Sunday, February 22, 2009

Aloe flowers and general update

WE GOT FLOWERS! and I just don't know. I am uncertain if I missed these beauties last year because I was thinking the flowers should be red or orange, which are the colors I had expected on an aloe plant. My memory is that they turned brown and dead quickly, nothing like this. On Friday I sent a student on an internet search to find me yellow aloe flowers, and he did, but he did not find any variegated ones. How cool are these!

I had a student working hard to get our seeds posted on folia but have not gotten around to list which one were planted. It is becoming a bit obvious that they are keeping some useful features back from those who don't give any money, so I will likely join one of these days, maybe even tonight. The First Lady on the left is one of our nine hopes for a pre-graduation tomato. We will nurse it inside for another month and then get it into the greenhouse in April. Speaking of tomatoes, we planted a bunch for our spring plant sale and we also planted our peppers this week. Yes, a bit early for around here, but we will pot them up and keep them in the greenhouse till Mother's Day has come and gone. Many folk seem unimpressed that we are shooting for a red tomato by early June. Too much time at grocery stores, not enough time in gardens????


9 comments:

Kylee Baumle said...

Oooh! Aloe blooms! I've had a good-sized aloe for a couple of years and I have never seen it bloom. I brought back a few of a different sort from Florida a week ago, so maybe I'll get some blooms from those.

Please post more pictures of them if they change!

Dan said...

What a nice tomato you have there. I too am trying my luck at having early tomatoes.

Great blog! I fondly recall taking horticulture every year in high school, they called it environmental science in my neck of the woods.

walk2write said...

What a lovely surprise that aloe plant has! I have never grown one and didn't even know they bloomed. You're right about the dearth of gardeners these days. I think there is only one other lady on our block who still grows vegetables. We have expanded our garden spot this year, and I'm hoping for bumper crops. I've already planted radishes, onions, lettuce, and beans. The soil here is anything but rich, but we'll give it a shot anyway.

tina said...

They are beautiful. I am so glad they bloomed for you this year.

Anonymous said...

Well, that's just about the coolest aloe flower ever. And who is not impressed with a June tomato? There were even detailed instructions for early harvest in some magazine recently - Horticulture, was it? Anyhow, more for you, right?

Chandramouli S said...

Whoa! Aloe flowers. As I said before in your previous post was excited to see them! Thank you so much. Good luck with your tomatoes.

Wayne Stratz said...

Kylee-- no change... except bottom ones are dieing. I hope you get blooms one day.

Dan--- I hoe we both have luck with our early tomatoes. I had no such class while I was in highschool.

walk2write-- one thing I do here is promote the growing of tomato plants with a sale every spring.

Tina-- thanks.

Kris-- Wow, coolest ever. Must have done something right.... Oh, I am sure they will eat the tomatoes, I think it was just a general lack of knowledge on when they ripen.

Chandramouli--- glad you got a chance to see them.

Rob (ourfrenchgarden) said...

What a great result. Will they open up some more? I hope you can post an update sometime.

Wayne Stratz said...

Rob--- That's about as big as they opened. I took more photos yesterday so I will likely have an update in the future.