Marco pictures from 5/24/2015

Pictures from early morning on 5/24/2015 of Memorial Day weekend.  Love seeing the pollens and hairs that hide right under your nose.

My only bird picture:

 Pin cushion flower:

 Columbine:

 Begonia:

Earth Boxes with Genevieve

Genevieve has decided to have a garden this year.  She did some investigating and decided she wanted to use earth boxes.  She found a YouTube video on how to make them for $20 dollars a piece.  Here is what we did.

We started with Roughneck containers.  We used small and large containers.

Drilled half inch holes into the lids about an inch apart.  Then we cut the lids out of their frames.

Cut a 6inch PVC about 6 inches long (this is a twelve inch length- that we cut in half.  Then drilled 1/2 inch holes as close as we could.

Two and a half inch pipes to support the lid inside the Tupperware.  The PVC is 2 inch diameter.

We measured for the soil well and the watering spout.

Perfect fit.

We filled with dirt and Genevieve started planting.  Please remember to put in drainage holes.  See the video.

Love that she is participating in this from beginning to end.  Really glad that when she was drilling the 6 inch PVC and caught her jeans (twice) that she persevered.

And now we wait to see them grow.

TheYouTube link uses only the larger containers but we did some smaller ones for the herbs and lettuce.

Plants- Drocera Sundew Carniverous plant

Oh, wonderful Drocera.

One of my new plants that I am trying out is the Drocera.

I have one drocera plant that has been doing really well.

I got this about 3 weeks ago and it has a lot of new growth.  The older stalks look  a little dry but I think this is due to shipping.  It is bouncing back great.  I love it's unusual shape and texture.

I decided to try doing gemmae (clones) also.  I have been growing the clones for 3-4 weeks.  I have never done clones but it hasn't been very hard.  The clones are still very small and would fit on a pencil erasure.  They are finally big enough to catch on camera.

 I bought my gammae from:
http://www.droseragemmae.com/GemmaeSales.html


I can't wait for them to get large enough to take a really cool picture.

These plants need light and distilled water.  They are in a mix of peat moss and sand with some perlite.  They need to stay wet- always water in their saucer.

For more info on care:
http://mysite.verizon.net/elgecko1989/Drosera.html

I am also trying seeds but do not have results yet.  I just put them down today.  I'll let you know in a week or two how it goes.

Staghorn fern

My new favorite fern.

Platycerium (genus)- these plants are epiphytic (which means that they grow off of other plants or material- getting what they need from air and water.  

They like light but don't leave them in direct light that will burn or dry out the substrate you are groing them in.  I have mine mounted on wood in my bathroom on a North-East facing window.  I soak the substrate about every 5 days and mist it when I remember.  It is supper handy to lay it in the bathtub so I don't have to worry about the run off water. 

Air Plants / Tillandsias

So many kinds- I find new ones all the time. 

From Right to Left: Bulbosa (Belize), Xerographica, Ionantha X Brachycaulos hybrid, Pair of

Ionantha Guatemala, Caput Medusae, Pair of Funckiana, Andreana, Tricolor (the one I killed), and a Single Ionantha Guatemala. The top is covered with Spanish moss (this has to be misted every/everyother day).

I bought an air plant and proceeded to start killing it with love.  I sprayed it every day- woops. My poor plant started to rot at it's base from sitting water.

 

Tillandsias need to be soaked (I do it once a week) in bottled water.  I soak them for 30 min- 1 hour and then shake them dry and leave them crown down for about 4 hours. 

It is really amazing to watch the leaves change from white to bright green as they are absorbing water.  

I keep mine 6-10 feet from a window on a South-West window. 

My favorite is the Xerographica

I also like the Ionantha X Brachycaulos hybrid.  It has a pretty pink hue to it.

 Tillandias are  bromeliads.

For more information on care:

http://plants.web-indexes.com/airplants/airplants-care.html