Ghost

I try to keep tabs on how each of the succulents are growing, and today I'm taking a look at the Ghost, Graptopetalum paraguayense. It's a lovely little plant but there's not a lot of excitement. No pups, no stalks, just a nice ghostly pastel rosette with good farina.

It arrived Feb. 7 and I snapped this image three days later. I shot it in full sunlight so it is hard to compare, but there isn't much pastel. I also wasn't into focus stacking yet. Nowadays I usually shoot these images inside with room lighting and one small supplemental light, with exposure times usually 1-4 seconds. On a tripod of course.

Two months later, it looks a bit taller and the subtle pastels have developed after getting a south window and grow lights every day. The farina looks mostly clean except on the older lower leaves, and overall the plant is in very good condition. I got the plant from Mountain Crest Gardens, and the site description says, "It blushes pink, purple, and yellow in full sun and shows more blues, greens, and silvers in partial shade. Direct sun also causes its powdery coating of farina to thicken, adding to the soft, frosty appearance." It's nice now but muted compared to the pictures on the web, so maybe some of that will come later in the year.

I gave it the full focus-stacking treatment. This is 21 images stacked in Zerene, cropped tightly. I have three weeks left on my Zerene trial and I'm sure I will buy the license because you can't do this with just Photoshop.

I snapped four leaves off of it and am trying to propagate them in the pot so I don't forget what they are. The downside of doing it this way is they get in the way during watering. (I took them out for the photo.) They haven't done anything yet, but it has been less than a week and they look like ideal leaves for this purpose.

Ready to receive

My biggest worry about the greenhouse right now is just having enough room to walk around when it goes into production on Saturday. I moved two of the 15-gallon grow bags outside and that opened it up quite a bit. Those two will hold sage and onions/cilantro. What you see in this image is what will be in there against the northeast wall all season. But there are a number of other grow bags and pots that I can't move to their final locations outside until June because, you know, Montana foothills.

Row by row, from left: Geranium holdover from last year, Teddy Bear Sunflower and some other flowers, petunia holdover from last year, and geranium cuttings that were overwintered. Next row, Tam Pepper in 5-gallon bag (barely visible), Bell Pepper in 7-gallon bag, flowers in 15-gallon bag, dill in 10-gallon bag, and strawberries in 5-gallon bag. Next, the chives are a placeholder for TBD, overwintered mum, overwintered mum, strawberries in a 5-gallon bag.

The things that will end up at the house but will have to start in the greenhouse are Tam Pepper in 5-gallon bag, Bell Pepper in 7-gallon bag, and 5-gallon bags of strawberries, cilantro and geraniums. I have two 15-gallon grow bags that are allocated for potatoes and another sunflower, but I don't think I can start them in the greenhouse because they will be impossible to move once I water them. I might have to recruit someone to help. Or to do it for me.

What I am happiest about today is getting some of the stuff out of the garage. Last time I counted, I have 10 peppermint plants, and at most I want five. Same with rosemary, and Cuban Oregano is even worse. This is mostly mint in the mini, although a few of the others are in there also. I don't like to throw stuff away (as you can tell), but the mint will be the first on the chopping block. We don't really even use the mint. I just grew it because the deer won't eat it.

Super

I saw a Facebook post from a local greenhouse that they have started planting the Supertunia baskets that will line Main Street this summer. They aren't open to the public yet, and I decided not to wait and take my chances with whatever Supertunias the area stores decide to stock. I just put in an order with Proven Winners Direct, shipping immediately, to get Vista Bubblegum, Vista Jazzberry, Royal Velvet, Latte, Honey, and Priscilla. I'm not doing combos, at least not initially, so each Supertunia gets its own basket. If they live up to their reputations, particularly the Vistas, one plant will fill out a 16-inch basket with no problem. I also have this thought that a basket with one plant will not go dry as quickly as a basket with three plants, at least not early in the season.

I've been having trouble getting any Coleus to grow past the sprout stage in the chilly garage, so I also threw a ColorBlaze Wicked Witch Coleus plant into the order. At least I'll have one plant as I try to sprout more in the warmth of the greenhouse this summer.

I came nowhere near the free shipping threshhold of $175, so with a coupon code and shipping the cost was $84.19, just over $12 per plant. What thrilled me more than anything was that delivery will be by FedEx, not USPS. I'm guessing/hoping delivery will be early next week.

I checked the Walmart and Home Depot web sites. Yes, the Supertunias are listed for about $11 each. The catch is they are not in stock and have to be shipped, and they only come in 4-packs or 5-packs. It would be OK if they were variety packs, but they are not. I am not going to spend $264 to get the six varieties I want. I'm crazy enough to believe I only need one of each these fast-growing mutant petunias.

With Easter coming, the picture of the day is an Easter Cactus! Actually it is a Thankgiving Cactus, but it's what I have and it is (somewhat) related. They are both from the Brazilian rainforest, but the Easter Cactus belongs to similar but distinct genus versus the Thanksgiving and Christmas cactuses. This Thanksgiving Cactus now stands just over 6.5 inches tall. I don't have exact measurements or a great picture of it after I transplanted it last year, but I'm estimating that the central leaf has added two segments and has grown three inches since August. Maybe it will bloom this year. Happy Thanksgiving Easter!

Surprise

I was watering just about all of my plants today and was surprised by the burgundy color of one of the Echeverias. I wondered, "Which one are you?"

The tag said "Echeveria Trader Joe's," which isn't its variety but where I bought it. It bothers me when plants are offered for sale and no ID is provided, but it is a good-looking plant. It's a tight rosette and has become more purple as it gets the benefit of both a south-facing window and grow lights.

There are perhaps 200 species of Echeverias and thousands of hybrids and cultivars. The closest variety I can find in one of my books and online is Mosan. Close, but probably not a match. All I know is that Joe has changed quite a bit since he came home on Feb. 20:

I don't think it is hyperbole to call this a dramatic change, and this is why I take pictures of my plants.

Of the plants from the Mountain Crest order I potted yesterday, the Kalanchoe Desert Surprise is the one most ready for a portrait. The others may take a few days to rest up. This is my first Kalanchoe and is quite different from what you see at the grocery store, which is why I endure online ordering.

Official Start

April 1 might be a foolish day to start planting a garden in Zone 5a, but I have a greenhouse. I was shooting for today to start a few things in the greenhouse and get the season underway, but I look out the window at an expanse of white, and the low last night was in the 20s. I'll give it a couple more days and plug in the heater on Saturday the 4th. We will still have some lows in the high 20s and low 30s for the next few weeks, but the inevitable temperature trend is upward.

Saturday will be a day of pageantry. The procession will proceed one mile down Highway 78 with the theme, "Moving the mint and rosemary plants that have taken over the garage closet." And by procession I mean me in my truck. That is followed by the time-honored ceremony "The Planting of the Onions," about 75 sets. (Actually it won't be "time-honored" until next year because this is the first year.) Then there will be the commemorative "Plug in the heater." Very solemn and moving.

I'm going to move all seed starting operations out of the garage and into the greenhouse. I just got six sturdy Epic 6-cells. Eric, I mean Kevin, and Jacque pitch them on their Epic Gardening YouTube channels and I know I will love the giant drainage hole when I'm removing seedlings. It usually is difficult to get sprouts out of the thin plastic starters I have been using all winter. I will be using the Epics when I can and will put them on the heat mats when appropriate.

Near-term schedule:

• Tomatoes, start seeds in 6-cell, 2 varieties.
• Marigolds, 6-cell.
• Alyssum, half of 6-cell and some direct seeding later.
• Basil, half of 6-cell. Yet another attempt.
• Broccoli, three 2-inch pots.
• Coleus, 6-cell, I only have one sick-looking seedling from prior attempts.
• Marjoram, half of 6-cell.
• Zinnias, 6-cell and some direct seeding later.
• Stevia, half of 6-cell.
• Set up hoops for a grow tunnel in the west planter bed, and others if I have the motivation and the materials. It is more to keep the bugs off than to hold in heat.
• Lettuces, carrots, golden beets, radishes, direct sow in the west planter bed. I'm not going to plant a lot and these will give way to the tomatoes and peppers in a few months.
• Onions, as mentioned, plant sets in southwest planter bed. Also stick some bunching onion seeds and seedlings in there and in an outside window box or container.
• Peas, sow in two hanging baskets. After a couple months, cucumbers will take over these baskets.
• Borage, direct sow in east planting bed (the strawberry patch).
• Nasturtiums, direct sow in southeast planting bed where all the flowers will go.
• Sunflowers, sow in southeast planting bed, grow bag and big pot.
• Cilantro, sow in grow bag.
• Dill, sow in grow bag.
• Sage, transplant into grow bag with some broccoli seedlings. Two sage plants overwintered in the west planter bed, and I recently moved them into 6" pots. They are showing some new growth.
• Potato, sow in grow bag. I've been trying to sprout one but it is not cooperating. I finally broke down and bought Yukon Gold seed potatoes -- $2 for 3 at Family Dollar, and they already have sprouts. I didn't want a lot.
• Move all of the following out of the garage: Mint, rosemary, petunias, Cuban Oregano, geraniums, some aloe, and ... the Sempervivums. When you fall off, you have to get back on and keep riding. There will be heat in the greenhouse when I move them so they probably won't freeze in the next eight months.

Note: I list all of these mundane details because this blog is my personal to-do list and information/photo repository. Whether anyone else finds it useful, I do not know or care. Maybe someone will discover this in 300 years and get a feeling for what life was like for a boring old man in the 21st Century.

But anyway. That list says nothing about what are really the two major projects this year, the Supertunia baskets and the strawberries. I'll get those plants in late mid April or early May. This image shows a generic petunia cutting yearning to be free of the mint and rosemary and geraniums in the overgrown garage closet. Sorry, little guy, you are being replaced by Supertunias, but you are sure to make a valuable contribution to the compost pile. Just kidding, I'll probably stick the petunia cuttings and some other random flowers in a grow bag.

Here is the allium bud that showed up a few days ago. I was a concerned about piling three inches of compost around the alliums, but they seem to be tolerating it. I hate the camera on my phone. I have three Canon EOS cameras and I need to keep one in the truck.

Most of the succulents except the Sempervivums will stay in the garage and house for a while. Depending on our travel schedule, I might not move most of them to the greenhouse and outside porches until mid-June. They will only have about three months with a clear view of the sun, then it's back in the garage or house window.

Happy Unboxing Day

It was yet another unboxing day, and this one went better than the last one. It was a Mountain Crest Gardens order of nine plants in seven pots, and there was not one loose leaf left inside the box after I got all the pots out. I think that is a first. And the box arrived two days earlier than the tracking showed, although eight days from order to receipt still isn't that great in this day and age. But compared to other unboxing days, I have nothing to be mad at USPS about.

Here are the new arrivals and how I envision potting them today. From top left:

• The Honeycrisp Twist trio of Gold Nugget (obscured), Appletini and Cosmic Candy goes into the 3D-printed black pot. All are Chick Charms Sempervivums.
• The huge Chick Charms Sempervivum Berry Blues gets a regular 6" terra cotta.
• Chick Charms Sempervivum Lotus Blossom is assigned a green 3D-printed pot.
• Haworthia retusa f. geraldii Star Cactus (not a cactus) is in a short 6" terra cotta.
• Echiveria pulvinata Frosty, Kalanchoe humilis Desert Surprise, and Echeveria Black Prince each get a 4" terra cotta pot.

When I printed the black pot I thought it would be ideal for the Black Prince, but it's a 5-incher and I need it for the trio. Maybe when I break up the trio, the Black Prince (who should be called the "Dark Burgundy Prince") can claim his rightful place.

The Haworthia is described as [large] on the web site, and indeed it is. It looks like it could be divided into at least five separate plants. In the trio pot, the Appletini is already sending out runners. The Gold Nugget is probably the most popular of this group and you can't even see it in the above image. Unlike the other Sempervivums in this order, it will not get huge; its fame is due to its color which changes with the seasons, culminating in a bright gold. The Berry Blues rosette already is gigantic. The Desert Surprise is unlike anything else I have. The two Echeverias are nice but seem puny next to these behemoths. And I haven't even mentioned the Lotus Blossom, which looks incredible in photos on the Mountain Crest site. All of the plants, especially those with a bit of fuzz on the leaves, are dirty and dusty from the trip. We are entering growing season for all of them and they should brighten up soon.

Here is a slightly better view of the Gold Nugget. I got these three in one pot because I wanted each of them and they were cheaper this way. I want to split them apart ASAP but I don't really have enough BIG pots right now. I'm thinking more 6" pots might not be enough; I'll probably need more 8" bowls for these monstrosities.

Berry Blues is 5 inches across, not including the runners, and is expected to get a lot bigger than that.

I really need to stop ordering succulents. When next winter approaches and I try to wedge everything back into the garage, it might be challenging... But am I really going to sit on my hands when Echeveria runyonii Topsy Turvy becomes available at Mountain Crest in a few weeks April 2nd? And of course I need to order 8-10 plants to get free shipping.

Later: The potting up didn't go entirely to plan. The trio had an intact root ball and was too tall for the black pot. It went into a tall pot I drilled a hole in months ago and hadn't used yet. It is a temporary situation because Gold Nugget needs its own pot.

The Lotus Blossom went into the 6" short terra cotta, and the main part of the Haworthia was shifted over to the black pot. I didn't use the green pot. I pulled seven pieces off the Haworthia and stuck them where I could find a spot, including various bowls, a little 3D owl head planter, and two in a 3D pot that was the only thing I brought in from the garage. It went next to the kitchen window with most of the other Haworthias. This is my second experience with Mountain Crest and can attest that they ship their succulents DRY. I didn't water anything except the one I brought indoors, but I will make the rounds tomorrow and check everything.

Even Later: I remembered that I had a brand new, unused 8" terra cotta at the greenhouse, so I moved the Berry Blues into it from the 6". I will shift the Appletini from the shared tall pot to the 6", leave the Cosmic Candy in the tall pot, and move the Gold Nugget...somewhere TBD. Maybe a new 6".

I have figured something out about 3D printing plant pots. Printing anything over 5 inches doesn't make sense versus buying something at Walmart. But I will keep printing small pots for the dozens of Haworthias I'm going to end up with. As I said yesterday, I pulled seven pieces off the recent Star Cactus acquisition. I already divided the Fairy Washboard into four, and and the Cooperi definitely has two pups that could be harvested. I wish the Zebra Plant would spit out some pups, but it hasn't joined the action so far. There's also four Jade cuttings that will need pots eventually, and at least four leaves from assorted sources are sprouting. I have a lot of Pachyphytum Little Jewel leaves that have been sending out roots for a while, but finally one has developed little leaves. This is magnified, it's not even 1/4 inch yet.

Customer Service

With the exception of the two Echeveria Purpusorums, the recent USPS shipment from The Next Gardener was disappointing. The Pachyphytum Apricot Beauty was almost dead when it got here and is no longer with us except for one tiny rosette that I cut off before the stem rotted away underneath it. I was just going to move on and never order from them again, but they sent me an email asking for a review on that item. I gave the item a one star, as it deserved.

Today, Sunday evening (?), they reached out to me and offered to replace it if I sent them a photo of the carnage, which I did. We will see what it looks like when it gets here. (Unfortunately, the replacement also is coming by USPS.) One reason I was just going to move on without contacting them was I don't think all the damage the Pachyphytum (and the Rainbow, and the Linda Jean, and the Buddha's Temple) sustained was during transit. I wasn't interested in receiving more damaged plants. If all this company did was send out Purpusorums, they would get five-star reviews every time. But if I saw any of the other four plants in a store, I would look for ones in better condition.

I've got two more plant orders outstanding. There is a Sempervivum-heavy order from Mountain Crest Gardens that is supposed to arrive Thursday, 10 days after I placed the order. That's a long time to spend in a dark box, even for a Sempervivum. If anything looks crumpled from this order, this time I will initiate a re-order because I paid extra for order protection. And sometime this month my strawberries will arrive from Burpee's. The greenhouse is ready to go when they arrive.

On a happier note, the Powder Puff cactus has multiple blooms and I'm having success with focus stacking using Zerene Stack. See my two overly-long blog posts on how I decided to go with Zerene. One reason I have a little bit of confidence in Mountain Crest Gardens is I got this cactus from them.

Final toll

The final count is in from the Semperpocalypse. None of the six Sempervivums that were damaged by the sub-zero temperature on Feb. 19 survived. The other four that were subjected to the same conditions still look fine.

I thought three of the damaged ones might make it, but over recent weeks they continued to deteriorate. I thought I could see some green through the webbing on the Arachnoideum, but I don't see it now. I will stick the remains of these three in 2-inch pots in a corner somewhere and announce if any miracles occur, but right now there are new Semps on order and I need their pots.

One reason I was reluctant to give up on the damaged Semps was the little dry ball that fell out of the shipping box on Jan. 28. I decided not to throw it away and today it is the only surviving sibling or descendent of the Arachnoideum.

There is some debris that I haven't tried to remove for fear of damaging the webbing, but the webbing is much thinner now than before. I've posted this "before" picture several times but it's worth comparing this one from less than six weeks ago to today's image. It almost looks like it came out of a cocoon. The plant is currently 1 1/4 inches wide, and was only 7/8ths of an inch in the older image.

My current Sempervivum inventory includes the relatively new Strawberry Kiwi (Chick Charms), the four survivors of the Semperpocalypse, and the little Arachnoideum. The plants on order include five Sempervivums of the Chick Charms line, developed by hybridizer Chris Hansen of Garden Solutions in Michigan. Receipt of those will get me to 11 varieties.

I also took some other photos today. This one is of the Powder Puff cactus I posted about a few days ago. That bloom has faded and this is a new one. Photographing this flower exposed another deficiency in Photoshop's processing of focus bracketing. It kept bringing the complicated background into focus and ignored the bloom. This is a single image, and I cropped it tight because most of the cactus is out of focus. After an exhaustive several-minute internet search, the two programs that floated to the top as alternatives to Photoshop for focus bracketing are Helicon Soft and Zerene Stacker. Both have trial versions and the licenses are reasonably priced, so I might get one of them. For test results, see my regular blog.

This one didn't have a tag when I acquired it as part of a cheap Home Depot bowl, but I'm sure it is Crassula Ogre Ears. The top half was very yellow when I got it last week, and it is still yellow. But with light and the tiniest bit of liquid fertilizer it is gradually greening.

Yesterday I posted an image of one of the Echeveria Purpusorums sending up a stalk. The other one is stalking also, although not quite as tall yet. My best guess is it is a flower stalk and not a new rosette. Images on the interweb show very tall flower stalks coming out of these plants. If I'm wrong about it being a flower, I'll edit this post and pretend I was right all along. [This image processed in Zerene Stacker.]

I also said one of the unknown Echeverias from the Home Depot bowl was sending out two stalks, probably flowers. Here it is:

And finally, here is the Aeonium Florens. It has added some color since I've been bombarding it with light for the past couple weeks. The second image is the one I posted March 13 and it was much more green.

Also today, I finished loading compost into the greenhouse planter beds, and I had almost none left over. I estimated pretty well on what it would take to fill the grow bags and pots, but I filled the planter beds to the brim and they took a lot more than I thought they would. Fortunately. I've had nightmares since Monday on how I was going to get rid of the excess compost. I'll have 2-3 buckets after I finish sweeping out the truck, which is a manageable number.

The long-range forecast shows lows in the 20s several times in late March and early April. I think engaging the heater at 41 degrees on April 1 will allow me to plant onions in the greenhouse and move a bunch of plants out of the garage. I picked 41 degrees because that is as low as the new heater can go without an external temperature controller. I'll set the controller for the old heater for 36-38 to act as a backup in case the new one fails. I'm going to do a test to see if I can run both heaters at once without blowing a circuit breaker. The old one showed it can maintain the temperature well above freezing even if it is below 20 outside, but I don't trust it.

Alien

One of the intriguing things about succulents is the multiple ways they can reproduce. Several of these involve making clones of themselves. I've only been collecting succulents for a short time, but it started with a Jade plant that had three stems. One of the stems was damaged, so I lopped that part off and stuck the top into soil. It took more than a month, but eventually it developed roots and now seems to be sending out top growth.

But with many succulents, you don't need a stem to make a clone, just a leaf. I have tried to sprout Jade leaves, but have had no success yet. The Pachyphytum Little Jewel plant lost a lot of leaves inside the box during shipping. About 10 of them are sending out roots, but no new leaves yet. This image shows an unknown leaf that has developed both roots and little leaves. Maybe it will provide clues as to its identity as it grows up. This is just 1/4 inch across, but it has grown noticeably in the past few days.

The recent plant order was disappointing with the damaged Echeveria Rainbow and the death's door Pachyphytum Apricot Beauty. What is it about Pachyphytums? They don't seem to ship well. But I have no complaints about the two Echeveria Purpusorums from that order. They are progressing from nice to spectacular. Succulents send out stalks, sometimes new rosettes and sometimes flowers. If it is a new rosette, it can be chopped off, stuck in soil, and grow as a clone of the old plant. I'm not sure whether this Purpusorum is sending up a rosette or a flower stalk, but it reminds me of the movie "Alien." You know the scene.

This Purpusorum is the centerpiece of the Bonsai Bowl. It is the only one of the six plants in the bowl that has an ID. Two of the unknowns also are sending out stalks. On the right, the one I am calling Gratosomething has a new rosette growing from one side. At upper left, the one of the presumed Echeverias is sending out what might be a flower stalk.

Later that evening: I was doing one last sweep through the garage before lights out and noted that the other Purpusorum (which has its own pot) also is sending up a stalk, and the mate to the green Echeveria (located in the Home Depot Bowl) has not one but two stalks. I also I noticed this green leaf in the Montage Bowl between the individual Cocoon Plants, which are very white. So I dug it out, and found little leaves and roots attached to the big leaf. Exactly what I want to find. Because of the color I'm not sure it is a Cocoon Plant, but now it is in its own 4-inch pot in my office to await further developments. Internet research indicates Cocoon Plants always have a fuzzy white/gray covering, so I'm going to guess that it is something else that fell in there.

A few days later I pulled leaves off a number of plants, including a couple from the Cocoon Plant that were partially buried. Those leaves were fuzzy white on top but green like the above image where they had been below the dirt. But the leaf in the image is entirely green and it hadn't been buried. I dunno. I have to wait for it to grow up.

Dirt

It took a day and a half to mix all of my dirt, excuse me, "growing medium" and fill the various pots and baskets. We were getting high winds this afternoon so I didn't finish spreading compost on the planter beds, but that shouldn't take long. This is what the compost load in the back of the truck looked like yesterday as I got started. I'm certain the guy at Rocky Mountain Compost gave me more than a cubic yard.

I tried to be precise in the early going to get a handle on how much each size container was taking, but after a while the measuring became more casual. In the image below, the three small grow bags at right marked with a green post and most of the hanging baskets (not pictured) got the strawberry/petunia mix, which was Promix and compost with vermiculite. Most of the containers shown here got garden soil and compost with some Promix and vermiculite. The other mix was the same as the previous one except I used perlite instead of vermiculite. That went into the two barely-visible small grow bags marked with two posts at lower left and most of the other relatively small containers such as the clay pots.

The planting beds got/will get straight compost, and I probably will mix in some vermiculite as I'm raking them. I'm going to have a little bit of compost left, and my hope is it will fit into my five buckets.

The large 15-gallon grow bags are dominating the middle of the above scene. I'm planning on moving one of them outside of the greenhouse to the side, and one to our house. I was relieved to find out that I could pick up a 15-gallon grow bag loaded with dirt...dry dirt. If they were waterlogged, I doubt it. A few of the other grow bags also will make it over to our house, but it will be this crowded in the greenhouse for a few weeks at least. BTW, the dead-looking plants in the back row are the mums, which were liberated from their holes a week ago. There is some new growth.

The mini greenhouse/shelving on the right contains the mint and rosemary which have been staying alive in the unheated greenhouse. It hasn't gotten below 30 outside in the past eight days. Add six degrees for being inside the greenhouse (and maybe a degree or two for being in the mini), and they have not been exposed to freezing temperatures. Since my AC Infinity app failed March 14 I don't really know how cold it has been getting in there. But I got a second Elitech temperature/humidity unit today and I will know from this point forward, AC Infinity be damned.

Outside the greenhouse, I placed this Home Depot oak barrel and filled it with the compost/soil/Promix/vermiculite mixture. I did water it down to expose any air pockets that would cause major settling, so there is no moving this one without taking the dirt out.

As soon as I finish spreading the compost on the planter beds, I'm going to turn on the heat to 40 and plant 75 onion sets. And with that, the growing season will be underway.