Category Archives: Gardening

Mo Pots…

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I potted up some Coleus pots this evening.

In one (first photo) I planted ‘Peter Wonder‘, ‘Splash‘, and an Unnamed Burgundy. Between the three, I placed the Lamium ( photo ) that I rooted.

Coleus Pot #21 Coleus Pot #22

In the second (second photo) I planted ‘Dappled Apple‘, ‘Kiwi Apple‘, and half a 4″ pot of Red Fountain Grass. I also placed Lamium between the plants.

I used the other half of the Red Fountain Grass to fill out some of the empty spaces in an existing pot of ‘Amora‘ that was a little leggy and didn’t look so good.

Coleus Pot #17

A Day of Mortaring…

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I’ve been taking a little vacation from my gardening journal, but I still have been gardening and buying plants (I can’t help it).

I also have been setting up my Veggie Bed #2 for mortaring, which after procrastinating, finally mortared today.

Red Mortar   Mortared Brick Wall

A couple days ago, as I was rearranging the brick, I took this photo of the overgrown Chocolate Mint in the bed.

Spreading Chocolate Mint

Enough with the Mealy Bugs!!!

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I planted a small terra cotta pot with four Coleus ‘Pat Martin’ plants.

I was planning on planting another Coleus pot with the ‘Velvet Lime’, but the it, along with the ‘Dragon Black’ was just infested with Mealy Bugs, so I made a decision to decapitate them and try to start new cuttings. I got all (or at least most) of the Mealy Bugs off the cutting and planted them in drinking cups covered with plastic bags. I hope these grow fast.

One More Try (What The Heck Is This?)

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I saw this plant along the bottom of Telegraph Hill in San Francisco… and I’m still wondering what it is.

Mystery Plant Flowers

Mystery Plant Flowers

2 more photos: leaves and the whole plant

Naic Town Fiesta / San Leandro Marina

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Last weekend we attended an annual event called “Naic Town Fiesta” in San Leandro Marina where people from my Mom’s home town Naic, Cavite, Philippines get together and have a big potluck and celebrate their Patron Saint.

I took this opportunity to explore the San Leandro Marina and see what plants it had growing wild.

Naic Alliance in California Banner   Unknown Succulent

Unknown Flower   San Leandro Marina

There are a lot of flowers that the people from Naic bring to celebrate their Patron Saint. Here are a few of them:

Flower Buds   Pink Edged Yellow Roses

Anyone know what the purple flower buds above are?
I totally can’t remember what those are called.

Peach Roses   Yellow Mums

The two Roses above are the cuttings I took from the last entry.

Afternoon Walk…

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This morning (Tuesday) on my way to work, I took an alternate route to check on the Coleus that I had my eye out for. The one in the bank window planter and guess what??!!! They totally replaced all the plants with new ones!!!! That pretty Coleus is GONE!!! :( :( :(

I was upset for two reasons. (1) I should have taken a snip of that Coleus when I had the chance. (2) They pulled that pretty Coleus before it reached it’s peak!!!

Needless to say, I decided to take a walk around our district for lunch since it was a warm day… (and subconsciously, I was hoping I would see another Coleus)

Here are some photos from my walk:

Unknown Plant   Strawberry-like Groundcover Flower Buds

Unknown Maroon Foliage   Unusual Succulent

I have more on my May 16, 2006 Flickr page. I also have a lot of unknown plants, so if you are up for an ID’ing challenge, please come by :)

And lastly, as I was walking to carpool, I saw Larry, Darryl and Darryl:

Larry, Darryl and Darryl

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 )

Avocado + Oxalis

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It’s been a tiring two days, with me and my Mom going back and forth between home and the South Bay for my sister-in-law’s father’s funeral.

We got to visit my Aunt’s and Uncle’s second house; the one with three Avocado trees. I was excited to actually see a real life Avocado tree.

My Aunt also gave me some Oxalis weeds that I’ve been wanting for a while. They looks like this. I know they can spread rapidly, but I’m going to plant these in a pot to keep it at bay. We have some other types of Oxalis weeds, but the are not at all as rampant as I’ve heard people say they are. I just think these Yellow Oxalis are so pretty.