Houseplants and gardening

[Pomorek]

Yeah, anyone else into digging around in the soil and planting things? Remember, green side up!

I have a small balcony but this year I decided to make it into my own tiny garden. It took a little bit of work and a few months time but it's starting coming together nicely. A box of Gazanias:


And a bunch of Pelargonium living their best life and growing in all directions, with a white Mirabilis jalapa in the front, which in 3 months grew from a bulb into something resembling a small tree. Plus some not-too-well-blooming miniature Dahlias below, but they have a bunch of greenery already. And I always say, where the leaves are, flowers will come.


More pictures will come soon as other plants open their buds.

As a little bonus, an orchid I got to bloom lately. It was sold without specified name, got it almost free as it was looking like it's going to wilt. I'd suspect it's Zygopetalum by the look of it, but it had hardly any smell, so on this basis it's probably Odontocidium aka Cambria.

 

[Wuff-Wuff]

Oh Lovely Pomorek! Sadly my childhood house has just been sold this year: I had planted a few things there :3 like Lithospermum purpurocaeruleum (which I planted merely due to taking forever to learn it's latin name) Melissa officinalis and more.

Do keep us posted on your balcony! I think it's the way to go these days, since finding places with actual gardens is rare. Yours is looking very healthy, coming along great! Is there any reasoning behind the choice of plants?

 

[Pomorek]

Oh Lovely Pomorek! Sadly my childhood house has just been sold this year: I had planted a few things there :3 like Lithospermum purpurocaeruleum (which I planted merely due to taking forever to learn it's latin name) Melissa officinalis and more.

Do keep us posted on your balcony! I think it's the way to go these days, since finding places with actual gardens is rare. Yours is looking very healthy, coming along great! Is there any reasoning behind the choice of plants?

Thank you! There will be updates for sure, just waiting for enough flower to open.

There hasn't been any big planning behind the choice of plants, it's just what caught my attention. Also some of them are actually few years old, kept as bulbs over the winter, growing bigger every year. That Mirabilis is a prime example. Grown from seeds some 4 years ago. Although a bit puzzling, the seed package was claiming it will be colorful, and it grew plain white.

 

[Pomorek]

A miniature Canna "Futurity rose". Planted from a rhizome last year (as all my Cannas, three in total), never bloomed before (ditto). But the leaves themselves are decorative.

 

[unknownaspect]

I have kept a Scotch bonnet chilli plant next to me in my office for a few years now, it's kept me compant since I've been unable to have any animals in the house at present.



The chillis get picked and dehydrated, I intend to use them for sauces in the future.

Also, I planted a seed from one of the chillis earlier this year, it's now grown to quite a size already.

 

[Bunny Lvr]

Thry are so pretty..... Like you!

 

[Pomorek]

I have kept a Scotch bonnet chilli plant next to me in my office for a few years now, it's kept me compant since I've been unable to have any animals in the house at present.

View attachment 9911

The chillis get picked and dehydrated, I intend to use them for sauces in the future.

Also, I planted a seed from one of the chillis earlier this year, it's now grown to quite a size already.

View attachment 9913

Very cool! I didn't quite realize you can grow chili into a small tree. Chillis and paprika are thought of as annuals here. Too bad I also didn't think of it a few years ago, when I managed to sneak a few Moruga Yellow Scorpions into my parents' garden. Dad tried one and wasn't too happy.

Here's how they grew:

And here's the crop:


Turning them into a sauce was one-of-a-kind experience too. I kinda knew what I was getting into, so I took rubber gloves, goggles and an old lab coat. When grinding and boiling them, I had to add a face mask, open the windows and close all doors as the vapors alone were causing wild coughing, not only for me but for everyone in the apartment! But the end effect was well worth it, a dark yellow sauce of potency unseen is commercial products. And a distinct fruity, lemony flavor.

Since then, as I passed a couple of jars around, I'm kinda known as the guy who can handle the hardcore chili preserves.

 

[unknownaspect]

Very cool! I didn't quite realize you can grow chili into a small tree. Chillis and paprika are thought of as annuals here. Too bad I also didn't think of it a few years ago, when I managed to sneak a few Moruga Yellow Scorpions into my parents' garden. Dad tried one and wasn't too happy.

Here's how they grew:
View attachment 9917
And here's the crop:
View attachment 9918

Turning them into a sauce was one-of-a-kind experience too. I kinda knew what I was getting into, so I took rubber gloves, goggles and an old lab coat. When grinding and boiling them, I had to add a face mask, open the windows and close all doors as the vapors alone were causing wild coughing, not only for me but for everyone in the apartment! But the end effect was well worth it, a dark yellow sauce of potency unseen is commercial products. And a distinct fruity, lemony flavor.

Since then, as I passed a couple of jars around, I'm kinda known as the guy who can handle the hardcore chili preserves.

Oh wow, such wonderful plants and lovely chilis too! Given how strong yellow scorpions are, I don't blame you for wearing all of the protective gear just to make sauce out of them, I have to be cautious just to dehydrate my scoth bonets and they are only a fraction of the potency but it still feels like I'm filling the house with pepper spray.

It's nice to see chili plants grown outdoors like that. Sadly, not possible here given the climate, but I'll no doubt turn my house into an indoor chili farm soon enough.

Once those scoth bonnets ripen and go red, I'll have to start to make my first sauce, I'm kinda nervous, I've never done such a thing before. I wouldn't mind making a fruity flavoured one. I did have a jar of pineapple and scotch bonnet jam from someone before and it was divine in any curry I made.

 

[Faust]

This is one of my favourite flowers, the Passion Flower.

Sadly, with the UK climate being what it is and a lack of other flowers for cross-pollination, I'm unlikely to ever see any fruit from this plant, but the pretty flowers always cheer me up in Summer. They're also really good for bees and other pollinators.

 

[unknownaspect]

Has anybody had success with growing plants from cuttings? I have a mint plant and a sage plant that are doing well but I would love more of it to spread throughout my front garden.

 

[Frank Gulotta]

It's nothing special. I know next to nothing about botanic. Half of these I bought out of pity because they were dying last summer at the supermarket.

 

[Pomorek]

Half of these I bought out of pity because they were dying last summer at the supermarket.

I do it the same way quite often.

 

[Pomorek]

An update. The late July heatwave hit my little garden hard. The dahlias lost their leaves, despite ample watering. The jalapas and cannas seem to have been pushed through their vegetative cycle at exaggerated speed, so to speak. The seeds formed and the leaves wilted. Although, new shoots are coming out from the soil; gotta nurse those now. The rest of plants weren't much affected.

A curious thing about the cannas. Seems like counterfeit plants are a thing! One was supposed to be 'Tropicanna' cultivar with multicolored leaves. The other was supposed to have yellow flowers with red dots. And they both turned out like this (the picture was taken before the heatwave):


The flowers look better in the photo than in reality, as they were quite small and really short-lived; also very few flower shoots. They were bought from the same store (as well as that 'Futurity rose' featured earlier), but seemingly completely different brands! And yet, the same "error" with both of them. I'm really baffled by this.

 

[Wuff-Wuff]

How's things now Pomorek?

Here where I am, things are finally cooling down now.

 

[Pomorek]

How's things now Pomorek?

Here where I am, things are finally cooling down now.

Ah, sorry for not updating! There was a lot going on around me.

Looks like the very hot summer lasted until yesterday. Now it's raining and cooling is expected.

Throughout the heat, the Abyssinian gladioli fared well. Maybe fewer flowers than otherwise, it was hard to provide enough water as it would evaporate in a few hours. But the leaves grew really well, providing thick green curtain for the front of the balcony.


To make up for the losses, around mid-August I got a few "latecomer" plants. On steep discount too as they were not blooming at the moment. Lobelias and salvias. The former managed to start blooming, hopefully they can keep going for some time more. The latter are just starting, we'll see how it goes.

A non-discount specimen now: Penstemon 'Dark Tower', flanked by Japanese bloodgrass. Both are said to be perennials so I can keep them for the next season, hopefully.


Most curiously, it really seems like Cannas and Jalapa got propelled through their vegetation cycle by the heat and started over! Jalapa managed to wither and regrow into the 1-meter-tall blooming form again. Cannas are not that advanced but a bunch of big new leaves have appeared.

 

[Wuff-Wuff]

They're looking healthy and well Pomorek! :D lovely!

 

[Pomorek]

One of more strange-looking flowers I have, Bilbergia nutans. A member of the Bromeliad family. I've had this one for many years, it started as a small side shoot I literally stole from school! I made an error of keeping it in too dark place though, so it wasn't blooming, until I moved it last year.

 

[Pomorek]

Always wanted to have a curcuma plant (closely related to the one from which the spice called turmeric comes from). And I finally managed to find one at a good discount. It's this dark purple flower.

I'd also like to point out this huge thing to the right. It's a pineapple plant, grown from, well, a pineapple! It must be around 8 - 10 years old at this point and it just keeps getting bigger.