echeveria and others

Echeveria got the neem oil treatment, too. It recovered better.

I separated out all the younger plants. This central one with the flowering stalk (I think of it as the 'mother plant') is the only one I saved indoors as safekeeping, in case the others don't make it overwintering outside.

Here it is regrown after I potted it up again alone, with its naked stalk buried again:

The young ones outside in the mailbox spot now. They've been there over two months, and are still doing fine! (Also in this picture: pink coleus, sunpatiens, dianthus and flowering purslane).

Others that I had put there in spring did a second and third round of flowering.

Pink crowns all.

mushrooms and purslane

My husband called me outside to see these interesting mushrooms that came up around the mailbox.

Never seen anything like them. Very pale with hints of yellow-green.

Because of them I was looking closely at things in that patch, and saw that my flowering purslane here is producing seed. The seeds are in these little cups

I started collecting them, tipping out into a tupperware.

This one you can see the cap on the seed cup starting to come off.

They are very very tiny and gray, wrinkled texture. I tried to find out more about saving flowering purslane seed- I want to know if I plant these next year, will I get more plants with the same color flowers or will they revert to another form.

But all the info I found online about purslane seed is for the common purslane grown as a food item- the leaves and stems are edible, so are the seeds I found out. Some people collect them en masse- uprooting the plants and sifting the seeds out over a screen. Those seeds are black. Are mine gray because it's a decorative variety of plant? not sure.

I'm saving as many seed as I can so I can grow more of this in other parts of the yard next year. I bet a lot crop up on their own around the mailbox, so I could always just transplant them too.

heat

has finally broken. It's only 81º right now (predicted high of 93º) and feels like such a relief. My lysimachia looks like it's dying (no worries about that plant becoming invasive!) the hostas and salvia have sunburnt leaves, bee balm is wilted and daisies have finally quit blooming and turned all brown. I water as much as I can but still only use repurposed (dripping taps, tank wastewater, dishwashing and the kids' occasional cavorting with the hose) as I expect the landscaping plants to hold their own through the summer without much attention. If they don't make it, I'll plant something else until I get what thrives.

Like the flowering purslane. It just looks happy, no matter how scorching hot the day is.

celosia and then some

This plant has surprised me. I didn't know it would get so large- it's a decent height and no sign of blooming yet so maybe it will get even taller.

It looks nice and lush, and had red stems which I always find attractive.

It's doing best in the mailbox spot. I am pretty sure I will start more from seed next year and put it in the same location. Flanked here by coleus, which has improved a lot lately, too. Also it is not at all fazed by the heat- we've had some oppressively hot days this week and I've been watering certain areas of the garden twice a day- especially the potted plants. My sweet potato vine, which is supposed to love the heat, gets droopy in the late afternoon. Celosia? it doesn't wilt the slightest bit.

Overall this space has turned out a lot better than I hoped for its first year.

Dianthus looks small now compared to everything else. Flowering purslane is prettier than I'd expected, and it even seems to have self-seeded. I found two tiny purslane growing in a crack right off the curb and transplanted them back into the bed.

Purslane by the stump looking great, too. It seems to glow. It laughs in the heat.

Sunpatients have turned out to be rather attractive, and the darker leaves make nice contrast.

Several times I've seen people on their daily walks stop to examine my flowering echeveria and point them out to each other. I'm thinking of moving more of the babies from indoors out here- but maybe I should wait and see who survives the winter, first.

The one inside, I turned it around so that it will lean the other way and grow straight. It makes it look as if my crassula is wearing a succulent crown.

Just wait until the celosia blooms! I think it will get way more attention than echeveria attracts now. I've looked them up and those are some crazy-looking flowers.

succulents and such

My echeverias are all sending up flower stalks. Indoors and out, these seem to be responding to daylength.

I thought the ones outside were not going to do so well, their leaves are a lot darker, but they seem just as healthy- some have new pups at the base.

I don't recall these buds actually opening up into a bloom, before- but they are definitely taking on a rosy hue.

The little kalanchoe that I got from a tiny cutting is already forming baby plantlets on its leaf edges.

They look like tiny cups.

Succulents planted around the tree stump in front yard are really looking good.

Next to this one a celosia has come up- from the direct-seeded bunch.

Purslane is making a rosette shape of stems, on the other side of the stump.

The flowers are open in the early morning, they close up later in the day. Very bright!

more yard plants

Dianthus is my favorite plant in the mailbox spot right now. It never stops blooming (so far). I've started deadheading it every now and then, to keep tidy and encourage more blooms. This isn't the best picture, but it's also got that nice blue contrast in the foliage. I found out I was right in my guess that the flowers look like carnations- the plants are related. Another one I want to multiply.

Sunpatiens I'm not so thrilled with. It is a slow grower. The one in the sun is doing a little better than the one in the shade spot.

I planted out my flowering purslane next to it.

Gladiolas are really coming up now! Very straight. On that side of the house I've also got fancy daylilies and some other kind of asian lily, I forget the name now. Where's the plant label... ?

When I planted out my latest batch of hostas, I split some in half. I did it kind of roughly, with the side of a hand trowel, and then worried some would wilt and die because broke apart without roots. But so far not a single leaf has withered.

The sedums I planted around tree stump in the front are doing pretty well. In spite of kids stepping over them all the time, and squirrels digging around them.

I didn't want to have the stump ground out. At least not yet. The kids like jumping onto and off of it so much. Eventually I think the sedums will grow tall enough to soften the edges of this a bit, but now it gets lots of looks from people walking by. I wonder if some passerby think the foliage is the tree trying to regrow? I think it's funny.

in the coldhouse

(I know my structure isn't technically a greenhouse, but I never really think of it as a coldframe- I always picture something low to the ground topped with a window, when I imagine a coldframe. So I think of this as my 'coldhouse' haha).

The cucumbers have their first true leaves!

A few of my seedlings seem to have suffered from damping off: one nasturtium, one beefsteak tomato and the sage plant collapsed with a pinched stem at the base. I have so many nasturtiums loosing one doesn't matter, and I don't even mind loosing one of the 'big' tomatoes- but the sage plant would be sore loss. I have piled up soil high around its stem, not sure if that will do it any good.

Speaking of nasturtiums, I have an entire shelf of them!!

Rosemary plant is very sad. My sick eleven-year-old asked for rosemary tea and I trimmed out all the older foliage, which was browning at tips and looking to die anyway. So I do see it has quite a few new, young leaves growing but I don't know if I can keep it alive. I have never had good luck with ailing rosemary. It does indicate this sprig probably grew some roots, though!

Here are the few other perennials and annuals I bought at that greenhouse and forgot to give mention weeks ago- I have some sweet potato vine intended for planter boxes (always wanted to grow this from a tuber myself, and never got one to do anything other than rot)

Flowering purslane- I never knew purslane could be decorative until one day I saw some edging a border on public property. I immediately recognized the low-growing fleshy foliage, and the pink and salmon colored flowers were so striking. So I was glad to find some for myself! This suffered some damage from chill earlier (I put it out in the coldframe house too soon) but it is recovering and growing new leaves that look fine.

I also have some gerbera daisy and dahlias- more plants I've never grown but always kind of liked.

And last but definitely not least, another type of coleus. I can't remember the variety name now- will have to go out and look at the label- but think of it as the 'funky coleus'.