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Sunday, April 14, 2013

Hollyhocks

Hollyhocks
Source: gardeningisezee.com
Alcaea or Althaea - you wil find both names for hollyhocks in catalogues and textbooks. The tall spires of funnel-shaped flowers are familiar sight in herbaceous borders, but after a couple of years rust disease weakens the plant. It is better to grow it as a biennial or annual bedding plant.

Varieties: A. rosea is the Common Hollyhock - height 5-9ft (1.5-2.7m), flowering period July-September. Simgle-flowered seed mixtures are avaiable but double varieties are more popular. 

Site & soil: Any reasonale soil will do - thrives best in full sun. Stake of necessary

Source: The Flower Expert by Dr. D. G. Hessayon 





Hollyhock Single - Seedlings Transplant



Hey! It's a beautiful sunny day in the sister islands of Trinidad & Tobago. Nice day for some well deserved gardening... In one of my previous posts, I asked for some help regarding my Hollyhock seedlings and I decided to follow the advice of two of my fellow bloggers (Hilda White and Eric JK). So, here they are: all four seedlings now each in their own little pots. Let's keep an eye on them and see what happens from now on. I would like to thank the bloggers for their advice. Enjoy your day! 

Saturday, April 13, 2013

Ongoing Projects - Hollyhock Single



I got these seeds from seedcorner.com November last year and I planted 5 seeds in a seed starting soil called Promix. - I have no idea what is in it exactly (except for the perlite) because they mix it in their store. - After that I covered with clear plastic. In the information page, we find that Hollyhock Single seeds take from 14 to 21 days to germinate. I was very happy to see that after 5 days 4 of 5 seeds had successfully sprouted. Today they look like this:

The seedlings look healthy and strong, but I dont really know when to transplant them to a bigger container. Ideas anyone? :)

Happy gardening!


Love Seeds

These are the seeds I have at the moment. They all very special to me because they were given by important people in my life... Some of them I just bought, like a normal person would LOL ;)



My husband works in the oil field as an offshore worker. His job takes him around the world. Last year, he went to South Korea and brought me some seeds. I loved them, of course... The only issue was the information on the pack. They were all in Korean  한국어/조선말. So... me, Alessandra, first-time wife, first-time homeowner... first-time gardner, have to figure out a way to read these seed packs? So much for love seeds after all, I guess... So, my husband (who is also my best friend/supporter/accomplice/safe harbor) said: "Amor, seeds are seeds, just google them and find out what to do". I mean... words of wisdom, right?

My first attempt to plant these guys were last year... Major disappoitment! NONE of them sprouted. Now I am kind of traumatized with these seeds, I confess. I can't speak or read Korean, of course. But if I could, I know there would be some kind of warning like:

TO BE PLANTED ONLY BY EXPERIENCED MASTER GARDNERS

Maybe I should give them another shot. They might sprout this time...



Well, as you all know by now... I currently live in the beautiful sunny island of Trinidad in the Caribbean. So, one night (while my husband was offshore, of course) I was online trying to find a store that would ship some seeds for me here. What a quest that turned out to be! But after 2 hours, I could finally find an online store that would. Seedcorner.com was a light at the end of my tunnel... It took a while, about 4 weeks, but my seeds arrived and I was dying to plant them. I did, and the results were quite nice, but that is a topic for a future post. Stay tuned for the scenes of the next episode... LOL :) Just rest assured that the order list was long...



These I call "Hope seeds" because they came in a moment that I need them to come. I was in that point of a first-time gardener's life that you are so wholeheartedly involved in this, that seeds is almost all you can thing about. Of course, you can't say that out loud or people will think you are: 1. mentally ill, 2. have nothing better to do or 3. "seeds, really?". Anyways, I was waiting for my seeds from seedcorner.com to arrive and my husband was still at work and I had nothing to plant... ;( A friend of mine, gave these seeds and said: "Go ahead, nah... watch them grow, it will bring a new perspective to your life as it did to mine". Words of wisdom, right? 


Friday, April 12, 2013

Frist things first...



As my first post, I decided to share my modest porch with you guys. This is where most of my plants are "displayed".


   
These are my favorite plants in my porch at the moment. None of them I grew from seeds :(
I just love the Marigolds and the Hybiscus!