Category: Garden

So much for that

On By CarynIn Flora, Garden

My hypothesis that my Thanksgiving cactus blooms due to drops in window temperature that triggers the leaves touching the window was blown away this month. The cactus has bloomed and we haven’t seen any temperatures below 68. Hm.

Photo description: bright pink Thanksgiving cactus bloom in September

The cactus mysteries continue.

Plant shots

On By CarynIn Garden

Today I present some photos of plants around the house, inside and outside, and the reason they are unusual enough to warrant a picture.

Photo description: the hibiscus managed a few blooms this year, despite being choked out by the Gregg’s Mistflower. The Mistflower did not stay under 12 inches, but got leggy and tall because there isn’t quite enough light in the front bed. Mistflower does not respond well to being trimmed. The plan is to take out the whole bed and put it in the meadow, where there is more sunlight. Being a native plant we hope the Mistflower will do better there. For the hibiscus, maybe I can find it a new home.
Photo description: inside the house we have a jewel orchid living almost its best life. This is a closeup of a new leaf opening up in a spiral. I have the orchid in a bed of live moss with a tall clear cover to keep in the moisture. I don’t have to water it very often as the moss releases and reabsorbs the moisture in the closed environment. I don’t know why the leaves slightly curl the other way once fully open.
Photo description: this is a succulent in my terrarium and it seems to have produced flower-like leaves. The leaves on the left are white tinged with pink edges, rather than the striped green. I’m not sure if this is normal, or a sign of poor conditions, but they are pretty.

Beautyberry

On By CarynIn Garden

We planted an American Beautyberry last year, and this year it produced fruit!

Photo description: American Beautyberry with clusters of purple berries around the stem and broad serrated green leaves

The berries are edible, and are mildly sweet without much other flavor. I’ve heard they can be used to make jelly, but I imagine it is more for the color than the flavor.

This particular bush lives in a raised glower bed on a more shaded corner of the house. American Beautyberry is known for being shade loving.

Rock it

On By CarynIn Garden

The idea started when I noticed that the grape hyacinth bulbs were poking up out of the ground. Not in a growing way, but that the soil was washing away. We have leftover native stone from the back porch project, so I hauled some rock to the front yard to redefine the flower bed and make a soil stop to keep the dirt from washing away.

Photo description: an almost before picture. I just started digging out the exposed hyacinth bulbs and realized I should take a picture. The old bed was outlined with brick.
Photo description: end of day one. The brick is gone and the new line of the flower bed has been set with stone.
Photo description: end of day two. The entire front bed has been lined with flagstone. This is the opposite view looking back toward the driveway.
Photo description: angry frog. This leopard frog was not happy that I took the lid off his home.

I’ve ordered some additional grape hyacinth and will replant the bulbs I removed and the new bulbs in the next stage, along with cleaning up the original bed area.

Hibiscus bloom

On By CarynIn Garden

I thought the Hibiscus didn’t make it through the last winter, but it bravely grew up through the Gregg’s Mistflower and managed a bloom.

Photo description: White Hardy Hibiscus bloom with pink edges and a dark red center

This front flower bed gets the most sunlight of anything in our yard, but it still isn’t enough for the Gregg’s Mistflower not to get leggy, or for the hibiscus to grown to its full might. We are, again, considering different options once the summer is done.