solosater

There, Their, and They're get me when I'm typing, I know how to do it right but sometimes mess it up without noticing it until too late.

solosater

Apparently sheftali and I are on the same track.

matthew

Oh stop your crying Baldur you know it was you...

Baldur

Now it's time to segue to Baldur's Potting Bench.
This is the segment of our program where I talk about the many houseplants that are growing here at Chez Baldur.

Today we will discuss the clivia miniata

sheftali52

lol--sorry about the Mr T confusion. Now that Baldur's back, I'll change to something else. Solo, the English language is pretty confusing, but Sheftali does much better in English than in German. I could never get the der, die, or das right with German nouns. My German friends must've thought I was quite a dolt.

matthew

Oh don't sell yourself short sheftali... we all think you are quite a dolt...


***Wink***

Baldur

Baldur's clivia has yet to bloom.
Certainly it is large enough, undoubtably it is also old enough to have done so by now.
This year I have tried to force it. The results are not yet determined.
With my zygocactus I have learned that a period of cold temperatures will prompt blooming, so I attempted the same trick with my potted clivia.
In early October I hauled it out to the garage and left it there with no waterings for 3 solid weeks
Yesterday it came back into the living room.

There was a slight physical change.
The straplike leaves seem the same but the roots have gone spastic.
They are breaking out above the surface of the soil everywhere.
Roots of the clivia plant are thick and white, it is quite obvious that something has happened.
They also prefer to be potbound. Baldur's pot is so overstuffed that it has cracked.
It may have been cracked for some time and just went undetected.
Baldur would be the last to know.

Baldur

( I enjoy having a plethora of Mr T drawings everywhere I look)

solosater

Is the clivia a succulent? I am a plant and garden idiot.

Baldur

My false sea onion is also busy with it's seasonal agenda.
This plant is a beautiful pale green bulb that sits on top of the soil.
From the top emerges a wispy cloud of foliage, the effect is rather extraterrestrial.
Each fall the fluff of lacy leafy matter yellows.
Then it become brown, brittle and crumbles into a shower of debris.
At about the same time a new shoot emerges, sometimes there is a few days of naked bulb in between.
This year the new shoot was already more than 6" tall before the old one started to fall apart.

The bulb of this specimen is the size of a tangerine, it resembled a small marble when first purchased.

That concludes tonight's episode of Baldur's Potting Bench

Baldur

No, it's not a succulent
The leaves are thin and straplike

Baldur

clivia miniata

http://blogginghouseplants.blogspot.com/2007/12/kaffir-lily-clivia-miniata.html

Baldur

the false sea onion
It is sometimes referred to as being mistakenly called the 'False Sea Onion'. Does that make it a 'False, False Sea Onion'?

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.yougrowgirl.com/thedirt/wp-content/uploads/g ayla_boweia1.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.yougrowgirl.com/thedirt/2006/06/12/the-aliens-have-la nded/&usg=__aFkZBYhG-sDtTELZ5ewQIcmmmOE=&h=639&w=425&sz=261&hl=en&start =10&tbnid=BcylBFc7JArS-M:&tbnh=137&tbnw=91&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dfalse%2Bsea%2Boni on%26gbv%3D2%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DG%26ie%3DUTF-8

sheftali52

Baldur, I took the opportunity to read about clivia miniata, and found it very interesting. Did not know of them before, and was interested to learn it is very South African. The Zulu term for it is umayime. You have an exotic collection of plants. My mother would be drooling (perhaps she is, there in heaven where I believe she is).

lol matthew--I can be a dolt all on my own, thank you!!

Baldur

I believe my False Sea Onion is also a South African plant.
Baldur tends to like plants that have unusual traits.
My thumb however is not the greenest around. Some things just cause too much trouble and cannot be grown here.
Many exotic plants defy expectations and are quite effortless.

Baldur

Unless I have just murdered it today my jade plant is behaving beautifully.
Baldur has murdered several of these nice plants in the past.
This latest victim was a mere 99 cents at IKEA. Rather than one plant it was a cluster of cuttings all in one pot.
It did much better than any of the prior ones.

It got repotted and placed in the foyer. In the past 2 years it has tripled in size and was now in dire need of pruning.
The main problem with jade plants in the past was that they got very leggy and would flop over. Specimens in greenhouses are always very stout and sturdy.
By rationing the water it receives this one was indeed very full and healthy looking.
But today Baldur cut it back severely and potted up the trimmings.
This may lead to many friends getting baby Jade plants for the holidays.

sheftali52

Yes, I believe the False Sea Onion is South African as you stated. Sheftali does not have the greenest thumb either, and is often surprised when her plants do well. Many a time, the green thumb fails and Sheftali gets frustrated. I do have three amaryllis bulbs potted, which I hope will reward me with blooms in December or January. My father raised orchids, but then that wasn't too hard to do in Hawaii!

sheftali52

lol about jade plants-- "they got very leggy and would flop over" I have a jade plant that is in serious need of attention. It is in a pot that is way too small, with no drainage. And it is flopping all over the place. Perhaps I'll do something about that soon.

Baldur

Baldur added 2 new amaryllis last Winter, bringing the total here up to 10.
Right now they are going thru their hibernation in a dark cabinet in the garage. When the flower stalks start emerging they will come out again.
The oldest ones I have are 6 years old. Some have been rescued after other people tossed them out into the snow.

Baldur

Baldur really must get to bed.
and to all a good night....

'All Baldur, All the Time'