Welcome to the holiday special of proto26's plants update! We were this close to using my mystery citrus 馃崑/馃崐 tree (on the right) as the Christmas tree. Sadly, we found the lost stand for the artificial tree and so are using that one. Oh well. Next to the citrus pot you can make out the silhouette of some kind of bromeliad. That's my pineapple plant making a cameo! There is a single laurel plant that is my only plant on the piano. The rest belong to other family members.
Outside, everything has either died or gone dormant. After all, temps have consistently been in the 20s and 30s (掳F). I haven't bothered to clean up the dead stuff. It got too cold so fast so I'll leave that for spring. You can see the perennials are still quite green. I wonder if any are still actually photosynthesizing. Perhaps the strawberries (lower right) and some of the mints like thyme and maybe oregano but probably not the garden sage bush. It has noticeably lost most of its luster.
Just look at my poor eastern prickly pear cactus! This was intended to be its permanent home, outdoors. A cactus? Enduring North American winters? Yes, this cactus, native to my area, shrivels up in winter and seemingly resurrects itself in spring! If all goes well then it should live up to its name and survive. Then maybe it will bloom next summer!
Bonsai Time
As soon as I brought my mini mystery citrus tree indoors it grew two new branches. Notice two disproportionately large leaves? I ultimately don't like where they sprouted from but that doesn't mean I'm going to remove them. Right away. They are adding vigor to the tree, which it needs since many of its leaves are old and degraded now.
I was a little concerned when my acacia tree was dropping dozens of leaflets but that might just be part of its phenology. I can't say which season (the dry or the rains) it thinks it's in. (I always like to put myself in the shoes of the plant.) It only dropped low leaves though and is showing some new growth coming from the main trunk.
Though some buds are slowly swelling, the maple doesn't appear to have changed much. Then again, it should technically be dormant right now, too. However, sometimes I like to break the rules and grow plants off season to get a head start. It may not be natural, but it's growing.
These trees will not need root work done for some time.
Growth has completely stalled on the avocado tree. This one definitely needs a good root pruning but I have to be careful. Avocado trees seem to be especially susceptible to root rot. This one even had it for a time but I was able to miraculously cure it. How? That's my secret. I'm just playing. I'll share it with you!
If you have a plant that's down with root rot, quickly unpot it. You must remove all soil and dispose of it since it is contaminated. I just throw it in the outdoor garden since out there it will succumb to the elements/other organisms. Now you must replant the affected plant in just moss. I think they sell it as "sheet moss" in stores. If the moss is alive then it will probably be even better and work quicker. I left the avocado in the moss until I noticed new root and foliar growth again, which the fungus in question prevents. Then repot in brand new soil.
Avocado trees are said to generally not make attractive bonsai trees due to their natural tendency for very large leaves. When has that ever stopped us from trying? You can even find many attempts on YouTube to grow an avocado into a bonsai tree. I'm up for the challenge. I tried to create branching early in the tree's life but, as you can see, all that did was give some character to the trunk.
Sigh
I have lots of plants to take care of. I didn't even mention them all here. Just some that have been relevant lately and that will be later. Some people have indicator plants that get "sad" because they need water more frequently than the rest and that is what removes the owner to water all their plants.
I don't have indicator plants. I just have air plants (Tillandsia) which need to be watered every day. Let me show you a little treat. Behold!
Ceres
Just when I thought I was only going to get one bloomer this year, I'm graced with another double bloom. Hope you enjoyed!
This post was part of the Garden Journal Challenge, which can be found here.