Rainy Day
Posted: June 25, 2020 Filed under: Gardening | Tags: Automatic Gardening, French drain, Gardening, gingers, Gulf Coast gardening, Hedychium coccineum, rain, Southern Gardening, subtropical climate, Subtropical Gardening, Year-round gardening 16 Comments
We have had several days of rain in the area and today was our big day. So far we have had about 3 inches, but other parts of the city received at least 8 inches. I went out to clear a clog.
We have a French drain that carries the rainwater across the yard, down a drain to a pipe and out to the street. It doesn’t take much to clog it.
The birds were hungry on this wet day and while I was taking care of them, I noticed how pretty my gingers were glistening with rain. The gingers are Hedychium coccineum.
Oxalis
Posted: June 23, 2020 Filed under: Gardening | Tags: Armadillo, Automatic Gardening, Backyard Critters, Gardening, Gulf Coast gardening, Oxalis Triangularis, purple Oxalis, Southern Gardening, subtropical climate, Subtropical Gardening, Year-round gardening 13 Comments
The Automatic Garden always provides new plants, just not where I necessarily want them. I found these Purple Oxalis Triangularis growing in the lawn that had somehow survived many mowings.
The closest Purple Oxalis is growing in pots on the back porch. It is yet another plant mystery of how they ended up quite far from the pots.
I transplanted the newly found Oxalis to the colony that I started in the wooded area. They don’t look so happy now, but the Purple Oxalis bloomed nicely in the early spring. I have the plants protected by broken pots and bricks, as an armadillo has been plowing them up. When the roots get a good grip or the armadillo moves, I’ll remove the barriers.
Revealed
Posted: May 29, 2020 Filed under: Gardening | Tags: Automatic Gardening, Cardinal Flower, Gardening, Gulf Coast gardening, Gulf Coast Penstemon, Southern Gardening, subtropical climate, Subtropical Gardening, Weeds, Year-round gardening 17 Comments
Two plants popped up in my small patio bed. I wasn’t totally sure what they were so I let them grow out to reveal themselves. I thought they might be weeds, Gulf Coast Penstemon or Cardinal Flower. Once the plants grew to around 4 inches, it became clear they were Cardinal Flowers, which was my last guess. I promptly dug them up and transplanted the pair to a better location.
More than once, I have mistook weeds for a wanted plant and let them grow. And yes, there is a mix of weeds and seedlings in that bed. I am waiting for them tell me what they are.
Attentive Gardening
Posted: May 25, 2020 Filed under: Gardening | Tags: African Blood Lily, Alpinia zerumbet, Aristolochia fimbriata, Automatic Gardening, Costus barbatus, Gardening, Gulf Coast gardening, Peter Pan Agapanthus, Rain Lilies, Scadoxus multiflorus, Shell Ginger, Southern Gardening, spiral ginger, subtropical climate, Subtropical Gardening, Year-round gardening, Zephyranthes 22 Comments
With rain, you get Rain Lilies and this year’s display was spectacular. The couple of bulbs I bought years ago that just sat around doing nothing, have come alive and planted themselves all over the yard. (click on a photo for slideshow)
Aristolochia fimbriata, is the third kind of Dutchman’s Pipe that I grow. It has tiny flowers and the nurseryman said it would attract butterflies. I’ll wait and see.
I had to add another photo of the spiral ginger. The flower is hidden behind the leaves and I enjoy peeking in everyday to see its progress.
My sweet little Peter Pan Agapnathus has made several flower heads this year.
After two years of hard winters, the Shell Ginger finally bloomed.
The African Blood Lily has done extremely well and seems to like our gumbo soil. It makes huge blooms every year and has even multiplied. A mild winter and an attentive gardener (me staying home) has resulted in a late Spring full of blooms.
Angel Trumpet
Posted: May 16, 2020 Filed under: Gardening | Tags: Angel Trumpet, Automatic Gardening, Burgmansia, Gardening, Gulf Coast gardening, Southern Gardening, subtropical climate, Subtropical Gardening, Year-round gardening 14 Comments
The Angel Trumpet, Burgmansia, has put on quite the show this Spring. It has made at least 50 flowers.
It went for years without blooming and recently started making a few flowers in the Fall. I am hoping it will now bloom on and off throughout the season.
For more information about Angel Trumpets check out this previous post.
Kisses in the Morning, the Walking Iris
Posted: May 2, 2020 Filed under: Gardening | Tags: Automatic Gardening, Gardening, Gulf Coast gardening, My Kitchen Window, Neomarica gracilis, Southern Gardening, subtropical climate, Subtropical Gardening, walking iris, Year-round gardening 27 Comments
I had a nice crop of white chocolate Hershey Kisses this year. My Walking Iris, Neomarica gracillis, took a hit from two years of freezes and it has finally recuperated. It is originally from Brazil and can be grown as a houseplant, which explains why it didn’t like the cold.
In the morning the flower starts out in a Kiss shape. Here it is starting to open slightly and the flower’s colors are showing.
The Walking Iris opens bit by bit revealing the flower inside. I have seen videos on the internet of it opening, but I don’t have the patience to sit and wait. I was able to catch the flowers in various stages of opening during one shoot.
The Iris’s flowers only last for one day, but it will continue to open in a secession of new blooms. Mine has been blooming since Easter and I think it might go for two more weeks. After the flowers bloom, little plantlets form making the stem heavy enough to bend to ground for the plantlets to root. This how it was named Walking Iris.
A Good Place to Land
Posted: April 20, 2020 Filed under: Gardening | Tags: Automatic Gardening, Four O'Clocks, Gardening, Gulf Coast gardening, Hardy Gloxinia, Jewel of Opar, Moses-in -the- Bullrushes, Salvia, Southern Gardening, subtropical climate, Subtropical Gardening, Wild Trailing Bean, Year-round gardening 11 Comments
I’ve had a pot with a Four O’Clock sitting next to a bed from last Fall until now. Quite a variety of seeds found the pot to be a good place to land and germinate.
The pot contains the Four O’CLock, a couple of weeds and five kinds of plants that can be transplanted. There is a Salvia, two Jewel of Opar, Hardy Gloxinia, Moses and Wild Trailing Bean. Could gardening be any easier?
Backlit: An Ephemeral Moment
Posted: April 18, 2020 Filed under: Gardening | Tags: Automatic Gardening, Gardening, Gulf Coast gardening, Poppy, Southern Gardening, Subtropical Gardening, Year-round gardening 13 Comments
While doing yard work, I walked by this poppy beautifully backlit by the sun. I took a quick photo with my phone. When I went back a short time later, the sun had already moved.
Our world has slowed down for the virus and now is the perfect time to catch those ephemeral moments we may miss in our normal busy lives.
Caterpillar Relocation
Posted: April 5, 2020 Filed under: Gardening | Tags: Automatic Gardening, Backyard Critters, Butterflly Weed, Gardening, Gulf Coast gardening, Monarch Butterfly, Monarch caterpillar, Monarch Waystation, My Kitchen Window, nature photography, Southern Gardening, subtropical climate, Subtropical Gardening, Year-round gardening 29 Comments
The Monarch caterpillars are doing so well that they ate all the leaves from some of the Butterfly Weed plants. I gently collected these big fat ones for relocation.
The caterpillar got right to work munching on the new leaves. Having too many Monarch caterpillars is definitely a good sign for the population.
Close Is Not Close Enough
Posted: March 30, 2020 Filed under: Gardening | Tags: Automatic Gardening, Bartram's Oenothera grandiflora, Evening Primrose, Gardening, Gulf Coast gardening, Southern Gardening, subtropical climate, Subtropical Gardening, Year-round gardening 17 Comments
My philosophy in the Automatic Garden is to get plants to reproduce on their own either by seed or roots. I have been trying to get Bartram’s Oenothera grandiflora Evening Primrose to naturalize for years. I have been sowing the seeds in four different locations hoping for some success.
The Evening Primrose has finally started some plants by seed. Instead of doing it in the perfectly fine garden bed, all the seeds germinated in the grass close to the bed. I was glad I spotted the plants before the mower got to them. They have been transplanted, but the Evening Primroses would have a better chance if they did not have to be moved.
