Changing leaves . . . of Begonias

September 27, 2020September 27, 20201 Comment

My fascination with begonias grows as the days grow shorter. I feel almost rushed to get a few more for my collection before freeze sets in. All of this while I move daylilies from the Southwest garden into pots. 72 done, 3 to go. Then, I need to refresh soil in my other buried pots. So, why not blog while it warms up a bit more?

I found out about a new plant shop in the neighboring city of Grand Junction and inquired about rex begonias. She had 2. While I was there, I spotted a 3rd with unusual leaves. In fact, each leaf on the plant looks different. Check this out. Someone online said it’s likely an immature Harmony’s Firewoman.

I got a couple others yesterday at the plant store. The one w the colored leaf may be another version of Harmony’s Firewoman?

My other acquisitions have been an adventure in learning about mail order begonias. Here are my new additions since the last post. Yes, there goes my COVID bonus, but I’m planning to propagate and sell these when they get bigger.

Speckled grey rex begonia- sold as Hideous Grey Begonia. Lol.

Rex Begonia Jurassic Pink Splash (I mislabeled Jurassic Pink Shades as Splash in my last post.)

Begonia NOID with green young leaves and darker mottled mature leaves.

This is Pink Shades – mislabeled as Pink Splash last post. She has grown a lot!

My biggest challenge so far is Ideal Silver Blue. She was one of the more costly of my choices. I got her from a lady named Dotty on Etsy. She is nice enough but selling plants is not her main business. The pot was peat and not taped inside the box for security. The mouth of the pot didn’t have anything to keep the dirt from spilling out. This plant has beautiful silver leaves which faded in front of me despite her terrarium type of environment. The seller said she might sell me a new one if this one didn’t pull through but she didn’t have any yet. Good lesson for me if I ever sell in Etsy. Anyway, the one little leaf that popped up while I was away camping last week has probably doubled in size since this photo. There is hope but I also learned what to avoid when I sell these plants.

Ideal Silver Blue with one leaf after bad damage during shipping.

I guess I need to get back to the daylily pots. I have a few more begonias coming before freeze. It’s going to be my winter adventure to grow these colorful plants.

Begonias: A Shift to Livingroom Gardening

September 5, 2020September 5, 2020Leave a comment

My last Purple Corn Dancer came and went on 9.1. And, so drought and high temps end the season a few weeks early. I’m working away at my potting project with the daylilies. Every other weekend, I get about 20 done. I have a couple more weekends of labor ahead.

So, with freeze a month or so away, my mind turns to my houseplants. My orchids have thinned through neglect and sales.

I’m sticking primarily to succulents, bromeliads, air plants, and begonias. Begonias weren’t originally in the plans, but I have a couple of Rexes that have been favorites for years. They really help me calm my soul.

So, I’m adding more and I thought I would share the pretty leaves here. I’m hoping that I get better at growing these because they are stunning color in my livingroom.

Perhaps it’s the end of daylily season that leads me to impulse buy begonias on Etsy this year. But, I think it is actually an antidote to work stress this year.

rhizomatousRizomous begonia – Autumn’s Best

I’ve never acquired begonias through the mail. Thanks to mail order daylilies, I now realize my options for many plants are beyond the available of local nurseries.

The dry air is hard on the Rexes, but the small ones are now pots inside large glass vases on damp lava rock. I only lost one before I figured out the modified terrarium system. I hope I can grow and love these for years.

I have a few more in transit. Can’t wait. And, then I must wait because it will be too cold to ship. When spring comes, I will focus on my yard. It’s usually September that is my month for houseplant sprees.

Jazzed!

August 29, 2020Leave a comment

Wow! I haven’t blogged since school started nearly 2 weeks ago? I’m not really surprised. It’s overwhelming to be short of faculty and it never seems to stop. On top of that, there was my daylily repotting project 2 weekends ago (20 of 70 done) and camping last weekend. Twenty more this weekend.

I have four buds left – all Purple Corn Dancer. It is really winding down. With the drought – I hold little hope of rebloom, even from the yellow trumpets. So, why and I jazzed? Because there is LOTS of new growth in several of the daylilies I repotted two weeks ago.

The season shifts. Now, my daylilies are plants to be nurtured. This is a great time to put out a little growth because first freeze is still 5 weeks or so away and the days will be warm enough until mid to late October for the cultivators to grow into the next season. Then, will come the snow . . and mulching . . . and freezing temps. I won’t pay much attention to the daylilies – maybe genealogy and movies to pass the dreary hours of being reliant on my furnace for comfort. A few pots will move to the back porch for the winter- my barometer on spring is watching the porch lilies. Then, finally, the porch lilies have enough growth to move outside in late February and little by little the green appears. Then, it is time to sit on the porch, again – and hope for scapes to show soon. After that, three months of bloom season and heat. And, after that, the cycle begins anew. Let’s hope for a little rain and moisture in all of that.

Blooms for the First Day of School

August 18, 2020Leave a comment

I’m exhausted. The day started OK, other than early. I spied a bloom on my air plant and decided it was a good omen. I thought positive thoughts to try to prepare myself for a full day of orientation followed by welcoming students to a different program in the evening.

All’s well until I go to let my pups out and discover my poor senior was having major GI issues. I mopped her up and headed to work. I had 25 minutes to prep for orientation and my computer crashed. OK, keep thinking positive.

We hired a new faculty. That was good . . . Until she quit 3 hours later. Then, I return home to find my senior pup in worse shape than this AM. I wonder if it’s something she ate or if it’s getting close to her end time.

She got a bath, I made the world fresh again. And had dinner. It’s 9:20 and I’m sitting down for the first time all day. No wonder my thyroid won’t stabilize. I’m grateful for three nice blooms today . . . Plus the air plant.

Butterflies

August 17, 2020Leave a comment

Today brought more buried garden work. It was in the 90’s and I did have to dig in the mucky, clay-silt earth a bit. My thyroid isn’t tolerating the heat so well . . . I was drenched.

The next batch of pots won’t be here until the 3rd. I should only need 1 more batch after that. It seems slow, the delivery. It’s weird that Target is the only one even close to the prices I paid in 2017. Most are 3-5 $ more. I use to buy 10 at a time at bulk discount but that’s a pipe dream now. I was going to do this in 2018 . . . No point regretting it now.

Purple Corn Dancer the sole bloom on 8.16.20

IDK about you, but I get excited in early spring when the daylilies leaves seem to grow right before your eyes. I get butterflies when I see the first scape. Then, the blooms come. I wish I felt a bit more of that excitement about school starting tomorrow. I just feel tired already. That’s kind of sad.

From Desert to Daylilies

August 16, 20201 Comment

Today was a desert drought day. Smoke from nearby wildfires clouded the air. Ninty degrees with single digit humidity. The desert – my cacti and succulents are loving it.

Today, I began the repotting project in the Southwest Garden. It wasn’t too bad – I got 15 done and have 5 more pots for tomorrow. I have lots more pots to order, but even $6 pots add up when you have several dozen daylilies.

I was thankful these were in cheep pots already because my soil is murder to dig in. There is an area in the garden that needs to have the holes dug but I aint doing that in 90 degree heat. Speaking of soil – the cheep pots did well at holding the new soil in but they all had tree roots growing into them. Our soil is mostly clay and silt (90+%) and has a very alkaline pH of 7-7.8. Daylilies like slightly acidic soil that has a pH of 6-6.5. They like slightly moist soil with some organic matter. Our clay soil is hard and dry with poor water retention. I have put several inches of topsoil in that garden circa 4 years ago and you would never know it – the clay wins.

At any rate – I have 3 bloomers left in that garden – Purple Corn Dancer (will be hanging around the longest), Purple Thunderbird, and Navajo curls. I am working around them so I don’t accidentally break a scape. It is amazing how the foliage looks so dry and the plants are shrinking back. I am not watering everyday due to work. Ugh – Monday is a 12 hour day. I miss working from home where I can run out and turn hoses on. The drought doesn’t care.

I had a dream about my daylilies last night. I sold my house and after I closed I realized I left the daylilies. The new owner said I could go back and get them. But, I was like on a country road looking everywhere for them. I will be glad when they are potted because they are on the easement. I think having the sewer guys almost having to dig up my neighbor’s easement to get to my sewer woke me up. The pots can be moved.

Dwindle

August 15, 2020Leave a comment

Oh, how the mornings have changed from a month ago. I was fresh off vacation and in the midst of the daylily peak. Now, my mornings bring a handful of color and an early drive to work. And, work is no vaca in the middle east a pandemic.

It’s hot, though. And, really dry with single digit humidity. Wind fires blaze. Record breaking temps are common. Too hot and dry for reblooming. Even yellow Punch isn’t trying for a comeback.

I got the first of the pots for you buried garden. Soil tomorrow. It’s kind of hot so I’ll start with just moving those already in pots to the better pots. I can’t dig tree into clay in this heat with a Graves flair.

Anyway, enjoy my dwindling handful of color.

One and Only

August 14, 2020Leave a comment

My goodness, I can’t believe it’s been 5 days since I posted! Fortunately, I’ve had time to take photos. But, on top of school starting amidst a pandemic, I’m also having a Grave’s flair.

Golden Eclipse – the sole bloomer 8.13.20

I have had nice bloomers, several with finale blooms this week. It hot, dry, and wildfires rage nearby. I don’t anticipate reblooms outside of maybe my yellow trumpets. I’ll start my improved buried pot project this weekend.

Sixty-Six Spiderman Daylilies for 2020

August 9, 2020Leave a comment

Hi all – When it is Saturday and it hasn’t been the fun day that I planned. COVID had driven the world mad – and they seem to all be mad at me. So, how about a little Ned Robert’s daylily therapy? I fell in love with Ned’s southwestern named daylilies after finding Kokopelli on Lily Auction 5 years ago. I have a collection of 70 ish now. I am including a few from 2019 if they didn’t bloom this year. Comment with your favorite! Direct from Montrose, Colorado . . .

The Golden Girls

August 8, 2020Leave a comment

My blog title came to me early this AM, as I tiptoed through my garden at 6-something AM before work. Titles come to me sometimes and they disappear into thin air by the time I sit down to write the blog . . . I just can’t remember what my early thought was.

But, today I do because it relates to the color of the blooms that stood out from my bedroom window as I did aerobics first thing after waking up. Golden Girls . . .

The first one I spied was Navajo Curls. She is yellow, but deep enough to have a golden hue. She is described as yellow-gold in her official listing. She is big and easy to see from the window.

Cripple Creek was in bloom today. Cripple Creek, Colorado is an old gold mining town. I am sure Ned Roberts had that in mind when he named her.

And, Golden Eclipse – a flower that is rust-red on the face side, but gold underneath with a gold eye. I see an eclipse in her. Do you?

I’ve had 52 Ned Roberts spiders bloom this year. About 40% of all my blooms. I don’t remember how many Neds I have total – 65-70? I had I had 61 bloom last year. Yikes – Dang drought. Oh, well, I had 40 in 2018, 13 in 2017, and 10 in 2016. So, my trend is still way up. I will have to show off my Neds one of these nights when I have the energy. They come from all over the US and are the pride of my garden. Might still be blooming in a month . . . we will see.

Colorado Kid Daylilies

A Blog About My Western Colorado Daylily Adventure