Becky, I live along the coast and they hold up well with the "almost hurricanes" we have had in the past few years. Mine is limbed up like a tree (because I like to plant underneath) and it only casts very light shade. I have seen them pruned into bushes and they get very full that way. There is one nearby that is pruned into one of those round lollipop shapes and the flowers stick out like cow licks all over; that one does not look pretty or natural. I am going to try and snap a photo of that one to use in a "what not to do" talk I am giving shortly. The butterflies and hummers do flock to these Bottlebrushes it and it is funny but I have never noticed too much red stuff on the ground, but I use pine straw as mulch and perhaps it just blended in. alice
Need ideas for a long bog garden
This is my bottle brush!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love them..............
Beautiful photo. I don't think you can fault an evergreen plant that blooms year round!
I wish mine bloomed all year round Alice.......................... maybe does where you are, but not here!!!
How sad, :-(((((((
Actually, mine blooms in waves but it always seems to have a happy red flower when other things are resting.
(p.s. Your bodacious crocosmias make up for your shy Bottlebrush.)
Yes very sad...............
Nothing much flowers this time of year............. snowdrops and hellebores are in flower though!! Pretty.
Crocosmia only flower from July to november normally!!
I guess you have lots of things in flower all year do you??
Let's see, the bottlebrush of course, lots of camellias, some Knockout roses and tropical hibiscus that do not know it is supposed to be winter, Bouvardia ternafolia, Loropetalum, Malvaviscus (Turk's Cap hibiscus), Gerbera daisies, Alstroemeria, Banana shurb (Michelia figo), azaleas blooming waaaayyy too early......
It is dark out and I can't see if there is anything else.
Oh, I forgot, I do not have any but, pansies, snapdragons, anemones and calendulas are winter flowers here.
Wow aredesia, you have a lot blooming! Besides my annuals I have these Bulbines that are blooming, they sure do brighten these dreary days we've had lately.
Fly girl, those are wonderful and I have never seen them locally but our zones are pretty close so I suspect they would do well here. Guess I'll have to find some Bulbines now.
i
Very nice Bottlebrushes you guys!! Yeah those common names can be stinkers and confussing even ardesia. I agree!
Glad you have a red one Karen. I would expect so, as your garden is a wonderland for critters!
Becky, I am not sure if they can be used for bottle brushes, lol. Might make more of a mess than a cleaner, ya think?
Roxanne those Bulbines are spectacular, now I'm gonna want some. hehe! If you notice I don't waste time envying, I will just go buy what I want. I put it on my personal 'want list' and it might takle some time, but I get it. lol This year I am trying so many new things, and I am very satisfied. Some of the new stuff I will wait to show off until I see how it does first.
((o/ hugs all!))
Thanks you guys, believe it or not....I found them at Lowe's.
I have a couple bottle brushes that I prune into small trees. You have to be careful when you prune or you won't get any brushes, I learned that the hard way. They are pretty and unusual. Several of my released Monarchs would go to the blooms, plus I've seen hummers on them too.
Deb - Interesting enough, I have a "Firecracker" plant, but it's not the kind you have. Here's the one I have. See link:
http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/1334/index.html
I had to laugh, because the description says to deadhead the flowers if you don't want seedlings. I've had this plant for at least 3 years and it grows slow and I've never, ever seen a seedling sprout up from it. In fact, I have never seen any seeds on it. I wonder if it has to be a certain size to produce seeds? I love it and saw a HUGE one a couple blocks away! Didn't know they got that big! I have heard that the hummers like it. I don't know about the hummers, but my snakes like it. They use it to shed their skin and to hide in. I am always extra careful around that plant and my large Cape Honeysuckle directly behind it. I call that corner of my yard the Snake Pit and also Hummer Garden! lol (Except of course ..... I have no hummers or any other birds for that matter. They just don't like my yard.)
Here's a photo of a young Red Rat Snake crawling across my outside solar light into the Firecracker Plant. That's Plumbago plant in the front. I was out there moving some caterpillars around and glanced over and saw the snake! Made me jump. He didn't see me either until I shined the light on him. It's always interesting in my yard at night. Ya just never know what you are gonna find! LOL!
This message was edited Jan 23, 2007 9:35 PM
You know that kind of looks like a red rat snake, are you calling it a prairie king snake?
ardesia - My yard has everything blooming in it right now, too. Crazy winter weather! My plants actually seem to like this mild weather. The heat of summer fries but the most hardiest and if we have a cold winter, only my Cape Honeysuckle, Pentas, and Night blooming Jasmine seem to bloom. But this winter everything is continuing to grow and bloom! It's so weird.
Mark - You get snow where you are, right? No snow this far south in the USA.
fly_girl - I corrected the snake species name as you were typing! LOL!
With all the snakes in my yard, I wonder if that might be why I don't have birds! :-S
This message was edited Jan 23, 2007 9:53 PM
Sorry Becky, I'm really not sure. I do garden bed maintenance for people and bought a snake book and learned to recognize a few for my own safety. The eye opening experience was one day I was pulling some weeds and pulled a weed about 6" from a young Copperhead. It scared the dickens out of me!!! It wasn't aggessive at all and didn't even seem to be afraid of me. Maybe some of the snake scare is exaggerated but I want to be more careful next time. He blended in with mulch, well, until he moved.
It's definitely a red rat snake. They also come in yellow and white. But I love the red colored ones the best. We raised 2 babies when my daughter was 5 years old. No cute cuddly hamsters ..... She had to have those baby snakes! We kept them for a while. My daughter had the bad habit of getting them out of their cage and playing with them and then laying them down in the house somewhere and forgeting about them. Used to drive us crazy because they would slither behind furniture and places in the house where we couldn't get to them. We just had to wait until they tried to move to another place to grab them. As they got bigger, one of them got more aggressive. (I think my son was teasing it and it started biting.)
My dh is scared of snakes and hated them. One night when I was out late with friends, I came home to find my dh sitting petrified in his recliner. The minute I walked through the door he shouted for me to come right away. Seems dear daughter once again forgot to put one of the snakes back into it's cage and it had crawled into the entertainment center. My dh was watching TV and all of a sudden this little snake head popped up from one of the drawers in the cabinet. My dh freaked! He was afraid to leave the room or move because he wanted to make sure that when I got home I could get it and put it back into it's cage. He figured if he left or took his eyes off of it, that it would slither away and he wouldn't know where it had gone. My dh's biggest fear was to have one of the snakes crawl into the bed next to him some night! Snakes afterall do like warm places. LOL! My dh hates snakes!!! I laughed so hard! I was the only one who could find them when they got away like that. Needless to say, my dh was very happy when we gave them to a wildlife center. They were replaced by furry gerbils! My dh liked gerbils much better! Ha,ha!
This message was edited Jan 23, 2007 11:24 PM
rotflol
Becky, you sure have my admiration for being such a brave person about snakes. Like Fly-girl said snake info is highy exeragerated but they still startle me and I HATE that! My boys always "lost" snakes in the house and it was very uncomfortable until they found them. One time one got away when my MIL was visiting; we loved her dearly but she was not the outdoor type at all. The boys (and DH) were hysterical; they were sure they were going to see Granny go through the roof if she spied that darn snake. Fortunately, the snake was smarter than the men in my life; it stayed hidden until the coast was clear.
LOL Becky, I respect snakes and think they are cool to look at....... from a significant distance. I don't think I could handle one in the house, especially loose. You are a brave woman!
I have several little ribbon and garter snakes in the yard and they still scare me when I come across one. But, it's usually when I'm very close to them because they blend so well. The rat snakes are welcome here, you know you are getting some help with the rats when you have one.
I don't mind snakes. Though I do hate to be surpised by them. But it's all about mutual respect. :-)
Luckily, my daughter's nurturing instinct for snakes has long passed. Sheesh .... the pets we get for our kids. We've had dogs, cats, rabbits, snakes, turtles, hamsters, gerbils, guinea pigs, and mice. Oddly, no birds, though I had two parakeets when I was a child. My backyard is a pet cemetery. (Underneath all the garden beds of course.) lol
One of my African Irises finally bloomed after 2 years of taking up space in my corner bog garden. The flowers are much different than I was expecting. I like them, but wish that it didn't spread out so much. I planted five in the corner and they are taking over that section of the bed. I wonder if I can prune it back hard in the Spring without killing them.
Here's a photo of one of the flowers that bloomed recently.
Hear ya Becky,
We have had to burry a cockatiel and a kitty cat back there in the corner....
What a snake! We don't get poisonous snakes this far into the neighborhood. Occasionally the boys find a grass snake and I have them turned loose again. Count me in with Roxanne, no snakes in the house!!
Just answering a few threads tonight, my daughter had her first wreck today..she isn't hurt, just a little razzled...
Whew!
Deb
Good thing she wasn't hurt Deb. Hope she will be okay.
Becky, I don't think you can kill those plants unless you dig every piece of them up. They are indestructible...hack away. Around here most people will cut them to a few inches to start with new foliage
Oh my! Deb - I am so glad to hear that your daughter is going to be okay after having been in a car accident. How scary! That's my worst fear. I drive my sons nuts with my reminder to "Buckle Up!" I wish my kids drove army tanks.
fly_girl - Thanks for the info on pruning back my African Irises. I'm definitely gonna do just that! Glad to hear that I can cut them back hard.
Great to know that you can cut the African Iris back. Would that stimulate more blooms too????
I often fell that there is just too much foliage for too few blooms. (Or maybe I just do not fertilize them enough.)
Good to hear your daughter is OK, nothing is scarier than getting that call about an accident. My oldest will be 40 this year and I still worry about him. He has kids of his own now and finally understands what all the fuss was about.
Thanks you guys!! I hear ya ardesia, guess we never stop being parents, lol.
I love that African Iris Becky, what a bute!
I bet Mark knows just how to prune that puppy! Wonder if they get more flowers as it gets warmer> Your right that is a lot of foliage for just one bloom.
o/
ardesia and deb - My African Iris actually has a bunch of buds that shot up from it. I don't know if I am seeing things or if the blooms last a long time and also open and close each day, but it sure looks like that is what is happening with the bloom I took the photo of. Does anyone have these in their yard and know what the deal is with the blooms? I don't really know anything about these plants except that it seems to like the place I planted it. All 5 of them have nice green foliage and have tripled in size. I will definitely be pruning those puppies back come Spring!
Beckaroo,
Might be good to step into the Iris forum and ask about African Iris asa tropic. Bet ya get some good results.
o/
Deb - Duh ..... now why didn't I think of that????!!! :-} Thanks for the logical idea! :-)
LOL Becky... Gotta love the DG community!!
Mark - I ordered those Geranium Phaeum seeds from the ebay seller in the U.K. And I also ordered some water iris seeds. The Geranium Phaeum seeds (15 seeds for more that $7.00 total in American dollars) arrived in good condition, but the irises seeds were totally crushed (they were also over $7.00 total). I was so disappointed. I don't know why someone on ebay would sell seeds and send them in a flat envelope. Isn't is common sense to mail them in a padded envelope???? I am soooo done with ebay. I have had horrible luck with ebay purchases. Either they are damaged or I never got what I paid for. Or the dang stuff didn't work. I will give this ebay seller a chance to make this right or I will leave her a very bad review and file a complaint with ebay and paypal. I'm done, done, done with ebay sellers! Grrrr.........
I need to have my head examined for spending so much on so few seeds...... it was in U.K. currency and I didn't know till I paid as to how much my order really was in American dollars. What a rip-off! :-( I just learned a good lesson.
Drat! Posted this in the wrong thread ...... (sigh)
Becky
You should have got me to get them for you sweetie.................. if i had known you were going to get some i would have found some cheaper than that for you!!!
What were the iris ones called???????????????????????
I will see if i can get you some......................
Mark
Mark - Oh I wasn't implying that you had anything to do with my poor decision to purchase the seeds on ebay. I just figured since this woman deals in seeds that she would have the sense to package them correctly.
The irises were labeled "Water Irises" which I thought would be good to grow in the bog garden or my ponds. Here's what the ebay seller wrote:
YOU ARE BIDDING ON 50 FRESH SEED COLLECTED FROM A SUPERB AND UNUSUAL WIDE AND VARIED COLOURFUL SELECTION OF THESE WONDERFUL WATER IRIS.MORE THAN A DOZEN DIFFERENT SPECIES AND HYBRIDS OF ALL HEIGHTS AND COLOURS,ALL IN ONE EXCLUSIVE MIX THAT YOU WONT FIND ELSEWHERE AND IS ALSO FANTASTIC VALUE.
MIX INCLUDES:-
PSEUDOCOROUS SPECIES AND HYBRID FORMS-
BASTARDII & FLORE PLENA DOUBLE ETC
LEAVIGATA SPECIES & HYBRID FORMS (IN ALL SHADES)+ VARIGATED FORM.
PALLIDA VARIGATA & FORMS
JAPANESE ENSATA VARITIES –CLEMATIS FLOWERED FORMS SINGLES AND DOUBLES.
AND MANY MORE.
FROM 2-5FT THEY ARE ALSO EXCELLENT FOR USE IN A BOG GARDEN OR BARRELS AND MOST WILL GROW HAPPILY IN A BORDER IF KEPT ADEQUATELY DAMP
I should have just bought them in the U.S.A. I had such a good experience with the seeds you sent me that I just assumed someone "selling" them would package them well for shipping.
Mark - I don't expect you to make this right, I expect the ebay seller to do what's right. I even sent her 2 photos of what the seeds looked like when I received them. Completely crushed. Let's she how reputable she really is.
Becky
I know its not my fault sweetie.....................
Not everyone is as good as me!! LMAO
If ever i send seed, i ALWAYS package them like i did for you........... makes sense to me!!
Yes, hopefully she will replace them for you and throw in a few extra for your trouble.......... she better do anyway!!!!
If ever you want any seeds just ask me to get them for you and i will package them properly for you, ok?
Well, after threatening my African Irises, look what happened!!!! LOL Of course, this is only one of the plants. The other four better get to blooming or I WILL pull them up!
I thought I was losing my mind. I had read some posts about my bog garden issue (thinking it was here on the Butterfly Forum). But I had posted it on the water garden forum as well. Just recently some nice folks posted some suggestions to me and one posted a great list of plants suitable to Florida climate. I was looking all over the Butterfly forum trying to find the posts. LOL! I finally went to "my info" to look at where I had posted recently. That's how I found it and discovered that it was different forum entirely. Oh boy! am I having a hard time keeping up with all these forums and threads! This forum is what I consider my "HOME FORUM" cause it is where I "hang out" all the time! LOL!
http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/680418/
This bog garden I am trying to fill has 10 sections in a row that are each 4' X 6' garden beds. I have the Canna as seen in the photo. And some ditch lilies that will possibly go in the same bed as these canna. I was thinking about doing 3 of the beds with that combo and some other plants as well. Maybe every 3rd bed I'd plant this grouping. I don't know? What do you think? Or should I just plant them all together in one or two beds?
The ditch lilies look like those picture in this web link:
http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/201/index.html
I've read that the ditch lilies can become invasive. I am thinking of putting a underground barrier around each bed I put them in to try to contain them to just the bed they are supposed to be in. Does anyone here have any experience growing them? I am wondering how deep the tuberous roots grow?
This message was edited Feb 7, 2007 7:46 PM
Becky
I got the seeds from that woman and have now posted them to you!!!! Plus 2 or 3 packets of seed of mine...... hehehe................. you should enjoy the extra seed!!!
Mark