yellow

As a child, I had never really thought of myself as a yellow person. Sure, yellow was fine. Yellow is the sun. Yellow is sunflowers. Yellow is buttercups.

Still, I never actively sought it. But, apparently, now I am a yellow person, nonetheless.

Now, I am picky about my yellows. I don't like dark yellow. I don't like green yellow. I don't really like the kind of yellow which is really orange but people still call yellow, or tan that people call yellow.

I like a very pure, canary yellow, cream yellow, and buttercup yellow. Why all this about yellow? Well, it occurred to me, that I've started three, no four, trays of yellow flowers in quick succession without thinking about it. Am I craving yellow? Is there a brain chemical that is screaming out "I want yellow darn it!"?

Who knows. But what I do know is that I now have a tray of yellow sunflowers, giant yellow canary zinnias, yellow cosmos, and gold gerraniums. Whazzup with that?

Anyhoo. I did find the answers to some of my questions. I have not found an answer to the hydrangea bushes yet, more out of a considerable lack of research, but I have found that yes, you can grow butterfly bushes from seed, but that they need light to germinate, which means they're barely pushed into your soil medium. Also, apparently, they must be started indoors.

I've also found that apparently butterfly bushes are on the no-no list in many states, for being an invasive weed. Really? I thought, scratching my head. Who'da thunk it, right? I for one would like to have them as weeds. I'd certainly prefer them over tree-of-heaven. Oh my gawwwd I hate that stuff. I use large loppers to chop them down every year, and in some cases a person to push the darn tree while I saw, and still it comes back. Those things easily grow twelve feet a year. In two years they take twenty minutes each to saw.



There are very few plants that I hate. That and poison ivy I'm pretty sure make the two top contenders. *Scratches her arms absently, shivering.*

So one of my two rose cuttings is doing well-the other is wilty, because the stupid forecast predicted it to be overcast and rainy. What happened instead? 90+ degrees and sun=roast cuttings. Like I said, the one appears fine, the other is struggling. I've been covering the one to protect it from the sun, and watering the cutting deeply. So far, it seems to be surviving still. Remember that, fellow gardeners-the two major enemies of freshly planted cuttings- drying out and baking. Shade as neccessary and water well.





Also, another helpful note on roses-if you are wondering why your rose bush is not making any more blooms when it had been previously, and it does not appear to be suffering from being munched by animals or some disease, the answer is simply: More Water. I give each of my rose bushes three, sometimes four gallons of water per week. Really really. Here's a picture of the new growth on my rose bush since I've been doing this.



Okay, so last thing-my new round of gardening questions.

Still on the list:

What makes hydrangeas different colors?

And new questions:

Is it possible to make rosemary topiaries? Can I grow them in containers? How long does it take for them to look like topiaries?
Can you grow hydrangeas from cuttings?
And why can't you grow seeds from hybrids, such as tomatoes?

That's it for today. Happy gardening folks.

My first real post.

So I thought that I would begin with a series a questions for today. For each post that I make. Whether or not the questions get answered is up to Fate and how much research I get accomplished. But the questions will always pop up every day, and always new ones will take their place.

Today's garden questions are:

Are butterfly bushes perennial?
Can you grow them from seed? If so, how?
What makes snowball bushes (hydrangeas) pink, blue, purple, white, or on some rare occasions, red?

Whether or not these answers receive answers will be known in the next post, which will have yet more questions, because that's what gardeners do-they constantly push the limits of what they're capable of, both in knowledge and in physical accomplishments.

That aside, you should know that I am a propagation freak. No, really, I am. I'm hopelessly addicted. I get a thrill knowing that from a single plant I might be able to derive between one to ten or more other plants from it. My naturally frugal mindset also finds this vastly appealing, as well as my strange need to fill any available space with flowers and trees and shrubs of any sort.

As such, I've been recently experimenting with rose cuttings.

I took a single eight inch long red rose cutting from my grandmother's bush, and when I got home, cut it in half.

Then I took a couple of empty (clean!) sour cream containers, filled them with dirt, and stuck the rose clippings into each 'pot'.

I watered each heavily, but not so much that there was standing water. I then took a plastic baggy, and put it over the pot, and I taped it into place. I also used a sharpie to mark either the bag or the pot with the variety or color of the rose.

This little environment that I've made keeps the cutting/s from drying out. I let them be like that, in a partially sunny spot inside, for two weeks. Then onto my porch for a couple of days.





Then today I decided that since it's supposed to be overcast for a while, it would be as good a day as any to plant them. So I did, and watered them well.

Cross your fingers-logically this should work out just peachy keen.

I also started two new rose cuttings-one from my sunbright bush and another from the gold medal bush, in the same fashion.





So far, there is no wilting-and they look very perky. We'll see what happens.





Below is a picture of a successful cutting, a pink climbing rose of which I've forgotten the name of.

I transplanted during a four day wet spell, which I think is the most forgiving time for planting cuttings outside.






So what about you? Have you tried to grow new plants from cuttings?

There's little to nothing to lose-as long as you only take a tiny bit from a strong medium to large sized plant specimen. The key is that you don't want to destroy or heavily diminish the original plant (I mean, unless you're okay with that, which for the most part, I try to keep the dignity of the mother plant).

So yeah, I encourage those who are reading this post to pipe up about your cutting experiences-what works for you? What are your methods? Do have any questions (I cannot guarantee that I will be able to answer all of them, but I feel confident that I can answer a majority) about cuttings? Speak up, don't be shy.

hello

Hello! You have found a gardening blog; one that has been started to show anyone who is interested the inner workings behind the garden 'plans' that I make, the gardens that come of it, and the many dozens of photos to follow, both flower and vegetable.

Check back for the many photos that are soon to come, and the progress, experiments, and revelations of a gardener that go with them.