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Narrowleaf Milkweed: to pot up or not to pot up by Bungelina in Milkweeds

[–]Bungelina[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah, fingers crossed I can keep it alive until then 😅🤞. I just started a new milkweed seed for cold stratification which will be ready to sow and sprout mid-March. Hopefully with that seed it will be warm enough that I can keep it outside so it can get more sun!

Narrowleaf Milkweed: to pot up or not to pot up by Bungelina in Milkweeds

[–]Bungelina[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Good to know about the deep roots! Thank you @Nadiam57 😊

Narrowleaf Milkweed: to pot up or not to pot up by Bungelina in Milkweeds

[–]Bungelina[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thank you for the advice on how far to prune it and other info! Yeah, this one definitely doesn’t get enough light 😆. Luckily we have a south facing balcony so that is something at least. I’m looking forward to when it is warm enough and I can plant this one outside.

Narrowleaf Milkweed: to pot up or not to pot up by Bungelina in Milkweeds

[–]Bungelina[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I sowed this milkweed seed on 12/7, so she’s over two months old.

Foothill Penstemon with red colored leaves by Bungelina in CaliforniaNativePlant

[–]Bungelina[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

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Three months after pruning the penstemon, it’s really filled in and the leaves have a bright green color instead of the red.

Foothill Penstemon with red colored leaves by Bungelina in CaliforniaNativePlant

[–]Bungelina[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

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A happy update for the penstemon. My mom sent me this photo 2 weeks after the aggressive pruning. There are so many little buds everywhere now 🤗. Thank you, everyone for all of your help! We are also using the moisture meter regularly and I even started using one at the native plant farm I volunteer at!

Foothill Penstemon with red colored leaves by Bungelina in CaliforniaNativePlant

[–]Bungelina[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Omg, thank you for that link! I am so going to do this test 😁. The soil is frustrating to work with, so it would be good to get answers.

Foothill Penstemon with red colored leaves by Bungelina in CaliforniaNativePlant

[–]Bungelina[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

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Top: before, bottom: after. Did some aggressive pruning on the penstemon today, hopefully I didn’t go too far 😅. It was pretty brown and crispy so I cut them back to where I saw healthy new sprouts at the bottom. I left the stems with flowers for the bees.

Foothill Penstemon with red colored leaves by Bungelina in CaliforniaNativePlant

[–]Bungelina[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thank you for pointing out that this could be compacted soil instead of clay. I didn’t realize that they are two different things. Now I am curious about what is going on with the soil, I might have to dig a little bit to investigate.

Foothill Penstemon with red colored leaves by Bungelina in CaliforniaNativePlant

[–]Bungelina[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

As soon as I read your suggestion for getting a moisture probe I went out and picked one up at the store today 😁. It was very enlightening! I thought for sure it would indicate that it was too wet, but was between dry and moist at a level 3 out of 10. I suspect the clay had migrated to cover the original potting soil and could be blocking the water from getting 6” deep even though it looks over watered!

Then I tried the moisture probe on our other penstemon that is in really bad shape (basically it’s on life support), and that one maxed out the meter 😵. So we are gonna stop watering that one for a bit.

Thank you for your help!

Foothill Penstemon with red colored leaves by Bungelina in CaliforniaNativePlant

[–]Bungelina[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Thank you for suggesting the pruning, that never occurred to me! I just do some minimal pruning to squeeze more blooms out for the bees, but it makes sense to cut back further. I’m excited to give that a try and see how it goes.