First Leaves

The first leaves of my lotus are opening up.

American Lotus

My Lotus has already started to sprout. I planted them last week. Yesterday I checked on them and they were showing no signs of life. Today they have sprouted and one is about a quarter of an inch tall, and the other is about an inch. The three I planted in the other pot are not showing yet but I will be looking forward to seeing them.

Yesterday I started cutting down all the grape vine along the back fence. When I first bought the house There was a ton of vine on the fence but it did not grow any grapes so the following year I got rid of it and planted 2 grape vines. one was a concord and the other a Thompson red. They grew the entire length of the fence in no time and I cut them way back every year. I never do anything with the grapes and the birds do not eat them so I have decided to replace them. I have a bunch of trumpet vine already planted along the fence and I want to let it take over the fence. It should really draw in the hummingbirds. I do not use humming bird feeders but my plants bring humming birds. I might even get a few other colors of trumpet vine. Right now I have the typical orange color of trumpet. I was thinking of getting some yellow or dark red.

Madame Galen Trumpet Vine.

Fence before removing grape vine.

 Half of the grape vine has been removed.

The other half will get removed today or tomorrow.

Marchantia polymorpha

Nelumbo lutea American Lotus

I ordered seeds for American Lotus Nelumbo lutea on E-Bay and they arrived yesterday. The instructions for planting said to nick the seeds outer shell. I tried to cut through it with a utility knife but it was impossible to cut into. I tried to crack it with pliers, and still nothing. I figured the Native American Indians used to grow these for food so there had to be a way to do it. I thought about it and decided to try scraping it across a rough rock. After grinding it across a stone for a while I got through. I did all 5 seeds like this and planted them in pots. The pots are sitting in water next to the pond. I will be watching them to see if I am successful in doing this.

I also think I might get some Nelumbo nucifera also called Indian Lotus or Sacred Lotus. They have pink flowers but the same type of leasves and flower shape. They are not native to the United States so I would put them over on the other side of my house in a stock tank away from my wildlife habitat.

Hardy Orange / Poncirus trifolate

This is a plant that my friend Etta Daher had in her yard. When she moved the tree was to large for me to try to transplant to my yard so I gathered a few fruits from the ground. These were fruits from the previous year so I was not even sure they were still any good. I opened the fruits that had large white seeds in them. I planted the seeds and forgot all about them. Yesterday I was weeding and found out that they are growing. I was told they were not edible but have discovered that they can bee eaten. They can be used in a marmalade and  they can be juiced. The flavor is supposed to be bitter and sour. Cooking the fruits and adding sugar  is supposed to change the taste to be like a cross between a lemon and a grapefruit. The trees are supposed to grow from about 6 to 20 feet tall and are covered with long sharp thorns. The thorns are actually hard enough to puncture a tire. It can take up to 12 years for the trees to produce fruit. They are not native but have naturalized in Pennsylvania south to Florida. I will have to move them to an area outside of my wildlife habitat, but look forward to seeing them eventually fruit. Maybe one day I will even attempt to make some of the marmalade. This is also supposed to be a good plant for bonsai.

A nativar that works well in native gardens.

Luna Red Hibiscus and Luna Pink Swirl Hibiscus. These are two Nativars of Hardy Hibiscus that do well in native gardens. They have large showy flowers that the bees love and they do well in most garden soil conditions. They are hardy perennials that come back every year without running a muck so they are not invasive and are easy to control. Many cold-hardy hibiscus cultivars are hybrids of H. moscheutos, H. coccineus. H. laevis, H. militaris, and H. palustris, with indeterminate genetic contributions from each parent species. Hibiscus breeders do not preclude the possibility of  self-pollination. However, recent research has shown that artificial pollination just after the flower has opened using a high pollen load will ensure that most of the resulting seeds are from the selected pollen parent. Early hibiscus breeders were likely aware of this and used it to their advantage. Another great thing about Hibiscus is that they are extreamly easy to grow. All they ask for is full sun, decent soil and an occasional pruning. They leaf out late in spring , so do not think they are dead. Be patient and eventually they will have attractive foliage followed by a summer full of spectacular blooms

When most gardeners think of Hibiscus they immediately think of tropical flowers from Hawaii that are difficult to grow in the north and are considered house plants. The truth is there are also several hardy species of native North American species of Hibiscus that have been around for a long time but until recent years have not received much attention. The reason they have been getting so much attention is because of Hybrids of the native species with huge showy flowers and new color variations.Some of these flowers can achieve blooms up to twelve inches across.

A few years ago I bought  a Luna Red and a Luna Pink Swirl Hibiscus from a local nursery. When I bought them I did not know at the time that they were raised by a local program at the Manchester Craftsman's Guild here on Pittsburgh's North Side. I bought them because I wanted to put something showy on the hillside between my house and the church parking lot next door.They have tripled in size now and are crowding each other out. I am going to divide them after they are done flowering and will move a few pieces of each color back by my pond. I never even knew that Hibiscus were originally swamp weeds or wildflowers.

Luna Red Hibiscus

Luna Pink Swirl Hibiscus