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!

Fennel (Saunf)

I threw few fennel seeds (used for cooking) in the pot along with fenugreek seeds. This was just an experiment which i almost thought had failed when the sapplings didnt show till 15 day. On the 15th day i saw some green tiny shoot pooping out...i was thrilled. Along with it came out several more in next 3-4 days...they are now up & growing and waiting for transplanting....

21 days after sowing seeds : Growing with fenugreek



27 days later: many more came up!!



28th day: repotted in bigger pot i got for 1$ from Dollar tree!! this pot is 10 inches wide & 9" tall. Infact this was a dustbin in which i made 5-6 holes in bottom, covered them with news paper and added STA green potting mix.
The Fennel seedling stands in the middle surrounded with cilantro seedlings.


28 August'09: looks happy surrounded by coriander. Has first true leaf.



20 september'09: growing fast with many new leaves but the temperature has started to drop and i have started keeping the plants in direct sun.

14 October'09: the plants starts dying with the oldest leaves dying first.


End October: Its gone...will try again next season ...dnt know what killed it - falling temperature or direct sun.