Pear Tree Pruning + Zinnias, Strawflower, Coleus and Herbs sown…

It’s the first of June, but it’s seems like it’s winter or early spring. In fact, it was raining for a bit this morning, but luckily it stopped by the afternoon.

Dead Pear Branches

I did major pruning on our four pear trees. I noticed that there were a lot of dead branches, so I pruned anything that was dead. I didn’t get everything, and I may leave one of the tall branches in the middle Bosc Pear since I noticed that that where our neighborhood hummingbird loves to perch and sing. I still have more to prune, but it was getting late and I was getting tired.

Dwarf Border Sunflower Potted Up

Before going in, I planted the 5 Dwarf Border Sunflower plants into a 5 gallon container. I’ll move this to the front later this week.

Zinnias and Strawflower Sown

I also sowed Zinnia ‘Whirligig’ Folia, Zinnia (Fall 2005) Folia and Tall Double Strawflowers Folia.

Inside, I sowed 8 kinds of Coleus from seeds I saved:
Coleus (Unknown Burgundy G2-2006/2011) Folia
Coleus (Dapple Apple G2-2006/2011) Folia
Coleus (Sedona G2-2006/2011) Folia
Coleus (Amora G2-2005/2011) Folia
Coleus (Kong Green G2-2005/2011) Folia
Coleus (Kong Salmon Pink G2-2010/2011) Folia
Coleus (Dark Star G2-2005/2011) Folia
Coleus (Splash G2-2006/2011) Folia

Coleus and Herbs Sown

I also sowed some herbs:
Basil ‘Hybrid Thai Lemon’ Folia
Basil ‘Lettuce Leaf’ Folia
Basil (Sweet, Chia brand) Folia
Perilla frustescens (Shi-so) ‘Vietnamese, Tia To’ Folia

July 4th Gardening…

My Masdevallia Orchids in the hanging wooden pots I made are doing quite well. I replaced the string from the two of the pots where hanging on with much stronger galvanized wire.

The flowers of the Masd. Huayna Picchu and Masd. Ruby Slippers ‘Baby’ continue to bloom…

I see a new Masd. Huayna Picchu flower spike forming. It’s interesting how many tiny spots there are on the flower and the flower spike.

I took dead leaves off Masd. Red Panda, but I noticed that it has new growth.

Told my Mom that as one of my Orchid flower matures, the bottom petals cross over. She replied, “just like what I do in my exercises.

I divided the Dragon Fruit Cactus and potted it up into a larger terra cotta pot. Hopefully, it’ll continue to grow larger.

I noticed that the Euphorbia platyclada has tiny little dark yellow blooms, which are not noticable until you really look at it closely.

On the opposite end, the Rebutia krainziana is putting up very noticeable yellow blooms. This is the second round of blooms for this cactus this year.

I noticed that the two Japanese Long Purple Eggplants both have fruits. One has three and the other just one… but they both continue to have flowers, even though they are still just about a foot tall. I hope they grow taller.

I planted two more Coleus pots today. In one pot that I found the Plectranthus argentatus ‘Longwood Silver’ in, I planted a big dark maroon leafed Coleus with no name.

In another pot, I planted:
Coleus ‘Sedona’
Coleus ‘Electric Lime’
Coleus ‘Mariposa’

For some reason, some of the leaves on the Tomato ‘Rutger’s Select’ are burning from the sun, but the other Tomatoes next to it are fine. I hope that they’ll be okay and just keep growing.

I harvested some seeds from a plant I purchased from Annie’s Annuals, but I can’t remember what it is called… something Tips… I’ll have to look it up…

Sowing Coleus at Work + Orchid (from Kathryn) has new growth…

I brought in some gardening supplies to work so I can start sowing some Coleus seeds.

Garden Supply at Work Sown Coleus

I made my own mix using used peat pellets (from peat pellets with seeds that didn’t grow), a little bit of potting soil and perlite.

I sowed:
– Coleus (Dappled Apple G2 2010)
– Coleus (Oompah G2 2010)
– Coleus (Splash G2 2010)
– Coleus (Sedona G2 2010)
– Coleus (Kong Scarlet G2 2010)
– Coleus (Trailing Rose G2 2010)

I just noticed that my Orchid (from Kathryn) has fresh new roots and growth coming out. Looks like it’s starting to recover…

Tonight’s Gardening…

The Message Bean has sprouted its first leaves.

Message Bean (First Leaves)

I planted two more Coleus pots. One contains ‘Red Ruffles‘ (new plant), ‘Unknown Speckled Green‘ (found cutting) and ‘Trailing Rose Frost‘ (overwintered cutting).

Coleus Pot #23

A ‘Trailing Rose Frost’ Survivor Snippet

Coleus Pot #13 (The Oranges)

Coleus Pot #13 (The Oranges)

(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!!! >:(

Planting Til The Sun Goes Down…

Once I got home, I hurried to plant some pots before it got too late. This is what I planted:

Coleus pot #13: (The orange pot) ‘Sedona’, ‘Rustic Orange’ and ‘Copper Splash’
Coleus pot #14: ‘Purple Oak’
Coleus pot #15: ‘Pineapple Prince’ and ‘Pineapple’
Coleus pot #16: ‘Alabama Sunset’
Coleus pot #17: ‘Amora’

and 2 more non-Coleus pots, but I’m spacing and can’t think of the combinations. I’ll check tommorrow…

I’m Starting My Coleus Photo Set…

I’m finally organizing my coleus photos and will start uploading a few of them at a time. Click any of the photos below to view my Coleus set on flicker.com.

Coleus “Alabama Sunset”
Alabama Sunset

Coleus “Sedona”
Sedona

Coleus “Peter Wonder”
Peter Wonder

More photos to come…

Thursday’s trip to Yard Birds…

Yesterday (Thursday) after work, I stopped by Yard Birds and got the following:

– a box of all natural tomato and vegetable fertilizer
– a gallon bottle of fish emulsion
– a bag of green moss
– a russet terra cotta colored Coleus called “Sedona”

The Coleus “Sedona” had a missing limb and wasn’t very lush, but it was the only one in it’s color. I’ve never seen this color in a garden shop before… So I just had to snatch it up. I’ll take cuttings and try to make more plants.

Which reminds me… I need to do some research and see if there are people who also take unique Coleus cuttings to trade with others.

I was also entertained at Yard Birds. There had these buckets of ladybugs. Tons and tons of them… and I was just fascinated watching them in such a cluster.

A hummingbird also paid a visit at Yard Birds and buzzed around all the fuchsias. It stopped right in front of me and watched me for a little bit, then went back to its business. At one point, it perched on one of the fuchsia branches and looked like it was picking at some bugs.

I saw a plant I really liked called Helichrysum petiolare or Licorice Plant. It’s chartreuse leaves were fuzzy and felt very velvety. If I had the room, I would have bought it. For now I’ll just add it to my wish list.