To prune or not to prune? and also an alfalfa question.

[Beverly]

Today i transplanted a Murraya paniculata (Orange Jasmine) from a pot to the soil. I grew it from a seed, i guess it is somewhere between 9 months to 12 months of age. It is 37" (94cm) in height. This plant can grow as a bush or a tree. I would like to grow it to be a bushy tree. This will grow to a height of 8 to 15 feet (2.5 to 4.5m) with a spread of 6 to 12 feet (1.8 to 3.6m).

It has just been transplanted and has new growth, like all the other plants in the garden. It is good weather for growing.

You can see that some of the branches are spindly. My question is whether i should prune the tree now? or perhaps later would be better? If now, how would i best prune it?

Another question...the tree is accompanied by some salvias and dichondra. I have some alfalfa seeds and wonder if i can plant a small group of alfalfa plants behind the tree. Pollinators love it and i can also use it as "green manure" for the other plants. I have no experience growing alfalfa and always thought that if someone wants to grow alfalfa, they need a field. If someone has experience with alfalfa, i would appreciate your ideas about growing alfalfa in a group of 4-6 plants. I don't want to grow plants that require staking here. Thank you.

 

[Tjohn]

Here alfalfa grows as a spindly looking , weedy sort of plant, not very full as an individual. on the other
hand, it is very hardy, so it's easy to grow.

 

[Beverly]

Thank you @Tjohn. I am looking for a nitrogen fixing plant for this area and am thinking of clover repens (for my climate) and alfalfa. Not only because they are nitrogen fixing plants but because they attract pollinators. Not too concerned what they look like...i figured with the alfalfa in a small clump, they would hold each other up

 

[Larisa]

@Beverly
Wonderful Murraya! My Murraya from seeds is only 7 cm (about 3 inches). But she already had flowers.
I am a supporter of shaping pruning. I cut even wild trees near the house.
Murraya can be cut now. I would cut it like this.

Salvias and dichondra are an excellent choice. As for alfalfa in the garden - I do not know. I think she looks a little disheveled in solitary plantings.

Do you grow sedum? They can bloom at different times. And they are excellent melliferous.

 

[Beverly]

A great big THANK YOU @Larisa is there no end to your brilliance? I will follow your prune pattern and i will do it today. Do you have the same Murraya paniculata or a different species? That it would bloom at 7cm is amazing. Did the flowers have fragrance? It is so heavenly.

I am not good with succulents, i feel sorry for them and give too much water so i haven't tried Sedums. I am even worse with cacti. People say to just give them a little water, but i don't know what that means and pretty soon little mushrooms are growing in the pots...by that time it is too late to save the cacti.

I do have 9 Agastache seedlings growing of 3 different species and also Ageratum. And i am in the process of starting Lagerstroemia indicus seeds. The seedlings won't be ready to be transplanted to the garden for another month though.

I need something in the legume family (Fabaceae) that will add nitrogen to the soil. I don't want anything that needs to be staked. That's why i thought of Alfalfa, but i am a little bit afraid of planting it. I ordered Trifolia repens (called clover in english) that will work in my climate as a ground cover, also a "green manure" legume family plant that will grow much shorter than the alfalfa.

 

[Larisa]

@Beverly I prefer Murraya paniculata. I love it's fragrance and unpretentiousness.

That it would bloom at 7cm is amazing.

This is normal for plants that we grow ourselves. In the photo, not my plant, but very similar. Seedlings always bloom and have a pleasant and strong flavor. Each new growth gives buds.


But if you buy a Dutch plant in the shop, then the flowering is very bad. We do not buy. Is your Murraya flowering well? Often?

Agastache sometimes called "Mexican mint". Show me when it blooms.
I also want to plant a blue ageratum this year. In front of the orange marigolds.
I loveTrifolia repens since childhood. Good luck with the siderates!

 

[Beverly]

Ah, what a beautiful little Murraya flower. I realize now that growing indoors as opposed to growing outdoors requires an entirely different set of gardening skills. I have two Muraya p., one that grew in a large container and one that grew in a much smaller container to prepare for planting in the garden. The Mp that grew in the smaller container has not bloomed at all, the one in the larger container (they were started at the same time from seed about in the middle of 2016 outside), bloomed in October or November of 2016 during the rainy season and the blooms were washed away by heavy rains. They had only 2 or 3 days blooming. Now the one in the container is making seeds. The one in the garden has just been pruned and has new growth...still waiting for blooms.

I have read that the Murraya p. will bloom all year here, but the plants i have are fairly new. We will see how the one planted in the garden does compared to the one in the container. I do think the one in the container will appreciate more direct sun so i will probably move it. With more sun, perhaps it will bloom more profusely and more often.

I have 3 species of Agastache seedlings, Agastache cana (Heather Queen) that should bloom pink, mauve, or rose. Agastache Mosquito Hyssop (Bolero) will produce purple hues with bronze foliage. Agastache mexicana (Sangria) will produce pink to magenta, red orange, or purple flowers. Here are most of them in their starter pots

Only one Ageratum "Blue Horizon" germinated. It is a small plant and tiny seedling but it appears to be healthy and growing well. I am hoping it will reseed itself. This little one likes rich soil so i'll have to remember that when it is ready to be planted in the garden. The Blue Ageratum will look beautiful with Marigolds.

All of these i am growing as perennials and yes i will send photos when they bloom. What are siderates? I did look it up but it said it was obsolete meaning "struck down by force" or something like that so maybe you can tell me more about this word? I am curious

 

[Beverly]

I forgot the photo of the Ageratum seedling or at least i think it is Ageratum, it should be an Ageratum but it is starting to look like a tiny Agastache, Hummm, i have a few Ageratum seeds left. I think i will try again to germinate these last few.

 

[Larisa]

Ciderates (green fertilizers) are plants grown for the purpose of their subsequent embedding in the soil to improve its structure, enrichment with nitrogen and inhibit the growth of weeds.
As an example - beans: peas, vetch, annual lupine, clover, beans, beans ..

I think you have to Murraya "Dutch type of flowering."
This would be interesting as an experiment, so you planted my seeds when my Murraya grows a little for this.

 

[Beverly]

Thanks for the new word @Larisa, i still don't find it in any English dictionaries online or on sites about green manure and it doesn't sound like a Russian language word (i did learn some Russian in school a thousand years ago) maybe there is some small difference in the spelling? i am puzzled, but it is not important because now i know what you mean when you use it.

How large is your Murraya expected to become? Is it possible that it is especially bred to be a house plant? I can't remember where i purchased my seeds, but i think most likely they were from Chiltern's in UK but now when i look at the photo on the Chilterns site i notice that my leaves are more rounded than theirs. Still there is no reference to a variety.

Do you think your Murraya will produce seeds? Do you think it is possible for us to send seeds to each other? Mexico customs is not fussy about seeds coming into the country for personal use. How is Russian customs? Can you receive seeds from Mexico? Egad, i don't even remember the alphabet. How could i address an envelope?

Well it would be an interesting to exchange seeds if you think it is possible. There must be something you would like from here.

 

[Larisa]

How large is your Murraya expected to become? Is it possible that it is especially bred to be a house plant?

@Beverly
I do not know what size my Murraya can reach. We do not grow too large plants in the city. When they grow up, I take a stalk or seeds from it and grow it again.
I do not think that this sort of special for the home.

Do you think your Murraya will produce seeds? Do you think it is possible for us to send seeds to each other? Mexico customs is not fussy about seeds coming into the country for personal use. How is Russian customs? Can you receive seeds from Mexico? Egad, i don't even remember the alphabet. How could i address an envelope?

Well it would be an interesting to exchange seeds if you think it is possible. There must be something you would like from here.

I think that our dreams must come true! No problems!
I'll tell you when the seeds are.

 

[Beverly]

@Larisa Okay, but you don't know all the plants that i have and you may have interest in receiving seeds from some plants. I will let you know when i have fresh seeds of something and you can let me know if you are interested. So i would like to know the logistics of getting some seeds to you before hand. If this is new to you, and you are not sure, let me know and i can check with the postal service here in Colima. We can't just giveth, we have to taketh as well if we wanteth, of course. I love this idea of a "hands across the ocean" kind of collaboration. I am beginning to understand more about how indoor gardening works, but still i will remain an out of doors gardener because i can grow year around and it makes me happy, except when the slugs and cutter ants chew my plants to near death...this is not so happy.