last but not least.....the smile for the day...
surely he doesn't think those tiny hummingbirds are 'big' bugs to him...lol
Tropical Plants #109 Show your Bloomers !! ;-)
He knows the sugar attracts the "little bugs" he likes to eat!
Nice caladium collection there. I have been digging mine up already.. those Vandas are awsome too.
Thanks Rachel, I surely will. I hope I can locate the rest of my little "Ears"
Great butterfly shot, Deb and that arbor is just gorgeous!
Paula, lots of lovely blooms there. Suggest moving the plumeria to more sun for the rest of the warm weather and it might put on some flowers for you. I have one about the same age that bloomed very sparingly until this year. It's been in the ground now for about 2 months, but has been in bloom since April, non-stop! Full sun location and it's happy.
Caladiums are fun, and I've really enjoyed the leaf variations you get depending on the amount of light - more green in less light, more color or white in more light. It's fun moving them around. This is so far my favorite, though. I divided a pot of Siam Ruby from a sale rack at Lowe's. Jazzy black stems in this matching pot.
Here's my 3-yr.old plumeria. It's last flowers are on the side away from me, but still smelling lovely. This shot was taken early morning. It's in the sun for the rest of the day.
I moved the pot around the yard until it settled in this spot last winter - where it was handy for me to cover it on the cold nights - and I put it in the ground in . . maybe June? It never missed a beat. Fell over on its face a couple of times before I got it out of the pot, too. Poor abused thing.
Couple of pretty sunny days and the wild flowers - ah, weeds - are putting on flowers. I never even noticed this little cypress vine - ipomoea quamoclit - until this morning. There it is climbing the down spout, all the way up to the roof. Hope the hummers find it!
Pretty pink salvia - this pops up all over my yard in the partly shady areas. Anybody wanting seeds, say the word!
Also this porterweed seeds everywhere! It's pretty and the butterflies love it but . . . it gets big so fast.
Not to mention the Bidens aka Spanish Needles. Pretty little flowers, but those sticky, sharp seeds - arghh! The cat comes in with them stuck to her fur all the time. I pulled out a whole garbage can full of these plants yesterday and hardly scratched the surface.
Thanks dzzy, I will move it to a more sun location and give it a shot of fertilizer. I don't believe I have fertilized it this summer. Also, I would like some of the pink salvia seeds, please.
I just pulled out about 5 miles of Cypress vine yesterday, that stuff self seeds everywhere here and it is not easy to pull the little ones out of my heavy soil. I used to love it at my last home but it is a thug here.
Alice, my sympathies on getting rid of it. But it's so pretty - in the right place - and is a hummingbird magnet. I love the feathery foliage. So I'm inclined to let it get a foothold again. It's a great vine for covering a chain-link fence. If only I had one . . or somewhere else it could ramble happily.
Paula, I have some seeds I collected just now, but will have a lot more by later in the week. Today the plants are either in bloom, or the seeds have dropped. In any case, I'll have enough to send you very soon. I discovered one plant at least 7ft. tall poking out the top of my little kumquat tree! Of course, it has seeds 'way up there where I couldn't reach them. Will break out the ladder this evening. FYI, I used to keep them in a mixed flower border at the last house. You can keep them blooming and not leggy if you pinch them occasionally.
Love that orange Vanda of yours. D'you think they'd be a good try for the top of the fence orchid garden?
dyzzy,
If I remember correctly your fence is wood. (?) If it is, you will have to be careful when putting orchids on the fence, especially vandas. They will 'attach' their roots to the wood, so unless you will leave them there permanently, you will have to watch them. I have mine hanging from an old swing frame.
I am going to try and pinch a few and see if I can keep them short and bushy. The ones I pulled out were the red ones like yours, in the past I have had the pink and the white too, I loved them mixed toegther. WIsh I had a fence for them to grow on. I have tried dropping seeds in woodsy areas where they could have rambled but they prefer full sun.
Went to plant a bilbergia nutans today and when I took it out of the pot the root ball was covered with carpenter ants. The pot had been sitting on the mulch and the ants love mulch. Needless to say it is just sitting there, out of the pot, until the ants decided to go elsewhere.
Alice, it's the pink salvia that you can pinch back, not the cypress vine. I think the cypress vine would just get more crazy and tangled if you pinched it. On the other hand, it might not climb up into the trees so far . . .
Found a white butterfly ginger amongst my Dr.Moy's - by the perfume alone!
Oh phooey, I thought you might have had a good method to control those weedy vines. I love the white butterfly gingers also. Actually I plan on removing most of the peach NOIDs and letting the white spread into those areas. The scent is awesome.
Alice,
If you don't have plans for those gingers, I will adopt them. LOL
They are heavy.........
Do you ever get to Savannah?
Beautiful flowers everyone. I myself would'nt dare try growing vine flowers here, bad enough I can't keep up with all the weeds here.
Here are a few flowers I have going in my rock-beds this September...
The white Pentas flowers, Red gillardia and a yellow dwarf sunflower.
Take care.
gorgeous displays there.. I love them all.. my salvias are all blooming, and sure would love any seeds from your Weeds there Dyzzy.
Wish my gingers would bloom for me, Pooey.
my fence gets oh so covered by vines every year. I love it. so do the hummers, bees and butterflys.
what is a bilbergia nutans ??
dzzy,
That little pink/white salvia, is Coral Nymph.And she is a very heavy reseeder, but sooooo pretty ! I count on it coming up by itself every year.
We have the cypress vine growing on one of pur pasture fence lines where we can mow on both sides to keep it in check.
"THE OVERWINTERING IS COMING"
Debra, Billbergia nutans is a epiphyte...http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/2116/
loveforests I think your rock garden flowers are pretty.. how did u get those all in one shot like that?
Mj, that is the prettiest fence! Thanks for the ID on the salvia. Next few dry days should mature lots of seeds.
Debra, you'll have a right purty wildflower garden next summer if you plant red cypress vine on your fence, pink salvia and blue porterweed together, and the Spanish needles with white/yellow little daisies. They should go nuts with your wonderful care, and will be 'controlled' once cold weather hits. You'll also have every butterfly and hummingbird in the neighborhood.
LF, pretty flowers, I'll bet your rock gardens look wonderful.
Drew, sure as a gun if you start taking plants indoors, we'll have 2 months of Indian Summer. My family up in the PacNW say it is finally 'normal' summer weather there now. How'd your Borneos do after the deluge? The little orphan Monstera from the compost looks like it came out of the nursery - gorgeous!
JoesWife, I open all the flower images in my Graphics Program on the computer (PhotoImpact X3), I resize them all, then click on 'File', then click on 'New Image'.
On the 'Image Size' I select a large file size and select background color as white, then click on 'ok'.
I then 'right-click' on the flower image I had already opened and select 'copy', then click on the blank white image and 'right-click' "paste", then I 'right-click' on another flower image and select "copy" and then 'right-click' on that new white image and select "paste". I repeat those steps until all the flower images I want are pasted onto that white image. Then I use the "crop tool" to get rid of any white area that is'nt needed. Then I save that new image with all the pasted flower images on it, as a jpg.
Thankyou for the compliments on my flowers JoesWife & Dyzzy.
If you have Picasa there is a collage option. Simplifies the whole process.
Thanks Elaine! I can't believe how much water that thing inhales for it's size(1-1/2 Gal's/day). Borneos are ok! The one near my property line and my neighbors is a little better. High tomorrow around 90, with Carolina Blue skies. High on Saturday, mid to upper 60's with rain.
Great pictures everybody!
I will post a new picture of the Borneos and the P.Giganteum and P.McDowell(those Philodendrons are getting to be monsters) this evening.
Waiting all summer for my last new brug to bloom. Finally Charles Grimaldi has grudgingly opened its first flower tonight. It's barely pale yellow, and I hope will gain color in the next few days. It's supposed to be yellow shading to orange.
Can't complain, the plant has at least 5 more buds.
Philodendron Giganteum gulping 2-gal. of water a day!
Alocasia Mayan Mask growing in the compost pile.
Philodendron McDowell leaves were 6'' in dia. when I purchased in April.
Alocasia Borneo Giant that I lost 2 huge leaves in the drought/floods/heat wave.
Borneos near house and AeAe!
Congrats on the CG bloom, it will turn darker yellow I promise. Mine is sorta chopped up right now, he got attacked earlier and tore up... ;(
the north fence has cypress vine, mixed with messina creeper, sweet autumn clematis and morning glorys, so the other wild flowers will look good there. Look forward to some seeds, if you wan't any seeds from let me know.. ( I know u want some of my special Morning glory seeds, right?)
KayJones, I am packing up some things to send your way this weekend, hope it is cool enough to send now..
Drew are you ready for a Brug or two? And, as usual, your plant photos blow me away.. ;)
let me know the pertinent info. on overwintering!
I will take a couple! And thanks for your comments
Drew, they all look fabulous. It really seems such a shame that you have to put them back into 'suspended animation' pretty soon.
Debra, I have 3 kinds of wildflower seeds for you already, but it's going to take a few more days to collect up enough of the pink salvia.
My big Cattleya has two new shoots - I must be doing something right!
Elaine, is that an Orchid? gee, you are doing something right, for sure! Do you give it ice cubes?
I just have to get things going, I am already crowding in the plants in the first growing room.. time to decide what to keep and what to send away to adoptive homes. I get off work at 6 home by 6:40, have about an hour and a half of daylight now..
supposed to get down to 50 thursday nite.. do you think the epis and EE's will be okay? I think I am tubbing all the epis up into one big tub.
All the EE's into another maybe. I can't find my Frydek. I am freaking out.
Drew, there are a few brugs that over winter well here in the ground. Which ones, I do not know but a friend of mine grows a couple here. I will see if she has any cuttings to share for you but if not, just mulch any that you may receive and see what happens.
Debra, your Colocasias and Alocasias will be ok with the temperatures dropping in the 50's, so don't worry.
Mm, 50 sounds great to me. We had a 'cold' night last night, down to 73, but it felt almost fresh this morning. Then it faked us out and went up to 94 this afternoon. At least another month before we can hope for any real cool down.
No ice cubes for these orchids, they love it outside in the Florida summer sauna. I water them with a pump sprayer and a weak solution of orchid fert. Now that I've started a little collection, I've noticed there really are a lot of people here that use orchids as landscape plants, permanently outdoors no less! It's a beautiful perennial plant that flowers in the shade, can't beat it. A lot of them even survive the odd frost.