Becky's MGs Part 7

All my tropical hibiscus died last year. I'm not going to try to grow them again....

Debra - Your orange hibiscus photo is so pretty! I didn't have any hibiscus at all in my yard ... yep! Here I live in tropical Florida where everyone has hibiscus and palm trees and I have neither in my yard. Well ... that is until recently.

Emma sent me 2 cuttings of Confederate Rose (Hibiscus Mutabilis). One made it and the other died for some reason. Not sure why. But the survivor made up for it. It hasn't bloomed yet, but sure looks nice and healthy!

I need more shrubs in my garden beds to anchor them. Emma sent me some other hibiscus which are much smaller cuttings but not sure if any of them will make it. Time will tell. After seeing the bloom photos of this one, I'm so glad this one plant made it!

I hope Koko is reading this thread. Got these seeds, Abutilon Red, which will be a bush. It actually has bloom buds on it! That just amazes me as these were grown from seed late winter/early spring of this year.

Here is a close-up view of the buds on the Abutilon. :-)

Emma was very generous and sent me a box full of goodies ... and another was this Hawaiian Sunset Vine (Stictocardia beraviensis). At first it went into shock in the heat here, but made a nice recovery after a few weeks. Can't wait to see some blooms on this beauty! I'd never heard of it before until now ...

Emma also sent me this which was much smaller, but has grown and bloomed quite a bit for me. This is a Chinese Foxglove (Rehmannia elata). I just love it and so does the hummer! :-)

This message was edited Jul 1, 2009 7:09 PM

There are 4 Blue Sky Vines (Thunbergia grandiflora) that I grew from seed in this pot and they are already about 3-4 ft. tall. I am really curious to see what the blooms look like. No buds yet ...

This pot has 2 Corkscrew (Vigna caracalla) vines growing in it. I got the seeds from Elsa. Thanks Elsa! They were also started the early part of this year from seeds.

This is a Double White Butterfly Pea (Clitoria ternatea 'Alba') grown from seed. Thanks to Colin for this beautiful plant!

This message was edited Jul 1, 2009 7:06 PM

And here is a bloom on the Butterfly Pea plant. :-)

Debra has sent me two small boxes of goodies and hope to get some of them potted up into larger pots. Her I. batatas are gorgeous! Wait until you see the variegated pink. white, and green leaves on one of them! Ooooh! So pretty!!! They need to be potted up into larger pots because they grow so fast! :-) Will share photos of Debra's plants later this week. :-)

I do not know what this one is. And I am not even sure who I got the seeds from to ask them. But it is a very pretty vine. No buds yet...

Always nice to see your garden flowers, Becky...and yes, that Hawk is after your Doves. They are one of their favorite prey.

gardenpom - Oh dear! I am sorry that I am putting the doves at risk at my bird feeder. I don't know what to do to protect them from the Hawk. Any ideas? I was hoping the hawk was more interested in the rats as they are smaller. :-(

Now this plant is my biggest surprise. It is Passiflora incarnata. Shawna shared the seeds with me. :-) Thanks Shawna! It is your most commonly grown Passiflora. I grew it from seed earlier this year. When I looked at it today, I see flower buds! I was shocked!!! I've never seen flowers on a Passiflora vine that was grown from seed and only a few months old! Most of the time they don't bloom until their second year. Isn't that something????

They will take whatever is easiest, Doves are fairly good targets, but they will take a rat if one surfaces. I rarely see a rat in the daytime. They will go after any bird at a feeder. You can't prevent it, they have to eat also. That's why I keep my feeders close to cover, especially during the winter when the Painted and Indigo Buntings arrive.

Here is a close-up of the bloom bud! Pretty cool, huh? :-) :-) The leaves on most of my Passiflora starts are chewed up because I allow the Gulf Fritillary caterpillars to munch on them. I then collect the cats and move them into the cage and feed them leaves from my monster Passiflora vines growing on the east fence. :-)

Here is a link to what the Gulf Fritillary butterflies look like:
http://www.cirrusimage.com/butterfly_gulffrit.htm

gardenpom - I have several large bushes/small trees (Cassia and Wild Lime) within about a 3-4 feet of the bird feeder that are pretty dense with branches and foliage. The Cardinals and Bluejays use it, but the Doves just want to fly straight up and out of my yard. The Hawk probably grabs them everytime. Drat!!! :-(

I always thought Hawks would chase their prey in the air, but I read somewhere they usually grab them on the ground or at a feeder. Once they take off the Doves have the advantage.

Thanks gardenpom! Interesting information!

No MG bloom photos today. I had lots of blooms, but it would just be a repeat of what has already been posted, so figured I'd spare everyone the agony of looking at the same cultivar of blooms.

For those of you who sent me seeds other than MGs, please know that I do try to grow many of those seeds out, too. My yard is still pretty barren, so I have lots of room for more plants and vines besides MGs! Thank you for sharing them with me! :-)

This message was edited Jul 1, 2009 8:18 PM

i just love how you manage your 'pests' Becky... a very forward thinking way of gardening... impressive :-)

I just love the leaves on this plant (http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/fp.php?pid=6765304). Please keep me in mind should you be so lucky to ge tseeds on the Stictocardia beraviensis. The Chinese Foxglove reminds me of the Sout African foxglove (http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/897/) . Ours is a whole lot more "washed out". I like the Chinese one's color more... Please save me some seed. :-)

Elsa

All so beautiful Becky!! Such an oasis you have! You are going to love the clock vine, the flowers are stunning. I grew one in a pot for a couple of seasons until I lost it to mites. Here is a pic of my flower from 2 summers ago.

It is so nice to be able to pop in from work today ... love that clock vine bloom, Ronnie.
Becky, I love your place.... I use Watkins skin lotion to ward off mosquitoes..
I am really loving the way you grow things, can I move there? LOL I have a vine like the one you posted grown from seed, I have the tag on it, but will look at it when I get home..
my passies are budding too and never thought I would see that. Love the pea flower vine I have a white like that and a two toned one.. yours is much much bigger.. found a cat on my tomatoe vine and it was a big bushy white one, put it in the bug cage and it ate the chinese bean hicynth leaves( loved it) and then folded itself into a tomatoe leaf, which is now dry.. is it dead? Did I kill it? oh dear..

Elsa - If I get seeds from those, I will certainly share some with you! :-) I asked about the ID of my unknown vine on the Plant ID forum and have not gotten an answer yet. :-(

Ronnie - Love that Clock vine bloom! Quite pretty! I didn't know it also went by that name.

Hey Debra! Let me know about the ID name of the mystery vine that I have.

Most likely the caterpillar you have is a moth cat. And they normally WILL roll themselves up in the leaves. Sometimes they do it to change into their coccoon or to rest and shed their skin for a larger cat body. Moth cats can usually eat different plants that are similiar, whereas most of the butterfly cats eat a specific plant or species of plant. Anything else offered to them and they die by starvation.

My Gulf Fritillary cats will only eat Passiflora plants. Nothing else. Monarch cats will only eat Milkweed species of plants. Black Swallowtail cats will eat parsley and dill here and some wild plants of which I don't remember the names off hand, etc ... So whatever you find them munching on is probably a host plant and that's what they need to be fed. If you want to raise butterflies, it's best to know what to feed the caterpillars. I've been raising caterpillars for 5 years now. The most butterflies I've released in a year was something around 500 - 550. It is time consuming to care for them and they do eat a LOT of leaves, so you have to have plenty of the host plants available in your yard and in the wild to keep them from starving to death.

What is "Watkins skin lotion"? Never seen that brand here. I know "Skin so Soft" by Avon used to be good for warding off Mosquitos. Though I don't know if it still works as they might have changed the ingredients.

I do love Florida as far as gardening goes, but the hurricanes can sometimes be a concern. And the humid high temps here in the summer are not pleasant. But I can grow plants here pretty much year round, so that is always a big plus! :-) I've been getting a lot of rain lately and that always motivates the plants in pots and the ground to grow and look nice and healthy! :-) Plus a little fertilizer. :-)

Someone on the Plant ID Forum just ID'ed the vine for me. It is a Mexican Creeper. Just the name alone made me think it might be invasive, so I looked it up: http://www.state.hi.us/dlnr/dofaw/hortweeds/species/antlep.htm

It is on the invasive list in Hawaii. I bet that means that it is also invasive in Florida!?

It is a very attractive vine with lovely bloom clusters. Looks like another one I am going to have to grow in a pot or an isolated area. LOL!

Here is a close-up of the leaves.

Hmmm ... It also goes by the name of Pink Coral vine and this site sure makes it sound beautiful. Butterflies like it and bet hummers do too! Hmmm ... sounds like a great container plant!!!
http://onaleeseeds.bizhosting.com/pink_coral_vine_seeds_antigonon_leptopus_aka_mexican_creeper_corallita.html

my Fritillary cats eat my chinese bean lablab, the monarch s have plenty of milkweeds here, and the swallowtails hang out by the mint, monarda and vege garden.. will update on the wrapped up in leaf cat later.. am I supposed to feed it while wrapped up? LOL

THATS IT!!!!!!! ;) pink coral vine, mine is all over the fence back and front.. no blooms YET.

Here are some photos I managed to take today. Everything is so green because it's been overcast with rain every afternoon. I love it!!! Sure beats the dry heat of a few weeks ago. :-)

Here is a photo of my back fence this morning. Vines back there are still going strong! :-)

As you can see, I have several different cultivars growing back there, so I have to tag all the blooms which is quite time consuming every morning! When I do the next grow-out back there, I will grow the same cultivar in each container so that I don't have to tag them. I should have learned by now! Sheesh ...

Debra - I wonder if your cat is a Wooly Bear caterpillar? Yes, continue to provide a fresh leaf or two each day or however fast it eats them. They often curl up in the leaves when they are shedding skin or growing. They take a break from eating to morph to the next size. :-) When they go into a coccoon, they will probably do so on the ground/bottom of your cage. Most moths like to burrow in dirt to morph into moths! :-) It's cool to observe all of that! :-)

The Pink Coral Vine needs full sun to bloom is what Onalees website says. Hmmm ... gotta find a good sunny spot for that bad boy! :-) And they can be invasive in Florida! LOL! Naturally ... I always pick those kind! LOL!

Here is Diluted Fuji no Muraski blooms. Pollen is so scarce on these blooms! Makes me so mad!!! Grrrr... I am going to grow another vine out along my picket fence where it should get more sun. Maybe that would help?!

Well, apparently more seed from my Pink Flaked I. purpurea fell into the pot as I was taking the dead vines down. I threw a few of the Purple Flaked seeds in there and want to grow a couple of both the Pink and Purple to cross them. Will wait until they bloom for the first time before I start weeding out some of these vines. I certainly don't need 30 vines growing in this one pot. LOL!

I am gonna start a new thread as there is over a hundred posts already. Go here for thread #8: http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1010037/


This message was edited Jul 2, 2009 7:09 PM