Hmm

The new USDA hardiness map puts me solidly in zone 6A.  I wonder how accurate this really is?  I guess I trust it more than the arbor day foundation’s map (which puts Minneapolis as zone 5 but as many people living there can attest, most plants rated zone 5 do NOT survive the winter there, while USDA still has it as zone 4b which makes sense since it gets below -15 at least two or three times a winter making it NOT zone 5 which only gets to -10).  I know there is a lot to hardiness other than minimum temp BUT minimum temp DOES still have an effect so I’m just going to continue ignoring the arbor day foundation.  I also think this means I need to experiment more with my Chicagoland garden because really what’s the point of living in this craphole if I’m not going to at least have fun with the plants?

Really?

Sorry for the horrible quality of the picture, but I took it on my phone at the mall.  I spent an eternity trying to figure out if the orchids in this planter were really really bad quality fakes or if they were once living plants that were rotting off.  The flowers on them looked real enough (I didn’t get a chance to take a picture of them but they didn’t look faded at all) but the leaves were yellow.  Not solid yellow but that uneven splotchy yelling of a rotting plant.  The rest of the plants in the container were real (for the most part).  I was hesitant to go feel up the plants but curiosity got the best of me.  Sure enough, they were fake plants which begs the question WHY DO THEY HAVE FAKE DYING PLANTS?!  They change out the living plants on a semi regular basis SO WHY NOT THESE?!  I can’t even tell if they’re faded or they started out yellow because they yellow on the top and bottom and all the ones in the mall are like this (which probably means they were yellow).  WHY WHY WHY?!

Garden Bloggers Bloom Day

I would have completely forgotten about this if Ivynettle hadn’t posted already.  There really isn’t anything special to say about them other than yay flowers in January!  I should mention that my Oxalis versicolor is still blooming but it’s too hard to get a picture of so I didn’t bother. Make sure to check out May Dreams Gardens for more Garden Bloggers!

Columnea ‘Light Prince’

Ficus carica ‘Chicago Hardy’ Yes I’m counting these as flowers…there are flowers going on inside those…

Hippeastrum ‘Neon Rose’ on its last legs

Codonanthe gracilis

Saintpaulia NOID

Euphorbia pulcherima ‘Peterstar Marble’ (I think? It’s a marble variety of some sort)

Hippeastrum ‘Red Pearl’

Super Pointless Projects for the Bored

Project One: Unnecessary Grafting – Schlumbergera x buckleyi onto Cleistocactus strausii

The Victims

First up we have our victims.  The only reason I’m bother with this is because I got the wacky idea that a weeping Christmas cactus standard would be fun.  WHY DID I THINK THIS WOULD BE FUN?!

A totally unneeded shot of the top… I guess it’s not TOTALLY unneeded (is unneeded a word?  Spell check says it is but it looks really silly to have so many double letters together).  You can see that it has a really narrow diameter, which I’m hoping means it will have a nice skinny vascular bundle which will be important (when you see how narrow the vascular bundle is in my christmas cactus).

Top is lopped off!  Fortunately it had a small vascular bundle, just like I was hoping for!  When you’re grafting you need the vascular bundle to line up properly otherwise the graft won’t take.  I’m hoping I got the veins to line up…

The scion!  I actually took this off a different christmas cactus (One I got from Mr. Subjunctive) because it had meatier veins.  The picture plant is a struggling plant that I got from my mom who got it from her mom who got it from her mom (who probably got it from her mom). I shaved the bottom of this guy so that there would be more surface area exposed with hopes that it’ll increase the chance of the graft taking (and forgot to take pictures!)

The final result!  If the graft takes I’m hoping the plant will grow in a more 3-D way (not just a flat spray but more like a fountain).  I’m not sure if this will work but I sure hope it does!  How great would that look in full bloom (not that I’ve ever gotten a true christmas cactus to bloom)?  I didn’t put a picture of it but I put a rubberband around the the rootstock near the graft to keep the graft in place.  If you’re interested in seeing another attempt at interspecies christmas cactus grafting, check out Mike Is Bored to see a Christmas cactus grafted onto Epiphyllum!

(Have you ever noticed I really like parenthesis?)

Also, Thanks to those of you who voted for my pictures from the last post!

In other news, yesterday it was 55º, sunny and gorgeous.  Today? Snowing heavily, 25º and generally annoying.  At least I have my wall of houseplants to keep the white at bay!

Shameless Self Promotion!

You guys should all go vote for my pictures at Capture Minnesota!   Just click on my name next to that picture and you’ll find all (3 of them at the moment).  Vote early and vote often!

Crocus…in January

I know its a little hard to see here but the Crocus speciosus just finished blooming.  In January.  In Minnesota.  I wish I got some pictures when they were open, the last ones were still going strong a few days after Christmas.  Now if that ain’t ridiculous I don’t know what is.

Broken Record Much?

Look!  More flowers!  On that same plant that I keep posting about and I’m sure you’re all sick of!  But guess what!  I’m not sick of it so you get to see it again!  The flowers are actually open now!  I’m really hyper!!!  EXCLAMATION POINTS!!!!!!!!!!!  (The plant is my Columnea ‘Light Prince’ and no, I’m not on drugs).

 

New Year, New Growth, New Plants

Happy New Year kiddies (yes I realize most/all of you are probably older than me or at least the same age as me)!  I’ve returned from a trip back home to the tundra (that I probably never mentioned so I’m sure ya’ll are just assuming I’m a lazy ass…which is only partly true).

Doesn’t that look warm and cozy?  Yeah…that’s me standing on a foot of ice.  Turns out it’s still been cold in MN even if they haven’t had any snow.  I’ve never actually seen the lake freeze over without snow before.  It was actually kinda freaky, the ice was clear enough that you could see through it.  The lake is pretty clear so this means you could see pretty damn far down.  Ugh.  Now I remember why I hate lakes.

Anyways onwards and upwards to planty things!

Remember my dwarf amaryllis?  Well I now have a comparison picture so you can actually tell it’s a dwarf and not just me having giant hands!

On the left we have Red Pearl, a standard sized amaryllis (also possibly the prettiest one I’ve ever grown.  The pictures do it absolutely no justice.  The flowers are a rich velvety dark red with an almost iridescent sheen).  The one on the right is Neon Rose, the one I mentioned in the last Garden Blogger’s Bloom Day.  It has become quite apparent that Neon Rose truly is a mini.

In other news my Chicago Hardy fig has decided to be done with winter dormancy!  I’ve even got some baby figs already!  They’ll never survive to ripening (the apartment isn’t warm enough to ripen figs) but it’s still so exciting!  I think this makes me a giant nerd…BUT I’M SO EXCITED!!!

And last but not least I did stop by the old job while I was home and pick up a few new plants.  I got some sort of old-man cactus that I’m going to try and graft christmas cactus onto (cuz damnit I want to make a weeping christmas cactus standard), an Alluaudia procera and….

This sideways (because wordpress hates me and won’t let me rotate it) little gesneriaceous gem.  It’s name is Codonanthe gracilis.  The flowers almost look like tiny little foxglove flowers.  From my previous experience with xCodonanthus I’m guessing it’ll be an easy grower but I don’t really know much about it.  I’ve never encountered one for sale before so it’s new to me.  I hope I don’t kill it…

Odd Things Are Afoot

One of my two African Violets is showing some interesting flowers.  It’s a newer plant and it’s still tiny so I’m not sure if these are what the mature flowers will look like or if this is just a random oddball.

I’ve never seen one with the scalloped petals that are fused like this.  I’m really not complaining, I love how unique it is, I just want to know if it’s going to be staying like this or if it’s going to eventually look like a normal violet again.  I really hope I don’t kill this little guy before I find out…

 

In other news, the model town is coming along nicely, eh?

Update on Synadenium grantii

Just a quick update on the Synadenium grantii that I butchered earlier this winter.  The mother plant has begun sprouting!  I don’t think the cutting has rooted yet but the mother is growing again!  I’m hoping that it’ll look good… it has 3 sprouts growing evenly spaced around the stem so I’m hoping it’ll be a bit more bushy instead of a single floppy stem.

Now that it’s up and growing again I’m sure it’ll be huge in no time.  The jury is still out on whether or not that is a good thing.