Aloe Vera plant has baby!

Twice transplanted aloe

Last summer I bought the cheapest aloe plant I could find and it's been transplanted twice since then.  It stays outside and gets watered once a week or week and a half (or when it seems to begin to dry out).  It gets partial shade due to the screen cage that covers the pool area.    These plants do not like frost, so it gets brought in close to the house if we get a frost warning.  These are typically considered houseplants like so many others we've been talking about lately.  Many of the plants we talk about can and should be brought outside for the summer months.  It was not until I put my first aloe plant outside for the summer in Florida that I realized the more mature plants produce flowers that hummingbirds love.  My flowers were a pale yellow color.  During the colder months, you can bring it back inside if you have hard frosts.  The websites I checked told me this was a zone 10 - 11 plant again.  I've grown these plants for over 30 years as houseplants.  I never bothered to buy aloe vera cream.  It's easier to just reach for the plant and break a small piece off.  It heals itself quickly as all succulents do being 95% water.  There are couple of things to keep in mind when repotting your aloe vera.  First, choose a wider pot rather than a deeper pot.  These plants do not have a deep root system and as you can see in the photo above they spread out quite a bit and get quite heavy.  I've had more than one aloe plant get big and heavy enough to knock my pots over and had to transplant them for this reason.  Second, add a fair amount of perlite  to the soil and use clay pot instead of plastic to help with the moisture drainage.  Aloe plants can be propagated either by seed or by separating the baby plants from the mother plant after they are several inches tall.  

Cimbidium Orchid

Shin Shiang Diamond 'Sun Cattleya

Do you remember that freebie orchid I got?  Well, it's bloomed?  In fact, we have 2 flowers!  I've had cattleyas for a year and never ever gotten them to bloom and this little sweetheart is flowering!  I did a little research and the next thing to try is more light.  So, I've moved them all to a little brighter location.  We'll see if this helps.  The cimbidium orchid is just about open after dropping several buds instead opening.  Another one, I need to do some investigation on to see what I'm doing wrong with.  The phalanopsis orchids are soooo much easier.  You just keep them dry and out of the sun.  Feed them once a week and you're golden.  These other orchids get a little more complicated as move along.  

Whitefly update: The bean plants are tanking.  I've completely lost 3 plants entirely.  Shown here are 2 more that I don't expect to recover.  I've been treating the plants since Friday with spray and each day I inspect, I continue to see whiteflies on the undersides of the leaves.  I ordered some whitefly strips from amazon.com.  In the beginning I was really upset, but as I thought about this I decided that the beans took only a week to really start growing.  I can grow some more bean pretty quickly so I need to stop whining and just wait for silly, yellow strips and then get rid of the insects and grow some more beans.  Hopefully the strips will get here soon because I see they are attacking the really healthy bean plants too now.  Notice the curling of the leaves.  When I saw the wilting leaves, I knew.  It was confirmed when I turned the leaf over and saw all the little white buggers just hanging around having a little tea party without me.

Lessons Learned: 

1. Do not put newly bought houseplants near your garden plants.  
2. Always keep whitefly/aphid strips on hand so you don't have to wait for them to be shipped

I didn't want to just complain tonight so I thought I'd share a cool little ornament terrarium I found at Save-On crafts.  Naturally, this is not what they advertised
it as.  You can find it here.  I used it for air plants and orchids.  Another cool glass piece I love for showing off single cut flowers is a flower shaped vase.  It typically is used for a hibiscus flower but I use for any flower I see blooming that I find.  It's always nice to see what others use to display their garden showpieces.  Getting ideas is part of what blogging is all about after all.  Finally, that little orchid that I got as a free bonus for purchasing 3 plants from Orchid Master that I told you about last week?  It has 2 blooms!  I was soooo tickled!  It almost made up for those wicked whitflies.  ALMOST, but not quite.

New Orchid - Notice 2 Buds Baby!!

Gardeners Welcome

SC92 Orchid Plant Pot Shin Shiang Diamond 'Sun #1'

The orchids arrived today.  With the 3 that I ordered came a free one.  I giggled to myself because a free orchid means that it comes in a smaller pot.  We know this and we expect it.    We also expect that the plant will be substantially smaller and the pot will be substantially smaller because it is free.  Well, the pot was a tiny bit smaller, not a lot.  The plant, believe it or not was actually the same size, if not a teeny bit bigger.  It made me a smile.  I looked the plant up and I decided to share a photo with you of what the orchid looked like. I was more than pleasantly surprised.  The arrival of orchids is always a time of excitement and fun.  I was really glad that I had thought to get the supplies the other day because they were on hand when I needed them.  Buying premixed orchid plant media is very expensive, so I always mix my own.  Each type of orchid has a preference of what they like best.  As a general rule, I typically use mostly orchid bark and moss and for some I use charcoal.  Today, the mixture was moss and bark.

how repotted orchid looks with clips

free orchid

I mix the moss and bark together in an old plastic washtub (dry) and then add water to cover and let it soak for for about 15 minutes or so.  This is a messy job so this is best done outside.  The orchids prefer to be a little cramped but not claustrophobic, if that makes sense.  Never, ever bury the rhizomes or base of the plant with the planting media (bark, moss or charcoal).  If the plant media is not packed in well enough to keep the orchid sturdy, give it a stick and a couple clamps to make it secure.  If an orchid does not have a secure base from the very beginning, it will not grow secure roots and it will wither.  You will be fighting from the very beginning to keep the orchid blooming and flourishing.  

Sick Pentas 3/22/2012

Chinese Lilies

We aren't all about orchids today... I found a sad plant today.  My pentas was doing fine until about a week ago.  This is not a new plant.  It's about 3 or 4 years old now.  I understand that most people treat these as annuals and buy a flat of them and plant them to die at the end of the autumn.  Here, that doesn't happen if you are lucky.  Anyway...they were coming back just great until about a week ago and then they started looking rather peeked.  You can see they look sort of faded green or gray-green.  We'll continue to keep an eye on these guys over the coming days to see how things turn out.  We've had afternoon showers for the past two days and that may be just what the doctor ordered.  On the positive side, the Chinese Lilies are bursting with joy!  The couple of days of spring rain has worked magic with them.  I wish they'd hurry up and bloom!  The front looks absolutely beautiful with the flowers planted and the little hummingbird glass. 

Orchid  Blossoms 

Phalenopsis

Cymbidium ready to bloom

I had 3 Phalenopsis orchids at one time, one of them was a rescue with the saddest, most dried out wrinkled up old leaves that I got for half price from the local Lowes store.  I didn't buy it because it was cheap.  I chose it because it had the most lovely deep purple blossoms with yellow spots that form lines and a little white face in the center.  I dare to be different and I want my flowers and garden to dare to be different as well.  This is why I have a white bird of paradise and not the orange like all my neighbors.  :)    Anyways, this wrinkly-leaved, rescue orchid bloomed again today!  This is the third time since I got it last summer.  When I watered the Cymbidium orchid today I noticed that it looks like it's about ready to pop as well.  I expect that it should not be long before we get to see the beautiful blossoms there too. I'm working hard to try to get the other orchids (several Cattleyas, 2 Vandas and 1 Oncidium) to bloom for the very first time.  I'm feeding them on a weekly basis now as a means to try to get them to bloom.  I also was a bit naughty and ordered 3 new orchids from Orchid Master this week.  They are my favorite place for 

Golden Elf Cymbidium Orchid

Dragon Cat Cattleya Orchid

getting orchids because I can get blooming sized orchids that I know grow in Florida and often they are some interesting hybridization that I find very attractive or have something that makes them unique.  For instance they had one on sale this week that was burgundy that smelled like chocolate.  They have a large selection to choose from and I've never had a plant from there die yet. There's one other little quirky thing about me and my shopping  here - I prefer to buy American if at all possible.   I chose 3 yellow orchids in my little shopping spree this visit.  

Chinese Lily

 Remember when I said the Chinese lilies had doubled?  Last year I bought a plant that had 3 blooms.  This year, this it looks like I have bit more than 3 little stems coming up.  By my count it looks like we have 6 or 7 coming up this year.  I just wish they would hurry up already!!!  I'm so impatient sometimes.  I have not seen any signs of the Curcuma Ginger coming back.  I keep watering the pot hoping against hope.  I have been pulling the weeds that come in and checking it but so far nothing.  This was one of the prettiest plants I've ever had.  I would be heart broken to not have it come back.  The double impatiens are beginning to get even more blossoms and they are so pretty.  They look like little baby roses to me.   

Double Impatien

Azalea President Arcilla - Feb 23, 2012

Immature Azalea seed pods

The azaleas have gone to seed.  I'm ready for them.  I looked it so I know what to do and I've gotten my supplies together.  I'm also going to try an experiment with it at the same time.  Let's talk a little about azaleas first.  Azaleas are slow growers from the rhododendron family that prefer acidic soil.  This is why they get a special fertilizer made just for them and their friends.  There are over 10,000 kinds of azaleas so it's important to label your  seeds to the kind of azalea you have.  I always try to save the store tags when I buy my plants.  I wonder if I'm distantly related to Minnie Pearl?  Originally cultivated by monks, this ancient plant is the national flower of Nepal and do well in zones 5 to 9.  They can still be grown in the outlying zones if you protect them from the extreme heat and cold by keep them in containers and bring them inside when necessary to protect them.  Use your common sense as always.  Hot, full sun will bleach out the vivid colors and can even burn the leaves if you are in a very hot  zone.  In those hot zones, you might want to consider dappled sunlight beneath a red oak tree.  There's no sense putting it beneath a bottle brush tree where they'd be competing with each other for a passerby's attention.  So back to the seed thing.   You know it's been on my mind if you've been reading my posts.  Everything I've read tells me the seeds are kept in pods.  The pods not so easy to find.  I took a couple photos to show you what they look like at both the immature and mature stages. 

Mature Azalea seed pod

The mature pod comes out easily while the immature pod must be pinched out.  I collected all of the the mature pods and some of the immature seed pods for an experiment to see if they would mature off of the plant.   The mature seed pods will be kept in a clear, plastic container and the immature pods in an envelope so the air can circulate and they won't become fuzzy and rotten (like Josh's bean seeds).         
Below you can see the final results of my labors.

Completed Azalea Seed Project

Collected Azalea Seeds

Let's talk a little bit about orchids.  I am one of those crazy orchid ladies.  I have these orchids all over the lanai (screened in patio).  I ordered a bunch of little teeny baby ones last year and they came wrapped in newspaper.  

Budding Phalenopsis & problem orchid

Cymbidium with buds - $25 special

Cattleyas

2 Vandas & Cattleya (center)

 I also have a $25 special from the grocery store that's over 4 feet tall - my Cymbidium.   The crazy Phalenopsis that I got with the wrinkled leaves that was so unhealthy and just won't die but keeps on blooming from the same 2 stems is nuttier than a fruitcake - compliments of Lowes.  I keep looking for these stems to die off and new stems to grow but that just never happens.  My problem orchid is a problem because I lost the label a long time ago and I can't remember what it is and my grandsons and cat pulled it out of the planting medium more than once or twice and I just finally pulled it out of everyone's reach.  
I wanted to close today's post with something new and exciting.  A few days ago I posted your plant zone but it was for your cold zone.  I have now found another zonal map for heat zones.  This is brand new and cool and tells you how many days your area has over 86 degrees Fahrenheit.  Zone 1 has less than 1 while Zone 12 has more than 210 days over 86 degrees.  In addition, the link will bring you to not only the map, but American Gardener. 

http://www.ahs.org/publications/heat_zone_map.htm