Deck Plants Progress Notes

Today is the day for progress notes.

I have been diligent about keeping the deck plants watered. They are on the North side of the house, although some receive either full sun or morning and evening sun.

Most of these were overwintered by "cheap+easy" methods - click on labels below for that history.

Epiphyllum bud - looks like this will be the only bud. It's growing rapidly. It looks like buds form on secondary branches. Since it grew substantially, but most growth involved production of primary stems, the promise is for next year. Behind the epiphyllum is a clivia in bud. They have been blooming nicely this summer, too.

There are also 2 hybrid epiphyllums. They were bought last year as rooted cuttings. They are growing, but I doubt that they will bloom this year.

I suspected that this Euphorbia "Burgundy Wine" was dead. It was overwintered dry, in the garage.

Cannas, now blooming. They seem to like container growth, and overwintering inside. This is the best that they have grown and bloomed.

More cannas.

Euphorbia splendens. I've always thought of this as a house plant. It's doing nicely outside, with more flowers than it has had before.

There have been occasional brugmansia blossoms. I think that the best is yet to come, wtih more buds forming now. Very fragrant in the evening.

Overwintered cannas & zantedeschia: ready for Spring

Today I cleaned up and potted the "overwinter dry" tropicals. Those that were in the ground were dug up and stored in open containers, with clinging soil as their only protection. Those in containers were just moved inside. THey were stored in the garage, which is attached but not heated. It's probably in the 40s to 50s in the winter.

Here they are, dry and crispy. I removed the potting soil vs. garden soil from the cannas. Some of the zantedeschias were already bare (oops) but they were plump and healthy looking. One zantedeschia container, that I have grown for about 15 years, was unpotted. It was packed solid with tubers. I did some damage to delicate sprouts but overall I think they should be OK.


Here are some cannas about to be potted. The rhizomes are plump and healthy looking.


Here are a few more. Oops, I didn't label them when I placed them into storage. This may be several varieties.

The plan is to have a tropical looking deck this year. I think that the cannas will do better in containers, where they'll be warmer (for an earlier start) and can be moved around as needed.

Filled with potting soil.

Moved to the south exposure sun deck. It's not really that sunny now but it;s better than the north side.

Overwintering. Dark, cool & dry vs. light, not as cool, and not as dry

This dracaena and trailing pelargonium are overwintering, dry, dark, in the garage. It is attached so doesn't freeze.
The brugmansia overwintered in this spot last year, same garage. The cannas were dug up this tijme because several died or did very poorly with overwintering outside last year. Some pelargonia and zantedeschia are overwintering in this situation as well. The more tender zantedeschia dont survive winter here, but take to the dry/dark/cool method very well.
This is the spare bedroom that, until a month ago, had a carpeted floor. You cant see the spot here, but there is a 1X3 foot plywood patch on one side. The rest is a nice hardwood oak floor, full thickness tongue and groove oak. I need to get saucers under a couple of pots (as soon as I finish this posting). The cacti (Epiphyllum and a coujple of opuntia) should be OK here since they have wintered for several years in the room. The citrus are a bit anemic but as long as they survive, that's OK. There is also a small brugmansia - we'll see how it does, a cavendish banana - last year it died down to the container, and I would like to keep more of it alive if possible. An aloe, and two gingers are also present. the gingers may be OK outside or in the garage, but i wanted to see if I could maintain them green for a head start next year.

It's not over yet.

With news from the East and Midwest regarding snow and cold, I'm grateful to have continued color and fruitfulness here. The tomatoes provide a few fruits each day, as do the figs and apples. The canna leaves are bright and colorful. The clematis and fuschias continue to bloom. The sedums are also bright and colorful. The moss changed from brown to green.

Today I planted the remainder of the bulbs that were purchased last month. That's all for this fall (it SHOULD be enough - there were about 210 daffodil bulbs, 160 tulip bulbs, and 20 muscari). The daffodils usually start to sprout above the ground in late January and bloom in February, which helps cheer up the most depressing month.

Thinking about using more dry tolerant approach next year - there was news about increasing stress to the water supply system. I took cuttings from some low growing sedums to use as ground cover in some areas bordering the house. I also spent some nursery coupons on an upright sedum.








Tonight will be an over-night shift so trying not to stress now.