A very nice link. After much reading, and thought, I've decided I wouldn't have much luck growing them here. I have enough trouble with orchids!

Tell me about it, Carol. I can't take on another "challenge".

Ken, hah! You will take on challenges to the day you die!! That's what makes you and all of you who do the same, special!!

Edited to add, I did decline this particular challenge myself....

Believe me, Ursula, age is greatly limiting my challenge-taking. Now my challenge seems to be just accomplishing something each day.

LOL, I spread just HALF a bag of mulch yesterday and was pleased with myself. Now that is pitiful!

I find wanting to take on challenges never changes but following through with the fertilizing and watering - now that is another story and exactly why I only have a few orchids.

My gardens always looked much better when I worked 40+ hours a week. Now that I'm retired I can't seem to keep up with them. Age or attitude? When we work, we schedule chores, but what I do now is procrastinate.

Procrastination may be an underrated activity. My thing to put off is fertilizing, which is kinda not good because everything's in pots. Some get fish emulsion, some get bloom booster, then there's the reapplication of the time release stuff, not to mention transplant fertilizer which I am questioning as to its value. By the time I get everything together its time to take a well deserved break. The watering isn't so onerous because I haven't got all that much stuff yet, and its obvious when I don't because... drooping. I have a lamium on the porch that is my bell-weather for watering. If it gets one smidgeon too dry it goes all limp and pathetic. I try not to let that happen, but... and its fertilizer day again, darn. So, here I go.

I used to have a Protea, but unable to make any buds, my garden was too shaded by our city trees. But it maintained the green leaves for the first two years nicely. Unfortunately, on one of those occasions I had to be out of the country, my hubby decided to repot and move it to a different spot, sunnier alright but did not follow up with watering nor did he use the right media, so I came back a month after with a dead Protea.

I did a ton of research and decided to bite the bullet with protea from the finebushpeople. So the one I had my heart set on - a beaut!! was SOLD OUT. They still are after 6 months.



Oh well - I tried one weird thing this year and killed every last one of em.

Welwitschia mirabilis

Screw the tuff stuff. I SOOOOO want to say that I grew protea. Hey - I am growing commiphora neglecta from seed. Successfully.

I've wanted to grow protea too. They are so cool-looking...............looks like they came from outer space. :>)

One time at Valentines in my flower shop I had some protea including a King right in the front of the cooler. This guy looked at it and his eyes nearly popped out of his head. He bought it and 2 red roses. Would have loved to see the recipients expression. Those things are HUGE - close to a foot across.

Little shop of horrors.

DavidLMO said:Would have loved to see the recipients expression.

I bet they were so amazed and impressed! Beautiful and giant flower!

One nice thing about most protea is they have a very long vase life. That flower probably looked great for 3 weeks or so.

Hey, on the alkaline water situation (which we sure do have here, too) we got a great tip from a grower at the orchid club meeting last week - a tablespoon of vinegar to a gallon of water lowers the pH by about 3/10ths . So my pH 7.6 water needs 2 tablespoons of vinegar per gallon to get it down to neutral.

On the phosphorus front though - just about all water in Florida has naturally occurring phosphorus so that pretty much puts paid to any thought of growing Protea here, I think. Unless . . . I invest in a Reverse-osmosis system and make my own pure, neutral water . . hmmm. It would save us buying bottled water for hurricane season, too.

I keep thinking about an RO system too. I wish I could put in a whole house system to save my water heater and faucets from all of the calcium build up, but I've nowhere to put one.

Oh, those photos just about stopped my heart. What a drop dead beautiful flower that is.

My sons both have RO systems; they both live in areas where water softeners are necessary and drinking that salty softened water is horrible. The units go under their sinks and they have both run lines to the refrigerators so they get cold RO water and ice. They keep encouraging us to put a system in but, so far, our water is OK.

Gorgeous pics, RJ!

Beautiful!

@crowgarden

Which protea (I presume) are these?