we have to go to Freestone county to ck on our acreage and I am absolutely dreading it because I know it is 100 degrees up there. So, what do I do?, go out and take pics instead of getting ready for the trip. Not looking forward to it!
here is a Lemon Lime Shrimp plant, my latest acquisition. Planted inground, bright shade. The brachts are a wonderful lemony-yellow, not the sulphur yellow that is a little more common.
here is some white echinacea, where is our echie expert to name this pretty? Next to it, upper right is foxtail fern and in the lower right is "junior" with his head planted with curling monkey grass. It is the neatest plant. "junior" looks like he has a perm, tee hee.
Very pretty Neri.
Pretty grouping, love the hair-do! LOL!
Cool!! Pretty!!!
I like it! What is in amongst the curling monkey grass? That looks neat!
Hi CJ sedum makinoi ogon.
here it is. I agree with the comment that it is not a strong groundcover. Does much better as a novelty planting, as in "junior's" head.
http://www.paghat.com/sedumogon.html
Today, again, I found time to take pics when I have a gillion other things to do. This time I went as far as getting in the car and taking pics around town. What is wrong with me!
The first one is for dmj1218, who grows beautiful russelia. Deb, this is what you have to look forward to. Pic taken in the parking lot of our local elec utility office
another view
do you have a plant that you simply adore and yet when you show it off, most people's reaction is ho-hum???
here is mine. Pavonia hastata, related to hibiscus. I think it's gorgeous but nobody ever gets as excited as me when in full bloom. low maint., supposed to be deciduous, but hasn't died back for me in the last two years.
I might start a thread in "garden talk" about plants you adore and nobody else seems to, lol. get your pics ready
continuing my cruise around the big metropolis of Richmond, TX, this little guy has an auto body shop. He has planters full of the most beautiful, stunning ixoras you have ever seen. summer, fall, winter, you name it, those planters look exactly as they look in this pic. I am so jealous of his, I can't stand it.
another shot.
on to the local feed store. This hibiscus captures my attention every time. While they're all beautiful, this one seems to stand out from far away. Yesterday I couldn't stand it any longer and I went in and asked for permission to take cuttings. The guy looked at me like I was crazy and then said yes. Ha! I'll have the last laugh when my cuttings take and are on their way to becoming beautiful shrubs.
Yesterday when I went to ask for the cuttings, this 6' X 6' shrub was jam-packed with blooms. I was sorry I didn't have my camera then. We've had light rains,which probably caused them to fall.
Thanks for taking the time to post all the lovely pictures. Doesn't it just tick you off that you see plants that you know are neglected, never fed, probably not watered much, no pest treatments and they look gorgeous and then you plant it and coddle it only to have bugs take over??? My grandmother had altheas and turks cap everywhere. They were never fed, watered or sprayed for bugs and she never had a problem. I finally dug up and threw away my altheas because I was tired of battling the bugs and the blooms never opened anyway. My turk's cap has one more year of sulking before it goes too. I think mealbugs are it's problem. I don't understand since I don't use chemical pesticides, or at least extremely sparingly, on my garden and these are supposed to be Texas tough plants. The ixora in your picture are gorgeous. My neighbors ixoras are dieing from what looks like black spot fungus. Several have already gone to plant heaven and are now just skeletons in the yard. I guess they're keeping them to put Christmas lights in, since surely they'd pull the pitiful dead things out otherwise.
crowelli, stern threats do help! also, hibbies and related don't like too much water, which is confusing because you think: tropicals = water but not with these. I think that is why so many people have less than satisfactory experiences. I use Rose Defense on hibiscus when the problem makes the plant too ugly looking. otherwise, I let them be.
Ixoras also like less water than what you'd expect.
you know summer's coming to an end when your cannas look this way. This is "Ermine" a dwarf white I recently acquired from Kachersky's canna. The most beautiful canna anybody could ever hope for, but not at this time of year!
here is another one, in a totally different part of my yard, looking pitiful. This was supposed to be Stuttgart, but it wasn't. Vendor has promised to make amends next spring. However, I did buy a Stuttgart from somebody else, and while it has the lovely variegation I expected, it is as eaten up as this one.
vossner, your pics are beautiful. I am astonished at the ixora's in your post. They are magnificent. I think you should add one of those pics to plantfiles. It is amazing. Also, that pavonia hastata is just adorable. I think all the flowers of your pics are just wonderful. Thanks for posting.
I think--
"They were never fed, watered or sprayed for bugs and she never had a problem."
is the key...in my opinion.
Some folks, in my opinion, use far too many fertilizers and insecticides which throws their whole mini ecosystem/micro-climate into complete chaos. Now I'm sure I'll get shot out of the water for this comment but I still think its true.
Also the nursery industry tends to push plants unsuited to local areas--because, again my opinion, they don't make much money if you are successful and don't have to replace that plant/shrub/tree within a year OR if it doesn't require enough chemicals to keep several big name agri-corporations in business.
Other than laying by some bat guano in a couple of huge bags because its getting hard to find locally--I haven't spent over $20 on fertilizers or insecticides in the last 2 years. Like voting, I mulch. Mulch heavy and mulch often...it works wonders at improving my soil fertility.
By the way Vossner--the echie is white swan.
Crow--There is a natural virus/mildew condition (the name smooth evades me at the moment) known to strike turk's cap that receives too much direct sun...I'll see if I can't find that link or it may be in an email from a tissue culture guy I know. Now what is too much direct sun for the plant is beyond my knowledge...I guess that would be subjective or perhaps local in context. I grow turk's cap in rather sunny spring conditions but it never looks good until mid-summer when its in pretty much full shade.
Debbie
This message was edited Aug 26, 2006 9:23 PM
Debbie, I haven't used any pesticide chemicals on my plants for 3 years until putting Bayer Advanced on copper plants for mealybugs this year. I use ocassional osmocote, homemade vegetable compost and bark mulch on all of them. All in all, they fare pretty well. I don't know what was affecting the althea, but the leaves and blooms were all icky looking, blooms never opened and were chewed off on the ends, and the ants were farming aphids on it. After three years of problems, I took it out. I hadn't thought about it possibly being too much sun for the Turk's Cap. My grandmother's was in full sun, so that's where I stuck mine. I actually think it probably had mealybugs on it when I purchased it from Lowe's. I'll check plants closer before bringing them home next time! If you get any more info on the turk's cap fungus, let me know. I'd appreciate it.
I use medina hasta grow or a pelleted organic fertilizer. Except for spot killing fire ants and red wasps near the house I do not use any pesticide. I kill fire ants because they push out the large red ant that the texas horny toad eats and I have one. I kill red wasps cuz they keep making nests on my house and stinging me and friends. I just had to have my house and garage sealed again around all the eves because the wasps were getting into the sides of the house. The poor guy that did it was running up and down the ladder fleeing from wasps as he was trying to seal the cracks. *giggle I figure if I take away their nesting places maybe they will go somewhere else.
Loved looking at the pictures Vossner. The ixoras are beautiful. My Mother has the same hibiscus that's in your pic at the feed store. It is a beautiful hibiscus.
I have not used any insecticides this year except for fire ants. I am surprised at how few fireants we've had this year. Hope that's a good sign for the future. I have only fed my plants twice all summer long with Miracle Grow. I have mulched all the plants and they still look pretty good considering the weather conditions.
