My Caladium bulbs did rot, though.. that'll teach me for getting them at Wal-mart. 

Tomorrow I will be planting my morning glory seedlings and leveling out the garden to get ready for planting. 

Stay tuned for a picture post soon!! 

I just put 12 caladium tubers down, in 3 seperate pots. They are all assorted colors, so it should be neat to see what comes up.

The houseplants are loving it outside! I moved the cacti out front today in a shaded area, they should like that.

The lettuce is coming up.. we should have plenty of it!

I got more lettuce seeds, which I sowed in a window box this morning. I also got some statice and painted daisy seeds, which are down stairs in their little dixie cups waiting to germinate. I also got some mammoth sunflower seeds to do this year.. last year they went down in flames when my Dad decided to dig a pond, and they happened to be RIGHT in the way. Luckily they were just babies, so no love lost. I figure this year he can't dig any more ponds, or else we will run out of back yard. So they ought to be safe.

The morning glories and cukes have already germinated, along with the broccoli. Fast little buggers, eh?

And I have a Christmas cactus in full bloom. I guess they really like the green room! Someone should fill him in that its.. April. Not Christmas. But as long as he's a happy little plant, then I am happy too.

Herbs:

• Curled Parsley
• Chives
• Chamomile
• Oregano
• Spearmint
• Vera Lavendar
• Lemon Mint
• Basil
• Cinnamon Basil
• Lemon Basil

Veggies:

• Green Beans
• Zucchini
• Lettuce
• Pumpkin
• Cukes
• Carrots
• Broccoli

Gourds:

• Eggs
• Mini Bottle Gourds
• Luffa

Flowers:

• 3 varieties of morning glories
• Butterfly Weed
• Columbine

Yesterday I also went out and got some seeds — green beans, cukes, butterfly weed, etc.

 I also sowed some seeds.. 2 packs of Columbine, 3 different types of morning glories (Picotee Blue, Dwarf Blue Ensign, and Flying Saucer), and a different brand of cactus seed.. Im gonna see if there are any other varieties.

 The plants seem to love it outside, and its supposed to rain, which will be good for them.

Ill post pictures soon! It feels so good outside. I think its time to start my veggies and flowers!

Its been nice and 70F here. I have 3 different varieties of morning glory seeds — can you tell I like them? So I've been picking up seeds here and there and planning my plan of attack. I'll be sure to take pictures soon — Easter Lillies are coming up!

Not much else going on; I cant wait until I can put the houseplants out side, to get some air and real sun!

So far the germination rate from Josam5′s seeds on ebay have been 50/50. The philodendron has not germinated, but another type did.. I forgot what the name was! Ill have to check. Tonight I put down asparagus fern and some hens and chickens seeds.

I have baby African Violets coming out of the wood work. Lots, and lots of babies.

 Last night I did a major cleaning downstairs.. repotted my gardenia, because I dont think it liked the pot it was in. Piddled around, and generally just got things done.

Spring is showing its signs, and I cannot wait to put seeds in the ground, move the houseplants outside, and be able to whine all night because I forgot to put on sunscreen and got sunburnt while gardening all day.

I have also started a big thing of rabbit manure tea.. I got a huge tupperware storage container, put the waste from the rabbits in it, and filled it with water. Ill let it steep for a few days, then I will skim off the hay and manure, and pour buckets of the tea on where I will plant my gardens. I would put the manure straight on the garden, but its intermixed with hay, and that wouldnt be a good combination.

I also had to make some spray for what I believe is powdery mildew. White, dusty spots on my African Violet leaves. I used a liquid dish soap and baking soda mixture in a spray bottle and sprayed the leaves down.

Last night I heard a cat scream from back in my bedroom, so I ran back to see what had happened. And I saw my Siamese cat on my bed, looking rather miffed, and one of my pots with 3 (rather spiney) cacti on the floor. So apparently he was venturing in places he shouldn’t have been, and got stuck.. betcha he won’t do it again!

We have a great botanical center in Cincinnati –Krohn Conservatory. And today, I went..

And took pictures of their desert room.

You name it.. haworthia, kalanchoe, agave, crown of thorns.. they have it, and some of their specimens are as big as the car I drive.

Thursday look for new pics, because I look to go back and photograph the Orchid Room.

If you visit the page and see something not labeled with the scientific name, that means the name of the plant has me stumped. So feel free to comment and let me know what it is, or even the common name. Also, if you see something that is named wrongly or you think it might be, feel free to speak up about that, too. This has been a continual learning process, so I anticipate many mistakes.

Click here to see the houseplants!

Enjoy!

I did some major watering in the plant room tonight. A few of my houseplant seeds are germinating, and I have AV babies coming out of a TON of leaves! The herbs I set down are also getting their true leaves.

I also had a friend begift me a large number of houseplants — ficus, African Violets, etc. Lots, and lots of great plants.

Thats it for now, hopefully Ill have some pictures soon.

 Got 3 new cacti from the local greenhouse tonight. I got a barrel cactus, which had 27 small babies in the pot with it — it obviously hadn’t been repotted in a while! So I seperated the babies and put them in soil. I also believe I have a crown cactus, which I groomed back a bit, but it has flowers on it. I also got a new crown of thorns plant, which I love.

I got:

• Hens and chicks
• Begonia
• Trailing Cactus
• Jasmine
• Asparagus Fern
• Gloxinia
• Cigar Plant
• Fatsia Japonica
• Philodendron Selloum
• Persian Violet
• Dragons Blood Sedum
• Desert Rose

Some of the seeds are sooooo tiny! Im going to start with the bigger seeds, and put some down tonight. Then as those germinate, Ill put more down. I just wanna make sure I do it right — these are some great plants. If you are looking for houseplant seeds, make sure to check Josam5 out on ebay — this was just the tip of the iceburg on what she carries. I will be documenting the germination and growth of these plants here, of course.

Photos of the blooms from Optimara EverJoice.

AV babies!! I cut this leaf off the plant because it was damaged, and I just put it in the cup on a lark. And it sent up babies!

A couple of general pictures of the plant room.

Baby Panda Plants!

This is a few of the tangerine seeds that germinated.

Wandering Jew that I grew from a single cutting.

Some of the coleus I grew from seed.

Baby Cactus!!

A strawberry begonia that I got at Home Depot on clearance. Its kinda beat up, but with some TLC Im sure it will do fine.

A very pretty succulent, I believe its called a Rainbow Tree.

I was calling this Haworthia.. but I think Im wrong. Any ideas of what it is?

A new succulent.. any ideas on names?

 I also cut up a rex begonia leaf, and gave another try at it, this time in a tray with a lid. Seems to be doing ok. I also took 2 cactus seedlings, put them in a pot, and set them outside the tray, to see if I can indeed take them out once they germinate.

Also I am doing an awesome trade with a woman I found on ebay. I will be getting seeds for Lithops, Persian Violets, Sedum, and Trailing Cactus, to name a few. In exchange I will be sending her some homemade soap that my mother makes. Good trade.

At Home Depot tonight I found a Strawberry Begonia hanging basket on sale for $4, and I also bought a small succulent. The begonia was beat up, but Ok.. I brought it home, cleaned it up, and doused it with water. Since it only needs medium light, I can hang it in my north window. Its very pretty.

Pretty soon I am going to have African Violet babies coming out the wazoo. Awesome.

I found an aphid on a plant. Devastating, I know. But appearantly if you have alot of houseplants you will see them eventually. So I went out and got a pint of Malathion, and mixed some up, and sprayed down my african violets. Take that, aphids!

I think thats it. I have baby cacti everywhere, so I will have plenty to sell and trade. And I am thinking of doing a dish garden, or a desert type box garden to mimic the natural enivoment of cacti and succulents.

The tangerine seeds are doing well, and I have baby trees. Im happy to see that they took off. And the coleus I grew from seed it thriving.. maybe my black thumb is turning brown.

Wooo-hooo!

 The coleus is out of the little germination greenhouse, and is doing great.

 I put down some more AV leaves tonight, to hopefully have more babies to take to the market.

 The bleach drench has been doing great to cut down on fungus gnats, and it did not harm the germination of the coleus or the cactus seeds, so I know that I can use it when I need it, no matter what stage a plant is in.

I have also had a problem with fungus gnats. Especially in the little greenhouse containers. I can do a bleach drench on the grown plants, but I didn’t know if it would harm developing plants. So I took a gallon of warm water and 2 tsp bleach, (usually its 1 tsp to 1 qt water, but I don’t notice a big difference if there is a little less) and drenched a small pot of baby coleus seedlings, a pot of tangerine seedlings, and I put down another small container of coleus seeds to see if bleach would harm the germination of them. So I will be able to see if it controls the gnats and/or it harms the development of the plants.

 It has 11 different varieties, and it says germination is anywhere from 7-56 days. So, this will be an experiment, but for 97c a pack, I am not complaining. I know I can propagate from cuttings, so this will be a great test.

 I have a baby tangerine tree downstairs now, the seeds are doing great. And the coleus is getting big and colorful, so I figure I will need to repot soon.

 All the plants are really thriving in the green room, we just seem to have a problem with gnats. I hang up lots of fly tape, and let things dry out more than normal. That seems to control it some, but I would like to get it more under control.

 I have also heard an old wives tale that tea makes a great fertilizer. I might take one of my African Violets and just water it with tea water, and see if it helps it, kills it, or doesn’t do a thing. I think that would be interesting.

The philodendron didn’t look too good trying to root in the water, in fact I think it was starting to rot. So I did a texas watering system on one pot, where I fill it half with perlite and a layer of vermiculite to fill the rest of it up, and set it in a dish of water, about a half inch high. And I put both starts in it, and we will see.. this system seems to work better than just plain water, it must be from the cooler temps.

 Tossed out the christmas cactus I had put down because I could see it was *not* working. So I did the whole thing differently, I put cuttings in a very loose soil, and wet it down.

 The philodendron cuttings arn’t looking so hot. I’ll have to see whats going on there.