Saving a "Crystal Palace Gem"

Shining star of the back yard

She is a Gem, indeed. Not sure where the Crystal Palace comes in, but when the landscape is rather bare, the colors of it often in shades of tan or brown and there aren't many flowers around, a plant like this saves the garden.

She loved her location this summer after spending the winter in the house as a slip, then a small plant, then a very gangly plant.

Not all of these slips will make it, but we are hoping
for a dozen or more.

Now with frost on its way for certain, this garden star must be saved and perhaps even multiplied for next summer.

Plants were dug, pruned back and potted.  They will winter over in the garage.  The mountain of prunings went into a long, flat tub with damp, loose composty earth.

Next summer she will again shine across the whole garden stage, clumped in vivid chartreuse and shocking red-orange.

Savior of the Garden

The flowers of summer are gone.  If it weren't for the Rudebeckia, there would be no color in the yard--the Rudebeckia and the Zinnias.  The seeds for the Zinnias were started late, so instead of the plants finishing off the season now, they are just now getting their second and third blossoms.  In spite of the wind and the rain, they are blooming, blazing and brilliant all over the yard.

Dried Zinnia

This is the third generation of seeds from a single gifted plant two years ago.  Last fall I saved the most developed bloom of the most Righteous Red I could find in the yard.  All winter the wad of brown, twisted shards dried and waited.

Arrow-shaped seed still attached to the dried petal

Then finally it showed up on the list of Things I get to do today:  extract the seeds.  In that process, the Zinnia held a surprise for me:  the seeds were attached to the petals!  I know little about Zinnias except that their intensely brilliant color thrills my soul.  I certainly never knew this.

Among the beans

The odd, shard-like seeds found soil, sprouted into seedlings, and then were tucked into all the places of bare earth around the yard and garden.  And now the payback!  On a grey, rainy day, Righteous Reds reign as the savior of the season.

Lining the front walk.

Fresh Dirt and a Cheap Hair Cut

Benign neglect, but neglect just the same 

I pulled it up by the top and looked.  Covered with damp earth were the little roots I was hoping for.  Pulling up a plant to see how it is doing is not a "Gardner's Bible" recommendation, but the pineapple tops were not actually secured in the soil.  By tipping them sideways and taking a peek, I could see three or four tiny whitish roots coming out from where the leaves had once been.

Little roots popping out the sides

Several months ago when the pineapple seed experiment went South, the pineapple top experiment began.  Now through occasional care and frequent neglect, it appears that they have survived and have even grown.  How amazing!

 Always remove the dead or dried leaves or twigs from a plant.
Leaving only the green is a vast improvement.
It's easier to tend something that looks good.
I'll pay closer attention now and actually care for them.

To honor their wondrous efforts in holding on and, indeed, growing this long, Things I get to do today seemed appropriate to include giving them fresh dirt and a hair cut.

Pineapple Progress

Three in this pot

They hit the dirt about two weeks ago.

Two here--a tiny one at 12 o'clock

Their tiny root feet have been wiggling their toes in soil for that long.  And even though the "strides" are proportionately small, the baby pineapples are making progress.

The biggest one of the bunch at a whopping 1/4" tall.

As a faithful gardener the Things I get to do today will certainly be to chuck all seven of them under their little chins and say, "Good job, little planties!"

Had a quick visit with the Pineapple Devas--they are tickled pink over this experiment.

Slug Hunter in My Bedroom!

Oops!  Cut it before taking its sad picture

I stopped dead in my tracks.  Dracaenas are erect-growing, sturdy plants. They do not, under healthy conditions, hang their bushy, green heads like a goose going after a slug. The dracaena in our bedroom was doing that--hanging its head but not really looking for slugs. If it was, I hope it didn't find any!

Dry or rotten--which is it?

Closer inspection revealed that there was a dry or rotten spot near the top of the stalk, just under the bushy head. My garden clippers made short work of the whole sprout. Not taking any chances on it finding slugs. Then I contemplated. The head seemed vital enough. The stalk looked healthy. Would they each take on a life of their own if given a chance?

Bushy Green getting a chance to root

   


                        So here is one more Handy Andy plant Things-I-get-to-do-today experiment for you to keep track off.  All the dead and near-dead foliage and stem were removed from the bushy head.  It was plunked into water. The stalk was also trimmed up clean and put in water. Now we will wait.  And I just checked--no slugs in the bedroom.

Stalk getting a chance to root

Christmas Dirt

It isn't your usual gift.  It is what they want, however.  The wait has been long enough, and Christmas Day seems to be the time for fulfilling their wish:  dirt please.

Begging for Dirt!

Several "slips" of zygote cactus traveled home with me from my mother's. That was in June.  Of course, they needed to hang out in water long enough to put out some healthy roots.  That growth goal was reached by the end of July.  They continued their patient wait.

In the dirt of their dreams

The fall found them draped like dreads over the squash on my kitchen counter.  And now the guilt, or the Blessings of the Season, or the Gift of Christmas moves me to fulfill their hopes.   Things I get to do today will be to find their potting soil and to give them their dirt.

May all your hopes and dreams come true this Christmas Season.  Merriest of all to YOU!

Honeymoon Garden

I pulled into the rest stop off Interstate 90.  The usual reason--there were bathrooms available.  Just as I stepped out of my car,  a woman walked toward me, purposefully, as though she knew me. "Here's the recipe for a honeymoon. Lettuce alone with no dressing." She walked straight past me to her car.  Words to meditate on while on the toilet for sure!

After five days with my mother, driving back to Portland gives time for thought and reflection.  I enjoy the quiet.  It's a time to plan and create Things I get to do today enough for many days to come. The Sprague rest stop woman had given new dimensions to project possibilities.  I was still scratching my head.

Nearly time to harvest seeds for next season

But when I arrived home, I found the first half of the story already written out.  There in my garden, at the end of summer, was a little honeymoon hideaway.  Two burgundy lettuce plants, long since finished with edible leaves, had elegant candelabra-styled crowns with seeds ready for the picking.  Just lettuce. No dressing.  Perfect honeymoon.

Tooth of the Lion

Dent-de-lion
Tooth of the lion

These guys really know how to propagate.  I was observing the stages of the process the other day--part of the Things I get to do today when I have everything else done.  This is where you are supposed to laugh.  When does anyone, even a "get-to" person, have everything else done?  But back to the guys/gals in my yard and their techniques for spreading the word and themselves.

Lying low and waiting for the seeds to develop

Dandelions could also be called "Artful Dodgers."  This is what I've observed: A bloomin' Dandelion stands up as tall as it can to be pollinated. After the pollination process, the flower closes up and lies back down, tucked tightly out of sight until the seeds mature.

Growing tall to catch the wind

Full blown, full bloom

Upon reaching full potential, the seed head stands straight up and grows quickly--several inches in a day or so--so that the pretty, puffy seeds can catch the wind and make a million more plants.  Indeed these Lions' Teeth have quite a bite.

Clear Eyes for Clary Sage

Drooping beginnings of the clary sage blossoms

My herb garden last year was the beginning of an experiment. I bought what the catalog called seeds.  In truth eight of the ten packets that came in the mail had a tiny envelope the size of two postage stamps side by side that had a  little "dust" in the bottom.  That fine powder was the exploding mechanism the various herbs used for propagation.  Oh, my!

Pinkish white flower stalks

The powders were sprinkled on moist earth, misted frequently and even included as car passengers for a brief trip to the central part of our state--they needed infant-nursery attention at that stage of their growth.  Left home they would have died.

Elegant shapes dance and at some point
will make "dust"

As I contemplate what Things I get to do today in the yard,  I'm stunned by the distance between "dust" and this spectacular flowering plant nearly four feet tall.  Never underestimate small things, not short people, nor little children, nor tiny seeds.  Stand back with respect and prepare to be amazed.