Gardening on the Last Weekend in August

Saturday, I cleaned up the square where I previously planted the four Fun Jen Bok Choy that was attacked by some digging critter.

Four Red Winter Kale Planted

In its place, I planted four Red Winter Kale plants and placed wire edging around it to try to deter whatever critter did the digging last time.

Bok Choy 'Fun Jen' Potted Up

I then decided not to plant some of the other Fen Jen Bok Choy in the square foot garden bed and planted four in a large Daiso pot.

Hydrangea macrophylla 'Tricolor' Potted

The Tricolor Hydrangea that I recently purchased looked like it need to be potted up, so I did that, placing it in a 3-4 gallon pot. I also moved it over to a more shaded area.

My Aunt and Cousins came over and I gave them some Red Giant Mustard and a cutting from both my Santa Barbara Red Dragonfruit and the Dragonfruit that I grew many years ago.

Dragonfruit Progress

Now that I see my old Dragonfruit plant getting bigger and bigger, I really need to figure out where to plant them. I initially thought of planting it by a pole in the front yard, but I noticed the Santa Barbara Dragonfruit in that area gets too much sun and is getting bleached out, so I need to fine a more shaded location.

Unknown Succulent

As I was cleaning an area under our Bosc Pear tree, I noticed a multi-stem succulent that was growing there, it started rooting but was still able to pull it up. I thought it would look nice if it were properly planted into a pot and given more light. So I planted it into a 3 gallon pot. I didn’t know what it was, so I posted a query with a photo of it to Flickr and Instagram and some responded that it was a Sedum praealtum.

I noticed that the Bromeliads that I purchased back in June (2016) are doing well.

Neoregelia 'Lucky ???'

The Aechmea recurvata of them actually has two pups now.

Aechmea recurvata

I moved the Echeveria ‘Chroma’ from the front yard where I thought I may get attached by slugs and snails to the back to join all my other succulents.

Echeveria 'Chroma' Blooming

I took six cuttings from a broken Iresine branch and also potted up a little Spearmint cutting.

Iresine and Spearmint Cuttings

It was already dark Sunday evening and I ended my gardening by potting up a Masdevallia barlaeana ‘Harold’ that was still in a 2-inch pot into a hanging Orchid basket.

Masdevallia barlaeana 'Harold'

Pacific Orchid Exposition 2012 + Orchid Purchases…

My Mom and I went to the San Francisco Pacific Orchid Exposition at Fort Mason in San Francisco. Like in the previous years, the Orchids were beautiful and there was so much to see. I’ll post photos from the show in a later entry.

Since we tend to kill Orchids, we have only purchased Orchids that will survive outdoors, mainly cool/intermediate weather Orchids like Cymbidiums, Epidendrum and Masdevallias, with a few Zygopetalum and Maxillaria.

I found two inexpensive Masdevallias:
Masdevallia Angel Glow ‘Zi’
Masdevallia Angel Frost ‘Sunset Velour’

My Mom wasn’t going to leave the show until she got a few Orchids. She wanted a particular Dendrobium, but that Orchid needed bright light and warm weather, so we didn’t get that. She ended up choosing two:
Epicattleya Rene Marques ‘Tyler’
Epidendrum Crystal Valley ‘Orange Ball’

For fun, I searched the internet for the parentage of these Orchids and here’s what I came up with:
Continue reading

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…

June 10 Gardening…

Planted another African Violet leaf cutting. This one has solid dark pink flowers.

My Huayna-Picchu Masdevallia Orchid bloomed for the first time last night. When I saw it, an insect was pirched on its top petal…

I still don’t know where to plant my French Terragon (Artemisa dracunculus ‘Sativa’) that’s in a 2″ pot, so I potted it up to a 4″ pot.

I planted four Lemon Cucumbers (into 3 squares) in Veggie Bed #2.

Planted a container with Agrostemma githago ‘Ocean Pearls’ Folia, Layia platyglossa ‘Tidy Tips’ Folia and Pesto Perpetuo Basil Folia.

Orchid Wooden Pots + Chayote Progress + Coconut Orchid Goes to Work…

12:36am I need to do some research on Orchid Wooden Pots… I want to make some for my Masdevallia Orchids… #

6:19pm My Chayote at work has really sprouted!… It has about 7 branches with the tallest about 5 inches… j.mp/clf0rT #

Chayote Progress (March 1, 2010)

7:47pm Brought in my new Maxillaria tenuifolia (Coconut Orchid) to work today… I have to pass by OSH tonight and get some Orchid Mix. #

New Orchids + Wild Flowers + Swiss Chard Harvest…

11:52pm I purchased 5 Masdevallias: Masd. Red Panda, Masd. Huayna Picchu, Masd. Ruby Slippers ‘Baby’, Masd. Flying Colors & Masd. Tovarensis… #

New Orchids from POE 2010

11:53pm I also bought Maxillaria tenuifolia (Coconut Orchid), Bletilla striata var alba (White Chinese Ground Orchid) and Epidendrum Green Hornet#

12:10am Short orange flowers are in bloom along the freeway near El Cerrito. I think they are Wild Calendula or something similar. #

12:18am The hills along the freeways are really green with splotches of yellow from the Wild Mustard flowers. My Mom says the hills looks like maps. #

11:29pm Harvested some Swiss Chard (about 8 bigs leaves) from the garden and will try to dehydrate them like the Kale Chips#