Redwood : California State Fair

5 September'09: California State Fair got free redwood tree sapling. It was in a small tube with soil filled in. When they handed it to me i asked them to give me another one as this one looked almost as if it will die soon. This stem was also growing downwards and i was not sure if this would survive but we got it home. I bought a dustbin from dollar tree and hand painted it...i didnt want to spend money on palnt which i feel might not survive. I re-potted it on 9 September....to my surprise it had well developed "wooden" roots inside - i have never seen such roots in a sapling...real hard roots. The guy handing out saplings told me - Dnt worry there are new growths at bottom" It did...as in the pic but i was still doubtful.



20 September'09: The buds at bottom started showing signs of growing - i was happy. I removed the few dead leaves but left these 4 half dead leaves just to check if they are still dying. these dead leaves were there when i got the plant.


14 October'09: The new growth is lovely. I water Reddy once every week & it has got its permanent corner in patio which receives no sun. The guy told us not to keep it in direct sun and it is doing good.

Pothos for indoors!

15 August'09: Pothos arrived home. It was for 6:50$ from Osh near home. Afetr close examination after a couple of days i found that thnis pothos was old and many stems have been cut from it for propagation. At Osh there was Pothos available for $7 as well with many stems so i guess those 1$ expensive did not have stems cut off as that had many stems.


20 August: i always had in mind the place for pothos in house, so i painted a pot to make that spot look more beautiful.


21 August: There are some kind of cuts on leaves which are bothering me a little.... dnt know if it is normal to have these marks on few leaves.


1Sep'09: wanted to give Pothos some natural light to grow fast and also because i dnt want those marks on any new leaves. Pothos is watered once a week and kept in outdoors (not direct sunlight) for 3-4 days a week....i get it indoors at night. It seems to be doing well..no yellow leaf yet. I keep it patio railing in a hand painted empty curd container with the help if elastic.


20 September'09: it is growing well and looks good.... have reduced the time it spends out in light, trying to make it used to little shade .


21 October: it stays indoors the entire week except for weekend when it is moved out to water and also little light. Seems o be doing fine.

Portulaca for hanging basket!

14 october'08: still small bloom but plenty of it..especially the yellow flowers. Also the stems have grown very long.

20 September: still small bloom but lot of new growth!

11 September- water helped!: so the water did help get back some bloom and also made my portulaca look little healthy. i water once every week & try to get it as much sunlight as possible.



1st September'09-no bloom! :Suddenly for around 20 days the portulaca stopped flowering but i could see new shoots everywhere. It was growing :-) But at the same time the few flowers it had were reduced to a penny size.... i checked on my forum "helpfulgardner" and was advised to water till the excess water runs out the container...you can see how dry i kept the poor plant in photo below!! .... was also told fertilizer in soil can make portulaca to grow & reduce flower size...weird!! but true!



14 August'09: So i planted the portulaca in the basket i bought from BIG LOTS.


Bought this on 11th August from Lowes for $1.99....in Meerut it used to be free! Just borrow a stem of it from friend and cover with soil...it grows fast. But i guess this hybrid is defenitely improved...the flowers seem to last for 2 days!! i remember those flowers in meerut lasted just daytime.

Still confused when to transplant, reading a lot of portulaca these days, trying to figure out what soil type, which part of the house will suit this new addition. Hopefully will transplant it by tomorrow into my co-co line wire basket!!

12th Aug'08 : had lovely bloom the very next day!



Final Destination of my portulaca!!

Peace Lilly- first plant i bought!

21 August: The leaves started turning yellow/brown on the tips. the plant was in a 6" pot and i could see the roots peeping from bottom holes. The water had started running out of the pot in just a second - an indication that it is not getting absorbed by the plant - time to re-pot. Bought a 8" pot from Lowes for 3:99$ and re-potted!




27 July: bought Peace Lilly...this was the first plant i bought in California :-)

Wax leaf Begonia ..the second plant i bought!

This is my begonia, bought it on 27 July'08.


28July'08
i kept it in sun..that was the info said and it got burnt in just an hour. As a result i lost one plant out of this set of six!! Lesson learnt...begonia hates sun no matter what the info on plant says!


11 Aug'08
Seems to have become better after that burning episode. You can see the empty place of lost plant in that planter...tomorrow is the day for transplant.


12 Aug'08
You have a new home begonia, this is empty Salad mix box i usually get from costco. I read begonia loves to spread roots horizontally than vertically..so i guess this will suit the best. I could plant just 4 in this box. ! is left and i plant to plant it in a smaller pot either for kitchen or the guest bathroom.

Hibiscus 'miami' - new addition!

Yesterday 10th August bought red hibiscus plant. It has been grafted plant and 10 inches tall. It costed just $3.99 at Grocery outlet.



I checked the roots on 12 Aug'08, i guess it can remain in this pot for some more time. Not yet root bound....it is a small plant and i want it to grow first before i re-pot it.

14Aug: lovely bloom and many more buds on the little Hibiscus.



Aug end - 7 Sep'09: Diseased Hibiscus!! with falling young buds. there were yellow spots on fresh leaves . Surfed the net and could only find one reason - bacterial infection! the reason could be i kept it in the guest room window which is the coldest in the whole house and it received just few minuted sun in the evening. So i trimmed off the effected leaves & started keeping it outside in sun for atleast 2 hours.

20 september'09: new growth visible. on september 24th i added carbon water to the plant which sandy collected from new shower filter. this water increased the new growth. I also repotted the plant from 4" pot to 6" pot.


14 October'09: lovely new growth. The temperature has fallen with early morning fog. i try to keep it in sun during day and at night keep it in the store room on patio. The diseased leaved keep popping now and then and i keep picking them. I still keep this plant away from the rest of the plants i have.



The disease in my Hibi disappeared on its own after i placed it in our bedroom...it even flowered in winter :-) but the flowers were small n size and pink instead of red.













After nearly four months there is another flower on Hibi...this time it is red and big. Why this difference - i really dnt know - i have not fertilized it neither did i repot it. But i am seeing leaves of the plant turning yellow. Plan to buy some miracle grow potting mix and repot the plant in a bigger container. Will also add Osmocote.



My worry is this plant is not growing straight, as can be seen in the photos- the main stem at the bottom is growing tilted with rest of the plant on that tilted stem....i will have to check in my forum if i need to do something here!