The past week has flown by. I have been busy working, painting, cleaning and hosting some delightful guests, my brother in law and his wife. They left earlier today and I will miss them, such refreshing company. I was so glad they came, it gave me incentive to dig in and clean out an area I have wanted to for a long time but something always seemed more important.
This afternoon I am trying to update my website and figure out how to add Linky Friends or whatever it is called to my blog. I have meant to check out Google + as well, I just have not had time so today is dedicated to online chores, so to speak.
My seedlings and cuttings on my plant rack are growing very well.
Here is my geraniums when I first potted them up on February 7th.
And here they are today.
The yellow paper is a sticky trap for the fungus gnats. They come in the potting soil but the yellow sticky traps work great for keeping them under control.
This is a gorgeous Trumpet Vine, I don’t seem to have great success in growing it up here but I am going to put one or two of these in large pots and move them into the greenhouse in winter and out to my back deck in summer so I can get it to bloom for me. Just down the hill half an hour these flourish and can even become invasive but up here the winters are just too cold for it I guess.
And if you remember my Christmas Cactus post.. here are a few photos of how they are coming along.
It went from 2 having new growth to all of them. They were so easy to start, I did not expect success with every cutting but every one of them has taken off.
I do believe I have plenty of cactus now. I have another tray full of these as well from other cuttings.
The past two days were so lovely and warm, mid 60’s for a high, feels like Spring. I am still working on filling my raised bed, it is deep! Once filled though it will be great.
Now I need to get back to my online chores. Enjoy your fabulous Saturday!
This winter I have been noticing Christmas Cactus everywhere. Lush plants with vibrant blossoms brightening up whatever room they are in.
guide-to-houseplants.com
So I decided to scope out some cuttings. I hit up my mom for some from her plant and then I thought to look on eBay.
Did I get a shocker! Here I am thinking there is just the plain ol regular ones I have been seeing about and I learn there are all kinds of named varieties, new ones that are bred and sold at premium prices. (a new and rare one on eBay went for over $100 and it was just a itty bitty thing, cuttings went for $25)
I avoided the costlier ones and looked for unusual (to me) cuttings at a reasonable price. I found a seller that was in CA so there would not be any shipping issues (tough Calif import rules for plants) and purchased these cuttings:
Christin
Melissa
Nicole
Exotic Dancer
I can highly recommend this seller, she was conscientious, generous and the cuttings were top notch.
Here is her seller info on eBay if you wish some cuttings for yourself.
Seller information
Member id leftcoastphotos (
Feedback Score Of 401
)
100% Positive feedback
As soon as my cuttings arrived I hurried to the garden center and picked up a package of cactus potting mix and potted them up.
The seller included the name tags to add to the pot which was an unexpected bonus that I appreciate. I placed two cuttings in each pot so when they take off I will have one plant to keep and one to share.
I placed them all on this tray and watered them in. Then I covered them to keep the humidity in.
Now they reside on a table by a window in my living room. I spritz them now and then and hold my breath. It will be awhile before I see new growth but time does fly by.
The past few days I have been prepping for tax time. My husband was gone on a business trip so I made the most of his absence by clearing out the home office we share and reorganizing the space. It is so much easier when he is not in it.
Then I tackled getting the accounts for our businesses updated, reconciled and ready for me to import to the tax software. It would not be so much work if I kept up with them better but the past few years I have been more into running out and painting signs and building stuff than keeping up with bookkeeping chores.
I spent a good portion of Saturday outside, reorganizing the greenhouse and searching high and low for my grow lights. It will soon be time to start my seeds for the garden. My husband cleaned the garage last and does not remember where he stashed the lights.
The weather has maintained status quo, dry, unseasonably warm, today in the 50’s and sunny. Now if it would just rain all night to bring on the water then be mild and sunny once the sun comes up, I could have my cake and eat it too.
Now to work on some plans for another table, but instead of a work table for the studio I am going to make one for a buffet in my dining room. Picture this narrower but the same length.
Now to decide if I want it to match my table in paint and stain colors (white with dark contrasting top) or what.
