Lookie, My New Fishies…
Category Archives: Gardening
Live Christmas Tree for My New House…
Just a thought… When I get my own house, I want to get a live Christmas Tree to plant in a large container. I’ll keep it in the back and take to the front of the house and decorated with lights at Christmas time. I’ll so some research and see what trees don’t grow too big or can be controlled with pruning.
Does anyone do this?
Cheap planting pots that are readily available…
My Coleus and Plectranthus cuttings at work have rooted, so I really have to get some pots and plant them in soil. I don’t want to bring a bunch of mismatched 4 inch pots to work, because they are sitting my co-workers office, and I don’t want them too look too unsightly. I searched the internet for bulk pots that were taller than regular 4 inch pots, but not wider. I couldn’t fine any; they were either too expensive or too large a quantity to buy.
I went to my friend’s Christmas party this evening and they had clear plastic Solo drinking cups. Measuring 4 inches at the top lip, 2.5 inches at the base and 5 inches tall, they were close to the size I wanted… so, at the end of the party, I helped clean up, collected the drinking cups and brought them home. The only thing I didn’t like was the fact that they were clear.
I stopped by the grocery and found opaque ones called SoloGrips in different colors. I can use these as the pots. I’ll cut the clear one to about an inch tall and use those as the saucers. Very Cool!!!… Cheap planting pots that are readily available!
I’ll make one up and take photos to illustrate what I said above.
Latin Names and Nomenclature Questions…
I posted the following in the Gardening community ( link )
Hello Fellow Plant-lovers… I’ve just began to get interested in the Latin names of my various plants and have a few questions about nomenclature. Please forgive me/correct me if I’m using the incorrect terms.
I’m using these 6 examples for the questions below:
a. Kalanchoe tomentosa
b. Crassula perfoliata ‘Falcata’
c. Crassula perfoliata var. falcata
d. Crassula perfoliata falcata ‘Morgans Beauty’
e. Crassula perfoliata ssp. falcata
f. Crassula lycopodioides f. variegata
I generally have seen the Latin names as [Genus species] as in (a). I’ve also seen [Genus species ‘Something’] as in (b).
1. Is the ‘Something’ between the single quotes called a “cultivar”?
Today as I was surfing Google, I ran into a couple of unfamiliar nomenclatures (c-f)
2. Is (c) equivalent to (b)?… and what does “var.” mean?
3. In (d) they have 4 terms. Is this a correct usage?
4. In (e) and (f), what does “ssp.” and “f.” mean.
Sorry, if I sound so elementary. I’ve generally been using the common names of my plants, but recently discovered I have a couple of plants that have the same common name, like “Jade Plant”.
Thanks in advance for all your help.
Also, if any one of you is good at identifying plant names, I have a photo set on flickr.com with plants I can’t identify. You can check it out here. ( link )
Help: Need Advice on a Broken Jade Plant…
When I went to the garden today, I noticed that my mom’s Jade Plant (Crassula argentea) was laying on the ground. At first I thought my mom pulled it out, but after inspecting it, it looks like the plant broke from its weight. I was wondering why my mom would pull a plant that we’ve had for over 18 years. It has grown over 5 feet tall (64 inches); the trunk measured about 5 inch in diameter and about 16 inch around.
Help!… I’m not sure what to do. Will this plant root if I dig a hole and place the broken trunk in it? Will it root if I place the trunk in a bucket of water? Is there a way to save or revive the whole plant?
My Mom’s broken Jade Plant
Makin’ Newspaper Pots…
Here’s the sequel to Newspaper Mulch… “Newspaper Pots”
1. Cut a page of newspaper in half.
2. Fold the top and bottom in to form a strip. For my pots, I used the sink tiles as a guide and made the strips 4 inches tall.
3. Roll the strip around a soda can.
4. Secure the strip with a little piece of masking tape at the top.
5. Move the can up to make room at the bottom to push the sides in. Fold the seam into the bottom of the can.
6. Repeat folding around the sides in until you have created a bottom for the pot. If you want, you can also place a little piece of tape here.
7. Here’s the finished Newspaper Pot.
8. Fill to the top with potting mix.
9. Sow some seeds in it and place in a tray.
I saw instructions to make pots out of newspaper on the web and modified it to the size I want. In my case, a soda can was the perfect size, but you can use a bigger can or a bottle.
This is the first time I’ve done this, so I’m not sure if the walls of the pot are thick enough. I may use 2 plies of newspaper in step 1 next time… I’ll just see how this first batch goes.
Once the plants are ready to transplant, place the whole thing including the newspaper in the ground. The newspaper should decompose and you won’t have to disturb the roots.
How’d I do? :)
