Howdy folks!
It's taken me forever to get these photos back, but here they are, courtesy of Duane Rogers!
In the mid-point of the growing season here in Corpus Christi, I had a good friend and neighbor use his camera to take some photos of the flowers here in my garden this year. Today I got them back. I'm posting them here for all to see, since I imagine that there are many of you that need a little bit of spring right now.
Spring is actually sneaking up on us pretty quick now here in the TX coastal bend and starting seedlings indoors should start at the start of February. It's coming pretty quick!! I'll start posting to the blog here again shortly after that.
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| Yellow Gladiola |
Enjoy the photos!!
Glads are fun and come back every year. I've had an assortment of glads planted in a pot for three years now. They keep coming back, but the only ones that have ever bloomed for me are the yellow ones.
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| Blue Plumbago |
The Blue Plumbago (left) seems to be becoming a ground cover rather than the bushy, shrublike plant that I wanted it to be. I'm sure a lot of that has to do with the way that it is shaped and pruned. I have NO knowledge in how that is supposed to be done though, so it does pretty much what it wants to do. I do trim it from time to time to keep it growing within the confines of the bed where I have it planted though
The Cape Honeysuckle (right) isn't doing as well as I would like it to be doing. It was grown from a cutting and did very well originally but we've had several litters of kittens brought up in the fields behind the apartment here and they have played in this until it's become this broken and busted plant. I think perhaps that I will transplant it into something larger in the spring and pray that it becomes a bit happier. I still think that the flowers are lovely though!
I now have five of these plants. As I told you all when it happened, the kittens broke FIVE branches off of this and I attempted, successfully, to root them all. While they are all still small and are right now suffering the effects of a stressful winter, they are coming along just fine.
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| Desert Bird of Paradise |
Now in it's third year in the backyard garden, The "Desert Bird of Paradise" (left) experienced it's first year of seeding! Anyone who wants any can let me know. I realized I've offered seeds before here for my Purple Datura to people, but the seeds molded. Since I could not be sure that they were viable or not, I didn't send them out. Since these seeds don't even drop until they have fully dried out, I've had no trouble with that with these. Let me know if you want to try some!
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| Red Impatiens |
If you ever come down to the Coastal Bend you'll notice that this flower is just about everywhere. They aren't always in this color, but the flowers are all over the place. They are called Impatiens (right). I don't know what it is about this environment, but Impatiens grow like weeds here. They reseed often, and it seems that all of the seeds are perfectly viable. In my garden, they are almost a menace!! Still, they are pretty and I can never seem to get enough color. If they were any other color than red, I'd probably have to pull them.
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| Crown of Thorns |
To the left we see my "Crown of Thorns" plant. It was a gift to me from my partner Dana's boss, Bunny. Since the day she gave it to me a year and a half ago it has continuously bloomed for me, one stem after the next, with no dormancies at all. it's incredible. I really treasure it with it's lip shaped flowers and it's long, spikey stem. I'm hoping someday I can make another cutting from it to fill the pot a bit better.
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| Kalanchoe Blossfeldiana--Orange |
Kalanchoe Blossfeldiana (right) has become a prolific plant in my garden, and lucky for me it's mostly in pots. The other Kalanchoe's are running rampant in the ground, while this one, a favorite amongst florists and shoppes, is growing in six or seven different pots in the backyard. All of these are just now beginning their blooming cycle as well, so I'm going to have quite the show coming up here in January!!! Looking forward to it, and I will provide lots more photos when that happens.
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| Beach Spider Lily |
My favorite, and perhaps the most exotic of the plants growing in my backyard garden this year is the fickle "Beach Spider Lily", also known by an incorrect name I've used in the past, "The Resurrection Lily". It's fairly common here, but REQUIRES full sun to bloom every year. So, if your trees grow over the area where these are planted, you can quickly be just out of luck. I've discovered that they do well being moved, but require a full year before they bloom again. Their blossoms are fragrant and exotic. I just love them. I get the feeling that they would not do well as a cut flower though.
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| Indian Blanket |
Indian Blanket (right) is a perennial staple here in South Texas. It grows like a weed and is actually considered a weed by many. It's seeds, however, are packaged by the major seed companies and it is marketed as an annual in many parts of the country. Personally, I find the weed delightful as it comes in many variations upon it's simplisti Red, Yellow, and Orange theme. Some flowers are Yellow with splashes of red, Some are red with splashes of yellow... You just never know what you are going to get with these.
This spring I will attempt another wildflower post here on the backard garden page. I've discovered a great many different flowers in our immediate area that I haven't, as of yet, posted here. I'm looking forward to sharing them.
I'm REALLY looking forward to next year. I have three Plumeria trees that have yet to bloom, and according to all the experts they should have all three bloomed before now. I'm goin to go the extra mile next spring and make sure that they give me the display that I have been waiting so patiently for!! Stay tuned for the next season of Blondmyk's Backyard Garden!!
Have a great winter!
