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Seeds in Sand

| Flower Roberts

I am ashamed to admit that I usually don’t mix my small seeds with sand.

It can be seen on my hand how this mix would better space the seeds.

Poppy seeds are also tiny and tend to blow while sown.

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This leads to over-crowding and the need to thin seedlings.

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Sometimes I wait too late to thin, which disrupts the roots of the plants left.

Last week I mixed my poppy seeds with sand before sowing them.

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I liked that I could see where I had sown the seeds.

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Hopefully, this year’s poppies will be less crowded than last year’s crop.

If I have given you my red, double “Bill Troutman” poppy seeds; you need to sow them soon.   They are early risers.

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FLOWER

The Real McCoy

| Flower Roberts

In America, we use this saying “the real McCoy” to mean the real thing. This means that whatever is being described is the genuine article; not an imitation or fake.

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This saying has several possible origins including an oil-drip can, rum during prohibition or the famous feuding families, the Hatfields and McCoys.

I am using it here with McCoy pottery, which was made in Ohio from roughly 1929 to 1967.  The company started alone, consolidated as ACPC, split apart and then regrouped again.

The marks McCoy and USA on the bottom mean it was made after about 1933.

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These two pieces are from my dear maternal grandmother and maternal great grandmother who were both from Ohio.

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The Turtle Sprinkler sat on a table in a corner window with my great  grandmother’s African Violets.

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The planter held some of my grandmother’s favorite plants.  I wanted to photograph this before planting one of her plants back into it.

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McCoy is a highly collected form of pottery, but don’t rush to e-bay just yet.

The Turtle sells for about $45 and the planter for only $20.

These two are worth way more to me in memories than money.

FLOWER

Cleaned and Quarantined

| Flower Roberts

I was excited to spot some orange on the kalanchoe buds.

Upon closer inspection, the color came from bugs not blooms.

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Aphids had stowed away and were happily sucking sap from the young stems.

I pulled out my mean weapons from my arsenal to do battle.   Q-tips, along with a dish of alcohol.

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The aphid army was soon obliterated and floating in the dish-of-death.

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Do not pity these parasites. They are itty bitty, yet ugly and vicious.

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The plant is now recovering nicely in the plant hospital, along side the sick Lemon Button Fern.

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FLOWER the Warrior

Reading Snow

| Flower Roberts

I set out to discover different tracks in the snow.

I did locate several sets of interest.

My regret is not including something to reference scale.  I tried a dime, but it sunk in the powdery snow.

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bird
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Mouse hang-out under shrub.
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mouse
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deer

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beagle

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squirrel
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Mr. Flower

 

 

 

 

 

My Hero, Marianne North

| Flower Roberts

My dreams are to be an artist and a plant hunter.

So, it is only fitting that I stumbled across this book in the middle of the night.

When I can’t sleep I do one of two things.

I play the app game, “Name That Bird” or I search through sample books on my Nook.

Who could resist this cover page?

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After reading a sample of Marianne’s adventures, I was hooked.

She was an artistic, female version of Charles Darwin, another hero of mine.   The two knew each other!

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I then ordered the Nook book Abundant Beauty.   No hard copies available on-line.

Her earlier book, Recollections of a Happy Life, is free as an e-book.

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The paperback book, Marianne North: A Very Intrepid Painter, by Michelle Payne can be purchased.

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Marianne traveled around the world in the 1800’s painting exotic plants, flowers, fruits, insects, birds and animals.

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She also painted landscapes.

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When she returned home, she donated a building in Kew Gardens to house all her paintings.

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She wanted to include a snack bar (tea room) but they wouldn’t allow that.

What an adventurous and talented woman, who was way ahead of her time.

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FLOWER

 

 

 

 

Out with the Old, NOW!

| Flower Roberts

My Christmas tree flocked itself!

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If you don’t know what “flocking” is, it is a method of spraying fake snow on a tree.

My tree took on a flocked appearance overnight, due to our ramping up the heat.

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At first I thought the little white specks were moving.  Mealy bugs?

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Upon closer inspection, I saw the specks were actually tiny fibers blowing due to the fan.

I snipped of some whitened shoots and popped the pieces under the microscope.

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There was a fungus among us.

The tree was unceremoniously stripped of its ornaments in record time.

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We hauled it out on the deck with the lights still on.

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No need to spread the spores.

Out with the Old.

Happy New Year from the FLOWER and her fungus.

In With The New

| Flower Roberts

I love to share my favorite plants.

Today is the day I pot up the Schlumbergera pieces.

I have taken color requests. I have twisted off pieces with three or more links.

I have let these pieces callus off for several days.  Notice the plates are labeled.

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Now, I dust some rooting hormone on the lower nodes.

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I use craft mesh over the drainage hole for any pots going outside and then inside. It keeps the critters out.

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I use cacti/citrus mix potting soil, but any type will do.  I prefer 3 inch pots, but could not find many.

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Notice the labels for the pots with color and year.  All these babies look the same.

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I let these stand around in their pots for a day and then give them a watering.

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I like to use a weakened mix of Planting/Transplanting solution.

They will be fully rooted and growing nicely when their new parents come in the spring.

HAPPY NEW YEAR

FLOWER

Southern Snowflakes

| Flower Roberts

If we want snow at Christmas in North Carolina, it needs to be fake.

That’s why we decorate with snowflakes down here.

You folks up north get all the real stuff, so we have to make our own.

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No need for it to be white.

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A friend gave me this lovely Origami Snowflake light this year.

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It looks great. It is my favorite color. It doesn’t melt.

It fits right in with the blue one at the front door.

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MERRY CHRISTMAS

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FLAKY FLOWER