Garden chat & photos for torts and people ♫ ♫

Turtulas-Len said:

Winter Gardening at the Beach isn't pretty, so I don't do much of it anymore I wait for spring when everything will wake up. A pic of some sleeping banana trees.View attachment 163014 These new spineless opuntia are working hard to grow strong roots.View attachment 163017

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Oxalis said:

Thanks for the much needed color, @Pearly!!!

I wish we could grow banana plants here in Michigan! My fiancé mentioned finding a cold-tolerant variety but no luck on locating the species name so we could find a distributor. Any ideas, anyone? Meanwhile it's 20°F outside. Brrr!

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Turtulas-Len said:

briansbotanicals.us, He is in KY and has zone 5 musa basjoo banana trees. I have bought from him before (not banana trees) and have been satisfied with what I received. I believe my banana trees are muso basjoo but not 100% sure.

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Oxalis said:

Woah, very cool banana trees!!!! I'm happy to see lots of Opuntia too!! Arg, I'm starting to get those winter blues... I wish spring were right around the corner, but it's Michigan and that's impossible. Once it snowed here in May! Arg! Even Stevie the tortoise is lazy; I think he knows it's still wintertime so why not get some extra naps in.

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Pearly said:

Bwahaha! I gave up on keeping things manicured in winter except for one bed on the front of the house where I always put little annual color and few pots. Other than that things go dormant and look "wintery" ugly and it's ok. The more excitement when Spring starts sprouting.View attachment 163047View attachment 163048View attachment 163049View attachment 163050 meanwhile I get a nice surprise here and there to make my heart happy and be ok with supplying the tort pantry from the farmers' market. Btw you guys made me start missing banana plants, I thing I'm getting one to put in the babies' new enclosure area

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Stitchpunk said:

My cattleya orchid is blooming - the perfume is heavenly View attachment 163112

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Yellow Turtle01 said:

Flowers! Sunshine! Too soon

I gave Elmo a few pumpkin bits in October, and I noticed something growing in there last week...
Of course, it was a pumpkin
I saved it from his savagery and am growing it in a pot in the window.
View attachment 163520
As it's 27 outside, it'll be a few months before he can get some real sun, though I am hoping it can establish a good few leaves and healthy root system before putting in the ground anyway.

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Prairie Mom said:

Very pretty!!!!!!! Show off your banana tree if you decide to go for it. I've never had one. I love Farmers' markets. I'm hoping to sell at our local market in a few seasons.

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Pearly said:

I used to live in Florida and bananas were not desirable plants in subdivision gardens bcs they grow and spread like crazy. I don't have one here (yet!) but there are few garden where they grow and the worst part is winter. They just die back in our little cold snaps meaning every year they have to start over. I'll look for the cold hardy variety to put in the tort garden for nice foliage. And will of course post pictures. Meanwhile this is what's going on in my Texas garden every winter from November until May: View attachment 163567View attachment 163568View attachment 163569View attachment 163570View attachment 163571View attachment 163572View attachment 163573, I always plant some winter annual on the front for little color. Pansies and violas are always foolproof View attachment 163574View attachment 163575View attachment 163576View attachment 163577, as are Calendula. They also are on tort edibles list. I also like snapdragons, will post pictures of mine when they get bigger

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Pearly said:

I used to live in Florida and bananas were not desirable plants in subdivision gardens bcs they grow and spread like crazy. I don't have one here (yet!) but there are few garden where they grow and the worst part is winter. They just die back in our little cold snaps meaning every year they have to start over. I'll look for the cold hardy variety to put in the tort garden for nice foliage. And will of course post pictures. Meanwhile this is what's going on in my Texas garden every winter from November until May: View attachment 163567View attachment 163568View attachment 163569View attachment 163570View attachment 163571View attachment 163572View attachment 163573, I always plant some winter annual on the front for little color. Pansies and violas are always foolproof View attachment 163574View attachment 163575View attachment 163576View attachment 163577, as are Calendula. They also are on tort edibles list. I also like snapdragons, will post pictures of mine when they get bigger

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Oxalis said:

Lovely colors!! I must have gotten some crummy seeds last year; only two or three of the pansies flowered. I'm sure part of it was that they were overpowered by larger perennials in the enclosure. The flowers were so tiny my Russian hardly noticed them! One day near the end of the summer I think, he finally tried them and seemed quite happy. I have seen some smaller orange Calendula that I would like to try this season as well. Orange is hubby's favorite color! I really need to get my plant list together!!

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Prairie Mom said:

Ha! That's awesome! Elmo is quite the gardener Didn't he plant tomatoes too?

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Prairie Mom said:

Since we're chatting about pansies/violets/violas, I'll post some older photos...


First off: they FREEZE FANTASTIC!
View attachment 163698
the blossom freezes the best of any flower I've tried so far. http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/these-can-be-frozen-thawed-and-retain-good-texture.128563/

And here's an example of WHY they probably freeze so good! I LOVE flowers in the snow!!!
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My tortoise loves them so much that I'll often have to give them a rest from her and just pick and feed. Ugly tires do the trick for me...
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Here's some seedlings. They are slow growers. I think they were already a few months old at this point and then I hardened them off to SUPER cold temperatures (which is REALLY tricky!) so I could plant them really early and get them out from under my lights. If I'm planting a cold tolerant plant that I started indoors under my grow lights, I begin by literally holding the tray of plants outside my door for only a few seconds and progress from there. It's nuts! -Not something I'd recommend to most people.
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I've started planting them in closer groupings. I looks better.
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Again, because my tortoise likes them so much, I will put them in the ground, pots, and up high where she can't reach them, but we can clip and feed without her destroying every morsel

We put them in the flower boxes of the playhouses last summer too...
View attachment 163705

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