OT-More Outside Beauties-2 : )

Great Mandavilla Nancy! I love that color! Haven't seen the pink ones down here in awhile ... just the red. Yep, Oleander's are poisonous. I've heard over the years that you should not burn the branches that you prune, will put toxic smoke in the air. We have 3 large Oleanders in our yard. One light pink, one a dark pink and one white. The dark pink and white ones are trained as trees, one trunk whereas the light pink one we planted many years ago is really tall but lanky ... in the backyard and shaded by some larger trees, it could use more sun but is too big to dig up.

Lin that must be so neat to actually have an Oleander as a tree..lol..up here with our winters they wouldn't stand a chance..Thanks for the info on not burning the trimmings..I had no idea!..definitely good to know! I think their blooms are wonderful..Oh I just adore Mandavillas..I have a small yellow one too..this is my 1st year for them and I am in Love..they just bloom and bloom..Hubby doesn't know it yet but he is the one in charge when the time comes this fall to bring all the patio plants down to the basement to overwinter..think he might need some help for the Big pink one..lol..

don't have but a minute, but these pictures are fabulous to start the day!
Nancy, I am impressed that you could even grow a mandevillea in zone 5! Yikes!

The poisonous stuff about oleanders is true but we have them as a standard wind hedge in every yard and I have never know anyone to get sick from them..........Literally people may have 20 or 30 for good windbreaks. I can't use them because of the cattle. They will eat anything and they shouldn't be eating oleanders.

Good Morning Ladies,

Wow Nancy, you have some really beautiful flowers! I was so glad you commented about having to bring the mandevilla in because I was wondering how you were able to grow it outside as we are the same zone. OK, I had zone envy for a minute *lol* I wish we had a basement sometimes so that I could overwinter things etc. but I have no where to store plants that need to be brought in so I only grow hardy plants out there now.

Your hollyhock is amazing! Never could get a hollyhock to bloom no matter how many seeds I put down. Not sure why they don't like it here but they really don't. I see them in other peoples gardens around here but not in any close neighbors yards so I think the acidic sand (because of the fire years ago) must have something to do with it. I love them though so thanks for sharing such a pretty picture of yours :)

We FINALLY got some rain yesterday. Just a couple major thunderstorms but enough rain that things look so much better out there. I think I have lost my pots of annuals though as I couldn't water them. The guys are going to start the new well this morning and work straight through the day. Hopefully we will have water tomorrow sometime :) What a long week. Needless to say, tomorrow is a do nothing but laundry day *lol*

I'm hoping to be able to just relax this morning and plant some seed, repot a couple things and just do some maintenance that I haven't seem to be able to get to since summer started. With Jess in summer rec, I don't have my time in the mornings during the week like I used to.

I took a few more photos outside yesterday but I'm having a really hard time deciding if I'm posting duplicate pictures of the same daylily so I'm only going to post the ones that are definitely different. I have alot of ones that look similar but are just a little different and I'm sure we're all getting tired of daylily pictures by now *lol*

Enjoying my first cup of coffee of the week. MMMM is it good. I have been trying not to drink as much coffee as I find I seem to miss smoking more on the days I drink coffee so I have been trying to take a break from it for a while but being Saturday and having stayed up watching movies and knitting last night I thought I would have a cup. What a treat!

Hope you all have a wonderful day and I'll be back with some pictures either later today or tomorrow. I still have that foolish lawn to mow *lol* So many things, not enough time *lol* I don't know what I'm going to do when I have to go back to work full time *lol* I will have to take all my plants with me..........Hope I become CEO somewhere as I'm going to need a pretty big office *lol*

Kim

Kim, I think that you are right about hollyhocks not liking acidic soils.

They grow like weeds in England, where the soil is very alkaline.

You could always make a little raised border with some planting mix and grow them.

What a gorgeous way to start the day. I woke up a bit dizzy so I am NOT happy. I went back to bed, then got up, fed my girly pets and now I am sitting in my chair.

I was PLANNING on doing lots of trimming today. I did some last eve. and got overheated. It is too bad, but I will just have to do it another day. Will take a lot of days, ha. It is so very hot. You really do have to be careful!

I am behind since the surgery. I hate not having things the way I want them. Hubby has been mowing and doing a great job as usual, but I just love to have things just right with the plants. That's OK. I am really the only one that can tell.

pretty pic but what is she, Sally?

Yes, what is that beautiful plant/vine? The bloom kinda sorta looks like an iris but the growth habit of the plant looks to be a vine. It sure is pretty!

That is a flower from my Cuban Pea vine. It is so very pretty. I have had it for years.

It is commonly known as a Cuban Blue Pea Vine or Butterfly vine, Lin. There was an article in the Corpus paper about it.....
Clitoria ternitea is her botanical name.

I missed that article, too bad. I have had this vine at this house and I grew it in containers in other homes in other places I lived like TN. Stunning flower and color. It does very well. I trim it way back in winter, then out it comes again.

It is on the fence and Blue Plumbago is in front of it. The blues are so pretty.

I love this one also. A TRUE butterfly flower. Gorgeous. Cleradendrum Ugandanese.

At first glance I thought the first picture might be a Clerodendrum. The second one is an all time favorite as we grew those and many other tropicals at the greenhouses where I worked in Houston.

Hi,

I love that little flower. I had never seen it before. It really looks like a butterfly.

Sally where did you get the seeds from?

l am not answering for Sally, but we always got our starts from Glass House Works. I don't know about their ratings under Garden Watchdog right now.

GHW doesn't even carry any clerodendron right now........

http://www.zone9tropicals.com/vines-c-23.html?page=2&osCsid=b96383119b1e7b4e862c75f0bb758
Zone 9 tropicals in Houston as one of them

Hi,

Gail, thank you very much for the link. I checked my Chiltern Seeds catalogue (that i get from England) but it only has one, C. trichotomum
and it has white flowers.

Hi there ladies,Beautiful flowers your growing!

Gail,How did you root the cleradendrum ugandanese??

Seeds for which one? I don't like starting from seeds if I don't have to. I know a lot of you do.

I bought a little plant at a nursery for both. They both got very large and I trim them often.

When I worked in a greenhouse, Jan, we had 15 gallon containers of what we called stock plants. We would take three tip cuttings to a 50 cell tray in each cell. There they would stay on the misting tables (like we dome things) until they had a healthy root system. So, if you can talk Sally out of some cuttings, it is easy to grow them.

I am really surprised that they overwinter here as they didn't in Houston and Houston is our exact zone. Sally must have a fence or something to break the cold winds in the winter.

Hi,

Sally, I thought you grew them from seeds, I don't know why.

I checked the link. Lots of lovely plants. The ugandense is not on their list but i will check the others. Also loved the jasmins. will be placing an order with the nursery.

Thank you gain.:o)

Gail, i had no idea that you had worked at a nursery. That must have been lots of fun!

I didn't work at a nursery but in greenhouses. Long story short, it is a residential place for adults with various challenges in life. When I worked there we had 19 big giant greenhouses and the students worked in them and we sold to the public. It is still there in Brookshire, Texas called Brookwood. I have a degree in special education and I love plants......a dream of a job........

Oh, I did a similar job to you!:o)

I worked in a psychiatric hospital for years and one of my sessions included teaching the patients about planting seeds and making cuttings that were sold at the hospital fair.

That was great!

Isn't gardening the most therapeutic thing in the world? I can't tell you how many flower and veggie gardens I have helped start for the public schools.

I will have to try the tip rooting.Thanks

Gail,that plant is hardy for you.I have 2 of them growing and I'm a zone lower than you.

It is a hardy plant, I also have a fence.

Oh my goodness, Jan! Yes, just take the tip cuttings like you would anything else. That is a really big one! I had no idea that they were that hardy.

Mine is about is 8 feet or so. Needs lots of trimming all the time, gets leggy.

This message was edited Jul 20, 2008 7:52 PM

I just love green zinnias - this one is 'Green Envy'. I have to start some from seed every year.

I love zinnias of any kind.......and I love to grow from seed........

oo I am a zinnia lover too!! Love that Green Envy Erica!! Sally those blooms are gorgeous..needless to say I bet they wouldn't be hardy here...
LOL..Kim..You got that right..hee hee..mandavilla wouldn't stand a chance here over winter..I struggle enough to keep them alive along with my brugs,oleanders,hibiscus and other tropical patio plants in the basement all winter...I don't mind overwintering them if they cooperate..lol..If I only save a few it still saves alot of money come spring in buying new plants...

I love these two Musical Notes plants. They bloom and bloom.

I just found this thread! What a bunch of beauties! I've decided just this year that I really, really love daylilies and those that are pictured above are just gorgeous!

I LOVE and adore those Clerodendrums!! I've wanted the Blue Butterfly one for so long, but I never can find one available when I can afford to buy it. I had a trade for one set up, but the lady that was supposed to send it to me left DG and never sent it. :o( That Musical Note Clerodendrum is another I've wanted for a long time! LOL Where did you get that one, Sally?

Gail sent me some daylilies that weren't doing well for her. It was so hot and dry (and I didn't really have a nice bed prepared for them) so I just potted them in containers so I could keep them properly watered. The first bloom opened today and I LOVE it!!

Daylily 'Roses with Peaches' Isn't it gorgeous?! Thank you again, Gail! A couple of the others have buds, too. I'll be sure to post pictures as soon as they open.

I got the Musical Note plants in a nursery. I have two. One is in the clay pot to the right of the one in the ground.

Pretty Daylilly!

As always ... Beautiful Blooms everyone!

Amy, that Daylily is really lovely, I look forward to more pic's of ya'lls lilies. Some folks do grow them down here but the season is rather short for most. I have not had a lot of luck. This year a couple of Stargazer Lilie's came up but were small and didn't last long. My Easter Lilies were horrible this year ... sparse and not many blooms as in the past. We have just had such intense heat and it set in early this year!

That Clerodendrum ugandense: http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/1874/ is one I would love to have! I'm going to have to look around and see if anyone locally sells it. I know it grows in Florida.

I went out and took a couple of pic's this morning. This is a basket of Torenia hanging on a Shepherd's hook in the backyard. I bought this as a small potted plant for my Birthday in March. It has really filled out. I love the little flowers.

A pretty lavender colored Lantana that finally decided to bloom this year!

Yes, the ugandanese is above in the close up of the flower pic. I took. It gets HUGE.

Your Torenia and Lantana are so pretty!

Lin, jannich has one she said she was going to try and take tip cuttings of. You ought to get her to send you some cuttings (or better yet, let her root them for you)

I have always loved the Duranta which most people grow as a shrub, but we let them grow into a tree. Here is one I took down at my brother's house because the berries are on them right now. No one but God could create these two colors together. (the berries and the blooms)

Here is a close up for better color (the sun is shining so brightly in the other)