Free Plants Are Always Great!

It's starting to feel like spring but I keep hearing that later in the week we will have another burst of cold down into the 30's.  I'm ready to leave all my sensitive plants out for good!

I got to work today and a co-worker gave me 3 'Little Gem' Southern Magnolia (Magnolia grandiflora).  I gave her 3 tomatoes yesterday so I think I made out better in the trade.

A free lawn mower ends up being $100 and a free dianthus plant???

Here's the story, right before I moved across town, my neighbor put his broken Troy-Bilt self-propelled push mower out by the street with a sign that said "Free". I rolled the mower over to my house and tried cranking it with no luck. After a couple weeks went by, I met a retired veteran on craigslist that fixes mowers and he had it running in no time! I used that mower for the last few months but stopped using it after getting my grandmother's 1960's International Cub Cadet riding mower. Anyways, I put the push mower on craiglist, met a buyer at Walmart, and he offered me below what I wanted; so he went inside to get cashback and brought back a 45 cent dianthus plant and the $100! I'll take any plant as a gift! When I was teaching, my favorite gift from a student was a Norfolk Pine!

Not the best picture but does anyone know what kind of weed this is?  I have them all over my yard and think they are nice looking.  

Other projects from around the yard:

Growing hydrangeas in soda and peanut bottle greenhouses.  The softwood cuttings are sprouting leaves but no roots yet.

Organic Gala Apple seeds we planted about a week ago.  Four of the five seeds sprouted!

Florida avocado, Hass avocado, and pineapple

Compost area of my yard.  I expanding away from the black bins and using pallets.

Planted a bunch of seeds for our garden.  Squash, zucchini, bush beans, green peppers.  We will see what grows.

My helpers!

This Week in Plants

The weather is finally settling on a regular temperature pattern of 40 degrees at night and 70's during the day.  This is causing some seeds to sprout and it's getting closer to spring!

North Florida Avocado in the background.

Have you received your free Arbor Day Tree?  I got a Dahoon Holly and my sister got a Yaupon Holly for her house.  It looks like the people who lived in our house before us got bald cyprus trees every year because there are 3 different sized trees in the front yard.  Here's the link to get a free tree:  Energy Saving Trees - Arbor Day

Our little girl, Olivia, wanted to plant some apple seeds from an apple she ate.  They started sprouting in about a week.  Now we have a pile of apple seeds to grow more!

I got this orchid for $3.00 at Lowe's.  It was sitting next to a bunch of $9.99 orchids but it didn't have a price tag.  I asked the cashier and she discounted it to $3.  An orchid this size and in full bloom was selling for $30!  

Our pile of apple seeds, some beans, and seeds I got in the mail from Craig Huegel. Garberia (Garberia heterophylla) and Woody Goldenrod (Chrysoma paucifloculosa). Here is a link to Craig's blog.

Does anyone know what these are?  They are growing real well around our mailbox and I would like to plant some more.

Until next time...

Starting a new endevour

As far back as I can remember I've been interested in plants.  There is something about how they start from a tiny seed and grow into something as enormous as a Redwood Tree.  My goal for this blog is to start organizing my thoughts as I expand my garden, yard, and landscape into a natural organism.  I would like to grow more native grasses, wildflowers, shrubs, and trees, and eventually grow enough to start making some extra money.  You will see some non-native plants but my overall landscaping vision is to stick with natives.

On to the plants...  We had another freeze last night with frost covering my truck's windows and the Knockout Roses by my driveway.  This afternoon I took some quick pictures of projects that I'm working on around the yard.

I started a bunch of saw palmetto (serenoa repens) in the fall and only 2 sprouted. If you look closely there is one longleaf pine (pinus palustris) and one sabal palmetto.

This is the beginning of my nursery.  It's gradually growing every week.

I have roughly 100 angel trumpet (brugmansia suaveolens) cuttings that are hopefully rooting.  Most of these in the 1 gallon pots are recently planted.

 Hibiscus cuttings showing a little green.

Cleaning up around my shed.  My goal is to extend the roof so that I can store firewood and my wheelbarrow without being rained on or covered in leaves.

Cuttings that I planted tonight.  Lantana, milkweed, and boxwood.  Let's see how well they root.


As I continue to write more blog posts, I'll update the progress of these plants, the expansion of my tiny yard nursery, and thoughts to grow more!