Dahlia Starts. 4.27.19

 Five of the dahlia tubers that I planted in  containers on April 1, have sprouted so far.  The other four look dead but I'm letting them take their time.

I commented when I planted them, they were not promising looking tubers.  So I'm happy to have 5 growing so far.

We bought three more at the county home improvement fair yesterday.
they were from a local grower, and we got to pick the tubers that we wanted.  Those were firn snd the tubers had eye buds.  I think they will grow.  Planted them in containers to pre-germinate, today.

Nepenthes, Growing Fast! 4.28.19

Nepenthes sanguinea

Nepenthes thorellii x aristollochioides

So far the tropical insect eating pitcher plants (Nepenthes) are growing very nicely.  The leaves are waxy and thick, like philodendrons or ficus.  I wondered if the would make pitchers in this location - bright sunroom, getting fairly warm - 80s during the day - but so far, so good.  Growth seems fast.

These are in full sun.  I'm watering daily, 1/8 teaspoon of general purpose miracle grow per 1/2 gallon of rain water.  I let the water run through the pot, catching it in a bucket under the hanging plants.  Environment is the same as my tomato and pepper and sweet potato starts.

Source of plants, growcarnivorousplants.com

Nepenthes x "St. Mercury"

Nepenthes x "Deroose alata"

Kiwi Graft. 4.27.19

Male Fuzzy Kiwi Graft And Possible Blooming Spur on Blake Kiwi.  4.27.19

This is fuzzy male kiwi graft is from Home Orchard Society.  The main shrub / vine is Blake Red Kiwi, a somewhat hardier version of fuzzy kiwi that is claimed to be at least partially self-fruitful, depending on whose website you beleive.  It has not bloomed yet but there appear to  be flower spurs so we will see.

Often, fruits that are partially self-fruitful will be larger or more productive if there is a male or other cultivar, depending on the species.  There isn't a lot of info out there on kiwis for the maritime Pacific Northwest, so anything I do is an experiment.

The grafted male is a green leaf variety, while the Blake has a red tinge.  Easy to tell apart.

Kiwis have a delicate stem with central pith.  The carpentry is a little challenging for making grafts, but it looks like they took.  They are whip-and-tongue, wrapped firmly and I matched the green cambium as best I could.  Also, I had a hard time telling which way was up on the grafts,  so I grafted two in one direction and two in the other direction.

This one was apparently right-side up, since it's growing so far.

I think that understock growth on this stem needs to be pruned, now, so it doesn't compete with the graft.

Lilacs and Camassia. 4.27.19

Lilacs that I moved to my country place a few years ago, from town. Deer sometimes munch on the lower branches but the flowers on top they are lovely and fragrant. Last photo is camassia, which do very well here and should, given that they are native.  Each bunch started as a single bulb, planted in fall.  Each year the clumps have more bulbs and more flowers than the year before.

Cowlitz Peach. A work in progress. 4.24.19

Possible peach formation.  4.24.19

This is the seedling peach tree, now roughly 4 years old, from Oregon Curl Free Peach.  For brevity, I tentatively labeled it "Cowlitz Peach" for its provenance in this area.

Most of the flowers are gone.  I thought that none had set fruit, but it looks like there may be some peaches on this tree.  Hard to say from the flower remnants, so it's still up in the air.

One thing I can say, is in its 4 years of life so far, there is no leaf curl at all.  It's still a work in progress, but this is a promising result so far.

Cowlitz Peach.  No leaf curl.  4.24.19