If All Goes Well, Fuchsias Will Be The Focus This Year

  

     If all goes well, then this just might be the year that I am able to finally get all of my fuchsia stock growing well enough to make and grow cuttings from all of them.  For the last ten years, all I've been able to do is pretty much just try to keep them alive while I worked jobs and grew lavender to raise funds for the fuchsias. 

    Selling lavender has proved to be a huge waste of time now that all e-commerce sites have become all about what thousands are searching for and one of a kind or unusual items few people know about are lost completely.  I have had to waste far too much time trying to get my lavender wands noticed.  So much time that in the end, I don't make any money on it.  In fact I lose money after all of the fees, shipping, advertising, etc.

    I do love growing lavender and using it to make all sorts of things.  But practically everyone with a lavender bush or two sells lavender sachets.  Which is why I have always made a practice of just giving them away along with every invoice.  

    So from now on, I will make a few lavender wands in the summer, as it is something I hope to continue to be able to do way past my retirement when that day comes.  I have always hoped my lavender wands would be established enough by then that I could depend on them for a bit of extra income by then.

    The focus this year must be growing blooming perennials such as fuchsias.  I do love fuchsias and it has always been my hope to preserve as many of the upright heirloom hybrids as possible.  

    Meanwhile, I do hope that the lavender will sell itself somehow and redeem itself by paying off the funds invested in that effort and maybe even help fund growing the fuchsias.

    The fuchsia shown above is 'Annabel' and is in full bloom right now in mid-January of 2021.  She is benefiting from the radiant heat of one of the windows here and I can see her from my desk.  Along with about 15 other varieties I have put on a shelf high enough to be even with the window.

    And of course this also means I get to watch the hummingbirds up close while I am working on my computer!  Even a Ruby Crowned Kinglet has come by to look under each leaf for insects.

    All of the streptocarpus are doing well too and I hope to begin making cuttings of the ones I chose to keep as stock plants.

Pink Sunshine

 Icy white with a bit of raspberry drizzle, right!?

Harlequin Streptocarpus Cape Primrose

I confess that the ones with purples and blues in them are my favorites.

 

Purple Blanket Stitch Streptocarpus

Isn't it cool how the colors in so many flowers highlight their veins?  One person remarked that the edges of this one looked like it had been blanket stitched.

 

I Have Realized Almost All Have Seven Stripes

As I attempt to tell them apart and not post the same one twice, I have come to realize that all visible throat patterns have a pattern of seven.  Two, three, two.

Bear in mind as I post these, that I need to decide which ones to keep and then propagate from leaf cuttings.  Breaking my wrist in July was a huge set back, because there are hundreds of itty bitty ones that have been waiting all summer for me to tease them apart and transplant them.  At the moment, it is so hot, they'd fry from the shock.  I hope to begin soon though.  As room in the greenhouse for the winter will be a premium and who gets to stay and who has to make it outdoors remains to be seen.  

And not forgetting the fuchsia cuttings!

  I really like this one!

 

Blooming in the Sunshine

This beauty has sunlight on her petals because I really do grow them outdoors where they get morning and or late afternoon sun. 

One After Another

 Even I have been amazed at the range of colors and patterns which have been opening up all year from the microscopic seed I sowed in May of 2019.

And again, all of these can also be found on Instagram under various hashtags such as #floweringshadeplants  💜😀

Saturday Morning Blue on White

 I submitted this one to be the cover for a groups cover photo, but they went with a marbled purple.  I have never really been into the marbled look...  But I do like this!

Blue Sunshine

 Don't forget that all of these have already also been posted to Instagram under the hashtags for #streptocarpus #capeprimrose #gesnariads #floweringshadeplants #floweringhouse plants etc.  And almost all of the photos I take are of the ones growing outdoors where they either get a bit of morning sun or late afternoon sun.

They are ALL my favorites!

Cape Primrose Streptocarpus Gesnariads Are Showing Colors

Just a quick update on the the new colors that are showing up in the streptocarpus that have begun to bloom.  Here are a pink and a purple.  There is another one opening up that is going to be a deep maroon red and another one that is going to be a very pale pink.

I am going to keep the ones that are showing colors so I can make cuttings from the leaves and be able to offer baby streps with known colors in the future.  This is so exciting, I have waited so long to see this species of gesneriaceae bloom again like they once did under my cherry trees.

Look out!  These are going to be the new outdoor shade flowering rock stars.

Streptocarpus Are Doing Great!

   So far so good!  The greenhouse is NOT heated and although I had wanted to heat it for some of the other plants I am over-wintering in it, I am kind of glad that it doesn't have any heat.
   Why?  Because I want the streptocarpus to be weather hardy.  Just like the upright fuchsias I had hoped to be growing in there instead, I want my plants to be strong enough to endure outdoor conditions. 
  Most flowering plants you see in the garden centers this time of year have been grown in heated greenhouses and then thrown out into the cold of the garden centers they are shipped to.  Most nurseries are not concerned if those plants survive or not because they figure you'll just come back for more sooner.
  That is one reason why they have begun to market fuchsias as "annuals" when in fact, they can live for over 100 years.  If you toss them out every year, they make more money that way.
  But I digress...
  It does get down into the high 30's here and can also freeze at times.  So it is still possible I might see damage.  But so far so good!  I even spotted one that had put out a flower spike yesterday when I was filling orders for the west coast states.  So I brought it in and planted it up with a few others.
  And I bought insulated protective sleeves for shipping the plants.  So far, everyone has been very pleased with the plants on arrival.  Maybe, just maybe, Streptocarpus just might be the means by which I can afford to finally salvage my struggling upright fuchsia collection.
  A girl can hope.  It's been over 8 years now since I made the mistake of moving the nursery here and had all of the stock freeze to ground level and then had the deer mow them down when they tried to come back up.  Then it took a few years to afford to be able to build a deer proof enclosure and move the survivors into it.  Meanwhile, with no income from the nursery, it was necessary to work many jobs and put a lot of time into the lavender instead.
  I can't wait to see all the colors and forms these Streptocarpus will be!
  They look great growing under big upright fuchsias!

New Lavender Filled Pendants and Baby Streptocarpus

I am glad to say that I was able to make over 3,000 lavender filled wands again this season.  To be honest with you, after making them for 14 hour days until midnight every single day for three and a half months, it is kind of hard to stop.  I do this because it can only be done in such a short period of time and then it is impossible to make more until mid June of the following year.

So after pushing myself so hard for those few months, I always feel a bit lost when it is time to stop.  Like, what do I do now?  Of course I have more than enough to do, but another part of me wants to start searching to see if anyone might have a stray English lavender bush in their yard that still has lavender on it and green stems that are still pliable.  Because maybe I don't have enough plum purple smalls....

All the baby streptocarpus are calling to me to get out there and finish transplanting them all into the tubes.  I've got over 1,100 of them already into tubes, with at least another 2,000 waiting.  I hear I should see color by November, and I can't wait!  I am tempted to start selling them now, but then, what if that super dooper incredible new flower is one of the ones I sell before I see it bloom????

Meanwhile, I made lots of lavender filled pendant "blanks".  I mean I make the tiny little "wand" without a handle and leave the ends open so I can make them into pendants throughout the winter.  This year I bought 100 teeny tiny bottles and am having fun thinking of items to put into them.  Starting with, of course, lavender flowers!

What do you think? 

I am making about 40 of them into sets of 5 each so I can ship them to Amazon Handmade FBA.  Which means "Fullfilled By Amazon" and makes those listings Prime because Amazon will fill and ship the order.  The majority of my lavender filled wand inventory will be available on Amazon Prime this year.  A great deal of it is already there.

Pedricks on Amazon Handmade

All of this is of course, a means of making a living while I continue to chase that dream of getting my fuchsia nursery back up and running!  All the stock is still here!