Sunday, August 28, 2011

GARDEN ON THE MOVE......

The butterflies and the dragonflies are out in abundance in my yard these last several weeks. The photo of this Monarch was taken this morning as I was out taking the photo of my Dwarf Poinciana. The Dwarf Poinciana, or Caesalpinia Pulcherrima, has found a new home.

Here is my Dwarf Poinciana in it's new home.

Fully grown and in flower this is what this plant will look like. The story behind this little plant is as follows: two months ago at a master gardener meeting that I attended, one of the other MG's announced he had some seed pods that he had collected 5 years ago and has had sitting in his desk drawer. Always being on a quest for new plants, I took 2 pods.

I "googled " dwarf poinciana and read that before attempting to grow from seeds, the seeds should be soaked for several days. These pods were really dry, so I soaked the seeds in warm water for several days. The 2 pods gave me 14 seeds.
In my usual way of starting seeds, I planted the seeds in toilet paper rolls. I fill these rolls with my home made mixture of potting soil and stand them upright in a clear plastic tray that I get from salad bars. This creates a miniature hot house. I mist the "seeds" once or twice a day so they do not dry and I can see the humidity when covered with the top of the tray. Behind the dwarf Poinciana seedlings is a tray of Purple Trumpet Plants that I am also starting. Within 3-4 days the seeds began to sprout.
And from 14 seeds, I got 6 plants........isn't nature wonderful?


I have already given away one plant to a friend yesterday, leaving me several additional plants up for adoption to good homes.