Poppy 'Drama Queen':
Heh. I wait weeks and weeks for a flower from poppy 'Drama Queen', and just as it opens, the entire plant falls over and disappears from view behind the peony. Heh!
Aloe polyphylla last autumn:
I assumed I'd killed yet another Aloe polyphylla last fall (is this the third or the fourth?). It looked great for a year or more, then suddenly looked terminal. What were those black areas all about? I lifted it from the pot, discovering with horror but not surprise that it had only one living root, and that sole surviving root barely a half inch (1 cm) long. As a last effort, I gave it a spot in the ground on a steep slope of light silt in an area that is full shade in winter, and mostly shade in summer. A leaky hose set above trickles water down to it, mimicking the frequent snow melt that A. polyphylla lives on in nature. And...
Aloe polyphylla today:
A firm tug doesn't move it. The leaves are plump and firm. It may have grown roots. I think it has more leaves than it did last fall. What do you think? Does it look better?
Did I not kill it yet? I have to remember that it needs to get through summer before I become over confident.
Heh. I wait weeks and weeks for a flower from poppy 'Drama Queen', and just as it opens, the entire plant falls over and disappears from view behind the peony. Heh!
Aloe polyphylla last autumn:
I assumed I'd killed yet another Aloe polyphylla last fall (is this the third or the fourth?). It looked great for a year or more, then suddenly looked terminal. What were those black areas all about? I lifted it from the pot, discovering with horror but not surprise that it had only one living root, and that sole surviving root barely a half inch (1 cm) long. As a last effort, I gave it a spot in the ground on a steep slope of light silt in an area that is full shade in winter, and mostly shade in summer. A leaky hose set above trickles water down to it, mimicking the frequent snow melt that A. polyphylla lives on in nature. And...
Aloe polyphylla today:
A firm tug doesn't move it. The leaves are plump and firm. It may have grown roots. I think it has more leaves than it did last fall. What do you think? Does it look better?
Did I not kill it yet? I have to remember that it needs to get through summer before I become over confident.
It lookes fresh and I think it survived the Winter.
ReplyDeleteIt least healthy to me. But don't get the big head....murphy's law ya know.
ReplyDeleteI think it looks great. It will love being on a slope.
ReplyDeleteI think you're in the home stretch with the aloe. Just saw a photo of it in bloom on a Chelsea blog post, can't remember which blog. (You did say disappeared from view behind a PEONY?!)
ReplyDeleteLooks like the Aloe polyphylla is thanking you for the free root run :)
ReplyDeleteThat poppy is gorgeous - too bad it was only a flash in the pan. Your aloe looks very robust now!
ReplyDelete@marijke, thanks. this species wants an alpine climate, very difficult to achieve in So Cal. It's not the winters that are the problem, it's the summers!
ReplyDelete@greggo, I'm keeping my hopes firmly in check!
@spiky, thanks, I'm hoping I found the right spot for it at last.
@Denise, yep, behind the peony.
@Mark & Gaz, or the lack of mealies. They are better controlled on plants in the ground instead of in a pot. Or so I hope.
@spurge, thanks! "Flash in the pan" sums it up perfectly.