Passionfruit Seeds Germinating

Over July 4th, I sowed about 36 seeds of Passiflora Edulis, from an actual 3" fruit grown near Santa Barbara (CA) that I bought at Draeger's. I put the pulp on a piece of cheesecake, but saved the seeds.

 

Two weeks later, 2 of them sprouted. Typical of passionfruit, they vigorously grew to 4-leaf seedlings in a week. Some of the slower starters also sprouted, so I got 4 seedlings from 36 seeds.

 

Encouraged by this success, I found on eBay a Canadian seed seller selling 15 Cananga Odorata (Ylang Ylang) seeds for $5. They arrived this week. I have to buy new seed medium and really baby these guys. I hope I get a better germination rate than the passiflora.

 

Meanwhile, my roses LOVED the 2-week long, nearly 100 degree heat wave! They're all blooming as if it were spring! My Graham Thomas English rose, which I actually considered throwing away because the flowers only had about 30 petals, has suddenly decided to be more true to form and have made many blossoms on long, nodding branches, each a shallow cup shape with more than a hundred golden yellow petals. I guess it knew it was headed for the trash bin.

Chemical Warfare on Blackspot: Bayer Advanced All-in-One

This is the second year that my roses have suffered black spot. Not as bad as last year, but still bad.

 

I've tried the Ultrafine oil, the Rose Defense (Neem oil), baking soda and detergent, strong jet of water... none of it worked for me. So I invested $15 (Home Depot. $20 at Summer Winds, aka Woolworth's) in Bayer Advanced All-in-One. Poured it on in June. So, don't know the various interactions with the humidity, sun, etc. etc., but it does seem to work somewhat. I still see some leaves turning brown and falling off, but the plants are blooming well, putting out strong canes... This weekend is time for the second application so by late August, I will have two data points.

Pink Jasmine about to Bloom

Wow, it's been that long since a post! I've already fertilized again in mid-March. The camellia which are supposed to be dormant, apparently appreciated E.B. Stone Organics Ultra Bloom because they've all put out yet another set of buds, big ones. Just as well because the rain turned the previous blooms brown.

 

The buds have been on the Jamine for months and today, 2 finally opened up. Maybe if it were warmer, it would have done it sooner? The night temps are still pretty brisk -- out last night at 3:30 AM (don't ask) and I was really cold. But the plants don't seem to mind, I guess becasue it's maybe 41 at night -- better than low 30s which was Dec-Jan's lows. I'm surprised the black spot hasn't hit (yet?). Maybe the cold has kept it at by?

 

I found out from search Google images for Salet classic rose, that the climber I have which I thought was Salet, isn't. I don't know what it is, but it's probably not even a classic rose. I never thought I'd be involved with rose identification. Maybe I'll post a photo on GardenWeb's rose forum and ask them to identify it?

 

My indoor miniature rose has spider mites. Too lazy to mix a dose of Ultrafine so I hit it with a thorough spraying of Pam, yes the stuff you put on pans to keep your food from sticking. And i moved the plat outdoors -- maybe the air and cold temps will also combat the mites? We'll see how that works.

 

I am still toying iwth the idea of planting the pink jasmine under the huge climbing rose -- to 'hide' the 2" canes with lots of really vicous looking thorns. Is that a good idea? Does Jasmine have deep roots that will compete against the rose? Is the rose mature enough that it won't care?

 

 

Pruned and Fertilized!

I got new Felco 6 pruners for Christmas! Oh it's so nice to have sharp pruners designed for small hands. It only took me a few hours to prune my 12 roses. It was really hard to resist putting the cuttings in perlite and peat to propagate them. The nursery said that combination is inert so less chance of micro-organisms like fungus killing rooted plants.

 

The black spot only affected the Peace hybrid and the regular Peace seems to have completely recovered, so maybe I'll get GREAT blossoms this year? I also took the tops off the scented geraniums and ALAS, cut the silver-grey lavender back in preparation for tearing it out -- it's DEAD. I even reduced the three Asian eggplants by two-thirds. Hard pruning is good for plants, right?

 

Didn't touch the Daphne at all, not even taking a single blossom to sweeten the indoor air. Even though it's blooming very nicely and fragrantly, only the tops of branches have leaves and they're still turning yellow and falling off. The nursery from whence I bought it said it needs more light and it dislikes reflected light. So I moved it to under a tree where it will get filtered light for most of the day. I hope that works!

 

Spent another $14 in E.B. Stone fertilizer. It worked so well last year that I'll use it again. The camellias certainly seemed to like it. Bloom size and number are quite satisfying. But I'll stick to Peter's xx-55-xx for the plumeria. One died but the others seemed to have wintered fine. Maybe the Passionfruit would have done OK ouside? I'll start some more cuttings in-door this summer so I'll have plenty if the big ones die next winter.

 

Anyone want Rose geranium? I have about 10, all rooting and busting out of their pots.