Category: Gardening

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Man-vs-Squirrel

Here’s a link to a very funny YouTube video about a former NASA engineer who built a multi-part obstacle course leading up to his bird feeder. I can truly empathize with this video – squirrels are some of the most intelligent and adaptable animals I’ve ever seen. I’ve spent many a day in my own battles, trying to outwit the squirrels. A board of nails, oiling the pole with the feeder, coating the pole and barrier with Tanglefoot…. In every case, the outcome is the same – the new method works for a day or two, Ray gets his hopes up, then they find a method to thwart it. Oh well… the whole ‘Circle of Life’ thing… 😉

Enjoy!
https://youtu.be/hFZFjoX2cGg

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The sweet, sweet smell of Gardenia

One of my most favorite plants is Gardenia, mostly due to its most pleasant scent! The ideal environment for gardenia is one that has both high heat and humidity. It also does not overwinter in our area, so each fall, I have to bring them indoors. My two plants are somewhat bushy, so their “indoor home” is in the front foyer. Even though the air is less than ideal, the plants will often produce buds indoors, but rarely bloom.

I was pleasantly surprised to wake up and walk downstairs to first see, then smell several blooms. Wow!! I can’t publish the smell, but here is a pic of one of the blooms…

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Cold Stratification Update (Success!)

I took a peek at the 2-liter bottles which have been outside since 20 Mar, and to my (pleasant) surprise, I could see that the seeds in some of the bottles had in fact started germinating!!! I decided to take the germinated seeds (almost 100% of them germinated) from the bottle containing ‘Common Milkweed’ and transplanted them to smaller containers where they’ll be kept under the grow lights to finish their growth. Here are some pics from today’s HAPPY surprise…

  • This bottle contained plant ID ‘19014’ – common milkweed.- seeds.
  • Overhead shot once I removed the duct tape and opened the bottle.
  • Aren’t they cute?? Baby (common) milkweed!!!
  • Another pic of the tiny root emerging from the seed.
  • I transplanted the tiny seeds into condiment containers. They’ll now be kept indoors under grow lights.
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2019 Seed Germination – Cold Stratification

Started my seed germination for the 2019 garden. Later than I had hoped, but still a bit earlier than last year’s effort, which was affected to some degree by recovery from heart bypass surgery (remainder was laziness/procrastination on my part!)

This year I’m making an effort to encourage higher germination of my Milkweed seeds by introducing a period of cold stratification before starting the seeds. Not all seeds need this additional step, but a fair amount of perennials do benefit from it. Basically, one is trying to simulate what a seed “in the wild” would experience, when Mother Nature drops it seeds onto the ground after a plant has completed its blooming cycle.

I am trying three different methods: (1) putting the seeds in 2-liter soda bottles and leaving them outside; (2) putting seeds in peat pots into covered plastic trays in basement fridge; and (3) putting seeds between damp paper towels then into baggies inside fridge. Some of the seeds need 30 days of stratification while the others need 60. It’ll therefore be April/May before we see the yield.

Pic of the outdoor 2-liter bottle method of cold stratification.
Pic of the wet paper towel and plastic container methods of cold stratification.