The Plant Thread

[Beth3346]

i'm sorry Ponyfan

my plants aren't doing well at all either. we have 2 oak trees trees in the front that were planted a year or so ago when the house was built. i think one of them is dead. the other one looks almost dead. there is just a handful of green leaves. i really want trees in the front yard so i guess if these die we can try again.

i wish this drought would end. we got a tiny bit of rain today but we need a lot more.

[BlackCurtains]

Does anyone know how to cut the Benlets so they grow offshoot stems? I'm trying to Google but I'm not putting in the right words or something. They are growing very well, but they're one stem and they keep getting taller and taller. I had to tie them to bamboo skewers to keep them from falling over. Already the tops are already starting to bend. I read that you should cut just below the leaf nodes to prune basil but it didn't say they would grow out from the sides.

[Taffeta]

Does anyone know how to cut the Benlets so they grow offshoot stems? I'm trying to Google but I'm not putting in the right words or something. They are growing very well, but they're one stem and they keep getting taller and taller. I had to tie them to bamboo skewers to keep them from falling over. Already the tops are already starting to bend. I read that you should cut just below the leaf nodes to prune basil but it didn't say they would grow out from the sides.

I think the recognised technique is to take out the leading bud, which is the small growth of new leaves at the very top of the plant. This should encourage the plant to put out shoots from other points where the leaves meet the stem.

[Ponyfan]

Here's the pics of the plants. I think some of them aren't going to make it.

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Mint 2


Another pic of Mint 2 to show off how thick the leaves are.

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Mint 1



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Lavender after the stems broke off.



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Strawberries

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Sage


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Aloe

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Ficus



Ponyfan

[Ponyfan]

I made up some new dish soap spray today.  It looks like something has been eating the mint plants.   The leaves are full of tiny holes.



Ponyfan

[BlackCurtains]

I had a black fly problem for a while and they were eating the basil. Little holes everywhere. Thankfully, the flies have stopped.

I'm hope the dish soap will help

[Beth3346]

i repotted 2 cacti today. the soil was really low. i'm not sure where it went. there were 3 and 2 are still alive. here's an old photo of one of the cactus blossoms. they only last a few hours but they're so pretty.

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[Heart Of Midnight]

Wow! A truly incredibly beautiful cactus flower! I have never seen one so big and beautiful! I've had cacti a long time ago, but they had really small flowers.
Does its flower have any scent?

[Beth3346]

i didn't try to smell it. it didn't stay around long. but i think it will flower again in a few weeks because there are some new buds on it. i know i've seen bath products that were cactus blossom scent to it probably does have a smell.

this drought has really motivated me to make plans to remove more of the grass in the backyard. i really want to put in more rocks and get some Adirondack chairs. i've always wanted a fire pit but i'm too scared. i also want a table so we can eat outside sometimes. but i'm not sure it's worth it because it's usually either too hot or too cold to be outside long. we get a few weeks in the fall and spring of weather I find acceptable.

[Ponyfan]

The cactus flower is beautiful.  A lot of people grow cactus in my area, but I don't usually see blossoms on them.

I tried making plant markers out of popsicle/craft sticks.  They keep coming out of the pots though.  I used the standard size.  Maybe the bigger ones would work better?  I'm starting to think that the birds are taking the sticks and the plant tags.  I went out a couple days ago to check the strawberry plant tag and now it's gone???  It's been so hot that I've seen the birds drinking out of the plant saucers so it wouldn't surprise me if they're taking the sticks and the tags.

The strawberries are ever bearing, but I haven't seen any strawberries yet.  Maybe the plant is too young?

Here's this week's pics of the plants.


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Mint 1


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Mint 2


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Sage


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Lavender

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Strawberries


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Ficus

It has two tiny new leaves trying to grow.


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Mom's aloe

I think the anthurium is dead.  The big green leaf broke off and the stem is turning brown.

Ponyfan

[BlackCurtains]

Mint 2 is beautiful

The lavender and strawberry look much better!

[brightberry]

I love all the plants in this thread. 


My small herb garden got skunked.  Somehow a skunk got into our backyard and my dog scared it, right next to my garden.  It's been a hard week.  I don't know how to clean that smell off of plants.

[Ponyfan]

I know I already posted the pics of the plants this week, but this morning I noticed that two of the leaves on the strawberry plant are growing taller than the others.  I hope this means that the strawberry plant is finally starting to take off and grow properly.


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Another stem broke off the lavender.   I guess it was dead at the bottom.  The birds have been drinking out of one of the plant saucers.  Maybe they broke part of the lavender.


Ponyfan

[Taffeta]

The birds (I assume) have vandalised my delphinium last night/this morning, probably looking for bugs. All the other delphies finished flowering months ago, but this one is a contrary soul (it hates being in the ground, I have to keep it in a pot) has decided to flower now. And it is very pretty - but this morning I had to splint up its flower stem because it had been bent over double. Fortunately I know that delphie stems are pretty strong and, if splinted upright, they tend not to wither and die.

We've had so many tomatoes from the tomato plants and the fruit keeps on coming.

The sunny weather while we were away has done less damage than I feared, although my astilbe are not happy.

Inside the house, my streptocarpus, Bethan, made it through just fine. This one wilts if she has too much sun, so I was worried - but I took precautions, watering her before we went and closing the curtains. It worked. I also moved the dragon tree into the front room, which is cooler. He looks a lot better since his second repot. Hopefully we've solved his issues now.

I love all my plants but some of them are special.

It's raining this morning. Garden will probably appreciate that.

[BlackCurtains]

I pruned the Benlets, they were getting too tall. I froze the basil from them. I like it in salads and spaghetti.

My snake plants leaves have opened up. This is a good sign

I overwatered my ponytail palm. I noticed the leaves at the bottom starting to turn yellow so I Googled. They are desert plants and like it quite dry. They aren't true palms and are actually related to air plants so you can mist them and usually that is enough between watering. They also don't like fertilizer and it's easy to poison them that way. I wish I had found this info when I searched initially. The soil is damp a finger deep so I will not be watering for quite some time. I'll hold off on misting it too until it's dried out some.

My little spider plant is doing better since I moved it with the others. Guess he was lonely.