here's my gardenia and oh! what's that? it's already budding! there's dozens of little buds and new leaves stretching out everywhere! i've heard gardenias are a little moody and sometimes won't bloom if they're stressed (sort of strange how they have "personalities" eh?) and so i was relieved when i found these little buds peeking out. i've been moving it in and out of the sunshine daily to give it the right amount it needs since i bought it and i constantly check it's moistness. it seems to like the morning sun the best and a little watering every other day.
here's the newest addition to the family, our avocado seed. michael named him hass. so far hass has been very boring and doesn't feel like growing yet. sometimes they can take awhile to sprout and i only "planted" him a week ago so i guess i shouldn't worry. i've heard that avocado trees won't bear fruit unless they're grafted and at first i was really intimated, but now i think how rewarding it would be to say i grafted my very own avocado tree! of course i'll have to do some more research on grafting before i'm completely comfortable. for instance, i learned today that every hass avocado has indirectly come from a single tree. each hass avocado tree was grafted from an original tree planted in the late 1920s by a postman named rudolph hass. apparently the tree he planted grew such good avocados he patented the tree and grafted the seeds from the original tree. aaaand he also probably made millions of dollars.
family photo (with gnorman the gnome in the background)
7 comments:
cute! ...but doesn't grafting mean you need a hass and a hassina? um that is to say, don't you need 2 to graft into 1 super strong tree? (like how grandpa's walnut trees were 2 varieties, one type for the roots & another for the branchies...4 trees originally.)
I think your garden post would be a lot more entertaining if it were titled "Please don't eat the Hass" and was just some big elaborate story about how Joey harasses your Hass, growls at the gardenias and geraniums and pees on your gnome. If you want we could plan a play date at your place...I'll just bring Emma.
vallie: yes, it takes "two to tango" in the horticulture world too.
when a baby avocado tree is about a foot tall you cut the top half off and split the stem in two. you take a branch from a mature fruiting tree, place it in the split of the stem and secure it with string. over time the two parts will grow together and make a super-tree.
maria: you're too funny. :) i think what you need is a gnome to scare off emma. or spray around your garden with a garlic and onion mixture, i don't think they'd be as excited to hang around.
I'ts looking lovely! And, I'm giggling at Gnorman the Gnome!
We had an avacado plant that started just that way when I was a kid.
Oh no Jenny you're so wrong. When I chop onions and/or garlic I give all of the scraps to Emma. She will seriously sit there whining until I give her a slice of onion, clove of garlic, piece of pepper, tomato, green onion, spinach, etc. She is crazy and I am kind of scared to see what she does when the vegetables actually grow, if they make it.
Anyway, I am so enthralled by the whole avocado breeding thing! It reminds me of our recombinant DNA lecture...you should experiment with adding different fruit/nut/whatever tree branches.
For example:
peacado (pear + avocado)
appocado (apple + avocado)
avonana (banana + avocado)
pecanado (pecan + avocado)(yum)
of course these are just off the top of my head...but if what you say is true, then in theory the possibilities could be endless.
Oh no Jenny you're so wrong. When I chop onions and/or garlic I give all of the scraps to Emma. She will seriously sit there whining until I give her a slice of onion, clove of garlic, piece of pepper, tomato, green onion, spinach, etc. She is crazy and I am kind of scared to see what she does when the vegetables actually grow, if they make it.
Anyway, I am so enthralled by the whole avocado breeding thing! It reminds me of our recombinant DNA lecture...you should experiment with adding different fruit/nut/whatever tree branches.
For example:
peacado (pear + avocado)
appocado (apple + avocado)
avonana (banana + avocado)
pecanado (pecan + avocado)(yum)
of course these are just off the top of my head...but if what you say is true, then in theory the possibilities could be endless.
Bliss: Floating gardenias in a tea cup or a little depression glass bowl on a bedside table. I hope you get to enjoy that simple pleasure sooner rather than later :)Here's to your sweet spirited (rather than temperamental) gardenia plant!
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