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.

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.

Pink and White Blooms and many spider mites

Snapdragon blooming nicely now.

I want to make this post not all about the bad things. There isn't much time for me to write tons of things on spider mites. I have to go to class soon, so I have to get ready, make copies, and get gas then drive 20 minutes to school. My snapdragon is blooming wonderful. While looking at my snapdragon I noticed my lemon balm wasn't looking right. The lemon balm I don't normally pay attention to because it's done so well. Upon inspection I saw grey blotches and was hoping not to find anything. Sadly, I did find tons of spider mites. All underneath the lemon balm leaves were spidermites. I got my neem oil and sprayed but I couldn't get it to cover the underside of the leaves. So I came out the next day with some water and some soap and sprayed the undersides. Then shot it again the next day with some just plain water. I think I got most of them off but I need to go squirt them again with some water. I don't know what happened. It's so sad when I get plants with these bugs on them. My chocolate mint is forever infested with aphids and ants and I'll be throwing that out.
It got me thinking though if these sick plants are protecting the other plants from getting these aphids and spider mites. I know that probably not the case at all. I wish I could let nature take it's course but I don't seem to have any insects around that get rid of aphids of spider mites. I had a leaf footed bug that had been sitting in my lemon balm for months but it didn't stop any of the spider mites and I don't think it's a beneficial at all. Beneficial insects don't come to my balcony. I only ever see the occasional grass hopper, maybe a bee and a wasp a day, many ants, and that's all. The bees don't stay long either. They hover for a minute then go off. Anyone with ideas on weather to keep these sickies or just rid of them. I'm still trying on the lemon balm to see if it gets better. I need to research on spider mites. When I did look a little about them and lemon balm it seems they do like it. Maybe I'll just have to find another plant that doesn't attract these spider mites and other bad things.


A white candytuft flowering.

Garden Blogger Bloom Day

Buds on my Snapdragon

Today is my first garden blogger bloom day. I've never been able to participate because I never have any blooms. Carol at Maydreamsgardens is the wonderful person that created Bloom Day. Go visit her blog and see other bloggers who blogged today about their blooms.


My snapdragon getting ready to bloom.


Another bud on my Snapdragon

First I'll start with my Snapdragon. I have been awaiting these flowers since i purchased the plant in December i think. This snapdragon was bought as a small plant with one bud. It has grown and grown taller since then and produced another bud. Now I await for the blooming.


Purple/white Candytuft

This Candytuft I accidentally left after doing my cleaning out the candytufts from the planter. Now it is blooming! I love candytufts but have many seeds to try. They grow fast and with no trouble at all for me. It's not a problem if I want some back again I'll just plant more seeds. I do have some candytufts growing that were from the seeds of the last ones that bloomed. Nothing blooming yet though for those.


Knotweed Blooms


Pink Knotweed Flower

This was a plant that I got from an older women who allowed me to take cuttings from her over grown unkept yard. She didn't know what it was neither did I. My many searches resulted in nothing. Eventually the curiosity started to kill me so I asked on GardenWeb if anyone knew. Of course they did and responded with Knotweed. I really like this vine weed groundcover whatever it is. It has interesting leaves, grows and spreads nicely in and out of it's container, and has cute round blooms in white and pink.


Cocktail Vodka Begonia blooming


Cocktail Vodka Begonias in container blooming nicely

My last bloom are my Cocktail Vodka Begonias. I planted these in a larger pot last week I believe. They were in individual peat pots before and it was a pain to keep them watered right. I gave in and spent my money on some much needed bigger pots. They look great clumped together! I love these so much and see them everywhere around here. Their foliage is a nice change from the normal green on my balcony.