Upgrade time

Wintersown larkspur seedling

Remember all those wintersown containers that I started back in January and revisited in March? Well, I finally got around to transplanting them into larger containers this past week. They're so much happier now, and they're already starting to take advantage of the extra root space. I can't wait to plant them out in the garden.

The wintersown plants weren't the only ones to receive an upgrade. Some petunias that were outgrowing their plug trays have been moved to 4" pots, along with about 10 extra parsley seedlings (I have a feeling I'll be giving away parsley this year, along with the extra cabbage starts). My second batch of tomato seedlings were upgraded to quart-sized yogurt containers, and actualy looks as if they might catch up to their older siblings being hardened off outside.

I neglected to mention that the majority of my vegetable seedlings are out in the garden now, with only the truly tender summer plants (tomatoes, peppers, and squash) still being hardened off or sheltered indoors. For some reason, it just hasn't sunk in that tomorrow is our "safe date" for planting-- even those crops will have to be planted out this week.

Where does the time go?

Dahlias, dahlias, dahlias

Dahlia cutting


If you've been following this blog, you know that I have a Dahlia Problem. The problem is, I keep buying dahlias every spring, and have nowhere to put them. :-/

Well. I bought more dahlias this year, and suffice it to say that January's rotted tuber disaster may have turned out to be a blessing in disguise, since I went even more overboard than usual. This year, aside from my normal sources (the local dahlia society and packaged supermarket tubers), I tried something new and ordered dahlias online from a specialty grower in California. I was really excited about this-- in fact, I put in my order on the first day that the catalog opened last fall to ensure I'd get the varieties I wanted. And aside from one acceptable substitution, I was not disappointed.

The photo at top shows one of the dahlia plants that I received from that grower last week. These plants were grown from cuttings, rather than tuber divisions; I love this photo because you can see a baby tuber already forming in the tiny little plug pot. I could hardly believe how efficiently the plants were packaged-- these plugs were tucked into plastic containers not unlike the kind used to package fresh herbs at the supermarket, and everything arrived in excellent condition. If all goes well, I'll happily recommend the grower.

I won't list every variety I ordered, but have to mention that one of my purchases from that source was Ruskin Marigold (magnificently photographed by Eric of SF on Flickr), which I've been after since seeing it displayed at the South Bay Dahlia Society show in Southern California a couple of years ago. My order also came with two bonus plants... never let it be said that crack pushers nursery vendors aren't kind folk.

Now I just have to find the time to get my new babies into the ground! I've been so busy potting up and transplanting my wintersown flowers that I haven't had time to breathe... but that's a subject for another post!

African violet update

African violet propagation in water

It took a bit longer than I expected, but the African violet leaves that I talked about in January have finally sprouted baby plants! This goes for both the leaves planted in vermiculite as well as the leaves left in water.

You can see what the vermiculite cups look like now at Flickr. Those leaves just broke the surface of the vermiculite last week. They look much sturdier than the leaves growing in water.

I'm going to try transplanting the water-propagated plants to well-moistened vermiculite when they get a little larger to help them develop soil roots.

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Cross-posted to Vox.

Pineapple sage

Pineapple sage blossom

Before I started growing vegetables, I had a big crush on herbs. Vegetables took too much maintenance and space, and as for ornamentals, I told myself that I wasn't interested in any plant that couldn't earn its keep. But there was one herb included in all of my balcony and patio gardens that I could never fully justify-- pineapple sage.

Pineapple sage is not a particularly useful herb. Unlike culinary sage, it isn't very aromatic: the leaves smell pleasant, and faintly sweet, but not really like pineapple. It is not as hardy as culinary sage; it's considered a tender perennial, which means it wilts at the first touch of frost. It has no known medicinal value. The best suggestion any herb book can come up with for using it is to steep the leaves with other herbs for a tisane, or to use springs and blossoms as a garnish for cold drinks.

It hasn't turned out to be low-maintenance, either. Every one of my plants has attracted aphids-- the ones stressed by too much heat and sunlight are a more potent aphid magnet than roses. They do well outside in partial sunlight in Washington, but frost inevitably hits before they bloom-- that's just been my luck with them for the past seven or eight years.

So imagine my surprise when my root-bound, insect-ridden overwintered cuttings started sprouting racemes last week. O.o

The flowers are as beautiful as the nursery tags promise-- a gorgeous shade of vivid scarlet. If only I could get these plants to do this outdoors! Maybe I've been treating my plants too kindly-- rosemary, for instance, only blooms under stress. Maybe they need to be root-bound, overheated, and dehydrated. I suppose it's worth a try.

For now, though, I'm just going to kick back and enjoy this little run of luck. We're still getting snow in spurts outdoors, so this may be the biggest show I see for a while.

And I gotta tell ya-- after seven years of nothing, it feels like a mighty fine show.

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Cross-posted to Vox.