I'm glad I have the mint. I haven't used it for any tea like I had planned to when I purchased the seeds. Maybe I should do that now that I have many leaves to pluck. It was only a few days ago I really thought back on how little the mint was. I'm always thinking my plants aren't as lush and big as the plants of others. Really I think I might just be doing a good job...or at least with the mint I am.


My daylilies back in November.

I got my daylies in late October early November. They have gone through a nice growth then they died back for a month and now they are coming back again. I'm hoping I will get some blooms this year. Even if I don't I like the foliage enough that I wouldn't be too upset about it. The picture above is when I got my daylilies.


Daylilies at the very end of November.

They quickly grew to like their new home, and really grew. Then shortly afterwards in December of January they died back. That is when I got to start looking for new growth, my favorite thing to do.


Daylilies now!

Now the daylilies are really starting to grow back. I can't wait to see if they will bloom. It's nice to have that corner of the balcony all greened out. They really love that pot and I'm surprised since they are rather mashed in there and I'm known to neglect that big pot.

Green Thumb Sunday

Snake Plant

Here is a plant I never talk about it. It's one of the few that get kind of neglected on my balcony garden. I've gone through a week or two of not even watering it. Now I'm trying to pay attention to every plant I have and not neglect them just because I initially didn't like them. I wasn't a fan of the snake plant. It was yet again another plant that the old women gave me. It was just there and a little burnt at the tips and just nothing interesting. Just a few days ago I noticed some new shoots forming in the pot. That is when I thought that I might just like this plant and give it a chance. That is also when I realized I have liked this plant all along, just not my own. Across the way another balcony gardener has a huge snake plant. I've admired it because it's tall and clumped together and very unique looking against her geraniums. I just never registered in my head that she had a snake plant and that mine could grow like that with more watering maybe.


Sweet Peas and Stock

Well these seedlings have been doing great. They were planted a week or two earlier then the other seedlings I have growing right now (african daisy, nemesia, gaillardia). I'm telling you when I plant seeds in pots they do wonderful. In the flats my seeds just grow like snails, so slow. Anyways my sweet peas have toppled over. I'm not sure if they are supposed to do that but I can't get them to stay up. Maybe I'll get some chopsticks and try to keep them straight. These sweet peas are a dwarf variety so I didn't think they would need staking. The stock is growing nicely too.


Stock




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Garden Bloggers Bloom Day 3-15-08

Hyacinth Woodstock

Carol at May Dreams Gardens is the wonderful person that created Bloom Day. Go visit her blog and see other bloggers who blogged today about their blooms.

I pretty much have the same thing I had last bloom day. My balcony doesn't get many blooms. Maybe next month there will be something different. I sure do wish my seedlings would grow faster. I much be doing something wrong because I feel like my plants from seed don't grow as fast as others who grow from seed. Even my school project seedlings are growing faster then ones I've had planted for the same amount of time.

The Hyacinth wood stocks have blooms. Mine don't seem to be growing more then this. This photo was from a few days ago. Now my flowers are fried and crispy. I'm not sure if it's from the weather or if I just don't water enough for them to keep their flowers from crisping.


Cocktail Vodka Begonia

The always blooming Begonia. These have had blooms for months and months now. I love how the flowers have this sparkle in them.


Knotweed

Another plant that has been in bloom for months. The Knotweed took off but has stopped growing. The blooms keeping coming and stay on for a long long time before drying out.


Sweet Basil

Basil is in bloom. Most of the leaves are gone because there was a frost that really got to the leaves. I just took off the icky leaves and left it alone. I'm sure the leaves will come back. This plant was almost junked after the frost because I had thought it had killed the plant. The next day a flower showed up so I'll leave it alone for now.


Grape Hyacinth

The Grape Hyacinths have been going for about a month now. The bottom of the blooms are getting dried up. Soon they will probably be gone.


Hibiscus

I just got this plant yesterday. While working my manager asked me if I wanted a Hibiscus. How could I refuse a good plant. This was supposed to go to Walmart but was left behind so it is now at my home. It's not bloom but buds for blooms.


Snapdragon

The last for this months blooms is my Snapdragon. This had previous blooms but that stem broke off in the wind. I hope that it does not happen again with these blooms. Maybe I will get lucky again and get a seed pod. This time I'm wishing for better luck that the seed pod will dry out and I can have seeds.

That's all for this months Bloom Day. Nothing too exciting blooming over here.

Getting a Tan

I worked today outside and man it was hot. I'm not used to working out in the blazing sun of San Antonio. The high for today was 94 degrees. I've already got a tan on my arms and some pink on my cheeks. Yeah the cheeks look cute today but will probably be pealing tomorrow. Tomorrow the weather forecast says 89 degrees as a high. Then the rest of the week drops back down to 70's and 60's. Monday and Tuesday is saying scattered thunderstorms.

Potting Up

Gaillardia seedlings

Yesterday I finally got around to potting my seedlings and a few things that desperately needed to go into a bigger pot. My gaillardia seedlings got potted. I had more pots then I thought I had bought so that was a good thing. But I didn't have enough to put one seedling in a pot. So I aimed for 3 or less in a pot. I've learned my lesson and will pick out the seedling earlier. Thinning them is just so saddening to me. Throwing away good seedlings is not good in my head. Separating the seedlings was a pain though and I hope they don't go through any transplant shock. If they do I have more seeds that I can start over again.


Dimorphotheca African Moon seedling

My African Daisy seedling went into it's own pot. Sorry I'm bias and thought that the one big African Daisy seedling ranked higher then the Gaillardia seedlings. I really want to see that African Daisy make it. If the Gaillardia don't it's not something I'll be too sad over. Does anyone else feel this away about their plants? That some you really have a place in your heart and others you don't mind if they die. I feel mean saying that especially about seedlings. I'll bet too that once I see the blooms of the African Daisy and the Gaillardia I might just like the Gaillardia more.


The shameful Mt. Fuji Morning Glories

I haven't shown my morning glories on my blog in a long while. I had them growing inside in peat pots and they were doing great and even flowering until they just crapped out one day. Really, I'm not sure what happened to them. I'm guessing they didn't like their peat pot home or I just did something wrong. Even though they look badI still have hopes they will make it through. Just maybe they will grow into a great vine still. They look like they have growth coming out of them and still buds forming. Hopefully the new pots and more space will help. I'm sure someone will rag on me for not planting one plant per pot. That probably is the reason that my plants don't do well. I just don't have the heart to throw seedlings out. Also it seems a waste to buy seeds just so I can get one of the seeds to make one plant. My balcony isn't that big that I can have tons of multiples of plants. I have thought of maybe selling the extras or doing trades/swaps. Until I get brave enough to do all that I will suffer with my plants battling it out in their tiny pots. Poor things such a hard life.


My favorite weed! Evening Primrose

I still can't believe that this weed plucked from the apartment complex grass is something I love tons. I love the flowers I love the foliage and how it multiplies. I love how it doesn't hate me if I don't give it enough water. If I had a yard I would love this weed everywhere! Now I have no idea if it chokes out other plants since I have it all by its lonesome. Now my Evening Primrose has a larger home to spread to make more beautiful blooms.

Who put me in the oven?

Wow it is hot today. I feel like someone put me in an oven. I was liking the 70 degree weather we were having. The forecast says it will be a high of 94 tomorrow. When did summer take over spring? I'll be frying tomorrow when I go to work. It's a pain to go in with layers of clothes so that I can shed them off as the day goes on. Please go back to 70 soon. Thank you.

Clematis Surprise and Reaching Corkscrew

Dr. Ruppel Clematis

Peek-a-Boo! Yesterday when I was examining my clematis for new growth this is what I found. I was wondering why nothing new had grown recently. It had been growing just not where I could see. The clematis is coming out from the dianthus pinnochio mix. It was a nice surprise to find and assures me it likes it's home.


Corkscrew Vine reaching up

I'm been mesmerized with my corkscrew vine. It is finally starting to look like a vine now. The vines keep on trying to twirl into each other and I keep separating them and trying to stick them onto the bars. They got a little frost bitten on the weekend. The leaves got a bit tattered and the tips of the vines. It didn't effect them because they are still happily growing up and up. I do hope they continue this way. The corkscrew vine is my balcony garden weakling. It's been hard to get this one healthy after a battle with some sickness. My other corkscrew vines are having issues and don't seem to want to green up. They are pale and I'm not sure what is wrong. Maybe I just need to fertilize them. I'll just let nature take it's course like it did with these now green and growing ones.

Wordless Wednesday

My Garden Presents and More

Birds in the Morning

As I was on my computer this morning I heard some loud chirping really close to my window. Usually I only hear chirping far way. Birds rarely come to my balcony. The birds like to be on the ground picking at things or on the roof tops. When I looked out I saw this guy but he wasn't chirping. There were 4 on my balcony chirping away at each other and looking like they were having a brawl. It was fun to watch them interacting on my balcony. Yet again by the time I got my camera and started to move to the other window closer to them they were all gone. I'm not good at identifing birds so have no idea what they where. They were little and black/brown and white. The picture above you can't really tell but that was the only pic I was able to get through my grimy window.


Flash Cards for my test today.

Even though yesterday was my birthday I still had to study for my test today. I only studied half of my material though so I'm very worried. Normally I remember things very well but I just can't for these. Yesterday I studied the wildflowers and bushes and vines. Today I have to study the salvias, sages, lantana, and a few others. I'm not good at remember the salvias and sages since they look very similar. So far we have had two tests. The first I got an 100 but it was so easy I was surprised that not everyone got an 100. The last one I got a 96 and got 2 questions wrong. Really I only got one question wrong but the professor decided to mark one wrong that really shouldn't have been. I'm not joking here because he asked what is one of the many things wrong with this picture. It showed a bed of sparse pansies. The question says one of the many things wrong not the main thing wrong. I put down there should be more height variance like snapdragons. He marked it wrong and corrected it with more plants. I'm not one to dispute my answers so I accepted it. Anyways that test was a bit harder because I thought it would be like the first test where he didn't ask much about the plants at all besides appearance. Instead for the last test he threw in questions about which do well in shade and sun. Well I didn't study that. I knew some of them from just my personal experience reading on my own time. Now I'm worried he'll ask even more. This time I'm trying to study all I can about each plant in case something comes up about drought tolerance, birds and butterflies, naturalizing, and whatever else.


My necklace got fixed!

Now on to a better subject, presents! Of course I got presents yesterday. I know my husband will always get me something. He normally asks me what I want and gets that. Well he did ask me what I wanted and I said plant books. He did surprise me this time and fixed my necklace. My husband gave me this necklace about 2-3 years ago. Last year a few months after we got our dog kasha it broke. When I was taking her out of her cage she put her paw down on my necklace full force and it broke. I cried when that happened because I hate breaking or ruining anything. Finally now it's fixed and I can wear it. All that was needed was to solder the links together. Sure it doesn't look like it used to because I can see the soldered chains. But it's fixed and I don't care if it has that little imperfection now. I'm hoping that the soldered section is strong and not going to be a weak spot.




Books from Half Price Books

I got the books I asked for. We went over to Half Price Books my favorite store. I got a $5 off coupon and headed over there. The moment I walked up to the gardening section I picked out the Trees and Shrubs and the Annuals and Perennial books right away. I needed some good comprehensive books with all the plant names and some brief descriptions. Then my husband picked out the Complete Guide to Houseplants book. He wants more houseplants besides ivies. I like my ivies thank you very much. He doesn't really want houseplants that flower but ones that clean the air. So it looks like I'll be on the hunt for some aloe soon to clean the air. I had to ask him what the budget was because there were many books I wanted. There was also books on orchids and roses just like the annual perennials trees and shrubs book. First he said $50 but then added that I shouldn't try to get close to that. Well then I said give me a real budget of what you want to me to spend. then he said $30. I aimed for $30 but came went over my $2.

And not surprisingly I could have gotten these books for cheaper on Amazon. But who wants to wait for presents to come when their birthday is now. Next time when it's my money I'm spending I'll check Amazon first for better deals. So if you want these go to amazon and get them from the sellers that sell on there. The Annuals and Perennials books is a low of just under $2 and then of course the 3.99 or so for shipping, that's still cheap.

Botanica's Annuals & Perennials: Over 1000 Pages & over 2000 Plants Listed
Botanica's Trees & Shrubs: Over 1000 Pages & over 2000 Plants Listed
The Complete Guide to Houseplants: The Easy Way to Choose and Grow Healthy, Happy Houseplants

Happy Birthday to Me

It's me and it's my birthday!

Today is my birthday. Yeah! Not really too exciting because I never do much on my birthday. Plus I'm 21 and that may be young to everyone else but to me I'm feeling old. Since It's my birthday I thought this would be a good time to tell everyone about me.

My name is Priscilla. I'm now 21 but really feel like I just turned 50. I'm still a newbie gardener even though I started last year around May. No one really believes I'm a newbie because I surprising known quite a bit. Online I don't sound like I know a lot because I'm scared to give the wrong information. It's great to be a gardener down in San Antonio, Texas. I can garden most of the year. This year it is was a mild winter so not many of my plants died.

I container garden on my balcony. There is no house and no yard for me. Of course like every other women I want a house and extremely large back yard. Maybe one day I will get this house when my husband decides to buy one. Yep I'm married, I know I'm young. We have been married for a year and my husband is in the Air Force. We have dated for 4 years before that and were high school sweet hearts. No kids for us any time soon. Maybe 4 years from now or even 3. Yes people do ask me all the time if I have kids. No it's not out of the ordinary to be married at 21 in San Antonio and have a child. All our friends in the Air Force that are married and around our age do mostly have kids. I do have a furry kid though. My dog Kasha who is a Year and some months old. She's my pest but I love her dearly.


Kasha my furry kid.

I like plants, like many gardeners do. To me the best part of gardening is learning. I love to learn and research. Everyday I'm online and looking through blogs and websites trying to build my knowledge. Even though I learn something everyday I still can't remember what I have to remember for my herbaceous plants test tomorrow for my class. My future is really a question mark right now. For all my years I was certain I would be an artist. I didn't want to do anything else and I would draw all the time. As I grew up I took on painting and any other art and craft I could do. I went to art school for 2 years at 2 different schools. In these schools I was studying Graphic Design. For 5 years before I started college I really thought I wanted to be a graphic designer. Once I went to college and started to learn what I would have to do as a Graphic Designer I realized it was not what I wanted to do. It wasn't fun to sit in front of the computer and struggle to create something in a medium I wasn't good at. Go figure the one thing I wanted to do was the one thing I was bad at. Mostly all arts and crafts I'm good at. I'm not tooting my own horn here at all. Really I'm good I've won contests and scholarships and even the superlative in highschool.



So why did I change from wanting to art for the rest of my life to wanting to garden? Really I'm not sure and it's scary. I took a year off from school and during that year I pursued my hidden love. I've always been a nature loving. I'd inspect plants when I went past them and loved to get my hands dirty. Once I started to learn about the plants it was love. I knew I would spend the rest of my life learning and that was great to me. When I started to volunteer and build my own plant collection I knew gardening was going to be my life. I felt like I had found a part of me that had been missing for so long. Maybe one day I would like to combine art and gardening into one. I'm not that confident in my art really. Art is one of those thing you feel like you are never your best. I could just get the confidence to try and doing botanical illustration but right now that is intimidating.

When I look back at all my years of doing art I noticed one thing. Whatever I drew I always leaned towards nature. I'd draw plants and landscapes and abstract flower related pieces. I even bought gardening and plant books to draw inspiration. Once I transitioned into the world of gardening I already had books to study. Those books I never studied before I just looked at the pictures. Now I read and look at the pictures.

Green Thumb Sunday Seedling Update

Gaillardia Razzle Dazzle Mix seedlings

My seedlings have been coming along. It's been almost a month now since they have been planted. I really should get the bigger ones out of there and into something bigger. I only have 4 pots, 3 small 4 inch, and one 6 or 8 inch. Really that should be enough to pot what I have. I'm thinking I'll do that in a bit and see how it goes.


Dimorphotheca seedlings

My African Daisies (Dimorphotheca aurantiaca) are doing great. I got the one big seedling that has been growing for 1 month now. A week ago I believe I planted some more. The one seedling was the only one that germinated so I decided to try again. This time I followed what I read online and just very slightly covered them so they wouldn't get blown away. Now I have many more seedlings popping up and getting ready to grow. The first time I planted them I think I stuck them in too deep.


Nemesia seedling

The Nemesia is growing slowly. I have 3 seedlings of Nemesia. One seedling is quite elongated and I'm not sure why. Maybe it just needs to go into a bigger pot but it's not that big. It looks like the one pictured but with a longer stem on it.


Parsley seedlings

My Parsley seedlings have their true leaves now. They are funny frilly edged leaves. I'm glad that I got these as a freebie. I love parsley and use it constantly on my pasta. Pasta just doesn't taste right if it doesn't have parsley. I hope that these do well once the heat and sun get going.


Laurentia seedlings

Never did anything come from the first batch of laurentia I planted. I tried again when I replanted the Dimorphotheca seeds. There are two little seedlings in this one plug. None of the other have come out. I'll try again another month when it gets warmer.


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Ferns Are Sprouting

To me my favorite sprouts so far are ferns. They have the most interesting way of growing. They come up as this little curled up ball. Then as they start to grow they start to unfurl. I love to see little fern sprouts it brings me lots of joy.



I would love to know more about ferns. I've never been in the mind set to read about them and start to distinguish between the different kinds. For this reason I don't know what ferns I have. I received them from the old women I keep on talking about. She yanked out the fern she had in her front garden and another one she had. From that clump several new fern fronds have developed. I have had a hard time keeping them pretty looking. They start to crisp and brown at the edges now. Last month they looked great. Now that the sun and heat are coming back they aren't doing so well. I wish I had another place to put them in that didn't receive so much sun. The pot is in the corner of my balcony that doesn't get as much light as the rest. It's not enough shade I don't think. I've tried to mist them on the hot days to see if the humidity helps. I might just have to pot them indoors and stick them on my computer desk where the ghost plant succulent is. The ghost plant is not doing good and just looks horrid.

Garening and Me Questionnaire

Took this off of Playing in the Dirt's blog.
1. Why did you start gardening?
I started gardening because I have a strange fascination with plants. After visiting the Botanical Gardens and suddenly opening my eyes to the world I fell in love. It's something I always wanted to get into but never did. After doing some reading and browsing online I realized this could be the rest of my life and I would be forever happy

2. Do you remember the first thing you ever planted in a garden?
Well the first thing I planted as a houseplant in my apartment was curly locks ivy. After that on my balcony it was either my weeping dwarf crape myrlte, pampas grass, or corkscrew vine. The pampas grass is gone now because well it's HUGE!!!

3. Everyone goes through the Crazy Newbie Gardener thing: tell us about one of the silly overzealous things you did then:
The most overzealous silly thing I did was buy pampas grass seeds and plant them in a planter on my balcony. That was back in the days when I didn't know squat about gardening. I thought "Oh that plant looks interesting and it's good for zone 8. Cool I'll buy it". Not even taking into account how high it got or anything else.

4. Favorite plants: what was your first favorite plant, and is it still your favorite? Do you have favorites that come and go, but one all-time favorite that you've always loved, no matter what?
I've always had a heart for ivies. To me that ivy covered building is my dream house. If I could just keep on buying ivies for my apartment I would. I just don't buy them anymore because I am in love with the curly locks ivy that I just keep cutting and rooting and getting new plants from. My new favorite is dianthus. Those frilly fringe flowers are great and I love their foliage too! I have many favorites. I'm always wanting vines vines vines.

5. What's your favorite gardening or yardwork chore?
My favorite is potting plants. I like to dig the holes plop and cover. Anything that is repetitive but does not require great strength since I'm a weakling currently.

6. And your least favorite?
Anything that requires arm muscle. My arms do not have muscle.

7. If a Magical Garden Genie granted you three wishes right now, what would you wish for?
I would wish for a home with a large yard. Right now I just garden on my balcony in containers. What I would do to have a yard. Next I would wish for endless amounts of money to spend on plants and all the things that are need like fertilizer and soil and pots. Lastly I would wish that whatever plant I wanted would grow where I put it and in my zone and thrive.

8. You have ten dollars left to your name, and you get to spend it at a nursery. What do you buy?
A flowering tree. I would buy a flowering tree because it would be something that would last me many years and grow to great heights. If I bought just any old plant those precious 10 dollars would be gone in a year or two.

9. Tell us about one thing you learned about gardening in the past year:
I learn tons about gardening in the past year. I went from knowing nothing at all to knowing enough to sound like I've been gardening for a while. The most valuable thing I learned was to buy plants that will work in what you got. Don't try to pretend they won't grow or that you will prune them to the size you want.

10. Will you be trying anything new this year? A plant you haven't grown before, or a new technique?
I'm sure I'll be trying many new things. I would like to purchase more plants but really I don't have much more space for any new plants. I would like to try and learn even more and more and more everyday. I'll be making lists of seeds and plants I want for next year though so I won't go on spontaneity. It's better to look for something that I know will survive then hope will survive. I'm sure I'll learn many new things and techniques and try new things when I do my internship.

Working and Purchasing

Columbine foliage

Today was my first day of work. I was unprepared as I usually am for the first day. It went good besides that I did not have gloves. Moving around all those plastic containers for 5 hours really worked a number on my hands. My finger tips are sore and I'm scratch up on one hand from meyer lemons. Besides being scratched up and in pain it went well. So merchandising went good! I'm excited since I'm always nervous on the first day of a new job. I'm always feeling like I'm going to stink at it and it's going to be horrible. Moving plants was not difficult and was as simple as I had thought. It was really windy today and cold so it was not ideal conditions. I'll be going back tomorrow but this time not so early in the morning. I'm a night owl and waking up at 5:30am is not ideal. My normal bed time is 1am. My normal waking time is 11am. I don't have to be in until 9am tomorrow so happy for more hours of sleep.


Terracycle

After work I went inside to look for some gloves. All the gloves that were available were not my size. My hands are tiny so buying one size fits all gloves does not work. I'm sorry, but one size fits all does not fit my size so it's not one size fits all. My fingers are short and I refuse to be uncomfortable with long finger tips. Instead of buying gloves at work I bought Terracycle. I've been in need of fertilizer badly. It's been far too long that I have been using orchid fertilizer for everything I have. Shame on me for not wanting to invest in something else. I've read about Terracycle and really wanted to try it. I've already used the whole bottle and I have no idea if it's supposed to go that fast. Next I want to try some bat guano tea or fish emulsion.


Womenswork Gloves



After not finding any soil conditioner or gloves I went to the garden center. There I found soil conditioner, soil, a bulb, and gloves. As excited as I was to find garden gloves made to fit womens hands and in size small, I was not excited about the price. I am broke and a cheapy at heart. The 19.99 tag made me want to cry. What would make me cry more is working with no gloves tomorrow or even again. So I sucked it up and got the gloves. I'm happy they are pretty and have reinforced finger tips and they are my favorite color BLUE!



I could not resist getting a caladium bulb. I love caladiums they look beautiful all of them. My container by my front door is suffering and needs a shade plant to spruce it up. The Astilbe plant I potted in the container did not make it. The hosta hasn't done well but the chocolate chip ajuga has been fine. I would like the ajuga to spread more but it has not yet. I'm not sure if it's the soil or not the right light conditions. I had my hosta going okay for awhile then all the leaves died. Maybe that is supposed to happen with hostas. I believe I got a White Wing Caladium. I really didn't look at the name I just plucked one up. I was upset thought because I wanted one for the sun. I know there are sun tolerant varieties but could not remember their names or their characteristics. I remember seeing the white queen at the botanical gardens but it was not in direct sun so I wasn't sure about that one. When I went up to the counter to ask that person said there were none and all those were for shade. I knew she was wrong but had no internet in front of me to check. When I was checking out I glanced over at the box I picked from and saw white ...... I thought this would be easy to find because how many Caladiums start with White and some other word and are white on the inside and green on the outside. Well I think it's White Wing or it's Aaron. I don't think it's Aaron even though the picture I remember looked more like Aaron. I specifically remember the name starting with White and some other word. No red on it and the leaves are outlined in green and the center all white. Really White Wing looks like the only one it could be.

I got you!

Bee on my grape hyacinth

Everyday I see this bee or other bees that look like this bee on my grape hyacinth. Everyday I rush out with my camera to take a picture. And everyday the bee flies away before I can take a picture. Finally I was able to get the bee when it least expected it. The bee sees me and flies away. Instead of giving up I waited for it to come back. It did come back and I took a picture before I knew what hit him. You can't outsmart me bee even though you can make honey and I can't. Lets not mention that you can fly and I can't.

Wordless Wednesday

My Mini Field of Flowers

Grape Hyacinths are blooming.

I'm loving the purple on my balcony. It's nice to have some flowers blooming. For many months now it's been all green except for the red of the cocktail vodka begonias and the juanita hatten bougainvillea. Next time I buy more plants I will try to stray from the reds and pinks. Pretty much all that I have right now are red and pink besides the candytufts. Hopefully soon I'll be seeing some blues with the campanulas and columbines. My delphinium seeds aren't sprouting so I won't be seeing their blue flowers. If my clematis keeps on going I'll be seeing some purple and pink. Besides those few I'll be having pinks, reds, and whites and some purples.

Too windy

Snapdragon in a cup

It's been so windy today. I hate when it gets windy because I have certain pots (peat pots and small pots) that easily get tipped over. When I went outside to water I noticed my snapdragon blooms had disapeared. Well they didn't disappear the flower stem broke off from all the wind. I shook off the spider hanging on to the flowers and brought the flower stem inside. Now my snapdragon blooms are in a cup. I don't have any soil to repot them in. All my other containers are currently very over occupied. For now it will have to be in a cup. I hope it keeps on thriving a bit longer because of this....


Snapdragon Seed Pod

I want my seed pod to ripen! It's so sad that it broke off before my pod got to ripen. Hopefully it still makes it. If not, there are some other flower buds that will bloom later on. It'll be getting hotter in another month or two. When that time comes my snapdragon will probably not be doing well from all the heat. We'll see.

Do you have a true Osteospermum?

Dimorphotheca aurantiaca "African Moon"
Image from Thompson and Morgan

If you think you have an Osteospermum..check again. It seems some companies have been selling Dimorphotheca under Osteospermum. There is a difference surprisinging. Dimorphothecas are annuals that can be grown from seed. Osteospermums are really tender perennials that are mostly hybrids. If it is a hybrid chances are it's seeds will not be true to the original plant. Osteospermum Passion Mix can actually be grown from seed and produce true plants. Because of this most Osteospermums can only be cultivated by cuttings.

I found this out one day when I was looking up information on Osteospermums. I purchased seeds that I thought were Osteospermum because that is what they were labeled. Upon going to the Osteospermum website I began to wonder if I had a true Osteospermum. The website has a list of their cultivars. If you don't find you plant on the list it's not an Osteospermum or you bought it under the wrong name. I looked for mine and it was not on the list. There was no African Moon. That was when I looked under Dimorphotheca and there was African Moon.

This was very interesting to me seeing that there was a difference. Companies selling seeds might not be labeling things correctly and that is a scary thought to me. I would like to know what the name is of what I am buying. I was wondering why I had a hard time finding information on my particular Osteospermum. It was because it wasn't an Osteospermum at all. If you would like more information do look at the Osteospermum website.

Green Thumb Sunday

Sprouts of Phlox or Dusty Miller

My seedlings are growing and everyday new ones appear. I planted a mix of phlox and dusty miller in this planter. I'm still leaning towards these being phlox and not dusty miller. Even if the dusty miller does not germinate I will be happy. The dusty miller seeds I bought from Value Seeds so the .99 cents they cost won't make me feel sad. I love to get seeds from Value Seeds because they are just Thompson and Morgan seeds but greatly discounted. There aren't many choices but I usually find a few things I want. There are many of my plants growing really fast now. One of my corkscrew vine has started to grow like crazy over the past two days. That is a great sign because I really want the Corckscrew Vine to grow. The grape hyacinths are mostly all up and blooming now. They area welcome scene to my mostly green. Plus the bees have really started to show interest in them. That make me feel great when some beneficial insects are coming to my little corner. My spearmint is growing well now and will probably start to grow like a weed soon it seems. The columbine, armeria, and the bellflower are doing well. Mainly the columbine has been growing the most.


Kasha being mean and biting my plants.

Yesterday when I was taking photos as I normally do my dog Kasha decided she wanted to be a bad girl. While taking my photos she wanted to get in the way. Not only get in the way but try to bite anything I was taking a photo of. The picture above is her trying to bite my hyacinth. She did it for pretty much everything. Then she finally stopped to smell the mint and grape hyacinth.




Green Thumb Sunday

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A bee!

While admiring the little container plants I do have I noticed something wonderful. There was a bee enjoying it's time on my grape hyacinths. This is very exciting for me! A bee actually stopped on one of my plants. Normally when I see a bee it quickly buzzes over the plants and goes away. This time the bee was on my grape hyacinth blooms doing it's thing. That makes me feel wonderful inside. My goal for next year it to have many plants that attract bees and butterflies to my balcony.

New Buds and New Growth

Weeping Dwarf Crape Myrtle "Sacramento" has buds.

Today to my surprise I saw some signs of life in two things I thought for sure must be dead. First my crape myrtle is showing some buds. This is very excited for me. I really thought I would have to be getting rid of this dead tree. When I bought it I potted it in a new home. It didn't like the new home and environment thus dropping all it's leaves. Nothing ever came back after over half a year. It was really coming down to whether or not there would be any new growth this spring. Now there are buds so it is alive. I'm very glad because I loved the Weeping Dwarf Crape Myrtle.


More buds everywhere.

Now I really thought I had killed this next plant for sure. I got it and it was in a decent condition but small. I potted it up with the dianthus pinnochio mix. The dianthus took off but the Dr Ruppel Clematis did not. It stayed the same and the leaves browned. Yet it again is was just up for time to tell if it was alive or not. I have not looked at the clematis for a month now. Today I checked it out since other things and other trees and shrubs around in San Antonio are starting to get new leaves and buds. New leaves!!! It is alive so I will be having a clematis growing. I'm kind of concerned though because the dianthus has grown so much. I'm not sure if the clematis will need it's own pot that isn't crowded with roots already. I'm assuming that the pot has many roots in it considering how the dianthus looks. Yet again if anyone can give me some help on that it would be greatly appreciated. I just didn't want to pot it up while it is starting to finally show signs of life and risk transplant shock or whatever else. Do you think the clematis will be okay with it's dianthus buddy? I like the dianthus there because it shades the roots and doesn't allow the sun to really get to it. Right now I think it's in an 8 inch pot so it's not big at all. I have no idea how big of a pot a clematis would need or if it will even survive in a pot at all.


Dr. Ruppel Clematis has new leaves.