Sitting in front of the computer trying to think what I've been doing for the last four weeks. Must be something garden related.
John, the guy with 80 different varieties of bamboo - well we are now good friends and have done two trades in the last two weeks. He now has five varieties he did not have before and so do I. I inventoried my bamboos with an Excel listing and I have about 70 different varieties. John is trying find ones I don't have so we can do another trade. Obsessed I think!
I've lost (misplaced) my favorite bamboo hand saw. Probably left it laying on the ground after my last project. So used some stimulus money to buy a new one today. One local Ace hardware store had sold out so when I went into town today I went to Garden Exchange, a nice garden store that has more unusual plants for sale. Of course they did not have the saw I wanted but I walked out with a spotted Heliconia and a nice Beehive ginger plant. The Ace store in Hilo town did have the saw and the rubber wellington boots I was looking for.
A new homeowner in the neighborhood is cutting down a huge stand of bamboo and leaving the giant canes on the side of the road to be taken for free. My van is now becoming popular with my neighbor friends. I have retrieved a dozen so far to use as path markers in the forest. Its a lot of work carrying 12 long, heavy bamboo poles through the forest but what fun. Tomorrow my friend Richard wants to pick up four heavy ones to make posts for his barbeque shelter. Will use the van and pick up some more for myself. Our neighbor friend Kevin who visits from Seattle in the winter uses his motor scooter to pick them up. Balances a 12ft cane on his shoulder and rides his scooter home.
Strong 30-50 mph winds this afternoon blew leave out of the trees and three plastic panels off our front porch roof. Storm roared through the islands today from North to South. We got the wind ahead of it but the rain and thunderstorms that his the other islands dissipated before it got here. just a few light showers. I've repaired the roof but lots of twigs, leaves and small branches to clear from the forest paths.
I'm just not inspired this evening so most of my gardening over the last few weeks must have been more of the same.
Still alive and well, how time flies.
The flask of orchid seedlings are now 6 weeks old. Not much change in their appearance but they are alive. One is showing new growth so will continue be optimistic.
Yard work has been much the same as before, trimming growth as needed. Weeds are getting out of control in the back garden. Most time has been focused in the front garden and the Woodpile garden
So what's new. Weather has been wet and dry. Just as the forest paths start to dry out it rains and the mud returns. Not too bad at the moment. My memory of garden activities only goes back so. Oh yes, one of our male Muscovy ducks died. Sad, I know, but two positive points. Digging a grave enables me to put a plant in the ground so this duck received a bamboo plant headstone. I had one in a pot (bamboo not duck) that needed a home so that worked out just right. We had two males which we kept apart from the two females as the males can get aggressive. The remaining male has been relocated to join the two females and they are getting on fine. So now the old duck yard is not occupied.
That gives me a whole new landscaping project to take down the fences remove the duck house and integrate the area in the large landscaping plan. A future project.
I started counting the days of 2021 to see how long I could go without buying or bringing in a new plant to the garden. I made it to the 3rd. My neighbor finally agreed to give me part of his Texilis bamboo. Been waiting years. He ended up by digging out one single cane with a bit of root on instead of a 2 or 3 cane clump. Thanks. Oh sure it will grow but I think I will still buy one with more foliage. I only have so many years to watch these things grow..
On January 5th I rescued four Mules Foot fern babies from the zoo. They are non native and a bit invasive so I'm encouraged to take them home. Also scored an Elephant Ear plant off the green waste pile.
On the afternoon of January 5th I see an ad. in the local paper. Someone has over 80 different varieties of bamboo for sale. I have almost 60 so there must be some I don't have. Called the guy up and dashed out that afternoon and purchased 3 plants. The seller, John, followed me home to look at my collection and spotted three that he does not have so a trade is in the works in a couple of weeks. That means more new varieties coming my way
So not bad for the first two weeks of the year. I'm making calender notes this year tracking the plants I add and the cost.
I've been clearing forest at the back of my potting greenhouse. When we move here 28 years ago a bulldozer cleared an area of forest for the house lot, about 2 acres. Most of the trees were pushed down one end a created a mountain of debris running the breadth of the garden. Over the years it has rotted down and was a barrier between the cultivated garden and the forest. We ran pig fencing through the forest on the down side of the berm and it is the area between the berm and the fence that I am clearing. The distance from the fence to the berm varies from about 30ft to 60ft and must be 200 ft long. So its a good chunk of real estate. From the forest side the berm looks like a small cliff face so it will be an interesting landscaping feature. I'm leaving the large trees, native Ohias and tree ferns. The rest is being cut out and thrown over the fence to create a pig barrier.
So on phase one of the above project I now have a nice sloping transition down to the fence. Gravel steps have been created and the first area will be covered in Bromeliads.
The new garden will be called Shady Glen. At the entrance was a pile of logs created from a giant evergreen that got toppled in a storm. I had been dumping the contents of dead plant pots and light green waste on the logs. I cleared off the weeds moved the logs around and now have a Loggery (like some folks have stumperys). I will be planting bromeliads and epiphytic butterfly gingers on the logs.
I know I've been busier during the last 5 weeks that it appears above but mosting is raking bamboo leaves, trimming back growth and skimming and maintaining ponds.
Almost forgot to mention - our new dog cannot fly. I let him off on the driveway area the other day for a run. Second time since we got him. He usually gets his run in the forest but changed routine due to mud. Anyway I thought I had cleared all the chickens out but missed one. Max, out dog, is a Belgian Malinois. Good size and fast. He sees the chicken, chases after it, the chicken takes flight, Max takes flight and belly flops straight into one our larger ponds. By the time I arrived on site he has clambered out the other side, shook himself and taken off in pursuit of the chicken. He did corner the chicken, scattered a few feathers and came towards me with the chicken in his mouth. He dropped it on a severe word from me and the chicken ran off.
Such is life
One item that as always fascinated me is a flask of orchid seedlings
Our local orchid nursery (and tourist trap) had a cyber Monday sale. A $55 flask of orchids for $39 less 10% as I received their email newsletter.. They sold out fast and I could not get the one I wanted but ended up with the one shown above. The local growers send their seeds to labs in Thailand or Japan and cheap labor in those countries raise the seedlings in these sealed jars and ship them back. It is generally thought that their is a skill to removing the seedlings and getting them to grow in pots. One of my orchid expert friends discouraged me from attempting the feat which just was like a red flag to a bull. I did research on youtube and reviewed the process on a facebook page posted by a local world reknown orchid grower and jumped right in.
I ended up with 50 young seedlings getting their start in pots half filled with orchid bark (thats bark off trees not bark of orchids) and then the seedling is in a mix of spagnum moss and perlite
The clerk at the nursery said some folks get one out of 50 survive, some get 30. So the journey begins. They should bloom in 3 - 5 years.
I have another cattleya orchid blooming from a rescue plant and found a spray of orchids blooming the the forest today
Last Saturday I found an item on on Craigslist. A nursery was giving away hundreds of 4 inch pots. Made the call, jumped in my van and spent an hour sifting through plastic pots. Not many left but got about 100 of the size I needed plus 200 plus of a slight smaller pot which I can use in trays. Turns out the nursery was ravished by Hurricane Iselle some years ago and only now is the owner going to clean up the mess. The nice surprise was the owner giving away the anthurium plants that had been neglected on the benches all these years. So I was able to harvest 50 plants to distribute throughout the forest.
I started putting the the new paths where the fallen ficus tree once resided. Slow progress but will be a big improvement
I think some of the photos may be out of order.
I mention Oxalis in my last blog but did not include a photo.
The large bamboo in the back yard near the ponds is arching over and creating too much shade. I can't reach the tips of the canes so I'm cutting the canes off at the base and allowing to die in place. All I have to do is skim the leaves off the pond as they fall. Its seems to work. As the leaves fall the light over the ponds is improving. So I will be cutting more canes.
Pigs are back in the neighborhood. They are staying out of the yard but our dog goes crazy during walks in the forest as he can hear and smell them but can't get at them.
The tangle of Mulberry Tree branches, Guava tree limbs and Phylidendrum(my spelling?) growth got to the point where I was having trouble getting into the duck yard to feed them. Went at it with the loppers and chainsaw and cut back enough that the probem of access has been solved. I can now see what needs to be done to do some serious trimming and keep the problem under control.
When we first moved in 27 years ago I got some paperbark tree seedlings. Always interesting to see the bark flaking off.
Looks like the next week of weather will be more of the same so more trimming, gravel work and potting
More photos of plants in the garden.
The black leaf anthurium is a novelty. Next pic is the bloom followed by a young leaf. The mature leaf is almost black.
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Anthuriums are climbers, epyphites (?). I found one in the forest that had climbed 10ft into the trees. I cut it down and made four new plants. Took about 4 months before the first new leaf appeared.
I have trouble growing good Begonias. I find it easy to grow from leaf starts but keeping the plant going is a challenge
Thanksgiving dinner. Hey, I have to take a break now and again - now and again at Christmas.
It started raining on Saturday morning and is still raining. Should stop Wednesday afternoon. About 7 inches so far.
No time in the yard yesterday but just had a five minute break in the rain so rushed out to take pic of mushrooms I found along the edge of the driveway as I was going out to get the paper. I have seen a lot around the yard this year. Not sure how the spores spread. We do not eat them!
Here are a few of blooms that have been around the garden this past couple of weeks. Not the best time of year and it would be better if the sun was out.
Rained most of the day yesterday. Had two "windows" to walk the dog plus one misty session to clear up some garden rubbish.
Last night was heavier rain and windy and it is forecast to rain most of the time between now and Wednesday afternoon. Streams are up and gushing so time out from gardening for a few day.
The Ficus tree has been totally removed and thrown away. Most of the green waste heaps around the edge of the garden have evidence of Ficus branches, fern fronds and Heliconias stalks and blooms. The Ficus was in the Dome Garden. That whole area has needed relandscaping for some time. There are not too many weeds but it was overgrown with "good" plants. So when the rains stops I will be graveling the paths, cutting out roots of Heliconias, removing clumps of Bromeliads and relocating those plants to the new Woodpile Garden.
Had a great chainsaw session in the End Garden and Wood Pile Garden(WPG) the other day. The End Garden is the one that got enclosed before the WPG so it is more developed but still has areas of virgin forest to be tamed. So cut back some branches to make room for a new path way. Most of the paths in the End Garden have been rough cut but need trimming out and clearing. Once the paths are in a finished state I start cutting back on either side to make new planting areas while leaving the native Ohia Trees and giant tree ferns.
In the WPG I am starting from scratch. So new pathways have to be discovered and outlines. Most of the chainsaw work is cutting though uncharted forest and choosing the best route to follow to avoid cutting down the prime trees and ferns. I avoid straight paths if possible. I like paths to take turns that create surprises when planted with orchids on the trees and I don't like to be able to see other paths in the forest that might run parallel.
Clumping bamboos continue to produce surprises late in the season. Bali White stripe has a number of new canes and the potted Black Asper has just put up a new shoot. That will get put in the ground in the next week or so.
Its Cattleya orchid blooming season. The one or two that I have (rescues from the ditch behind a nursery a year or so ago) are now blooming. Beautiful to see for a few days.
I seem to have the right environment for Oxalis. A friend gave me some bulbs a couple of years ago and I thought they would go dormant but I now have six hanging pots thick with purple leaves and pink flowers.
Out of season pink Orchid Cactus are blooming along the edge of the driveway along with a white night bloomer. White night blooming water lilies also have buds.
Azalea season is with us. Various shades of pinks are showing up in many areas. Not a mass of bloom but enough to keep me happy.
Two large Hapuu Ferns fell down last week. About six feet high, encased with anthurium plants and tall fern fronds. So far I have trimmed off the fronds but now have to haul them upright and secure them to the roots restablish themselves. A fern grows about 2 inches a year so these two are about 35 years old. I moved them from the forest to their current location when we first moved in about 27 years ago.
Still raining so better start cleaning windows. Its bird day today so later this morning we will be going into our birdroom to clean and feed. My second pair of parakeets have produced a nest of 9 babies that are just starting to show their faces so really curious to see colours. Father is a blue pied that I raised and the mother is green that I purchased a couple of months ago. I know there is at least one Albino baby and I know one other has a yellow face but other than that they are all a surprise.
