Gardening Challenges: Anigozanthos ink leaf disease, peach leaf curl, frost damage, weeds.

Again the title says it all.

This Anigozanthos (Kanga red-green) looks like it's about to bite the dust. The dreaded "ink disease" would be the culprit. After taking the photo, I gave this plant a 'butch haircut" even though I just sprayed it with neem. It is moved to a dry location under the eages, but I have strong doubts about it's prognosis. The other anigozanthos, a yellow one and a burgandy one, are doing well (the burgandy plant is indoors at the office).

Frost damage: a few roses, a magnolia seiboldei that has only had one flower in 5 years, and the petite negri fig.

Weeds may be getting ahead of me. Some coming up in the leaf compost - not surprising, and probably not much of a problem. Dandelions are bloming. Should I spray the dandelions with vinegar? Maybe next week.

In Bloom: Tulips. Lilacs. Violets.

The title says it all. These tulips are in about their 4th year, and are not only persisting but actually multiplying. That's unusual for tulips in this yard. The main challenge seems to be a leaf blight, which I suspect saps their energy after blooming. Maybe these are resistant? OR maybe they are just in a tulip-friendly location.

The lilacs are about 4 years old. Last year there were a couple of flowers, but this year they are making many more. So it appears that lilacs take about 4 years to start blooming significantly.

The violet is from my parents' yard in Quincy Illinois. There, the leaves are bigger and greener, and the flowers are darker blue. So climate, or local conditions, make a difference. That has also been true for sempervivum - the plants in Illinois are bigger and greener; here they have a reddish tinge.

Ning' photos. Baigo the Poodle. Pink Cherry.

Note to self: time to get rid of that stress weight. It's one thing to acknowledge the maladaptive behavior of stress eating. But time is time. I DID bike to work friday, and will do so monday. At least then, I'm too tired to feel some of the stress.

Baigo is handsome, if not too bright.

This cherry is one of my favorite trees. I've been trying to do some corrective pruning, to repair the "butch haircut" that previous owners bestowed upon it. It's finally starting to look a bit more natural. Once the flowers stop, I'll do a little more thining of the 'witches broom' look that resulted from that haircut, and take out some dead branches. That's about all.

Seed Germination. Garden Log.

Most of the tomato seeds have sprouted.
Once cucumber has germinated.
Still a few squash and a small number of tomato seedlings to go.

Tulips are in bloom. Daffodils are declining. Grapes are beginning to bloom. Lilacs are beginning to bloom.

Ginkgo trees have tiny clusters of leaves.

Seed germination

From the recently planted seeds, so far:

Cilantro (2 days ago)
Tiny Tim tomato (today)
Lemon Boy tomato (today)
Cherokee Black Tomato (barely, today)

Germination time for these, then, is 9 days. For cilantro, 8 days.

Unknown Soldiers 1907

 

Ziplock Fig Cuttings. Lively Bees. Geranium Revival.

Here is the result so far, of the ziplock fig cutting experiment. basically, fig cuttings were wrapped in moist paper towels, left on high shelf, in ziplock bag. I opened them when I remembered. About a month later, here they are. A bit moldy. Now to transition them to soil & a brighter location. The roots are fragile but it is interesting how easily they rooted. No rooting hormone. This method is popular in the fig forum on the gardenweb.

The Orchard Mason Bees are active and lively. They are using their new nesting box as well as the prior ones. They seem to like sitting in the sun.I will need to make another next weekend. Excellent reference on Orchard Mason Bees: "The Orchard Mason Bee" by Brian L. Griffin (creative title, too).

Daffodils are starting to wilt now. I removed some, to prevent seed heads from forming. Maybe I'll leave a couple as an experiment.

Cherries are in full bloom. Peaches are almost done. Apples have'nt oepened yet.

I saw my first hummingbird of the year, actually heard it first. It was sippin the nectar from flowering quince.

I cut all of the dead leaved from the oeverwintered geraniums, gave them new soil, repotted a couple, pruned off lanky growth that occurred in the dark garage. They ar eoutside now. I gave them some organic bloom food (slow release) and a little fish emulsion for a boost.

More daffodils. Rhubarb. Candytuft.

More daffodils

Peach Blossoms. Bees. Chilly Nights. Ginkgo buds.

Lots going on in the yard.

The little peach "trees" are in full bloom

The cherries are in almost-full bloom.

The daffodils continue to bloom.

A frost was predicted last night, but the low was 39. I brought in everything tender and left them all inside today.

Article in the Oregonian about honey bee problems, disappearing bees. It describes how dependent our fruit orchards are, on honey bees. I hope that the orchard mason bees can make an impact. Even more, I hope that the honey bees resurge, but it doesnt look like it will happen this year. The orchard mason bees in the "growing greener yard" were active all afternoon on sunday, using their older bee-house as well as the new one that I "built".

The ginkgo tree has green buds. also tru for the cuttings that I stuck into the ground in the tomato patch. I don't know if they have taken root, or are expending their "last effort" on some buds.

Brugmansia

The brugmansia was starting to produce tiny leaves in the garage. I decided to repot it and move it outside. The root ball wasn't as thick and difficult as I had expected. Not at all like what a fig would be, for a similar size tree. I removed as much soil as could be easily removed, about 1/2 of the original soil.
Here it is after repotting and some light pruning. I added some perlite and some Whitney's "Bulb and Bloom" organic fertilizer to the soil. It's now on the south side of the house. Hoping it doesn't get sunburned. This time of year, the sun is still low in the sky.

There were a few prunings left. I stuck them into a glass of water. If they grow, I don't know what I'll do with them.