Plants, horticulture, and gardening

[xzmattzx]

There was a thread on the old board for this, and I thought there was one on this new board, but I looked and didn't see any titles referring to it.

 

What type of plants are you growing?  Any crops?  Anything for decoration of interest?

[xzmattzx]

I'm growing a few interesting things at my house.

 

For native plants, I have a swamp hibiscus along the side of my house.

 

For non-native plants, I'm going tropical.  My house faces south and the sun radiates off of the stone facade pretty well, so this all grows just fine.

I have a windmill palm, on the left; four mango canna plants, which have been producing pink flowers all summer; and a banana palm front-and-center.  The windmill palm and one of the canna plants are from last year and survived the winter.  I had to plant another banana palm because mine from last year died, but that was because it rotted out.  The bulb should otherwise survive.

Both the windmill palm and banana palm are much bigger than in these pictures; this picture is about a month old.

[binkybink77]

I grew this amaryllis from bulb over the summer... 

 

We also grew grape tomatoes, jalapenos, and bell peppers in pots.  The tomatoes did well, the jalapenos were ok but the bell peppers did not do well this year.  I'm going to try different soil and bigger pots next year. 

paco planted Red Hot Poker bulbs a couple of years ago and they finally flowered.. they attract hummingbirds and we get a ton of those

 

Our peonies and irises finally bloomed this year too

 

 

[DiPros]

You guys have mad skills, well done.  They are very nice.

I have 4 indoor dish gardens and 2 peace plants that I am trying not to kill.  One of the peace plants the leaves are burning and I have the blinds closed-it may have a disease.  The larger one I have is out in Mr. Di's veranda and it loves it out there although I do need to water it and just thought I haven't this week yet.  I dried some roses and other flowers as there were just so many things sent.  I'm not sure what I'll do with then yet.

Before Mr. Di died we did put in a small garden this year.  He wasn't able to do much at that point, but here is the yield.  I did get about 6 Zucchini's.

[DiPros]

I think my gardening days are over.  If I want to can vegetables again I can just go to a famers market and buy what I want.  These pics are from 2016 which was the last time we had a pretty big and good garden going.

My daughter and I ripped out this God awful plant that was growing around our deck after Mr. Di passed. It was good therapy for us. I used to enjoy trying different plants out there, but this plant started taking over -I can't remember but think my brother in law brought it over one day after my rose bush died.  We ended up just ripping everything out of this bed.  So far so good there's no sign of it returning.  I want to put down some landscape cloth and fill it in with stone.  Then I can do pots around there since I will eventually be spending my time at the bay and I simply will not have time to take care of everything like we used to.  No more weeding!

[NCTANK]

#33 just loves my cantaloupe’s

[Toastrel]

There's a creek at the bottom of of back yard and the wild life during COVID has been out in force.

The chipmunks have a workout spot on the edge of the patio.

[Toastrel]

Goldfinches eat zinnia petals.

It is really weird watching tiny birds land on plants that can barely hold the flowers up.

[xzmattzx]

I did tomatoes in my yard last year and got a ton in September and October.  I always thought they were perennial, but apparently the plants die for good in the winter.  It was not quite the investment I thought.

[Toastrel]

We have a volunteer pumpkin in the front garden. Must have been from one of the ornamental little pumpkins. Curious to see what we get.

 

If the deer don't eat it.

[hey suess]

We usually have about 10-15 pineapples going at any given time...they can take quite a while to fruit, but they need 0 attention once they get going.

the yellow trumpet things...a lady in the neighborhood has them as hedges, and she offered me some. I think they look awesome.

[xzmattzx]

I would definitely have a pineapple plant if I lived somewhere where it grew outside.  How does the fruit detach from the plant?

[hey suess]

1 hour ago, xzmattzx said:

I would definitely have a pineapple plant if I lived somewhere where it grew outside.  How does the fruit detach from the plant?

The pineapple sprouts from the center of the plant and then kinda grows on top of it. When it turns yellowish on the bottom, you just snap it off.

Then, cut the top off of the new pineapple, soak it in water until roots start and plant it in a pot....in a year and a half or so you can start the process all over!

[xzmattzx]

5 hours ago, hey suess said:

The pineapple sprouts from the center of the plant and then kinda grows on top of it. When it turns yellowish on the bottom, you just snap it off.

Then, cut the top off of the new pineapple, soak it in water until roots start and plant it in a pot....in a year and a half or so you can start the process all over!

How big does the plant get, and how large is the root base?  I wonder if planting it in a pot and keeping it inside is feasible.

[hey suess]

11 minutes ago, xzmattzx said:

How big does the plant get, and how large is the root base?  I wonder if planting it in a pot and keeping it inside is feasible.

I don’t know about indoors...they seem to need LOTS of sunlight. 
 

here’s how we start them out:

 

and here’s how big they get when they start to produce fruit:

[xzmattzx]

Here are my palm trees, as of a couple weeks ago. There is definitely some growth from July, shown up above.

 

[hputenis]

You know what plants are terrible?  Ferns.  Ferns suck.  My wife loves them, and they look good in our backyard, but it takes about 15 minutes to water them once a day, and I'm always the one that ends up doing it.  They get bigger every day, and there are so many spiders in them I have to sleep with my mouth closed.  

 

[20dawk4life]

4 minutes ago, hputenis said:

I have to sleep with my mouth closed.  

 

I thought that’s just to avoid the hobo deeks. 

[hputenis]

1 hour ago, 20dawk4life said:

I thought that’s just to avoid the hobo deeks. 

[xzmattzx]

Does anyone know what this bush/plant is?  It's an absolute weed at my house, sprouting up shoots up to 75 feet away, through cracks in the driveway even, despite the bush being boxed in by brickwork.

 

 

[mikemack8]

Looks like some kind of butterfly bush to me - does it flower at all?

[xzmattzx]

7 hours ago, mikemack8 said:

Looks like some kind of butterfly bush to me - does it flower at all?

No, not at all.  It's just those leaves.

[mikemack8]

Yank the mf'er out then  

[Toastrel]

I am ready to start shooting squirrels. Might start with paintballs, just to hurt them awhile.

[xzmattzx]

15 hours ago, mikemack8 said:

Yank the mf'er out then  

I plan on that.  I just want to get some information on the plant so that I don't have little shoots popping up all over my property even after I rip out the main plant.  The root system seems to be pretty impressive.