Crassula NOID

I bought this succulent last night after visiting Home Depot. I had seen this particular succulent in the Cacti & Succulent display all summer long and never bought it. But last night it looked so sad sitting there among the carnage of dead or dying C&S, that I just had to buy it. I have no idea what it is other than it is some kind of Crassula if I am not mistaken. I really like the faint coloring at the edge of the leaves and the "spotted" leaves make it pretty interesting too.

EDIT:
This succulent turns out to be an Adromischus which is native to South Africa.

Common garden weeds

I took these pictures this summer and I was suppose to retake them to try to get the flowers in really good focus, but I forgot to do so. All of these flowers are smaller than a dime. I've seen them growing in my area since I was a kid and since I started gardening I'm curious what they could be.

Coneflower Seed Envelope

I decided to make my own seed envelopes for seed exchanges from my own photographs. If you'd like to use these you can click on the image to enlarge it and print from your computer. They are free for personal use (only) and can't be altered and my copyright must remain on the image. (Cut along the outside of the black line and fold the white flaps in sequential order.)

If you agree to the terms, you are free to make yourself as many copies as you'd like or pass them on to fellow gardeners. Feel free to leave a suggestion for future seed envelopes. I'll add more as I take more photographs.

Sunflower Seed Envelope

I decided to make my seed envelopes for seed exchanges from my own photographs. If you'd like to use these you can click on the image to enlarge it and print it from your computer. They are free for personal use (only) and can't be altered and my copyright must remain on the image. (Cut along the black line and fold the white flaps in sequential order.)

If you agree to the terms, you are free to make yourself as many copies as you'd like or pass them on to fellow gardeners. Feel free to leave a future seed envelopes. I'll add more as I take more photographs.

Amaryllis Seed Envelope

I decided to make my own seed packets for seed exchanges from my own photographs. If you'd like to use these you can click on the image to enlarge it and print it from your computer. They are free for personal use (only) and can't be altered and my copyright must remain on the image. (Cut along the outside of the black line and fold the white flaps in sequential order.)

If you agree to the terms, you are free to make yourself as many copies as you'd like or pass them on to fellow gardeners. Feel free to leave me a suggestion for future seed envelopes. I'll add more as I take more photographs.

Amaryllis-Red Lion

Late this summer I bought my first Amaryllis kit, the box said it was the variety known as "Red Lion". I had always admired them, but I thought they were too high maintenance. Boy was I wrong about these wonderful bulbs. All I did was plant it in the pot it came with and watered it when I figured it needed it.

The leaves were the first to emerge and were followed by the flower spike. I waited an entire week for the bloom to unfold and show me just why Red Lion is such a popular variety. I'm afraid that I may be addicted to these...I already have another "Apple Blossom" that has sent up a spike and hopefully will be flowering soon.

I've read around in various forum that they go clearance after the Holidays in the big box stores. I hope that my local Home Depot has plenty of them left after Christmas because I want a white one next. The only thing I would do different is pot them in a terracotta pot instead of the cheap plastic one they come with.

Sent my seeds to the following states.

When I joined GW in August and started trading seeds I wondered just how many states one person could send to without being part of Round Robins and trades like that. I was just looking over my trade list and was noticing the states I had sent seeds to. So I pulled a map off of google and added a little star icon on the state I sent seeds to for a trade. Granted a real gardener probably engaged in much more trading, but I was green and wasn't too sure of myself and trading and didn't have much.

After I marked all the states I had traded with I noticed that most of my responders to trade seem to be situated near me and not many came from the West Coast of the US. I wonder if it's like that for most traders and if the majority of trades occur with people in surrounding states. Or if I was more active and had better seeds would I see a wider distribution?

Anyway the 'pattern' may just be more in my own mind than anything, but I will have to re-map it again at the beginning of winter next year and compare. The map does not represent the couple of states where a one way trade occured and I was given seeds or plants by gardeners that adopted me.

*Click on the image to enlarge*

A taste of the desert in Chicago

I was taking a walk past a neighbor's house the other day to take one last look at a tall Euphorbia that had growing on their front stoop, when I decided to look down and saw this plant. At first I was shocked and a little perplexed this guy, he looks so out of place in their poorly landscaped yard but even more so in urban Chicago. I think it's an Agave but I'm not sure, but I'm pretty sure he'd prefer to spend the summer in a warmer place than here.

The only Cacti or Succulents you see around here are usually sitting on a window sill or are painted onto the awnings of the Taco joints, that seem to be on almost every corner here, and the occasional Yucca being thrown in. I have no idea whether or not it will survive the winter but if it does you can bet I will be asking for a cutting.

Idea for James

Digital foliage trim of this succulent.

"My Name is Perle"

This past summer I came across an Echeveria in the garden section of the Home Depot. It had a fantastic pinkish purple hue to it and I fell head over heals for it. I bought it that day and took it home. Some times I would sit and hold the plant in my hands and study the complete perfection of the plant. The symmetry of the leaves was perfect and my eyes would wander around the lines the leaves made.

It was like a baby and I was like a father. I doted on this Echeveria and would move it around the yard so that it would get as much sun as possible during the day. It really seemed to like all the sun it was getting because it colored up in dramatic fashion, almost as if it blushed at all the attention I was bestowing on it.

Can you love a plant? I know it sounds crazy-but sometimes when I was away from my little Echeveria I would wonder if it was doing ok and if it needed anything. One day while admiring my Echeveria it dawned on me that perhaps my little Echeveria was lonely. So I went out and bought it a companion; I came home with a little pot of Hen&Chicks. I sat it next to my Echeveria and hoped that they would be the best of friends. Being that I was now the parent of two succulents I decided to see if I could give my Echeveria a proper name. The helpful folks at the GardenWeb thought that my Echeveria might be a Perle Von Nurenberg. There was some debate but I decided that it looked like the closest ID. So now Perle had a name.

One day this summer Perle started to look a little down. At first I blamed it on the Hen and all of her Chicks that had sprouted in the pot next to Perle. Maybe they were making too much of a fuss or keeping her up at night, I thought to myself. I decided to move Perle to another area one day where maybe she would not be bothered by the Hen&Chicks. While doing so I decided to take a few leafs from Perle and propagate them to see if she liked being aroud her own kind better. When I removed some of the leaves I spotted them. The most hated of all houseplant bugs, mealy bugs.

They were crawling all over just below the surface of the soil at Perle's base. I quickly searched the internet and found various remedies. I decided a full out attack would the best approach. Night and day I worked at getting rid of those little bastards. In the end I lost the fight, but Perle left me with four little starts. Three of which can be seen in the picture attached to this entry.

If you find your Perle some day in a Home Depot, make sure to take some leafs from her and let the cuts callous over and then insert them into some clean soil. In a short time you'll have more plants that you can manage.

Flower NOID

I came across this plant in a planter one day while out fishing. It was planted in a planter in a suburb of Illinois and I have no idea what it is but it sure is pretty.

This one has been IDed as a Gazania on gardenweb.

Adenium Obesum

After getting hooked on succulents this past summer, I kept drooling over the many photos I saw around the net. It's an interest succulent (member of the Oleander family)that produces very nice flowers.

While researching this plant I found out it originates from East Africa and can be propagated from seeds and from cuttings. All parts of this plant are toxic and should be kept away from children and animals.

I found this particular plant at a local Walmart store. It is nine inches tall, from the soil line, and the base of the plant is three inches wide. Not a bad looking plant considering it only cost me five dollars.

Unknown Seeds

Bad photo of some unknown seeds. A picture of the seed pods opening up and a photograph of the leaves of the plant. I've had this one IDed as a Louisiana Iris. I'll guess I'll have to wait 'til spring and see if I can germinate some seeds.

Amaranthus

I think this is Amaranthus Paniculata, growing in the front garden that I am working on planting. It has really taken over the spot where six seedlings were planted earlier this year. I was reading a garden forum and they say its an annual but the six seedlings I transplanted came back on their own, and from the looks of this have spread just this growing season.

Unknown plant in neighbor's yard

Here is some plant that my neighbor has in his yard and I am very curious as to the ID of the plant.

Grow something on your keys

I came across these pics on the net of a recent fad in Japan. Apparently the pocket pet crazy has extended into living things. You can grow these little plants on your key chain in these mini terrariums, and once they get to be too big you can just pot them up into a larger pot and start all over. These pics seem to be of some Cacti and Succulents. I wonder how easy it would be to make something like this, in Japan they retail for about 1000 yen.

Hibiscus close-up

Here is another better photo of the Hibiscus I am trying to identify correctly.

Yellow perennial NOID

Yellow Perennial that I am trying to ID, along with info on whether I am harvesting the right "seeds".

Nicer Bonsai pots for trade

These are nicer quality pots that I am looking to trade for at least two good sized established trees on my seeking list-except for herbs. These have never been used. I will also entertain trading for a few succulents, on my list.

Mame pots for trade

Trading these Mame Bonsai pots for some rooted cuttings of anything on my trade list. Two of the posts have been used, and need to be cleaned.

Free Bonsai Posts to a good home

Free Bonsai pots to a good home.

Hibiscus

Here is a Hibiscus I got this spring.

Another Beetle

Last week I found a Beetle in my Garden that turned out to be a Japanese Beelte. The next day I was out in the Garden again and came across this little yellow guy with brown spots. I have done some searches on Google and it turns out it is another pest. This little guy is a Cucumber Beetle.

Beetle

I was out in the Garden dead heading some roses when I came across this beetle. I don't think I have ever seen a Beetle of any kind the whole time I have lived in Chicago. When I lived in Northern Arizona there would be these huge Beetles, the kind that look like Rhinoceroses that would come out at night. I always wanted to capture some and keep them in a container but felt bad about taking them from their natural habitat. I have seen some dead one selling framed in shops for about two hundred dollars.

Another Ladybug

I was dead-heading two Rose bushes in the Garden and I spotted this little bug in there. Since I have been playing with the Garden and adding things I am always amazed at the number of bugs I can see around it you spend enough time there.

Coneflower burst.

I am glad I planted these flowers because they have provided a wide variety of bugs with a reason to stop by and spend some time in the Garden. Not only that but they have given me many reasons to go out and take some photographs of them. I love the structural quality of the cones and I think next year they will have a larger space in the Garden.

Dancer

I came across this little moth dancing around some Rose Bushes in the Garden. It just looked like a normal little white Moth but I followed it around until it landed and stayed in one place long enough to capture this photo of it. I never would have guessed it had so much detail in it.

Sun in the sky

My garden has no rhyme or reason, basically I'll grow anything that I like. But this Spring I bought some Sun Flowers from the Home Depot and planted them. How can you be unhappy when you have some of these around? They attract all kinds of insects and just seem to live up the place. When I was a kid one of my neighbors always had some of these growing and I remember how impressed I was with their size. I quess I bought these with her in mind and to sit back and remember some days gone by.

Double Headed Lion

I know this is a weed and the arch enemy of any man that has a lawn. But I couldn't bring myself to get rid of it when I saw that two of them had fused together to make one large flower. It was really an impressive size too. It made me smile so I let it stay around until it went to seed and then I made a huge wish when I blew on it.

Burst

I really like the structural quality of the cones on these flowers. Unfortunately I planted them too close to the front gate and now the neighbor kids are tearing them off ass they play out in the sidewalk.

A Lady in wait

I spotted this Lady Bug hanging out on some sunflowers the other day. I was surprised becuase I haven't seen many of them around the past few years. You may not be able to tell in this pic, but their is an Ant right near it. I couldn't tell if the Lady Bug was trying to eat it or vice versa but they didn't seem to be getting along.

A Bee

One of the cool things about having a garden is how many insects you can and will attract. Like this Bee that allowed me to follow it around and photograph it. He didn't even sting me or anything, what a nice Bee he was.

Take a nap

Saw this Butterfly resting and eating on a sun flower in my yard and spent the better part of an afternoon trying to capture it with its wings open. This is the best shot out of over a hundred.