Piece of Eden

Search This Blog

Lily

on July 25, 2011

Get link
Facebook
X
Pinterest
Email
Other Apps

Lily

Rose Companions

Get link
Facebook
X
Pinterest
Email
Other Apps

Comments

Growth Habits And Progress Of Six Pittosporum Tenuifolium Selections

Above, P. 'Tasman Ruffles' begins to obscure the neighbor's roof Pittosporum tenuifolium 'Silver Sheen' is the most common tall Pittosporum currently sold in Southern California. This neighborhood example was planted as a 15 gallon about 2005. I'm guessing it's about 20 feet (6 meters) tall in the photo: Update 12/2017: It declined rapidly this year and died. Drought? Borers? A pair of Pittosporum tenuifolium 'Silver Sheen' also in the neighborhood, but topped and sheared. The airy, graceful, natural appearance of 'Silver Sheen' is lost in favor of denser growth via regular light shearing: Update 12/2017 : these look about the same as they did in 2013. The distinctive black stems and reflective foliage: A variegated form of Pittosporum 'Silver Sheen' is 'Ivory Sheen' . It has a more dainty quality. Because of the variegation it is a somewhat smaller and slower grower than 'Silver Sheen...

Aluminum Sulphate To Blue Up Hydrangeas

Hydrangea 'Endless Summer': Apparently where pH is low, people want to pink up their blue Hydrangeas. Here where pH is high, naturally we want to blue up our pink Hydrangeas. Perhaps we should just switch gardens periodically according to our hydrangea desires. But rather than going to all that trouble, I tried the recommended Aluminum sulphate to blue up my pink-flowering Hydrangeas. Here are my results: Yes, aluminum sulphate works, but like the old joke about voting, you have to do it early and often: at least once a month, before and during bud formation. I followed package directions, which meant two tablespoons in a gallon of water. I had to agitate the water a while to get the aluminium sulphate to dissolve. I gave my 30"x30" 'Endless Summer' hydrangea two treatments, on the first of April and the first of May. This wasn't quite enough. The first blooms to form are fairly pink, the following are f...

Reading Agave Leaves

What is it saying? If you are not familiar with Agaves, it might seem they don't change all that much, but lighting conditions affect them as much as any other plant. For example... Here's a small Agave parryi truncata grown all its life in full sun: This is also an Agave parryi truncata of the same size and age as the first. Note the elongation of the outer (oldest) leaves: Why does it look so different? Because it was covered up by a mass of Cistanthe grandiflora. It was growing in darkness. The newest, innermost leaves resemble the previous Agave, because this plant has been back in the light for several months. In low light levels, the leaves elongate and flatten out so they and the plant's central growing point can maximize what light they receive. Here's Agave ellemetiana, which doesn't require nearly the sun that A. parryi does, but it displays the flattened posture of an Agave that would lik...

Powered by Blogger

Lily

Comments

Post a Comment