Winter Vacation…

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 :)

3 New Gardening Shows…

I just noticed that HGTV is airing three gardening shows which are new to me:

Secret Gardens of… (2 shows Tuesdays, 9am & 9:30am PST)
Great Amercian Gardens (2 shows Wednesdays, 9am & 9:30am PST)
World Garden Tour (2 shows Thursday, 9am & 9:30am PST)

…so if your a gardening show fan like I am, you may want to see if you get these.