Azaleas

Azaleas beneath Bottle Brush Tree

Azalea beneath Lugustrum

A few days ago, we talked about planting azaleas under some plant for dappled sunlight in the very hot climates to protect them from burning.  We also discussed why putting them beneath a Bottle Brush was not such a good idea.  Then, today I was walking my dog and I see someone has come up with this bright idea.  I decided to snap a photo for you to see what it looks like.  The passerby isn't sure what the show is, the azaleas at the base or beautiful bottle brush blooms.  What a shame to waste these showy blooms.  I saw directly across the street from this a properly planted azalea and thought you might like to see that as well.   The lugustrum azaleas are better protected and overall healthier; not to mention the show is clearly not upstaged.  Remember that when you plant your gardens, a bit of time spent planning can make a whole world of difference and save you a lot of grief later.  Think about how the color scheme goes together, when the blooms show their best display and how will that affect the plants around it (Art).  This is all in addition to the sunlight and soil type (Science).  So you see gardening is part art and part science, just like cooking and everything else that's really fun and gives something good in return.  :D 
This brings me to another area of garden art.  I told you I was stuck on this patio for now and that kept me in containers.  This is good in some ways because it lets me be artistic with my plantings.  I can play creatively with how I plant and each year is different from the year before.  Did you ever notice how we seem to fall into that trap of planting the same thing the same way as we did the year before in the same place or nearly the same place or the nearly the same way?  Breaking out of this pattern of sameness is good for us because it lets us express ourselves and have some fun with our plantings.  Plant your strawberries in a pocket planter and tomatoes so they are vertical and hang upside down.  This makes them so much easier to harvest as well.  Plant your potatoes in a plastic bag!  I searched a few of these out for you and looked for what I believed are real bargains and purchased myself.  However, I do not spend more than an hour or so looking.  If you are more dedicated, I suggest that you keep looking and use these to get a good head-start. 

Deer Resistant Plants & Tools for Her

I mentioned that I was going to investigate if I could plant the new lavender plants outside of the birdcage (another name for the screen around the patio).  Well, I found a nice website that gives a pretty good list of deer-resistant plants, meaning the deer will not eat the plants.   Since the lavenders need full sun, the next step will be to check the sunlight where I plan on planting them using my cool, little toy that tells me if an area is shade, partial shade, partial sun or full sun.  
There has been this mini-tug-o-war battle at our house lately about garden tools.  You might wonder why. A shovel is a shovel.  But....I have been doing my research.  I'm really good at research as you will come to learn the longer you read these posts.  Think about this a bit.  A man picks up a shovel in one hand like it's no big deal, puts it into the ground and it sinks in covering at least a portion of the the spade face.  He only needs to put a teeny part of his foot on the spade bowl foot space and plunges it straight down into the soil without too much effort and it goes directly vertical.  Now, let's think about a woman using a shovel.  She puts the shovel into the soil on an angle, takes little bits of dirt at a time because it's heavy.  Now, of course this is not all women.  Some are a bit stronger than others.  But on average, most of us do not dig directly vertical, we tend to put our entire foot on the spade and, in fact, if I'm having a very hard time, I jump on it with both feet!  I'm short, so the handle is always too long for me and the shovel is always heavy before I even get any soil on it.  With all this said, I found tools made for women or men who tend to be built a bit more like us, shorter or with less muscle mass.  I want a couple of them and my husband thinks I should be fine with the tools we've been using over the years.  :)  If you think you'd like to check out these tools that are more geared for how the fairer, gentler of the species uses tools, the maker is Green Heron Tools.

French Lavender
Eeeeee!  I'm so excited! My French Provence Lavender arrived today.  I ordered 4 plants in 4 inch pots.  This delivery was the fastest post I think I ever got and it came in a box marked perishable filled with those little Styrofoam peanuts.  The pots had tape over the soil to keep it moist.  These plants, though not flowering yet, are extra fragrant and as soon as I cut the tape and opened the flaps, the aroma wafted out and wriggled its way up to my nose and tickled my senses.  I can't wait until the weekend comes and I have the time to plant them.  I'll have to search Google and see if they'll be safe from the deer or if I'll have to make room in the cramped quarters on the lanai for them.   For people that know me well, they are probably laughing about now because they realize this is the 4th time I'm trying to grow lavender in Florida.  Every time before it has died on me.  This time I did a little more research and chose to search for the species that suited the zone I now live in.  When I lived in zone 5, it did so well, I couldn't kill it. 

Avocado - February 23, 2012

Avocado Grown by Seed
Have you ever grown a potato in a glass of water?  How about an avocado?  As a grandma to two 3-year old grandsons and a brand new grandson, I've been helping the older ones learn the love of playing in the dirt and growing things.  You saw what happened when we planted bean seeds.  It took two tries but that is how we learn.  We also ate an avocado and then washed the seed that was left after we finished enjoying the fruit.  After that, we stuck three toothpicks into the seed at equal distances around the center to help balance it and hold it on the rim of a plastic cup.  We balanced it on the rim of the cup and then filled the cup with water to cover about 1/3 of the bottom of the seed.  We kept changing the water to keep it from getting murky and rotten.  Some days it looked like it evaporated and we just added a bit more water to keep it covering about 1/3 of the seed.  After awhile, roots began to form.  When the root system looked fairly strong and the toothpicks caved in, we planted the avocado seed in soil.  It's been about 6 months now and we're starting to get some woody covering beginning to form on the stem.  In other words, we are getting a tree beginning to form!! 

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

Planting Seeds, exploring the yard & deer problem
It was a beautiful day for working outside and I feel every bit of in in every aching bone and muscle I have.  The mysterious sprouts that I couldn't remember when I spotted them on Thursday, I remembered today. How?  It just hit me that I put the Chinese Lilies in that particular pot.  This is what I have to look forward to in the coming months:

Chinese Lily

Josh's beans shocked me when I saw them this morning.  The success was absolutely amazing!  I'm not sure what to do with all these terrific looking seedlings.  I don't have the heart to just dump them.  I planted 9 of the seedlings today (2 of the ones that made it past Josh's fuzzy stuff and 7 redos).  

Bean Seedlings planted February 25, 2012

I also did some direct sowing today - basil, parsley, and chives.  Some people read the seed packet, measure between rows and how deep they plant and do a wonderful job.  I am not that kind of gardener.  I still manage to get my plants to grow in my garden for me.  ;)  As I think about this, I compare it to the cook who uses a cookbook and a cook who cooks from memory or taste.  So let's take a look at how I planted those seeds today since we KNOW I did not even look at the back of those seed packets. 

First, I used the hand rake to get rid of all of the old roots and stuff out as well as any new weeds that may have started to grow inside.   Then, I sprinkled some Osmocote on top.  Osmocote is my all around fertilizer used for almost everything except palm trees, fruit, and acidic soil loving flowers.  How much?  Oh about that much.  Look  at the photo.  Like I'm cooking, about that much is often my measurement given when asked. Until I'm finished using my current supply of this fertilizer, I'll continue using it.  When it's gone, I'll be looking for one that's a bit more earth friendly.  Use the hand rake to mix the fertilizer into the soil.  

I took about 1/2 the seeds and sprinkled them into my hand first.  Then I scattered them across the top of the soil.  I used my open palm the disperse the seeds and get them covered by soil at the same time.  This was done very gently.  Finally, I watered the freshly planted seeds with a watering can that gave a very gentle water. 

Do you remember when we talked yesterday about the dead trees?  Well, my limon tree (cross between lemon and lime tree) was dead.  I swear it was.  Nothing but dead branches were sticking out of that pot and I was just too lazy to go out and take care of it.  Today, I went to take care of things and looky, looky what I found! The fragrance was out of this world beautiful!!

You may have noticed by now that everything is so far is in containers.  This is because I have a deer problem.  We live in a preserve area that is a gated community that keeps the deer inside and protected, but this also means they are heavily overpopulated.  They eat everything in sight.  Any tender growth, bulbs, even my hanging flower baskets weren't safe from these monstrous appetites.  While the animals are beautiful to behold, they are the bane of my garden.  I'm investigating new plants that deer do not like due to their heavy fragrance or thorny stems for planting outside the screened lanai to move beyond my containers since I'm so cramped for space. 

Seed Collection & Hardiness Zones
Today was one of those days when you learn something you wish you hadn't.  I may be paying with time, a whole year's worth.  I wanted to collect the seeds from my white Bird of Paradise.  So, yesterday I took out the ladders and climbed up, cut all the Birds out of the plant.  I carefully cut one of the Birds apart looking for the seeds.  All that happened was I was that I made a sappy mess and no seeds could be found anywhere.  Soooo, today I looked it up again today, printed everything out on Birds of Paradise finding, harvesting, and planting the seeds.  Well.....one of the first things I noticed was that it said to leave the flowers alone on the plant until they begin to die off and the seed pod is tan and noticeable.  Uh oh, too late, I cut them off the plant.  I'll try leaving them sit on the table and see if the seed pods mature and I get seeds just in case.  Mistake made and lesson learned.  For any of you interested in this subject, here is a great link on the topic: How to Find Seeds for Bird of Paradise  Hopefully, my next experiment with collecting seeds is more fruitful.

Harvested Birds of Paradise

Destroyed Birds of Paradise

I chatted with my daughter and she told me that she was checking and rechecking her planting zone because one place said one zone and another gave her a different zone.  This got me to thinking, because I know every planting season I do the same thing.  I check my planting zone too.  I know my zone, but still I check it.  I don't know why but I  forget if I'm 9a or 9b and before it used to be zone 5 or 6.  I get brain dead or something.  Either way this conversation with her got me to thinking that we are not alone and many of us go through the same ritual.  Checking that zone map is the signal for us that we are ready to start our gardens.  To help you get the hint that planting season is nearly here for some and  already here for others, I'm giving you your zones.  If you click on the map it will take you directly to the official USDA plant hardiness website. ☺

Our surprise sprouts

Dill seeds planted  February 11

Planting Seeds & Spring 
Is it a sign of getting old when you don't remember what you had planted in a pot the year before or does this mean you have too many plants?  As I was doing my "daily rounds" I found some new sprouts showing up to the garden party.  It looks like the dill is about ready to be moved into its permanent home.  

Close encounter of bean sprouting

 The beans, ohhhh the beans.  Those took two tries.  I had a bit of help from 3 year old Josh.  Everything went just great, even down to the poking the little beans into the dirt.  We put 2 little beans into each little compartment.  We found some old peat pots that made it so much easier for a toddler to understand to keep the beans into their squares.  The trouble came with the watering.  He drowned the poor little beans and then they got all furry and rotten.  Of the 12 seeds we planted, only 2 made it out alive.  So, last weekend, Josh and I started again. But, I was not paying attention and I handed him the bean seed envelope from last year without doing a viability test.  He did a wonderful job this time!  When I realized my mistake, I took out this year's bean seeds and poked in 2 more seeds into each compartment.  In less than a week, we have stunning results!

Bean Seeds planted 2/25/2012

Along that walk of mine, I also inspected the trees because we planted 2 new trees last year and I was a bit worried about them.  The Crepe Myrtle looked for the most part dead.  It really needs close inspection to realize this is not the case.  Look closely now.

The Bougainvillea was looking dead as can be until the past week or so and then little by little, flowers began to appear.  The reason I'm bringing both of these up is that sometimes we're a little quick on the draw with our plants and don't give them enough time to show us they are still alive.  These were trees and they usually do things a bit faster.  Last year, I was pulling out what I thought were plants that died from a frost and lo and behold, I found 3 that had a teeny bit of green buds on them.  I transplanted them to a new sunny location that was in a more protected area and I babied the heck out of them and those little sweethearts came back.

Still recovering section of Bougainvillea

Recovered section of Bougainvillea