Rufus Rolling In Grass. 3 Aug 24.

 Rufus loves rolling in the grass while I'm working.  Happy dog!

Mandevilla Vines In Bloom Again. 2 Aug 24.

 Here's the red Mandevilla vine.  I overwintered it in the garage, then prune heavily an repotted in larger container.  That was 20 April.

The pink one is a bit behind but has lots of buds.  I can post when it's more dramatic.

I occasionally gave them a diluted balanced fertilizer to get the leaves to fill out, then a bloom booster.  No high nitrogen - I don't want long straggly vines.

These don't seem to mind the heat at all.

Four O'Clocks (Mirabilis jalapa) Mostly Seed Grown. 3 Aug 24.

 Here are the 4:00's in bloom at about 9am.  They don't follow the "bloom at four o'clock" rule.  

These are my reliable favorites.  The yellow ones and magenta ones were my own seed saving.   I bought the seeds for the variegated ones.  Two were overwintered tubers from container plants.  The rest were seed - grown this Spring.  They actually have some shade, overhead and on their west side.

Deer and rabbits don't touch them.  They do need slug bait during wet Spring.  Supposedly, Japanese beetles eat the leaves which have an insecticidal toxin, but I don't know about that.

I water them about every few days.  They have an arborist chip mulch.  

Four O'clock roots usually overwinter fine, in place, here with no special treatment,

Seed-Grown Dwarf Dahlias. 3 Aug 24.

 These dahlias came out very nice.

They handle the hot weather just fine.  Deer and rabbits don't touch them.  The flowers are lovely.

I think I'll dig a couple in the fall, to overwinter the tubers for containers.

The single flowered ones are also beginning to come into bloom.  Bees like them.  There are also white and yellow ones, from the same packet.

I do water them every few days, and they have a arborist chip mulch.

Mini-Rose Update. 3 Aug 24.

 This is the pink rose that I bought on sale at the grocery store.  I tentatively identified it as ¿Light Pink Felicitas Kordana?     I repotted it 13 June.  It's done fine.  It started blooming during the past couple of days.  

This rose hasn't had any problems with weather in the 90s.  I keep it on the East side of the house, close to the house.

Now I've acclimated and given TLC to four different grocery gift mini roses.  Each has done great, and each is very different from the others.   My conclusion is, it's doable and they make nice plants, and re bloom nicely.  I think the main strategy is to repot them as soon as possible, in new, good quality potting soil.  Then TLC and no extreme conditions while they recover.  I used a diluted, balanced, general purpose houseplant fertilizer.

Bearded Iris Bed / Recovery / Rescue. 28 Jul 24.

The first bearded iris rhizomes that I cleaned up and replanted in the new bed, have recovered and are growing nicely.  They look sturdy. The most recent ones are still in a recovery mode after digging them, cleaning and pruning rhizomes, and replanting.

I've had too many years when they started out good, only to have infestations of fungal spot and bacterial rot ruin them in the Spring.  All I can say is "Wait and See".  But I can't help but feel good about the growth on the first group, and that I am going by my own observations and experiences rather than web-lore.

I did give them 1/4 strength balanced fertilizer.  I have to restrain myself, I don't want them to grow too lush.  That will be the only dose.

The geraniums are just sitting at the edges.  Doing very well.  I think I like older types, not the interspecies hybrids (zonal x ivy geranium).  Some of the hybrids are nice, but the leaf growth is so compact they shed water out of the pot, and the flowers are so prolific they cover the entire plant and look almost fake.

In the center, the Eucalyptus are growing nice in containers, as is the lavender.

Garlic Harvest. 28 Jul 24.

 Nice garlic crop this year.  I could have harvested a week or two earlier.

Photo is Ning with Rufus.  Those are Music garlic.  Each year I set some aside to grow the next year.

The German garlic had too delicate wrappers, which came off.   Might be my fault, I had not turned off the irrigation.    Lorz was good but Music has bigger cloves and bulbs.  Lorz is top photo.

Bee Flowers. 27 Jul 24.

 

Patio Container Garden Update. 27 Jul 24.

 The patio container garden got quite a workout (or I did), as the house got new fire resistant siding (and the roof got metal roofing).  Here's some of it now.

The Alumia "Vanilla Cream" marigolds are blooming now.

The first of the Mandivillas is starting to bloom.  These are definitely worth overwintering, and survived major pruning and repotting when I brought them back outside this Spring.

The pink one is a bit behind, but there are lots of buds.

The dahlias are looking nice too.

The "Bird bath" Portulaca is extra-colorful.  (the bowl is deeper than a bird bath, and has drain holes).

Alpine Strawberry Plants, Up-Potted. 27 Jul 24.

 Here are some of the alpine strawberry plants now.  I repotted two 8-packs today.  I started them from seeds on 30 April.  That info here.

I don't think they grow as large as hybrid strawberry plants.  I have never grown them before, so it's a guess.

There was almost no root disruption, and they were not at all potbound.   I don't think they will miss a beat.  Some of the plants are blooming.

Still more plants to repot.  

Fig Tree Propagation By Air Layering. 27 Jul 24.

 Almost exactly three months ago, I set up three air layers on White Marseilles / Lattarula, and two on Petite Aubique.  Images here.

A few weeks ago I checked some.  Didn't see any growth.

I checked again yesterday.  The first was packed with roots.

So I cut off all three.  Here are the other two.

Unwrapped.

I found that the roots were quite fragile where they connected to the main stem.  I soaked them in water for a few hours, then potted them.  This image is the  next morning (today).

The tallest actually had the smallest roots, by far.  The shortest WAS the tallest but was severely bent due to the branch being heavy, so I cut off the top.  So now it's the shortest.  It had the most roots.

They need support until the roots spread through the potting soil.  Also, they will dry out very fast until the roots spread a bit. So they are staying out of the sun, and on hot days will be in the garage.

As for the Petite Aubique, the first air layer had tiny roots, which broke off when I unwrapped it.   It's in a bucket of water for now,  I left the second one alone.

If they look OK in a week, I might give a dose of balanced fertilizer to promote new roots.  Just one dose, because I don't like to fertilize after July.

Bearded Iris Bed Finished. 27 Jul 24.

 I'm more limited than I was, so things move more slowly.

Here's the completed bearded iris bed.  The features - full sun all day.  excellent drainage.  I cleaned all of the rhizomes before planting.

They have a good layer of woodchip mulch.  I know it's a truism, that bearded iris rhizomes should be bare to the sun, no mulch.  Also no weeds.  I have never been able to precent weeds, and the weeds are monsters. Then again, with bare soil around them, they always, 100% of the time, develop fungal spot and bacterial rod, don't bloom and don't thrive.  Some die.

On the other hand, the discarded rhizomes in the duck yard thrive among weeds, and they have wood chip mulch.  Also the rhizomes that I moved to the garden border.  Weeds, yes (not too many).  Mulch, yes. Fungal spot and bacterial rot, no.  Bloom, yes, quite well.

My theory is that bacterial and fungal diseases in the soil splash onto the leaves, during rainy season.  Last year I tried growing a lot of them in containers, but the same thing happened.  So this is (another) final attempt.

So there they are.   With moves and transplanting, the labels have been lost.  If they bloom, I can identify them and re-label.    Time will tell.

The ones with some new growth have been in place for a few weeks.   The new growth is free of leaf spot.  I continue to remove remaining spotted leaves, as healthy new growth replaces them.

Bearded Iris Reboot (Yet again!). 4 Jul 24.

 I divided and planted the final large container of bearded irises.  In their new location, they will be easier to weed.  I'm mulching with a thick layer of shredded fir tree chips.

Tomorrow, I want to mulch the ones I just planted.

I think there might be four more remaining plants in the former iris bed.   There is barely room here but I think I can fit them in.  Then that bed will be fully decomissioned.

Cosmos, Marigolds, Zinnia Plants. 4 Jul 24.

 The plants are thriving.  There are a few flower buds on Marigolds and Cosmos.

Cosmos.

Marigolds.

Zinnias

Dahlia Update. 4 Jul 24.

 Here's an update on some of the dahlias.

First, the minis overwintered from last year.

Big ones that I overwintered.

I'll have to add the ones i grew from seeds later.  They are among the four o'clocks in the border.