Thursday, March 17, 2011

Plastic pots and the summer sun

It's been a quiet few days sans ocean breeze. Everyone is getting some quiet time in the sunshine. Cloe seems to be fine in terracota bowl. There is a real difference in terms of soil water retention between terracota, plastic and glazed pots. It'll be interesting as the wamer, warmer, HOT weather comes if having terracota will make any sense at all. The mulching I did certainly makes a difference. I enjoy watering in the am anyway so it won't any trouble. My dad loved watering his plants. Watering can tame the savage beast. Red Fred seems happy, which makes me happy. I've left him in the quart pot he came in and I've only watered him in two weeks-- a plastic container.

 Want to read the Thompson's chapter regarding hybridizing. I have 5 beautiful rhizomatous begonias in bloom at once. Some of the blooms stay on the stalk and harden up. I usually cut the stalk, but if it were left would seeds develop? If Red and Cloe and U402 are next to each other.. what might be born? Of course this isn't the serious way to do it, but I'm not in the serious gardener category. I am in the loving gardener category though which is a great healing gift. The green oakleaf croton is putting out nice shiny leaves with the beautiful thread of yellow down the lenght of the leaf. I burned with a liquid fertilizer batch... I turned the sprayer upside down to get all the fertilizer out, and the powder which hadn't dissolved :( but she's back. Have to be very careful of full strength anything.
I'd really like to see him grow into a large, mature plant. Dopey is still just busting out all over with beautiful stalks of white with a very slight hint of pink and the yellow stamens.


The Yahoo Begonians were right. http://www.begonias.org/Articles/Vol68/B_U402.htm.

Did I mention I re-joined the American Begonia Society? Maybe have to join Palm Beach Society as well. There are some very well known begonia-culturists.

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