Peonies of 2014

This year all of my peonies doubled in size and bloomed. Unfortunately I didn't get good pictures of all of them due to rain and other issues, but here's pictures of the ones I got.

Anemone type peony.

Anemone type peony.

Anemone type peony.

Anemone type peony.

My first tree peony and one of the first bloomers.

Tree peony

My second tree peony.

Epiphyllum Seedling Update

I've been meaning to do some new posts for a while now so there should be several this week. The epiphyllum seedlings have been steadily growing and you can begin to differentiate between different phenotypes. Most of them have started sending up additional shoots; some have as many as five or six. As soon as the weather warms up a little they'll all go out in the hoop-house and hopefully the humidity will promote more growth. The original epiphyllum seedling post can be read here .

Trays of epiphyllum seedlings.

Trays of epiphyllum seedlings.

As the seedlings mature the stems and shoots will begin to flatten out. Most adult epiphyllums have flat stems and leaves.

Flattening epiphyllum stem.

Among the seedlings there are lots of subtle differences. Shoot structure, branching, and size are all different.

Epiphyllum EYM1319 has produced the most shoots and has produced even more since this photo was taken.

Epiphyllum EYM1313 seems to be dwarfed in comparison to the others and is relatively bulbous with short spines.

Epiphyllum EYM1310 is very symmetrical in structure and is rigid compared with the others.

Epiphyllum ESP1307 has barely grown at all even though it has had the same growing conditions as the others, it probably is a dwarf.

Epiphyllum ESP1337 has been unusual since it sprouted. Epiphyllums usually flatten after the juvenile period yet this seedling has been relatively flat from the start.

Another Epiphyllum seedling beginning to flatten with some discoloration on the tip of the shoot.

There will definitely be more epiphyllum updates throughout the summer so be sure to check back to see the growth stages and progress.

Dracaena Mutations

The plants I have the most of in my collection are dracaenas, and when you have a lot of something there's bound to be anomalies. This is the first batch of pictures of dracaena mutations.

The first picture is a Dracaena Dorado that has yellow margins on the leaves instead of the chartreuse margins that the plant is known for. This is not due to lighting, because it has stayed consistent under various conditions.  

Dracaena Dorado with yellow margins.

The first picture is from mid summer, but in the fall the plant did something weird and sent up two new shoots from the tip. If you look closely there's two of them in the center of the photo.

Mutated Dorado with new shoots.

When the two shoots grew out one maintained the yellow margin mutation while the other reverted to Dorado with the the chartreuse margins. After this photo was taken I removed the reversion to maintain the mutation. Hopefully it will stay true to form.

Current photo of the developed shoots.

One of the variegated compactas mentioned in earlier posts stopped growing a few months ago and when it started up again it produced a mutation with half of the leaves having extra white pigment.

Mutated Dracaena; variegated compacta

The next two photos are both from the same plant, one being a side view and one a top view. This is a Dracaena Jade Jewel mutation. The plant lost all of the colored streaking in the center of the leaf and is now only white and half of the plant no longer twists. The plants leaves are also more upright now.

Dracaena Jade Jewel Mutation

Top view. Dracaena Jade Jewel Mutation.

The following two pictures are mutations of a Dracaena Warneckii. One is growing out of the base and the other is the top of the plant.

Dracaena Warneckii mutation. Base.

Dracaena Warneckii mutation. Tip.

Clivia Seedlings

I recently received three different batches of Clivia seeds. The first was for Clivia robusta, the second batch was from an assortment of all different varieties and styles, the third were all seeds from variegated parent plants. Each seed that sprouts will be different from one another and with over a hundred seeds, that's a lot of variation. Within three to five years the plants will bloom and flower color and form can be determined. In the meantime some cool things are happening with the seedlings.

Clivia robusta seedlings.

Twelve out of thirteen seeds from the Clivia robusta have sprouted, with the largest being about two inches tall. I started these in a shoe box tote. The bottom half is a coarse bark, charcoal blend and the top is a fifty-fifty vermiculite seed starting mix blend. This promoted deep root growth for the seedlings in a light and porous mix. While the seeds germinated I kept the top covered to promote humidity.

Mixed Clivia Seedlings

The mixed Clivia seeds have also started to sprout. There was about sixty seeds to start with and almost half have sprouted already, several seeds have rotted and have been removed from the seed tray. This is probably because I used a straight seed starting mix and it holds too much water. There were too many seeds and not enough space to start them like the Clivia robusta so they had to be started in a seed tray with the mix. The seedlings are a little more developed now than when i took this picture but there are already noticeable differences in leaf color, shape and growth. The mix already has one variegate and one seedling that appears to be dwarf but its still a little too early to tell.

Variegated Clivia seedling with one stripe down the middle.

The last batch of seeds started was a mix of seeds from variegated parent plants. I started off with fifty two seeds and more than half have sprouted. Unfortunately due to the number of seeds, these also had to be started in seed trays with a seed starting mix and several seeds have been discarded due to rot. If the variegation is genetic, the ratio of variegated plants is usually 1/3 variegated, 1/3 albino and 1/3 green leaved. Its still too early to determine ratios but there are several albinos in the bunch, several green leaved and many variegates with different levels of variegation. The albinos will all die off once the energy stored in the seed runs out, because they wont be able to create energy without any green pigment n the leaves.

Albino Clivia seedling.

In a few weeks when the seedling have at least two leaves, I'll re-pot them all into four inch pots. It would be better to use six inch but at the moment space doesn't allow for that. Then in the spring all of the seedlings will go out to the greenhouse for the summer to encourage as much vegetative growth as possible so maybe I can get some early bloomers.

Dragon Series Dracaena Part 2

Clockwise from top left. Dracaena Surprise, Lemon Surprise, White Surprise.

This is the second post on Dragon Series Dracaena, highlighting three more of the varieties. You can check out the last post here to get the basic care info on these plants. Not mentioned in the last post, is that all of these varieties were bred, selected and produced in the Netherlands by Dracaenakwekerij 'De Plaats' B.V. under the Dragontree name. Though they are branded under the Dragontree name, you will often see them sold as the Dragon Series or as the individually named varieties. All of the varieties are plant patent protected so propagation for commercial use is prohibited unless you have the licensing for it.

Lemon Surprise is one of the most prevalent varieties on the market and has a distinct twisting growth habit. The plant has large lemon/lime colored margins along the edges of the leaves. The color is slightly variable depending on how much light the plant receives.The inner portion of the leaf is a greyish green with a slight white line between that and the lime green margins.

Dracaena Lemon Surprise.

White Surprise is very similar to Lemon Surprise except that the white portions of the leaf are much larger and the lime green margins are much smaller. This variety is also slightly smaller in form most likely due to the extra variegation on the leaves. It is also one of the slowest growers out of the series. Light levels that are too high will cause the lighter portions of the leaf to burn.

Dracaena White Surprise with slight burning on the leaves.

Surprise has much less of a twist to it, though it is still slightly there and the white margins on the interior of the leave are very minor. The lime margins on the edges are similar to that of White Surprise. The inner portion of the leave has a grey/green streaked pattern. I have found in my own experience that Surprise has lots of variation between specimens in terms of expression of color, specifically with the lime green margins.

Dracaena Surprise

Random Plant Updates

One of several plant racks in the basement.

Its that time of year where all of the plants that were brought outside for the season have to come back in. They go through a week of spraying to reduce any insect or pest problems. Then I let them all dry out and then start bringing them in. At the moment I am about halfway done but by the end of tomorrow ninety percent will be back inside, hopefully...

Some of the plants from previous posts have been doing some exciting things. The Scadoxus has developed two large size fruits that aren't ripe just yet. From what I've read online they'll turn a bright red color when ready and they're currently a yellow green. I dont know yet if there will be multiple seeds per fruit or just one, but either way I will be starting them, that can be a future blog post.

Scadoxus multiflorus fruit.

The epiphyllum seedlings haven't been doing much of anything. they have grown a little and some are starting to randomly flatten or twist in the stems, but others have done absolutely nothing. Next year I'm definitely bringing them outside for the summer, hopefully the humidity will prompt some new growth.Until then they'll probably still look like this..

Epiphyllum seedlings.

In addition to the epiphyllum seedlings I recently started a batch of schlumbergera seedlings aka Christmas cactus, a batch of rhipsalis seedlings, and a batch of Easter cactus seedlings. The first two sets of seeds were from another blogger who was nice enough to share them. As soon as they're a little more developed i'll post an entry on them as well.

Currently I'm working on several new posts, Dragon series Dracaena part two and three, Epiphyllum oxypetalum, Dracaena Whitney, Crinum lily, Bougainvillea and one or two more. keep an eye out for them.

Dracaena Janet Craig Compacta and Variegated Compacta

Dracaena Compacta Variegata and Janet Craig Compacta.

Dracaena Janet Craig Compacta has long been a staple in the foliage industry. This varieties compact form combined with its simple elegance makes it a must have item. Its great for an office or a small space in the home. Janet Craig Compacta should only be watered when dry and does best in medium to high filtered light. Occasionally tips will brown due to salt accumulations in the leaves, switching to distilled water will  reduce this problem. Or the tips can just be cut off. This variety is often grown as a specimen or in groups of two or three.

Dracaena Janet Craig Compacta

Variegated Compacta is a variegated compact dracaena that is believed to be a mutation of Janet Craig Compacta due to the similarities in form and structure, but may possibly just be a random mutation of another deremensis variety. When viewing the image at the top of the post you can see the similarities in structure between the two but also that the variegated form is slightly smaller with smaller leaves. Variegated plants are often slightly weaker than their normal counterparts so this would explain the smaller growth habit.

Dracaena Variegated Compacta

Among the three variegated compacts i have, each is unique. One has a slight twisting growth habit, one has a denser growth habit with more leaves and the third most closely resembles Janet Craig Compacta.

A trio of Variegated Compactas, each slightly different from one another.