Blooming and Growing In July

Crinum 'Ellen Bosanquet'. The lighting for taking pictures is terrible this evening from all the clouds, but at least this one has sturdy enough petals it seems unscathed by the rain.

Very purty Tom:)) Doesn't Ellen smell great?!

I wish my Ellen would bloom this year- first summer after overwintering and got off to a late start.

A friend pointed these out at PDN's Fall open house last year because the pots were bulging with bulbs- better value:-)

Zephyranthes 'Confection' wearing today's rain drops.

Shari - very cool pic of 'Confection' with the raindrops. I can tell by looking that it's one of the 'Labuffarosea' family.

Beautiful Shari:))

Here are some pics from today. This is Crinum 'Carolina Beauty' - an old hybrid that is easy to grow and very fragrant.

Double tiger lily again... these are the last blooms for this year.

Here's Lilium 'Black Beauty' in full bloom. At the bottom you can see Eucomis 'Sparkling Burgundy' getting overgrown by the lilies - they have gotten larger and multiplied in the years since I first planted them. In the beginning there was enough room for everything but not anymore. I also need to trim the shrubs but I'm going to wait until the lilies are done blooming to avoid breaking them.

Thanks Tom; so you keep your gloriosas in pots? Ours are in the ground and they "wander" all over the place. Maybe I'll pot one up and then sink the pot and see if it will stay in ne place and multiply.

Your Black Beauty is awesome.

ardesia - I keep mine in pots because I don't think they'd survive over the winter in the ground here. It is their nature to "wander" as they form new rhizomes each year. If you grow them in a container you have to give them enough horizontal space to grow forward (about 6"-10") and replant them in fresh soil every year as I explained earlier. If you tried to leave them in the same container year after year, the rhizomes would run out of room and hit the edge and be forced to curve up or down, neither of which would be healthy for the plant. I suppose if you're growing them in the ground you could dig up the rhizomes during the winter when they are dormant, rearrange them to suit you, and then cover with enough soil to prevent freezing until they sprout in the spring.

Tom, we have such poor, mucky clay soil here and mine never multiply. If I am lucky I'll find one at the most in a different location. I think I will sink a large shallow rubbermaid container with holes into the soil and fill it with a good planting mix. It will be interesting to see if they multiply in better soil.

Back in June I found this poor litte thing coming up through an azalea. It had been beaten to the ground in one of our freaky rain storms.

This message was edited Jul 22, 2009 5:56 AM

More crinums are blooming now after the rain. Here's 'Bradley'. 'Elizabeth Traub' is also blooming (no pics... after a while all the large, pink/magenta crinums start to look alike).

Anisacanthus wrightii ...

Lilium pyrophilum

Tom, I took a picture of a plant called Texas Hummingbird Bush today. It was at a small nursery and that was all that was on the label. Do you think it is an Aniscanthus?

ardesia - yes, it's Anisacanthus quadrifidus ... closely related. The bright red variety like I have is known as Anisacanthus quadrifidus var wrightii or just Anisacanthus wrightii. There's also a cultivar 'Pumpkin' that has orange/yellow flowers. All of them are great hummingbird attractors.

Thanks Tom, I'll have to go back and buy that plant; anything that attracts hummers is high on the list.

Where were you Ms. Alice? Inquiring minds want to know...

Tom, I love all of the pink crinums and your anisacanthus puts mine to shame.


Bronze fennell with Daylily 'All Fired Up' in the background

Why, I was visiting the Plantfolks, Ned and Faye Miss Jen.

This is hydrangea paniculata "Tardiva". It's pretty new in my garden- I bought them on ebay 'cause I heard they bloom later than other hydrangeas. I love the blooms. This one is about 3 weeks old and is just starting to fade a bit. The blooms are huge, too, this one is about 14" long.

Coleus 'Sedona'. It hasn't been easy to find this cultivar this year. The bright colored one in the back has been in the ground in full sun for a while. The blah colored one in the front was sitting in the shade waiting for me to plant it. If I didn't know what it was going to do once placed in the sun, I don't know that I would have bought the drab little plant!

Cute little zinnia. These flowers always seem so happy to me.

Where did you finally find the Sedona???

Orange Prince Philodendron with Black Prince peeking out and Neon Pothos snaking around.

Hedys are just so tired this year. The daily downpours and the intense heat have been too much for them.

bordersandjacks - that is a really cool hydrangea!

The hedychiums are starting to bloom - this orange one is first. I have no idea about the name... a lot of my hedychiums have grown together and the tags are long since buried or lost.

Closeup of the orange hedychium...

The two most likely suspects are Hedychium coccineum var. aurantiacum 'Flaming Torch' or Hedychium 'Elizabeth'. I think it's probably the PDN 'Flaming Torch' based on its growth pattern and spread. But that's just a guess.

This message was edited Jul 30, 2009 12:33 AM

Here is a hymenocallis that's getting overrun by the hedychiums. When they were first planted they had enough space but not anymore.

Crinum 'Elizabeth Traub' - looks like a slightly larger version of 'Ellen Bosanquet' (but if you had them side by side it would be a challenge to tell them apart).

Achimines pulcherrima has just started to bloom...

Yikes Tom, looks like you've been at it for a while. I keep expecting you to run out of blooming plants but you seem to have one bloom right after another. Good job.

Why is everyone's hedychium blooming but mine?

X

X - it depends on the type of hedychium you have (some will bloom in July, others not until October) as well as local weather conditions... warm + wet = earlier flowers, dry/hot and/or cooler = later flowers. So far this summer, it's been about average for heat and only a bit below average for rain... and the forecast for the rest of this week promises a good chance of rain. I'm hoping the predictions are correct :-)

CoreHHI - Thanks! All of the pics I posted earlier were taken today (July 28th). Really, my yard looks kinda crappy. The pics are all camera angles, aperture, and exposure ... DSLRs are fun! To quote from Paul Simon....

Grrrrrrr .... Now you've done it .. I've been repotting plants all morning to go in my now scrupulously clean greenhouse (washed it inside and out this last weekend) and Kodachrome is stuck in my head.

The Peach Delight and White Butterfly usually start blooming around the end of August. I've got Gold Flame and Daniel Weeks via a trade this year so I don't know when they will start, along with some Curcuma. The canna have been late this year .. Journey's End Bloomed once and Bengal Tiger started last week, Chocolate Cherry is just putting out leaves. Everything gets fed once a week and watered daily if needed.

Deb, my lisanthus finally started to bloom .. I'll take some pictures later on. Just came in to check the radar (spose to rain this afternoon) and grab a bite of lunch. Still have a long ways to go as far as reloading the greenhouse. Hopefully I can get it done before the weather turns and it gets even windier.

X

Neat achimenes Tom. I just planted some that I got in an end of the season sale and they are looking good already. Hope they are as pretty as yours are.

Just one new picture from today... Crinum 'White Prince' - first year it's bloomed for me. Not too thrilled with this one - looks very similar to powellii album and has a slightly medicinal/disinfectant type scent typical of C. bulbispermum hybrids.