O/T Please show us your favorite non-gesnariads!

Begoniacrazii just posted a picture that got me thinking... I would love to see some photos of the non-AVs, non-gessies that people are growing! I swear, I was trying to look around the edge of begonia's picture to catch a glimpse of some of the other plants in her greenhouse! And I know Junglebob has a bunch of wonderful tropicals, and Lorry has mentioned her DH's obsession with palms...

I know I could hunt around other forums to find some photos, but I thought it would be fun to start a thread in this forum...

Please post a couple of photos and tell us about your "other" plant obsessions! :-)


Here's my lily photo that everyone liked... Orienpet 'Scheherezade'. I used a Christmas gift from my folks a couple of years ago to put in a big bed of oriental lilies out back... it's an oval, planned to be 6' by 18', but it stretched just a little as I was planting it... 3 clumps of the big "Orienpets" ('Scherezade' in the center 'Silk Road' and 'Leslie Woodriff' off to either side), a ring of "named" oriental lilies, a few recurved 'Rubrum' lilies, and a couple bags of "mixed oriental lilies" to go around the edges. It's really something in July/August when they're blooming, looking and smelling just fabulous, and it'll just get better each year as the clumps get bigger!

I just love fragrant plants! This hedge of 'Fat Spike' lavender (L. grosso) was the first thing to go in along our driveway, a couple of years before we managed to add the larger front landscape bed. I really get into "edible ornamentals" too -- I added some especially pretty peppers to this bed last summer, and I edged the front border of the bed with burgundy leaf lettuce! Jim teases me about how I want my plants to multi task... to be sure of a place in my garden, a plant must not only look pretty and preferably bloom a long time, it should also smell good and taste good too!

Critter, You take beautiful photos!

I really enjoyed our outdoors landscaping this year, although I can't find many pics without my pets, so here goes:

Number one--ALWAYS take time to stop and smell the portalaca...

Number 2--Love Martha Washington geraniums and streptocarpella.

Number 3

Oh, what adorable pics of your furry garden buddies!! Those Martha Washington geraniums are spectacular, too!

This year, I've got to get photos of our kitty, Blake, as he stalks half-imagined mice through the lily bed or rolls ecstatically on the sun-warmed patio.... He is mostly an indoor cat, but he enjoys short and supervised excursions into the back yard. If he is a good cat, and if he does not run into the "woods" (a little fence row between our yard and the farm field), and if he comes when he is called, then he gets a treat of canned cat food.... Honestly, I think that spoonful of "kitty candy" is his main motivation in wanting to go out!

Here's Blake in my harvest basket, all set to go out back with me and pick some tomatoes!

Awwwww...Blake is a cutey! I love his markings. Does he let you carry him in the basket?

I love Martha Washington's. Logees has some that I want to get this year, along with some variegated geraniums.

He'll let just about anybody carry him in just about anything, LOL, but he does like to trot out to the garden under his own power, as if to say, hey, I might be 15, but I'm not exactly an old wreck!

I may have another indoor gardening obsession underway also... Amaryllis! I had 3 or 4 of them last year, but I bought 9 or 10 more varieties this year (gave a bunch away as gifts, too), and I've got half a dozen seedlings going too. Since we were gone over the holidays, I've just recently started most of mine, so none are blooming right now...

But here's a photo of one of my faves from last year, 'Blossom Peacock'!

Your opets are adorable. Whish I was there to play with them ! Plants are pretty too !
Mexican Daisy

Hubby's favorite Rose by Perkin's my brain went dead can't remember the names .

Was my Birthday Begonia and tripled in Size made a perfect Chistmas plant now on wards to Valentines day !

What wonderful photos -- such bright, sunny plants! That begonia is awesome, although it puts a cramp in my brain to see flowering begonias on the deck with wintry-looking Christmas decorations... LOL, it's been too long since I lived in GA and had camelia blooms to enjoy in the middle of winter!

Critter, Blossom Peacock is a beauty. I put my amaryllis in the ground last spring and I could not believe how huge it got. I love them, but didn't get any new ones this year. Blake is 15?? Wow. He doesn't look it!

Allison, your begonia is just awesome. I got into roses this past year and have a total of 7, but no pics of them. :( Your rose is lovely. Allison, come play with my pets anytime--all 7 dogs, 1 cat and 1 bird! They are gluttons for attention.

Your dogs are adorable they look like stuff toys. I love my Precious so dearly she's not a dog she's a little girl . No one told her she's a dog so she does not know . She is with me always. Out 13 year old dog died in the summer we miss her and talk about her memories all the time. If we had room and health I'd be getting more :))

well, mine is probably a given. Begonias. But there's no way to choose a favorite. Here's one that in my top ten.
Begonia erythrophylla 'helix' (akak Beefsteak Begonia)

This one hangs right above my head in my Playhouse. The photo is a wee bit dated as that closet rod is packed now, I've since added Disocactus, Hoya and Dragon Fruit to the mix!

And this B. 'Cleopatra' (or so it was labeled) isn't too shabby either.

Next to begonias, I have a small love affair with succulents, epi's and their relatives.
Here's one of my beauties, Rhipsalis paradoxa. I absolutely LOVE this gal.

Very nice!! Now, please show us some more pictures of those shelves crammed with plants.... ;-)

Oh, and I would never ask anyone to pick a "favorite" single plant -- note that the thread title says favorite non-gesnariadS.... clearly, that should also include pets, kids, anything that's not a gessie, LOL!

Big succulent fan.

well....let's go browsing and see if i can find my plumerias....lol

Junglebob, That is so perfectly beautiful that it doesn't look real!

plantmom..well plumeria are my first love now...i have quite a few...that is a gorfgeous plumeria..frangipani...looks a bit like one called Intense Rainbow...but not sure...here's another pic of one....this is my "golden Goddess" with some gallardia..

Here's a beauty I found in Maui a few months ago.

This message was edited Jan 10, 2006 5:59 PM

begonia so pretty...almost looks like my "neon pink"...i have a great many plumeria....as you know they go to sleep this time of year...and than wake up in the warmer spring weather...course can keep them going in greenhouse and if one lives in warm area..can have them blooming most of year...this is my Double Delight tea rose...the worlds most popular..am sure many of you have it....

So many Pretties !

I wish I could grow plumeria in MO....

Wow, begonia!! I love the collection of succulents in your 7:07 photo.

Those plumeria pictures are just too lovely for words... plantmom is right, they are so perfect that they just don't look real!

Plantmom, if Paul James can grow plumeria, so can we! He mentioned during the Rose Parade that he has some that he overwinters indoors, and I think he said one was 7 feet tall now! I think he lives in Indiana.

think paul james is in oklahoma...but yes...you can grow plumeria...since they go to sleep in winter anyway...you can bring them in....no water...or anything..than in the spring when it's warmer..bring them out in full sun and they will grow quite well for you...one of the tricks is not to give much water...as they rot very quickly....(must be akin to av's...lol)

Bob, do they need any light when they're dormant like that, or can they go in a corner of the basement?

Now you've got me hoping to trade AVs for plumeria cuttings this spring! :-)

Paul James the Gardener Guy lives in OK and grows plumerias?? I didn't think it was possible. Do they go completely dormant?

I want the puppies!
They are the cutest things!

It's too hard to pick a favorite, but this photo shows some of my shrimp plant and I am currently partial to them. One is varigated, one is tuti fruiti, one is "red" shrimp and one is yellow/chartruese (sorry about the spelling) it's a little hard to see each one because they are planted close together.

Picture of our yellow Plumeria I've had on and off from same first plant...we took cutting with us when we moved :))

Also partial to orchids but I have only so so luck w/ them- Bob your Plumeria are gorgeous, my luck w/ them has been pretty limited also, but you seem to have the touch. WOW!

Another picture of our yellow plumerias ...Bob sent me three cuttings ! I'm going to send him lots of super great plants so he will send me more :))

This one is red but throw away did not pick color but you can see pretty foliage . I love Plumerias, their easy to grow.

I love out variegated four O'clocks grow like weeds :))

Oh Allison, I love that! I have seen them advertised and thought about getting some, they are gorgeous!

More 4 O'clocks

These are on the same plant. April I can send you some seeds..they grow fast and bloom right before a twinkle of an eye.

My most favorite plant. Ours live out year round bloomed over a dozen times from Spring - Summer even gave of a couple in December :)) Mine is about two years old but I have take dozens of cuttigs to send to people. It's been in out family around 125 years :)) Was my Great Grandmothers first where it grew up in Mass.
Night Blooming Cerus Queen of the NIght
Rated number one plant in plant files !