New plants!

[Babble64]

Chanell....it seems like so much work considering the volatile nature of the weather where you live. And then I hear the enthusiasm in your voice regarding that one plant in particular....and it all makes sense. Sometimes, you just have to do what you have to do in order to be able to see green things growing around you!!

 

[ChanellG]

To be honest, it really isn't all that much work. Up until now I've just had a few plants that were easy to care for, but my dad kept bringing me plants and one day I walked outside and there were two new plants that hadn't been there before (my aunt) and most recently my newest plants are courtesy of my mom...

Doing it gradually has been great; it's the food plants I would be most concerned with if a big storm were to approach because I don't have a place where I could bring them indoors. Yet if I have to evacuate, they'd be better off outside where they would get occasional rain and fresh air.

Hopefully there will never be another Katrina (human fail - not storm impact) and we'll never be under that much water again, but nature is unpredictable. (One of the reasons I would not want a vineyard) But, I really enjoy seeing the new growth and it's fantastic to be able to go outside and cut fresh herbs each time I am cooking.

 

[Babble64]

Chanell, I get your point about the work, and how things add up. As you know Zigs was asked elsewhere about needing to move his garden. When my husband and I were deciding which of our homes we'd live in I faced the prospect of leaving all that I've done here (flower gardens) and I realized it would a large amount of work to take some of everything with me. I've done it all over the course of more than 20 years, though, so it's not as if I did a whole lot at one time.

 

[ChanellG]

Chanell, I get your point about the work, and how things add up. As you know Zigs was asked elsewhere about needing to move his garden. When my husband and I were deciding which of our homes we'd live in I faced the prospect of leaving all that I've done here (flower gardens) and I realized it would a large amount of work to take some of everything with me. I've done it all over the course of more than 20 years, though, so it's not as if I did a whole lot at one time.

Actually, I didn't know anything about that.

?

I had to move all my plants recently when the house was being renovated and we were temporarily relocated across town, but I had a lot fewer than I have now. I think then I may have had a half dozen plants at the most, and when it was time to move back I had acquired one more, lol.

 

[Babble64]

Actually, I didn't know anything about that.



I had to move all my plants recently when the house was being renovated and we were temporarily relocated across town, but I had a lot fewer than I have now. I think then I may have had a half dozen plants at the most, and when it was time to move back I had acquired one more, lol.

Sorry....my assumption you'd read his comment about not needing to move plants during his move (since it's all veggie garden, not flowers)

Always nice to come home with one extra?

 

[ChanellG]

Sorry....my assumption you'd read his comment about not needing to move plants during his move (since it's all veggie garden, not flowers)

Which discussion was it? Maybe I saw it, but it just doesn't seem familiar.

The extra one I came back with was my blueberry bush; I'd actually bought it for someone else, but I knew it wouldn't live unless I actually took care of it. I resisted the urge of getting anything else until after coming back. Moving potted plants isn't the easiest thing.

 

[Babble64]

I finally have new plants!!! A friend was selling some she'd been babying all year....to help support a missions trip for the teens at church. How could I NOT buy some? LOL. I came home with a joe-pye weed (had no idea what it is but it sounded nice!) I'm going to plant that in the area of my butterfly bush, as I've just read that it attracts butterflies. We also have a rudbeckia (NO idea where that one's going!) and some sweet basil. My hubbies currently making a mini garden off the deck with the basil and some shallots we were given.

Still waiting for plants to go on sale at Lowes.......

 

[ChanellG]

Awesome! Congratulations on your new plants. Friday was my birthday, which I somehow ended up celebrating all weekend, even though that morning I had no plans when I woke up, so my poor little garden had very little attention from me.

Thankfully I have had a few minutes each morning because I keep finding monarch caterpillars everywhere they shouldn't be. There's one big one that looks like it may be ready to make the transition to butterfly - it's so exciting!

 

[Babble64]

Awesome! Congratulations on your new plants. Friday was my birthday, which I somehow ended up celebrating all weekend, even though that morning I had no plans when I woke up, so my poor little garden had very little attention from me.

Thankfully I have had a few minutes each morning because I keep finding monarch caterpillars everywhere they shouldn't be. There's one big one that looks like it may be ready to make the transition to butterfly - it's so exciting!

Happy Birthday! Sounds like you had a wonderful weekend!

I'm jealous of your monarch caterpillars...I've never found one! We have wild milk weed on our property but I must not know how to find the little guys. We also have lots of swallowtail butterflies but I don't know anything about their caterpillar habits. (Here I am with Google at my fingertips and I don't even do the research! Sigh!) I agree that it's exciting! I'm living vicariously through you! LOL

 

[Babble64]

Oh boy, it was a weekend of new plants for us! What fun! Yesterday we finally found the sale! Stopped at a farm market and they had everything buy on get one free. We walked away with under $12 spent....and planted not only the cast iron stove we'd targeted, but two other places as well. It was SO much fun!! And the final project looks as I'd envisioned it. Now just to love everything till it takes root in its new home and enjoy the beauty!! My phone's camera stinks, but this is what we worked on.

 

[ChanellG]

Happy Birthday! Sounds like you had a wonderful weekend!

OMG, I had an exhausting weekend, lol. I think I am getting too old for those multi-day celebrations.

I have been trying to get my hands on milkweed for years now, but there is more than one kind so maybe that's why you never see the caterpillars? Do the monarch butterflies come around? Turn over the leaves on the milkweed and look for little 3D white dots - those are the eggs.

When the caterpillars start crawling around they are the size of a piece of string so it's really hard to see them unless you have the plants indoors. Also, they only come out in the morning usually, and early, so the rest of the time they are in hiding. If I were you I'd check on the type of milkweed and then start looking for eggs. You can dig up some of the plant and put it in a pot and have it in the house or even on a screened in porch (probably best) where you can foster the caterpillars.

That way you can protect a plant from being eaten so it grows really and full and then when you see eggs you can just pluck leaves and bring them to your protected plant. Other insect predators eat the eggs and caterpillars sometimes so if you foster them they will have a better chance.

Do you have Pinterest? It's even easier to get to the information on there than on Google! The stove looks really cute! Congrats on your score at the market!

 

[ChanellG]

I'm jealous of your monarch caterpillars...

Guess what? I have a cocoon! I went out yesterday to check on things and this one caterpillar that had seemed to be forming a J the evening before was still in the same spot. Two hours later, it was almost completely covered in green! I'm so excited, but I am also worried that something might mess with it.

In the not too distant future I am going to have to create a butterfly house to relocate cocoons to. I wish this caterpillar had picked a branch to hang from instead of the edge of a flower pot. Ah, well... for now I just have to keep the aphids under control.

 

[Babble64]

Guess what? I have a cocoon! I went out yesterday to check on things and this one caterpillar that had seemed to be forming a J the evening before was still in the same spot. Two hours later, it was almost completely covered in green! I'm so excited, but I am also worried that something might mess with it.

In the not too distant future I am going to have to create a butterfly house to relocate cocoons to. I wish this caterpillar had picked a branch to hang from instead of the edge of a flower pot. Ah, well... for now I just have to keep the aphids under control.

That is very exciting news! When I worked in a preschool we would order in caterpillars (painted ladies, maybe?) so the kids could watch the process. Ha! Kids? I LOVED IT! Watching as the pencil thin lines ate the food and fattened into "big, fat caterpillars" was just amazing, it happened so quickly! Moving them into a butterfly habitat was a bit nerve wracking (as they required little movement, and quiet to grow healthfully) but we always had several butterflies make it through the process. I'm looking forward to how this one does, since you can't move it. What will you use to create your butterfly house? We ended up purchasing a reusable one online but before that we just made a habitat from a cut-up cardboard box and netting.

 

[Babble64]

As for MY new plants, all seems well. I realized I never posted what types I ended up with. We picked out celosia (both red with red stems/leaves and yellow with bright green leaves) My husband thought they'd be neat, since we put them on a fire box/stove. I'd never have though of that! There are also portulaca with red and yellow blossoms, variegated allysum, a beautiful mix of coleus and two kinds of vinca. I had rooted some ivy from a previous cutting and tossed that in as well. I really like the mix of flowers and all the different sizes, shapes and textures. That we used a mix and match approach with the pots added to my pleasure as well! I wasn't so sure I'd like it, but I do. It's fun going out each day and checking things out, talking to the new plants and seeing something that was once only in my mind's eye, right there in front of me!

 

[ChanellG]

. It's fun going out each day and checking things out, talking to the new plants and seeing something that was once only in my mind's eye, right there in front of me!

Are you kidding? I go out and just stare at stuff all the time, lol! (Good thing too, been finding cutworms lately...) I'm so excited that my dahlias seem to be forming buds. The zinnias were a bit scraggly when I brought them home, but I divided them and have been spraying with banana water (soak the peels in water for a week or two) and now I'm getting gorgeous flowers!

I also think I am finally starting to see signs of life on the grape vine. Looking forward to stuffed grape leaves while I wait for it to mature enough to produce fruit! My raggedy little gerbera daisy has bounced back and started to flower -- I'll never doubt clearance plants again!

As for the butterfly habitat, I was thinking a simple box of mesh stapled to wood ought to do it. Then I could just move the plants and put them in the box, but my latest J former has attached itself to the citronella on the porch. No idea why... Maybe they like shady spots to start their butterfly journey?

Only one tiny little baby left on the milkweed; hopefully the plant will have time to grow some more leaves, that's if the aphids don't take over (sigh).