Pansies planted out in troughs 2017

Pansies planted out in troughs 2017

Yesterday, November 2nd, 2017, my wife & I bought four packs of Pansies from a discount supermarket in town. I had wanted 4 packs of Pansies at least to finish off the planting up of the 3 long, white troughs on the floor, up against the balcony railings. Each pack has 10 plants so I had enough plants (with the 6 I had left over from the previous week’s planting) to fill up 3 rows along the length of each one of the troughs.

Crocuses for planting out in the troughs on the balcony 3rd November 2017

A couple of weeks before I had planted up the troughs with Daffodils but they looked far too bare without any plants in them but now, after planting them up with the Pansies, they look 100% better! After I finished putting in the Pansies I put 25 Crocus corms in each trough.

Pansies just planted out in the troughs on the balcony 3rd November 2017 001

Pansies just planted out in the troughs on the balcony 3rd November 2017 002

Pansies just planted out in the troughs on the balcony 3rd November 2017 003

The Pansies should give some colour during the winter during milder spells until their main burst of colour in late April-May. The Crocuses will probably flower in February-March & their leaves, as they die, will be partly covered up by the Pansies. Then the Daffodils should flower any time from March onwards till the end of April.

Of course, as we know, “the best laid plans of mice & men …”as the saying goes!

 

Christmas Cacti? You’re joking, more like Autumn Cacti!

Christmas Cacti?  You’re joking, more like Autumn Cacti!

 

As I have not written a blog about these lovely little plants before I thought I’d do one today.

Pink & white one flowering on our living room table:

I have had one or two plants in flower for the last month – therefore the title of this blog!

Christmas Cactus with dying flowers in the living room:

This was the very first plant to start flowering this autumn.

I got the original plants many years ago from leaf cutting, bits of the leaf pad that easily break off the main plant & will usually root very well & quite quickly when put into a little compost. These pieces I found in the flower & plants section of the supermarket were my wife works. Knowing how easily they root I collected up some leaves that would otherwise have ended up in the waste bin. That no longer happens any more as the plants always come in a protective plastic sleeve but 10 years ago or more they didn’t do that, at least not for the plants in the supermarket.

Christmas Cacti with buds in our kitchen:

As we live in a flat there isn’t all that much room for plants, at least not big plants but some small plants can be accommodated! These plants are very fragile so I keep them very small, they always grow in small square 2 & 1/2″ pots or sometimes in 3″ round pots. They are never transplanted, though they do get some tomato fertilizer in the summer, (in fact ALL my plants do, even the ones grown only for their leaves! It does them no harm), & they flourish on pure neglect!

Pink & white flowering on the living room table:

Pink & white & red flowering on our living room table:

The red ones are in the middle but they don’t show up very well, besides they were mainly buds rather than open flowers.

Red Christmas Cactus that was flowering in March this year!:

They are actually a very dark red – usually that is! The light may have made it look more a dark pink rather than red! As I have two dripping with deep red flowers I’ll have to take a couple of photos & include them here.

Here are a trio of the promised photos:

They spend their lives, when not in flower, on the windowsill in our kitchen which is about 3m long & faces Southwest.

I also have a number of Easter Cacti that share the same place as well. I obtained them by the same method as the Christmas Cacti & they get the same treatment – that is pure neglect! They don’t mind either as they also flower every year & live in the same pots as the others.

Easter Cactus flowering in our living room window:

Here is a close up of an Easter Cactus flower:

Easter Cactus flowering on balcony during July!:

I fertilize them all with tomato feed during the summer & they give me this wonderful display in the autumn.

Edited to include a note on cultivation which I’ve condensed from the RHS A-Z Encyclopedia of Garden Plants:

“They are plants from the tropical rain forests of Brazil where they live on trees & require very little soil, (that’s probably the reason they can exist for so long in tiny pots!) They need a high potash feed every 4 weeks while they are growing & moderate humidity in the air & in the soil. They should be grown in bright, indirect light. They should be repotted every 3-4 years in the spring.”

Poinsettias died prematurely

Poinsettias died prematurely

The two Poinsettias we had this Christmas have died prematurely. I was especially annoyed that the one our son gave me for Christmas should have died so soon! I think though I can only lay the blame on my own shoulders as I probably overwatered it

The other one was given to my wife by a couple that had been visiting her occasionally. This one had a lot of gold sparkly dust on its leaves & the flower.

I normally don’t like plants that have been treated in this way as I feel it’s unnatural & shortens their life. But when we put both plants together on a small card table, so as to free the living room table one day that my brother came to have dinner with us, I found that actually I quite liked it after all!

After a week or two on the small table they were transferred once again to the living room table. A few days later I noticed the one my son had given me was looking as if it were wilting. Without thinking to check the compost first I gave it some water. During the following days it grew more & more limp. By this time the other one with sparkly leaves was loosing it leaves & the red petals were looking decidedly “burnt” & turning black.

My wife started to comment on how bad they were looking so I took them into the kitchen which is usually quite cooler than the living room &, due to cooking, rather more humid. But the plants just got worse till there were practically no leaves on the one with sparkles & the other one had all its leaves & petals drooping & drying out more & more with each passing day. With great reluctance I decided they would have to go into the bin as there was obviously nothing I could do to help them recover.

I’m especially annoyed at what happened to them in part because they were gifts & in part because I’m supposed to know how to look after plants & have looked after them for 50 years or more. My son, who is a total novice gardener & who has never grown more than a single plant in all his 30 odd years, depends a lot on his father to tell him what to do. He has a house with a garden for the first time in his life & asks me for advice. Then I go & kill the plant he gave me for Christmas! He bought it for me because a few weeks earlier he had bought one very much reduced in a supermarket. It was so dry the poor thing was flagging! Yet as far as I know, 2 months later, he still has it!

Christmas Cacti? You’re joking!

Christmas Cacti? You’re joking!

As I have not written a blog about these lovely little plants before I thought I’d do one today.

Pink & white one flowering on our living room table:

I have had one or two plants in flower for the last month – therefore the title of this blog!

Christmas Cactus with dying flowers in the living room

This was the very first plant to start flowering this autumn.

I got the original plants many years ago from leaf cutting, bits of the leaf pad that easily break off the main plant & will usually root very well & quite quickly when put into a little compost. These pieces I found in the flower & plants section of the supermarket were my wife works. Knowing how easily they root I collected up some leaves that would otherwise have ended up in the waste bin. That no longer happens any more as the plants always come in a protective plastic sleeve but 10 years ago or more they didn’t do that, at least not for the plants in the supermarket.

Christmas Cacti with buds in our kitchen:

As we live in a flat there isn’t all that much room for plants, at least not big plants but some small plants can be accommodated! These plants are very fragile so I keep them very small, they always grow in small square 2 & 1/2″ pots or sometimes in 3″ round pots. They are never transplanted, though they do get some tomato fertilizer in the summer, (in fact ALL my plants do, even the ones grown only for their leaves! It does them no harm), & they flourish on pure neglect!

Pink & white flowering on the living room table:

Pink & white & Red flowering on our living room table:

The red ones are in the middle but they don’t show up very well, besides they were mainly buds rather than open flowers.

Red Christmas Cactus that was flowering in March this year!:

They are actually a very dark red – usually that is! The light may have made it look more a dark pink rather than red! As I have two dripping with deep red flowers I’ll have to take a couple of photos & include them here.

Here are a trio of the promised photos:

They spend their lives, when not in flower, on the windowsill in our kitchen which is about 3m long & faces South west.

I also have a number of Easter Cacti that share the same place as well. I obtained them by the same method as the Christmas Cacti & they get the same treatment – that is “pure neglect”! They don’t mind either as they also flower every year & live in the same pots as the others.

Easter Cactus flowering in our living room window:

Here is a close up of an Easter Cactus flower:

Easter Cactus flowering on balcony during July!:

I fertilize them all with tomato feed during the summer & they give me this wonderful display in the autumn.

Edited to include a note on cultivation which I’ve condensed from the “RHS A-Z Encyclopaedia of Garden Plants”:

“They are plants from the tropical rain forests of Brazil where they live on trees & require very little soil, (that’s probably the reason they can exist for so long in tiny pots!) They need a high potash feed every 4 weeks while they are growing & moderate humidity in the air & in the soil. They should be grown in bright, indirect light. They should be repotted every 3-4 years in the spring.”

Cosmos ‘Seashells Mixed’ now flowering

Cosmos ‘Seashells Mixed’ now flowering

The plants of Cosmos ‘Seashells Mixed’ are now beginning flowering in my Plot 12A allotment! :-)) One plant, a lovely pink with fluted petals, has been in flower for a couple of weeks now but I don’t think I’ve taken a photo of it, on its own at least, before today.

The seeds came free with a gardening newspaper I occasionally buy. I hadn’t bought it in a long time but when I walked past the magazine section of the supermarket where my wife works I couldn’t help but notice the packet of seeds offered free on the paper. I’m not usually one for impulse buying but on this occasion I gave in – I’m so glad I did as well!

They were sown in the greenhouse in June & quickly germinated & within a month or so I was planting them outside in my allotment, at the end of July. This first week of September they are beginning to flower. :-)) One plant has had open flowers on it for at least a week now. The other plants are also flowering now & I’ve taken a few photos which I’m adding to this blog.

‘Cosmos Seashells Mixed’ sown in greenhouse:

Within a week they had germinated:

Just over a week later I pricked them out:

I also have a different variety of Cosmos ‘Sensations Mixed’ which are growing, & flowering, both in Gerry’s allotment & in mine. On my plot they are planted far apart. I hope they don’t cross pollinate as I would love to save some of the seeds from this variety, ‘Seashells Mixed’, for next year.

Cosmos ‘Sensations Mixed’ at top of Gerry’s allotment:

July:

Cosmos ‘Seashells Mixed’ now planted out on my allotment, Plot 12A:

Some photos of these plants taken during August:

This is the 1st photo I took at the beginning of August:

Here they are a little later:

Another week or two has gone by since the photo above:

Near the end of August:

September:

First flowers beginning to show:

This plant had actually been flowering already for a couple of weeks before I took this photo:

A couple of close ups:

Pink:

White:

A last look at the Cosmos ‘Sensation’ plants flowering at the top of my plot to finish with:

Hope you’ve enjoyed this blog.