Perennials

/Perennials

Bulbophyllum Or Cirrhopetalum

Unfortunately both closely resemble each other and suggest you contact the following sources to see if they can identify for you as well as recommend tips to encourage it to bloom. Also, the SF Flower and Garden Show begins this Wednesday, March 19-Sunday and there are many, many orchid growers located in the marketplace section. Show your photo to one of them to see if they can confirm its identity for you. We apologize for not being able to identify it, but without the flowers, it is a challenge and hope the following contacts will be more helpful.
Orchid Society of California - Home - Bearly Visible Design
bearlyvisible.net/orchidsocietyca/‎
The Orchid Society of California is dedicated to the culture, protection,and ... Center, 666 Bellevue Drive (by Lake Merritt), Oakland, California at 7:30 PM.
Bay Area Orchid Societies - San Francisco Orchid Society
orchidsanfrancisco.org/societies.html‎
BAY AREA ORCHID SOCIETIES. CARMEL ORCHID ... Email: carmelorchidsociety@msn.com. CENTRAL ... 666 Bellevue Avenue, Oakland 4th Wednesday

By | 2016-02-13T15:43:53-08:00 February 13th, 2016|Perennials|0 Comments
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Oyster Plant

Oyster plant is a short-stemmed, tender foliage plant that makes attractive, small, dense, spreading clumps . It forms a solid groundcover of upright leaves. The six- to eight-inch-long, sword-shaped leaves are green above and purplish below. The unusual flowers, borne down among the leaves, appear as clusters of tiny white flowers nestled within two boat-shaped, purplish bracts. Winter hardy to USDA Zones 9-11 where it is noted for its ease of culture and tolerance for wide range of growing conditions. Best in filtered or part sun locations. Will grow in direct sun with some afternoon protection. Also grows in shade. Plants like a consistently moist but well-drained soil during the growing season, with reduced watering from fall to late winter. Plants also can grow well on rocky soils. Established plants have drought tolerance. Easily propagated by seeds, stem cuttings or division. Tradescantia spathacea, commonly called Moses-in-a-basket or oyster plant, is a clump-forming evergreen perennial that is native to southern Mexico, Belize and Guatemala. It is widely cultivated in tropical areas because of its attractive foliage. It is commonly grown in the West Indies. It can have moderate invasive tendencies if not regulated in landscape.

By | 2017-09-11T15:49:25-07:00 January 25th, 2016|Perennials|1 Comment
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Zonal Geranium

There are four basic types of Geranium (Pelargonium species and varieties). This is one of the many Zonal Geraniums. All are of easiest culture and are easily propagated by cuttings. There are countless named varieties, but all do well in full sun or partial shade in the hottest of climates, regular water and feed with a slow release fertilizer formulated for blooming plants.
Zonal geraniums (Pelargonium x hortorum), also called Common and Garden Geraniums, receive their name from the colored bands, dubbed zones, present on their leaves. Zonal Geraniums include hundreds of varieties, each producing single or double blooms in ball-shaped clusters throughout the growing season. Flower colors include orange, red, salmon, pink, white and lavender, and a single plant produces multiple balls at one time. Zonal Geraniums grow in a rounded, upright shape and work well in planters, borders, mixed flowerbeds and containers. Some varieties of zonal geraniums produce lacy leaves, or leaves with white margins or variegated patterns. It's nearly impossible to ID a specific Zonal variety from a picture of the flower color and leaf. There are hundreds of varieties available in every color and more are hybridized each year. Positive ID would require lab testing, but not typically worth the costs to do so.

By | 2016-01-24T07:21:55-08:00 January 24th, 2016|Perennials|0 Comments
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Moses In A Basket Oyster Plant

Oyster plant is a short-stemmed, tender foliage plant that makes attractive, small, dense, spreading clumps . It forms a solid groundcover of upright leaves. The six- to eight-inch-long, sword-shaped leaves are green above and purplish below. The unusual flowers, borne down among the leaves, appear as clusters of tiny white flowers nestled within two boat-shaped, purplish bracts. Winter hardy to USDA Zones 9-11 where it is noted for its ease of culture and tolerance for wide range of growing conditions. Best in filtered or part sun locations. Will grow in direct sun with some afternoon protection. Also grows in shade. Plants like a consistently moist but well-drained soil during the growing season, with reduced watering from fall to late winter. Plants also can grow well on rocky soils. Established plants have drought tolerance. Easily propagated by seeds, stem cuttings or division. Tradescantia spathacea, commonly called Moses-in-a-basket or oyster plant, is a clump-forming evergreen perennial that is native to southern Mexico, Belize and Guatemala. It is widely cultivated in tropical areas because of its attractive foliage. It is commonly grown in the West Indies. It has shown invasive tendencies by escaping gardens and naturalizing in parts of Louisiana and Florida.

By | 2017-09-11T15:49:26-07:00 January 21st, 2016|Perennials|4 Comments
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Lantana Problems

The damage to these leaves can be caused two different insects, both of which are sucking insects that feed on the leaves. One is whiteflies. These small, flying insects are common in the late summer and both the adult and the nymphs feed on the leaves of a number of perennials, including lantana. The nymphs are also tiny, but look like small, rounded golden orbs. They are mostly on the underside of the leaf. Treatment is very difficult because these insects are mobile, but insecticidal soap is highly effective when used often and before infestations become numerous.
The second is spider mite which are minute insects that are not always visible to the eye. They, too, feed on leaves and when numerous leave damage such as you see and sometimes there are fine webs on the undersides of the leaves. They, are also hard to treat effectively when the infestation is large, but Neem oil is highly effective when the numbers are smaller.
In both cases, lanatana can sustain losing all or most of its leaves to these insects and recover completely if kept well watered.

By | 2016-01-18T20:40:19-08:00 January 18th, 2016|Perennials|0 Comments
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Translant Shock Blueberry

Since transplanting is the most recent "activity" involving the plant we would suspect transplant shock, or some drastic change in environment to be the cause. If the plant was suddenly moved from an indoor to an outdoor situation immediately upon transplanting, that would likely cause drastic changes in temps & light exposure, in addition to the transplanting, which disturbs roots, may increase or reduce the amount of water held in the soil, change in soil temps (and maybe additions of fertilizer), and changes in pH (acidic or basic soil) could all combine to cause the damage we see. If dug from the ground and put into a pot, the potential for pH changes is greatest, and the loss of roots could cause wilting and leaf drop, etc. We recommend you place the plant in a sunny location, water according to the plants needs and protect it from any very adverse weather conditions; it should do better. Note - Blueberries grow best in acidic conditions so when you fertilize you'll want to get an appropriate fertilizer. You may want to find a good on-line resource for specific info about Blueberry requirements.

By | 2016-01-18T13:09:05-08:00 January 18th, 2016|Perennials|0 Comments
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Banana Yucca

Banana yucca or Yucca baccata, the "banana name is for the banana shaped fruits" which are sweet and were dried by the Paiute Indians for winter food. It has large, stout straplike leaves which are twelve inches to forty inches long, one inch to two inches wide, and are sharply pointed. The plant has very short stems, which may occur singly or clumped together. Leaves are arranged spirally at the base of the stem. Individual white fibers along the leaf margins tend to curl. The flowering stalks may barely rise above the leaves. Bell-shaped flowers, which grow in thick clusters during the spring, are one and one half inches to three and one half inches long and are creamy white in color. Each flower has six perianth segments and three stigmas on a stout pistil. The fruits are large, four inches to nine inches long, and fleshy at maturity. The pods contain flat, blackish seeds.
It is native to California, Nevada, Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Texas, Utah and Mexico. It grows in pinyon-juniper, sagebrush, mountain brush and ponderosa pine communities from four thousand seven hundred and twenty five feet to six thousand six hundred and twenty feet in elevation.

By | 2016-01-16T19:44:18-08:00 January 16th, 2016|Perennials|0 Comments
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Gardenia Problem

As an evergreen shrub, it is normal for older leaves of a gardenia to turn yellow and drop. This typically occurs during early spring before new growth appears. If chlorosis (leaf yellowing) occurs at other times of the year and there is no evidence of insect pests or disease, and the remaining leaves look healthy, then there may be an environmental or cultural factor causing yellow foliage. As with bud drop, several stressors, including insect infestations, nematode feeding, over-watering, under-watering, poor soil drainage, insufficient light, soil temperatures below 70 ŒÁF and poor nutrition may cause leaf yellowing and drop. Gardenias are acid-loving plants that grow best in a soil with a pH of 5.0 to 6.0. Iron is an essential nutrient that plants use to produce the green pigment, chlorophyll. While iron is rarely deficient in soil, if the soil pH is above 7.0, the iron may be in a form that is not available to the plant. You also might want to review your watering practices. Gardenias like ample water but not to the point of being waterlogged.

By | 2016-01-16T18:14:49-08:00 January 16th, 2016|Perennials|1 Comment
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Chameleon Plant

This looks like chameleon plant, aka fishwort. Easily grown in humusy, consistently moist to wet soils in full sun to part shade. Variegated cultivars develop best foliage color in full sun. Plants spread invasively by rhizomes and may need to be restrained by soil barriers or planted in areas where fixed structures such as sidewalks or buildings will restrict spread. In water gardens, grow in containers as marginal aquatic plants. Plants tolerate up to 2äó of standing water over the crowns. In natural ponds, plants are also often grown in containers sunk into the mud to maintain control and to avoid unwanted invasive spread. Grow as a ground cover in moist, boggy areas. As long as it is given regular water it will grow in a variety of settings. The flowers are simple, white with prominent centers and will be the best way to positively ID this plant. This plant in the photo has unusual markings for a Chameleon plant. There is a lot of diversity within this cultivar though. If this ID doesn't seem correct, please re-send close up photo and hopefully a flower to confirm. Thanks.

By | 2016-01-13T17:40:33-08:00 January 13th, 2016|Perennials|0 Comments
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Nutrient Deficiency

From the photo it appears there might be a nutrient deficiency. If the plant is growing "in-ground" deficiencies are usually not due to lack of nutrients in the soil (unless you used primarly unfertilized soil amendments or organic matter that hasn't broken down yet), but often nutrient deficiency is caused by over or under-watering for the plants needs. Over-watering can cause the plant to produce vegetative growth rather than flowers, and underwatering is stressful for the plant and it may respond by not producing flowers if the plant is a flowering one. In water stressed situations, plant roots either begin to rot or dry out and therefore can't function sufficiently to absorb nutrients along with water and we often see yellow leaves. We recommend watering more deeply and less frequently rather than providing smaller amounts more frequently. If the water does not soak into the soil quickly and begins to runoff before you can provide a sufficient amount, you can apply water until it just begins to runoff, let that water soak in, apply more again until just before runoff, let that soak in, and repeat this several times during one irrigation (in the same day). We recommend keeping the soil evenly moist, and avoiding fluctuations between dry and flooded soils to keep the salts diluted in the moist soil. A time-release fertilizer is also recommended.

By | 2016-01-10T07:43:30-08:00 January 10th, 2016|Perennials|0 Comments
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