Anyone into gardening here?

[jc100]

I like the pots --

What is this (with the giant leaves)

View attachment 40686

Tons of rhubarb. I hate the stuff, wife likes it.

Edit: can’t kill it. I tried..

Lots of pots as many of the tropical plants come inside for the winter. There’s about 15 banana plants, 2 hibiscus bushes, bougainvillea, mandevilla, a nice big gardenia bush and few elephant ears plants plus some other assorted stuff that comes up every year.

 

[Mad Mike]

Tons of rhubarb. I hate the stuff, wife likes it.

Edit: can’t kill it. I tried..

Lots of pots as many of the tropical plants come inside for the winter. There’s about 15 banana plants, 2 hibiscus bushes, bougainvillea, mandevilla, a nice big gardenia bush and few elephant ears plants plus some other assorted stuff that comes up every year.

Oh. No thanks on the rhubarb, have my own curse already. I tried rototilling it to death last fall -- came up again this year just as strong as ever. I'd RoundUp the stuff if it wasn't ringing one of my fruit trees.

Where/how do you winter your tropicals? I don't have trouble wintering mandevilla, this winter I lost all 6 huge hibiscus bushes and my peppers. I have a cold room that stays 65 and dry all winter, it faces east and gets about 4hrs of sunlight. I keep everything really dry, only watering when they start to shrivel, no fertilizer. No pests seen. Been doing this for years, every few years I lose everything, I'm guessing a disease.

I do have strain of palms imported from the Polyester Islands -- they overwinter outside, they have lasted 5 winters now.

 

[jc100]

I put the plants in various rooms around the house depending on heat/light likes. The bananas can get away with pretty low light over the winter so they get put all over. The hibiscus bushes go near some windows. The rooms are all heated so there's only a bit of dormancy. Our house isn't huge so every room looks like a jungle.

 

[jc100]

Had a bad attack of thrips once.....killed a few things and we thought all the elephant ears were dead. The elephant ears came back though, all except my prize giant one that used to be enormous. Sprayed them with neem oil but it did nothing.

 

[Mad Mike]

Do thrips mature into tiny white flies? I did have a batch of these inside my light gardens this winter. They didn't harm the seedlings, I killed them off with insecticidal soap. Perhaps they hit the hibiscus and peppers without me knowing.

I don't grow elephant ears, I do grow a couple of big annuals. Castor Beans are fun and they get pretty big, I also have angel trumpet stock that has been selectively bred for the last 15 years, they get to 1.5m and prolifically flower from Jul to frost. Every year I select seeds from the largest and ones that show most tolerance to fall cold, my current seed bank is producing monsters!

 

[jc100]

Yes, I think they do. They form a sticky mass on the stems of the plants as larvae. They preferred the elephant ears for some reason.

I’d grow castor beans and angels trumpets but would worry about the dogs getting into them. I like seeing them on my trips though, they use castor bean plants to shade organic coffee bushes in the tropics so there’s lots of them and every place I’ve rented has had massive datura plants. I’d like to try my hand at growing ginger but I think they wouldn’t like it in pots.

Edit: I do have a nice bird of paradise plant and it’s growing very well, this is the second year for it after overwintering. It’s putting out new leaves slowly but I will have to be very patient for flowers. It flowers every 5 years apparently. It’s in the middle of the large bed in my pics.

 

[Mad Mike]

Yes, I think they do. They form a sticky mass on the stems of the plants as larvae. They preferred the elephant ears for some reason.

I’d grow castor beans and angels trumpets but would worry about the dogs getting into them. I like seeing them on my trips though, they use castor bean plants to shade organic coffee bushes in the tropics so there’s lots of them and every place I’ve rented has had massive datura plants. I’d like to try my hand at growing ginger but I think they wouldn’t like it in pots.

Edit: I do have a nice bird of paradise plant and it’s growing very well, this is the second year for it after overwintering. It’s putting out new leaves slowly but I will have to be very patient for flowers. It flowers every 5 years apparently. It’s in the middle of the large bed in my pics.

I've grown them inside and outside fenced areas of my yard for years. I back onto a tributary of the Rouge, I used to plant them along the footpath, thousands of people and dogs passed by and enjoyed them over the years... not a single one interested in eating them. Same goes for rabbits, groundhogs and deer. Sadly, Japanese beetles do fancy both and munch away with impunity. I stopped planting outside my pool fenced pool area because a concerned citizen freaked out thinking the baby in her stroller was experiment with them.

Finally got a Passion Flower vine to make it past germination this year, first blooms expected to open today (been unsuccessful for 3 years).

 

[jc100]

I've grown them inside and outside fenced areas of my yard for years. I back onto a tributary of the Rouge, I used to plant them along the footpath, thousands of people and dogs passed by and enjoyed them over the years... not a single one interested in eating them. Same goes for rabbits, groundhogs and deer. Sadly, Japanese beetles do fancy both and munch away with impunity. I stopped planting outside my pool fenced pool area because a concerned citizen freaked out thinking the baby in her stroller was experiment with them.

Finally got a Passion Flower vine to make it past germination this year, first blooms expected to open today (been unsuccessful for 3 years).

See if you can get any fruit on it? I tried for years with no success. Had flowers but nothing else. That reminds me...add Passion flower to the list of things that died this year. Dammit.

I love tropical plants. Have been wanting to grow some tropical pitcher plants for years but not sure I have the right accommodations for them. I can get high humidity and warmth during the summer months but over wintering them might be too much.

 

[Mad Mike]

See if you can get any fruit on it? I tried for years with no success. Had flowers but nothing else. That reminds me...add Passion flower to the list of things that died this year. Dammit.

I love tropical plants. Have been wanting to grow some tropical pitcher plants for years but not sure I have the right accommodations for them. I can get high humidity and warmth during the summer months but over wintering them might be too much.

I have a grow room in the basement, I keep some summer stock alive (begonias, ivys, pitcher plant, African violets) over the winter by placing them under lights in a small poly-tented light garden. In the spring, I switch it over to seed and rhizome starting.

 

[Mad Mike]

 

[jc100]

Those are nice. Got a pic of the pitcher plant?

 

[Mad Mike]

Those are nice. Got a pic of the pitcher plant?

Not the best in the world, I'm going to setup something inground for them. I removed a goldfish pond because the raccoons were using it as a buffet. I'm going to fill it with peat moss and sand, then try a perennial pitcher plant garden using indigenous specimens. Here are the first two -- note the babies in pic 2.

And the Passion Flower

 

[jc100]

Nice. Those pitcher plants are indigenous/perennial? I'll have to give them a go. I always fancied the tropical vine ones, I think they are from Borneo.

 

[Roadghost]

Any broccoli growers here? After you cut the first batch off, do you just kill the plant? Or does it produce more?

 

[Gary]

Any broccoli growers here? After you cut the first batch off, do you just kill the plant? Or does it produce more?

If you've already harvested it once by now, you should get at least one more, maybe two......don't trash the plant if you want more.

 

[Dirty Frank]

Had a bad attack of thrips once.....killed a few things and we thought all the elephant ears were dead. The elephant ears came back though, all except my prize giant one that used to be enormous. Sprayed them with neem oil but it did nothing.

The best remedy for thrips is spinosad works like a charm
FWIW the gov. pulled neem garden products from the shelfs a couple of years ago,go figure

 

[Mad Mike]

Nice. Those pitcher plants are indigenous/perennial? I'll have to give them a go. I always fancied the tropical vine ones, I think they are from Borneo.

Mine are indigenous -- Canada has several indigenous, some quite large. They are not vines, they are bog plants. They need full sun bog conditions -- damp feet, loose nutrient free soil, and lots of mineral free water (i.e rain water). My plan is to fill a plastic 100 gallon outdoor fishpond with sand/sphagnum mix -- that should hold plenty of rain water. I have a small Tiki bar in the yard, I should be able to divert some roof runoff to keep it wet with rain water. Hopefully I can plant it this year and try to overwinter the girls outside this year.

Here's one I saw a few weeks ago at a nursery on Stouffville Rd at Kennedy, it might be what you are after:

 

[matthew]

My wife and I won "Best Edible Garden" in our town.

 

[Mad Mike]

Elaborate, what are you growin

My wife and I won "Best Edible Garden" in our town.

Elaborate! What are you growing?

 

[matthew]

Elaborate, what are you growin

Elaborate! What are you growing?

A little bit of everything;
Corn, tomatoes, peppers, basil, lettuce, turnips, sage, oregano,carrots, kale, onions, potatoes, cucumbers, melons....