Black Pearl Amaryllis update

Novmber 28, 2011

November 27, 2011

November 23,2011



November 19, 2011

Well here are the pics of my Black Pearl amaryllis as it has started growing. I think the bulb was simply waiting until the Zombie bloomed before it decided it was going to start. That way it would allow the zombie to show itself and not be upstaged once the jumbo black pearl started. I have seen many pics of Black pearl amaryllis and the color of the bloom vary. I might be the flower or it might be the photographer's use of light. The one thing I can say it that the flower is a dark red and I mean DARK.

I am looking forward to seeing what this one will be. I have nine other amaryllis that I have recently forced into dormancy. The colors that I have range from white to pink. I have quite a few that I started from seeds but I have no idea what color they will be. If the parent plant was a hybrid (and I really think it is) there is no telling what color the flower will be once the bulb reaches bloom size. The base of some of the leaves have been red so I am predicting that the flower will be red. I read in the book Hippeastrum the gardener's amaryllis that when the bulb has gone through it's second winter you have to make it go dormant. So I have twenty bulbs in pots going dormant. I tell my little girl that they are taking a nap.

Black Pearl Amaryllis 11-17-2011

Well this is my Black Pearl Amaryllis. If you look closely you can see the bud just starting to show itself. I am hopeful that it will be a beautiful as I have seen in photos.

Zombie Amaryllis 11-17-2011

This is a picture of my Zombie amaryllis. It is growing faster than I expected. I will be posting other pictures as it grows taller and eventually blooms.

Zombie amaryllis 11-13-2011

This is a picture of the Zombie amaryllis I potted. If you follow the succession you can see just how fast it is growing. I'm going to take a picture of it every day so that I will be able to show you just how fast it is growing.

My Zombie amaryllis is just growing and growing

Well I could not believe it. The Mini Zombie Amaryllis I purchased and potted on the 5th of this month is growing so fast. It's gaining about an inch a day. It's a mini and I've never had a mini Amaryllis before so I have absolutely no idea just how small, or should I say how big it will bet. This picture was taken on 11-12-2011. I am sooooo looking forward to how this will look. My birthday is Thanksgiving this year and at the rate this little bulb is growing it just might be in bloom by then. That would be a wonderful birthday present.

Black Pearl Amaryllis starting to grow

Honestly I had no idea how long it would be until I saw my Black Pearl start to show any growth, but here I am posting that indeed my Black pearl is showing signs of growth. It isn't much but it's something. It is hard to see but you can see a bit of growth starting to show. I an so excited I just don't how to contain it. I really did not expect to see any growth until at least a week. And here it is growing. I bought the bulbs on eBay and I am definitely going to purchase more from this seller. The one thing I am somewhat worried about is will it produce a bulb or will it just be leaves. I have gotten bulbs in the past and they did nothing but produce leaves and no flower I hope that is not the case with these. As the bulbs grow I will post pics of the way they look.

Zombie amaryllis in bloom

Isn't this amaryllis just beautiful. It's a zombie amaryllis in full bloom. I am hopeful that mine will turn out as beautiful as this one.

Zombie amaryllis

Well I potted my Zombie amaryllis and it's already starting to grow. I have had amaryllis's before but I can't recall them growing like this. Maybe it's because it's a double, or perhaps it was just time. Either way I could not be happier. The Black pearl I potted has gotten greener but other than that nothing yet. I really do expect the Zombie to flower first. I read on a blog that the zombie may flower in less than three weeks. If mine does it will but just in time for my birthday, I only hope that my four-year-old does not destroy it like she did to the tulips I had in the house last year. She is older now and I hope that she understands that she is not suppose to dig up the plant just because you feel like it.

a new addition to my flower family

Well several months ago (August actually) I bought two amaryllis bulbs a mini double amaryllis called Zombie, why it has that name is a mystery to me. The other one I purchased was called a Black Pearl. The Black Pearl is what is called a jumbo. Well I got them yesterday and yes I planted them within hours of getting them. The Zombie had already started to sprout and so I knew I could not waste any time in getting it in the ground. I have never had a double amaryllis and am really looking forward to having one and watching it bloom. It is my hope that I will be able to cross the two and come up with something completely different. Wouldn't it be something if I came up with a double black pearl, or a something that no one has ever seen before. I am hopeful. I guess the most important thing is that I have fun and enjoy myself. I really do enjoy plants and watching them grow. It takes a while when you are growing bulbs from seeds but not impossible. The hardest thing is waiting because you have no idea what color they will be. Most Amaryllis now days are hybrids so there is absolutely no telling what color your plants will be. It could look like the mother, the father or the plant you got the seed from with hybrids there is no way of telling. It is exciting for me to see what will happen. I will keep you posted with words and pictures.

poinsettia

Well I have had my poinsettia under a light and then under darkness for for almost 4 weeks and I can definitely tell that it is a poinsettia now. The leaves are starting to turn red. They aren't as bright at they were when my mother had the plant but hey it's turning and I could not be more pleased.

Poinsetta update

Well it's time for an update on my poinsettia plant. I am happy to say, no make that very happy to say that the poinsettia that my mother gave me last year is still alive and doing extremely well. It has been somewhat difficult, but that $7 I spent on a timer was well worth it. The timer has also given me the freedom to leave the house and return without worring about if I turned the light on.

I have discovered that in order for a poinsettia to bloom the plant needs 13-15 hours of complete darkness, and I do mean complete darkness. I set my timer to turn the light on at 8 am and go off at 5pm that gives my plant 9 hours of light which leaves 15 hours of darkness. I have kept my Amaryllis bulbs under the same light I thought they might have suffered with the lack of light but they seem to be doing well I even had to repot several because they were doing so well. As soon as the leaves turn completely red the plant will no longer need to be in a place that needs limited light.

This is the first time that I have ever done anything with a poinsettia. My sister always gives a poinsettia plant to our mother for Christmas and every year it dies because my mother has no idea how to take care of it. I know this may sound bad but I hope that my sister gives her another one this year because if she does I know that my mother will end up giving it to me and than I will have another poinsettia that I can enjoy.

My Winter garden plans

Well it's bulb planting time. Earlier this week I started planting and then digging up bulbs. Some people may think that the winter is not a time for gardening and that is true to a point. I Personally am faced with the problem of putting my plants somewhere to keep them save for the winter. I have a wandering Jew that I am putting inside but have yet to find a place, and I am going to have to bring in my amaryllis's in this year. Some of them I started this year and some I started last year, either way they are to young to leave outside. I really do think I am going to have to invest in another growing shelve. I'll keep it next to the one I already have. It will take some getting rearranging but I think I will be able to do it. I'll keep you posted.

composting = gardening gold

When I got married I had never heard of composting. It was something that was completely foreign to me. My husbands family had been doing it for years and what they were doing was very very simple. As I learned it does not take a lot to compost.

Some people compost in the yard with an open air composting it looks similar to a pen that you would place an animal in, you only place leaves and kitchen scraps in it. It is relatively easy to make but it does take up a bit of room and if you are limited on room I would suggest getting a barrel to compost in. My husband and I opted for the easier barrel type. It's small and easier to maintain.

All you need is a barrel, most people paint it black because it speeds up the composting process. The first compost barrel we had was a cheap trash can I got at a discount store and it worked fairly well for a year or to the only problem with a trash can is the plastic is not thick enough. We went to a flea market and purchased two 32 gallon barrels and they have been what we have been using for the last four years with no problem, and they will last several years (my in-laws have been using a 55 gallon barrel for the past 15 years and it's still in good shape).

We got two barrels, the reason we got two is because there is a time when you have to stop adding to one and let it do it's thing, but you are constantly getting compost scraps so you add another barrel so that you will always have a place to put your scraps.

Poinsettia Care

January of this year my mother gave me a poinsettia that my sister gave to her. My mother has never been able to get a poinsettia to stay alive through the year she usually ends up tossing it in the trash when the plant dies. This year she decided to give it to me. There are specific things you have to do with the plant to get it to re bloom from what I have read. The hardest part will be ion the next few months. You have to give the plant a limited amount of sunlight and keep it in the complete dark the rest of the time. I think I will be able to do it without much of a problem as soon as I get a timer. I have a growing station in my home with grow lights, all I will have to do is set the timer and hopefully there will not be a problem, and the other plants will grow as well. This is the first time that I have ever had a poinsettia so I have no idea what will happen. I have always heard that getting one to live through the year was very difficult, well so far so good. I think keeping it alive is probably the easy part getting it to re bloom will be the hard part. I'll keep you posted,m and if it does bloom I will post everything I did so that the next person will possibly get a bloom out of their plant.

My plant had babies

Normally when you grow an Amaryllis bulb from a seed it takes several years usually 5 for it to reach bloom size. So back in 2009 I estimated that I would not get to see a bloom until 2014 possibly 2013 at the earliest. Imagine my surprise when I was watering my plants and saw that the bulb had what appeared to be offshoots, from my research the bulb can not have off-shoots until it is large enough to flower or bloom. Also from my research it can not bloom unless it has four or more leaves (this bulb has six). This is an Amaryllis that I grew from a seed and I am so hopeful that it will bloom. I have no idea what color it will be, the parent plant was a Minerva, which is a Dutch Hybrid so there is no telling what color the bloom will be or what size. Nevertheless I will be happy, happy, happy, and feel that I have really accomplished something.

An easy way to Water

The heat this summer has been just plain awful on my poor plants this year. I have lost several in the 100+ degree heat. It is difficult to keep up with watering. I get my water from a well, and I don't want it to go dry. Well My husband and I went to a tool store that also sells a limited supply of gardening items. Well they had one item that I felt the need to try. It was a set of watering cones. There were 6 in the set. It used a 1 or 2 liter bottle. I used a 2 liter, I mean lets face it. The heat is just literally killing my plants and since it was in the ground, I figured I use the 2 liter bottle. It took some remembering to save the bottles, but I did. I am happy to say the things work. I placed them at the base of several of my butterfly bushes and the butterfly bushes did not go limp from the heat and the temperature was over 100. True I had to refill it during the day, but I was not in the heat and my plants were being watered.

I am without a doubt going to get some more, I don't know how many more I just know that the six I have is not enough. Next year I plan to water my plants at the start of the season with these.

butterfly bush colors

Well It has taken a while but my butterfly bushes have started blooming all over the place, and yes the butterfly's are all over them when they are in bloom. It is such a pretty sight to see all the butterfly's all over that bush, but that is why it is called a butterfly bush. Anyway the seed mix I got said that there were four colors in the mix. The colors were suppose to be white, lilac, blue and purple. Well of the ten plants butterfly bushes that I have now planted in my yard eight have blooms and of those eight five have blooms to the point that I can see what color that they are. Four of the blooms are lilac ans one is purple. The one I gave my mother-in-law also turned out to be lilac. Lilac must be the dominate color when it comes to butterfly bushes. I was so hoping for a white one. I might have to find someone that has one and take a cutting from it, or simply purchase one from a nursery. I have often wondered if butterfly bushes come in pink? I will have to do some research and find out, because if they do I'm going to want to get one of them also.

Caladium

I bought Caladium tubers earlier this year because I thought that they looked so pretty and I wanted a dash of color in my yard. The colors on the package had nice pretty colors. I had tried to grow an elephant ear and it did not do well at all, so I was hesitant to get another leafy type plant. I know I grow coleus but I consider them different because all the ones I have are in pots, well I planted some of the Caladium in pots and others in the ground. The ones I planted in pots have come up and doing well I am happy to say. I just wonder when if or when the other ones are going to come up.

I have a China Lantern

Well it has taken a while but I finally have a China Lantern on my plant. It is suppose to get up to 26 inches tall which is about the height of it now. I planted the seed the beginning of March this year. I was told by several people that I was starting the seeds to early, but I anticipated that the weather would get warm sooner than normal (which it did). It does not really matter most of the plants grew just fine and considering the rabbit problem I have had to deal with I think that they have all done very well.

The China Lantern is in a container, because the dirt in my area is not the best in the world, It is very sandy. So if I want my plants to do well I have to confine the plants to containers. I do however have six rather large oak trees surrounding my house which shades my home very well but the drawback is that they just take what ever nutrients out of the soil and leave nothing for the other plants around them including the grass. If I keep the plants in containers that takes care of that problem. Sometimes I will even dig a hole in the ground and place the container in the hole, it looks like the plant is planted in the soil, even when it is not.

Starting plants in water

There are several ways to propagate plants. One of the ways that I have found the easiest is simply putting the plants in water. You take a pickle jar or olive jar, hey any kind of jar. I use glass jars, you don't have to use a glass jar but it helps keep track of how long the roots are and you can let that help determine when you can place the plant cutting in dirt. I usually use the cuttings from when I am prunning around the yard.

I did not want a leggy looking butterfly bush, I wanted a bush looking bush so I snipped the tallest sprig from the bush I had in the ground. After I snipped the sprig it started bushing out and it actually looked like a bush instead of a weed. Well I did not want to throw the cutting away so I placed it in water and it started growing roots. It does take several weeks maybe longer depending on the temperature in your house. I just place the jar with the cutting on my window seal and simply wait. I did the same with the coleus that I had. I will say the coleus rooted a lot faster than the butterfly bush. I purchased some pots off of eBay that came in earlier this week so and I am going to set aside a day for potting plants. I find working with plants relaxing and fun. I'll just have to find a place to put them when I'm done or someone to give them to.

Thrasher in a tree

I saw this bird in the back yard of my house. I have a tree that I call the bird feeder tree. All types of birds sit in this tree and yes they do fight in this tree. Near the tree I also have a birdbath. I guess you could say that this tree is the tree that all the birds come to. I've even seen the hummingbirds sitting in the tree, which to me is amazing since they seldom sit still.

This bird is called a brown thrasher, it measures around eleven inches from tip of bill to the tip of his tail, so he is somewhat larger than the birds that normally congregate at the bird feeders. The birds at the bird feeders are not worried because the brown thrasher eats insects, he's not about to take the bird seed they are eating, I guess he's looking for bugs which is a good thing. The more bugs he eats the less bugs there are going to be that eat the plants in my garden.

Rooting a Coleus

I cut off the tops of several of the coleus that I started from seed and placed them in water. As you can see they have roots. I am planning to place the rooted plants in some potting soil and keeping them through the winter. I have thought about selling them or giving them as gifts. At present I have quite a few of them outside. I know that I will not be able to keep them all inside over the winter but I am hopeful that I will be able to keep several.

2 Woodpeckers in the yard

I saw this and could not help myself. I had to take a picture because it is so rare that I see both the male and the female woodpecker out at the same time. I saw the youngster earlier this year but was not fast enough to get a picture. The male has a red hear and the female has a red and grey head.

Marigold plans for next year

Well I have been doing some research on marigolds and once again I have to say this flower is by far my favorite annual. Not only does it keep the rabbits away The articles I have read say it might even keep nematodes away as well as moles. Hey that and the face that they aren't a bad looking flower certainly does not hurt. I have decided to start a bunch of marigolds next year alongside a lot of other plants. I am planning to border just about everything I have with the pretty little flowers. I know I will probably need more room than I have but I will cross that bridge when I come to it. Even if they don't keep the nematodes away I know that they will keep the rabbits away and this year that has been a major problem I have been having. either way next year I will have a nice pretty flower garden that the rabbits won't eat, hopefully.

My Seattle Dahlia is blooming

Well the Dahlia I planted back in February has bloomed (truthfully it has several blooms on it). I can't help but admire this beautiful flower. It is a tuberous perennial actually. This is the first year that I ever planted one. I let my daughter pick it out. I was trying to get her to pick a pink or red color, but she was adiment. She wanted the yellow and white one. It if I'm not mistaken this one is called Seattle or something simular. As of now I am planning to get another one to plant next year. I already have a good idea of where I am going to plant it. I also plan to let my little girl choose the next one as well. I have absolutely no idea what color she will pick. I do know that she will pick a pretty one and the color will be what ever color is her favorite at the time.

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The rabbits stayed away

Well my little flower survived without being eaten by those nasty little rabbits. I can tell you one thing I am definitely going to plant tons of them next year. I have already been working the soil. You see the soil in my yard is very very dry and sandy. It needs to be build up so that it can grow something. I am hopeful that next year the yard will have flowers that I can me proud of. I am somewhat making a list of what to plant so far I can assure you that marigolds will without a doubt be the border.

Will the rabbits stay away?

Earlier this year I planted quite a few flowers and just as they were about to bloom the nasty rabbits in my yard would eat the little buds that were about to bloom. It got to the point that I was almost ready to sit in the yard and shoot the little critters. I was doing some research and I thought I'd place some marigolds that I had in a container beside the plants and see it it would work at keeping the little buggers away. If they do I can already tell you that I will be planting quite a few next year. They will be my border plant all around my yard.

The Circle in the front

I am by no means a landscaper but I do want my yard to look nice. In the front of my house is a large circular driveway, and I have been wanting for years to put something to frame the circle to make it look better than it does. Well this year I decided that it would be the year to do it. When I told my husband all he said was put something up so I will not mow it with the lawn mower. That got me to thinking. What could I use. Pine straw is very plentiful in my area, so I figured it would be the perfect mulch. I have been using large sticks or should I say roots to frame the area, I have six very large oak trees in my yard I am simply digging or pulling up the roots that visitors and my family trip over. I would buy something to frame it with, but I want to see just how good it looks this way before I start doing that. I don't think it looks that bad. If I do start using something else to frame it with I am open to suggestions.

I have several Butterfly bushes I started from seed this year and I have been putting them about six to eight feet apart abound the circle. I just don't know what all colors I will have when they finally start blooming. The seed mix I bought was a mix of colors so it will be a surprise to see what colors I end up with. As of now I have six butterfly bushes planted and I have plan to plant two more in the circle. A part of me can't wait to see what the circle looks like next year and the year after that.

My bush dwelling yard cat

I am lucky to have a wonderful home with a wonderful family. My family also is fortunate enough to have a pet, a cat. It is said that cats are one of two types. Tree dweller or a bush dweller. I can say with much confidence that my cat is a bush dweller. She will climb trees but her favorite spot is laying on the ground and chasing moles. And last I heard moles do not live in trees they live in the ground. May bee that's why she likes the ground so much. Anyway MY cat is a blessing and as far as I am concerned she earns her keep by getting rid of the pest around the house, I just wish she would start chasing away the rabbits that have been eating my vegetables.

Woodpecker on the feeder in the yard

I have a bird feeder in my yard and a red bellied woodpecker was hungry enough to stay on the feeder long enough for me to snap a picture. I have seen the male, female and even a juvenile this year.

Avocado update

Well I was looking at my plants today and noticed that my avocado has some more growth on it. Since I placed it outside I did not really know what it would do. It was so dry last week and this week so far it has been like the monsoons. I am happy to say that the little plant is still alive and growing. My brother is trying to grow one as well. I am looking forward to seeing how big his is. I started mine several months before he did so I don't expect his to be larger than mine. I will have to wait and see what it looks like and see just how big it is. Last I spoke to him he said his had nine leaves while mine had only four. The biggest thing was the leaves on mine were around six inches long and it looked like a leaf as you can see in the picture. The leaves on his did not really look like leaves to me. I have no idea how big this plant will get but it really does not matter I am having fun and that is the important thing.

Amaryllis bulb sprouts

I have started planting my new crop of amaryllis seeds. So far I have eight in small pots. To date I have three sets of them. 2009, 2010, and now 2011. It takes them around five years for the bulb to get large enough to bloom. I am hopeful that everything will be good and that I will have some wonderfully beautiful plants. I only have two more years to go before I expect the first set to bloom. When I see the first bud start to emerge from the bulb I know that I will be so excited and happy.

Avocado plant in a pot

Several months ago I started germinating an avocado seed. I placed it in a jar just like you do a potato. It took several months but it sprouted and it finally got big enough to put in a pot. I know I will not be able to plant it outside because I live in the wrong part of the country, but I will have a nice plant in the house. While the weather is nice I will keep it outside, but as soon as it starts to get a bit chilly inside it will come.

Dahlia bud

It was around February 14 that I bought a yellow Dahlia and planted it in the yard. I had never planted one before, but I figured I had good luck with amaryllis and my little girl liked the way it looked so I thought I'd give it a try. It is a slow grower considering that it has been in the ground as long as it has. Actually I dug the thing up back in April because I thought it wasn't going to do anything. It has tiny roots starting so I put it back in the ground and figured I'd wait. I ignored the thing until I started seeing some life. Now it is on the verge of blooming. This particular color is called Seattle. It is suppose to be yellow and white. I am looking forward to it blooming, I just hope that the rabbits don't eat it first.

Butterfly bush bloom

I was so excited yesterday when I went outside to look at my plants. I could not believe my eyes I had a bud on one of my butterfly bushes. I bought the seeds in January of this year and planted them in February. The seeds were nothing more than dust and at the time I was not sure if they would germinate. I had never grown anything like that before and was not sure if I would be successful. Well I guess I must be doing something right because I have a bloom on it. To say I was excited is an understatement. My big question now is what color will it be. According to the seed packet the color could be white, lilac, blue or purple. I have a total of five planted in my yard with five more in pots so I am very hopeful that I will have more than one color. Several of the pots actually have more that one plant growing in it. I thought about separating them but changed my mind. I did not want to risk damaging the plant or possibly killing it when I took them apart, also I thought that by some chance the plants are a different colors it will look amazing when they bloom together. I just cant wait, I know they will be absolutely beautiful.

Coleus blooming

My coleus are really blooming like crazy. I have been trying to pinch off the buds because if you pinch off the buds the plant will bush out and will live longer. Honestly it is harder than you think. I will pinch off a bud today and tomorrow the plant will have two or four more in its place. I may move quite a few plants inside this winter if I have the room, and I am going to work very hard to have the room.

Peppers in the garden

I planted a carnival pack of bell pepper this year and I had absolutely no idea what colors they were going to be. I gave several to my in-laws they ended up with a bright yellow pepper and as you can see I ended up with a purple one. I do not eat peppers but I do love to watch them grow. My husband tasted this one and said it had a very bitter taste. I have no idea what the yellow one taste like. I will say that of everything I have planted this year the banana peppers have done the best. I have not picked many of them because I am waiting to see if they change color. Most banana peppers start one color and end up another. I have had a banana pepper in the past to go from green to yellow and then it turned red. I will have to wait and see what color I end up with.

A Green Coleus in the yard

Earlier this year I planted coleus plants. They have all grown very big, but the one that really surprised me was the green one. This is the only one I have ever seen that was completely green. Most of the ones I have seen are red, pink, a deep red that almost looks black. I was amazed that I had one that was completely green. To be honest my husband was surprised as well. This is the second year I have planted coleus and I can assure you it will not be the last. I am hopeful that I will be able to grow them and sell them. There is a nursery in my area and I am hopeful that they will let me work there part time, it not I hope that they will sell me some of the used greenhouse pots that they have. Honestly I would not mind getting used pots as part of my wages. I can clean them out and then plant more plants. I know how to clean the pots out so that there are no harmful bacteria in them. I have not contacted the nursery because I can't work anywhere now because, at least not until my little girl starts school. That will be in august of this year. I will contact them then, I have thought about contacting them just to enquire about the pots, who knows they might just give them away, if not I might be able to get them very cheap. It never hurts to ask.

New Amaryllis bulb 2011

This is a bulb I started this year. The quarter beside it is a typical size quarter. I like the fact that you can see the two roots that are growing on the beginning bulb. To me it is amazing that a flower as large as the Amaryllis can start from such a small seed, but then it has always amazed me about how plants can grow from such small seeds, especially when the seeds are little more than dust for example a butterfly bush.
I will say one thing, if you want to grow Amaryllis bulbs you have to be patient because it takes an estimated five years before it will reach blooming size. The worst thing for me is the waiting to find out what color the flowers will be because when you start growing it from a seed there is a very good possibility that the flower when it finally blooms will not be the same color as the parent plant. You can blame that one on hybrids. If the bulb has an offshoot the offshoot bulb will be the same color as the parent plant. To date none of my bulbs have had any off shoots, but I am hopeful that one day when will. All I have to do is take care of them.