Ann's Air Gardens

Chlorophytum comosum

It has been a long time since I had a spider plant, and I have yet to try growing one in water.  But thanks to a neighbor who is moving away, I now have a huge parent plant with lots of little spiderettes.  Searching online to learn more about this plant, I stumbled upon what looks like the mother of all Q&A sessions on this much admired plant, from whether it is poisonous to cats to how one can grow it underwater, such as in a fish tank.  Fascinating! 

Answers to Spider Plant Questions 

I should have fun dividing this up.

More on this gorgeous plant here:  My Other Blog

Million Bells

I learned a new phrase today:  Herbaceous Stem Cuttings.  That should go in my glossary.    My mission today was to find some petunias to put in the one AeroGarden mini that I was able to bring when we moved yet again, as I haven't had time to sow any seedlings, and needed a plant fix.  

Apparently, petunias are not in season here in the Palm Desert, but I did invest $3.50 in a beautiful pot of Calibrachoa:

I didn't recognize the name Calibrachoa, and have never grown this kind of plant before,  so I wasn't sure if it would root from cuttings until I got home to check up on it online.  Missouri Botanical Garden has a web page stating that it ""must be vegetatively propagated."  Bingo!   Herbacious (aka soft-stem or vegetative) cuttings are what we used to call "slips" back on the farm. 

So I put them in a glass of water next to some basil and grape tomato cuttings, both of which should be well rooted inside of 5 days.  It will be interesting to see how long the Million Bells cuttings will take to root.  A few comments on different gardening forums discouraged trying to root them in water, but as I am interested in knowing if they can be grown hydroponically, we shall see.

Here is the MBG page: Missouri Botanical Garden

Denver Plants has a good page on Million Bells too:  Denver Plants

They point out that it is illegal to propagate Millions Bells, saying that they are "patented hybrid plants."  I'll have to study up on that.  I can see it being improper to reproduce them for commercial use, but to take cuttings for the purpose of converting a plant to soil-less medium, c'mon guys! 

Jacaranda Trees

I posted my first photo of the Jacaranda Trees on my other blog if you would like to take a look: Exam Trees

They are commonly called "exam trees" in some parts of the world because of the belief, depending on where you are, that if a flower falls from one of these trees and hits your head you will either pass your exams...or NOT!  According to Wikipedia, in Pretoria it is believed you will, but in Queensland, you will not.  I'm not worried, as I passed all my exams a long time ago.  I'll bet that somewhere, though, there is also a superstition that if a young man presses the blossoms and mails them to his love, they will bring her to wherever he is.  If not, there should be. 

In this shot, the pods are more apparent:  

Detail of pods:

My Triond Article on Growing Quinoa in Water

I couldn't take the plant I wrote about below along on our last move, so I ate it up instead. 

I love all of the Chenopods, either sauteed in a little butter and served with eggs and potatoes, or chopped in a salad, or floating in broth. 

Growing Quinoa in Water

Between Planting Seasons

Since we are nomads, so to speak, when it is time to make the migration from our winter home to summer all the plants have to go, except for the lovely Caesalpinia gilliesii (Yellow Bird of Paradise) shrubs which grow along the side at our new place.  They are highly drought tolerant, but as we will be away for many months this summer, a kind neighbor has agreed to give them a spot of water once in a while. 

I have posted a new photo showing the pods of this exotic plant here:

Also Called Mexican Bird of Paradise

The Neem Oil was somewhat effective in keeping the whiteflies off that much-neglected eggplant, and they left the tomato alone altogether after having ravished my petunias.  I put a yellow sticky pad out there just in case, and now it is black from all the little gnats that flew into it and got stuck.  It is hard to tell if any whiteflies landed there or not, as they blend into the color of the glue. 

Sixty Plus Buds on the Prickly Pear

Ah, but the blossoms hardly last a day.  This view shows a few of the leaves so that it is more easily identifiable as a cactus:

And here is one with a bee in its bonnet:

These Came Out Unexpectedly on our First Really Hot Day of Spring

We had been waiting to see what color they would turn out to be, as it is our first spring at this location.  What a nice surprise!  The plant has between 50 and 60 buds in addition to four flowers that opened today. 

Azadirachta Indica, an Antimicrobial Miracle Plant.

Yep, that is the Neem Plant, from which we get Neem Oil, and Neem Oil did in fact prevent the whiteflies from decimating the eggplant featured in my previous post.  It was not possible to save the petunias, however, as when they left the eggplant, that is where they settled next.  That is what I get for opening the patio door, inside of which we had an AeroGarden 3 ("Mini") loaded with gorgeous wave petunias, from the same bargain plants we bought before Thanksgiving, and featured on my art blog:

A Pretty Picture from our Indoor Garden

I uprooted them and boiled the leaves and stems to get rid of the whitefly larvae, and then disinfected the AG before starting a new planting of various gfast growing edible greens which we hope to harvest before we head back to California in a month or so.

A few of the whiteflies escaped, though, and eventually migrated over to my beloved currant tomato, more on which later. 

I don't yet know whether the Neem oil can save the tomato plant, which as you can see from the photo below, is full of soon to be ripe and delicious little fruit-ems:

I started this plant from a cutting in October and it is about 25 feet long on one vine which I just wrapped around and around on a little pole held in place by the hydroton grow rocks in a quart food container, with my "blue mulch" lid over the opening.  I fed it General Hydroponics nutes as described in a previous post, and occasionally sprayed it with Green Light Tomato Bloom Spray. 

Here is an informative link about the Neem plant:

Neem

Before the Whiteflies Got It: Update on my First Eggplant

More on this soon...

Also, a new photo of my scallion experiment is here:

Scallions in Captivity

Update on the eggplant:  The whiteflies didn't get it.  After a few applications of Neem Oil, they decided to come indoors and attack my petunias instead.   The eggplant which nursed one bud for what seemed like months before it opened then suddenly started spewing out new buds and new blossoms on a daily basis.  It has not set any fruit yet, however. 

In the many years we have lived in this area I had never seen whiteflies before, but at our new location we have a row of lovely Yellow Bird of Paradise shrubs, unrelated to the regular Bird of Paradise plant, which apparently attract the little varments big time.   

These thrive in the desert, and come in a red variety, too (Caesalpinia pulcherrima) which is more ubiquitous.  Here is a photo of ours (Caesalpinia gilliesii):

Getting Back as Soon as I Can

We have been growing and eating a lot of purslane, and is it ever yummy every different way we prepare it, but until today I had never had one bloom in captivity.  So imagine my surprise when this little guy peeked out and added sunshine to our day. 

Lots of photos coming soon...