
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Another friend goes to Hawaii and brings back amazing pictures...

Monday, November 29, 2010
And so ends Chapter 1, Storm 1…
This hardy Dyckia (below) looks good and has taken on a flush of pink (it’s twin in the back garden has a few new blemishes that look like cold damage, I’ll be watching it)...
Labels:
Agave,
Aloe,
Callistemon,
Dyckia,
Echium,
Grevillea,
Manzanita,
my garden,
Tetrapanax
Friday, November 26, 2010
Bromeliads, the “it” plant?
It seems bromeliads maybe the “it” plant these days for shopping mall and commercial plant installation and care companies. I see them everywhere! They’re adding color at the mall…
And looking tropical chic in an office building lobby.
Turns out they are also available in abundance at the big box store.
In every color of the rainbow!



And even with pineapples.
This planter reminded me of 70’s tiki-style…I like it; it works well with the bromeliads.
So did you get my “black Friday” tie-in? I managed to work in a post about malls and big box stores on the day that kicks off the beginning of the Christmas shopping season. Maybe I’m subliminally influencing you to get out there and by Bromeliads for the ones you love this Christmas...or if a Bromeliad isn't your thing then an Agave makes a nice gift too! Maybe I should go in search of Agave gift giving ideas...hmmm....









Thursday, November 25, 2010
Happy Thanksgiving...



Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Hose storage
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
It finally happened




Walking accross the gravel to take these pictures I discovered the stones were frozen together. Crunch crunch crunch as I stepped on them.
Thankfully our little heater kept the shade pavilion greenhouse at a toasty 32 degrees, briefly dropping to 31 this morning before the sun came up. That’s an 8 degree difference between inside and out, I’ll take it. Hopefully it will hold tonight too.
Remember my quandary about whether or not to leave the trio of Agave americana in the ground? Well I finally reached a compromise, one of them stayed. It’s protected with frost cloth (plus late yesterday afternoon I added a plastic bucket over that) during our little cold snap. As tempted as I was to dig it up I also want to know if they would have all made it in the ground. The prickly pear and puya are just toughing it out with no protection, poor guys. As you can see in the photos above they look okay after one night in the cold.
The other two agaves that I dug up were planted in an empty stock tank (used for veggies in the summer). That way they can be outside all winter, protected during mild/brief arctic events and easily pulled and brought inside if an unspeakable chill should arrive.
I was so happy with the stock tanks compromise that I also dug three other agaves that were in easy to remove places and planted them in the other tank.
Of course I wimped out and pulled them all late Monday, they’ll spend a couple of days in the basement. I’m sure the temperature changes in and out aren’t good for them either but I just couldn’t leave them outside.
Before things got really cold I also dug two of my red Bananas (Ensete Maurelli) and I’m going to try to over-winter them in a semi dormant state wrapped in newspaper and in a cool dark corner of the basement. Who knows if it will work but since they were doomed to die anyway I have nothing to lose.
This one is taking another route and I’ll see if I can keep it alive and semi-growing over the winter. Again nothing to loose in trying!
Today I’m feeling pretty lucky to live in Portland. My family up in Spokane is experiencing a bone chilling high today of 11 degrees, low tonight predicted to reach 12 degrees below zero. Thankfully we are not visiting Spokane for the upcoming holiday. I don’t have enough pairs of socks to keep my toes warm at -12!










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