A Few Baby Coleus…

Here are a few of my Coleus babies I have growing in my bedroom.

Coleus ‘Twirl-a-whirl’ (Last years “Mama” plant) + (Cuttings and Hybrids)

Coleus 'Twirl-a-whirl'   Coleus 'Twirl-a-whirl' (Cuttings and Hybrids)

The larger plant on top (of the above right photo) are cuttings I took from the mama plant on the above left photo. During the winter, it has lost it’s swirling petticoat leaf shape and turned greenish orange. It will most likely return to it’s darker swirling leave once it returns outdoors.

The two cups on the bottom (of the photo above right) contain seedlings from the same mother plant as the above cuttings. Two are almost a pure chartreuse while one is chartreuse with a purplish vain. The one on the bottom right is a kaleidoscope of green, burgundy and reds.

Coleus ‘Dark Star’ (Last years “Mama” plant) + (Hybrids)

Coleus 'Dark Star'   Coleus 'Dark Star' (Hybrids)

Coleus ‘Dark Star’ hybrids grown from seeds harvested from the mama plant on the left.

Coleus ‘Rustic Orange’ (Last years “Mama” plant) + (Cuttings)

Coleus 'Rustic Orange'   XXXXXX-XXXXXX.jpg

This cutting (of the above right photo) barely made it… I had it overwintering at work and it died back to almost nothing. I brought it home, took new cuttings (with leave smaller than half an inch) dipped it in rooting hormone and planted them directly in moist perlite. It has really sprung back to life!

It’ll be interesting to see how all these turn out, especially the hybrids.

My Shelves and Growlights

I missed carpool because I worked a little late, so I had to ride the BART, then take a city link bus to get to Vallejo. I got home around 8:45pm and was so tired. Once I walked in the house, I saw a package from Rosy Dawn Gardens. YEAY!!! … My Coleus…. I took photos, but they are still in my camera. I’ll post them later today.

Before I post them, I wanted to show photos of the shelves I added in my bedroom to grow seedlings and overwinter cuttings. This photo was taken about a month ago.

Growlight Shelves

Below is a new photo of the bottom shelf that mostly houses my Coleus. Some are grown from seeds that I collected last year and some are overwintered cuttings. Click on the photo to see some notes I added on with flickr.

Seedlings and Cuttings

The Coleus are Coming…

I got an email from Rosy Dawn Gardens regarding my Coleus order that I placed last year on December 6.

Dear Customer :

Your order shipped Monday, April 3, 2006 via US Priority Mail. Please expect your package in 1-3 days and make arrangements for it to be placed out of the hot or cold weather as soon as it arrives. Be sure to unpack your order immediately and notify us if there is any damage or problems with your order. Your invoice and arrival care instructions are in the packing slip on the top of the box.

Thanks again for ordering from Rosy Dawn Gardens!

Sincerely,

Glenn and Pam
www.rosydawngardens.com

YEAY!!!!… Hmmm?… It’s still cold outside, I hope I have enough space on my shelves with growlights…

Middle of the Night Planting + Laundry + Battlestar Galactica

You know some people wake up in the middle of the night and crave something to eat? Well, I woke up in the middle of the night and decided to pot some seedlings from Jiffy peat pellets to plastic cups. These include the following:

– Roma Tomato
– Japanese Long Eggplant
– Coleus Tabasco?
– Coleus Amora?
– Coleus Tilt-a-whirl

I also noticed that the Carex sp. (Ornamental Grass) that I planted on Jan. 31 has sprouted after a month a few days.

I reorganized my two shelves with grow lights to accommodate the new potted seedlings. I also removed all the plants in the aquarium and just placed them on planting trays on the shelves.

I also did two loads of laundry… This just proves that I definitely am a night owl… Now I think I’ll go back to bed and watch this weeks recording of Battlestar Galactica.

Outgrown Again…

I’m running out of room on my shelves for the seedling I planted, so I got another 2 tubed fluorescent shop light. Instead of a 2 footer, I got a bigger 3 footer, which will still fit on my shelf, but will stick out of one side by about 3 inches.

I rearranged the shelves, trying to optimize the little space I have. I left the aquarium, but removed the aquarium light and just placed the 2 footer shop light on that shelf. On the other is the 3 footer.

Once everything was done, I plugged in the lights and it was so bright!!! I didn’t realize that the 3 footer gave off so much light than the 2 footer. My vegetable seedlings will love this!

I also planted one lone Coleus ‘Exhibition Magma’ seed. That’s the only one I could find. Hopefully, it’ll grow.

More Seedlings…

The Sugar Snap Peas, Roma Tomato, Clemson Spineless Okra and Hybrid Summer Boy Chin-Chiang Cabbage have sprouted in 4 days.

…and last in the Coleus seedling race: Coleus ‘Dark Star’ who took 8 days to sprout.

Happy Valentines Day!!!

Here are some Coleus hearts (from my Coleus ‘Burgundy Wedding Train’) to you… Happy Valentine’s Day!

Burgundy Wedding Train

WonderCon + More Seedlings

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’