# My other hobby-lot o pics



## Obsidian (Jun 17, 2015)

One of my other hobbies if you can call it that is plants, particularly flowering ones. Here are a few from this year.

Fuchsias, the white one is nearly big as my hand






snap dragons, i can't take credit for these as I just bought them.





mini roses





red thyme with my bearded dragon


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## Obsidian (Jun 17, 2015)

Some orchids.

Phalanopsis





Oncidium sharry baby, this one smells like chocolate


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## Obsidian (Jun 17, 2015)

My real passion though is african violets. I lost nearly my whole collection a few years back and am just now starting to rebuild it. Luckily they are easy to propagate from leaves and the wonderful members of a violet forum are helping me out.

Optical Illusion





Emerald City





A mix of stuff, the plastic trays in back are my african violet leaves, I will get a few babies from each leaf.





some baby AV's and a cactus. The one's in the very back in the big container I started from seeds


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## Obsidian (Jun 17, 2015)

and lastly, some cactus and lithops

a mix tray of succulents, some AV's and a couple orchids





a pot of lithops, we call these butt crack plants


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## kumudini (Jun 17, 2015)

I love gardening. Hoping to start again after the move. For now, just holding on to my jasmine and the Rosemary that I had indoors for the winter. Love your flowers Obsidian, lovely colors, beautiful collection.


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## TeresaT (Jun 17, 2015)

Those are AMAZING!  I love flowering plants and plants in general; however, I have the kiss of death when it comes to growing things.  Bless you for keeping the world oxygenated!


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## Seawolfe (Jun 17, 2015)

Will you come to my house and landscape the yard with xerics and succulents please please oh please?!?!


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## lsg (Jun 17, 2015)

You have a very green thumb.  They are all beautiful.


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## navigator9 (Jun 17, 2015)

Oh wow......those are gorgeous!


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## Obsidian (Jun 17, 2015)

Seawolfe said:


> Will you come to my house and landscape the yard with xerics and succulents please please oh please?!?!



That would be bad, very very bad. I can grow them but I have no talent for landscaping. I stuff plants in willy nilly and hope for the best lol.

I'm getting better with my plants. The real trick is to grow easy varieties, anything too picky and I will kill it.


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## Rowan (Jun 17, 2015)

I love your fuscias and African violets.  I almost joined a fuscia club in the UK but didn't have enough time with kids, work and the important soap making.  Fuscia's are surprisingly hardy. One lady had them growing in the stones on her beach front property. They survived the cold, storms and sea water!  your flowers are beautiful!


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## fuzz-juzz (Jun 17, 2015)

Lovely plants! I am really partial to cactus and succulents. Yours are looking great and healthy.
I love gardeing but can't keep a lot due to the cat who will eat anything green. I have rose next to front door and some succulents at the back. He's not an outside cat, but from time to time he'll accidentally bolt outside and chew on first green thing he finds. We have a pot of cat grass which he eats (but it soon ends up on the carpet lol).
I have few fruit trees and will always have some sort of season veg. We currently grow cauliflower, broccoli,  onions...
And in summer I always try to plant few sunflowers, my all time favourite.


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## Obsidian (Jun 17, 2015)

I love fuchsia but have consistently killed them. This is the first year I've been able to keep them healthy but I did manage to loose one earlier when it was still cold.

I don't have room for a garden but I did clear a small spot for tomatoes, I have 11 tomatoe plants, 6 various hot peppers, strawberries for the first time (they aren't doing so good). I also have blue berry plants, a goji berry plant, sweet and sour cherries, asian pear tree, apples, blackberry and a josta berry.

I'd have more fruit/berries but I'm pretty much out of room. I am really thinking about trying a almond tree, they are beautiful when they bloom and one of my favorite nuts.


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## Khanjari (Jun 17, 2015)

Awesome! !!! You definitely have a green thumb!!!!


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## fuzz-juzz (Jun 17, 2015)

Strawberries are hopeless, at least for me, never had luck with them.
I grow trees in big pots because of space. They stay small but still give fruit. I have 1m tall fig tree that gave me around 2-3kg of lovely dark figs, perfect for jam. 
I also have 3 worm farms and a compost heap. I could talk about gardening all day haha.
It's a very rewarding hobby.


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## Dahila (Jun 17, 2015)

how lucky you are Obsidian, not to have allergies on pollen.  I can have them only in my garden and I am pretty obsessed with flowers too ) 
Yours are beautiful


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## snappyllama (Jun 17, 2015)

Those are all gorgeous... I'm so envious of folks with green thumbs.  When I buy plants, I try to get ones that look suicidal since I'm going to end up killing them anyway.  It's a good thing that only annuals make it up here, I can *mostly* keep them alive for the summer.


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## cmzaha (Jun 17, 2015)

The plants are gorgeous but I will take the Beardy. I used to have a breeding pair of peacock geckos, a pair of Blue Panther Chams that hated each other :-( no never had success with them breeding. A pair of Jacksons and the little witch female killed her partner, before I could get them separated, and he was a sweetie. Then there was the hateful Veiled Chameleon, they are not nice chameleons. Bearded dragons and 2 full grown iguanas. LOL, can you tell I like lizards...


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## doriettefarm (Jun 17, 2015)

The bearded dragon is very cool! I have reptile envy . . . my boring, non-exotic crew consists of horses, goats, chickens, cats & dogs.  :mrgreen:


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## Obsidian (Jun 17, 2015)

I have a lemon tree in pot, it currently has one lemon and more blossoms on the way. There is also a mini pomegranate, it blooms but never has had fruit. I think its on the way to being a bonsai.

I have a thing for lizards too. I've had leos, cresties, blue tongue skinks, various snakes, uros, electric blue geckos and at one time, I breed tarantulas and had over 100. Beardies are my favorite though. I still have one corn snake and three tarantulas.


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## fuzz-juzz (Jun 17, 2015)

I have reptile and tarantula envy. 
If I had any of those, my parents or relatives would never come to visit... or it might actually be good idea to get some. :shifty:
I looove chooks but have no space for them ATM. I'm stuck with a cat and fish tank. I love silver dollars, they are such a great fish.


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## Obsidian (Jun 17, 2015)

Here is a bunch of my past tarantulas, all are mine except for the very last photo of the giant one, thats from google. I did have that kind of T though, he just never got that big.
http://smg.photobucket.com/user/waldo_20012001/library/bugs?sort=3&page=1


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## jules92207 (Jun 18, 2015)

Whoa. First I'm super impressed with your beautiful greenery, second your animal passion is so cool. Love all the spiders! Well done you!


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## fuzz-juzz (Jun 18, 2015)

Wow! They are so cool. I love the babies, so small and gentle, I think I never saw tarantulas like that.


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## DeeAnna (Jun 18, 2015)

Lovely plants and cute lizard! 

Say, my mom was asking me about her old African violet -- it's a long stemmy thing with a tuft of leaves on the outer end of the stem. It looks healthy, but ugly. Is propagating a new violet the only way to renew this plant? Or can I just plant it deeper? Or ???


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## Obsidian (Jun 18, 2015)

Tarantulas are really interested critters to keep. Looking at my old pics makes me miss them. I spent all morning browsing spiderlings at my favorite dealers site. Wonder if hubby would be upset if I order a few

Deeanna, thats what we call a palm tree and it's fairly easy to fix. Here is a nice guide with good pics, http://houseplantguru.blogspot.com/2011/09/african-violet-tree.html

If the stem is really long, it may have to be cut to the point it has no more roots. This is ok as they re-root easy but it should be kept under a dome for 3-4 weeks. Give it a gentle tub after 3 weeks to see if its grown roots and is anchored in the dirt. During this kind of treatment I like to pull off a couple leaves to propagate just in case something goes wrong.

Can I ask how old this violet is and is it a named variety? There are some people who are trying to find and preserve vintage violets but it can be hard to find them if the grower isn't a member of the violet association.


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## soapmage (Jun 18, 2015)

Obsidian said:


> red thyme with my bearded dragon



Beautiful! And the flowers are pretty too.


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