Here's the pawpaw harvest this year.
Not a lot, but we don't need a lot.
Ironically, I didn't pollinated them this year and they did better than in years when I did. Also, these are from the rootstocks of the original trees that I planted.
Nice flavor.
I brought in the herbal perrennial cuttings. Sage, lavender, rosemary.
I started the cuttings in August. One pelargonium (geranium) cutting died. This one took, growing roots through the bottom holes.
I tried starting rosemary from cuttings in water. The didn't seem to take. So I cut off the bottoms for clean cuts, scraped a little bark from the side, dipped in rooting hormone. This one has roots emergi g from the bottom
So thats a couple of "free plants" for next Spring. If you consider my effort is free and the tiny amount of rooting hormone is too low cost to measure.
With outdoor temps down into low 40s at night, I think it's time to start bring in the tender plants that I want to keep.
Here's the first batch.
The Schlumbergeras have started to make flower buds.
The seedling Schlumbergeras look good, but I don't know if they are ready to bloom yet.
I gave them all a little bloom food.
This was actually a week or two ago. Last fall or winter, I stuck hardwood cuttings (prunings) from this rose bush, into vegetable garden beds. This one grew into the start of a rose bush. I think it's an"Old Garden Rose" ie, heirloom rose. The parent bush came with the house.
The roots look pretty good. Sometimes I'm surprised at small root system of some roses. I potted it onto used potting soil.
It had a tiny amount of wilting at the stem tips. I cut off those tips. There has been no additional wilting.
When winter arrives, I'll keep it in a sheltered location. Bring into the garage if below freezing.
Here's the flower of this mysterious rose. It has a strong, old rose fragrance.
Since I don't know the name, but I think it's old and a lot of old roses were French, for my own purposes I'm calling it "Rose mystérieuse parfumée" for "mysterious fragrant rose".
I found this lavender plant when I was doing some clean-up of an area that was taken over by thistles and blackberries. When that area is done, it will just be mowable grass.
This plant was scraggly with long twiggy stems. I attempted to dig it out, but accidentally chopped off most of the roots. Oh well. So I also pruned off most of the top, and planted it in a fairly small container, in used potting soil.
About three weeks later -
There are LOTS of new buds growing. I don't know how much they will grow before winter. I might need to keep it in the sunroom. Also, I can't predict whether it will make a bushy plant. With good pruning, I think it might.
This makes me wonder about internet plant growing lore. So far, everything I've found says you can't cut lavender back beyond fairly young leafy growth. So far, all of the lavender plants that I pruned severely has started to regrow. Now wait and see.
There were some really old lavender plants that had been overwhelmed by thistles. I had read that lavender won't survive a hard pruning to woody stems, so just pruned the scraggly plants to their bases to get rid of them, when I cleaned up the thistles in August.
Those Lavender plants made a come back and continue to grow.
I noted that two stems still had about six or nine inches of woody stem. Those are growing too. Both have a severe right angle. I decided to try air layering these stems to make new plants.
I want to layer them in containers. It seems more convenient. With the shape of stem, I need to insert the stem through the low end of the side of the containers, so I cut holes.
Then I trimmed growth from the part of the stem that will be buried. I scraped bark to expose cambium.
I used a Q-tip to apply Dip-n-Gro to the stem, especially the exposed cambium. Then inserted the stem through the hole.
Then filled with moist potting soil, firmed it, and watered in. I did that with both of the longer stems.
They will just sit there by the parent plant until Spring. By then I hope they will be rooted and ready to grow on their own.
I think I've overwintered this one three times. It took a while, but now it's demanding our attention.
This is the Petite negri start that I rooted via air layering this summer.
It lost a few leaves, but still looks OK. Not as vigorous as Lattarula.
This tree will complete my border by the easement. It didn't have a lot of roots, but they seem to be growing. I bothered them as little as I could.
Filled in and planted, with fencing to protect from deer.
There are still a few months before winter. I think it has a chance to establish before then. I'll give it a nice mulch.
This is a rose from the yard that I liked. No label. Last fall, I cut three mature sticks and pushed them into the soil in a garden container. Two didn't root, but this one did. They had no special care, other than watering. (The white flower is a seed- grown, dwarf dahlia).
It was easy to dig it out of the container - I removed some of the side pieces first. I could dig deeply from the side.
After removing the rose plant, I rinsed off the soil. I wanted to plant it in potting soil, with a uniform consistency.
Then I planted the little rose bush in a container. The tender growth wilted a little, so I sniped that part and placed the plant in the cooler garage for the day.
I ordered these. The Manzanita should be very short and spreading, John Dourley. They are tiny starts, may need a few years to fully spread.
The Sageleaf Rockrose is a bit larger, but I imagine it will also take some time.
The lavender cuttings, that I set up Aug 8, don't appear to be growing so far. I decided to set up a couple of air layers as well.
I drilled large holes in the bottoms of 3" plastic pots. Stripped a fee inches of leaves from the bases of two branches of the parent plant. Scraped an inch of bark. Wiped that with Dip'n'gro. Inserted the branch through the bottoms of the pots. Filled with pre-moistened potting soil.
Done
This was 5 days ago, so this is a delayed post.
The three bearded iris varieties arrived in the mail. It's all a risk, because I've had bad results many times. So we'll see.
These are the varieties Frimousse, Better Than Butter, and Society Page.
Here is one of the Lattarula fig tree air layers, that I cut off from the main tree exactly one month ago.
Roots have been emerging from the bottom water drainage holes.
I decided to plant it in the fig tree in the fig tree border. The reason is, the parent Lattarula tree is close to the house, and I eventually want to remove it. Lattarula is my most productive variety, big juicy, sweet figs. By air layering starts and planting in the fig border, I can save it.
I selected the spot where I want it, dug a hole, and poured in a bucket of water. Then removed the tree from its pot.
Lots of good roots! This is only 30 days after cutting the air layered branch from the tree!
I planted, and covered the soil with decomposed tree leaves.
Then a cylinder of fencing to protect from deer.
It will need a hardware cloth sleeve for protection from voles this winter. Basically, it's planted and ready for its new life. I won't fertilize until next Spring, because I don't want new, tender top growth now before winter arrives.
Here is the best of the lavender plants, that I pruned to the ground a few weeks ago. My intent at the time was just to clear up the area. I didn't expect the lavender plants to recover. i just wanted to cut them down. It looks like they are making rapid growth!
Here's the other one that I found at the same time. Also starting to recover.
I'm surprised they are growing. The web sites I read or watched, said this can't happen. Don't believe everything you see on the internet!
I found two more smaller ones today. They haven't been encouraged, and might just be smaller anyway.
I bought these, bare root, from an Amazon seller, in February. Previous post.
I planted them in patio containers. All of the plants grew.
I cut off all flowers until about mid June. I gave them a dose of miracle grow for acid loving plants. That seemed to stimulate them too much, so I waited a month and gave some diluted bloom food to stimulate flower production.
I cut off all of the runners when I see them.
These are a big juicy strawberry. Very flavorful. They are produced gradually, not all at the same time.
I think I planted too many in each container. This fall, I might try to thin them by 50%.
The other deck container is celosia. I think, Plumosa Glorious dwarf mix from Baker Creek Seeds.
These were the seed - started Mignon dahlias. About 18 inches tall.
Each flower has one to three honeybees. The other seed started dahlias have been bee - friendly too.
I put a label on each, hoping to keep track of them, dig up the tubers and overwinter this winter / fall.
This is the two- or three- year old Mandevilla vine that I overwintered. In April, I pruned severely and repotted in fresh potting soil. info 20 Apr 24.
It took a while for full comeback. That was a severe rehab. Here it is now.
Pretty dramatic comeback.
I can't recall what I did previous years. This time I used a dilute balanced fertilizer until it leafed out, then occasional dilute bloom food. No high nitrogen - I don't want long vines this time.
