Newest Addition: Coleus

When I was a child, my mother received a Coleus cutting from one of her friends. Within a very short time, the small cutting had grown into a huge plant in her living room window. Today at Home Depot, I spotted the above Coleus and it is the same variety my Mom had back then. For 99 cents, I couldn't say no. I took two cuttings and planted the parent in an old watering can next to my front door. The roots were already dangling out of the drainage holes and I guess it was about time it was re-potted. I gave it plenty of water and a small dose of fertilizer. I'm hoping to be able to take more cuttings and eventually have enough to use it as a pretty border infront of my azaleas.

Baking Soda to encourage new growth???

I have two Japanese Boxwoods in huge pots on each side of my pool. We planted them 1 1/2 years ago in an effort to create a nicer pool area. I hadn't paid much attention to the boxwoods because I thought of them as "slow growers" that didn't need much care. This spring I started fertilize them and I planted marigold seeds around them. I noticed one of them had a lot of ants crawling around. My grandma used to deter ants with baking soda. I wasn't sure if it worked for her but I figured I'd give it a try. The ants were gone within a day. After a week I noticed an unusual amount of light green new growth on the boxwood while the other one remained the same. I couldn't have been the fertilizer because both received the same amount. I kept watching for another two weeks and it seems that the bakin soda boxwood had almost doubled in size.

Yes, I treated the second boxwood with baking soda as well. After a week, it showed a lot of new growth. I've been googling baking soda to see if it, in fact, acts as a growth booster. No luck.

Now I'm wondering, of course, if I could use it on other shrubs as well. I have a hibiscus in the front yard and the, for Florida obligatory, hedge of pink azaleas.

Marigolds Forever

I've always loved marigolds. Not so much for their scent, which is said to repel garden pests, but for their simple progagation methods. You simply wait until the bloom wilts and collect the seeds to plant new marigolds.
I first tried them in 1993 back in Germany. I had only a small balcony and all I could do was small scale container gardening.
Well, I'm now gardening on a bigger scale but it is my first year since quite some time. I have marigolds growing between my vegetables, in a big terra cotta pot next to the front door and I seeded them in pots to surround Japanese Boxwood.

The ones I have this year were a mix and there's no telling what colors they will be. It's a dwarf variety and ever since I've seen my neighbor bringing home very tall marigolds in pots, I've been wanting to get some tall ones as well. The season is long here in Florida and I will pick up some more seeds next time I go to Home Depot.