Re: Weekend plants and stuff

Hey, that sounds neat. If you don't mind, send me a leaf or two.

On Sunday, May 23, 2004, at 07:08 PM, Andrea H wrote:

The Maple leaf looks exactly that, except it's so dark red it's almost
black, and has a very velvety texture, looks almost metallic when the light
hits it.. Gets pretty big in the right place. I'll see if I can find some
pics.
A

Andrea H
Beaufort, SC


----- Original Message -----
From: "james singer" <jsinger@igc.org>
To: <gardenchat@hort.net>
Sent: Sunday, May 23, 2004 5:27 PM
Subject: Re: [CHAT] Weekend plants and stuff


Hi, Andrea. I have a fantastic rex escargot in a hanging basket on the
veranda. Needs to be re-potted. I don't know the maple-leaf one. Got a
picture? I also have a non-rex that is curled like an escargot; it's
called a "pig's ear." I don't know why.

The last plant sale we went to at University of South Florida, we had a
nice chat with their begonia curator and ended up buying a B.
aconitifolia that had been damaged [knocked off the table]. It's a
large cane angelwing. Well, when we got it home we stashed it on the
front patio and forgot about it. Ms. Fatma found it again yesterday. It
has completely recovered from its misfortune and looks great. So we
re-potted it. Also re-potted some dracaenas and a clump of bamboo palms
that we raised from seeds; we planted the seeds 3 year ago and the
palms are now 6 to 7 feet tall.

All the begonias here at the plantation--and there are lots and lots of
them--are blooming now, although some, such as the five or six dragon
wings, bloom all year. And the caladiums are risen. It is really
satisfying to see a large pink leaf poke its way up through a fern bed
and unfurl.

Lots of other stuff blooming--jatrophas [four species], bougainvilleas
[three or four varieties], gerberas, gardenias, orange jasmine,
confederate jasmine, allamandas, rubber vines, hibiscus, turks caps,
Mexican petunias, non-Mexican petunias, crossandra, orchids and ground
orchids, oleanders, crowns of thorns in all colors, desert roses in a
bunch of colors, roses [we have two--a sorry red tea and a yellow
miniature]. And I'm sure I've forgotten something.


On Saturday, May 22, 2004, at 10:37 PM, Andrea H wrote:

Jim, do you have the Escargot and Maple Leaf begonias? If not, I must
send
you some cuttings.
A

Andrea H
Beaufort, SC


----- Original Message -----
From: "james singer" <jsinger@igc.org>
To: "Chat" <gardenchat@hort.net>
Sent: Saturday, May 22, 2004 2:00 PM
Subject: [CHAT] Weekend plants and stuff


I found one pod on my Hong Kong orchid tree a few weeks ago that
seemed
to have viable seeds in it. All the flowers--and there are hundreds of
them every year--set pods but usually the pods are empty. Anyway, I
dried this pod and I noticed yesterday that it had split open [they
twist as they split open, like a wisteria pod--probably to dislodge
the
seeds].

It had seven seeds, which I planted in a Jiffy pack today with a
single
miracle fruit seed. Don't know if the miracle fruit seed will hatch;
it's been sitting on my desk for a week and I think they're supposed
to
be planted fresh.

Then I planted another Jiffy pack with custard apple [Annona
reticulata] seeds. A woman who works with Ms. Fatma has given us
several custard apples, also called bullock's heart and Jamaican
apple,
from her tree. This last time I save a dozen segments and this morning
I plucked the seeds from the saved segments. They are also supposed to
be planted fresh.

They are a very interesting fruit. They are about the size of a
bullock's heart and filled with many clearly defined, easily separated
segments, each about the size of a clementine segment, with a single
small torpedo-shaped seed in the center. I should add that the
membrane
the encloses each segment is not at all noticeable the way they
membrane that encloses a clementine segment is.

Then I potted up some rooted cuttings of Mexican petunias [Ruellia
brittoniana] and re-potted two golden barrel cactuses. Very carefully,
I might add.

I refreshed the cutting box where the Mexican petunias had been and
started a whole bunch of new cuttings--three kinds of begonias
[including one small angelwing that Ceres sent to me a year or two
ago]
and several cuttings of rubber vine [Cryptostegia grandiflora]. It's
called rubber vine because it has a sticky, latex-like sap.


Island Jim
Southwest Florida
Zone 10
27.0 N, 82.4 W

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Island Jim
Southwest Florida
Zone 10
27.0 N, 82.4 W

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Island Jim
Southwest Florida
Zone 10
27.0 N, 82.4 W

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