Shhhhhh......Flora....

We got to be REAL quiet about this cuz it's a Fauna site but I LOVE plants. I got my wildflower seed in today from Texas' Wildseed Farms because every year I put in wildflowers along with everything else, they are carefree and gorgeous.
I used to have indoor plants and even went through an orchid phase, but now all the plants are either on the porch or outside.
Here's what I have:
Bamboo (several kinds, running, in pots on the porch) Fig trees, pear trees, one mayhaw tree where the birds eat the mayhaws as soon as they turn red so I have not yet made the planned Mayhaw jelly but I love birds, blackberry plants, many roses including antique roses which I love, daylilies, a bottlebrush tree, redbud, vitex, crape myrtles, several satsumas and a lemon tree, lilies, verbena, lots of different salvias, assorted other flowers, plus I am starting seeds for several different kinds of tomatos including heirloom tomatos, 6 different kinds of peppers, and will have beans, squash, melons and cukes. The veggies are grown in Earthboxes and other containers in a small area using tsome of the principals of square foot gardening so I get a pretty good amount of home grown produce from a relatively tiny veggie garden.

OK enough abou MY plants, I **LOVE** plant talk, tell about yours?

Oh man, I used to have outside plants. That is until I bought my place 11 years ago. It has no soil, just sand and rocks. That's great because when it rains there is literally no mud. I drained a hot water heater at my feet and guess what, no mud. But that's the only good thing.

I brought tons of rose bushes and other perennials with me when I moved. I'd had these for years and they died pretty quickly. I had astilbe (all colors), bleeding hearts, tons o' ferns, jack in the pulpit, dianthus, butterfly bushes and many plants I can't even remember now. All died. That first summer I watered every day all to no avail. It was heartbreaking.

I've since switched to wild flowers, coneflowers, daisies, etc. Also bulbs do well too, no chance to drown them here. LOL Daylillies, Iris, and Pampas grass are all doing great. My hostas are actually thriving in this dry soil. Oh and the vinca. I've never had vinca to bloom before. But I guess there is something about this sand and rock that they like because it has taken off and in some places it has taken over my walkways. You can't see the stepping stones for the vinca. I have to weed eat it.

As for house plants. I used to have tons of different African violets. I'd start new plants from leaves and even started a few from seeds after I cross polinated two plants I liked. I had some with white edging around every green leaf and some with white splattered all throughout the leaves. I also had every color flower you can imagine. Then it all came crashing down one day.

I had a guy come over and work on my propane heater. It's in the living room where my 2 plant stands were(three shelves, lights, the whole works). He fixed the heater and didn't light the pilot light. I came home and immediately knew I had a leak. Man you couldn't breathe in there. I turned off the propane and aired out the house. Then I called the guy and told him he could have blew up my place (but that's another story). Well my violets started dying like flies and most were dead within one day of the propane incident. It had to be the propane that killed them. I just didn't get any more after that.

I also had spider plants and started some from the seeds that they produced. Did you know that if you plant a seed from a striped spider plant all the baby plants will be green? Yup, I had no green ones until I planted seeds from my striped ones and all babies were green. You can also use spider plant babies as plant decorations in fish tanks. They do very well underwater.

I also had a mother-in-laws tongue that bloomed. To me it smelled real fake and flowery-like new cat litter. LOL The flowers were realy sticky with pollen and lasted about 2 weeks. It bloomed twice. I've had that plant since I was a kid and my neighbor gave it to me. It was HUGE. Last winter, 2003, on a warm day I was doing some rearranging and like a dummy I set my plants outside. When I brought them in, I forgot that mother-in-laws tongue and it died. I'm still kicking myself for that. I loved that plant.

Oh man this is getting long. I could go on all night.

Hey, I love to LOOK at plants, and luckily hubby loves to GROW plants. Right after we were married he planted a garden of sunflowers. I took tons of photos and you can see them here: Garden Of Sunflowers

Unfortunately since we moved into this new house (our own home!) we've had a lot of bad luck getting things to grow. The sunflowers he's grown are stunted for the most part, and a lot of them die. He has two huge compost heaps (thanks in part to my thriving rodent colonies) that he used the first year to mulch the ground, and will use again. Last year we couldn't even get squash to grow. Well, it grew, but barely flowered, and we got ONE squash fruit, too stunted to actually eat. Hopefully with the work he's doing on the ground it will improve. But the ground is just BAD. He built me an arbor and has some climbing things growing there... they seem to have died off here in the winter, but there are a few spots of green still left.

I love the green stuff around me, and I'm so glad hubby likes to work on it.

Doh, Why didn't I think of using my mouse poo for compost? I'm gonna do that starting today. Thanks Sasheena.

Ever had this happen?

I planted a ton of bulbs, tulips, easter lillies and crocus. I mixed bone meal in with the dirt at the bottom of each hole I dug before I put the bulb in. The next morning I just happened to stroll past where I'd planted all those bulbs. I was shocked as all were dug up and tossed everywhere. I had also used the bone meal around other plants and everywhere I put the bone meal was a dug up mess. The only thing I could figure out that could have done that was raccoons. There are a ton of them out here. I used to have bird feeders but they took them. Yeah, took them away.

Oh I forgot to mention. Very pretty sunflowers. Congrats to your hubby on having such a green thumb. And congrats to you to be able to take such beautiful pictures.

Could happen.

I am a bamboo fanatic myself. The BIG timber varieties, mostly. One of these days maybe I'll take some photos.

Anyway about mouse cage material for compost, heck we've been doing that for years. It works GREAT! Plants nearly explode in growth with it. Of course it can be pretty smelly until it decomposes somewhat, but you will find some additional benefits as well. You can get a little micro habitat going that way. Compost attracts all sorts of insects, which are at the bottom of most food chains. We have all kinds of animals and birds digging around in that stuff looking for something to eat. Heck, we once found a box turtle eating a full grown dead mouse.

And actually we we clean out the reptile cages, most of that gets composted as well. Well, most of it. Connie isn't as dedicated to the plan as I am, it seems.

So try it. See the difference it can make on your plants.

Rodent doo-doo is a great fertilizer. I breed mice and rats so I have tons going into my compost pile. The raccoons turn it for me while they are looking for left over pieces of rodent food. The grass near it needs to be cut every few days.

YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Lucille wants a plant forum!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yay!!!!!!!!Thanks Webslave!!1

Originally Posted by lucille

YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Lucille wants a plant forum!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yay!!!!!!!!Thanks Webslave!!1

Down and Dirty with Lucille.