Posted on April 16, 2022April 16, 2022Moving things around and catching up Moving some things out of plant window to outside, I found two ashy sunflower seedlings in the experimental warm humid container! I have planted them in potting soil now. I will keep them inside for now as I imagine they will need a careful hardening off.
Posted on April 13, 2022April 13, 2022More vacation gardening and wild prairie Lyre leaf sage blooming. Hopefully mine will be blooming soon in Oklahoma. A Swiss Chard is coming up. Mystery seedling… Too early for oregano?? Dogs!! Clouds like mountains. Native tiny bee on Callirhoe involucrata (winecup). Chickadee wasn’t on her nest yesterday, but she was today. More fun!! A solider beetle yesterday. Mom has the ID. Two of these moths in one day (yesterday). If you look just above the moth, you can see a tiny planthopper.
Posted on April 12, 2022April 12, 2022Kale and bird poop Lacinato kale is sprouting for Mom and Dad! Scotch blue curled kale is up too! Two dogs, having fun. Look at the bird poop on the coralberry leaves! How unappetizing! It’s actually a bird dropping moth. It’s even a bit lumpy! It’s probably Antaeotricha leucilliana but there are a few similar species that can’t be distinguished for sure without looking at the genitalia. Luckily for the moth, that sounds like a lot of work.
Posted on April 11, 2022Marigold for Mom and Dad A few marigolds are sprouting in Mom and Dad’s container garden. Went for after-dinner walk and Gracie was feeling alright! A bumblebee on Salvia greggii. Blue stars are blooming! These bluestars haven’t opened yet. This garden patch was transplanted from a patch up our hill a long time ago, to Mom and Dad’s garden. This is where mine in Norman are from.
Posted on April 6, 2022April 6, 2022Plants for Mom Mmm seeds from home! Seeds smell like people she knows. We’ll wait a few more days to plant the tomatoes. Mom put a few more bags of topsoil in. An unknown seedling volunteering. We’ll leave it for now. We seeded lacinato kale, Scotch blue curled kale, Fordham giant Swiss chard, marigolds, red rubin basil, Italian large leaf basil, green wave mustard greens, and oregano.
Posted on April 6, 2022April 6, 2022Pre vacation plant check (Tuesday) Two Datura wrightii! They have thinner, slightly grayer leaves than the unknown seedlings also coming up in many containers. Several interesting seedlings in the lowest tier of the cactus planter. The peach flower buds opened! Gram did a lot of work helping me pack. He and the Chef are staying home. Briar hits the road!
Posted on April 4, 2022April 4, 2022Fluttermill seedling A fluttermill Missouri primrose seedling is up!
Posted on April 3, 2022April 3, 2022Growth ideas I think this is Carolina Snailseed, one of the volunteers that was here already. This legume is under the yaupon Holly by the dining room window. I think it could be either a partridge pea or an Illinois bundleflower. The red speckled seedlings are taking shape. I browsed through seedsource.com’s catalog and the leaf shape suggests it might be my prairie verbena!! I really hope so. Their pictures don’t show the red speckles, but we’ll see as they grow. A smaller one. You can see the anise hyssop (Agastache sp) to the left and below; they have spade shaped cotyledons. Near the Liatris I transplanted from home, there are two mystery plants. I’m thinking potentially fleabane or puccoon?? The second one of same thing. The mystery sprouts do appear to be my bluestars. Abby mentioned they have milky sap.
Posted on April 2, 2022April 2, 2022This week’s events… Busy busy Got winecup (Callirhoe involucrata) seeds in the mail from prairiemoon.com. This species gets boiling water then 30 days cold in fridge. They also kindly sent a free seed packet of Dalea purpurea which we immediately planted. The straggler roots of Maximilian sunflower are everywhere. Paula and I lifted up this stepping stone to find more. We’re potting them up to give away. The big colony that we transferred over to edge of shade is sprouting too. Glass gem popcorn now in the raised beds! Judy gave me these delightful frog stepping stones for my birthday! Thanks Judy!! The Phacelia leaf in the rock garden is very similar to the invasive geranium leaf I am holding, but isn’t as round. In the very middle, you can see a single Datura pushing up. The other seedlings look like what I hoped was honeysuckle, but is now coming up everywhere. This seedling is in the Two-Leaf Senna pot. We’ll see. Human, you must rest.