Silly plants

I know we are in full winter here, but some plants are just confused!
With all leaves in below-freezing temperatures, and what do they do?
Decide to bloom. Crazy!

How one becomes three, four ...

Talking about my Arisaema ringens.

In early spring I got it in a trade with a fellow passionate gardener from Japan.
It bloomed of course, rather early and the flower lasted quite long.
(pics in an earlier post).

Now, on tuber inspection I was pleasantly surprised to see there's 2 fairly large babies, and a really small one.

So, yes... this Arisaema is a clump forming one!

My 10-point questions is... thissssss... I know the flowers are dioecious = either male, or female, but not both on the same plant. Any chances to have both F and M flowers if they both come from the same mother-tuber??? 

I need to read more into this sex-thing...

Arisaema ringens tuber

Mom and biggest baby

Goodz & Badz / succulent seedz

A couple months back I bought some succulent seeds (mainly Aloes, Edithcolea grandis - this was the one I was searching for, and Tacitus bellus - another one I love).
Against all odds (low light, cool temp, etc) I decided to sow them.
Couldn't just wait!
Well, one of the five Aloe variegata seeds germinated nicely, but as the others were still just lying there, I kept the plastic bag a bit too long. The one seedling I had... rotted!
I pulled it out, tore off the mushy tiny root and put it back... but I'm sure there's no chance for it.

BUT... 2 out of 5 Edithcolea grandis germinated and are looking great!

Edithcolea grandis

Also, I'm happy with my Aloe saponaria and Aloe broomii results.

Aloe saponaria

Aloe broomii

And I can't wait for my tiny Tacitus bellus to... open those big pink flowers!

Tacitus bellus

First snow.... yuppy!...or not!

We have the first snow right now!
It's a good and bad news mix.
Being a gardener, I can't think I live in the wrong climate.
Won't be able to do any gardening till April next year.

Hypertufa project - FINISHED!

Since I got this hypertufa+sempervivums+hardy+succulents idea in my little head, I kept thinking about it. And how cool such a thing would look at my kitchen window, outside, on the 8th Floor.
Crazy?
Nope!
Here it is!
First, I searched online for how-to, recipes, ideas, etc.
Then I tried to find the ingredients.
Not easy...like a recipe from a cookbook, it's hard to find all ingredients here.
Finally the recipe was something like cement+perlite+sand+dried&sifted peat based mix.
Then, the problem was with the mold. I used wood boards etc.
Then I mixed the mix, then carefully made the troughs... a small problem was the walls kinda separating from the mold and leaning inside.
Well, the final result was OK... I am pleased!

After patiently waiting for a few weeks I got them out of the molds, filled them up with a mix rich in gravel and some perlite and then skillfully and artistically planted the sempervivums.

Thinking I still have some space left, I added some Thlapsi stylosum and some cute Sedum. And of course pebbles, rocks, stones :)

Hypertufa troughs

Here's the metal bad my brother gave me for... support.
He also helped me drill the holes for the screws.

Here's the BEFORE pic, with the potted Sempervivums.... waiting for a nicer, cozier home.

Here's the view from my kitchen with the troughs already fixed.

And the AFTER pics!

I spotted a spotted surprise

Indeed. I spotted it, but it was already spotted :)
This Tricyrtis (maybe hirta?) proved to be a really nice, although very belated surprise.
I got it in a trade, not sure by what means, and I said to myself, whatever, let's see what it can do.
I have (well, HAD - it didn't come back this spring, and I really have no idea why) this Tricyrtis latifolia with brownish/yellowish blooms. Didn't really fancy it. So when I got another Tricyrtis I wasn't too excited about it.
Planted it in a really shady place, under a plum tree, in poor soil and I let it be.
And here it is, a few days ago... full of buds&blooms!

A bit too late...

Has it ever happened to you that a particular plant, new to you and your garden, made up it's blooming mind a bit too late? Exactly when cold weather sets in and kills everything?
Well, it's not really that cold now, but we've already had a couple of nights in the below zero degrees.

Here's two that I really wanted to see what they bloom like.

A hardy Hibiscus (which was a bit too small this summer, so there's another chance next year).
I knew the bud wouldn't open, so I gave it a hand. 

And a Calotropis gigantea - grown from seed, in premiere. The buds formed quite a few weeks before the cold spell, but they were just stubborn and never opened.
Each time I would visit the garden, I would first go to check behind the thick and large leaves.
Nothing!

I was curious anyway to see what the crown inside looks like.

I may not be a Lady, but I've got a slipper

I've been checking on the biggest one (I got 4 in total) for over as month, since I saw the tiny flower bud.
I am not an orchid fan, but I just think this Paphiopedilum is just gorgeous.
And the fact that I had (and still don't have, for the other 3) a clue about pattern or color.... I was pleasantly surprised to see it's a real dark one.
Kinda hard to take good pics.
But here's some!

 

The set

My green thumb has turned black

Let me explain.

There's a new plant on my not-too-long "finicky plants" list.
It was one of my loved plants, a succulent, producing a spiraling rosette, great blooms - what more could I ask for? Well... for good-behavior.

This Aloe polyphylla has driven me mad. I just can't keep it alive in a pot - the only environment it could ever survive in). If ever!

I think I always over-water. But then, it can't be (only) me! I got other succulents, watered just about in the same fashion, and they seem to thrive.

This particular one, is not the first casualty but definitely the last! The succulent world is immense so I am sure I can find another candidate for the empty pot.

A thorny one

Yes, a thorny one, but a nice performer nonetheless.
It is the second year I've grown this - although this year it was just one single volunteer from scattered seeds.

I'm talking about Solanum sisymbriifolium.

OK. Wikipedia says "prickles" (erroneously called thorns).

English has got so many words. Spikes, thorns, prickles, spines...

Well. Like I said, I got one plant, a volunteer (probably I wasn't too excited about it's performance last year). But I'm happy one little seed was stubborn and tried to impress me once more. Glad it did.

The specimen is quite tall, well over 1.5 m and full of blooms, even now, this late in the fall, when most plants are thinking about the long winter sleep.

And PRICKLES. All over it. Stems, leaves, fruit. Ahhh, the fruit. I don't think it tastes much like a "Litchi tomato".

Can you honestly say it's not cute???

Found this little (well, big) thing sliming along one of my path slabs.

I thought it was cute.

So I took some pics.

Then... rolled it over a leaf and tossed it in the chicken enclosure. I am not sure which one was the lucky one!

Arisaema ringens - End of season

Remember the weird yet beautiful bloom from March?
The plant withstood my balcony conditions until last week when almost all of a sudden the two leaves startewd yellowing and flopping over.
I knew it was time!
I lifted it up, and I saw most of the roots were mushy. I guess I continued watering it long after I should have stopped.
The rhizome itself is much bigger than I remember (at potting time) and I can see 2-3 little offshoots developing, so hopefully next spring I will see more than just two leaves.
I cleaned all the dead roots, leaving only the still-ok ones and moved it to another much smaller pot, without watering.
Won't need water till next spring I THINK!
Would love to try different ones... A. griffithii var pradhanii being probably my favorite but I still yet have to buy seeds/rhizomes.

Podranea ricasoliana - blooming when all is gone!

In a pot, although I am temped to root cuttings and try them in the garden, and see if enything comes back in spring.
An experiment a bit late for this year... but there's always next year.

I overwintered it in a dark and cold room just a bit above freezing, it suffered a lot, cut off all dead parts in spring and just waited.

For a long time nothing happened but then I moved it to a bigger pot.
Not sure whether this helped, or it was just the "right time" coming -  now at the end of September (quite cool nights and even days when it's cloudy)

BUT it's all dressed up in gorgeous pink striped blooms.

I love it!

Well, compared to other pics I see online, and considering it's a VINE, mine's actually of "decent" size but I'd rather have it as it is, then to spend an hour cutting long branches in late fall, when I need to bring it inside.

 Once again... I LOVE IT!