Phlox subulata Experiment

t has rarely occurred to me early enough in the season to take cuttings of my creeping phlox. I have one huge candy stripe phlox plant. It looked kind of dry and crappy for most of last year due to some extreme flowering. It blooms for about 4 weeks straight. Happily it came back just fine this Spring. Since it came back I decided I want a few others of it to spread around so I don't obsess over it quite to much. I carefully cut off six 3 in shoots that were not going to flower. It's important that they aren't flowering shoots. I set up 6 3 oz plastic cups with potting soil and poked some holes. I then carefully cut most of the leaves off the shoots except for the top set. On a few I cut the shoots in half and again cut off all the leaves except for the top ones. I dipped the ends in rooting hormone (my first use of it though I've owned it for some time), and potted them up. After watering I put them in a humid plastic box, and will be keeping them damp and warm, but out of bright light for about a month to see where I go. I count it as good luck that 6 hours later the shoots are still alive. My last attempt had already ended in failure by this point. Update: Within two weeks they all turned yellow and keeled over. Might have been a moisture issue, or they just weren't able to grow roots. not really sure.

Sunday in The Garden

^More Columbine^

^New Bearded Iris^

^A Surprise Visitor^ This was the first time I saw an Ebony Jewelwing (Calopteryx maculata) anywhere near my house, never mind in my backyard sitting on my ferns and astilbe.

Due to two thunderstorms and 3 inches of rain, not much else was happily blooming, but I didn't have to water anything...

I need to stay out of Lowes

These guys got me last year too. $1.98 wildflower roots. They even say nursery grown, though I do slightly doubt that. At this point in the season you should only buy ones you see actual root growth, or the roots are firm not at all squishy, because they don't do great sitting in those little bags for long. I've had good luck with Christmas ferns, trillium and jack-in-the-pulpit. Last years attempt at trout lilies doesn't seem to have worked. The Christmas ferns were large enough to plant out this Spring. Thankfully, I didn't see anything in the clearance section, so at least I didn't bring anything else home. These guys will sit in pots over the summer, and maybe next Spring I'll see what really survived.

Cinnamon Ferns from Spores

So last year was the first time my cinnamon fern was large enough to grow fertile fronds, also known as the bit that got them the name cinnamon fern. Through light reading I found that if you want to harvest spores, you have to do so at the right time. I also thought that spores when they're ready were orangy colored. So last year I took the fronds off after they turned orange, and got nothing. This year I started earlier. Yesterday I poked one of this years fronds, and spores came right off. I pulled two of the three fronds I had and put then inside over white paper. this morning I have tons of green spores. I wasn't completely sure they were spores until I found this article Ferns. If you read through the entire thing you eventually get to spores being different colors, and the osmunda family having green spores, so if you wait until the fronds go gold you've missed them. If only I'd read it last year. Now I have to go cook some potting soil.

Sunday in the Garden

^Wild Columbine^ ^Columbine 'Origami'^ ^Crested Iris^ ^Bearded Iris from Bags Last Fall. ^

Lady Slippers Are Up

Potting Waterlilies

Well I bought another water lily and it wasn't even on clearance yet. Supplies needed for potting up water lilies: Water Lily Bulb - Offset from existing tuber, or a new one New Pot, sized for lily (bulb pan used in example) Cat Litter Pans Kitten sized seem to work well too. Something to block holes if needed (I used a piece from a net pond plant pot) Enough Clay Cat Litter to 3/4 fill the pot (MUST BE PURE CLAY NO CLUMPING OR PERFUMES) This is the kind I've used before. Smallish Aquarium Gravel to cover about 1/2 - 1 inch unless you have Koi, which may require a heavier rock size to keep them from digging. Tuber as packaged. I only once made the mistake of dropping one of these plants directly in. They spread roots every where, and when they get huge getting the plastic mesh off is quite a chore. At this size they pop right out. Make sure any tuber you buy is firm. If they have sat around for too long and gotten too dry they tend to molder, if wet sometimes they rot and turn to mush. Cover any holes in your pot with mesh, this is from a pop up grow bag I tried once. Never again the lily roots grow right out all over the place anyway. They're great for filling holes though. 3/4 fill with cat litter. Position the bulb on top with the cut end on an edge and the growing tip aimed at the open space in the pot. If you have one with roots they should be buried as you pour in the cat litter. I put a small amount of gravel in the bottom, just enough to keep the liner from raising, dry cat litter is too light to hold it down. Cover over with a small amount of gravel. Keep the growing tips free of gravel and above the gravel height. Some of the rootless cuttings have a tendency to float, so you may have to hold it down with a U shaped pin, or gently place a few larger rocks on it.

Sunday in the Garden

What's blooming now since the dogs can't get to it.

^Bleeding Heart (white, was labeled pink, somehow I always get white though)^

^Viola (mutt white w/ yellow)^

^Strawberry (Ogallala or Ozark Beauty)^

^Creeping Phlox var. "Candystripe" (my favorite phlox)^ ^Creeping Phlox var. "Candystripe" (the whole plant)^

^Christmas Fern (native)^

^Crested iris (native)^

^Johnny Jump Up Viola (from seed last year)^

^Bird's Foot Violet (native)^

------------------------------- I spent this morning trying to plant out the last of what I overwintered in pots. This is what some of the lily roots looked like. They were certainly ready to go in the ground.

Cold Frame Completion

I gave up on fitting the windows I had to my cold frame and just made a wood frame with plastic stapled to it. It was much faster, though not necessarily cheaper. Right now I'm using it to harden off some lettuce and the perennials I planted from seed indoors. Inside I just planted my cucumbers, some cantaloupes, french green beans and sunflowers. Morning Glory seeds have been soaked overnight, and are going out today since the ones outside are coming up now from last years crop.

Moving the Pond

To go along with the high garden fence I needed to rotate my pond so there would be more running space for the dogs. Moving it wasn't that bad, though getting it empty and getting the plants all out was a hassle. I've been draining it over the last two weeks. Last week I got the plants out into temporary tubs, and this week finally got all the water out. I had been using it to water the other plants, but the sludge at the bottom wasn't really pourable. I decided after getting the plants out last week, that most of them needed to be repotted. All the lilies were trying to grow out the sides of their pots, and the marginals had climbed over the edges last year. I repotted most of the lilies in cat litter pans with pure clay cat litter in the bottom, and gravel on the top. A few got broken apart but grand total is 10 hardy water lilies in a 5 foot by 3 foot pond. The largest one got repotted at the bottom of a tub all by itself since the cat pans weren't big enough for it. This is why every time I walk by those pond plants in a bag I have to stop myself. I only really like the lilies, and since I already have 10, should probably stop getting them on clearance. Maybe I'll buy one more so I can show how I repot them... I was too dirty for pictures yesterday.

ALWAYS Check the Bargain Area

I got five of these tonight at Lowes for $2.50 each, why? They were done blooming, and they had been lazy about watering. They still have full prices on all the other colors. I guess the Emerald Blue was just sent in earlier and they couldn't keep up with it. My aunt wants phlox, so thankfully I just have to keep them alive for a while, rather than find someplace to plant them after the six I planted last weekend.