Good Bugs

I was super excited when I spotted some good bugs on my plants! It was definitely a break from the aphids and leafhoppers!




This is the deed of a bee, but I can never see it actually cutting the leaves






The one and only ladybug that I've seen around my plants...








A huge bee















Moths?

When Good Plants Go Bad

Some of my plants became stressed out with too much heat, lack of water/too much water, bug attacks, and/or a combination of all:









Pink Sunburst Canna: since the weather was pretty harsh, I didn't think this was diseased. So, I just cut off the droopy burned leaves. Glad to report that the plant is doing fine now.










Echinacea Purpurea: I am not sure whether this is diseased or I just suck at taking care of this plant. I posted a question on GardenWeb, and hope someone will come to my rescue on this one...

Moonflower

Well, it's been awhile since my last post, but here is a look on the moonflower vines that I planted in the spring - from birth to flowering to creation of seed pods. The flower smells great!

Updates on Canna, Echinacea and Lavender

The Canna, Echinacea and Lavender are still alive and have grown some. Here are some pics 10 days apart (5/14/08 and 5/24/08):

Canna Pink Sunburst
I'm not sure I was supposed to divide them up - if you look closely, there are 4 stalks bunched up together. If anyone has any suggestions, please let me know.



Echinacea



Lavender

I need to find some time and do some more online research on these guys - I want them to grow grow grow! :)

More New Additions

This past weekend, I went to Ikea to find some cheap outdoor furniture, but ended up coming home with two new plants (they were only 12 bucks each!) and more plant paraphernalia:

phalaenopsis orchid

close-up

adenium (desert rose)

I'm excited to see how the adenium flowers! It might need some pruning - I saw a great video on YouTube on how to prune adeniums, might have to revise it again.

On another happy note, a bulb that was just sitting there in the dirt has finally sprouted new leaves! It had one very long leaf, still green and all and that was pretty much it. I confess, I kind of ignored it since that one leaf wasn't going away and nothing else was coming out. Then, my avid gardener "mentor" told me that I should wait until that leaf dies then try to trick the bulb into going dormant (basically stick it in the fridge for 3 weeks or so). Well, that leaf started to die and I kept ignoring the plant, waiting for the green to turn into brown. We had some cooler nights, then one day voila! Green sprouting and I didn't even have to pop it in the fridge!!

I can't wait to see what this is - my dad gave me this bulb about a year ago, and all I've seen was green leaves. Now I know what to do for next year with this one ~

Updates on the Roses and Jasmine plant

Here is an update on what's been going on with my plants. So far, they are all thriving and none are dead (knock on wood)!

After finding all those aphids on the roses, I tried to buy neem oil or fine horticultural oil since these are friendlier to people and pets. I couldn't find either! So, I bought this 3-in-1 product with a tad bit of neem extract (which by the way, seems to be just a sales gimmick and apparently does not compare to the real thing, so I read somewhere):

You must follow the directions in the 3-in-1 product bottle. This is what happened to my clotilde soupert's leaves because I sprayed the product on kind of late in the morning. Also on the same note, I sprayed it on one of my moonflower seedlings, and it pretty much fried the young, tender shoots. I've decided to continue my hand-squeezing of aphids and put the 3-in-1 away, unless I get the plague.

In all, the clotilde soupert is doing great, here is a pic of the rose buds ready to open up - they smell delicious already, and I can see some bees already flying around them. Another reason not to use the 3-in-1, so I don't harm the bees!


The iceberg rose is not as vigorous in growth as the clotilde soupert, but it is also doing great, sprouting single rose buds:

The garlic that I planted with the roses are also growing, but I don't know how much of a bug deterrent they are, since they haven't really flowered and I don't think I planted enough of them... oh well, I'll try again next year.

About two weeks ago, I stopped by Starbucks for some coffee, and asked them for used coffee grounds. The staff was really nice, and promptly gave me all the grounds they had, then asked me if I was coming back tomorrow so they could save me some more. How nice is that?! Supposedly used coffee grounds help the ph of the soil... so I put some around the roses and on my jasmine plant - they like the acidic soil better. I also bought some Osmocote slow release fertilizer, and sprinkled a handful of the little balls on all my plants, and so far so good. I was concerned that it might be too much stuff (the coffee grounds, the fertilizer) in one shot, but doesn't seem like it. Doesn't seem to have harmed the plants, below is a pic of the new growth on the jasmine plant ~

Roses vs. Aphids

After planting my new plants, I checked on my roses:

The Iceberg looked fine, glossy green leaves popping out everywhere - I was a little worried about it since it had some noticeable "bald spots", but now it is filling out nicely. I only spotted one bud forming so far.

Iceberg's young bud

Now, the Clotilde Soupert is shooting up new leaves everywhere, growing really fast! I noticed a few buds forming, then I looked closer and... saw little green bugs all over the new leaves! I quickly ran inside the apartment and opened a book I got that I haven't finished reading: Complete Roses: Featuring 100 Easy-Growing Favorites, by Field Roebuck.

The book covers pests and common diseases, and there they were on page 92 staring back at me: Aphids!! Ewwww!!! Seasoned gardeners, feel free to roll your eyes but as a city girl, bugs and I don't go together and yes, I was grossed out watching them crawl and wiggle around.

Anyways, it was the middle of the afternoon and I didn't want to spray my roses with anything as suggested by the book and the various forums on the internet (potential leaf burning), sooooo, I had to resort to squishing the bugs with a tissue. Now, the bugs are tiny and the new foliage is tender. The tissue paper felt like a giant bed sheet, trying to grab everything. Soooo, I tossed the green-splotched tissue paper, and pursued them with my bare fingers. I was grossed out in the beginning, but then felt satisfaction as I squeezed the living crap out of them (while maintaining leaf integrity) and felt like I saved a couple of the forming buds.

Clotilde Soupert bud and bastard aphid

Of course, as I went indoors to chill, I felt like I had bugs crawling on my skin. Just so you know, those suckers squish quite easily - unlike a cockroach, there is no crunch. ;)

I heard and read on the web that garlic and some other herbs might help deter bugs from attacking roses - since I didn't think there was anything to lose, I planted some garlic (not the whole clove, just a piece) on both rose containers. We'll see what happens. I also had some eggs and banana (not together, mind you), throughout the day and also read that they are both good for plants. So, I chopped the banana peel and crushed the dried egg shells while thinking that I must be out of my mind for doing this, then proceeded to sprinkle the mixture on the soil of my roses. We'll see what happens with that one too. :)

Just so you know, I ordered my roses from Antique Rose Emporium - the plants arrived with lots of leaves in 2-gallon pots, some buds, each was about 12" tall (from the dirt up), and they had moist soil protected with wet newspaper. I was very happy with my order! I repotted them in plastic containers that are about 13" in diameter and height. I plan to repot them in a bigger container next year - this year is just a test to see if I have green or muddy thumbs. :)

New Additions

Right before the weekend, I received my much awaited plants ordered over the internet through Santa Rosa Gardens a couple of weeks ago! I got:

Lavender Hidcote (left)

Echinacea Purpurea (center) and
Canna Pink Sunburst (right)

I was a little disappointed by the size of the Echinacea - compared to the other two plants, the Echinacea looked like a sprig of arugula sticking out of the dirt, with two maybe three big leaves and everything else so tiny, that it looked like it sprouted on the way. The plant-info stake thingie is almost as big as the plant itself... Are they supposed to be like that when you order them? Being the first time that I ordered from this vendor and first time ordering this type of plant, I have no idea if the size is normal or not. I'll keep an eye out on the plant, and I hope it will thrive... I emailed the company on Sunday (5/4), but haven't heard back yet.

In all three plants, their roots were extremely bound - they took shape of the container they were in, including the shape of the square holes at the bottom. I got a little worried but decided to loosen up the roots by cutting an "x" at the bottom and wiggling the roots gently around. I hope I didn't disturb the plant too much, and hopefully they will like their new home.

My plants as of today

So far, I've managed to collect the following plants:

01 jasmine plant (belle of india) - gift from future hubbie

01 rose shrub, Iceberg - my first purchased plant

01 rose shrub, Clotilde Soupert - purchased at same time as Iceberg

04 moonflower seedlings - gift from an avid fellow gardener

Sweet Potato that started to sprout 'cuz we took to long to eat it

01 moth orchid

01 money tree

01 bamboo shoot (and a gloomy bear) - used to have 4 shoots :(


some unknown succulent
(if anyone knows the name, please let me know)



[no picture yet]

01 unknown bulb - my dad gave it to me already planted

R.I.P. - Plants Killed with Too Much Love:

01 peace lilly :(

Project Patio

Living in New York City, we have lots of buildings, lots of asphalt, and of course, Central Park along with other smaller parks. Even though the parks are easily accessible to us, I craved a little piece of green that I would call my own. Hence the birth of Project Patio.

It took awhile for husband-to-be and I to clear our rooftop from all the junk that had collected out there from previous tenants. There was a file cabinet, a disintegrated sofa with rusty springs (hello tetanus), a rusty and leaky can of tar, broken glass, nails, among other things. We were able to clean out a lot, and looked into putting those modular decks out there, but the cost was a little too steep. On a tight budget, we decided to cover the rooftop with nothing other than astroturf. Along with the car rental and a quick trip to Home Depot, we spent around $300. It is now safe for us and for our dogs to go out there and actually enjoy it! That was Phase I of Project Patio!

Phase II now consists of me successfully tending to plants! It's going to be a very long learning lesson for me, since I literally know nothing about gardening. Well, knew nothing about gardening - I've been researching lots over the internet and some books. Now I know just a little bit ~

I guess Phase III will be when I have full confidence on taking care of my plants - I hope to add lots more, but will do it slowly. As I look through various nursery websites, I am so tempted to buy all these different plants in one shot, but I know that it will be too much for me to handle right now. I'll take baby steps, and hope to have a great rooftop garden in no time!