The Plant Thread

[Beth3346]

my basil is looking uphappy today. i've been watering it but it's looking yellowish and sad. maybe it needs more sun? it's in a semi-shaded area of my patio.

[freezestime]

I'm hoping to find a terrarium I like to put some nice plants in. Idk exactly what'd they be yet.

[Lady Frostbite]

I am tempted to just put up with the flies and get an anthurium again as I loved my previous one ... The store does PINK ones on occasion!! I'll try and resist for now

It's hot but at least I think my chillies like the weather

[BlackCurtains]

I got bigger pots for Ben and the rosemary, if it bounces back, because rosemary gets kinda big. I've had it in the sun for three days and I think it gets at least 6 hours (what is recommended) but almost all the needles have fallen off and the stems have black spots, which I read is a sign that it was overwatered (that I figured because it was soaking wet when I got it).

In other news, guys I'm so sad

Remember the oak tree I mentioned? The one that I thought sat on its own lot and I always wanted to get a picture of?

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They chopped half of it down! All those lovely branches, gone. The trunk is on the next lot, so at least it's still alive, but I worry that someone will buy that lot and have it killed for good. It must be hundreds of years old I'm really hoping the people in the house on the other side own the lot the tree is on, and keep it safe.

There is so much building going on where my parents live. I don't understand. If the housing market is so bad, and no one is buying, why are so many people BUILDING new houses? Is it rich people who want rental properties? When we first moved into that house, we were one of four houses in the cul-de-sac. Now there are six. There was nothing but that other oak I talked about and the lake across the street. It was all wilderness. I could take my telescope outside and see fine without a light pollution filter and I would run into all kinds of animals. One time and entire pack of coyotes walked down the road.

Each time I pass a new house being built it makes me think of all the animals and insects that lost their home. There is going to be nowhere left for them to go. And not having greenspace does things to people... it's been proven that spending time among nature does good things to your brain. Being surrounded by the same yards with the same layouts and the same palm trees over and over can't be good. There is one house who did things different and has ponytail palms. Everyone else has bottlebrush. And they aren't even native.

[Taffeta]

@BC, I feel you with the building. The green and pretty is one of the few positive things this area has to offer. I still miss the butterflies

Our rosemary has had some issues this year with needle dropping. I'm not sure it's overwatering, because we've had a really dry July and it lives outside. We watered some through the heatwave, but it's not very happy.

The heat totalled my parents' astilbe. One of mine is a bit cooked but the other two are doing all right. They're not flowering though.

My one tub has a petunia about to flower in it. I have no idea where it came from, but it's pretty

It makes me so happy to see some blue morning glories flowering from time to time in my climbing plant tower.

Poinsettia is being a madam again. She's grown enough now that she's started covering the front of the unit and reaching out across towards the window again. The branches she had on the back, however, she's done with because they're not in the sun any more. I gave her a trim yesterday to clear those up. Better that than more leaves on my floor. Poinsettia likes decorating :/

[Ponyfan]

Poor oak tree.  It makes me sad that someone cut off all of the branches and only left the stump. 

Our neighbors across the street had a beautiful tree in their front yard. One day we noticed people cutting down the tree.  Someone said that the new owner of the house decided to cut it down.  After the tree was cut down the person that had it done didn't buy the house.

Here are the mint plants.  It looks like Mint 2 is sending out runners but it doesn't have anywhere else to go.

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Mint 1


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Mint 2


Mint 1 is attracting bugs.  They come out sometimes when I water it.  I sprayed both plants with fresh dish soap spray yesterday.


Ponyfan

[Beth3346]

poor oak trees they've done an ok job of building around them where i live. we have one in the yards next door and i'm glad to have it there. it's between 2 lots and they built the fence around it. it's one of the reasons we picked our lot. why would anyone want to remove an oak tree? they're so beautiful.

the basil still looks unhappy. i'll take a photo and add it to this post later.

[Artemesia's Garden]

My patio rose flowered for the second time this summer. It's a very bright scarlet red and has a lovely scent. It's really odd because I didn't think many roses that bright in colour had a good scent. But there it is. We found it in our garden and I potted it up. It clashed with everything in the garden but I'm keeping it for cut flowers.

@BC I'm sorry about the tree. That would make me furious.

[pinkkittywinks]

Oh no the oak tree

I want to make a succulent sculpture, I have found a base for it, I now need to find time, succulents and moss to fill the gaps. This might be a long term project.

Venus Flytrap is looking a little better? It didn't like the heat and I think it got more dried out than it liked, even thought I watered it during the hot spell.

Love pkw xxx

[Ponyfan]

Here are this week's pics of the mint plants.  They've been repotted for 2 months now.  We had a really good rain today so I didn't have to water them.


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Mint 1


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Mint 2


Ponyfan

[BlackCurtains]

They look great, Ponyfan!

I repotted Ben again. He's so big now!

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The Rosemary has little green sprouts, so the sunlight is helping it. The soil is STILL moist to the touch. When it dries out, I'll put it in Ben's old pot.

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(it has cat fuzz stuck to it )

[Griffin]

Wooow Ben is so big! And your mint plants are looking great, Ponyfan!

I think I have finally defeated the mites that were destroying my snack cucumber. Nettle brew didn't seem to do much so I resorted to using diluted pine soap every couple of days, and spraying 2-3 times a day with plain water in between. Finally I used a mixture of pine soap, bicarb of soda, and a little vegetable cooking oil - I made this mixture to treat powdery mildew in my million bells, but thought spraying the cucumber with it couldn't hurt.

Got a couple of new plants too, a new million bells to replace the poor little one (well I'm still trying to treat it, not giving up yet) and a chrysanthemum that I hope will last until late in the autumn.

[Ponyfan]

Thank you BC and Griffin. 

I think Mint 1 is finally on it's way to making a full recovery from my efforts to help it.  It's still not as full as Mint 2 though and the leaves look a different on each plant even though they're the same type of mint. 

I try to leave some water in the saucers under the plants so if they get thirsty during the day the mints have some water available to draw up their roots but today one of the saucers got too full and I had to dump the water out. 

Ben looks very happy and healthy. 

Griffin,  I'm glad you got rid of the mites.  I still see some kind of bugs when I water Mint 1.

Ponyfan

[Artemesia's Garden]

my basil is looking uphappy today. i've been watering it but it's looking yellowish and sad. maybe it needs more sun? it's in a semi-shaded area of my patio.

Yellow might mean he needs re-potting or feeding if you have some.

[Taffeta]

Feeding is a good idea.

I think I lost one of my delphiniums :/ I pulled a massive slug from its roots but the damage along with the heat...I don't think it's going to make it which is sad

But my little poker is flowering It's a tiny little thing (it is a miniature poker, so it's only meant to grow to about half a metre, and it's always dwarfed by the mad salvia that grow behind it). It usually only flowers once, but this year it's managed two flowers, so it clearly likes the heat. Glad something does! The salvia are also doing great, as always. I have to put up frames to hold them back else they'd squash the whole garden. They're also meant to grow to about a half a metre, but that's pretty much their start point even though I cut them back both autumn and spring.