Blooming & Growing in August

My Lisianthus that I grew from seed this year and lost most of them started blooming finally. Only have 4 plants out of 50 seedlings. I like the way the buds look as much as the flowers! Hopefully I'll get more seeds from the ones that made it.

Very pretty! Aren't their seeds really tiny?

Yes they are and germination is erratic. Some came up in a few days and others took weeks.

X

They really are pretty. I love those flowers but it is too hot for them down here. Big sigh....

Really Alice? Mine are in full blazing hot sun and don't mind if they dry out a bit. They are listed as heat and drought tolerant.

X

I didn't know you could grow Lisianthus in the South. Cool!

Somehow the rain keeps missing us... heavy showers all around but in my yard there has been barely 1/4" of rain in the past week. Maybe we'll get lucky soon.

Here are a few pictures. First is Bessera elegans. I am growing them in a pot on the deck (I kept it on a shelf in the garage last winter).

Crinum 'Emma Jones'. Not looking its best because it fell over before I staked it.

Crinum 'Walter Flory'

I just noticed the pics in PDN's catalog for 'Emma Jones' aren't the right color. http://www.plantdelights.com/Catalog/Current/Detail/03041.html The catalog says "RHS 62B" (Moderate Purplish Pink) which sounds correct, but the flowers in the pic are almost a salmon color. The color sample below is an approximation of RHS 62B (#e677ad).

Love those Bessera! Such a beautiful clear red! If you have any extra bulbs, I'd love to trade for them. You really need to start a trade list Tom! Your flowers are dazzling!

Of all the Crinums I traded for last year, only the Ellen Bosanquet has bloomed .. I really didn't expect any flowers this year so it was a treat .. I also have the Walter Flory. Hopefully they'll have settled in and bloom for me next year.

X

I'll try to get a better picture of Bessera elegans with the macro lens. The flowers have really cool stamens and interior color. I originally got the bulbs from Brent and Becky's a couple of years ago; since then they have become larger w/more flowers and multiplied. If it looks like I have extras this fall I'll be glad to give you some (but please remind me). Here's another pic of C. 'Walter Flory' from a few minutes ago... I cut one of the scapes and also C. 'Carolina Beauty' so I could enjoy them indoors.

Tom, the Bessera and Walter Flory are beautiful! I also love that Achimenes from the end of July:)

From yesterday here's Eucomis pole-evansii. This is the first bloom stalk ever for me from a plant that I've had for at least 3 years. I'm thinking it has appreciated the regular rainfall this year.

I bought this from Plant Delights on the day of the Round Up.

Crocosmia 'Walrhead'

Love those crocosmia! Mine have finished blooming .. is it worth saving seeds? I've been debating whether or not to cut the seed head off or go on and let them ripen. Anyone know the time frame of seedling to flower for Crocosmia and do they breed true?

I also have some eucomis .. it was lost in the greenhouse in a pot and is starting to come up again. Trying to decide if I want to trade or keep it.

X

X, it must be our humidity that keeps the lisianthus unhappy.

Tom, all your red flowers are wonderful. I enjoy having that color around for the hummers. I am so envious of you who can grow Crocosmias. They are so beautiful but so terribly invasive here.

chamthy, beautiful crocosmia..I want that badly, lol! My ecomis have all bloomed this year so I am happy. Love the pole-evansii.
Tom, the Achimenes you gave me at the roundup put out its first bloom today! What a lovely surprise:))

Brugmansia Cherub started blooming. At first it looked suspiciously like Frosty Pink. The flower form turned out to be more compact and the coloring is a deeper pink than the Frosty. It's interesting how all brug buds start out white then start to get the coloring as time goes on.

X

Speaking of humidity my strawberry tree (Arbutus unedo) experiment went poorly. Out of three, two have dropped dead recently and I'm not sure exactly what got them. Looks like a combo of heat and humidity. Had them in three different spots of various sun and the one that hasn't died yet is in full sun, sandy soil. I think the summers are just to wet around here for that tree. We'll see if my last tree makes it through the year but I don't see it happening. Oh well don't know till you try.

My tuberose bud are have mildew on the tips .. just too much rain and humidity .. I'm tempted to spray it with lysol.

X

Well I can see why they are called Hidden Gingers. My Curcuma bloomed and had no idea it had bloomed until I spied a hummingbird seemingly attacking my ginger. Don't know the cultivar. The actual flower is very small .. the pinkish bits appear to be modified leaves or sepals.

X

Here is the actual flower.

Since you don't know the name, I would call that one Fangs. :-)

X - great closeup of the curcuma! The "fangs" are so cool.

Sigh... even though areas close to me have had flooding rains, in my neighborhood it's been dry, dry, dry. Maybe we'll get some decent rain later tonight?

The crinums are on their way out but the hedychiums are showing some buds. The orange one I posted in last month's thread is still going strong but the others have yet to bloom. I've also had a few more Lycoris squamigera appear - they just show up on their own schedule.

And now for some new pics... first up is Lilum formosanum. I have lots of these; they seem to migrate around the yard via self-seeding. The voles have long since devoured the bulbs where I planted them originally but I have quite a few they haven't found yet. L. formosanum is like a giant Easter lily. It's hard to get a good picture of white flowers with a bright cloudy sky as background but here's my best attempt from today....

Another difficult subject to photograph is Bessera elegans. The flowers are small and if there's the slightest bit of breeze they sway freely, which means focusing clearly is difficult. Here's a shot from this afternoon...

That is still a good picture with the angle you're point at. Hard to get the back ground balanced right with the flower.

Here is Zephyranthes 'Grandjax' on its second flush of flowers this summer. This is probably my favorite rain lily for both color and floriferousness (is that a word? :-).

Tom I can't believe that you've not had rain. Here I am so close to you and we've been blessed with some almost every day...Not to brag of course...How about now? It's thundering and raining like crazy here.
BTW...the Bessera is amazing. Love it! And the Zephranthes? One that I don't have...yet, lol! Big Dude is putting out some, well...BIG flowers.

X-Agree with Tom about the curcuma pics...the fangs rock;))

I've had rain 3 out of 5 days now but Savannah which is maybe 10 miles from me has gotten hit every afternoon with 2-3 inches a day for the last 5 days. Downtown is crazy wet lately.

I'm certainly not complaining about the rain. We've had severe drought for the last 2 years..I really must get out and remove the wild morning glories from my roses, though. The rain has helped them out way too much, lol! Looks like the dreaded kudzu from the house.

Heh, story of my life so far this summer... it looks like impressive storms heading into my neighborhood tonight. Then they fall apart just west of here and reform a few miles to the east over Knightdale. Result: I get a bit of drizzle in my yard adding up to <¼" Oh, well...

Dang! I was sure that you'd get it this time. It was loud, but has moved on as you said. At least the chicken dog has quit shaking and gone to sleep, lol!

LOL, we have one of those dogs too. We know a storm is near because he goes and hides. Lots and lots of rain here and the plants and I are loving it.

Some friends visited the gardens at Armstrong Atlantic U in Savannah yesterday. I knew they had some unusually aterial but this is what she said.

I really want to go down to Armstrong Atlantic and walk around. Tony Avent put in one of his newsletters that the guy in charge (forgot his name) was a former student of Michael Dirr.

Sounds wonderful! What a trip that seems to have been! I am adding it to the list of places I must see someday.

If you are ever heading to FL it is a nice diversion along the road. AAU is less than 10 minutes off I-95 and the Bamboo Gardens are closer still.

Thanks for the info:) Maybe one of these days life will cease to be so complicated and I can take a nice relaxing road trip.

I finally got my gloriosa lily to do something.The problem was that the "critters" were eating the bulbs.

That is positively glorious!

Got your email but my computer is acting up and didn't want to respond. I wll call you later.

I think this fall on a warm yet not hot day I'll go take a look at Armstrong and the bamboo farm. Wanted to check both of those out but haven't made it yet.

Mixed Gaillardia: