I was reading the Perennial Vegetable by Eric Toenameier and discovered that Cassava is in the Euphorbiacaea family. I didn’t know that!
When I showed my Mom the photo in the book, she cracked me up when she said it looks like Marijuana.
Tag Archives: euphorbia
July 4th Gardening…
My Masdevallia Orchids in the hanging wooden pots I made are doing quite well. I replaced the string from the two of the pots where hanging on with much stronger galvanized wire.
The flowers of the Masd. Huayna Picchu and Masd. Ruby Slippers ‘Baby’ continue to bloom…
I see a new Masd. Huayna Picchu flower spike forming. It’s interesting how many tiny spots there are on the flower and the flower spike.
I took dead leaves off Masd. Red Panda, but I noticed that it has new growth.
Told my Mom that as one of my Orchid flower matures, the bottom petals cross over. She replied, “just like what I do in my exercises.”
I divided the Dragon Fruit Cactus and potted it up into a larger terra cotta pot. Hopefully, it’ll continue to grow larger.
I noticed that the Euphorbia platyclada has tiny little dark yellow blooms, which are not noticable until you really look at it closely.
On the opposite end, the Rebutia krainziana is putting up very noticeable yellow blooms. This is the second round of blooms for this cactus this year.
I noticed that the two Japanese Long Purple Eggplants both have fruits. One has three and the other just one… but they both continue to have flowers, even though they are still just about a foot tall. I hope they grow taller.
I planted two more Coleus pots today. In one pot that I found the Plectranthus argentatus ‘Longwood Silver’ in, I planted a big dark maroon leafed Coleus with no name.
In another pot, I planted:
– Coleus ‘Sedona’
– Coleus ‘Electric Lime’
– Coleus ‘Mariposa’
For some reason, some of the leaves on the Tomato ‘Rutger’s Select’ are burning from the sun, but the other Tomatoes next to it are fine. I hope that they’ll be okay and just keep growing.
I harvested some seeds from a plant I purchased from Annie’s Annuals, but I can’t remember what it is called… something Tips… I’ll have to look it up…
Lotsa Gardening Going On…
My Coleus hunt continues… I went to Mid City Nursery and picked up three more Coleus:
– Coleus ‘Henna’
– Coleus ‘Dipt in Wine’
– Coleus ‘Glennis’
Me and my Mom are clearing Veggie Bed #2. I’m pulling up the old Kale Dwarf Blue Curled and my Mom is gathering up the river rock mulch. I’ll add some compost and potting soil to raise back the soil, then figure out what to plant next. Most likely Tomatoes and Pepper and maybe a Potato.
I planted 4 more Coleus pots today…
Coleus Pot #7:
– Coleus ‘Swallowtail’
– Coleus ‘Rustic Orange’
– Coleus ‘Dipt in Wine’
Coleus Pot #8:
– Coleus ‘Chocolate Mint’
– Coleus ‘Sunset Strip’
– Coleus ‘Snazzy’
Coleus Pot #9:
– Coleus ‘Molten Lava’
– Coleus ‘Henna’
– Coleus ‘Lava Rose’
Coleus Pot #10:
– Coleus ‘Florida Sun Jade’
– Coleus ‘Indian Summer’
– Coleus ‘Glennis’
Sweet Peas in the backyard are pretty much spent so I’m collecting the seedpods and chopping them down…
Working in the garden with a Citronella candle to ward of the mosquitos…
My Oriental Limelight Artemisia is growing way to big and overshadowing the Orange Fuz Geranium growing the the same pot, so I cut some of its canes down to make some room for the Geranium to get more light. I also removed a bunch of dead leaves from the bottom part of the Artemisia. I think they’ll be ok for now, but I’ll probably separate them come fall.
I was cutting some of the old Red Texas Star Hibiscus stem off and noticed a couple tiny blue balls in the Mondo Grass growing in the same pot. I think it’s the Mondo Grass seedpod… It really cool, but it’s too dark to take a photo of it right now. I’ll do that tomorrow…
There are currently 4 Red Texas Star Hibiscus growing. These have never bloomed, so I’m wondering if I should pot it up to a bigger pot…
I accidentally knocked over the Euphorbia genoudiana pot, so I potted it up into it’s new permanent home…
Succulents…
I checked the Peas that my Mom saw the bird eating yesterday and they looked like they were bald. I hope they will recover… My Mom but some netting around it, but I think I’ll go to the store and get the thinning netting for gardens.
I thought I was going to do more gardening, but there was not much to do. So I moved a few things around and watered a bit.
I also took a photo inventory of most of our Succulents and Cactus… I didn’t realize how much we had. I don’t even think I got everything…
Here are photos of four more additions that I purchased recently from the dollar store
I’m pretty sure the tall white one is Variegated Indian Corn Cob (Euphorbia mammillaris var. variegata), but I don’t know what the others are.
Weekend Gardening
I thought I would be doing a lot of gardening this weekend, but there was actually not much to do. Surprisingly, the weather was warm… even after the rains we got mid-week.
I transfered about 18 Spinach seedlings from 2 six-packs into 3 inch pots.
The Bok Choy and Lettuce that I planted to replace the ones that were eaten are sprouting… and the Swiss Chard that were spared are getting bigger now.
Hopefully, we’ll have a lot of greens for the Fall, Winter and Spring.
The Sweet Peas and Snap Peas are also sprouting, but I won’t plat them in the bed until they get a little bigger, since they seems to be favorites of the birds and slugs.
I potted up a succulent (I think it’s some type of Kalanchoe) that has been growing from a leaf. I’ll have to post photos later, to see if anyone can identify it.
On Sunday, I took my mom to do some grocery shopping at the Filipino store, then we stopped by the 99¢ store and I found 2 more Cactus (actually one is a Euphorbia, so technically, 1 cactus)… I’ll post photos later.
Oh, I also forgot that on Friday afternoon, I took a late lunch and walked up Filbert Steps again to shot a few photos.
Wish List: Euphorbias
As I was trying to help a fellow Flickr-mate ID a plant, I stumbled around these that I thought were neat. Both are in the Euphorbiaceae family.
– Euphorbia bicolor ( DG PlantFile )
– Acalypha wilkesiana ‘Ceylon’ (Copperleaf, Jacob’s Coat, Fire-Dragon) ( DG PlantFile )
5 Day Weekend…
Friday, July 1
Today was the start of my 5 day holiday weekend. I had a lot of errands to do so I was only able to do a little bit of maintenance gardening and everything is looking good.
My mom and I went to Mid City Nursery in American Canyon. Even though this nursery is less than 10 minutes away from my house, I’ve never been to it because it closes before I get home from work.
I was very impressed. They had a lot of plants that I normally don’t see in larger garden centers, including some Fuchsias, Coleus and Euphorbias that I liked. I ended up buying 4 plants (I’ll post photos later)
Euphorbia Mozambique
Fuchsia hybrid “Golden Marinka”
Fushsia triphylla “Firecracker”
Coleus “Velvet Lime”
Saturday-Monday, July 2-4
My friend Darwin and I are going to Reno to take a mini vacation and visit my friend Michael. Michael introduced me to Coleus last year and actually gave me my first cutting (unfortunately it didn’t survive). Michael is starting his “Garden Design and Installation” business and I was looking forward to seeing him and his work… So I packed some Coleus I rooted and brought it along with the business cards that I designed for him.
We visited several nurseries and I did buy some plants (I’ll post photos later):
Coleus “Pat Martin”
Coleus “Jade”
Coleus “New Orleans Red”
Coleus “Stained Glassworks Burgundy Wedding Train”
Coleus “Gay’s Delight”
Perilla “Magilla”
Michael also gave me a cute little hypertufa pot that he made planted with a succulent.
Tuesday, July 3
Since this was my last day of the long weekend I wanted to visit the Berkeley Horticultural Nursery again… just to see if they had any new Coleus…. and they did… so I ended up buying five more… I just couldn’t resist.
Coleus “Wild Lime”
Coleus “Wild Lime” (I think this one is mislabeled because it’s different than the previous “Wild Lime”)
Coleus “Exhinition Magma”
Coleus “Rustic Orange”
Coleus “Trailing Rose Frost”
I also noticed another nursery on the way home. So I checked it out and OMG they had a Coleus sale. Buy 3 get one free… So I got four more along with a Euphorbia species. The Coleus were old and already flowering, but I’ll just take cuttings of them and make new plants.
Coleus “Dragon Black”
Coleus “Tabasco”
Coleus “Sunshine Burgundy Sun”
Coleus “Kong Green”
With all these new plants, I stopped by a local store and got a couple of cheap 18 inch pots. I also got Mondo Grass Ophiopogon and “found” some detached baby succulents.
Once home, I did major potting. All in all, I potted 5 succulents, a hanging Fuchsia pot and 3 large pots with Coleus.
I’m sleepy, so that’s it for now… I’ll post some pictures soon…
[edited June 8, 2005: Added missing plant names]
3 More Succulents…
I’m really getting addicted to planting again… I went shopping with my mom and I got 3 succulents in 2″ containers. One Sedum spathulifolium “Carnea” and two other Euphorbias that didn’t have tags, so I have to research their names.
I’ve collected cactus and succulents for as long as I remember. I especially the ones in 2″ pots because I get a sense of satisfaction watching them grow and develop.
For the last couple of years, when friends ask me what I want for my birthday or Christmas, I tell them to get me an unusual 2″ cactus… and that all I want. (Hint, hint!!!)