Going Against Good Advice
Posted: February 23, 2020 Filed under: Gardening | Tags: Automatic Gardening, Four O'Clocks, Gardening, Southern Gardening, subtropical climate, Year-round gardening 17 Comments
They told me not to plant it. Yes, experienced gardeners told me. If you have figured out my MO, you know I cannot resist a flowering plant that likes this climate, loves to reproduce and is free. That of course, is the downside of the Four O’ Clock. Its sweet scented flowers fill the evening with perfume that is hard to resist, but it also grows a tuber that is as big as a size 7 clog and every flower produces a seed with a high rate of germination. I have pulled up hundreds of seedlings and finally found the perfect shovel to dig out the tuber that was growing close to my other wanted plants. My advice is that if you want to grow a Four O’ Clock, put it in a pot over concrete and sweep up the seeds.
Cheery Blooms
Posted: February 8, 2020 Filed under: Gardening | Tags: ageratum, Automatic Gardening, Firespike, Kalanchoe daigremontiana, Kalnachoe, My Kitchen Window, Nasturtium, Odontonema strictum, Oxalis Triangularis, purple Oxalis, Southern Gardening, subtropical climate, Subtropical Gardening, Year-round gardening 13 Comments
This time of year it is hard to tell if it is late winter or early spring. The temperatures are going from 80’s to 30’s depending on the day. Thankfully, there are some blooming plants cheering up the season. The Nasturtiums, started from seed, have done really well in the strawberry pot and can be viewed from my kitchen window.
The Purple Oxalis Triangularis prefers to bloom on cool days and takes its rest in the summer.
Kalanchoe’s electric colors joins the other two potted plants on the patio to brighten up the day.
I bought these Ageratums one deary flowerless winter and have been surprised that they keep coming back. They start putting out growth in the fall. I didn’t bother to learn what kind they were, as I thought they were annuals and would die. They are reproducing on their own and maybe I’ll eventually have a bed full of them.
Firespike, Odontonema strictum, is another passalong that grows really well. I did some gardening no-no’s and threw some cuttings around my wooded area and they rooted. Now I have several clumps around the yard. They do attract my winter hummingbirds and add color to the season.
Kalanchoe daigremontiana or Mother of Thousands, probably Mother of Millions, really put on a show this year. Mother can grow in just a bit of soil and reproduces like crazy. I pull up hundreds or thousands every year. It is from another part of the world and likes to bloom in the winter. This year with no freezes, the plant reached its potential. There are 13 flower heads blooming. Its unusual flowers with many subtle shades of color is what makes me keep it around.
Reaching for the Sun
Posted: February 2, 2020 Filed under: Gardening | Tags: Automatic Gardening, Canna, Gardening, Gulf Coast gardening, Southern Gardening, subtropical climate, Year-round gardening 9 Comments
Towards the end of summer, I noticed rather large leaves were growing in one of my trees. It turned out to be a canna reaching for the sun. The normal cannas grow about 3 to 4 feet tall. This one popped up in the shade of the tree and headed for the sun stretching to 10 feet. Nature is so interesting.
Backdoor Beauty
Posted: January 27, 2020 Filed under: Gardening | Tags: Aechmea gamosepala, Automatic Gardening, Gardening, Gulf Coast gardening, My Kitchen Window, Southern Gardening, subtropical climate, Subtropical Gardening, Year-round gardening 20 Comments
This pink and blue beauty has always amazed me with its striking color combination. My Aechmea gamosepala has had a long but difficult life. It lived in the ground for a while until the rabbits found it. Its life in a pot has kept it alive, but not totally thriving.
This past summer it had to live in my wooded area and as luck would have it, the Aechmea loved it and put out more flower spikes than it has in years.
Now it is positioned next to my backdoor, so my cat and I can enjoy it all day.
Update on Looking Like Spring
Posted: January 19, 2020 Filed under: Gardening | Tags: Automatic Gardening, Azaleas, Gardening, Gulf Coast gardening, Southern Gardening, subtropical climate, Subtropical Gardening, Year-round gardening 20 Comments
After posting today, I took a walk around the yard and found Azaleas blooming. Normally, they do not bloom until the second week of March.
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.
Nice Days and Hard Work
Posted: January 10, 2020 Filed under: Gardening | Tags: Automatic Gardening, Gardening, Southern Gardening, subtropical climate, Subtropical Gardening, Year-round gardening 11 Comments
Our unseasonably warm and sunny January days prompted me to do long neglected yard work. I pulled a bushel or so of weeds from the front yard and filled the big container in the picture 3 times with spent annuals and cuttings.
After all that work, I rewarded myself with tea and cookies on the porch swing. A cold front is on the way that will provide me with a much needed rest.
