I had a long happy draft here about the garden and plants and the warm weather. Reconstruction:
We were blessed with an extended springtime this year. It was like spring 30 years ago. Everyone commented on how nice it was, but in the past few weeks, the weather has started to heat up. We've got days in the 90s now.
I've had a hard time keeping my herbs watered. When I put everything in smaller pots this year, I hadn't considered that those pots would dry out really fast. So I ordered 12 more plant nannies and have been picking up wine bottles from Slowpokes, which seems to be helping the problem. I already had plant nannies in each celery pot, but I've had to add a second to keep the celery watered.
My rosemary plant isn't doing great. It did well all winter and I thought maybe my rosemary-killing streak was over. I actually think it might be too hot or not getting enough water. I've held off watering it much because it's so easy to drown it. But I'm watering it more now and if it dies, I will get another one. I can't give up!
I am really happy to say that at least one of my plumerias is alive! B forgot to bring them in right before a freeze (he had volunteered to bring them in) and so they were very badly damaged. After the freeze I pruned off the dead tissue, but both plants kept dying back more and more. I was pretty sure they were goners. The other day I was hunting snails and found that the younger plant has three new branches sprouting from the very base of the trunk, at soil level! Yay! I am hoping that the older plant will rally too, but at least I will have one surviving plant. Probably no blooms this year, but that's okay.
The orchids are also feeling the warm weather and there is new growth busting out all over! I love to see it. Plants like Sharry Baby, 18, and 15, that only had one new growth apparent last week, suddenly have multiple new growths. Most of my phals are growing new leaves and new roots. My more-established oncs (those I got before the HOS show, which were already potted in inert medium) also have new roots coming out everywhere. I'm going to be repotting an orchid every weekend for months, but that's okay. (When a new growth starts making new roots, that's the time to repot for best growth.) I've refined my technique and I think that next spring, all of my oncs will give me a LOT of blooms.
We were blessed with an extended springtime this year. It was like spring 30 years ago. Everyone commented on how nice it was, but in the past few weeks, the weather has started to heat up. We've got days in the 90s now.
I've had a hard time keeping my herbs watered. When I put everything in smaller pots this year, I hadn't considered that those pots would dry out really fast. So I ordered 12 more plant nannies and have been picking up wine bottles from Slowpokes, which seems to be helping the problem. I already had plant nannies in each celery pot, but I've had to add a second to keep the celery watered.
My rosemary plant isn't doing great. It did well all winter and I thought maybe my rosemary-killing streak was over. I actually think it might be too hot or not getting enough water. I've held off watering it much because it's so easy to drown it. But I'm watering it more now and if it dies, I will get another one. I can't give up!
I am really happy to say that at least one of my plumerias is alive! B forgot to bring them in right before a freeze (he had volunteered to bring them in) and so they were very badly damaged. After the freeze I pruned off the dead tissue, but both plants kept dying back more and more. I was pretty sure they were goners. The other day I was hunting snails and found that the younger plant has three new branches sprouting from the very base of the trunk, at soil level! Yay! I am hoping that the older plant will rally too, but at least I will have one surviving plant. Probably no blooms this year, but that's okay.
The orchids are also feeling the warm weather and there is new growth busting out all over! I love to see it. Plants like Sharry Baby, 18, and 15, that only had one new growth apparent last week, suddenly have multiple new growths. Most of my phals are growing new leaves and new roots. My more-established oncs (those I got before the HOS show, which were already potted in inert medium) also have new roots coming out everywhere. I'm going to be repotting an orchid every weekend for months, but that's okay. (When a new growth starts making new roots, that's the time to repot for best growth.) I've refined my technique and I think that next spring, all of my oncs will give me a LOT of blooms.
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