Lots to Do!

If you have ever read this blog, or know me personally, you know that I want a real garden. I have been learning about container gardening while renting, but I now have more than an acre to work with! There are so many possibilities that it is almost hard to decide where to start.

Here is a preview of some of the projects I am in the midst of.

When we originally looked at the house, there was a beautiful tree at the end of the driveway. It was tall and had a lovely shape. I was not sure what it was until mid June.

 

mmm, persimmons! now that is exciting! I started imagining all the persimmon pudding I would make this fall since the tree was completely loaded. But then:

 The poor tree was so full of fruit that it could not support itself. As the fruit ripened and plumped up, branches started drooping and cracking. Eventually, many of the branches had fallen, well sort of. I have done some minor pruning to take the weight of the fruit off of the broken branches since I currently do not have the means to properly prune the tree.

On the bright side, there is still plenty of  fruit to turn into persimmon pudding and give to my expansive persimmon-pudding-loving family!

 Also on the back of the house is a...uh...garden area. The English Ivy is quite lush! Wonder what was here before the ivy took over?  I would love to have an ornamental pond in this area. It is right below the kitchen window, so it would be pretty cool to have a flower garden to attract hummingbirds. You know I like my hummingbirds! Stay tuned to find out what happens.

 To the right of the English Ivy is a large Lilac bush. I have learned pruning these guys can be dramatic, but this time, I don't have to worry about what the landlord will think! Like the lilac I posted about previously, this one is in need of some serious surgery. Check out the suckers!

 

Even the front door is overgrown! can you find it? I know it is the wrong season to cut into these bushes, but I had to carve out a path to the door!

This Summer has been busy, and the Fall will continue on the same way. In the long run all this clean-up will be well worth it. In the mean time, my arms getting pretty buff :)

Spring is Around the Corner

Spring is not in the air just yet, but it is certainly around the corner!  It has been an incredibly mild winter so far.  The Spring Equinox is a few weeks away, but March could still be keeping a secret!  Here in Central Indiana, we have had some crazy winter storms in March.

I have been resisting the urge to prune some of my plants.  When it is suggested to prune Hibiscus and Poinsettia in late Winter to early Spring January is just too early!  Be patient.

I noticed that the Hibiscus was putting out lots of new growth.  Tiny hints of pale green all over.  If I was going to prune it, it needed to happen before the plant put all it's energy into new growth all to be chopped away.

Here is what I did the first time.

It wasn't enough, so I went at it again.  Eek!

The problem is that I actually need to get in there a bit deeper, but my office scissors just don't have the pruning power as a good pair of . . . well, pruners.

There is tons of new growth since I trimmed it up about a week ago.  Hopefully it will be covered in blooms this summer.  I will have to do a better job about keeping it fed to encourage flowering.

There is more pruning to come in the next few weeks! Plants are waking up from the winter hibernation, in fact, there are tulips and daffodils poking up all over the neighborhood!

Poinsettia Propagation

I have always thought it would be nice to have a poinsettia, but I thought they were difficult to care for so I just let it go.  Toward the end of the holiday season of 2009 my husband brought home a spindly poinsettia.  He saved it from an impeding future in the dumpster.  It was one of those situations that would be great if the plant survived, but no big loss if it died, since it was free and all.

Here I was with a puny little poinsettia and had no idea what to do, just happy to have the chance to try to keep it alive.  It had a couple large white blossoms.  I like the white one better than the red, so I had a little extra motivation.  I looked on line for a little info and found out that my house is the kind of environment it would like.  There is really no direct sunlight in any window that I could put plants near and they like temperatures similar to people.  The only thing I could see being a problem was ever getting to see the beautiful white blooms again.

By the time the summer came around it was a happy plant, it just needed some tlc.  I put it outside and was surprised how well it did with the sun it got!  It almost seemed happier than having indirect light.  (I wish I had a picture to post from last summer.)  I pruned it a bit toward the end of the summer because it was just growing upward so much and I wanted it to grow out ward a bit, generally be fuller.  Now I know there is a better way to do things, but it was a pretty gentle pruning, so no big loss.

Since poinsettia require a very specific environment to bloom I decided to do what I could to mimic that environment.  Basically, they need a specific schedule of light and PURE darkness.  Also, the temperature needs to be in the low 50's.  I do keep the thermostat low in the winter (about 68-70), but I am not going to be a polar bear just to get my poinsettia to bloom!  I put it in the front room because it tends to be a little cooler and I did not spend much time in there in the evening, so it would be dark all night.  I read something suggesting to put a black trash bag over the plant at night or put it in a closet so that it got the required darkness.  Hmm, no closet space here! and my schedule was too variable to provide the plant with a routine of being covered for the same amount of time each night.  Some how it actually had one large, long lasting, beautiful white bloom!  I was thrilled!  It did not emerge until after Christmas, but I am ok with that, it actually bloomed.

I did some pruning research last week.  It's a good thing I did.  I would have been freaked out to do this to a happy plant with out knowing what I was doing!

It was pretty dramatic.  I read a few articles on e-How.com.  They said to leave two or three leaves per stalk.  Depending on how it grows over the next 6-10 months I may prune a little harder the next time.  I would like it to fill out so it does not look like an umbrella again.  As you can see, there are some new shoots popping out all over the place. (there is a bamboo plant behind it)

After pruning, I had a bunch of leafy stalks.  I hated to toss them all out so I pulled a few of the lower leaves off and poked them down into a few flower pots.  I have reason to believe this might result in some baby poinsettia plants because over the winter one of the branches got knocked off, and a few weeks after being stuck in the pot with the big plant it was a happy little plant. (can be seen in the first picture)

Some of the leaves are falling off, but the newest growth looks very happy.

The pots have been under my patio table (wire mesh) where they have gotten filtered light.  The small pot in the pictures seems to be quite happy with the arrangement, so it can stay out there.  The other pot has slightly taller shoots and looks a little more wilted.  That pot is going to come inside with the parent plant.  This will be an experiment to see if the baby plants like one environment better than the other for rooting.