03/22/20 Weekend Update

I mentioned on last update that I severely pruned my schefflera cuttings. I also mentioned I took the fresh cuttings, bundled them, and placed them in water until I could plant them up. That's what I did - here's a picture of the newly planted cuttings:

 As for what the scheffleras look like after their pruning, here's a new picture of them. Notice they look exactly like they did last week, lol: 

Hey, so the weather is starting to warm up. Overnight lows are now above freezing, so I decided to move my tropicals to the front porch. At least the ones that I'm fairly confident should be okay with such low temps. Here's a picture of a Ficus retusa 'tiger bark' planted in one of my octopots: 

Yeah yeah, it's a shit picture. Oh well. The tree is still in training, so not much to see, really. Here's a picture of a Ficus Virens (white fig) that I acquired in the fall. It too has moved out to its warm weather quarters on the porch: 

I really don't know shit about this particular type of ficus. I do love the new growth. See the bronze red leaves? When they first emerge, they're actually pink, then slowly turn green.  Awesome, right?
Being that I decided it was now warm enough to start keeping most of my tropicals outside, I decided it was time to set up the benches Aaron made me. Which meant I needed to re-arrange trees. I moved the temperate trees that were hanging around on the porch to the side of the house. While I was at it, I re-arranged all the trees and struck down the boards  they were previously sitting on, replacing them with the benches. I repurposed the cinder block and set aside the boards to be used later - maybe for firewood. Here's a picture of the temperate trees. It's a work in progress, but I wanted to show off the benches my son made me: 

One more picture of the benches: 

While I was out there, I noticed the dwarf rhodie is about to bloom. You can see the flower buds in that last picture. Or, you can wait until I take pictures of the tree in actual bloom. Soon.
Striking down the old benches and setting up new ones forced me to arrange my trees in a way that made more sense. It also allowed me to clear the benches of stuff that really didn't belong there. Specifically Aaron's stuff (raspberries, blackberries, strawberries). It's still cold overnight, but every day, the weather gets a bit warmer. Except those days that it rains. It's the pacific northwest, so it's going to rain. A LOT. 
All I have for now.