Daffodils by William Wordsworth
Read by Jeremy Irons…..
On this Day in History – March 24, 1940
March 24, 1940 – Kate Sessions, “Mother of Balboa Park” died at age 83.
Kate was a renown horticulturist trained at the University of California Berkeley. Kate operated a nursery in San Diego, and supervised the plantings at the Hotel del Coronado. The City of San Diego let her use 30 acres in Balboa Park rent-free, in exchange for her planting 100 trees a year in Balboa Park and donating another 300 trees for planting around San Diego. Kate Sessions was a woman with vision who left us a legacy of trees.
Reblooming Orchids
I’m having a lot of luck with orchids reblooming this year. Last year I lost a lot of my orchids because it was very cold and they never dried out from all the rain. I’ve been diligent this year at making sure all my orchids are placed in better protective spots and not allowing them to sit in water. Here’s my booty this year so far. BTW, these were all bought at Trader Joes. 🙂
Kalanchoe beharensis – Felt Plant
I love this kalanchoe. A friend gave me a bunch of cuttings from his plants year 5 years ago and I positioned two of them on each side of my living room window. These plants are slow growing but steady and I love the structural look to them. They are attention grabbers when people come through my gate and the soft, fuzzy leaves are an added bonus.
The pieces were barely up to the windsill but five years later they have grown to sizable plants, so much that I have had to cut back a couple of errant branches in the past year.
When I cut back branches I snapped healthy leaves off and set them on a shady shelf in my garden to see if they would propagate on their own and I’m happy to say that it is quite successful.
The first signs of new growth at the base of the leaf.
Coming right along
Sometimes the new plants eventually separate themselves from the stem and are already sending out rootlets so I plant them lightly into a small pot and let them keep going. Once in awhile they stay attached so I just lay the whole thing on top of the dirt in a bigger pot and just let time do its thing. I’ve given quite a few plants away to friends already.
Let’s Talk Sunflowers!
It’s time to plant sunflower seeds!
Mid-March is time to start Sunflower seedlings to have blooms around the 4th of July. It is preferable to start seeds in a flat with seed starter soil and let them grow until they are about 5 – 6 inches tall before planting them in the ground. Snails and slugs LOVE to munch on the seedlings. It’s such a bummer to find your seedlings mowed to the ground! Snails will take them to the ground overnight, so starting in a flat will help prevent massive snail damage.
There are so many great varieties of sunflowers so stagger your starts with different colors and sizes through April and May to have a summer’s worth of blooming beauties. Now, go! Plant!
Cup of Gold Vine
My Cup of Gold vine is going nuts at the moment. It took me a couple of years to figure out that it only blooms this time of the year. This particular vine is stretching in a couple of directions, 25 feet in one direction and almost 40 feet in the other. It’s crazy! I think I finally figured out how to get the vine to stay more compact instead of sending off tall runners. The trick seems to be clipping back the tall runners constantly on the main branch.
Cup of Gold vine (Solandra maxima), is also known as golden chalice vine, or Hawaiian lily. It’s native to Mexico and Central America but it loves SoCal, too. The vines I have growing around my yard all came from one cutting I grabbed from a neighbor’s vine about 6 years ago. Probably the easiest plant I propagate.
Miscellaneous Monday – March 09, 2020
Beautiful weather these days after a great rain last week equals gardens coming alive!
How to make your own easy kitchen garden, step by step.
Find locally grown food at EatLocalGrown.com
A Mediterranean diet has shown to be a good defense against heart disease and strokes.
This concept is very cool and hopefully we’ll see these in the future: Vertical farm in San Diego
We’re all thinking sustainability these days so here are some Re-purposing ideas
Happy Monday, just under the wire!
Aeonium ‘Mardi Gras’
I don’t know where I got this aeonium but it has been very satisfying. Look at those colors! The variety is called ‘Mardi Gras’ which i finally figured out today, a timely and fun coincidence considering today is Fat Tuesday! This succulent really fits its name. I’ve had two pups propagate and those have already been promised to two friends. I’m going to have to find a source for these!!!
Happy New Year!
May your plants grow big and strong and pests in your garden be few.
Propagating Succulents
I am forever taking cuttings from my plant collection. It can be slow but it’s satisfying work, and I have so many plants now I can share freely with my friends.
Did you catch my Sept 9, 2017 article in the San Diego Union Tribune on succulent propagation?
Here it is: SUCCULENT PROPAGATION
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