I believe this Japanese zelkova was 70 years old when it was first shown in 1954. We met its exhibitor and he said that was the year he was born. It was wild to see the trunk growth in the various magazine articles that included photos of it that he had collected.
This was the first year I ever saw tiny carnivores as shitakusa.
It is 54ºF/12ºC today and I have been playing in water. (Among other things.)
The pot I had my Japanese maple twins in started falling apart last Spring and it got gradually worse over the summer. Last week, I picked it up and the bottom fell out.
So, Spawn and I shopped for a new pot while we were at the Winter Expo in Kannapolis and picked out one that we both thought was attractive and not the most expensive thing in the vendors’ room.
This was originally a forest. But, one of the trio died and it became a twin. The guy that sold me the pot had some small plants available, too. So, I got another small Japanese maple that I think will have different colored leaves if it makes it to Fall.
It’s been too cold for me to do anything with it until today. And today was pushing it. But, I didn’t want it to just sit there with its rootlets hanging out indefinitely. So, I bundled up and sacrificed my manicure.
The left is the Japanese quince in a pot made by my friend, Patti. The pot on the right is my little shitakusa of moss. We got the little Buddha at the Art in the Garden event ages ago. It used to be gold. But, he has lived outside and weather caused change. I have couple of chunks of rock that I tend to keep nearby. They are my discount suiseki.
I need a new pot for my Japanese maple bonsai. I’m going to the Winter Bonsai Expo in Kannapolis on Sunday. So, I can pick one up there.
I could have gotten an identical one in Florence at the Pee Dee Farmers’ Market in May. But, I didn’t. I hadn’t come expecting to find bonsai supplies and I was dithering because there was a lot. And at that point it had only lost a chip on the side. So, I just decided to wait. Now, the pot is kind of crumbling. It’s still enough together that the trees are OK. But, that won’t last forever. I went outside to take a picture to show you and when I lifted it up the bottom stayed where it was. So, it’s really crumbling and critical that I get them a new pot.
I have carnivorous plant pot dilemmas, too. The Drosera binata is in the little plastic pot I bought it in and it’s still very small. I think it can stay there for a while. But, it’s not particularly attractive. It needs to keep its feet wet and I have it sitting in a milk glass dish that was given to my parents as a wedding present.
(That dish is its own dilemma. It’s kind of a weird shape and I have never known how to use it. When my mother gave it to me, it had a frog in the bottom. So, I guess she used it as a flower vase. When I asked her about it, she said she didn’t know of anything else to do with it.)
And.
I would like to add a Sarracenia pupurea to my carnivores. It can live in the water garden with the Sarracenia psittacina I already have.
My other Sarracenia are happy in their bowl on a table. I keep their feet wet, there, too. I think one is probably ‘Judith Hindle’. It may be a hybrid. There’s a little one with it that’s flourishing. But, its leaves never have gotten big since I got it. It did so well this summer, I was able to give a piece to a friend. I have no clue what variety it might be.
The purpurea has a different way of consuming insects than the others and I like the look of it. Its mouth is open to catch rain and drowns its food. Insects get trapped by the hoods of the other two types.
None of them can go in terra cotta. So, I have to be particular about their pots. I can put them in terra cotta if I have it lined with plastic. And I can use glazed pots.
I have a large, whitish, glazed-everywhere pot similar to the one the nepenthes is in that I could use for the purpurea. It’s about the same size as the blue one with the psittacina is in.
I have a pretty, medium sized pot that is terra cotta inside. It would have to have a liner to put the binata in it. I could get a small one like the one holding the nepenthes (and eventually purpurea). But, it would need a deeper tray to keep it’s feet wet and it has a tray attached. The purpurea will get set down in the water garden deeply enough that it won’t be a problem.
So.
I have a PLN1.
I don’t think this pink is much away from red.
I mean, really. Do you see much difference?
And.
I swear talking trash inspires my plants to do better.
This past weekend, I got to see some tiny trees. One of the most frequently asked questions about tiny trees is whether the fruit an flowers also grow smaller. Here is the answer. No. Everyonce in a while someone manages to have one or the other on a tree at the right time for an exhibition and they always amuse me. I once saw a tree with a single, full sized apple.
I am the Audience 