what's up on the porch?

Here's an update of what's progressing along this spring.  My trays of seedlings have been very productive; my Mona lavender cuttings all too although to be honest I haven't actually decided where to put them yet!  My melon seeds both germinated (though I'll only plant one) and my second lot of basil has sprouted.  I planted two beans directly in the pot but neither came up, I think I planted them too deeply, so I'm glad I started one in a punnet.  I've started a second one too and this one went into its pot after I took this photo.

I started more basil because I had a spot I could put a second plant, but I may need to replace the first one.  Either slugs or earwigs have turned my little seedling into this!

Looks like I may need to buy a punnet if I want basil anytime soon. 

Speaking of the Mona lavender, this is what it looks like this year.  It's still fairly compact but I may need to tip prune it this summer, it's gone quite bushy.  No flower buds yet, I think it flowers in the height of summer.

This little surprise greeted me on the porch recently.  My other succulents have all flowered before but this is the first time the jelly beans have flowered.  Not a terribly exciting flower but still pretty sweet.

And just off the porch, my chilies are powering away.  Unfortunately they're really tiny at the moment, I'm not sure if that's the cold or that it's not getting enough sun just yet.  But the latest batch are a bit bigger and they're certainly potent!  I've already been using them.

And this isn't really on the porch,  but my Chilean jasmine has its first flower buds!  They're still tiny but I can't wait until they open.

june flowers

Along with the winter vegetables, here's an update on the winter flowers.  The snowflakes are going nuts - every winter their clumps get thicker and thicker (this is what they looked like last winter).

My species tulips are just starting to wake up too.  I start watering them again in the winter, knowing they wake up quite early.  The first growing tip has appeared!  Can you find it in this photo?

My colmnara orchid is still growing away.  They seem to rotate between putting out flowers and putting out new pseudobulbs.  I bought it last year in August just when it was blooming.  It doesn't look like it will blossom again by August, it's still working on several new pseudobulbs.  But I can't complain as it seems to be green and happy!  Maybe I'll visit the orchid show again and get another pretty orchid in bloom.

My three hellebores are blooming one at a time.  The first ones are coming in very pale this year for some reason; last year they were dark purple-black.  Maybe the next flush will come in darker?

On the other hand the second plant appears to be coming in dark.  The third one's sulking a bit but I know it will get there soon enough.

The nearby gaura has finished and is looking a bit scraggly.  After this photo I went in and trimmed them back a bit.  One of them had a bit of dead growth which I cut out, I hope that doesn't mean it's dying.

I haven't shown you the succulents in ages.  I went through a phase where I was growing quite a few, but I decided they're rather boring plants.  They grow very slowly and don't change much; I like a plant with a bit of personality.  But this little bowl of succulents has slowly filled in.  I like that in the winter the ones on the left turn red.

That's about it in the garden at the moment!  That and major pruning but that's not very interesting for the blog.

more succulents

I potted up another batch of succulents. On the right is a Sedum pachyphyllum, "silver" jelly beans, surrounded by I think a Sedum spurium.

To the left we have what I think is a Pachyphytum. In the corners you can just barely see tiny strings of what I think are Sedum morganianum. The big mystery though, is I have no idea what those tiny red specs are. I love the colour though and I hope they take root.

I just love the different textures and colours. Not sure what I'm going to do with three pots of succulents, though. Maybe once they grow up a bit I'll give them as gifts. But in the meantime I'm enjoying seeing them take root, and excited to see them grow.

potted succulents

I potted up the first bowl of succulents today.  About half of the cuttings I took have started putting out roots so I decided it was time to arrange them.

What we have here are three Echeverias of a light-blue persuasion - I think they're Echeveria secunda, "hens and chicks" (this website is an excellent source that I've been shamelessly drawing from).  In between the Echeveria I've put in a few Sedum rubrotinctum ("jelly beans" or "pork and beans") - they're green with a lovely red tinge that should be a great contrast to the Echeveria.  In the middle is another sedum that's a bit more lemon-yellow than the others but I'm not sure if it's a different species.

I was starting to have some issues with some of the cutting shriveling up, especially in the Echeveria and yo ucan see it in these ones.  I wasn't sure if they were rotting or drying out - do I water them more or less?!  But It sounds like they were drying out, so they all got a bit of a watering today.  And lucky for me, the blue Echeveria is from my own garden so if they die there are plenty more to steal!

succulent treasures

Today is my husband's birthday (happy birthday my love), but I got some pretty nice presents too. You see, I've been looking into succulents recently. They're great for this climate - they don't give a stuff about drought. And they come in a variety of interesting colours and textures.

Did you know they also put on quite a show of flowers? I didn't know that, not until I saw a bunch being sold by an old lady who sells plants at work. I saw these bright yellow-orange flowers and thought they'd be lovely for the office ... then looked down and realized they were coming from a succulent! This one is home for the holidays but it'll go back to work, at least until the flowers fade.








I already had two succulents in the yard, and was recently surprised to find them putting out flowers. This one has a few flower stalks coming out on the right-hand side. I think it's a type of echeveria but there are dozens of types so I don't know for sure.





This one is a type of aloe - aloe aristata I believe. As you can see, they all have lots of little clones of themselves sprouting out the sides. If you snip these off and put them in a bit of sandy soil, you'll soon have more and more succulents. In fact the clumps are happier if you snip them out, it lets the main plants spread out more.








In fact there were so many babies on the aloe I took out all of these and you can't even tell the difference.






But enough about my old succys. Tom's mother has been taking cuttings from her succys for a while now, planting them around her garden and in pots. So I walked around with scissors and a bag and came home with all of these cuttings (though this photo also has cuttings from my succys in it). I love all the different shapes, colours and textures.

Some of my favourites are these Sedum rubrotinctum, the "jelly bean" plant or "pork and beans". I'm not sure how many different types I have here because my Mother-in-law was already spreading around cuttings and they probably turn different colours if they get more or less sun. I love those tiny, bright red ones, I hope they survive because they don't look very happy.

I love these ones too, they're like big fat rocks. I think they're Pachyphytum. I'm not sure if these are the same kind of plant or two different plants because they were in different pots.

So, how do you propagate succulents? I mixed together propogation mix with sand and filled up a bunch of pre-used plastic punnets. You're meant to let the cuttings dry out for a day or two so they don't rot, but I was too impatient - mine all went in today. And by the end of a month they should have roots of their own, ready to be transplanted.

Where will I plant them? No idea yet. Some tolerate shade so I think they'll do OK here and there. Others need full sun so they'll probably go in pots. And others are destined to be given as gifts. That's part of the fun of succulents - they're free, so why not pass them along?