Blooming and Growing in November

Deb, I am really thinking about a tea olive. From what I understand, they are very fragrant. I try to plant things that attract hummingbirds, buttterflies & bees. I am considering some confederate or star jasmine to climb a couple of the post in the front of the house to give a greener look. Also, I want some society garlic, day lillies and agapanthis (sp). A butterfly bush would be nice in the back along with a crepe myrtle. I had a gorgeous butterfly bush in VA right next to my clothes line. It was about 8 feet tall and I could smell it when I was hanging out clothes. I had so many beautiful butterflies. My granddaughter and I use to raise black swallowtails with parsley and monarchs with milkweed. I want some knockout roses too. So far I have very basic landscaping with the beds ready for planting. It just got too expensive to put a lot of plants in after we had to have sod put in the yard. This is a good size yard with alot of sun and Georgia heat and humidity. So I am open to all suggestions. Here is a picture of my planter on the back porch. So far it hasn't been cold enough to have to move it.

Let's see flipflops.
First warning is don't buy citrus trees in Fl and bring them up here, in fact it's illegal. Citrus greening disease is running loose down there and is a serious problem. http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/citrus/diagnostics/greening/greening.htm

Tea olives don't like the sun mine grow in mostly shade and do well. I prune off maybe 3 feet a year now so they don't get to big on me. I haven't really figured out a pattern to when they bloom it's just sort of off and on with winter seeming to be when they bloom the most.

My number one and two hummer bird attractors are morning glories and turk's cap.http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/114737/ Ardesia just cringed. Not a MG fan.
My number one butterfly attractor is http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/showimage/210039/, I don't smell anything but the butterfly's and moths do.

I love the smell of confederate jasmine it's a shame it's only a once a year event.

Hope this helps.

CoreHHI, thanks for the info. Do you think a tea olive would do well with morning sun and afternoon shade? My front porch gets morning sun and shade in the afternoon. I will check out the turk's cap. on that site. I'm not a big MG fan either. How about brugmansias???

Thanks
FF

Tea olive would do fine I think with morning sun. Turk's cap is more a fill in plant but I have noticed the hummers love it. Brugs will grow where you are in the ground.

Yes, my Tea Olive is mostly shaded in the afternoon and it blooms fine.
My Confederate Jasmine is basically totally shaded and blooms a treat.
That's a beautiful bromeliad, Flipflops.

X, I was just thinking about the Bradfords this afternoon. We have a big one in our front yard and it's barely beginning to turn.

LOL, I don't hate all MG's just that beautiful blue perennial one. It is terribly invasive in the coastal areas and has been compared to kudzu by some horticulturists.

Butterfly bushes do OK here but they don't seem to like the salt air and never get as large or full as they do in areas like VA. I remember seeing one in the NC mountains that actually towered over a small house. It had to be at least 15' high and wide. An 8' Buttterfly Bush along the coast would be unusual.

Right now the cassia, jatropha, bottle brush and agastaches are attracting the most butterflies.

FF you will be able to grow Jatropha integerrima and Bouvardia ternifolia. They both have red flowers which the hummers love and because they bloom almost year round they provide food for the hummers that do not migrate.

I managed to lose my camera recently but this has been a great month for the flowers down here. As I mentally walk around the garden the pentas are still going strong, the sasanquas are in their full glory along with geraniums, jatrophas, abutalons, begonias, salvias, cassia, hibiscus, gingers, bilbridgeas, and that is all I can think of from my desk.

It has been such a good year for the citrus trees, they are loaded with fruit. I had to put bales of pine straw under some of the branches that were sitting on the ground from the weight of the fruit.

Maybe Santa will come early with a new camera. LOL

OH, I hope Santa is good to you, A.
Our little Meyer Lemon is loaded down this year, too.

Ardesia, I hope Santa is good to you too!!! Sounds like you have many beautiful things in your garden. I would love to see pictures. How long have you been at it. I have a clean palet and have to start all over after 30+ years in my VA home. Only thing I have planted so far is six holly ferns, pansies and some shasta daisies. I will have this thought out in my mind by spring as to what I want to add to what the landscaper planted. He planted Indian Hawthornes, Lolapedilums (sp), Cabbage palm and Washingtonian palm. Almost forgot....two sagos and three Bottlebrush bushes. I did add a double pink knock out rose in the back flower bed that I bought really cheap a Lowes. My DH planted four citrus trees. How long before they bear fruit?? Sounds like yours are strong. Do you do anything special to them?

Deb, I had a hugh Bradford in my front yard in VA until hurricane Isabelle came through. Wiped out just about all of them in our area....could not take the winds. After it was gone, the birds came back every evening looking for it to roost.

Hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving. I have to get back to my cooking.....my DD & her family will be coming down from VA tonight. I am so excited (this is their first visit and the first time they will be in our new house). Needless to say, I am beside myself and can't wait to hug those two darling grandchildren. Oh yeah.....I have much to be thankful for!!!!

You want pictures from Ardesia's compound???? Place is surrounded by a moat and guards all under a military no fly zone. Don't think it was by accident that the place is near a military airfield. Nothing like F-16s and helicopter gunships to deter paparazzi. LOL.

Citrus should be pretty easy, most are sold at fruiting age so I would expect flowers in the early spring. General guide lines would be don't mulch up to the trunk, keep grass and weeds from growing in it's drip line to the trunk and fertilize three times a year with citrus fertilizer or just simple 10-10-10 all purpose. Only bug problems I have had are when a new flush of leaves comes out, oil will work or something like sevin. When the leaves mature a bit nothing seems to bother citrus tree around here. If you get into citrus trees we have a few people for you to talk to who really know their cold hardy citrus varieties. Also if your interested in more fruiting trees we can give you the ones that will grow well in your area.

That is so funny!!!! I'll have to find a way to get past the guards.....give me time and I will probably come up with an airtight and bulletproof plan. Something on the order of "Mission Impossible" LOL

I would love to find out what fruiting trees will grow well in this area. Do we need to keep pine straw away from the trunk as that is what my DH is using. Also, is it normal for the leaves to drop this time of the year??? The Meyer's lemon tree leaves are turning and dropping off. Any information will be greatly appreciated as this is all new to us.

Since the Charleston area is known for your beautiful camellias, I was wondering if yours are blooming like mine. I'm not speaking of the saesanquas but the japonicas. I have bushes in full bloom and the others look like they will open in about a week. This is very early for our area. Let me know if you are seeing the same thing. This also means that a heavy frost will damage them. Will try to get some pics over the next few days.
FlipFlop: I have Meyers lemon trees. However, I have to place them on the porch about this time of year. They don't like it too chilly. When mine began to loose its leaves, I was told this was a fungus. As advised I purchased a oil based insecticide for fruit trees. The leaves, bloom and fruit returned.

Happy Thanksgiving to all !!!

BSD, My camellias are not blooming yet, but they seem to be a bit ahead of schedule by a few weeks, judging by the buds.

Happy Thanksgiving, to you, and everyone !!

mine are, too, Debin. and my encore amethyst azalea is STILL blooming! it's been in bloom at least a month.

Geez, I go away for a few days and come back to find I live in a compound, surrounded by a moat no less and protected by the Marines too! How I wish I had a moat, I can just see all the water lilies and lotus now..............

Actually I never post pictures of my garden, only individual plants, because I am not a designer by any stretch - just a collector who needs to have one of everything. The neighborhood gestapo seems to leave me alone, and I try not to push the window out front. I picked up a neat croton in Chattanooga the other day. Poor DH fussed all the way home complaining about my just having to have another plant. SIlly man hasn't caught on yet.

Fuyu persimmons do really well here and they are very good this year. I don't have a tree - yet - but the Clemson extension office is takin g orders for them along with other fruit trees.

Extension office up by you?? Think I'm all fruit treed up but I would like to look at what they offer. Added a fig and a pomegranate.

Yes, I'll see if I can't get some more info for you. They are taking orders through early January I think.

When I lived in VA, I would go on vacation and always come back with something "new" to plant in yard. Sometimes we would come back with all kinds of things in the back of our van. DH was a pretty good sport and he soon became interested. My problem was I couldn't find space to put anything else. I will probably be doing the same here. My son and I went out to a couple of nurseries yesterday on St. Simons' Island and I looked at some of the plants I was told by y'all that do good in this area in sunny locations. I am definitely interested in a couple and wrote down the names off the tags. It's going to be fun and I will be constantly looking for advice. Then I can put a moat around my "compound" LOL Actually, I do have a ditch running around the outside of the yard.

Hope everyone had a great thanksgiving. I sure did enjoy my daughter & her family coming from VA. Just wasn't long enough. Now I am trying to decide how to decorate the front porch for Christmas!

Core, I added a Fig this year, too. It's tiny, so I hope I gave it a good enough start to make it through winter.

Coreopsis "Red Shift", still bloomin!

oh that coreopsis is pretty!