OT - September Outside Beauties #2

Please don't get me started on another obsession! I've barely got room for the ones I have already!!!

(oh, but look at the pretty foliage . . . (face slap) . . .

AV girl, just look at them bursting through the rails. Gorgeous. I love them. Your porch is great!

Syru, you don't have to get a lot, just a few! ha! They are great cool color for our hot summers.

Rox, I love Coleus! You really have some beauties there. Miniature Roses are so pretty! Wow! Love your porch with all the plants! And, I'm wondering what that plant is at the base of the porch there under the window?

I have a couple of tuberose but they aren't doing really great! What do you feed yours? It is gorgeous. The fragrance is heavenly, isn't it?


I'm shutting down the computer for the night, having vision problems since yesterday, something going on with my left eye. Have to call the eye doctor and make an appointment tomorrow. Having trouble focusing.

Nighty nite everyone.

Sure, it starts with just a 6-pack from Walmart. But then you see another 6-pack with different foliage, then another, and another! Before you know it, your plants are huge, and since you have all those 72-cell trays just sitting unused in the garage, you start taking cuttings and plucking them in the trays. Not much longer after that, THOSE plants are ready to be planted . . . then you discover the FIRST plants need trimming again . . . and you just CAN'T throw away good cuttings . . .

See my pattern?

LOL, Syrumani ... Been there, done that ... many times, not recently but it sure has happened at my house so many times over the years! It doesn't take long to be consumed by plants. ^_^

Can't even ooh and aah Av-ocd-girl! The nine year old granddaughter and her friend want to sew!

I have a couple of orchids in bud and found this one opened today.

I dont' think I posted this one here before. This is my huge Epiphyllum out in the back yard. It is a night bloomer and in the 30 some years I've had this plant I have always missed the blooms. Last week it had 8 buds and I made up my mind I was not going to miss it again. I went out about 11:30 one night and got this shot.

love that picture,good job,how was the smell

JIM

This is nothing special but it is blooming. A red flowered Hibiscus in the backyard. This thing blooms all year round and is from a cutting from one I used to have in the front yard. We dug up so many hibiscus last year and threw them away, made the mistake 30 years ago of planting them all along the front and sides of the house, right up next to the house under the windows. They are like weeds down here and it was a constant battle trying to keep them pruned back. They would grow up to the top of the roof of the house!

I was going to start digging this one up last spring and move it but just never had the energy ... maybe next year. I have a lot of hanging plants on the west side of the pool area so this hibiscus does offer some shade from the intense afternoon sun.. I might just have to leave it where it is and keep it pruned.

Jim, That's what is so odd. The Epiphyllum hookeri is supposed to be fragrant but I detected absolutely no fragrance on the blooms whatsoever! Maybe it was the time I happened to be out there, I'm not sure. This plant blooms a couple of times a year so next time I plan on checking again.

im surprized it didnt have a smell,they do as a rule im told
JIM

Enjoyable thread, syrumani...beautiful flowers everyone! I thought I'd add one of my favorite summer plants being DragonWing begonia. For those who have never grown it, it is one rewarding plant. Easy, graceful and blooms non-stop. The one in my photo must be nearly 5 ft. across now. I'll take a few cuttings to overwinter for next year. I've found cuttings will root easily in water like coleus or they can be inserted in moist potting soil and covered with a baggie. Keep out of direct sun in summer but can take gentle morning or late afternoon sun in winter indoors.

Beautiful pics everyone!

Thank you, Nichole! Let me know what I can send you in return for the MG seeds! I've not got a huge interest in MGs, but that one I can definitely see myself growing every year!

Roxy, I love that Fuchsia! Wish I had a cold hardy one, but I simply don't have the space for a tender one. They're so pretty, though!

Lin, my Epi hookeri has a single bud and I'm so excited to see it! I'm a night owl anyway, so as long as it doesn't bloom on a night when I don't expect it, I'll get to see it. If I do, I'll check to see if it's fragrant.

I have a few photos of things growing outside, but landscaping has not been at the top of my list for the last several years. I've really gotta get on that soon...

I am SO excited that my lone Brug is about to have a flush of blooms! This is just a sample of the number of buds it has. I thought they'd be open yesterday (when I took this picture), but maybe today... For now, here's yesterday's picture.

I love the way those buds are all twisted up before they open!

Lovely red new growth on a Rhipsalis.

Edited to add - Don't open this picture if you're on dial-up. I forgot to resize it and it's huge. A smaller version is in the next post.

This message was edited Sep 25, 2008 8:57 AM

Gee, could that last picture have been any bigger?? Sorry about that! Here's a smaller one.

Encyclia fragrans The fragrance is wonderful and strong enough that I can smell it wherever I am on the patio. Yum!

White Butterfly Ginger I like it, but don't love it. I think it needs more sun...or something.

This is neat! These are the flowers on that Hoya carnosa 'Krinkle 8' clone vine that we had a discussion about somewhere. Anyway, I saw this bee having a big time, so decided to take pictures. I didn't realize it until I looked through the pictures on the computer, but a sweat bee flew by right as I was taking the picture! So, there are at least three critters in this photo - the aphids on the leaf, the bee on the flower, and the sweat bee buzzing by! ^_^

Miltassia Dark Star 'Darth Vader' Gorgeous, rich dark purple flowers! Way too much sun! LOL Notice how yellow the plant is.

Ceropegia woodii - String of Hearts. I love this plant in summer, and it hates me in winter. LOL

A view of the other side of the Ceropegia. Included for your viewing pleasure is a bug of some kind on the right bloom. LOL

A nice close up of the aforementioned aphids on the Hoya.

My little frog buddy that lives in a pot of rainwater with the roots of a dead Phal. No, I didn't kill the Phal. The pot was given to me with them still in it and it rained before I could get it dumped, cleaned, and put away. I can't do anything with it now that Froggy has taken up residence. I wish I could get a picture when he (she? it?) is down in the water and you can just see his nose and eyes above the water.

Aeschynanthus 'Rasta' bloom. I was trying to get a good picture of the yellow in the throat of the flower, but my camera just won't do what I want it to.

And, finally, while this picture was not taken outside, my girls sure were wondering what was going on out there! LOL

Love all the plants and flowers, Rain, but you gotta love that frog! Kitties, too. How dear.

Love the frog! I had a frog (could have been a toad, I suppose) . . .but DH scared it away, I think.

These look so pretty in person. But the camera I used is the backup, since I let my sister borrow my regular camera, and the pix taken with this one don't come out well . . . I may need to get my camera back and take the pic again. Then we can compare.


edited to say: Oh, that does look nasty . . .

This message was edited Sep 25, 2008 9:00 AM

Awesome pics everyone..even the yucky bug one Amy..lol...Love your froggy and with those 2 looking out the window I bet you don't need to worry about any bad people breaking in...I Love that pic..wonder what they saw out there?

Oh my gosh Lin..that hibiscus is huge..I keep forgetting there are some of you who are lucky enough to live in climates where you don't need to plant all the *cool* things in pots because you don't need to lug them all inside every winter..

Syru even with that camera that is a neat looking bloom..what is that?

Those are blooms from one of the Simba marigold plants. I posted a bloom from this plant on the first post of the OT-September Beauties thread. This camera just does not pick up the colors well. In real life, the blooms are the colors of juicy fresh picked oranges, not the sitting in the sun for a few days icky orange color.

Oh wow..I just went and checked and you are right..that camera doesn't do it justice at all..your pic on the other thread is Gorgeous!

Great pic's Amy! I have to google that Encyclia fragrans, that's one I've never heard of but it sure is pretty! Wow, neat pic of the aphids close up! Very cool. Love your frog ... he/she/it looks identical to a little one I rescued from the swimming pool early this morning! I got the broom to reach him and took him out into the back yard because I knew one of the kitties would get him if I left him inside. He found a little flower pot under the tree to hop into for hiding! Oh ... Look at your Beautiful Girls! Wanna trade? I would love to make a trade for one of them! ^_^ Someday we will have a doggie in the family again!

Syrumani: I just love the color of those Marigolds, really awesome! I had no idea any Marigold got so tall.

Nancy, Yep ... Hibiscus, Schefflera's ... too many others to mention are grown as landscape plants down here. And, they get out of hand sometimes, especially if we don't have a cold winter. If we get frost or a freeze they will die back to the ground but shoot right back up in spring. There are some Hibiscus that grow taller than the house, that's why we dug many, many up awhile back ... we could prune them below window level and within a few weeks they were way back up blocking the windows again. They are pretty and bloom almost all year but I hate having to prune so often!

plantladylin . . . I will confess that these marigolds are planted in a super large pot I bought from Costco, along with morning glories, basil, and gazania. However, the plant themselves - and the ones I grew last year - were still 36" tall. I have this plant tied to the trellis, only because it was getting top heavy, and was leaning too far off to the side - that's why some blooms are right up against the plastic fencing.

Ok, let's see how this one compares . . . I tried to get the same view as the last pic . . .


Oh, much better!

This message was edited Sep 27, 2008 2:56 PM

That is a great photo, really shows the color nicely! I love that bright orange!

Thanks. Those are pretty flowers . . . are they orchids?

My son, mother, and I went on a city bus ride downtown this morning. There was a street fair going on, and they had a few blocks blocked off just down the street from the Alamo. We were just wandering around, and DS saw a motorcycle police man just sitting on his bike up on the sidewalk. He let DS get up and sit on the motorcycle . . .

cool picture,

Oops,Yes, that's an orchid hanging in the tree. I guess I forgot to say what it was! LOL.

What a great photo of your son on the police motorcycle! I bet he will remember that for a long time!