Cyp. Aki is Open!

Dividing Pings and Cyp. Aki

Pinguicula moctezumae needed dividing again...I got 12 plants total!

Cyp. Aki is opening up! You can see the pouch in this pic taken today!

Paph. Pinocchio 'Dresden' x Paph. hel #5

Something must be right! A Paph that I knew was budding up turns out to have THREE buds! WOOHOO!!!!

Deals & First Timers

Cyp. Aki today....bud is opening up!

My 50¢ & $1 deals I got from Lowes! I got two Columbines, two Poppies, and three Wallflowers! Had no idea Wallflowers were fragrant! No idea what kind of Poppies they are or what color, but you can't beat the price! I was thinking of putting the columbines and wall flowers into my planters!

This whole time I forgot and thought I had planted a Trillium....turns out it's a Jack in the Pulpit! First time bloom for me! There seems to be a lot of those this year!

SPRING!

So it's about 3 weeks till our last frost date....and the garden centers are stocking up! I couldn't help but buy some stuff!

Found two Caladiums that I thought would look nice in my planters up front since mine are still dormant! Also got two black Heucheras that were pretty and cheap to go into those planters. Still need something tall to go into them... My sweet peas are germinating in there so these will not be planted till later.

I also picked up a new Rosemary and since it was buy one get one free, I decided to try an asparagus! I have not a clue as to how to grow those!

At the gardening symposium marketplace I got a Masdevallia, Fuschia 'Autumnale', Milkweed, Tomato 'Tiny Tim', and another plant I'm not sure what it is called off the top of my head.

I saw that my Bhut Jolokia needed repotting as well as my black cherry tomato so I went ahead and did that. I also put them outside while it was cloudy and about to rain so that the adjustment isn't too harsh going from growing under lights in the basement to full blown outdoors. I may have to rescue them tonight and slowly acclimate them again or re-arrange them so they get a bit of shade from some of the other plants till they get used to being outside.

I am almost done adjusting the two orchid flasks I got to lower humidity. They are doing well so far! Hopefully they will continue to do well.

The garlic has been growing like weeds. I have been foliar feeding them seaweed and fish. The garlic book I read said to do it every two weeks, but I have been doing it more. Hopefully I get a really good harvest this year!

Cyp. Aki is about to bloom! I am excited!!!

The arugula and mustard greens I started from seed has sprouted! I almost thought they were weeds too, but luckily did not pull them before I remembered what they were!

There is also a mystery plant out in my front yard that is ready to bloom. I will find out what it is soon!

Orchid Meeting

As I pulled into Costco today, right before going to the orchid meeting, I realized that the "weed" seedlings I pulled out of the front yard the other day were indeed NOT weeds! :( They were the radishes I had planted! Ugh! So now I have to plant new ones!

I had only planned on buying one orchid at the meeting that I had pre-ordered along with some Neofinetia pots. I got to meet the infamous Jason Fischer that so many Phragmapediums are named after! Well...my eye caught Neofinetia 'Red Emperor', the one I had originally wanted when this other speaker came to us, but forgot to bring! Unfortunately for a fellow member, who was looking for a non-white one, I had picked this one up! So...I bought it LOL

After Jason's talk, he expressed his regret on bringing so few plants and that he would give us a discount on what was left, which was about eight plants. By the time I got up there to see what was left, there were only three to choose from, two of which were $100 each! Uhh...no thanks! lol So since I did not buy any Phrags from Jason, for which he is known for, I bought Phrag. Barbara LeAnn. Just what I needed! LOL Oh well...I don't buy $100+ shoes so I will just have to wear my orchids!

On a sad note...Don Crawford passed away. :(

Peonies!

I was clipping spent Hyacinths tonight and took a look at my growing peonies to see if they needed their supports hiked up. As I inspected them I found....BUDS! Granted, I did get them two years ago...I did not expect them to bloom on such a small plant! I am excited to finally get to see two of the three of my peonies bloom! Must've done something right! The one that I do not see any buds on I bought on sale last summer at Lowes. It's supposed to be a white one. It's planted in a much shadier/drier spot so I am not sure how it will do. Hopefully well since I really like these plants! If it does well, I might get more for the backyard!

New Tries

Since it got warm and since I have been home I have been fertilizing my garlics and everything else with a kelp or fish emulsion foliar feed. I am hoping that following the books I read about growing garlic's advice that I will have a GREAT crop this year! I chopped up the stems that didn't rot over winter and added vermicompost, grass clippings and this soil builder stuff I bought to help the lawn's bare spots.

I also did a similar thing to my two pots out front. Every year they fill with leaves from the big tree out front. There were some dead nasturtium twigs in there also. They were nice, dry and crunchy so I just cut them off at the base and with my gloved hands, crushed them up into fine pieces. I then dropped some sweet pea seeds in each and just brushed the leaf mulch around to make sure they were hidden. Hopefully my new idea works! Forgot to water though....that might help!

Spring Happenings

This is how big the Bhut Jolokia seedling has gotten since I started it last September!


Here's a potato growing in my worm bin. I thought they were too shrunken to do anything and look what happened when I tried to compost it!

Long Awaited Bloom

Nine years ago, at my first meeting at the Orchid Society of Western Pennsylvania, I fell in love with Paph. lowii. I bought a "seedling" from the speaker for $20 and thought that was expensive! HA! Little did I know....! Well, nine years later it has finally spiked! It has been in bud for over a month! It has me sitting on the edge of my seat! Well this morning...I saw the first crack of the bud! It is starting to open up! I can't wait!!! I will be updating this slideshow as it opens!

Pinguicula laeuana

With flash...

Without flash...

One Week's Growth!

This is how the alliums looked after a week!

Paph. lowii Bud Progression

This was the bud when I thought it was ready to open, boy was I WRONG!

Still growing! Look at what is inside! Not much!

The bud got even BIGGER when I was away! Still not much inside, but it is growing at least!

Paph. esquirolei Bloom Development