Gardening and Plant Thread

[Mourning Dove]

Oh yeah and some Naked Lady Lily flower bulbs that someone else planted looong ago are now blooming in the backyard shade where no one can really see them. Like I have in past years, I cut the flowers and put them in a vase so my mom and I can enjoy them indoors. The bulb will stay in the ground so it can bloom flowers in subsequent years.

Spoiler: Pink Flowers

 

[Rabbit Bones]

I used to have a huge garden at my old house... it's one of the things I miss most about having a house. But I have a few potted plants, soon to become more. As it stands, I have...

• A baby aloe Vera. I'd wanted one for a while, and they just happened to go on sale at Krogers! It's growing like a weed, I already need to repot it.
• A pony tail palm. If you haven't seen one of these, google it. They're amazing. Mine came in this stupid little bonsai pot, so I need to replant it so it can grow big and healthy
• A mother-in-laws-tongue. Another lucky find at Krogers. It was marked down to $5 because the balloon attached to it had popped.
• A spider plant. I've had this thing for like three years, and it's survived through hell and highwater. It lived in a bathroom with no water for about six months It's a trooper. But now it's on a nice sunny spot and gets regular watering and had easily grown three times its size in six months
• A Japanese red maple. This lives out on the porch, and is about three feet tall at this point. I'm trying to splint it as it grows so it grows into the shape I want, but I don't want to fuck it up.

I want to get a dwarf myers lemon tree sometime this year. It gets just cold enough here during winter I'd have to keep it inside for a few months (Kinda how I killed my first one), but my apartment is nice and sunny. I'd also like a peace lily, and maybe some flowering plants. I like flowers

So what's everyones opinion on Miracle Gro? I've started using it on my house plants, and I use the fertilizer spikes in my potted tree. I haven't really noticed any benefits, apart from maybe looking a little perkier, but that could be from getting to sit out on the porch and absorb summer light.

 

[Bugaboo]

I used to have a huge garden at my old house... it's one of the things I miss most about having a house. But I have a few potted plants, soon to become more. As it stands, I have...

• A baby aloe Vera. I'd wanted one for a while, and they just happened to go on sale at Krogers! It's growing like a weed, I already need to repot it.
• A pony tail palm. If you haven't seen one of these, google it. They're amazing. Mine came in this stupid little bonsai pot, so I need to replant it so it can grow big and healthy
• A mother-in-laws-tongue. Another lucky find at Krogers. It was marked down to $5 because the balloon attached to it had popped.
• A spider plant. I've had this thing for like three years, and it's survived through hell and highwater. It lived in a bathroom with no water for about six months It's a trooper. But now it's on a nice sunny spot and gets regular watering and had easily grown three times its size in six months
• A Japanese red maple. This lives out on the porch, and is about three feet tall at this point. I'm trying to splint it as it grows so it grows into the shape I want, but I don't want to fuck it up.

I want to get a dwarf myers lemon tree sometime this year. It gets just cold enough here during winter I'd have to keep it inside for a few months (Kinda how I killed my first one), but my apartment is nice and sunny. I'd also like a peace lily, and maybe some flowering plants. I like flowers

So what's everyones opinion on Miracle Gro? I've started using it on my house plants, and I use the fertilizer spikes in my potted tree. I haven't really noticed any benefits, apart from maybe looking a little perkier, but that could be from getting to sit out on the porch and absorb summer light.

I don't use miracle grow on my plants I use some classy ass plant food when I need to feed them and that is why the tomato is 5 feet tall

 

[Bugaboo]

I found two monarch eggs on a milkweed plant and I took them in, I've been reading up on their care so that they don't die and then I will be sad.
One hatched today! He's about two millemetres long and crawled up a milkweed leaf and started chewing a hole in it. Soon his friend/brother/sister will hatch and they will be the dynamic duo. I'm just really concerned about running out of fresh milkweed from the garden so I started scoping out the town for patches of milkweed and located some in case of emergencies.
I will get pictures of him to post when he is bigger because now he is very small but still very cute

 

[Mourning Dove]

I found two monarch eggs on a milkweed plant and I took them in, I've been reading up on their care so that they don't die and then I will be sad.
One hatched today! He's about two millemetres long and crawled up a milkweed leaf and started chewing a hole in it. Soon his friend/brother/sister will hatch and they will be the dynamic duo. I'm just really concerned about running out of fresh milkweed from the garden so I started scoping out the town for patches of milkweed and located some in case of emergencies.
I will get pictures of him to post when he is bigger because now he is very small but still very cute

Ahhh you're so lucky! The most common thing on my butterflyweeds are the oleander aphids. But one of my butterflyweeds is huge; it's like 3 feet/1 meter across. I would totally send you butterflyweed leaves if that were ever a viable solution. But I doubt they would last very well in the mail. Also isn't sending plant material between U.S./Canada in the mail kind of concern for customs?

So what's everyones opinion on Miracle Gro? I've started using it on my house plants, and I use the fertilizer spikes in my potted tree. I haven't really noticed any benefits, apart from maybe looking a little perkier, but that could be from getting to sit out on the porch and absorb summer light.

I remember when I had betta fish I used their dirty fish water to water my plants, and the poop fertilized the plants so much that they grew like crazy. Beware of bad smells and disease, though. I mainly recommend doing this for outdoor plants.

 

[Bugaboo]

Ahhh you're so lucky! The most common thing on my butterflyweeds are the oleander aphids. But one of my butterflyweeds is huge; it's like 3 feet/1 meter across. I would totally send you butterflyweed leaves if that were ever a viable solution. But I doubt they would last very well in the mail. Also isn't sending plant material between U.S./Canada in the mail kind of concern for customs?

I think sending a plant in the mail from the us to canada is about as difficult as sending an animal in the mail from the us to canada. Even if it's just a part of the plant. People send exotic fish all over the world via the mail but I'd expect they'd need a lisence of some sort.
Also I just checked the other egg and it looks like it will hatch in a few hours looks the same as the first little guy's egg when he was a few hours away from hatching. I expect it to hatch around 12-3 pm

 

[Bugaboo]

Double post but I do it for good reason, the last egg has hatched and here is one of the newborns

He was on the leaf but he wandered off, maybe he's stupid.
I wish I had a macro lens, I love taking pictures of buggies

Edit: Oh my God this little shit keeps escaping and crawling around like an idiot instead of staying on the leaves and eating. Why can't he be more like his brother?

 

[Axiom]

Boything and I tried to grow an herb garden in our bedroom windowsill, but then he needed surgery and work got busy for me and, well, this happened:

Spoiler

This is, incidentally, part of why we are never having children.

 

[Bugaboo]

I went outside tonight to get fresh milkweed for the caterpillars in my backyard and oh my God there's some crazy shit going down on that milkweed.
-A cluster of aphids on one tip of the plant
-A crab spider and a weird beetle I've never seen before sharing a meal of a wasp that probably came to eat caterpillars
-Not 1 caterpillar
1st course of action: use the shop vac to murder all the aphids. 2nd course of action, relocate crab spider so she doen't hurt the caterpillars

 

[Mourning Dove]

So I have a whole bunch of caterpillars on my echinacea plant, and they're eating allll the leaves. I decided to not pyrethrin them to death and instead did a little internet research. It turns out they're Silvery Checkerspot Butterfly caterpillars. It's great that they'll turn into pretty butterflies and that they're enjoying my plant. I just hope they don't kill the little echinacea by eating off all the leaves, which they've already done.

I have plenty of butterflyweed. I wonder if these insects would like to eat butterflyweed leaves too? Ugh I still haven't seen any traces of Monarchs on them yet. At least the butterflyweeds are producing lots of seed pods.

 

[Bugaboo]

So I have a whole bunch of caterpillars on my echinacea plant, and they're eating allll the leaves. I decided to not pyrethrin them to death and instead did a little internet research. It turns out they're Silvery Checkerspot Butterfly caterpillars. It's great that they'll turn into pretty butterflies and that they're enjoying my plant. I just hope they don't kill the little echinacea by eating off all the leaves, which they've already done.

I have plenty of butterflyweed. I wonder if these insects would like to eat butterflyweed leaves too? Ugh I still haven't seen any traces of Monarchs on them yet. At least the butterflyweeds are producing lots of seed pods.

Those caterpillars seem to only eat plants from the dasiy family, so if you find a more suitable patch of like black eyed susans you can grab them all and relocate them over there

 

[Mourning Dove]

I bought an aster plant on sale. I've relocated the larger caterpillars I've seen into a little clear plastic container, and I will feed them aster leaves until they pupate. I just don't want the caterpillars to starve to death.

 

[melty]

We bought some succulents and a small fern today. We are starting small since we don't have a good track record with plants. Currently trying to drum up cutesy ideas for repotting the succulents.

 

[Mourning Dove]

We bought some succulents and a small fern today. We are starting small since we don't have a good track record with plants. Currently trying to drum up cutesy ideas for repotting the succulents.

Oh, I love succulents! Though certain types are a challenge to take care of; overwatering can occur too easily, and that can kill the plant. What types of succulents do you have?

 

[Bugaboo]

Soon my swamp milkweed's seed pods will ripen and I will have many, many seeds on my hands which I will sell the ones I don't use. Next year the goal is to plant a butterfly and bee garden and try and get certified as a monarch waystation. I have a butterfly bush I need to take a section off and start it growing when the weather is a little cooler.

 

[melty]

Oh, I love succulents! Though certain types are a challenge to take care of; overwatering can occur too easily, and that can kill the plant. What types of succulents do you have?

I don't know, sorry! I just bought some of those generic $3 ones that they sell everywhere around here.. one is a rosette type but I don't know the others. The guy at the plant store said to water them once a week.

 

[Bugaboo]

I don't know, sorry! I just bought some of those generic $3 ones that they sell everywhere around here.. one is a rosette type but I don't know the others. The guy at the plant store said to water them once a week.

Could you post a pic? One of us may be able to tell you what kind you have

 

[Mourning Dove]

I don't know, sorry! I just bought some of those generic $3 ones that they sell everywhere around here.. one is a rosette type but I don't know the others. The guy at the plant store said to water them once a week.

The "rosette" sounds like Echeveria. As for any other succulents, they could be anything from various cacti, to mimicry plants like lithops, to aloe. So yeah we plant people can identify the plants for you if pictures are available.

 

[melty]

Thank you @Mourning Dove and @Bugaboo for offering to help. Here are the plants:

Spoiler

Okay so the middle one is a tropical not a succulent, and I am very upset right now as you can probably see why. It's no longer soft and bright green, it's dull and the leaves are crisp. I don't know what to do (besides water it obviously) or if it can be revived. I also don't know the species of this plant and the guy didn't say anything except water it every two days. If someone could help me with that I would be very grateful, because I'm pretty sad about this.
I also don't understand why there is a notch on that rosette leaf! We have VERY few insects and I have not seen my cat near these. The other 3 look the same so far.

 

[Bugaboo]

The funky looking one on the bottom is a baby's necklace I think @melty
As for the mystery middle plant I *think* it might be some type of sedum but I'm not sure. Maybe find a more specialized succulent group and ask there because there have to be plants that are labeled as succulents but are not succulents and they're asked "yo, what's this plant" all the time