Blooming rewards

Dear friends,

Two month ago, I was strolling back home one evening and just passed by a garbage dump where somebody ( probably someone who moved out) just deposited a whole load of plants. There were some big Scheffleras and a chopped huge Yucca :-(  and many other smaller plants thrown away on a heap!
Since I felt quite sorry about all these poor plants, I started looking for something I could possibly save. No question about caring home a huge yucca alone, but at a second and eve a third glance... there it was: a quite big Dendrobium Orchid!!!

It didn't look like much at first - orchids never do when they are not in bloom, but it looked like it was full of tiny little flower buds. I obviously took it with me and one and a half month later I got a wonderful reward!!!

 I guess, at this stage, it has earned itself a very good place in my home. We call it "Trovatello" alias the Foundling. And now I have lo learn how to care for it, since I'm not very good with orchids...

 Let me know if you have any tips and tricks for growing Dendrobiums or if you ever had experiences with rescued plants.

Christmas Preparations

Materials  Old lampshade, moss, ribbon, Christmas decorations

Tree encounter

Last week strolling around the city I found this beautiful, still small, blooming Bauhinia or Orchid tree...
Such a welcome change among the sempiternal maples and purple plum trees! 

  

Autumn Abundance

Just check the size of these onions...seen the other day in Barcelona! The ones besides, are not cherry tomatoes.

Why Don't You: Trellis Ideas

Old ladders make great trellises
for beans and other climbers. ( wish I'd have one...)
Anchor it well into the ground and paint it in a matching/contrasting colour for an extra zest!

Have You ever thought about discarding a broken patio umbrella? Well, why don't you
remove the fabric, bury the handle (make sure it's well fixed)
in the ground and use it for a trellis.
Wonderful for small climbing roses and clematis. Watch out not to use it for heavy climbers!
I guess, Wisteria and Golden Trumpets are not really a good choice.
A small type of Lonicera or Morning Glory could work too.

Rusty old brass or iron headboards
make wonderful garden trellises. So next time you stroll at a neighbouring brocante, keep your eyes open.

All images are not mine and are found on Pinterest

What's blooming now: Iris Deltoides

Hi friends,

This is a terribly busy month so my posts are really very skinny, but here are some not very good pictures of a lovely Iris Deltoides that re bloomed after 3 years of self imposed pause...

Ok, after re potting it during the last house move, one of my cats elected it as her favourite cat grass... Yes, cat brains work in a mysterious way... so my poor Iris was reduced to a dry stump.

Now it has regained some strength in a large pot shared with a Pennisetum and some fire red  Crocosmias.

Delicate, porcelain white blooms with a painted yellow and purple accent.
Stems and leaves are very upright and

Spring cleaning

Spring has definitely settled in so there is some cleaning an re potting due!

I have sampled over the years a small family of 4 Phalaeanopsis Orchids which once the flowering time was over, just found their way into a shallow basket where they happily thrive - producing way more (healthy) leaves than flowers...
I had many other orchids too, but I had to find out that I am not really an orchid person - or maybe they don't fancy the climate of my living room and I am not too eager in transforming it into a hothouse either. So gone are the Dendrobiums, Miltonias and Catleyas I frequented for a short period.

But Phalaenopsis are tough girls and as I told you, they happily produce new luscious leaves and even keikys - those tiny orchids babies and everything. It's just the flowers they are less eager to repeat, but hey, gardeners never loose hope!

So here I decided to re pot and clean them and settle them on a shadowy terrace for the coming summer.

 So this is how they basically looked like before the whole operation started.

I decided to add some sphagnum moss and a bit of bat guano to the regular bark, just to see if they like it better than the plain bark I used before. The bat guano was recommended by a website specialised orchid products...

 This is how they looked like once I discarded the old bark.

I empirically mixed the bark with a handful of moss and a dash of guano... since everything happened in the kitchen I went on exactly the same way I do my cooking - using a lot of free inspiration!

And this is how they look like once they have been re potted and bathed with luke warm water to clean the dust and some annoying mealy bugs... This one is 4 years old and has bloomed twice since I have her, but I would love to convince them to get a bit more industrious on the blooming issue.

The whole program will be continued with Orchids fertilizer 20-20-20 and some nutritional complements (phosphorous, potassium, magnesium and algae). Well see how it goes.

If anyone should have some tips about growing orchids at home - and making them bloom, please share your tips with me!

For the ones in Italy, I highly recommend two absolutely fantastic Orchid growers: Orchideria Morosolo on the Lago Maggiore and Nardotto e Capello near Ventimiglia which not only have an incredible selection , but who are absolutely lovely and passionate about their work!
http://www.nardottoecapello.it/