Epiphyllum Curt Backeberg Flower

 

                                              I am in love !

Epiphyllum Frosty Rose - bud 🌿

 

               In my greenhouse today .........

                                      Epiphyllum Frosty Rose 

            She did have two buds , but I can see one has withered away .

  This whole plant needs to be divided up and repotted with nice fresh compost .

         There might be a snail or two ......   🐌🐌🐌...... !!!  

                                             🌿 🌤️🌿

Waiting , waiting , waiting ! 🌵

 Every morning I am dashing up to the greenhouse to see if those buds have opened up yet !

Sorry to say , not yet ! They really are keeping us waiting !

                           There are five buds on this one ! Five !

             They are getting bigger and more yellow everyday .

      Just a little hint of pink on this Echinocereous viereckii ssp.morricalii .

🌿Meanwhile in the Greenhouse 🌿

                                       Maybe tomorrow ?  

                                                🌤️

No Rain !

Tuesday 🌿

 So continuing on after last post ... with rain forecast , I desperately worked to get this bed weeded and the terrible mass of ivy off the fence at the back . 

The Dahlias here are already coming up , I still had the chickenwire to fix around the bed to keep the rabbits off ..... the sun was going down , it became all too much . I did not feel well and had to stop .

Wednesday 

Not feeling well , I promised to only potter about .

It didn't rain .....only mizzle ...the water-butts are now empty . Through the greenhouse window , the Tomatoes and Cucumbers are really getting away now .

I fixed up some shade net over the tomatoes , because it became so hot again .

I am thinking of getting a fan in there ....just thinking about it ....nothing fancy ...just a cheapo one .

Now that the flowers are coming , I will begin to add a bit of tomato feed to the watering can .

I will also now begin to selectively remove some of the side shoots .

  Up until this point , I believe that they need all their leaves to take in the lovely sunshine and give them all the energy they need to get going .

  Also , if they should begin to succumb to blight , they can still be saved by simply removing the tops and letting the side shoots take over .  This works . I have done it . ...but you really have to watch out for the first signs of blight .

 When this happened to one of mine , it was the plant nearest the door where the rain had blown in through the badly fitted door . Tomatoes tend to get blight if they get wet . 

  

                     The last trickle of  lovely rain water from the water butt .

              

              There are one or two flowers on the Sweet Peppers now .

 Now that the weather is warmer , I can move these Aloes outside . ( just not today )

The Cucumbers are beginning to romp away . Not quite up through the bench yet , but they soon will be and I will need to be able to reach in to pick them .

This Cucumber seems to have fallen in love with the Aloe vera .

   

                                                        🌿💚🌿

                             Above the bench is another tray of Epiphyllums .

I will wait until this bud opens before moving them all over to the shed . Looks like it's going to be a lovely red one !  ❤️🌿

The Cucumbers will continue to grow under the bench for a bit longer , I might put some sticks in to give them some extra support until they start to reach through the bench .

Over in the shed Epiphyllum var "Marilyn Monroe " has two buds , the smaller of which I think is probably going to drop off . They don't like being moved while in bud and I may have shoved it along the bench a little .

This produced a gorgeous flower last year ...I will show you when she blooms , so watch this space !

I save and dry out the spent flowers on a rack . I'll use these in a pretty potpourri later on . 

           Continuing with my gently pottering about , back in the greenhouse .

          🌿    Bowiea volubilis has awoken from it's winter slumber .🌿

     I hastily give it something to climb on , goodness this beast grows so fast ! 

Passiflora update -

Like everything else , they really are starting to romp away ....and I had thought to just let them romp away in the greenhouse , but now I think I'll grow them outside . I'll need to make a trellis of some sort .

Maybe keep one inside , what do you think ?

We have bought a couple of large pots to plant these in . Three in one and four into the other . Also some compost .

   But I am not allowed to do any heavy garden work for a couple of days .

The Banana plants are also waiting to be planted out ..... oh .....so much to do , to do , to do !

                           🐝  Love Debbie 🐝💐🌿 x

                        p.s. and I need to do my rain dance 😊💃🏻⛈️

                                                     ☀️                       

🌿💛Epiphyllum var Buttercup

 

                                                 Epiphyllum var "Buttercup"

 Right at the back in amongst a joyful romping of phylloclades . 

Phylloclades -  It's what Epie leaves /stems are more properly called 🌿and these are actually the most wonderful apparatus for climbing rocky banks and scrabbling along amongst damp and mossy detritus filled nooks and crannies , putting down roots as they go along up in the trees of the warm , humid and shady forests of South America .

After they have finished blooming , I will be repotting and taking cuttings . After letting the cut ends heal over for a couple of days , they will take root fairly easily and do well simply stuck into some good quality multi purpose potting compost with a bit of perlite mixed in .

Some folks put them in hanging baskets and they look really great . I can't do that or my little greenhouse roof would fall in under the weight !

Some varieties seem to grow more upright and in the background you can see a cage support ...but the Epie changed it's mind and decided to escape it .  So now it is tangled up in the darned thing ! 

While the old greenhouse was being taken down and the new one put up , the Epies were moved about and haven't produced their lovely flowers for a couple of years . 

There are still a couple more buds waiting to open .  The moment is fleeting , they remain open only for a day or two if you are lucky and depending on the variety .

Some only flower at night and are gone by morning .

                   This one has lasted about three days  .

                                         Sending you a hug and my love  x    

                                                       

                                                            🌿☀️🌿

💮First Epie Bloom of 2024💮

 We've had a nice lot of rain at last and I can take water from the water-butts again .  Come with me , I want to show you inside the greenhouse .

🌧️Still waiting for the greenhouse builders to come back and fix the leaking roof🌧️

As you can see the tomatoes and cucumber plants are now romping away !

   I have been waiting weeks for this ! The Epiphyllum bud has finally opened !

I carefully pull back some of the cucumber vines to show you .

                        Oh ! My heart ! It's so beautiful ! 

I didn't think the Epies would flower at all this year after having been moved about while this new greenhouse was being built .  Hopefully we'll get a few more blooms .

                      🌺The Epiphyllum corner of the greenhouse 🌺

Still sunshine and showers , and gusty wind too .  Not as bad as they said it would be though .

Glad to have a break from watering the garden and everything is looking refreshed .

                                                      ⛅🌦️⛅

🌿Wheelbarrow load of Epies - no 1🌿

                                     So here come the Epies !

                               Wheelbarrow load number one .

I put them in , but I think there was another tray of them that should go in first . 

Stands thinking ...

    they all need repotting and where did I put the other tray of Epies ?  

I have to get all the Epiphyllums in , as they should all be beginning to show flower buds soon .  

I hope they haven't suffered too much from being moved about .  

Dreaming about beautiful Epie flowers , usually about the beginning of May .

                                        Epiphyllum "Marilyn Monroe"    

 Get called in for lunch .  

               🌿🌿💚 🌿🌿 See ya later !  🌿🌿💚🌿🌿