Category: Problems

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06/05/2022 indoor/outdoor

I learned today that spiderworts are self-incompatible, so these buds didn’t have any seeds in them. Oh well. It was worth a try! Thanks Mom for sending and prompting me to look this up! It explains why we only have the one. 🙃
I repotted the aloe vera (not shown) and added some more dirt and another succulent to this pot, which lives inside in the entryway shelf.
Milkweed beetle! It’s standing on a dayflower and moving over to a nightshade, though.
Ashy Sunflower yet lives!!
Linum rigidum from home still blooming. It’s annual so I hope it seeds!
A different jumping spider.
A lightning bug resting on a native poinsettia (Euphorbia) leaf.
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06/04/2022 unexpected excitement

Saw a great little jumping spider on the ironweed leaves.
An interesting bee or velvet ant male or something, on white avens leaf. It was one of the nervous kinds who keeps flicking their wings constantly.
The rain of the last few days prompted the Missouri fluttermill primrose to bloom again!
The Chef and I cleared leaves off the patio. In several places they were up against the wood siding which is not great as they are essentially composting. Here Briar holds down a leaf pile for us. We leave the leaves in the rest of the yard as that is best for a healthy woodland environment!
The worst offending area of leaf collection next to the house. This is after I pulled out the bulk of leaves. Our compost pile should be happy now!
An extremely tiny planthopper that the Chef found on the outdoor work bench.
The last round of tepary beans I planted are coming up.
The big thrill of the day… The horse crippler cactus in the rock garden has bloomed!!!! I imagine this means it’s either happy here or thinks it’s about to die. Hopefully the former. Since I just planted it this spring I wasn’t expecting it, and its flower bud was not obvious, or grew in really fast the last few days when I wasn’t looking with the rain.
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06/02/2022

New book in the mail! The Social Wasps of North America by Chris Alice Kratzer. It looks very useful.
Awards for bravery all around tonight. Shacks walked right past Briar and she stayed put.
Purple coneflower finally opening up!
Ironweed is budding, seems early??
This is one of two dill seedlings in the herb bed.
Pretty sure now that this is the Mexican sage from Judy.
Whoa, standing cypress about to bloom!
The just-planted two leaf senna doing okay.
The older two leaf senna seems to have gotten nibbled. I’ll have to consider if I should put some Vaseline around it against earwigs or a wire cage over it maybe for rabbits.
A non native moss rose (Portulaca). Dog behind.

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It lives!!! (Coryphantha sulcata)

On Thursday evening I was closing the plant window curtain when on a whim I checked the cactus tray. I have been watering the little shriveled Coryphantha sulcata seedling occasionally since there was still green, but I figured it was dead. It’s suddenly all plump and alive again!!!!!! Abby had the excellent suggestion that maybe the day length is now long enough for it to decide it’s spring and time to collect water again.
Since the cats have been in plant window a lot, I figured the baby might be safer outside in a more stable pot. So on Saturday (yesterday) I repotted it carefully into fresh cactus potting mix.
I have put it in the shade of the big planter, since my recent reading on baby cacti suggests that may best imitate a cactus seedling environment in the wild.
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05/20/2022

Beautiful plant.
Rocky mountain bee plant
Geometrid moth among the dayflower leaves.
The striped planthopper on the elderberry.
Very tiny bees on the widow sedum. One sitting, one blurring through in flight.
One Missouri fluttermill primrose among the strawberries!
During weedeater repair we found a DAMN EARWIG.
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2022/05/22 cool morning again

I sprinkled some grama grass seeds in this planter last winter so I am hopeful for this tiny grass sprout.
While it’s cool I decided I should go ahead and plant the showy milkweed (Asclepias speciosa). Its root was all tangled at the bottom and the soil fell off. It looks like it wanted to send out a tap root anyways.
So, it’s safely in the ground now. It is supposed to continue cool for several days, with rain too, so hopefully it likes its new spot.
I tidied up the plant shelves here by removing some pots where seedlings died.
I moved the winecup tray onto the table…
…Because some critter went rooting around in it. Hmph. Very rude. I tried to re-cover the soil on the survivors of the 2-4 that were disturbed. Fortunately many were left alone.
Frogfruit has started blooming!
Someone wants me to make guest kitties appear more.
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05/01/2022 ashy sunflower from moldy humid container, attempt 2

The ashy sunflower humid tupperware had those two new seedlings. Last time I transferred out into soil, they shriveled within a few days.
So, this time I’m making them a little greenhouse to get adjusted.
This pot actually has two: one seedling and one I found sprouted with a root but the cotelydons (seed leaves) weren’t out yet from the seed husk.
The upside down lunch meat container doesn’t quite seal over them, so I put damp paper towels as a sort of barrier. We’ll see if it works!
Accidentally knocked off some flowers of showy evening primrose by the sidewalk when going back and forth to get pots and soil.
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04/26 and 04/28 assorted

The Tupperware experiment Ashy Sunflowers have a few more sprouts as of 04/26. I need to move them more carefully as the last two I tried to plant promptly shriveled up and died.
Texas mallow coming up!
The other individual of Texas mallow coming up!
Now on 04/28, an Ashy Sunflower actually sprouting from seed! I believe this was one that got stratified.
04/28 rock garden is looking good.
Penstemon grandiflorus from prairiemoon.com as bare root seems to be growing!
The Astragalus (ground plum) not looking as good again.
Finishing up the 04/28 pics, the culinary sage is blooming in the rainbow garden!
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Oops, somehow I got more plants??

Mom told me that the Native Plant Society was having their spring sale on Saturday… So of course we had to go. I got lots of understory trees and shade ground covers, plus a few other things. More on this once I get home and plant them next weekend.
On Saturday evening, we went ahead and put Mom’s tomatoes in the ground. I think our yogurt containers may be part of why the seedlings have been struggling. The knife “slices” in the bottom don’t leak well enough I think; each one was still very wet in the soil at the bottom. In the future I think we’d better drill holes.
Doggies always alert. (From today, Sunday.)
This chickadee in a nest box refuses to move. The eggs, visible in a previous check, are on Mom’s blog.