Hi y'all!
Decided to start a new thread about the bog "less" bog garden beds I now have! lol
I am going to put a water garden container in every 3rd bed. Which will make 4 container ponds to add waterlilies, lotus, and other water loving plants! I will also be planting canna and possibly ditch lilies in the dirt bed around the container ponds.
Here's one of my seed beds sprouting babies! Soooooo exciting! I've never done a seed bed before much less 6 of them! Whoo hoo!
And guess what?????
My ditch lilies are already starting to bloom! They are still in pots. lol The roots are actually coming through the bottom of the pots. Time to transplant those babies! Though I am debating whether to plant them in the bogless bed or on the side of my house in a dry area. I'm just a bit concerned that they might become too invasive in the bogless beds. What do y'all think? I do love them. And I'd let them take over that area, but I want my seedling to grow there as well. Don't know which plants would win in the end. Maybe I just need to referee plant growth to keep everything in check?
Here's the second pond bed. I transplanted some of my waterlilies out there already. Hopefully, they will transition okay. They didn't like the garage at all. I think they prefer the sun over grow-lights. lol
Here's what all the ditch lilies look like waiting to be planted in the ground. I have noticed that the ones with clumps of tubers are not blooming or even putting out bud stalks yet. Yet the single plants are the ones blooming. I wonder if they are too crowded in clumps in the pots?
Here's more plants waiting to be planted. Next week I have a week Spring Break, so all these plants are getting transplanted and will be quite happy!
Here's a long shot of the garden again. Still looks the same only it now has growing seedlings in the beds now. Yay!
The canna is another plant I am concerned about. They also can spread by runners. Here a photo of a runner that grew right up from outside of the bottom of the pot. It's gonna be a challenge to cut the pot away from around this huge plant!
Wow Becky, looking good! I can't wait to see it when it gets all planted.
Those ditch lilies are pretty.
Looks great Becky!!! Those ditchees will fill the place out beautifully...so will the cannas.
Funny about those cannas :o) Can't tell you the number of times I've supposedly dug out two flower beds that are full of them with plans to plant something else...but before I could decide what to plant - cannas sprouted again! I seem to always miss a rhizome and they sure do multiply quickly. I've since given up and let them grow there...and I do so enjoy the Brazilian Skippers that use them. Of course, the leaves look like they went through a shredder but that's the price we pay to enjoy butterflies :o)
Do you get Malachites in your part of Florida? If so, you might consider planting a small quantity of Green Shrimp plant liners (I got mine from Butterfly etc.)
~ Cat
Thanks for the compliments fly_girl and Cat! I hope y'all are right.
Cat - How deep do the roots and tubers of the canna get? Should I put a barrier around the bogless bed that I plant them in? I don't want them spreading to the other beds that I have seedlings growing in. I do agree with you, they do grow rampant in the right conditions! The ditch lilies probably do too!
I need suggestions for this possible future dilemma if I do decide to plant these plants in the bogless garden area.
Since my cannas can't behave either, they are restricted to pots. I know they don't look that great as in the ground, but Cat is right, they pop up from the littlest piece.
Then around the middle of summer when the leaves get all ratty and ugly from the skippers, I can move them to an out of the way place.
The only one that doesn't seem to grow like wildfire is the Tropicana. It seems well behaved and much slower growing. So far, it is not in pots, but it's been warned.
fly_girl - How big are the pots that you are using for your canna? I'm really wondering what I should do with my canna. The one that I planted in the ground is definitely spreading. Are they easy to dig up or do you need something like a hatchet to chop them apart and then dig them up? It's not like they are little seedling sprouts that I can just pull up. lol
They're easy to dig up, when they sprout you know exactly where they are and they're usually shallow.
I've got a couple 14' pots, those fiberglass ones are easier to move. The cannas will quickly fill it, the bigger the better. I'm planning on buying some of those trough like pots so I can set them against the fence and have them as a backdrop.
Wow, I wish Canna would grow like that here.................... Too cold in the winter and i always lose them!!
Oh, Mark, you wish for canna weeds! lol
Sometimes I have so many I put them on the curb with a 'Free' sign on them and they're gone within the hour.
Do you dig and store them?
fly_girl - I like your trough idea to grow canna in. I want them as the taller plants at the back of the garden bed where the water gardens ponds are. Where would be a good place to find such a container???? Any ideas?
Mark - Did you grow them in pots and bring them into your greenhouse in winter? They are truly like weeds here in the south of USA.
Becky, I'm still looking, I'll let you know when I find them. I haven't checked at WM or HD yet. I just want something plastic and cheap because they won't show.
Canna arent weeds here.....................LOL wish they were............. such pretty weeds.
I did grow them in pots but i used to forget about them and leave them out in the winter......... and they died!!!
Plus they cost a fortune to buy at garden centres................ Wow, you gave them away free on your curb!!!!!!!!!!!!
Did you get the D-Mail Becky???
fly_girl - Sounds like a plan. I've got to get my canna into something bigger. They are ripping the cheap plastic pots apart. I have them in 3-5 gallon garden center pots. In the photo above, I have some canna that are shorter. They are supposed to be dwarf versions. Not sure if they are and how tall they will eventually get. I hope they don't grow quite as fast as my tall canna. I love them, but they seem to like my garden bed a little too much. :-S Do you or anyone reading this have any idea how deep their roots go? I'm surprised they can be pulled out. They look pretty sturdy and determined to stay put in my garden bed.
Mark - Yes, I got your d-mail and replied. (Check your d-mail.) I was quite surprised when I did an internet search to discover that those aerospace markers are only sold in the U.K. Apparently it's a European design and patent. Thanks for sending me one. I'm very excited to get a marker that isn't going to fade after a couple months in the sun and rain.
Cat - I honestly don't know if I get the Malachites in my area. I have yellow shrimp and red shrimp plant, but no green variety. The green must not be a common variety. Did you get yours from an online store?
Hi ere'body...Mark ans Roxie o/! Looking goooooood Beckaroo!!
The Green Shrimp is a special cultivar unlike the other varieties it is a larval host for Malachites.. If I thought one would blow up this way I would get a G.Shrimp, but the chances are real slim.
I'm glad you finally got one Cat, and establishied it...we oughta be seeing green butterflies before long!
If your wondering where I've been, ....Painting the house, and working in the back host garden..Its really coming along!
Becky, so far, out of the 4 BST chrysalids 3 males have eclosed.. Including the first one you released in FL. #3 was released today, and he didn't want to leave so fast. I will try to get it in a thread tomorrow..Think he was attached to me, lol. . Any day now for the last one. I'm hoping for a female this time.
o/ Deb
deb - Beautiful photo! Is that a blue mistflower that your Black Swallowtail is on?
I have found when raising cats, that their gender seems to be in emerging clusters. I don't know why that happens. Last season I had a ton of male monarch butterflies emerge. No females. Finally started getting some females about a week later. I had about 40 chrysalids at that time. And then most of those following the first female were mostly females too. I don't know if that is how nature works to ensure the survival of the species or what. But I would bet the males need some time to mature for breeding which might be why they emerge first. Just my thought on why that happens.
Glad to see ya back on the butterfly forum. We miss you and Paige! You both have such valuable knowledge! I've learned so much from both of you and respect your opinions and suggestions. :-)
Awwwe Becky, you're a sweetheart! The flower in the pic is Ageratum...Looks a bit like Blue Mist, but mine hasn't bloomed yet. I have about 4-5 of them in the beds now getting their foliage on. (Blue Mist has larger ovate leaves with serated edges.) Do you have one yet? I have plenty now, I can share a plant..
Deb
This message was edited Mar 23, 2007 6:06 AM
Deb - Oh! I should have guessed. I had some pink flowering Ageratum last Fall and they did great until we got some rain. Apparently, they like dry vs. wet soil. They were beautiful while they lasted. The purple flowering ones are so pretty.
I just planted some blue mistflower seeds in one of the bogless beds. I don't dare take plants unless they come from someone in Florida or are tubers. Several people here have sent me some beautiful plants and they just don't make it in my yard. I have no idea what I did wrong. :-( I even ordered some really cheap plants (bare root) and they also didn't make it except one. I am clueless to what happened. I hate having plants die on me like that! But all the seeds I have sowed are germinating. All kinds! So they seem to do fine growing as seeds in my gardens, just not as plants. Go figure.
The plants I have received from folks in Florida have done fine. It must be a zone or climate preference for the plants. Anywhooo ....... time to hit the sack. Nightie-night! zzzzzzzzzzzz
Malachites- according to one of my books "Florida's Fabulous Butterflies", the Malachite is a recently established species in Florida, "probably due to the natural dispersal of Malachites from Mexico or the Caribbean islands, they are abundant in places where food is available."
The cat is "velvety black" with a row of long, branched spines across each body segment. Those on the back are orange and there is a long pair of spines at the top of the head.Host plant: Green Shrimp Plant (Blechum brownei).
Most abundant in southern Miami-Dade county, but also in Monroe, Broward, Palm Beach counties. Has occasionally been reported from the gulf coast as far north as Sarasota.
Guess that leaves me out :-(
Give em time Karen...they've come that far in recent years..Why couldn't we expect them to show up a little further north eventually...
they are abundant in places where food is available."
Thanks Deb, yes I think I will find some of that plant. Might as well be ready, right?
Just completed a search on Dave's, google, eBay and no one sells Blechum pyramidatum, Green Shrimp Plant. Anyone have any ideas?
Karen,
Cat says ^^ up in this thread that she found some at "Butterflies etc.".. The cultivar they use is actually "Blechum brownei". I am not sure about the other Belchums...
Cat? Are there any other Belchums used by Malachites?
DEb
Edited to add the url for updated BST thread>
Blechum brownei
This message was edited Mar 23, 2007 12:01 PM
Cat, I tried "butterfly etc." in google and didn't find it. Can you help?
Some nice bog Iris would do great
this is Native Versicolor (Blue Flag Iris)
Native to US
Loves bogs ponds any wetland areas
Another iris that loves bogs is the Lousianna Iris
This is Bob Ward
avmoran - Are either of the irises invasive in warm climates. I do like irises very much and have planted some Siberian Irises in other areas of my yard. Here is one that recently bloomed. Not quite as stunning as the ones you photographed.
All those irises are so pretty!
Becky, Lowe's has these concrete troughs that would be perfect for cannas, but impossible to move. I decide against the plastic ones because yours split. I think I'll just keep them in pots.
fly_girl - I wonder if I put a tarp or free-form pond liner down under the soil/ground to create a bog type area to put the canna in if that would work? Though I would imagine that the tarp would eventually rot. Not sure how a free-form pond liner would hold up to canna. I'm stumped as to what to do. Just seeing the one canna in the ground growing and spreading makes me very leary to plant more in the ground in the bogless garden. I know I will regret it. I want them in my garden though. There has got to be a way to confine them without going to expensive lengths. My modest budget will not allow that.
Becky, they really are easy to dig up, but they may go under your fence and then you could have somewhat of a problem...or your neighbor would. The rhizomes aren't that hard, I would think a pond liner would work, it wouldn't hurt to try.
An idea, if you want to put your cannas in the ground and have them not take over, why not use a bamboo guard. If it can keep running bamboo in check it can keep cannas under control. Just look at some nurseries that specialize in bamboo, you might even have one nearby as I noticed several in FL when checking out sources for clumping bamboo. Unfortunately it was too rich for my blood.
Thanks for the tip, baagrant!! I will have a looksie and see just how pricey they are! :-)
