Up-Potting Chili Pepper Seedlings. 12 Mar 24.

 I've been up-potting more of the chili pepper seedlings.  Now the Serranos, Cayennes, and Jalafeugos have their own containers.

They will not dry out so fast now.  This leaves the Thai peppers.

Mini Rose (Kordana) Rescue Update. 12 March 2024.

 It's soon for an update, but they are thriving.  I set them outside in sunny / overcast weather for abput half the day now.

I think I wont prune back any more until after the bloom again.  I don't know when that will be.  Maybe June.

This is the Bi-Mart one that I rescued.  Now I can see the new blossom buds are scarlet.  I had a little buyers remorse, seeing the sort of mauve color of mature blossoms.  The red buds are better.  

That one needs a new container and new soil.  I need to free up a container for that.

Here is the dark red one I bought at Safeway.  It's ideal so far.  Also needs larger container and better soil soon.

Complete. Container Planted David Austin Roses. 12 March 2024.

 Here are the container David Austin Roses now.  Yesterday I bought more potting soil so I could pot up Boscobel too.  They are on wheeled dollies so I can move them as needed for shade, light, and turn them around etc.

I also pruned the Vanessa Bell Rose that overwintered, to one foot tall.  I think that will give stronger stems and more compact shape.  I didn't want to prune off stems that were already growing, but I don't think that will really hurt anything.

Current weather is mid-50s F, intermittent showers, rain, sun, cloudy.  I think that's a good start and tender shoots get a chance to acclimate before potential sunburn weather.

Planting Some David Austin Roses in Containers. 10 March 2024.

 The David Austin roses that I ordered in January came today.  They were shipped from Tyler Texas.  I don't know if they were grown there.

They were packaged wet, so I just had them in water while planting.  I pruned long or girdling roots and crossing stems, not much.  There are some pale, one inch long shoots on multiple stems on all of them.  The current chilly, rainy, overcast weather will give them a chance to acclimate.

Silas Marner went into a container that I had placed and prepared during the winter.  For all of the roses, I mixed into the soil about 1/4 cup crushed eggshells, 2 tablespoons crushed chicken bone meal, and about 1/4 cup coffee grounds.

Silas is near Vanessa Bell that I planted about one year ago.

I'm debating removing the sedum and muscari from that container.  I don't think they hurt anything, just messy.

Darcy Bussell and Bring Me Sunshine each went into planters that hold about 2 cubic feet of potting soil.  I drilled a lot of holes in the bottoms, first.

These will be on dollys so they can be moved around easily.

I ran out of potting soil, so Boscobel will wait until tomorrow.  It's in a temporary pot of potting soil for now.

Rose and Blackberry Cuttings Status Report. 10 March 2024.

 These are the rose and blackberry cuttings that I stuck into the ground in December.   Mostly it's been a chilly winter with lots of rain, as usual, some snow, and a few good freezes into the teens.  Other than a leaf mulch, I did not protect them.

Here's how they look now.

Climbing red rose.

Old heirloom  rose, unknown variety.  Fragrant old rose scent, highly double pink flowers, very thorny green stems.

And a thornless blackberry.

I can't promise that all of these will grow, but they usually do.  It's a good sign that the buds are plump and green or greenish-red.  And the stems look good.

I think this method might work especially will in Pacific Northwest mild wet winters.

Long before there was rooting hormone, greenhouse sprinkler misting systems, etc, gardeners propagated lots of plants this way, including roses.  My great aunts, Rose and Alice propagated stem cuttings in southwestern Illinois, with mason jars to keep them from drying out.  They were probably taught by their mother in the early 1900s.