Finally Flowers!
Posted: April 1, 2024 Filed under: Gardening | Tags: African Hosta, Automatic Gardening, cannas, Drimiopsis maculata, Gulf Coast gardening, Gulf Coast Penstemon, Little White Soldiers, purple Oxalis, Year-round gardening 27 Comments
I’ve been slightly jealous of my northern gardener friends’ pictures of daffodils, forsythia, hellebore, and other early bloomers. My plants are finally coming back from the freeze and there are a few in bloom. Above is my “mulch pile” Iris. The Iris arrived in a mulch delivery over 30 years ago and proved to be very hardy. It has managed to reproduce too.
White Soldiers or Drimiopsis maculata is a great plant for this area. It is reliable and spreads. The flowers are not that exciting and after the bloom, they will make bulblets and new plants. They are also called African Hosta and are the closest to a Hosta we can grow here.
One of Cannas has bloomed already. Another plant that reproduces easily.
The Gulf Coast Penstemon is really putting on a show. The only thing is that I did not plant them in this bed.
Black-eyed Susans have also started to flower and make a nice spring mix with the Gulf Coast Penstemon.
The Purple Oxalis is having a very happy spring. These are in two pots I have next to each other and they make a great display. I also have the Oxalis in two beds and they always come back every year.
Automatic Gardening & Real Gluten Free Food 
Beautiful spring blooms. I esp. love the penstemon, always a favorite of mine.
The penstemon is a passalong and I never learn my lesson when other gardeners are happy to share. They are coming up every where and getting to weed status.
Bet the bees love them!
They do.
SPRING has arrived. Still cold in the northeast we may have snow this week.
Lovely flowers that do make one’s soul happy. The lovely purply blue Iris is indeed glorious. Thanks for sharing. And Happy Spring to you.
It is starting to feel more like spring with some blooms. Usually, there are a lot more this time of year. I have a hummingbird at the feeder, otherwise there is not much to feed on.
Does the bird coming hum at you as a thank you song?
When there is many and they are in that fighting mood, they will come up to my face.
Garden is looking great. I love that African Hosta and have never seen it before. Spring happiness for you.
The African Hosta may grow in your area. The bulbs don’t seem to rot at all.
I’m going to look into that I love the leaf texture. Question for you. I sent my nephew some rain lilies are they partial shade there?
Mine have been doing well in the full sun facing south. I would say more sun than shade. I did put some in my woods and they did not bloom.
And really lovely ones, at that! My Gulf penstemon is also blooming; they’re so pretty! On occasions during spring migration, I’ve seen Painted Buntings nibbling at the seeds. Love the gorgeous red canna flowers!
I find the penstemon seeds very smelly, but I guess the birds don’t. They have spread all over my yard.
Your iris sure does look like one of our blue flags. It’s a gorgeous thing, for sure. I’m impressed with your purple oxalis, too. I see the wild ones everywhere, but they’re pink or yellow with mostly unimpressive foliage. Yours is really eye-catching.
That Iris is something and now a second one is blooming. My oxalis is a triangularis and the leaves are triangle shaped. They do go out of bounds at times but are not invasive like the pink. The purple are great houseplants and you can get then anywhere.
I like seeing what grows in your part of the world and comparing to here. That Penstemon is really lovely! And the iris too. The oxalis would be sold as either a summer annual or a houseplant here. They always remind me of clover and I love the tiny flowers. 😃
I have one bed white and another of purple oxalis. They do not look great in the winter, but always seem to come back.
Thanks for sharing your lovely flowers because we have up to a foot of snow arriving tomorrow. Mother Nature has a seriously warped sense of humor. 🙂
My brother just reminded me how we had 10 inches in PA for Easter one year. Mother needs to get it together. We are out of our “cold” snaps and my plants are enjoying the heat.
Canna?! Already? They barely freeze back here, but are not yet blooming, and may not bloom until later in spring.
I was surprised as the plants froze back.The first one to bloom is making seed pods.
? So they do not always freeze back there? Could that be a stem that did not freeze back? That would make more sense.
We might have many winters with no freezes, but once in awhile Canada sends a Blue Norther and the temperatures drop. We can go from hard freeze to 70s in the same week. My guess would be that the plants were getting ready to send up those leaves and were not affected by the freeze. The ground stays warm enough. At one time people thought this could be an area to grow citrus. Also, the freeze of 2021 lasted for a few days and killed everyone’s backyard oranges and many palms.
Your penstemons are beautiful! Mine are also blooming. Love the iris, too!
Thanks!