Thoughts for Today

It's raining today in Philly. The air feels tropical and humid. I want to thank all of those who have viewed my blog since I started last week. I like to view my "audience" and see views from other countries as well as from the United States. The magic of the internet. It's amazing to be able to be virtually almost anywhere in the world. If you have viewed my post and would like to share your blog with me please do. I would love to see what you are doing in your garden be it container gardening, houseplants, acres of land, the front porch, or however you enjoy gardening. Tomorrow I look forward to attending a gardening class after work. I believe the class is titled "How to Care for Houseplant." The Pennsylvania Horticultural Society offers classes on different topics throughout the year in Philadelphia and the surrounding counties. Some of the classes I have attended include summer bulbs, seed starting, holiday decorating, straw bale gardening, canning, and terrariums. If you live in Philadelphia or the surrounding counties and want to attend, the class is 6:00 pm-7:30 pm at the Kroc Center. The class is free and registration is not required. The last class was held out back near the garden. The Center has a beautiful vegetable garden. If the weather is clear I will take some pictures of the garden to post.

Plants Killed in 2012 Except One

Miniature Garden/Planted and Killed in 2012

I brought the African violets from the flower show. They lived for over a year and continued to bloom.They require a certain amount of light to keep blooming. They did well until spider mites got to them. I tried not to use chemicals on them to kill the mites. I don't know how I love plants and flowers so much but I'm afraid of insects. I've gotten better. Lady bugs, gnats, and flies I'm not afraid of. I even like bumble bees on the flowers. I guess I should since if they don't pollinate the flowers we would not have some vegetables. My mom suggested I wipe the white patches off. Me, actually touch a plant with bugs! I don't think so. I did eventually wipe them with alcohol. I read that suggestion in a garden forum. I even changed the soil and repotted them but they weren't the same and I eventually threw them out. This fall or Winter I may try again. I have seeds I purchased from Parks Seeds maybe I'll try them. I wanted to buy some from the flower show this year but I didn't want to risk bringing new plants into the house since I was having problems with fungus gnats on my seedlings. This is the first time I've had them. Fungus gnats, that's a long conversation. I laughed reading post on the Garden Forum Web from others trying to get rid of them also. I believe the amaryllis and paper whites started them. The soil was covered with them. Of course they had to go. They were beautiful. I will try them again this year. From opinions I have read on the web it is thought that peat and too much watering contribute to gnats. I tried everything to get rid of them, insecticidal soap, neem oil, different types of teas. What eventually worked was yellow sticky tape and beneficial neematodes I ordered off line. I watered every plant in the house with it. I'm afraid to sit my plants outside this Summer for fear of gnats getting into the soil. When the temperature is warm in the house and new seedlings or bulbs are around they attack from other houseplants. I have one African violet left that was a baby from a previous plant. It is now adult size but for some reason has not bloomed yet.