My Bit of Earth

Plants ID'd and normal

In asking questions about a few of my plants at GardenWeb, I was able to get two of them identified and learn that their weird seeming behavior is normal. It's good to know one's plants are normal.

The plant I thought was a fittonia is actually called a Peperomia caperata, and the weird shoot that's coming out of the top is going to be a flower.

My cactus (echeveria) that's loosing it's leaves (which I am reassured is in response to winter dryout and will be just fine) is called a Perle von Nurnberg.

RIP Rosemary Topiary

When I started this I said I wanted to record "the good, the bad, and the ugly"--today we had the first of the bad and the ugly. My rosemary had been starting to look brown for awhile now. I had forgotten to turn it so one side hadn't gotten any good sun for a bit, and according to the message boards at GardenWeb, Rosemary is very hard to keep alive inside because of there is a very fine line between drowning it and letting it die of thirst. Also, the topiary's that are sold at Chirstmas time (the one's shaped like mini Christmas trees, which this one was) are apparently pretty stressed out to start with. So, today I decided to prune it back to see what life was left--yeah, it was brown and brittle to the core. There's one little stem growing out from the bottom that's still giving me a little hope but .... (sigh).

On the upside, I trimmed off the few remaining limbs and am trying to root them so maybe we'll be able to have new life despite the death ....

Lessons for next time...herbs need lots of sun and very careful watering when visiting inside. I think I'm going to try to make my own rosemary topiary this spring instead of buying one ('cause I have to have a rosemary plant around for cooking). Maybe more of a standard-type shape.

Grrr....this makes me sad.

Pruning for the potted herbs

Almost forgot to mention that I pruned my potted lavendar and sage. I've been reading a lot about Lavendar in anticipation of trying to grow some outside in the Spring, and supposedly in order for it to grow corectly it has to be hardcore pruned once a year. So, since mine was starting to look a little spindly, I cut it back to about a third of it's original size. It looks much better.

While I was at it, I also pruned the hell out of my Sage plant ... no, make that my Sage blob. I was about to throw it away anyway, because it was really brown and nasty in places, but at the same time it kept putting out new stunted leaves. Basically I had nothing to loose--because this was not a pretty plant at this point--so I cut it back to just a few inches tall just leaving the skinny little trunks. I think that was just what it needed, the little fellow is already putting out new healthy leaves again.

The Great Bonsai Experiment

With one nudge of encoragement from nice husband, and another from a good book at the always wonderful Lawrence Public Library, and after wandering by them more than once at Sunrise Nursery, I brought a bonsai tree home today--well, at least I hope it will be a bonsai tree when it grows up a little!

He's just a little slip of an Australian Cherry (aka a Brush Cherry or Australian-Brush Cherry) right now, but with some character ala Crocodile Dundee or Nicole Kidman. The tips of his branches are starting to go red and pointy like he wants to bloom out soon--my little Aussie.

I also went ahead and bought the special bonsai potting soil--do it right or not at all, as my Dad would say--which was more spendy than the tree and the pot put together. It was very, very well draining, almost so much so that it seemed like the water basically just went right through. But they supposedly need it so hopefully it won't be too much. I also had trouble getting the root to go where I wanted them to. There was one big fat root that just wanted to stick right out into the air. I buried it in the potting mix and then put a little pebble over it to keep it down, so I'll have to check on that over the next few weeks and make sure he stays ok. He definitely needs some pruning, but I want to let him get settled in first.

Care: Let dry out between waterings, best way to water is to soak in a sink for 5-10 min.; Full Sun/Part Shade; Keep humid by putting the pot on a tray of pebbles with water or by misting; Repot about every 2 years in early Spring, don't prune roots too much, and keep plant somewhere shady after repotting so that new roots can grow; In Spring may bear small white flowers followed by red, edible fruit 2-3 months later; Feed every 2 weeks during growing season and every 4-5 weeks in winter; can be pruned hard but branches are sensitive so wiring is not recommended; can be propagated by cuttings in summer or seeds in fall; common pests include scale, mealy bug,Caribbean fruit fly, aphids, red spider; may drop leaves if watering is inconsistent; not salt tolerant (Phew! That's a lot to think about!)

Frost dates

So that I can quit forgetting and having to look it up ....

Average Last Frost: March 30-April 30
Average First Frost: September 30-Ocotber 31
Days in between: 153-214

Lemon Tree blooming to a good book

Sitting up reading a very good book (Bringing a Garden to Life by Carol Williams) and enjoying the scent of my lemon tree, which has two blooms fully open and 6 or 7 more that are just about ready to pop. I've been trying to limit the number of blossoms so that we can get some lemons from the tree, but they're so soft and pretty against the green leaves and they smell like Spring. I want to have my blossoms and lemons too.

The book is one I should probably buy a copy of (it came from the wonderful Lawrence Public Library which I've discovered is a gold mine of "committment free"--i.e. I don't have to worry about feeling like I have to use every scrap of information in the book because I paid for it--gardening books). Nothing extremely specific or complicated--it may be oversimplified even--but I think it's good for me now because sometimes it almost seems like there are too many things to consider. Very good chapter on building a compost pile and very simply adding things to the soil more based on feel then on making sure you have just-so-much of this and just-so-much of that. She felt like a "kindred spirit" in her approach--practical (ok maybe I'm not always that), trial and error, let nature happen. Her garden is much bigger than mine I think, but maybe someday....

Warm enough to play outside

We've had a little warm snap, so I got outside to start some stuff I've been itching to do. My neighbor was teasing me about getting a jump start. I built up my little veggie garden and changed the shape of the walls a little bit so that everything is hopefully a little less stark and a little more cuurrrvy. I also put down some mulch that is made from the shells of cocoa beans. It smells heavenly! It's like a chocolate fix everytime I step outside!

Also got all my recycled planters ready for spring. Sweet husband helped me drill holes in the bottom of some large cans. I want them to get a little rusty and weathered looking so they're all tied neatly along my fence. Hopefully Mother Nature will do her best for them.

Lemon Tree

This was my Christmas present from Blaine. It is a Meyer Lemon tree from Wayside Gardens. The little pink things on top are blossoms, so maybe we'll have some lemons eventually. I just repotted it in regular potting soil, but as I was doing so, I noticed the soil that came with the tree is kind of sandy.

Care: Part sun, fertilize every 6 weeks March-September, Moist not wet, Trim to desired shape

Christmas Presents

These were my little baby Christmas presents raised by my friend Tara.

Brrrrrrr....

We've had an ice storm here and it's cold outside! About 2000 people in Lawrence had power outages, but luckily we kept ours. Sweet husband has been building a fire just about everyday so we've been nice and toasty. Still it makes me feel cold to listen to the trees groan and crack under the weight of the ice.

Fall onions

Since the ground is finally a little unfrozen, I went out and pulled up a handful of onions from the fall garden just to see how they ended up. They smelled amazing, but they just didn't quite get big enough.

Jade plant takes a plane ride

On the aforementioned trip to California, I noticed my ever-so-not-evil-step-mom's beautiful jade plants ....

Jill's Jade

....since she is a sweetie, she let me take a cutting home.

Here's my jade that rode home on my lap today, safe and sound in it's pot.

New Addition! "Mother-In-Law's Tounge"

After seeing Tara and Jill's pretty "Mother-In-Law's Toungue" (Sansevieria trifasciata) I decided I wanted some of my own. For future reference it is a pain, Pain, PAIN to repot! It falls apart and squishes together and is generally just difficult to manage.

Care: Don't cut off live foliage, fertilize in the Spring before new growth begins, drought resistant, sun/part-shade

"Mother-In-Law's Toungue"

Problems in the cactus pot

I'm going to try to move this pot to somewhere warmer--the little cactuses are doing well, but the bigger one is loosing it's bottom leaves. They keep turning brown and falling off.

Trip to Napa

Went to see Dad for New Year's and we took a day trip to Napa Valley--even without the sun it was incredible....

Napa Valley from the overlook at Sterling Vineyard