Seeds for the Spring

Winter is so slow

It feels like I haven't updated in forever, mostly because there's not a whole lot going on. Winter is the most boring time for gardening. But I do have a few new seeds starting. Today I sowed conophytum and agave stricta var. rubra seeds. These are some succulents that I recently learned about when reading my Timber Press succulents guide. I made an entire list of succulents I want! I was able to find seeds of these two so I bought them. Hopefully they will germinate and I will have some cool new plants. I also started a cactus mix from Baker Creek seeds.

They've already started germinating! I was expecting it to take longer before I saw some of the first babies. I'm really looking forward to seeing what they grow up into. I also started some alpine strawberry seeds but they haven't germinated yet. According the the packet they can take up to a month to germinate so I'm not concerned yet.
Speaking of my succulent shopping list, I'll go ahead and post it here. I have leads on where to buy some of these, but other I'm lost so far. If anyone is interested in trading/selling seeds or plants or knows where I can procure some of these, I'd be happy to know!

Succulent shopping list!

• Crassula deltoidea
• Orostachys spinosa
• Euphorbia bupleurifolia
• Euphorbia pubiglans
• Euphorbia meloformis
• Euphorbia milli
• Pleiospilos spp. 
• Faucaria tigrina
• Adenium arabicum
• Dorstenia lavranii
• Aloe polyphylla
• Haworthia retusa
• Haworthia nigra
• Haworthia viscosa
• Astroloba foliolosa
• Poellnitzia rubriflora
• Gethyllis spp. 
• Agave shawii
• Puya alpestris

I went for it...

...and ordered a bunch of seeds from the Baker Creek catalog. Where I will plant all of these I don't know yet, but I'll figure it out somehow! I just couldn't pass up some new seeds! I ordered an amaranth, dwarf cockscomb, poppies, cabbage, some tomatoes, ground cherries, bee balm, echinacea, and swiss chard. So there will be many more adventures in seeds for me this year! Gardening is just so therapeutic to me and new seeds get me very excited. I also made a shopping list of succulents after paging through a book I got for Christmas. Some of these might be hard to find, but now I have an idea of what to look for this year. I'm also thinking about moving around some of my cat's things so that I have a dedicated plant room that I can shut them out of. I'm just a little worried because I have some Mother of Thousands plants and all the species in the Kalanchoe genus are poisonous, and I don't want the cats to get hurt. So I'll probably do that soon and then I won't have to worry about the cats getting into the plants.

2013 In Review and my resolutions for 2014

First off, I'm going to look back on 2013. It was a weird year; a lot of ups and downs. 

1. What did you do in 2013 that you'd never done before?
I visited Madison, WI for the first time to see my brother. Otherwise I had a pretty normal year. I did start trading plants and seeds too, and getting involved in the gardening communities on facebook, which is pretty cool. 

2. Did you keep your new years' resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I don't think I did, because it was probably to lose weight. I didn't gain any weight but I didn't lose any either. 

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
My cousin Jessica did, at the end of October. 

4. Did anyone close to you die?
This year I have escaped without any deaths from close friends or relatives. One of my great uncles is not in good health though, and I don't know how much longer he'll be around. 

5. What countries did you visit?
I stayed in the US this year. I don't have the time to go out of country right now. 

6. What would you like to have in 2014 that you lacked in 2013?
The feeling of inner strength and confidence. I really lost that part of the way through 2013 and once gone, it's hard to get it back. I'd also like to finish my time in academia forever this year. 

7. What dates from 2013 will remain etched upon your memory?
Unfortunately I will probably always think about some difficult work conversations when I look back on this year. 

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
My success at having a container garden and expanding my indoor garden to a ridiculous amount of plants! I started with just a few plants and it's gotten crazy! 

9. What was your biggest failure?
Communication failure at work, although that was at most only half my fault. I do tend to feel more to blame for things than is really the case. 

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
I fell in the parking lot in February and busted my elbow. I did two months of physical therapy to try and correct that. 

11. What was the best thing you bought?
Every plant I bought has been a great purchase so far. I also bought some shop lights to set up a good indoor lighting area for my cacti and other high light plants. I didn't have too many big purchases this year, at least not that I remember. Did I get my PS3 this year or last year? If I got that this year then that was a good choice too. 
12. Whose behavior merited celebration?     
I really think that my boyfriend did the best this year. He worked very hard and overcame some stupid shit this year. 

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
I notice that last year I said the US Congress. My answer is the same this year too. 

14. Where did most of your money go?
Good old Hunziker Property Management for the rent. 

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Going home for Christmas. It was such a long year, and such difficulty in the last few months, that going home was a huge thing for me. 

16. What song will always remind you of 2013?
I don't think there really is one. I don't usually have an anthem or anything like that. 

17. Compared to this time last year, you are:
Happier or sadder: A little happier, I think. 
Thinner or fatter: Exactly the same. 
Richer or poorer: Poorer, but not by much. I need to figure out that whole Roth IRA thing. 

18. What do you wish you'd done more of?
I wish I had gotten out into nature more. Dan and I do a lot of hiking, but I wish I had gone more by myself too, especially since the summer was so mild. 

19. What do you wish you'd done less of?
Eating pizza. I am on a pizza moratorium to break this habit. 

20. How will you be spending Christmas?
I went home for Christmas and spent it with my family. I wouldn't have it any other way. 

21. What was your favorite month of 2013?
Any month prior to August was pretty good. 

22. Did you fall in love in 2013?
Yes. Although Dan and I are keeping it casual, there are feelings involved. 

23. How many one-night stands?
None. Don't do those. 

24. What was your favorite TV program?
Intervention finished up this year, which was a bummer. Ghost Hunters and Ghost Adventures are still my guilty pleasures. I don't really have many TV programs that I follow. 

25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?
Nope. There are certainly some people I'm more aggravated by, but nothing that crosses into actual hatred. 

26. What was the best book you read?
Way back in January I read the very last Wheel of Time book. I also read all of HP Lovecraft this year. 

27. What was your greatest musical discovery?
Didn't have one. 

28. What did you want and get?
Plants! Many many plants. So many plants. 

29. What did you want and not get?
I did not move as far along in my degree program as I wanted or expected. 

30. What was your favorite film of this year?
Hellraiser! Okay, it's old but I watched it for the first time this year. I loooove Hellraiser. 

31. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
I turned 26. I don't think I did anything super special. Dan took me out to dinner and we went hiking, and I opened my box of presents from my parents. 

32. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
Being done with school. I am so over school. I am ready to leave academia like whoa. I want to be done. 

33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2013?
Same old, same old. Although I did start attempting to wear makeup regularly, and I have started hating pants and wearing more dresses off work. 

34. What kept you sane?
Dan, my kitties, and playing video games! Lots of Animal Crossing and Pokemon. 

35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
Well I didn't really pay too much attention to celebrities, but I've always been fond of Robert Downey Jr. 

36. What political issue stirred you the most?
The government shutdown really pissed me off, because it was so unnecessary and wasted everyone's time and prevented people from getting paid. 

37. Who did you miss?
My parents, my brother, and all of my extended family. Going home once or twice a year is hard on me. 

38. Who were the best new people you met?
Well I did get to know a few people a lot better, like Brandon, Leah, and Christine. 

39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2013:
That I need to not take the responsibility for everything in the world, and that I am not responsible for everything going right. 

40. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year:
One day I'm here, I'm on top of the world/And the next it's falling in on me/I can get back on, I can get back on-Far Cry, Rush



And on that note, let's talk about my resolution for 2014. It's to take care of myself. I have done such a crap job of taking care of myself, and put my own self care last for too long. So I'm taking care of me this year. I am eating healthy, being active, and putting aside the time and money to care for myself. I've started by chopping off 12 inches of hair and getting it styled today. This year is all about caring for me. 

Almost Christmas!

It's almost Christmas! This semester is FINALLY over. It has been so long. Even just this past week has been long. I've been exhausted. I can't talk too much on here about school, but let's just say that I'm really glad this semester is done and that this time next year I'll be doing something else with my life. Graduate school can really grind a person down. But I'm on vacation for the next two weeks! So I'm going to visit my family and spend as much time as I can just relaxing.
Of course I can't make a post without plants! Look at this awesome present my best friends Mike and Tessa got me!

It's a teeny baby Mammillaria cactus and you can wear it as a necklace!!! How cute is that? I'll probably transplant him into a little tiny pot in the next month or two so he has space to get huge! What an awesome present!
So happy Christmas everyone! I hope you all have a fabulous holiday!

Late November Additions

Yep, I got more plants near the end of November. They're all indoors plants since Iowa is now covered in snow and really really cold! 

 Tillandsia ionantha. Sometimes my tillys live and sometimes they don't make it, so I decided to give this one a try. It's sitting next to my little Tillandsia xerographica. So far, so good!

 This is the Lifesaver plant. It's Heurnia zebrina, I think. It's related to stapeliads and makes a flower similar to them, but without the awful smell. It's called a lifesaver plant because the middle of the flower looks like a red Lifesaver candy. I'm looking forward to seeing this guy flower!

 It took me a while to figure this guy out, since he came with no label. I think it's a Haworthia truncata var. maughanii. I could be wrong still, but I'm pretty sure that's the correct ID.

And lastly I bought a Christmas cactus that is about to bloom! It's called "Caribbean dancer" variety. My current Christmas cactus hasn't set blooms this year, so I got this one so I could have a blooming one. It's really pretty and I'm looking forward to it being all pink and pretty!

Giving Thanks

• I'm thankful for my family, first and foremost. I wouldn't be able to function without them. Knowing that nothing I do will disappoint my parents is so important to me. I need their love, their advice, and their support, even at 26. I'll probably always need them. I wish I was closer so I could see them more often, but I'm just thankful we have a good relationship. 
• I'm thankful for my friends, especially Mike and Tessa. They are my best friends and I would consider them family. They invited me to dinner yesterday, which was huge for me because I would have been alone (and probably pretty sad) otherwise. I had a great time and felt so happy to be around people who care about me. I know they would always have my back and I've got theirs. 
• My cats...I'm so glad I have my cats. Yeah, they're dumb, and they do things like pull their poop out of their litter and play with it, but they're always happy to see me. They argue over who gets to sit next to me on the couch and they both cuddle. Memo always "feeds" me every night with the toys he thinks are food, and Leo attempts to knead my arm every night. They are both really sweet and they both know when I'm upset. 
• Plants. When I was younger I thought plant science was boring. I was kind of stupid back then. Now all I want to do is grow plants, raise plants, and sell plants. I hope I can make this dream a reality. Even if that doesn't happen, I love growing plants. It is very zen, very relaxing, and I love being able to be among growing things. 

Cat Appreciation Post

It's time for a cat appreciation post! One of my favorite internet cats, Colonel Meow, is sick right now, and that's just reminded me how blessed I am that my kitties are happy and healthy today. So here are some pictures of my fluffs!

 It's Leo! His full name is Leonardo da Vinci. He's a Maine Coon mix and is full of fluff. That's me holding him. He was not impressed with the Halloween tie.

 Memo and Leo were having a pre-wrestling discussion here. I believe the issue was who was going to get to sit on the catnip mat.

 Then they noticed that I was paying attention to them, so they looked at me and acted like nothing was going on. I caught Memo mid-wink, while Leo is giving me his wide-eyed kitten face.

Memo was much better about wearing the Halloween tie. He always shuts his eyes whenever I take a picture though! But he still looks pretty dapper. I'm just so happy that they are healthy. It makes me so happy to come home to them every day. They really do make my life better.

Flowering Mugwort

My Mugwort is finally flowering! I guess it took some colder temperatures to get it to flower. Aren't they pretty? This variety of mugwort is called Oriental Limelight. The foliage is very pretty, and now I know the flowers are too. I grow this in a nice big pot because it can be invasive if you plant it in the ground. It's a nice foliage piece and it's nice to see it still doing well even as it's gotten colder.

More new plants!

My awesome friend Katie at Garden Hoard sent me a bunch of plants when I ordered some seeds! Here they are, I am very excited!

 First up is this cactus! It's a cutting from an older plant. I think it's an Opuntia but we're not sure. I like cacti a lot so I'm looking forward to this little guy getting bigger!

 This plant is not very common, but I love it already! It's called the Vicks Plant because it smells like Vicks VapoRub. They smell so good and you can make lots of cutting from them. They're a succulent and they are also soft and fuzzy, which is awesome.

This is a variegated Wandering Jew cutting. I really like how bright and purple the leaves get. Once this guy gets bigger he'll go in a hanging basket. 

Bonus picture! This one isn't from Katie, but from another friendly gardener I traded with. It's Kalanchoe 'Mother of Thousands' and those are some of the babies growing on the leaves. This is a neat plant from Madagascar!

Passiflora pruning?

So it's gotten quite cold here. Highs are going to be in the 30s this week. I'm not exactly thrilled. Earlier this week my heat broke sometime during the night. Thankfully the maintenance people were able to fix it right away, but that was not what I wanted to wake up to! I was completely paranoid about it getting too cold and killing some of my plants but they all made it just fine. I was probably worried for nothing.
I am a little confused about one thing, and that's what I'm supposed to do about my Passiflora caerulea. It's a hardy Passiflora so I've left it outside. It's dropped almost all of its leaves now. Do I prune it now? Or do I wait until the spring? I'm assuming I'm supposed to prune it back to the ground essentially, I'm just not sure when to do it. Any other gardeners know what I should do?

Winter is coming...

Tonight is the end of Daylight Savings Time. In about an hour, I have to set my clocks back. While I like getting an extra hour, I really dislike how early it gets dark when Daylight Savings is over. The darkness makes me get tired so much more easily, and it stinks to go into work when it's dark and leave when it's dark. I need to set up my Ott Lite. It's good for using for crafts, but I mostly use it to combat seasonal affective disorder. It does help some, but winter can be kind of rough for me.
It's also rough because there's less gardening I can do. Gardening isn't just a hobby or a potential business for me. It's also very therapeutic. I have an anxiety disorder and gardening is one of the best treatments I have. So now in the winter, when I have less outdoor plants and less to do, it can be a bummer. I did sow my epiphyllum seeds yesterday, so hopefully those will grow successfully and they can be one of my winter projects. I also started a little bit of catnip for Leo. He loves the fresh leaves so much. I grow wheatgrass for Memo year-round, so it seemed unfair to not grow something for Leo (he doesn't like grass for some reason). I'm sure that I can find some other little projects to do during the winter. I just hope winter doesn't last until May this year!

First Frost

When I stepped outside this morning, I was greeted by frost on my car's windshield. I guess that technically the first frost has occurred. Supposedly we may get some snow tonight, although I really hope the weathermen are lying about that. Since it's the first frost, all of my sensitive plants have been moved inside for the winter. Luckily I still have some cold weather herbs going as well as my carrots. The sempervivum, jovibarba, and passiflora are all cold hardy, so they should be safe to stay outside. Apparently sempervivum actually like to have a cold weather period. If it snows too much I might need to cover them with tarp or towels, but otherwise they should be okay all winter. I certainly hope that's the case because I'll be very upset if any of my plants die!
Today I received some 'Curly' Epiphyllum seeds that I've got to start soon. Epiphyllum are very pretty cacti and I really hope they germinate and grow well. I have to get some pots and more soil first, but at least I'll have one project to put some energy into while it gets cold!

Plant box!

I recently received a box of plants from a very kind member of All Things Plants in return for me paying the postage. I had asked for Mother of Thousands and received it and several extras just because!

 Here is Mother of Thousands. I have several small plants in this pot. 

This is the Mexican Hat variety of Mother of Thousands. They're little right now and so cute.  

 Callisia fragrans, also known as the Basket Plant. These guys make nice hanging baskets so they'll get moved to one eventually. 

 Golden Sedum, a succulent. 

 Baby Mexican Hat Mother of Thousands. They are so adorable!!!!

 Aloe juvenna babies. Also adorable. So many cute plants in this box!

I was so excited about this one in particular, and it was a total surprise. It's Jovibarba "Sundancer" variety. It's similar to sempervivum and is a hardy succulent, and it's gorgeous!!! I've wanted one as soon as I read about them for the first time. 

I love plant trading so much! Right now I don't have a lot to give, but there are many generous people willing to trade seeds and plants for the cost of postage or a SASE. Once I have plants to give, I'll be doing the same thing. The online gardening world is full of wonderful people who just want to spread the plants they love to whoever wants them. 

Some of my harvest

 This is my Thai basil harvest. I only had one plant make it to maturity from seed. I dried all of it and will use it in cooking. 

 The last of my catnip and some of my parsley hanging up to dry. The catnip is for my cats and my parents' cats. I'll be bringing some home to them for Christmas. Leo loves this stuff. 

This is my second carrot!! I was so excited to get another one. It is the bigger of the two so far. Hopefully I get more!

No pictures today

I'm way behind on uploading my garden pictures. Life has been really busy and I keep putting it off. I'll try to get some up soon, maybe tomorrow. This week is starting off busy. I have a two-day conference that I spent all day at today, and half the day tomorrow. It's a scientific conference on biorenewable chemicals. I had to give a short presentation and a poster today, which was the longest day. Tomorrow won't be so bad, and I'll be able to come home and take a little nap in the afternoon. It's just a very draining process to be on point and talking science for eleven hours today and six tomorrow.

And now for something completely different

This post is not about gardening so if that's what you care about, you might want to skip this one. I'm about to complain about work.
Okay, complaining about work. Actually, I want to complain about my stupid DNA and that it won't do what I want. I have three different cloning projects going on right now and all three of them are being stupid. I seriously wish I could beat this DNA into submission. It's pissing me off, and I'm on a deadline so it feels like wasting time, but I can't make bacteria grow any faster. It's very frustrating. At least I have one thing that's sort of working but it's not really a big thing, so I really need these cloning things to get their shit together and work properly. URGH. It's just so annoying and frustrating.
On a non-complaining side, I have done an awesome job at not overeating this week! It doesn't sound like much but it's a big deal to me, because I struggle with emotional overeating so much. I'm going to keep working hard at this and string a bunch of good days and weeks together now. I've lost 4 pounds, which isn't a lot but it's a good start and I feel good about it. I think the hardest thing now is not overeating at restaurants and things like that, because it's so tempting to! At least I know I can control my food intake, even when I'm stressed out and anxious.

Officially Autumn

Yesterday was the Fall Equinox, and it's starting to feel like autumn. It's still getting into the 70s during the day but it's dipping into the 40s at night. That fall smell is in the air too. I love the cooler weather and the leaves changing colors, and apple cider. The only thing I dislike about fall is the shorter daylight hours, and the end of my outdoor gardening. My tomatoes were essentially done, so I cut them down today. I grabbed the last of the tomatoes left on the vine and picked them. They should ripen off the vine. I had a really good harvest. Altogether, I probably had a 1/2 bushel of tomatoes, which is cool from three determinate tomato plants living on my patio, and my first time growing them from seed. I have 1/2 peck frozen so that I can eat them in soups all winter. I've used several for seed saving, both so I can plant them again next year and to use for seed swaps. Then there's still a few just hanging out in a bowl for salads and sandwiches. Overall I'd say the Silvery Fir Tree tomatoes were a great success!
This week I'll also be harvesting all of the catnip and drying it. I'll probably plant less next year because I have way too much! I'm definitely bringing some home over Christmas for my parents' cats. So the catnip was also successful.
I will also harvest my Thai basil this week as it's quite large and won't take the cooler temperatures soon. I'll finish off the sweet basil as well, although I'm trying to get it to hang on a little longer so I can save seed. One of them is starting to flower so hopefully I can get seeds. The worst case scenario is that I buy new seed, but I'd love to get some of my own.
The chives and parsley will manage on their own until the first frost, so they'll stay outside. I should get another harvest or two out of them. My conundrum now is what to do about my sempervivums and my passiflora for winter. Should I leave them outside to fend for their own in the snow? Should I bring them inside? I would overwinter them in a garage but mine doesn't have any light source so that wouldn't work. I'll probably prune the passiflora back hard and bring it in, and I'll try to keep the semps alive inside too. My caladium will be stored as bulbs over the winter, and the Persian shield is an annual, although I'll try to root some cuttings. So even though outdoor gardening will be done, I'll still have a lot to do inside!

My Christmas cactus has come out of dormancy!

I'm very excited because over the past couple of weeks I noticed new leaves growing on my Christmas cactus! It's been quite a while since I've seen new growth on it. Now if only I could get it to flower someday...that's very complicated so I don't know if it will happen.

Isn't it cute? I'm so happy to see that it's still content and growing.

Free plants are the best plants

Yesterday I was doing work as usual, and took some DNA downstairs to our sequencing facility to drop it off. While I was there, they had some amaryllis seedlings available for free! So I took one, of course. It's a little baby but I'm looking forward to it growing. Amaryllis usually flower during the winter so it will be a very nice bloom to look at while it's cold and dreary out. I have no idea what color the bloom will be so it will be an excellent surprise too!