It’s Beginning to Look Like Spring
Posted: January 19, 2020 Filed under: Gardening | Tags: Automatic Gardening, cannas, Cardinal Flower, crocosmia, Drimiopsis maculata, Gardening, Gulf Coast gardening, onion grass, Rose of Sharon, salvias, snowflakes, Southern Gardening, subtropical climate, Subtropical Gardening, Year-round gardening 12 Comments
I found it surprising that Spring seems to be on the way. Maybe it is because I have not done my Fall clean-up. The first two photos are two different salivias that are holding on to old growth while the new stems are already quite tall. The other photo is rosettes of the cardinal flower well under way.
It has been an unusually warm winter and the cannas, gingers and drimiopsis seems to be coming up too early.
The native onion grass is popping up in the leaves along with corocosmia and snowflakes.
Even the Rose of Sharon seems to have had a short rest. As always, there is good and bad with all this growth. The good part is looking forward to a wonderful early blooming spring, but winter is not over and a hard freeze will knock all this new growth back to start over again.
Fall Color
Posted: September 22, 2017 Filed under: Gardening | Tags: Automatic Gardening, Black and Blue Salvia, butterfly weed, Evening Primrose, Gardening, Gulf Coast gardening, hibiscus, Oenothera grandiflora, Pink Flamingo Feather Celosia, salvias, shampoo ginger, Southern Gardening, Subtropical Gardening, wild ageratum, Year-round gardening, Yellow Bells 15 Comments
Happy Fall! Many are posting photos of colorful leaves.
The leaves here will not change for a long time.
Instead, our Fall color comes from blooming plants that have woke up from their summer “sleep”, when it was just too hot to make a flower.
We don’t have flaming foliage, so these flaming tropicals will have to do.
Click on the photos to enlarge.
Hummer Madness
Posted: September 28, 2015 Filed under: Gardening | Tags: Automatic Gardening, Backyard Critters, Bottlebrush, cigar plant, Gardening, Gulf Coast gardening, hummingbird bush, hummingbird migration, nature photography, Ruby Throated Hummingbird, salvias, Year-round gardening 8 CommentsHummingbird madness descended on the Automatic Garden this morning. The little birds are impossible to count, but there may have been nearly 10 participating in a feeding frenzy. The little Ruby Throated hummers are also impossible to photograph, but these pictures give an idea of the action.
The sparring was rampant. Little bodies clashed with thudding sounds and dropped to the ground. Bees were chased away by screeching hummers using their beaks like swords.
There were moments of rest between fights.
Clever hummingbirds took advantage of the feeders while the rest of the birds chased each other.
This group will probably be here a day or two during their migration, loading up on nectar from Hummingbird Bush, Cigar Plant, Bottlebrush, Salvias, Mist Flowers and good old sugar in the feeders.
I wish them well on their trip south and the garden will be ready for the Ruby Throated Hummingbirds’ return.
Harvest Time for Seeds
Posted: January 2, 2015 Filed under: Gardening | Tags: Amberique bean, Automatic Gardening, balsam impatiens, Bartram's Oenothera grandiflora, Evening Primrose, Four O'Clocks, Gardening, Gulf Coast gardening, Philippine Lily, salvias, torenia, Wishbone Flower, Year-round gardening 4 Comments
It is time to start collecting seeds to keep the Automatic Gardening growing. Autumn is the end of the flowering season for many plants, but also the beginning of next season in the promise of seeds.
As it turns out, Four O’Clocks, originally from Mexico, love it here and are very prolific. The seeds need to be collected to stop an over abundance of plants.
Bartram’s Evening Primrose no longer needs to be watched and coddled as it has come into its own. It has reseeded itself and made thousands, if not millions of tiny black seeds this year. An Automatic Garden success!
Balsam Impatients, otherwise known as poppers, have the habit of popping open and flinging their seeds as far as they can. It is always a good idea to collect some to plant where the human gardener desires. These came from George Washington garden. They were probably shared among many of the early colonists.
Wish Bone flowers make extremely small tan seeds that are difficult to collect. They are left to do their own thing and after the seeds germinate the seedlings are moved to beds.
These wonderful seed pods belong to the Philippine Lily. Each pod is stuffed full of flat seeds and are released as the wind blows.
Salvias are old garden friends. They are totally left on their own and never fail to reproduce and provide for the bees and hummingbirds each year.
Some seeds need to be collected to prevent reproduction. This wild and lovely little bean made it way into the garden. As with all wild things in a garden, it needs to be controlled, so as many seed pods as possible are collected. The pods twist open when ripe and send their seeds as far as they can.
Fall Bloomers in the Automatic Garden
Posted: September 20, 2014 Filed under: Gardening | Tags: Automatic Gardening, bees, Gardening, gingers, Gulf Coast gardening, Hummingbirds, pentas, reseeding annuals, rudbeckia, salvias, seeds, torenia, wild ageratum, Year-round gardening 3 Comments
Salvias are reliable plants in the Automatic Garden. Some are hardy and most will reseed. They rest for the hot months of summer and start to rebloom when the earth begins to tilt away from the sun.
The Gingers are putting out their last flowers of the season.
Pentas are in full bloom, providing nectar for bees,hummingbirds and butterflies, although the past several years have seen few butterflies in this area. The white Pentas reseeded this year on their own.
The Ageratum, Rudbeckia, and Torenia are blooming nicely. The Ageratum is wild and planted itself in the garden. The Rudbeckia was a pass-along and willingly reseeds. Torenia spreads its seeds all over the garden, especially in cracks and rocks. They can be bought in the nursery in the spring, but the reseeding ones will not bloom until the fall.
How to Fill a Pot
Posted: June 18, 2014 Filed under: Gardening | Tags: Automatic Gardening, Gardening, Gulf Coast gardening, salvias, Year-round gardening 3 Comments
This pot of dirt was set down and forgotten until a little seedling sprouted up. The pot was left directly under a Pink Salvia that dropped a seed into the center of it. Definitely, an easy no work required way to fill a pot with flowers!
Reseeding
Posted: April 6, 2014 Filed under: Gardening | Tags: Automatic Gardening, Evening Primrose, Gardening, Gulf Coast gardening, Johnny Jump-Up.self-sow, Oenothera grandiflora, reseeding annuals, salvias, seeds, Swamp Sunflower, torenia, William Bartram, Year-round gardening Leave a comment
In the Automatic Garden the plants are allowed to reseed for the next season. William Bartram’s Evening Primrose (Oenothera grandiflora) prolifically reseeded this year and the plants need to be thinned, transplanted and shared. It is important not to disturb the soil once plants have dropped their seeds.
The Swamp Sunflower has reseeded outside the wire fencing, but enough are in the bed so these can be removed.
Rocks are a favorite germination site for seeds. These Salvias will be returned to their bed.
Some plants seem to be able to reseed in just the right places as these Johnny- Jump-Ups did. Allowing plants to reseed on their own is an easy way to have a continuous supple of annuals for the garden. A few are pictured here, but the Automatic Garden reseeds zinnias, mealy blue sage, black-eyed Susans, wishbone plants, blanket flowers, ornamental peppers, dancing lady gingers, columbine, and cleome just to name a few.
Fall Bloomers
Posted: October 10, 2013 Filed under: Gardening | Tags: Bluewing, Clown Flower, Coleus, Fall Flowers, Helianthus angustifolius, Pam's Pink turks cap, reseeding plants, salvias, Swamp Sunflower, Torenia fournieri, Torenias, White Rain Lily, Wishbone Flower, Zephyranthes candida 3 Comments
Swamp Sunflower (Helianthus angustifolius). This bright bloomer started right at the beginning of fall to the delight of the bees. As its name implies, it likes a moist area. It grows up to 6 feet tall and is a prolific reseeder.
This Pam’s Pink Turks Cap desperately needed a trimming, but thankfully it was too hot to do the job and now it is loaded with flowers and buds.
White Rain Lilies (Zephyranthes candida) pop up every year around this time and each year there are more of them. They are in the amaryllis family and can be separated and moved to new beds or shared with gardening friends. Wild ones grow around this area and they have a scent.
This Blue Salvia, the name has been lost, is always a reliable bloomer just when the butterflies and hummingbirds stop by on their journeys south.
This Red Salvia is just super, blooming in the spring and fall. It takes a break during summer.
Coleus Flowers are not very exciting, but the bees sure do like them. All of the Coleus were started by cuttings. It is just about time to start some for the winter. They do well in a sunny window and can be returned to the outdoors when the weather warms up.
Torenias (Torenia fournieri) has many names. Wishbone because of its stamens form a wishbone shape. It is also called Clown Flower, Summer pansy (we grow pansies in the winter here) and Bluewing. What ever you call it, it is a great little plant that takes partial shade and reseeds in the Automatic Garden.
Fuel …just in time for fall migration
Posted: September 24, 2012 Filed under: Gardening | Tags: butterfly weed, cigar plant, firecracker plant, Gulf Coast gardening, hummingbird bush, hummingbird migration, Pam's Pink turks cap, pentas, salvias, weeping bottlebrush, wild ageratum 3 Comments
Pentas ((Pentas lanceolata) had a lazy summer, but perked up for fall.
Wild ageratum (Eupatorium coelestinum) planted itself in the garden and is now in full bloom.
Firecracker (Russelia equisetiformis) growing in a pot low to the ground doesn’t stop hummers from visiting.
Butterfly Weed (Asclepias tuberosa) is blooming in time for Monarchs and hummingbirds.
Cigar plant (Cuphea micropetala) is hugely attractive to hummingbirds.
Pam’s Pink turk’s cap provides plenty of fuel.
Hummingbird Bush (Hamelia patens) is the number one favorite of hummingbirds.
Salvias. Bees need fuel too.
Weeping Bottlebrush (Callistemon viminalis) This tree just re-bloomed and is buzzing with hummers.
A hummingbird sitting still for a moment.
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Fall is a great time of the year to be on the Gulf Coast. Hummingbirds and Monarch butterflies are passing through on their way to warmer winters. Today the garden was humming with six little Ruby Throats vying for fuel for the long trip ahead. Nature is in sync with the migration as many flowers re-bloom for the season.
