Monthly Archives: February 2006

WonderCon + More Seedlings

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I spent the day (Saturday) in San Francisco with my friend Howie and we went to Comic-Con International’s WonderCon in the new Moscone Center West. There were all types of comics, sci-fi stuff (Star Wars, Battlestar Galactica, etc.), anime, video and toys. I bought a couple of toys which I’ll bring to work and use for ideas for the garden. I’ll post photos and explain my ideas later.

When I got home, I found that two more seedlings have emerged:

– Coleus ‘Tilt-A-Whirl’
– Eggplant ‘Scarlet Chinese’

Seedling Status…

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Coleus ‘Amora?’ just sprouted.

The ‘Brandywine OTV’ and ‘Great White’ Tomato seedlings are about 3 inches tall and starting to show their third set of leaves.

The two Pine seedlings are fascinating and showing their second set of leaves.

Coleus Up + More Seeds Down…

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I just checked my Jiffy Mini-Greenhouse planted with Coleus and to my surprise, three of them have started to come up, just after four days. They are ‘Kong Green’, ‘Kong Scarlet’ and ‘Tabasco?’.

I also sow more seeds into the Jiffy Greenhouse (72 Pellets):

– Sugar Snap Peas (12 pellets)
– Japanese Long Purple Eggplant (6 pellets)
– Roma Tomato (3 pellets)
– Clemson Spineless Okra (3 pellets)
– Bok Choy (12 pellets)
– Hybrid Summer Boy Chin-Chiang Cabbage (6 pellets)
– Fordhook Giant Swiss Chard (6 pellets)
– Salad Bowl Lettuce (8 pellets)
– Grand Rapids Lettuce (8 pellets)
– Mighty Red Oak Lettuce (8 pellets)

The Start of Garden Work…

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It was beautiful outside, so I did some garden maintenance in the front yard. I first cut down and removed all the dead Sunflowers and Zinnias. Our dog Kelly accompanied me in my chores as our neighbor’s kid kept trying to call her. Kelly pretty much ignored them, because she was busy cutting the grass.

I tried to pull as many weeds as I can and cleaned up the Swiss Chard, Rudbeckia and Mums. This was worth two 5-gallon containers of composting materials.

My mom wanted to pull up the Dahlias in the front planting area, which hasn’t been divided in I can’t remember how many years. This was no easy task because the tubers were huge (like grocery potatoes) and they were intertwined with out White Birch tree’s roots. They were also Dutch Iris and Columbine that we wanted to save, so I had to carefully dig these up and put them aside, until we can replant. It started getting dark, so I could not finish. Those Dahlia tubers were really stuck in the Birch’s root, and I’ll have to tackle this later.

I also collected all the plant labels that were in the planting beds. I washed the dirt off of them and place them away for safe-keeping. Which reminds me, I want to get some black plant labels for my seedlings.

Now, I have a blister from cutting the Sunflower and Zinnia into small compostable pieces. and my back is sore. Gosh, I feel old… hehe :)

Other applications of rooting hormone?

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I asked these question on a propagation forum but wanted see if anyone here had additional information.

I’ve dipped cuttings in rooting hormone then placed it in soil to root. I was wondering if you can use rooting hormone in other ways:

1. Will rooting hormone added to water accelerate rooting of cuttings? (assuming the plant roots in water, i.e. coleus)

2. Can you sprinkle rooting hormone on a crawling plant’s stem that is in contact with soil to accelerate it’s rooting? (assuming the plant roots when in contact with soil, i.e. mint, creeping jenny, some succulents)?

3. Are these applications not a good idea or bad for the cuttings?

Thanks in advance for your help.

( Also posted in Gardening )

Garden Status…

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With me planting Tomatoes and Coleus and a few other things, I totally forgot that I should have started planting the cool weather plants, like Bok Choy, Lettuce, Peas, Chard, etc… So, since I have one more day off of work, I’ll go and do that tommorow, and also try to do some maintenance in the back.

Here are some things I noticed in the garden:
– The Drawf Sweet Peas are really thriving and are starting to really flower.
– More Daffodils are starting to open.
– The Yellow Crocus just starting to show some green leaves.
– The pruned Roses are leafing out.

A Trip to the San Francisco Conservatory of Flowers…

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Today, I got to feel the warmth of the sun. I think we reached about 70° F and expect the same for tommorrow. I have the day off from work and drove (with the windows open) to San Francisco to go to the San Francisco Conservatory of Flowers in Golden Gate Park. They have free admission every first Tuesday of the month, so I thought I would take advantage of it.

It was my first time there (believe it or not) and I was surprised at all the plants they had. Mostly heat loving plants, like palms, orchids, tropical plants and aquatic plants. It was definitely humid in there and I was glad that I didn’t bring a jacket.

There was a special orchid exhibition, so I got to see and photograph all different kinds. One that really stood out for me was a blue cymbidium hybrid. I also saw some plants that I’ve only seen in photos, like the fruits of a banana, an actual coffee bean, a pitcher plant (which was really trippy), rice plants growing along with the aquatics and some variegated banana and palm.

I was glad I took the time to go, maybe next month, I’ll take my Mom, so she can experience it too. She was awed by all the orchid photos and surprised of the ones growing in trees; I guess she’s never seen that. A lot of the plants reminded her of the Philippines. She kept on saying that they had that plant there.

Of course… photos to come.

Auntie’s Orchids

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Auntie's Orchids (1)   Auntie's Orchids (1)

[Added Feb. 8, 2006] These are Miltassia Royal Robe ‘Jerry’s Pick’ and Beallara Peggy Ruth Carpenter ‘Morning Joy’. Thanks to Flickr user ‘Dave on Long Island’ for the ID.