Patrick

Latest plants to consider

phempton — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 01:24:00 GMT

Alrightee....saw these great plants in the conservatory and need to take note for when we return to Austin:

Alocasia odora - Much bigger and more upright than colocasia esculenta. I need to find this one and plant it in a wet area of the future yard.

Nepenthese truncata - Huge carniverous hanging pitcher plant. Fantastic in the small hanging basket.

Brugmansia 'Equador Pink'

Vireya Rhododendron (lochiae x gracilentum 'St. Valentine') - A lovely hanging basket with 1 cm leaves like a boxwood or something. Flowers were perfect red 2 cm and filled the plant. Very nice idea for a hanging basket on the porch.

Ficus Alii - Long leaved ficus is very nice with leaves similar to jasmine. Nice indoor or out.

Vireya 'Kurt Herbert Adler' x leucogygas (Tropical Rhododendron) - This was very fragrant. Nice potted plant

In the beginning, there was an idea

phempton — Sun, 21 Oct 2007 05:18:00 GMT

Being from Texas but living in Seattle, I wanted to grow a few tropical things and also stay out of the dreary wet weather. Funny thing is that I moved up here to get away from the heat. Now I miss it. Well I decided to build a greenhouse. Here's the plot and lumber.

That was in the Fall of 2005. Then came the winter. I kept on in the miserable weather and here's the framing going up:

Then the frame almost completed:

I worked through the winter and into the spring until finally finishing up. Here's the finished greenhouse sometime in the late spring early summer:

Notice first that my backyard is quite little. It's grown in a lot by now though. Along the fence is bamboo that was just getting started. It has mostly screened me in now in 2007. There are a few eyesores to deal with. Notice the shipping container and apartments! Sometime soon I'll have to post a panorama of my yard using my good camera to prove that I am a gardener

If you want to know the trials and tribulations of building a greenhouse, drop me an email and I would be happy to share with you.

Patrick

How to save a houseplant in 14 days

phempton — Sat, 15 Sep 2007 22:18:00 GMT

My friend brought this plant over to be taken care of while he and his wife are on a honeymoon in Europe for two weeks. He realized that it was on the verge of dying but wanted to see what I could do with it. Looking at it, I can't remember what type of houseplant it is, but when I first handled it, I noticed a few things:

It has two healthy leaves on it. The mottled color is the variety.
It has young stem on the tips which really wants to grow.
The soil was too wet and cold to the touch.

So I am trying to see if tropical conditions will help this little guy. I put it in a large cache pot with basically a plug in reptile heater. The soil heated up overnight so I think that's good. I'm also letting the soil dry out before I water it again. I think it needs a little break from cold damp soil, I just hope it can take the stress.

Also, I put it in a west window, which for Seattle is bright indirect light most of the time since it's so cloudy now that it's Fall. Here's the setup:

Now we wait and see if anything changes before they return from vacation. I think the odds are good that it will rebound. Mostly, I think that warm soil promotes growth just as much as light levels.

A brugmansia cutting

phempton — Mon, 03 Sep 2007 20:14:00 GMT

I took this 'Super Nova' brugmansia cutting in hopes of making another great bloomer. I'll be documenting this to create a better brugmansia section and show how to take cuttings. We'll just see if the little guy puts out roots as promised.

My tortoise Marvin

phempton — Mon, 03 Sep 2007 20:07:00 GMT

He's about 6 years old. A "teenage" leopard tortoise. He eats and looks hopelessly for girls.

Late summer morning glory

phempton — Mon, 03 Sep 2007 20:04:00 GMT

Such a nice flower!

Cicada waiting for nightfall

phempton — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 05:30:00 GMT

That was the first time I've found a cicada on a leaf and not just the shell. If you've ever been to the South, the sound of cicadas is something you carry with you forever. For me, the sound of them make the temperature about 10 degrees hotter!

Lovely herbaceous flowering plant

phempton — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 05:27:00 GMT

Looks like a petunia but who knows? It's so nice in the sun with those pointed petals and bright green foliage.

Krause Springs

phempton — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 05:24:00 GMT

Ok so I forgot to put the front gate photo first. Here's the entrance to the place. Kinda Southwest eh?

Passionflower vine

phempton — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 05:18:00 GMT

This little flower looks unreal but it grew all over the shrubs in that garden. I need to grow one in my greenhouse here in Seattle.

Garden at Krause Springs

phempton — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 05:12:00 GMT

The thing is, I miss the arid hot climate of Texas. We've been in Seattle for over 10 years and have very mild cool, wet climate. So going back to Texas reminds me of how easily things grow with the warm weather. I built a greenhouse here in Seattle to try and recapture our Austin weather, but it may just be time to move back!. The photo's from a print so it's kind of lousy but there are palms, cacti and even a few heat tolerant ferns.

Here's a photo of my wife Beth sittin' in the garden

phempton — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 05:09:00 GMT

It's about 95 degrees in that spot. But aren't those flowers cool?

I got married in Texas

phempton — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 05:00:00 GMT

Ok, so that's me under an old oak just outside of Austin Texas on August 6th. I just got married to my lovely girl Beth who's been with me for 12 years. we're from Texas and got married in Austin, so this was our few days after the wedding. We're at Krause Springs which is just a wonderful place. It's a cold water spring which they have opened up to the public. MY favorite part of the property is the amazing garden which I'm standing in.

It's P's first blog post!

phempton — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 20:34:00 GMT

Hello gardeners. It's a bit lonely here but you gotta start somewhere. I'll be posting pictures from my tiny little garden on Capitol Hill in Seattle. I built a small cedar greenhouse last year and plan to share the history of that as well as some photos of the plants I'm growing in it.