Tag Archives: coleus

Winter Vacation…

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I can’t wait for winter to end…

I’ve hardly gardened in our yard after being discouraged by some really cold weather… well, relative to our normal weather. We’ve had a couple weeks below freezing, which is normal elsewhere… but is kinda rare for our area.

Here are a few of my indoor winter projects:

Coleus: I’ve been overwintering my Coleus in my bedroom again and I think I now have around 40-60 different cultivars. Several didn’t make it, but most survived, some better than others. I’ve had problems with mealy bugs and ants, and can’t seem to get rid of them. I actually took everything out of my room today and sprayed them off in the back. Hopefully, I got rid of a majority of them.

Orchids: I have also started a small collection of Orchids, which I got as gifts or pass-a-long, or $5 baby plants I got from Home Depot. I recently added a few more with plants I got from the Pacific Orchid Expo which was in San Francisco this weekend.

Cactus: I (re)discovered a package of Cactus seed and planted them…. and they are growing really well.

Mango: I thought I would try planting a Mango seed from a Mango we got from the grocery store, just for the heck of it… I didn’t think it would grow, but surprisingly it grew really really fast. It’s a little more than a month since I planted the seed and the plant is now about 7 inched tall.

Feijoa (Pineapple Guava): I got several seedlings of a very tasty Feijoa, which a grower was giving away at the last scion exchange. I’m trying to grow them and hopefully in a few years, I’ll have my own Feijoa tree.

One other kinda big thing happened last month was that the company I work for moved to the building next door… and luckily my new cubicle has windows!!! Now I can garden at work… and I now have more than half of my overwintering Coleus on my window sill :)

“Collection of Coleus”

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I just saw the TV guide and today’s episode of Gardening by the Yard is entitled “Collection of Coleus“… You know I’m TiVo’ing it!

Here on the Pacific coast (DirecTV), it’s on at 8:30am on HGTV.

Sunday Gardening…

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I took more Coleus (and Plectranthus) cuttings today… As I was tagging the photos on Flickr, I noticed that I missed some plants, so I probably will have to have a Part 3.

Coleus Cuttings Part 2

I actually didn’t do much… because I napped a lot today…

I happened to check the Columbine seedlings ( sown seeds photo ) which I thought were either dead or would never grow, but surprisingly, there where a couple that sprouted and grew… though small and thin. I took them out of the vermiculite and planted each one in a pot. I hope they will continue to grow.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/joeysplanting/252171815/

Cukes and Cuttings…

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Today, I was finally able to do some gardening. (It’s been getting dark outside when I get home from work)

I started the day by getting the oil changed in my car. While I was waiting, I found a whole bunch of cactus and succulents at the dollar store. I ended up buying three. ( photo )

The Snow Peas that I planted last week are doing well. I’m glad the pincher bugs or slugs didn’t get to them.

I planted more Snap Peas, because not all of the ones I planted last week germinated. I was going to plant these where the Lemon Cucumbers are, but they are still fruiting, so I need to find another place for them.

Speaking of Lemon Cucumbers, I harvest a lot today. I didn’t see a lot of them because they were hiding the leaves.

A Basket of Lemon Cucumber   Lemon Cucumber

As I was looking through the veggie beds, I decided to pull up the Gold Rush Zucchini since it was dying down and I didn’t really like the fruits. In its place, I set up some trellises and added some compost. I’ll plant the Snap Peas here once they get bigger.

Gold Rush Zucchini Texture   Coleus Cuttings

I then had the urge to plant… So I took a few Coleus cuttings, which I will overwinter for next year… Then I took more and more and ended up taking more than 30 cuttings.

Coleus Salad?

Bel Air Coleus

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On Sunday, my friend Darwin and I went to his relatives in Roseville, CA for his niece’s birthday party. They ran out of soda, so we drove to a nearby Bel Air market to get some. Right when we get in, I saw some Coleus that they were selling as house plants. The label read “Topical Foliage”… How generic can you get! Darwin graciously bought it for me :)

Unknown Coleus from Bel Air

A Little Bit of Gardening…

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I haven’t been able to work on the garden in a while. Today I was able to do a little bit, today… although I still have to fix up my third vegetable bed for the fall vegetables.

I did my monthly Coleus pot moves, moving some of the pots in the front patio back to the back and some pots from the back to be highlighted in the front. That way everyone gets their time in the spotlight…

The Coleus are in bloom now. I’ve been clipping the flowers back, but for some of the varieties that are past their prime, I’m letting them go.

I did notice that one of them is close to dead. I’ve had trouble with Coleus ‘Fishnet Stockings’ since the spring. For some reason the mealy bugs really like it and have been attacking no matter how much i try to spray them out. So I took some cuttings to see if I can start some off to over-winter.

I also sowed four six packs of Sugar Snap Peas and Dwarf Gray Peas (a Snow Pea)… I was gonna sow some lettuce and chard and other greens, but my Mom wanted to go grocery shopping, go I had to go. I’ll plant those tomorrow.

Coleus ‘Red Ruffles’ and ‘Peter Wonder’

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A photo of Coleus ‘Red Ruffles’ (left) for lblanchard. I think this Coleus looks like a red version of Coleus ‘Peter Wonder’ (right).

Coleus 'Red Ruffles'   Coleus 'Peter Wonder'

‘Kong Green’ Babies…

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Last year I had two Kong Coleus. (Coleus ‘Kong Scarlet’ and Coleus ‘Kong Green’)

The ‘Kong Green’ cutting that I wanted to overwinter didn’t survive, so I planted some seeds that I harvested, hoping that I would get more ‘Kong Green’ plants. Instead I got four different looking children.

Coleus 'Kong Green 4 (Hybrid)'   Coleus 'Kong Green 3 (Hybrid)'

Coleus 'Kong Green 2 (Hybrid)'   Coleus 'Kong Green 1 (Hybrid)'

Here’s the mama plant from last year (2005).

Coleus 'Kong Green'