Aquariums and gardening.

[esoxlucius]

Also my camellias are starting to flower

Snap, my camelias started too. But I'm really disappointed in mine because the vast majority of the buds have died due to frost. Not hardy at all. This plant is likely to get composted, it doesn't fit in with my new hardy only strategy.

On a plus side though, I unwrapped my banana plant (Musa Basjoo) today. The mother pseudo stem has taken a hit, as expected, but the five tiny pups it pushed up last year look to have overwintered well. They all look like healthy shoots, so against all odds It looks like it's survived.

 

[krichardson]

Interesting the Musa didn't die after being wrapped up like that.I understand the reason for doing it but it seems like it would perish after being deprived of sunlight

 

[esoxlucius]

Interesting the Musa didn't die after being wrapped up like that.I understand the reason for doing it but it seems like it would perish after being deprived of sunlight

It just goes into dormancy Krich. The important thing when wrapping is to try and make it as breathable as possible so the pseudo stem dries out. That way you have a good chance of the stem coming back to life as soon as better weather comes.

Unfortunately this was my first attempt at wrapping and it wasn't breathable enough and the mother stem has gone quite soggy. I'm not sure whether it'll recover, but I'll give it a chance. The tiny little pups are looking good though which is a bonus.

I'll be honest though, wrapping this damn thing for 6 months of the year every year will probably get tiresome. I may dig it up at the end of this year's growing season and replace it with a hardier, more suitable plant for our climate.

 

[krichardson]

It just goes into dormancy Krich. The important thing when wrapping is to try and make it as breathable as possible so the pseudo stem dries out. That way you have a good chance of the stem coming back to life as soon as better weather comes.

Unfortunately this was my first attempt at wrapping and it wasn't breathable enough and the mother stem has gone quite soggy. I'm not sure whether it'll recover, but I'll give it a chance. The tiny little pups are looking good though which is a bonus.

I'll be honest though, wrapping this damn thing for 6 months of the year every year will probably get tiresome. I may dig it up at the end of this year's growing season and replace it with a hardier, more suitable plant for our climate.

Yeah,when I dabbled with Musa and so called cold hardy palms I dug them up completely and kept them in pots inside during the winter and transferred them in the spring.
Here are some more hostas coming up in the side yard.

 

[Fishman Dave]

With the camellias you need to make sure they get enough water through and towards the end of summer or the buds don’t set properly, then they are easier to lose in wind or slight frost.

 

[Friller2009]

I’ve never had really any problems with my camellias. Maybe I just have the perfect growing conditions. I legit have a forest of them. They drop so many seeds and they all germinate. Must be something like 20 trees and countless seedlings.

 

[Friller2009]

Here’s one for you esoxlucius , my neighbours bananas.

 

[esoxlucius]

Here’s one for you esoxlucius , my neighbours bananas.
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You're just making me depressed and envious now. Is there any real estate going around your area, I could do with a change of climate, lol.

 

[Friller2009]

My finger lime


Corpse flower


My big ol’ lemon tree


Frangipani lane




Strawberries


Native violet


My avocado


Fishbone cactus


My mums plant corner (she saw mine and wanted one lol)

 

[esoxlucius]

Some nice greenery there Friller2009 . Growing nicely in your fantastic all year round climate!

I had an avocado, I grew it from seed and was very proud of it. It was doing brilliantly, to such an extent that it outgrew its pot, so I repotted it.....three weeks later it was dead as a dodo!! I haven't got a clue what I did wrong. Whether they just hate being moved I don't know

My sister in law has been chirping on and on like a canary to my missus about how well her raised beds vegetable garden is coming along. So of course my missus wants me to go all out farmer mode now! I haven't even mastered house plants or garden plants yet, and she throws me a curve ball like this

I think the guys on my gardening forum are sick of me as it is. Once I start bombarding them with stupid newbie questions on how to grow cress they might ban me, lol.