PBS Forum

Even if not uncommon, I enjoy these flowers around town that I photographed today. Beautiful.

And the daffodils I photographed in March, continuing to grow and bloom even overgrown with wisteria and other weedy plants in an abandoned place - may we all continue to thrive and flower.

Cyclamen rholfsianum is in flower in my greenhouse. 

And multiple pots of Rhodophiala bifida are minimally making an appearance above the soil in their tube pots. Rain forecast for later today and for the next several days so I moved a dozen or so pots outdoors. That will fast forward them into bloom.

Last fall I brought in several pots of caladiums and put them in the basement for a winter rest. Then forgot about them. When discovered in ? late June or perhaps the beginning of July the soil was dust and the tubers . . . well, take a guess as to what they looked like. So I threw them into the compost heap.

A eureka moment - they resurrected themselves. Multiple healthy leaves appeared. So I dug them out and potted them up. They are thriving and I am happy.

Not that I ever thought of hardiness zones as more than a stumbling attempt - based only on winter cold, nothing about duration, soil type, protection of reliable winter snow cover, etc. But . . .

Temperatures here in western New Jersey are somewhat moderate so far this summer while my daughter living outside Houston in Texas is enduring torrid temperatures to say the least.

Hardly any snow last winter, this summer has been dry until we were deluged with 2.5 inches of rain in less than 24 hours. And a recent nighttime thunderstorm with near constant lightening and thunder (some only 3 seconds apart = a half mile away) and rain drumming on the skylight. Power out but that's common.

So my question for those who like to speculate - are hardiness zones in need of a revision?

Having brought the two large pots of dormant Oxalis regnellii 'Purpurea' up from the basement and repotted them I have a plethora of extra tubers. I have eaten wood sorrel leaves, also oca.

Does anyone know if any portions of the purple leaf oxalis are edible?

 

It must have been the heavy rain / flood we had back in 2020, I think it was. It must have been the flood which - having completely blocked the culvert under the road then flowed over it. 

Now there are suddenly clumps of galanthus and eranthis and leucojum in flower across the street. Some against the fence of the neighbors sheep pasture, others here and there in the adjacent property.

I absolutely know the neighbors never planted them.

I suppose I'll leave them be rather than try to dig them up and move them back. There are too many, and too much to do here at home.

Here's an image of some eranthis in the fallen leaves with the end of a metal guard rail showing.

Sending hopes for peace, health and happiness in the new year to my PBS friends. And also wishes for beautiful bulbs in flower, unaffected by slugs and snails and herbivorous animals.

Not plants, You know those little plastic tags that hold closed the plastic bag around packaged bread, hot dog rolls, and such like? I just learned that there is a system for classifying them. It's adorable! and offers insight into how classification works.

Here is a link to their site: Holotypic Occlupanid Research Group http://www.horg.com/horg/
which is very detailed, even a guide to symbols Latin color chart http://www.horg.com/horg/?page_id=2040

I stumbled across this in an article in the NYTimes, which can be persnickety about allowing access without a subscription but you could try

https://nl.nytimes.com/f/a/61UhNScX3yLYS4zSWOuUqA~~/AAAAAQA~/RgRlGpnAP0TtaHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuaW5wdXRtYWcuY29tL2N1bHR1cmUvaG9yZy1wbGFzdGljLWJyZWFkLXRhZ3Mtb2NjbHVwYW5pZHMtY2xhc3NpZmljYXRpb24tc2l0ZT9jYW1wYWlnbl9pZD05JmVtYz1lZGl0X25uXzIwMjIxMDAxJmluc3RhbmNlX2lkPTczNDY3Jm5sPXRoZS1tb3JuaW5nJnJlZ2lfaWQ9NjE1NTEyNjQmc2VnbWVudF9pZD0xMDg2NzUmdGU9MSZ1c2VyX2lkPTk5MWVjNzQ4MTU1NDcyMzczYzdkNjZhMThhODBjMDBjVwNueXRCCmMzwBQ4Y1OcYyVSEWpnZ2xhdHRAZ21haWwuY29tWAQAAAAA

Delightful. Do you agree?

After end-of-summer drought we have now been getting rain. And as Ian travels up the coast I expect even more. The weather continues to be cooler than expected, even for the end of September. Day by day I am shuttling pots of geophytes either into the greenhouse or into the basement, depending.

So today it was mirabilis on the move. I chopped off their tops - still some leaves and also a few flowers. And wheeled them into the basement. Interestingly, the cool weather apparently affects color - the last few flowers on 'Orange Crush' are a rather attractive soft rosy pink.

Rhodophiala bifida and Zephyranthes candida, and xAmarcrinum too, into the greenhouse. Which is getting crowded.

xAmarcrinum are happily shoving their stalks up and out the pseudostem, one is already in flower. I seem to lose labels, wonder if they are Crinum. But then the substance and position of the flowers tells all. Yes, the leaves are somewhat different, between the two. But the flowers tell it all quite clearly.

Serious drought here in western New Jersey. July - there was grand total of 1.30 inches, only 25% of our expected rainfall. August - even worse. So far there was only 7/10th of an inch and that was back on August 1st. Nothing since. But tomorrow is supposed to bring rain.

So this afternoon I moved 15 pots of Rhodophiala bifida out of the greenhouse and top dressed all the pots. There are a few more still inside. They'll have to wait.

I had a full replacement of my left knee in mid-July and recovery is taking longer than I anticipated.

My mirabilis were so beautiful this morning that I took a few pictures even before feeding the cats or having my coffee.

'Limelight' with its chartreuse leaves and vivid intense fuchsia flowers had only one or two open flowers which did not photograph at all well. But I think you will enjoy 'Alba', 'Oranage Crush', and M. longiflora'


Judy




 

Deer, I discovered yesterday, have been eating my Eucomis autumnalis, also E. bicolor, in pots set on pallet at edge of woods across lawn behind the house. They have also been sampling Canna 'Tropicana' in the half barrels at the bottom of the driveway.

I have - from prior years when they snacked on other plants - empty soda bottles with holes drilled which hold 7 moth balls and supported on a straightened metal coat hanger. They are now, after the fact, back in service. Barn door / horses, don't you know.


It will be interesting to see what the eucomis look like when and if they flower. Wretched deer.

Today is very windy. A large, 3year old Mirabilis 'Orange Crush' has completely snapped off slightly below the soil surface. It has begun to wilt. Have stuck it in a bucket with some water for now. There is only a very small piece of root attached to the mass of growth.

Do I cut back the top growth to reduce leaf mass and hope for survival? Will the carrot-like root re-sprout?

Any suggestions very much appreciated.

In late February or early March I bought a bag of Caladium 'White Christmas' at Costco, a big box store. Mixed up peat moss and sand, put a layer in a plastic shoe box that my husband had put a heating cable in for me. Wet it down, placed the tubers, put on the lid. And left it. Took a longer than anticipated for the tubers to awaken but eventually they did begin to grow.

Fast forward to now. Very large pure white leaves. I've potted them up - about 8 out of 10 actually grew. I'll put them on a slatted shelf against the brick wall of the garage adjacent to the front walk. Pot up a Japanese painted fern, have a couple of  silver leaved rex begonia 'Moonlight' - should be an attractive summer combination in a shady place.

Here's the somewhat long back story. My 8 ft X 18 ft glass to ground lean-to greenhouse has a polycarbonate roof that needs to be replaced. I have tried general contractors, sun room companies, roofers, glaziers - no help.

Arnold Tractenberg gave me the name of the man who installed his greenhouse. Charming man, now retired, who gave me the name of someone who supposedly could do the roof replacement.

Spoke with the man who supposedly could do the work last year, 2021. Supposed to happen this year. I called him in April. He was supposed to call in second half of May to set up a date to come look and take measurements. Nothing. I called on June 3rd. He would call on June 6 to set a time to come on June 7. Nothing. Clearly he is not interested.

Greenhouse bought from Charley's Greenhouse Supply. They are on the West Coast. Called them. Unhelpful. I called the company that actually manufactured the greenhouse kit. They are on the west coast of Canada. Cannot help.

I am in Hunterdon County New Jersey, 2 miles from the Delaware River.

Any suggestions would be very much appreciated.

Judy, very discouraged