joeysplanting

Today, I checked up on my Coleus cuttings which I have neglected and, um.... many are not in good shape. Dang it! I thought the mini-greenhouse dome would keep them watered and healthy, but I guess I left them too long. I will be going through them and saving what I can and take some inventory to see what I have left and see if I can still place an order with Rosy Dawn Gardens for some new varieties for this year.

I got my Coleus order from Rosy Dawn Garden today. I ordered 13 total, plus they gave me a bonus one.

   

   

Here's a photo set that contains each one photographed individually.

Tuesday, March 20, 2007

I asked Micheal, (one of my best friends) who started his own garden design business a few years ago, if he wanted some Agrostemma 'Ocean Pearl'. He did, so I planted three more six-cell packs outside.

Later after dinner, I sowed more seeds from penguingardener (Maraming Salamat!):

- Tomato 'Bloody Butcher'
- Easter Eggplant Hybrid

I then got zealous (is that the right word?) and even though it was late, decided to transplant the Tomato and some Eggplant seedlings into larger drinking cups.



OMG!!! That took a while... It was really really late, and I was only about half way done, so I decided to do the rest next next day.

Oh yeah... I found a mutant Tomato Seedling.



This Tomato seedling either...
1. had a leaf bending down that went through a side stem, or
2. had another seedling fuse right into the stem, pinning one of its leaves.


Wednesday, March 21, 2007

I started hardening off the Tomatoes and Eggplant seedlings I transplanted yesterday by taking it outside when I left for work, then bringing them in when I got home.

Michael emailed me asking if I can also plant some Bells of Ireland, so I passed by Target after work and bought some seeds.

I transplanted the rest of the Tomatoes into more drinking cups. I have so much!!! I think I have about 26 individual plants in drinking cups.



I then sowed some Pepper seeds:

- Tricolor Variegata Pepper
- Carmanola Rossa Pepper
- Topepo Rosso Pepper

The last two are from penguingardener (Maraming Salamat Ulit!):

I also performed surgery on three dying Coleus (Velvet Lime, Amazon and Dark Star Hybrid) that I mentioned yesterday.



I really hope they survive!!!

We've had nice weather the past few days, but it started to rain today. I've slowly been hardening some of my plants and taking them outside, but I haven't started on my Coleus... except of 4 healthy ones. I just don't want to chance a few days of cold weather killing or weakening them.

Overwintering can be a pain to maintain, but keeping a majority of my babies alive is worth it to me. I've gotten a little bit discouraged because a few Coleus have died after all those months taking care of them... and the mealy bugs are driving me crazy!!! I hate trying to control them. At least, I think a majority of the ants are gone.

Earlier this week, three of my Coleus seem to have just wilted. One day they were healthy or semi healthy, then the started drooping... I think something happened inside the stems and water stopped going up (or something like that).

I've have to do emergency precautions and snip the tips which I think will survive, and immediately dip them in water to relive them. It worked for one at home; the other two are at work and I will see how responded in the morning. I hate seeing some of my babies in I.C.U. but last year I had one Coleus that looked like this... recover and look like this.

BTW, These are half of my overwintering Coleus which are at work:

A few of my overwintering Coleus are infested with Mealybugs. Since I wasn't that busy at work today, I took some time to brush off all the Mealybugs I could find. I'll examine them in a few day to make sure they don't return.

Before and After:

   

I can't wait for winter to end...

I've hardly gardened in our yard after being discouraged by some really cold weather... well, relative to our normal weather. We've had a couple weeks below freezing, which is normal elsewhere... but is kinda rare for our area.

Here are a few of my indoor winter projects:

Coleus: I've been overwintering my Coleus in my bedroom again and I think I now have around 40-60 different cultivars. Several didn't make it, but most survived, some better than others. I've had problems with mealy bugs and ants, and can't seem to get rid of them. I actually took everything out of my room today and sprayed them off in the back. Hopefully, I got rid of a majority of them.

Orchids: I have also started a small collection of Orchids, which I got as gifts or pass-a-long, or $5 baby plants I got from Home Depot. I recently added a few more with plants I got from the Pacific Orchid Expo which was in San Francisco this weekend.

Cactus: I (re)discovered a package of Cactus seed and planted them.... and they are growing really well.

Mango: I thought I would try planting a Mango seed from a Mango we got from the grocery store, just for the heck of it... I didn't think it would grow, but surprisingly it grew really really fast. It's a little more than a month since I planted the seed and the plant is now about 7 inched tall.

Feijoa (Pineapple Guava): I got several seedlings of a very tasty Feijoa, which a grower was giving away at the last scion exchange. I'm trying to grow them and hopefully in a few years, I'll have my own Feijoa tree.

One other kinda big thing happened last month was that the company I work for moved to the building next door... and luckily my new cubicle has windows!!! Now I can garden at work... and I now have more than half of my overwintering Coleus on my window sill :)

I just saw the TV guide and today's episode of Gardening by the Yard is entitled "Collection of Coleus"... You know I'm TiVo'ing it!

Here on the Pacific coast (DirecTV), it's on at 8:30am on HGTV.

I took more Coleus (and Plectranthus) cuttings today... As I was tagging the photos on Flickr, I noticed that I missed some plants, so I probably will have to have a Part 3.



I actually didn't do much... because I napped a lot today...

I happened to check the Columbine seedlings ( sown seeds photo ) which I thought were either dead or would never grow, but surprisingly, there where a couple that sprouted and grew... though small and thin. I took them out of the vermiculite and planted each one in a pot. I hope they will continue to grow.

Today, I was finally able to do some gardening. (It's been getting dark outside when I get home from work)

I started the day by getting the oil changed in my car. While I was waiting, I found a whole bunch of cactus and succulents at the dollar store. I ended up buying three. ( photo )

The Snow Peas that I planted last week are doing well. I'm glad the pincher bugs or slugs didn't get to them.

I planted more Snap Peas, because not all of the ones I planted last week germinated. I was going to plant these where the Lemon Cucumbers are, but they are still fruiting, so I need to find another place for them.

Speaking of Lemon Cucumbers, I harvest a lot today. I didn't see a lot of them because they were hiding the leaves.

   

As I was looking through the veggie beds, I decided to pull up the Gold Rush Zucchini since it was dying down and I didn't really like the fruits. In its place, I set up some trellises and added some compost. I'll plant the Snap Peas here once they get bigger.

   

I then had the urge to plant... So I took a few Coleus cuttings, which I will overwinter for next year... Then I took more and more and ended up taking more than 30 cuttings.

On Sunday, my friend Darwin and I went to his relatives in Roseville, CA for his niece's birthday party. They ran out of soda, so we drove to a nearby Bel Air market to get some. Right when we get in, I saw some Coleus that they were selling as house plants. The label read "Topical Foliage"... How generic can you get! Darwin graciously bought it for me :)

I haven't been able to work on the garden in a while. Today I was able to do a little bit, today... although I still have to fix up my third vegetable bed for the fall vegetables.

I did my monthly Coleus pot moves, moving some of the pots in the front patio back to the back and some pots from the back to be highlighted in the front. That way everyone gets their time in the spotlight...

The Coleus are in bloom now. I've been clipping the flowers back, but for some of the varieties that are past their prime, I'm letting them go.

I did notice that one of them is close to dead. I've had trouble with Coleus 'Fishnet Stockings' since the spring. For some reason the mealy bugs really like it and have been attacking no matter how much i try to spray them out. So I took some cuttings to see if I can start some off to over-winter.

I also sowed four six packs of Sugar Snap Peas and Dwarf Gray Peas (a Snow Pea)... I was gonna sow some lettuce and chard and other greens, but my Mom wanted to go grocery shopping, go I had to go. I'll plant those tomorrow.

A photo of Coleus 'Red Ruffles' (left) for lblanchard. I think this Coleus looks like a red version of Coleus 'Peter Wonder' (right).

   

Last year I had two Kong Coleus. (Coleus 'Kong Scarlet' and Coleus 'Kong Green')

The 'Kong Green' cutting that I wanted to overwinter didn't survive, so I planted some seeds that I harvested, hoping that I would get more 'Kong Green' plants. Instead I got four different looking children.

   


   

Here's the mama plant from last year (2005).

I potted up some Coleus pots this evening.

In one (first photo) I planted 'Peter Wonder', 'Splash', and an Unnamed Burgundy. Between the three, I placed the Lamium ( photo ) that I rooted.

   

In the second (second photo) I planted 'Dappled Apple', 'Kiwi Apple', and half a 4" pot of Red Fountain Grass. I also placed Lamium between the plants.

I used the other half of the Red Fountain Grass to fill out some of the empty spaces in an existing pot of 'Amora' that was a little leggy and didn't look so good.

I was pritty much out in the garden from about 1-9pm, with an exception of about an hour nap. I got caught up in a lot of gardening tasks.

I added more amendments to the veggie bed I've been working on. I have more than three quarters filled. The other quarter still has Chocolate Mint, some Columbines, and Hyacinth bulbs which I still have to dig up. I may just leave it like this for now. I added two more trellises and transplanted (more) Lemon Cucumbers, Sikkim Cucumbers and Smooth Beauty Luffas.

There's a short Calamasi tree in the middle of the bed, which isn't doing well. My Mom says that we have never gotten any Calamansi to grow well in the back, so she was open to pulling it out and planting it in a 5 gallon or bigger pot. I'm still not sure if I will pull it or not.

I planted two Pineapples that were rooting in water into small pots. I now have a total of three Pineapple plants.

I also potted some Thai Basil that was leftover from a Pho lunch at a Vietnamese restaurant. It really sprouted a lot of roots in water.

   

I dead headed a lot of the flowers in front as well as collecting some Columbine seeds. Some of my Coleus are starting to bloom, so I removed the blooms so they can focus on growing more.

I also remembered that I bought two of those Message Bean thingies back in December and set them up following directions. After about an hour, I was so curious to see what kind of seeds they were, so dug them out. They were huge beans that I didn't recognize. Instead of planting them in the little containers they came in I potted them up in drinking cups with potting soil.

   

I potted up the Kalanchoe tubiflora that grew from leaflets ( photo ) I found into a terra cotta pot.



I also transplanted two Pines that I grew from collected seeds into one gallon containers. These are my future Christmas trees. (see my next journal entry for photos)

My brother got a total of three pallets of damaged potting soil, mulch, etc. bags from Home Depot. Each pallet contains about 10 bags for a little over $5. I can't remember how many pallets he said has gotten so far. He also go a garden gate on clearance from Target.

(Top, right center, bottom left) Coleus 'Sedona', Coleus 'Rustic Orange' and Coleus 'Copper Splash'. Creeping Jenny growing underneath the Coleus.

Something is nibbling on the leaves!!! >:(

I planted a small terra cotta pot with four Coleus 'Pat Martin' plants.

I was planning on planting another Coleus pot with the 'Velvet Lime', but the it, along with the 'Dragon Black' was just infested with Mealy Bugs, so I made a decision to decapitate them and try to start new cuttings. I got all (or at least most) of the Mealy Bugs off the cutting and planted them in drinking cups covered with plastic bags. I hope these grow fast.

Saturday, June 10, 2006

I didn't do any gardening, but took a few photos in the garden.

The Avocado that we found sprouting in the compost bin last year has survived the winter outside very well. I didn't realize how much it has grown in 11 months. I'll have to repot this into a 5 gallon pot soon.



My Mom harvested the Shallots she planted a while back, but the bulbs didn't get too big. They were growing in a mostly shaded area and the soil needed to be amended badly. We are going to replant the smaller bulbs in the newly amended veggie bed under much more sun. Hopefully that'll make a big difference.



She was telling me that she loves these either chopped up with tomatoes and added to fried fish, or pickled with Garlic, Carrots, Green Papaya and Labanos (Diakons/Radish).

Later in the afternoon, we went shopping at Target, the Filipino Grocery Store, Food for Less and the 99¢ store. At the 99¢ store I got a grafted Cactus that was starting to flower and my Mom got a bunch of six Lucky Bamboo both for 99¢.


Sunday, June 11, 2006

I did a bunch of this and that on Sunday.

I sprayed the Roses, Snapdragons and Dahlias with half and half solution of skim milk and water. Hopefully, this will deter black spots and mildew or rust (I forgot which one).

I also sprayed almost everything's leaves with fish fertilizer. Stinky-stinky!!!! Note: remember to close your windows if you spray your plants with fish fertilizer!

We had more Taro and Ginger sprouting in the kitchen, so I planted those in six-packs.

I emptied the one-galloon pots that had Caladiums from last year, which all died... but I found tons of earthworms which I relocated to veggie bed #1.



The Cucumbers were getting too big for the 12-pack Mini Greenhouse, so I transfered them to 4 inch pots, because I haven't finished the other veggie beds.

I continued to work on veggie bed #2, but I still have to finish one of the side, which has Breaded Iris and Chocolate Mint growing against it. I think we also have some Hyacinth bulbs there which I have to dig out carefully.

I planted another Coleus pot with 'Saturn's Rings', '(Mislabled) Show & Tell', 'Burnt Sienna' and Heuchera 'Amber Waves'.

When I got home from I went to check if the fly I took a photo of yesterday was still there. Instead I found this ladybug. This Coleus must be a popular bug hangout!



I was surprised that a Bataw (Filipino name for edible Hyacinth Bean) plant that we planted last year survived the winter and is growing again! My Mom placed a bottomless soda bottle over it to act as a cloche. These are supposed to be annuals.



Finally, This evening I started work on building up the walls to my second vegetable bed. The walls are made of two levels of scallop bricks which I have to stack scallop to scallop. For stronger support, I have to make sure the ends of each brick are staggered. The tricky part is constructing the corners. I only got one end semi-done because it was getting dark.



Here's a photoset of what I did last year with the first vegetable bed.

This fly didn't want to get off my new Coleus, so I shot a picture of it.

Tuesday, June 6, 2006

I planted three of the Ornamental Grasses seeds that I found:
- Purple Fountain Grass (from Costco) ( seed photo )
- Unknown California Rush-like Grass (from shopping center on Mini Dr. & Sonoma Blvd.) ( seed photo )
- Unknown Japanese Rush-like Grass ( from Sears parking lot at the Tanforan Mall in Daly City) ( seed photo )

I also cut down my Coleus 'Dragon Black' because it was getting too top heavy and infested with mealy bugs. I'm rerooting the two tops it had in water and will repot once I see roots.

Wednesday, June 7, 2006

I wanted to take the day off but my boss already took the day off, so I went to work and it was so dead. I spent a good part of the day going through some of my unorganized photos, deleting duplicates and blurry ones... I usually take multiple shot per subject to ensure at least one being focused correctly.

Once I got home, I went through the whole garden and took a whole lotta photos since it was still fairly bright outside. I noticed that the flamingo flower and siberian iris have started to bloom.

I then did some maintenance, pulling up weeds and overgrown plants being careful to to get the newly emerged ladybugs.

I hope I can take half a day off tomorrow so I can start preparing my bed for new borders-not a task I'm looking forward to doing, but something I really need to do so I can start planting in them.

Today (Tuesday), I ate lunch at my desk, but later it was a little slow, so I decided to walk around. I went up Telegraph Hill again, but it was a lot warmer than my previous hike, so I was panting... I took a couple of photos including a massive clump of that mystery weed I've been wanting to ID... I also found it's flowers. I'll post those later. I also saw a Passiflora that seemed to just be growing wild on the hillside. I don't think I got a clear shot of it though.

When I got home I got the package of the Telephoto and Wide-angle Lens... I was very pleased with the company because they also upgraded my shipping to two day air for free and included a free Lens Conversion Adaptor, a free Mini Tripod, a free Lens Cleaner (Solution, Tissue and Cloth), a free Brush/Blower and free Packing Popcorn! All this for the price of two lens which was about $30 each. I think the deserve an A+!!!

There was a little bit of light, so I planted a few Coleus pots.
Coleus pot #11: 2 'Kong Scarlet' cutting (from last year) + 2 'Kong Hybrid' seedlings (seeds I harvested last year)
Coleus pot #12: 'Joey' (He deserves a pot of his own)

I noticed that a few of the remaining Coleus (that I haven't potted up) are quite leggy and infected with more mealy bugs!!! I think I will have to decapitate these and reroot them. I took a look at some of the others that were already potted and I think I will have to do the same.

Friday, I woke up late so I drove to work. I stayed late to make up some time and after I got off, I walked around to see if I could get some Knotweeds that I've been wanting. Call me weird, but I really like these weed a lot and and to grow them.



I found this large leaf Coleus which looks like a combination of a 'Green Kong' and 'Schizophrenia'. I had to take a maintenance clipping of it.



Once I got to Vallejo, I picked my Mom up and we went to the hospital to visit my niece who just gave birth to my new great niece Mahliyah Belle.

Once we got back home. I took my new cuttings and potted them up.



I also potted up the Pineapple that is starting to sprout roots and took cutting of some of my other Coleus that either grew too leggy or were still rooting in water.

   

Last week, we brought home some flowers from the Naic Town Fiesta. There were two Roses which I really liked and wondered if they would grow. I took cutting of them and just planted those in water. To my surprise, they are starting to sprout, so I went ahead and potted those cuttings and covered this up with a plastic bag.

   

I didn't even think these would sprout, so I'm pleasantly surprised. Hopefully, these will take root and give us the Roses on the next entry.

This morning (Tuesday) on my way to work, I took an alternate route to check on the Coleus that I had my eye out for. The one in the bank window planter and guess what??!!! They totally replaced all the plants with new ones!!!! That pretty Coleus is GONE!!! :( :( :(

I was upset for two reasons. (1) I should have taken a snip of that Coleus when I had the chance. (2) They pulled that pretty Coleus before it reached it's peak!!!

Needless to say, I decided to take a walk around our district for lunch since it was a warm day... (and subconsciously, I was hoping I would see another Coleus)

Here are some photos from my walk:

   


   

I have more on my May 16, 2006 Flickr page. I also have a lot of unknown plants, so if you are up for an ID'ing challenge, please come by :)

And lastly, as I was walking to carpool, I saw Larry, Darryl and Darryl:

I was inspired by lblanchard's recent entry to upload a photo of my Coleus 'Pineapple' from last year. Unfortunately, this did not survive overwintering.

Yesterday, I wasn't feeling well, so I called in sick for work and pretty much stayed in bed all day. I didn't check email nor checked up on the plants outside.

This morning I noticed that some of the ornamental grasses were wilting a bit, but gave them plenty of water before I left for work.

After work, I checked the Coleus that I potted up and I wasn't too happy. Some of them got too much sun and were also wilting or had sun damage on their foliage. None (I dont' think) were at the point of dying, but some are not doing well :( I thought the spot under the persimmon tree would provide enough shade, but apparently I was wrong, so I move some of them to the front patio and some under the pear tree which has a lot of shade. I hope they will all recover...

Also after work, I took Calli out for a bit, again in the front yard and back. I tried something new. I unleashed her in the back yard to see how she does without a chain... and surprisingly she was well behaved. I blocked off some areas–like behind the storage–and she didn't try to cross over my road blocks. She also stayed on the paved areas and did not trample on any plants! So, good Calli!!!

She's not that good at coming to me when I call her, though, but I gave her a little treat when she did or gave her a good pat, and she responded well. I think she will learn to come when I call... Who says you can't teach a old dog new tricks? I was also happy that she did not run away when I came to get her or held her collar.

The ultimate test will be when we go over to the new dog park when it opens. She hasn't interacted much with other dogs or ridden in a car regularly... so we'll see...

As I was planting my Coleus into pots on Sunday, I noticed that two of my Coleus were a little unusual. Instead of the usual two leaves per node, these had three leaves per node. Hmmm? Mutants?

One was a 'Dark Star (Hybrid)' that grew from seed...

   

...the other was 'Velvet Lime' cutting from last year.

   

On Saturday, my oldest brother picked me up so I can get some scalloped bricks from his house that he didn't need.

We got detoured, when my other brother called his mobile phone and told him someone was getting rid of some bamboo poles. The owner grew them in their backyard and got sick of them, so they ripped it all out. OMG! They were long!



Once we got to my oldest brother's house, he showed my some of his plants and asked if I knew what this was... and that... etc.

I was surprised to see a couple plants I want... including a yellow Siberian Iris, some Hostas that were growing like weeds... along with the weeds... and some purple velvet-like Salvia. He also had some tadpoles in his inflatable swimming pool and he showed me a nest with two eggs. He said that the parents haven't come back in a while and he's wondering if they got injured. We're unsure if these will hatch.

On Sunday, I cut down the seed stalks of the Swiss Chard in the front yard, they were getting way to tall. We are still harvesting some of the bottom leaves, so I'm leaving those (for now).

My Aunts, Uncle and Grandma came over to take my Mom out, they took some Swiss Chard and took group photos with all the Roses and other flowers. As I was dead heading the spent flowers, I heard my Grandma say that I'm like a woman because I'm good in the garden... I wasn't offened... I thought that was so funny!... (I think it the way she said it)... If she only knew ;)

It was getting hot so I took a break, but later sorted through all my Coleus and grouped them into groups of 2, 3 or 4... I'm trying to figure how to combine them into a nice combination to plant into pots. I thought that was the hard part... When it came to planting them... Whew!... That took a while... I ended up with at least 12 pots (mostly with three plants). I also mixed in the Plectranthus 'Zulu Wonder' and the Taro, here and there.

This seems to be the longest day... especially with yesterday's incident. I couldn't sleep, so ended up sleeping at about 5:30am!... I didn't wake up and was late to work.

Since I was late to work, I couldn't take carpool, so I drove in. Ironically, look what was in front of me on the freeway...



An animal control vehicle!!!!! I sure could have used them yesterday!!!

Yesterday, one of my coworker was explaining some of my cameras features. I thought I would try my hand at a long exposure shot.



This is taken at the parking lot near my work. I was working overtime and took a break outside. The street in the photo is The Embarcadero in San Francisco. Can you see my Honda Civic?

Since I drove into work, I thought I would take advantage of my car and transport all my overwintered Coleus in one big batch (instead of my "What can I fit into one grocery bag" method. So after I finished all my work (at 11:30pm), I packed all the remaining Coleus at work and made my trip home.



top row (left to right): Coleus 'Velvet Lime', Coleus 'Amora?'
middle row: Coleus 'Jade', Coleus 'Pat Martin'
bottom: Plectranthus 'Zulu Wonder'

The second batch of overwintered Coleus cutting from work that I was able to fit in a grocery bag.



top row (left to right): Coleus 'Bronze Pagoda', Coleus 'Alabama Sunset'
middle row: unknown Coleus (from Target), Coleus 'Kong Scarlet'
bottom: Coleus 'Velvet Lime'