r/gainesvillegardening

There are usually so many plants around it, I can't see the bottom of the trunk, but I saw something white this morning, and the entire bottom of the trunk is covered in tiny white mushrooms. That usually means it's already dead inside. I noticed a lot of dead limbs this year, and it didn't fill out or bear like it usually does. I'm so sad. I grew it from a cutting a long time ago.

There are a lot of root shoots coming up, so I could try to root one of those, but I can't plant anything there now because it will just get the fungus too. My staghorn fern hangs from that tree, and it is the only place it is really happy, so I don't know what to do about that. I need the shade, but I can't really put anything else in that spot, because the fungus will just kill it too.

This is entirely my fault. I piled too many plants up around it and its roots just couldn't breathe. I should have known better, but when you have a lot of plants needing shade, and not enough shade for all of them, you tend to do what you must.

Oh well. It made it 11 years from a cutting, so I shouldn't complain. It will still take it another year or two to die completely, but I won't leave it that long. I don't want it to come down in a storm, or spread the rot to other plants.

***UPDATE: Opening now October 24th - they said it is being pushed back due to the storm. My apologies everyone. I do not work here or have anything to do with this flyer. I will however, pass along all of your very constructive criticism. 😁***

Just wanted to spread the word about a new plant nursery opening this weekend!

The Red Fern Nursery This Saturday, NOW October 24th 8am - 2pm

@ 11904 SW Archer Road, Gainesville, FL 32608

If it was hot and rainy, I'd love it, but I've already lost one bell pepper plant to root rot, so to me, the rain is a curse and a blessing

This is the time of year I lose a lot of my plants to root rot, especially my coleus. I'm taking and rooting cuttings as fast as I can, but with all this rain, I may have to bring some of the propagation trays in to keep them alive.

Of course, some plants are loving it -- especially the tropical foliage plants and the ones that love water like the ferns and brugmansias. One of my figs had been badly underwatered lately, and dropped all of its leaves, but now it's putting out new leaves and has a few fall fruits, which it never has before. That's great, since the spring fruits mostly dried up and dropped off because of the heat.

AND we have our first potential hurricane heading for the gulf coast, around Gulfport MS, it looks like.

One was my new UF-bred coleus. Most of them were large varieties that really grew like mad! I didn't realize how big they would get and they really made a showing. One of them was not what the tag said, but it turned out to be a very unusual plant that I now love.

Another surprise was that my yellow rain lilies, which I've had for many years, finally had one bloom! I got a few seeds, scattered them into a bowl of water, and they already have one little leaf, so I can transplant them soon.

Wicked Witch -- one of my new favorites!