A place to post and chat about plant pics...

NOT a flower storey. I just got some plants from a friend who is RE building her home. She gave me Rubarb and then we moved some within her garden she cut the big leaves some with redish and still green stems. Shes says if I soak them overnight I can eat/cook the red AND green stems no problems tomorrow. I am NOT a Rubarb specialist only recall my granny made compote.. What else one can do with it ? Thanks Ladies and Gentlemen chef !

 

My grandmother grew rhubarb for years, and made strawberry/rhubarb pie with it! My dad loved it.

: )

 

Not enough for that ..
My DAY LILLIE pictures are DIVINE must make a gallery
The second ones I could not resist are somewhere I was today to pick up from freecycle.
mmmmh now you got me going on Lillies :-)
But no money now for going shopping for that :-).

 

mmmh where did the pics go ? Ok well maybe forgot to push UPLOAD

 

Vic, the Lillies are great just save the seed pods and dry them out when the blooms are over and they start to die back, then you will be able to grow lots of lillies at no cost., well aprt from lots of pacience. As to Rhubarb if you cut to stems and wash them of, you can eat it raw, chop it into cubes and dip it in sugar, but don't eat too much or you will get stomach ache. or you can add to to apples and make apple and rhubarb pie or crumble. Very common here in the UK and very nice it is too.

 

at what VISUAL stage are the lillies Seeds ready I REALLY do Not like these coloring tips that make spots on anything ...these orange ones hace the pistil sort of bizzare welded into the petals .. odd. Will hunt some down if I can ...here in Vancouver.

 

Vic, when the petals all fall of, you will have a seed pod left that looks a bit like the bud before the flower bloomed out. Its not reay yet to harvest the seeds you need to leave it to die back for a month or more and let the pod dry out with the seeds. Pick the pod once dry and open it carefully as the seeds are very thin almost paperlike. I save mine in a small polythene bag and keep it dry in the wooden boxes that the Port bottles come in. They take a good month to sprout and they will maybe only grow a few inches the first year but they then start to form little bulbs that you can transplant the following year into your garden. It deos tke patience as I have mentioned before because you may need to grow them for 2 to 3 years to get blooms depending on variety, still we buy other plants knowing they won't blomm for a few years no? So I never mind investing the time.

Nath

 

Nice lilies, Vicarious.

I am waiting until Fall to buy some new varieties when they get them in. I will be collecting seeds from my existing ones too. They are also propagated from baby bulblets that form below the soil from the mother bulb, and make new plants. I sometimes dig the baby bulbs up and move them elsewhere.

If you don't want to make pie, you could make pudding with your rhubarb also.

: )

 

Thats true Hollyberry, I forgot to mention the bulblets as you call them, there seems to be lots of ways of growing new Lillies. Well I took a few more pictures this morning of my lillies after the torrential rain we have had, they said on the radio that we have had 3 months worth of rain in just one day yesterday, my lawn was under water so i won't need to get the hose pipe out this week. Its decimated other plants and flowers though, out of everything the lilies and papayas have come off best and my Cycads have started flushing so hopefully I'll have a few new nice branches in a week or so. Glad I didnt put my Strelizia in the garden just yet.

I'll post some pics when I get 5 minutes.

 

Sorry to hear about your yard flooding, Nath! Hope all works out well anyway.

Looking forward to your pics...

: )

 

So sorry about your rainy day... nature is not so kind as it used to be.. Cycads are ok in big rains as long as the pote drains the water they will be fine. I had glorious up to 1m across Japanese Cycads in South Africa and some of the rarer species who grow like one leaf per year only ( that I could NOT export) you need even a permit to buy them there near Zanine where they grow near the worlds OLDEST and biggest CYCAD forest where trees are 15m tall and 4million years old !!!!!!!! The land of the Rainqueen.. Stunning

http://www.sa-venues.com/game-reserves/np_modjadji.htm
http://www.plantapalm.com/vce/cycadsof/modjadji.htm
Must upload some of my pics, must find them :-) in 300.000 pics on my hard disc.

 

Just took this shot of my 'Cappuccino' lilies again. They are really blooming now...

: )

P.S. Your plants in Africa sound beautiful, Vicarious. A 4 million year old tree?!!! I cannot even fathom that. Wow!

: O

 

They are not "mine" they grow on several hills in a Nature Reserve that is protected and visitors are limited

 

I got my E. maurelli in the mail today, but I can't post pics because it started to rain in the middle of my activities! I'll show you everything tomorrow. ;)

 

So happy for you, ShearMe! Can't wait to see...

: )

 

By the way...

Here is a terrible night shot of my 4 new goji berry plants. They just arrived today! I only actually ordered two plants, but the guy sent me an extra 2 shrubs because I mailed him some Jerusalem Cherry seeds with my money order. He was so surprised and touched by it, that he gave me 2 more plants. It was a total surprise to me, and I am so grateful.

Gonna plant three of the shrubs outside tomorrow - one will stay inside with me.

: )

 

It's always nice to get a merchant that cares, most would throw away the seeds and think nothing of them...

 

Gret info on the Cycads Vic thanks. I have 5 all in different sizes. I rember the first i bought in Barcelona because you couldnt find them in the UK then all of a sudden they got to be popular here. A couple of mine are now flushing, the largest branches have all drooped and are yellowing though the trunk is in perfect health i can't understand it, i have read though that some Cycad species lose all of their branches and then flush a long while after so i'm not giving up yet as that one is a metre accross when in full bloom as it were. You are right about the good drainage its vital, and the roots do not like to be disturbed.

Some of my favourite Lillies are just coming into flower so i'll get snapping and post some pictures before the weekend.

Nath

 

I took a lot of pictures today, so here's a Photo Bucket album link. Ask questions if you want.

http://s54.photobucket.com/albums/g114/zacboi/Plants/July%209th/
Password: LivingGreenThings

 

Everything looks great, ShearMe. Your banana plant is going to be gorgeous!

: )

 

Once again, I must correct an ID... I called the E. Maurelli a banana plant as well, but I've learned that it actually isn't one! It's a close relative, supposedly, but unlike bananas Ensetes don't naturally pup. I'm not sure, but some one can correct me if needed, I don't think Ensetes die after fruiting, and they take 5 years or more to fruit.

 

No idea - you gotta talk to Lorax, who is the 'banana queen'.

: )

 

A new member of my family, Calycanthus (chimonanthus praecox), we call it "winter sweet" here. This year is too early but I believe before we enter to the next spring I have to make a prunning to the plant, to look either like a bush or by cutting deep most of the side stems, to look like a small tree. Any body has any advices?

 

Very nice, Tugo.

Although I have never grown your bush, I find that pruning shrubs almost always make them more full and bushy. I do it to all my shrubs and they get twice as full, so I say go for it next Spring.

Even just try one branch and see what happens...

: )

 

Some people prune all other branches from the ground level except the most strong one, to let it look like a small tree and some others choose different ones to stay to look like a winter bonzai.
Need one more plant:))