The beginning

I still have a TON to learn – but this is my first attempt in documenting my successes and failures.

On May 8^th I ordered online plants from Big Dipper Farm. Click on the name to see a picture and description of the plant:

Primula ‘Pacific Hybrids’

Corydalis ‘Berry Exciting’

Heuchera ‘Caramel’

Hosta ‘Camea’

Brunner macrophylla ‘Looking Glass’

They arrived around the end of May, and I planted them in my wine barrel on my screened porch. I put the Berry Exciting in a hanging basket above the other potted plants, and put the Pacific Hybrids in an 8” Terra Cotta Pot.

The soil that I used, I found online from gardenweb.com, Al’s recipe. I’ve used this for about a year now. I’ve tried plants that say full sun – part shade and have killed all of those. I am assuming it was because my screened in porch is completely full shade. So this time I’ve decided to do purely full shade plants. However, the catch with this batch is – I’m a zone 10 and the max zone listed, from perennialresource.com, is zone 9 for all of them. I am hoping I’m a cooler zone 10.

Anyway, here is the soil mix that I use:

5 parts pine bark fines (3 gallons)

1 part sphagnum peat, not reed or sedge peat (1/2 gallon)

1 part perline (1/2 gallon)

Garden lime (4 TBS)

Controlled release fertilizer (1/4 cup)

Micro-nutrient powder (or other source of the minor micronutrients)

I try to water them everyday, since they are potted plants. And for the last month I’ve fertilized them with Miracle-Grow’s All Purpose Fertilizer.

I believe that the pot gets about an hour morning sun, and 2 hours afternoon sun. I’m not exactly sure how accurate that is.

The Berry Exciting died right away, within the first week. I’m not sure if it was due to my soil choice or what, but it didn’t last at all. I probably could have gotten a refund or a new plant – but I didn’t bother with that. Too many other things on my mind.

The Heuchera isn’t really growing. One of their leaves is brown, as if burnt from too much sun? But it doesn’t look to be dying – so I’m hoping it’s just growing really slowly.

The Hosta lost a few leaves at first, on the outside but I saw new growth from the inside. So I got excited, thinking it was doing well in the soil. However, lately it’s been losing some more leaves and seems to have come to a stop in it’s growth. I will need to take weekly pictures to be sure.

The Brunnera has been the same as the Heuchera – one burnt/brown leave on the corners and hasn’t really grown much since.

My eyes may not be able to see the growth, so I will start documenting weekly, or biweekly growth along with my entries.

Since the Berry Exciting died right away, I got a new plant from Home Depot (I can’t recall the name of it off the top of my head). It looks like a potato vine. It hasn’t grown much either, and a few leaves are burnt.

I’m concerned about the lack of growth, that is why I started fertilizing. I think I will get my soil tested and reevaluate my fertilizer and soil mixture.

I also have a small tree that Ryan rescued 5 years ago, and it’s been re-rescued several times. I’ve transferred it to bigger pots twice, as it’s roots were growing up and out. The first time it went from a 6” pot to an 8” pot. This last time I transferred it to an 18” pot. I also put some ground cover plants on top. They were flourishing at first; and the tree looks much brighter and green (however not many leaves), but now some of the ground covers are dying. And when I lift the pots up, I find tons of grub and bugs underneath – and even a nasty looking spider. I sprayed it with some insect killer I have, but today I found more bugs underneath. Not nearly as many – but still. I wonder if they are killing the plants. There are no “water catchers” on the bottoms, so the drain holes drain right into the ground. (These plants require full sun so I’ve put them out front on our shared yard. I don’t have bug problems on my porch.

Pictures to come for all things mentioned above. I will research more too.