It's Good To Be Yourself

I had a great conversation the other day with my dear friend, Jo. We were looking at a video of one of my recent music favs, Marie Digby. I think Marie Digby is totally adorable, and I wish I could sing like her, be cute like her, and just be brave the way she is in pursuing her love of music. Unfortunately, I am none of these things. Both Jo and I were praising her virtues, but Jo stopped and said the above quote. And, for some reason, I thought I should share it.

I admire that she sees flaws in herself, but is still glad to be herself. I think that's an admirable trait to have. I don't think I'd be comfortable being someone else either, and I hope we can all realize our own potential and value ourselves too, just the way we are.

Have a happy day!

Look Who's Visiting! A Monarch Butterfly!

I slowly edged up to the large, timid butterfly perched precariously on my vivid cosmos. This was going to be the photograph of the century. I raised my camera, adjusted the settings... RING-RING-RING! I jumped, and the butterfly took off into the air. "Aw, drats!" I exclaimed. "This better be a VERY important phone call!"

It was V. calling to say hi. I told him the inopportune moment that he had called at, and he was very sorry that he had scared away my perfect butterfly Kodak moment. Looking out his window, he noted that there was not one but TWO monarch butterflies taking lunch among his lilies. He made a haste goodbye and promised butterfly pictures.

But a few minutes later, I had butterfly pictures in my inbox. Ah, how lovely! V. had held true to his word.

And now here they are for your enjoyment as well. I have used one full-sized image as my desktop and it looks GLORIOUS! I love it! Thanks, V.

Michael Jackson

Michael, Michael,
You were a star.
You danced in backward strides,
Drew images of horror with your feet,
Sang songs of denial,
Didn't care if girls were black or white, even if you thought
it mattered for you.
Or were you sick?

You died.
You lay there unmoving,
and people cried.
They mourned a saviour,
A King of Pop,
Someone they danced with, and sang with, and saw
on news, on magazines,
fall.

One day a black child,
A later day a black man,
with one white glove,
an artificial nose,
and a dream
to blur the lines of colour.

Oh, Blanket,
Do you miss him?
Oh Lisa,
how you cry.
The nations,
we mourn.

Listen to his songs,
Remember his legend,
and wonder
That such a man
did live, and sing, and die.

--Marie Tai

*******************************

"Michael Jackson is dead!" announced a co-worker.
"No, that's just the name of a drink." another replied.
"Oh." And minutes later, the first returned with more information. "No, he's really dead. It's on CNN."
"No way!"

And everyone hurried to Google the question of whether the King of Pop had indeed died. None of us could believe it when we discovered the truth. And Farrah Fawcett was dead too on the same day. It was tragical news.

I entered an elevator and a stranger asked me, "Did you hear the news about Michael Jackson?" The news of his death brought people together. Everyone knew who Michael Jackson was. He was famous. He was the originator of the moon walk, of famous black men painting themselves white, and of naming children Blanket. There were the child molestation allegations, the strange antics, and the failed plastic surgeries. He was everyone's favourite joke, and yet we loved his music. He was part of our shared history.

I'm sad that Michael Jackson has passed on. I wish his family and friends the best, and know that he will be remembered forever. His songs play on, and his reputation as a musical prodigy precedes him.

Rest in peace, Michael. Thank you for your gift of music to the world.

Plant Propagation Tutorials - In One Place!

I add new tutorials on how to propagate plants pretty often, and I edit the available links each time for all of the tutorials so that they link to each other easily.

To try and simplify this process, I'm going to put a link to all of them in one place on this post. That will make things MUCH easier for me and you.

Here they are!

Behind Mytutorlist.com Flower And Herb Propagation Tutorials:
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How To Propagate Roses And Geraniums

• Rose and Geranium Propagation - Week 1
• Rose and Geranium Propagation - Week 2
• Rose and Geranium Propagation - Week 3
• Rose Propagation - Week 4

How To Propagate Impatiens

• Impatien Propagation - Week Two
• Impatien Propagation - Week Three

How To Propagate Dahlias

• Dahlia Propagation - Week Two
• Dahlia Propagation - Week Three
• Orange Dahlia Experiment

How To Propagate Primulas/Primroses
How To Propagate Rosemary

• Rosemary Propagation - Week Four

How To Propagate Rue
How To Propagate Cosmos
How To Propagate Fushias
How to Propagate Petunias

How to Propagate Tomatoes
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Feel free to grab this button for easy reference!


<a href="http://mytutorlist.blogspot.com/2009/06/plant-propagation-tutorials-in-one.html" target="_blank"><img border="0" alt="How To Propagate Plants" width="125" src="http://www.autumnpresence.com/images/how_to_propagate_plants_button_125x62.gif" height="62" /></a>

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How To Propagate Fushias From Cuttings

This tutorial covers another easy-to-propagate flower, the fushia! This lovely plant is often found in hanging baskets, or trimmed into topiary-topped trees. It develops into a woody plant, and can often survive through a mild winter. My poor fushia finally died this winter because we had a very, very long and cold snow season. Poor thing...
I picked up an unusual purple bloomed variety called Winston Churchill. I think it looks really interesting. I usually choose the traditional ones with white blooms instead.

To propagate your fushias,

1. Select a young side stem (non-woody) with 3-5 leaf nodes.
2. Cut under the last leaf node.
   
3. Keep cuttings fresh in water while you work. Don't let them dry out.
4. Fill a clean container to heaping with sterile soil. Firm down soil.
5. Use a pencil or dibber to make a deep hole in the soil, and place cutting inside hole.
6. Push soil towards the cutting to fill the hole, and gently firm down soil around the cutting.
   
7. Add more cuttings as desired.
8. Water generously all over the plant.
9. Place into bright location with indirect sunlight. Shade is good.
   
10. Water daily to ensure the cuttings do not dry out.

The key to successful propagation is to keep your cuttings well-watered. Make sure your container has good drainage so that you can water them daily, or even twice on dry days. Do not let your cuttings have full sun until they have developed roots. Otherwise, the sun will dry out your cuttings too much and they will die.
In three weeks, your cuttings will develop roots and be ready to transplant. You'll know that the cuttings have developed roots because they will look lively instead of thirsty-looking. They'll be developing new leaves also.
See the cute little roots?
Notice that there are no roots growing directly down from the end of the cutting. The roots grow out from the leaf nodes. This is another key point to propagating plants successfully. Always keep a leaf node at the bottom so the plant can grow new roots. Some plants don't care as much. I have noticed that the impatiens and dahlias can grow roots from non-leaf-node parts of the stem. In general though, it's good to cut under a node.
I think that roots and the whole process by which a plant can make a new copy of itself from a cutting is really amazing. It would be similar to growing a clone of yourself from an arm. Nature can be so mysterious and fascinating.

Happy Gardening!

The Propagated Planter - Travelling in Time

I thought I'd show you how the planter full of propagated plants is doing. Everything in these planters, except the Marigolds is a propagated plant. The Marigolds were grown from seed saved from last year's flowers.

You should save your seeds if you have Marigolds in your garden this year. Just keep the fully wilted flower heads, dry them out, and save the seeds. I'll probably show you later on this year when the Marigolds are in bloom. Right now, they're just fancy leaves :)
So here is the planter right after I put all the little propagated plants in. I put dahlias in the middle, marigolds around them, and impatiens on the outside.
Here is the planter 11 days later. Some of the impatiens have started to bloom. I have discovered that impatiens are really, really good at propagating, so you can keep the tiniest blooms on the cuttings instead of taking them all off. That way, you will have flowers sooner. These cuttings had all of their flower buds removed, but they are already flowering anyways. In the middle, the dahlia has a flower bloom ready to open.
This is the same planter 17 days later. This picture is a little closer, but you can still tell that the plants are getting bushier and that the flowers are starting to really open up. All of the impatien cuttings have flowers open now, and the dahlia has one in bloom with two more ready to go. There are actually 3 dahila cuttings in the middle, so that means one flower bud per cutting so far.

One of the lovely blog readers here asked me how soon she could expect flowers from the dahlia cuttings, so this gives you a pretty good idea of how some dahlias will have flowers ready in about 11 days, and some won't be ready until 17 days later. This is based on a finished cutting that is already about 3 weeks old and in full sun, as you'll see in a bit.

Dahlias are also really good at being propagated so you could also experiment with leaving the tiniest of flower buds on the cuttings. Don't leave any large flower buds or open flowers on your cuttings initially as this will drain too much energy from the cutting too early. Give the cutting a chance to grow strong before it focuses energy on supporting flowers.This is another planter that I started at that same time. I was experimenting with a different kind of arrangement. This one has flower varieties in clumps, and I added some other kinds of flowers like geraniums, some kind of white flower, and some of the pansy/lobelia seedlings.
11 days later, the plants are getting bigger and one of the impatiens has bloomed. This planter is on a somewhat shaded shelf and I notice that the plants are not as big as the ones in the sunny planter. Even the impatien flowers are smaller!
17 days later, there are more small-flowered impatiens in bloom and the geranium leaves are bigger. However, the dahlias are still reluctant to bloom. I think dahlias must really like full sun better. I kept one very healthy, strong dahlia in the propagating area which is bright but shaded all day, and it is also having trouble blooming. It has 2 flower buds, but they are very slow to open up. Hm...

Well, good luck with all your propagating experiments!

Happy gardening!

How To Propagate Cosmos

My experiments in propagating plants has extended to any and all plants that I have available in my garden. This includes some lovely Cosmo flower plants that I purchased from the local Home Depot. I watched a video where a fellow planted some Cosmos among his vegetable patches to brighten them up, and I wanted to do the same. Of course, the more the merrier, so here's how to propagate Cosmos.(When I purchased my cosmos they had not flowered yet, but see how pretty they have become?) First find a healthy Cosmo plant and look for some side shoots on the main plant.
Look for a shoot that has 3 to 5 leaf nodes on the stem, and cut under the last leaf node. Keep your cuttings fresh in water while you work. Don't let them dry out.
Use a sharp scissor to snip off the lower leaves, being careful not to damage the leaf node. The roots will grow from the last leaf node.
Fill a clean container with sterile soil. (Tip: Fill to heaping and then firm down soil.) Use a pencil or dibber to make a deep hole. Place your cutting into the hole and carefully push soil towards the stem to bury it. Gently firm down soil around cutting.
Add more cuttings as desired, and water generously. Place into a bright location with indirect sunlight. Too much sunlight will dry out the cuttings too quickly, so shade is good. Water daily to ensure that the cuttings never dry out. You can shower the whole plant, leaves and all, so that the whole plant gets a good soak each day. Ensure that your container has good drainage so that it doesn't drown in water.
In three weeks time, your cuttings will be ready to transplant. Gently tip your container to pour the cuttings out. Separate the cuttings from each other, and be careful not to damage the roots.
See the fine, white roots that have grown out from the leaf node? I have rinsed them out a little in a bucket of water to show you them.
Cosmos have much finer, angel hair-like roots compared to the impatiens and dahlias, huh?
After you replant the cuttings, water well. Water is very important to the success of cuttings. Dried out cuttings simply won't work so be sure to keep cuttings fresh in water after you cut them, and even after you separate them. I like to keep mine floating/submerged in water while I work so that they get a good drink of water before they try to grow roots or get used to a new environment. As long as your container has good drainage, watering every day will be A-okay. However, if your container doesn't have good drainage, you need to watch out for overwatering. (Tip: The soil should be damp, but not soaking.)

Happy Gardening!

Strawberry Goodness, Time to Ripen!

In hordes, they ripen now
The strawberry
The morning and noon I pick 'em
-- Marie Tai
Look at all the yummy berries we picked today!
They looked so pretty in the garden with the reds among the greens.
And there are so many more to come! Some of them are pretty big too.
One by one, they ripen. So I can go out in the morning to pick them, and return in the evening to find more ready to eat. It's quite fun.
They're quite delicious. Days like this are why I garden.

Have a great day!

Green Strawberry Garden Explosion

Last year, I separated out a big pot of strawberries that had hugely overgrown. The result was an overabundance of plants which I divided up and gave away. I kept some strong plants to re-pot, and I planted the damaged or weak looking plants into the communal garden.

There were no strawberries from the weak plants last year- not even one! But this year? Oh my goodness!
It's strawberry mania!
There are not many leaves, but there are so many strawberries!
I have eaten one so far and it's sweet and fragrant like a strawberry candy. Ohhh, it's so good. I can hardly wait for them to ripen.
Luscious, luscious strawberries. How do I love thee!
In other news, I ate all the pea shoots. We ate them last year too when the plant failed to bloom, and the pea plants then erupted into many new shoots and a multitude of blooms. Looks like it worked like a charm this year too. There are tender, new shoots growing out from every leaf node. I highly recommend pinching off the tops of your pea plants when they are at a good height. This will encourage bushiness. I'm not sure if you can eat all pea shoots (I know you can't eat Sweet Peas), but mine are an edible variety.

Happy gardening!

Weekend Gardening - Orange Dahlia Experiment

With the arrival of the weekend, I've got only one thing on my mind - gardening! I spent the whole morning digging around and examining my many experiments.

One experiment that turned out very well was another dahlia propagation. This one was to see if dahlias could be propagated without rooting powder as well as the ones I tried with rooting powder. The result? It's just as effective either way. Dahlias just seem to propagate easily.

I noticed that the propagation with rooting powder seemed to grow more roots from all over the dipped stem, but the important part is that roots grow so that the cutting gets water from the soil by itself.

I'd say, if you have a dahlia, just snip off a stem and try it.
The recent dahlia propagation experiment was on an orange dahlia that my mother brought home. It's just as lovely as the pink one I have, so I was waiting eagerly for some side stems to grow out so that I'd have a good-sized one to work with. Make sure you snip it off under a leaf node since the roots will grow out from the leaf node.
See the nice roots? Success! The best condition for propagating these cuttings is to place them into a shady spot out of direct sunlight. The sunlight dries out the cuttings too fast. Make sure you plant the cuttings into a sterile soil free of bugs that might attack the cutting. The container should have good drainage so that you can water the cuttings daily to keep the soil moist without drowning the plant.
You can see clearly where the roots grew out from in this picture. Notice that it comes from the leaf node instead of the base of the cutting. For the cuttings that were coated with rooting powder, the roots also grew from the stem area above the leaf node. It was kind of an explosion of roots. I'm not actually sure if that's a good thing. I read something about fibrous roots being a bad thing, but I wasn't sure what that meant.

Happy gardening!