Young Plants

Well I forgot to bring my camera to work today so I figured I'd upload a few pictures of things I have growing around the house. Last fall I collected some Hosta seeds from a local municipal garden. I left them in the basement all winter and then planted them this spring. They seem to grow incredibly slow and are still very tiny. The grass on the left will hopefully be an ornamental grass and not just a weed.



The next picture has a large variety of plants. The three plants in the pots on the left are Yucca rostrata (Beaked Yucca). This is a gorgeous plant that is supposedly hardy in my zone (5b-6a). I haven't left them outside yet though because I don't want to loose them. The plants are about 10 months old.

The plant in the black pot is a Kentucky Coffee Tree. I collected the seeds this spring, and in about 3 months it has grown to the size it is now. I had to file through the hard seed shell, and then soaked the seeds in water. Only one of the three ended up sprouting. I recently planted about six more and expect to see the first few sprouts in about a month.

In the right there is some orange Trumpet Vine which I grew from seeds started outside this spring. In the back you can see a Super-Dwarf Cavendish Banana that needs to be divided.



Here's a picture of our small vegetable garden. It has Beefstake Tomatoes in the back and Brussel Sprouts along the front. I think I may have planted them too close together.



Now for my first bamboo plant!! It was $45 with tax, but I've wanted one for years and it seemed like the right time. The species name is Phyllostachys aureosulcata 'Alata'. In full sun the canes will turn a bright yellow. This subspecies is also know to have 'zigzag' stems giving it the common name Crookstem Bamboo. It is running, wind tolerant, should have minimal leaf burn in the winter, and has edible young culms. It can grow up to 10m with an average stem diameter of 5.5cm. It was expensive and is only about 50cm tall but I think it will be well worth it in the end. Behind the bamboo you can see a young Musa basjoo. I haven't overwintered it outdoors yet and I think I'll dig it up and bring it inside again this year.