Becky's MGs and Other Plants Part 10

I am a sucker for neglected and sad looking plants at HD. I don't know why they never water their plants. It's sickening that so many healthy plants die because they just don't get watered. A gripe of mine. Anyway ...

This was the last Bouganville Bonsai plant and it looked horrible when I bought it. But I know Bouganville can be pretty hardy and take abuse, so I bought it anyway. I've been nursing it back to health the past 2 weeks and it is finally starting to look like a healthy bonsai. Well, today it bloomed it's first bloom for me! I love it!

HD can do that because they have some kind of contract that allows them to return the plants to the vendor. That's why they never discount their plants. I shop at Lowe's for discounted plants now, and I'm a HD stockholder.

And last, but not least ...

Here is a photo of my poor, sad looking squirrel friend. This was taken 2 days ago. I didn't see this squirrel at the feeder yesterday. I always worry when I don't see it fearing the worst. Well, today it showed up and the swelling is gone from it's face. It was eating and seemed pretty happy! The other squirrels take off when I approach, but this one just sits there and stares at me. Well, I started talking to it! I was so thrilled it looked a lot better. This squirrel came right over to me as I was talking to it. Came within 2 feet of me and just stopped and looked at me. LOL! I don't know if it was trying to figure out what I was saying or if it was hoping to get a peanut, but it sat there for 2 minutes and then scurried away. LOL!

BTW - It may have had a virus Parapox or may have been stung by wasps. The different wasps nest are behind the trellises attached to my backyard fence. The squirrels use that trellis to enter and exit my yard. Sometimes they scurry up the trellis and may have alarmed the wasps and been attacked and stung. I kinda think it was stung and not sick. Poor thing. At least it looks like it is finally on the mend. :-) Yay! And I took care of those dang wasps today! So hopefully we won't be seeing many anymore! You can mess with me, but don't mess with my furry critters! That makes me MAD!!!

Nicole - Thanks for that info! I may drive farther and shop Lowes instead. I have gotten clearanced plants from HD, but that is rare as you mentioned since they seldom discount plants.

BTW, I love your bouganvillia bonsai. It's a beauty. I saw some really pretty ones at Epcot one time.

I wonder, on the bouganvilla to get the Bonsai. I have a cutting that rooted, if I could cut it back
and it would come out of it to make a Bonsai. That is is beautiful little plant. i love Bonsai too.
You did a wonderful job nursing it back to health.

Becky, I'm glad to see your little squirrelly friend is on the mend. In looking back through your pictures I noticed your red porter weed--so lovely. I had the dark blue (or purple?) back in Orlando and the BFs were mad about it. The zebras didn't leave it alone from dawn to dusk. I've never seen either of those plants offered here in VA, nor do I find tall red penta (just those puny pink ones), a personal favorite and favorite of my FL BF's. I feel so fortunate to have been visited by monarchs, yellow, and spice bush swallowtails the past few weeks. We didn't have any our first year, and by FL standards, just a few this year. There were HBs galore though. I had three feeders and all were busy from mid-May until the end of September. I hope as we expand the garden we'll see more. Who knows, I could put out half a dozen feeders. My best attractors of bees of every description was agastaches Black Adder and Blue Fortune (which reached major proportions in its second year). Best attractor of HBs was Salvia elegans and an unnamed self-seeding red variety. The BFs were most interested in the salvias and passionflowers.

Love your bonsai. Isn't nature amazing. Bouganvilla can tear down a trellis in one season, and to see it so sweetly behaved as a bonsai makes me smile.

Becky, any of the pyrethrin sprays will help I'm sure. But you can also
make yellow sticky traps, coat it with cooking oil
and stick it down close to the plant, in the ground, or in the pot.
I use yellow construction paper, cut it to 3 inches high and 8 inches across than fold it in half to wrap it around a stick of some kind,like
a flag waving on both sides of the stick.
I coat it and stick the stick down in the pot, works every time.
Whiteflies are attracted to yellow, then they get stuck to the oil
and can't get free.
I want to plant shoo-fly plant seeds too. Genus Nicandra if I am
remembering correctly. It attracts, then kills the
whiteflies. It will grow in pots in the g house.
A couple of ideas for you anyway.

Patootie, What a good idea. Last time I went to the big box store I think they wanted $12 for a package of 3 of those yellow sticky traps, and they were out of them anyway. Next time I'll try your idea.

Pam, yes very easy to make your own sticky traps at a great savings
You can also coat them with a salve type product like generic Vicks,
that works too. That's what I used in 07. I would have 100 whiteflies stuck to the traps when I went to the g house in the mornings.

Thanks everyone for your nice compliments on my plants. I, too, am very impressed that a Bouganvilla can be grown as a Bonsai. Bouganvilla as Bonsai are all the rage here right now. I am seeing all kinds of Bonsai plants being sold everywhere here this year. Must be the "IN" thing in plants currently! LOL!

I have some small leaf bushes in my front garden that would make excellent Bonsai plants and am now on the hunt for Bonsai dishes to grow them in. I am really fascinated by Bonsai. Another Japanese custom?

I don't know ... I like all kinds of plants, grown all kinds of ways! LOL!

It was so nice to walk around in my yard this evening before dark and not have to worry about wasps. I think I found all their nests in my yard yesterday and eliminated every one of them. I expect to see more Butterflies now since ridding those horrible wasps from my garden.


Pam - It sounds like you are attracting some nice butterfly species into your yard! Cool! The Porterweed is not frost hardy. I think it might be a tropical plant. Mine get ridiculously huge here. About 6' tall by 6' wide. I have to cut them back several times a year. But it seems everything grows large here that's able to survive the heat. I grow a lot of drought tolerant plants in my yard because I do not have an irrigation system. Mostly flowering plants that attract the butterflies and hummers. I envy you all those hummers you get at your feeders! I get one or two ... that's it! LOL! But I am tickled to even see one! :-)

Jackie - Thanks for all the great advice and ideas on how to combat whiteflies! I will definitely look for some pyrethrin spray and also may try your yellow strips idea! I like to be chemical free in my garden as much as possible. :-) Thank you for your help with my pest dilemma. :-) I will look into the Shoo-fly plants, too! :-) I've never had a problem with whitefly, so this is a new pest to my yard. Ugh!


Seed collecting from my MGs is underway. I think my vines are on their way out. I heard this weekend might be a tad bit cooler. I sure hope so! I just can't get out there in this heat right now. It's actually hard for me to breathe outdoors because it is so hot and humid. And I don't smoke or have asthma, or anything else that I am aware of. Everyone I know is complaining about the heat here. I really feel sorry for folks that don't have A/C. I couldn't survive without A/C. And I am praying my unit doesn't break down! Eeek!

Not a whole lot blooming in my yard right now. Most plants are winding down for Winter. But the critters and birds are sure making their apprearance in my backyard.

This is "Stubby". He lost his tail somehow, but it doesn't seem to slow him down. :-)

A male cardinal visiting the feeder.

I love this photo of the Bluejay and the Dove looking at each other. I know the Jay wants the Dove to scram. LOL!

This is a lousy photo taken throught the glass window of my french doors and also through the screen on the porch. The male ruby throat was sitting on the telephone line above the feeder and blooms. A migrating male for sure. Love his pretty red throat! :-) My female was chasing him out of the yard this morning! LOL!

Crazy dove scaling the top birdfeeder roof!

And to end my posts for the day ... my Sazanami vine grew another vine (branch) from the base of the plant and it is producing lots of blooms almost every day! I will give this vine credit for being a long and prolific bloomer! :-)

Oh Becky, that is a beutiful bloom on that last post. You are such a great Morning Glory Bloom Producer..

Debra - Thanks! I don't think I have anything to do with it. It's the Japanese that created that cultivar and made it easy for me to just grow! :-) Thanks for giving me the credit though! LOL!

Becky, your Sazanami vine is just beautiful. I love the all the different colors on the stripes.

Thanks, Nicole! It does produce some interesting and stunning blooms! If I am successful with any of the crosses I've been trying to do, I may get something even prettier! If you can imagine that! Of course I am NOT holding my breath. This vine seems to be sterile for the most part. I am very persistent and do not give up easily! LOL!

strerile? how sad. :(

I have Stubbys' identical twin in my yard, Becky. Have you ever seen this, which certainly looks like a Passiflora. This flower is so very tiny, maybe 1/4 inch.

That is the cutest passi I have ever seen!

I have seeds pods on this one, which I will try and collect if anyone is interested. Certainly not an impressive flower, but surely different.

I've been working on a school garden project and haven't been getting home until late each day.

gardenpom - I have several of the exact same vines in my yard. They were ID'd as P. suberosa, the corky-stemmed Passion Vine. The only reason I found them was that the Gulf Fritillary butterflies were going crazy in the area they are growing in. I also have had the small little Passi flowers on mine as well. I love having another host plant in my yard. The birds probably brought them into my yard. :-)

Nichole - It seems that the highly desirable I. nils are often sterile. Probably because they have been mutated so far from a solid color bloom that they no longer have pollen or even stigmas. I have that very problem on my Diluted Fuji no Muraski, the Sazanami, and also the color-blocked leaf white blooming NOID I. nil vines. It happens ... much to my disappointment.

Where mine are I guess the Butterflies can't see them. Here is the tiny seed pod forming.

gardenpom - I got seeds on mine, too! The seeds turned very dark ... almost black. I do find this vine a little bit invasive. I see it growing and twining around even as small as it is.

In case you have followed my sick squirrel saga ... here is an update...

Seems my squirrel friend is on the mend and doing quite well. Swelling went down and the fur is finally starting to grow back. And I do think it was a wasps sting that caused it's poor face and neck to swell up so horribly! Poor little thing! Glad to see it looking a LOT better!

awww so glad to see him looking chipper!

He definitely looks much improved.

Debra and Jackie - Yes! To my complete relief, the squirrel seems to be much better and making a complete recovery! Yay!

Some other plants in my yard are finally blooming. This is my Cassia bush that is starting to produce these lovely yellow blooms. Lots of Sulphur butterflies about. They lay their eggs near the blooms so the baby caterpillars can eat them. Unfortunately, there seems to be too many wasps in my yard right now. Even destroying their multiple nests, the wasps seem to be everywhere in great numbers. Unfortunately, most of the caterpillars become meals to the wasps so that makes my Butterfly numbers low unless I can beat the wasps in finding the baby caterpillars to raise in a cage. Right now I have about 13 Gulf Fritillary cats in a cage. I might release the future butterflies at my school if I can get the Passiflora vines planted this week on the arbor my dh and I built at the school. :-)

This message was edited Oct 25, 2009 10:14 PM

oh, what a pretty flower.

Thanks Nichole. It makes a nice host plant for certain Sulphur Butterflies which happen to be of course ... yellow! :-)

Here is Ernest Markham clematis bloom. I love plants that bloom in Spring and Fall! :-)

Time to move to a new thread:

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1052715/