Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day-January 2012

Happy New Year to all you Garden Bloggers out there (and to anyone else who stumbles upon this post)!
If you are paying any sort of attention at all (and thank you so much if you are) you may have noticed that I haven't garden blogged (or blogged at all for that matter) since September. I wasn't here during October and November, and I totally forgot about GBBD in December until the very end of the day. So, I did get out and get some pictures for my records, but I just wasn't up to putting together a post.

Well, it's a new year and time to get back in gear, right? OK!

Leading that charge are my little tomatoes. I don't know what variety they are, but they grow wild out here, and they are teeny tiny, about 1/2" in diameter when ripe. Left unchecked, these plants will sprawl in a most unruly manner. Maybe the pot will contain this one a little.

One of my favorite blues, Lobelia.

One of my most reliable volunteers, snapdragons.

Hardy Ice Plant (Delosperma) always adds a nice splash of color.

This little guy made a surprise appearance the other day. I planted this Gazania sometime last April or May, and since then it has been hanging on, but just barely. It puts out a few sad, spindly leaves here and there, but I wasn't sure if it was going to bloom again. I didn't even see the bud sneak up, just walked out one day and, lo and behold, there it was! 

When I got back home in November, after a 6-week absence, this lavender was looking a little...mostly dead. I wasn't sure if it was going to make a comeback or not, but a little pruning and a little water, and it has made a spectacular comeback.

My Alyssum are flourishing in the pot with my lemon tree.

For sentimental reasons, this Clerodendrum quadriloculare is one of my favorite plants. The leaves are a dark green on top and purple on the bottom, and it grows like a weed. Literally. I have to pull up runners from all over my yard, but I wouldn't dream of getting rid of it. 

I have two smallish pots out on my back lanai, under our awning. One drains, one doesn't-I can only assume this means that one pot has a crack in it and the other one doesn't. Anyway, the non-draining pot gets a little swampy in the winter months, and the miniature roses that I've always keep in those pots don't always fare so well. Finding myself in need of yet another miniature rose, I spied these Fiesta Olé ™ Purple Stripe Double Impatiens. They have the same general look and feel of miniature roses, but they are good in the shade and need lots of water. Perfect! So far (2 months?) they are proving to be pretty hardy.  

My Euphorbia leucocephala-this plant is on my back lanai as well, getting more shade than the ones in my front yard, and is in the prime of its winter white.

This one is in my front yard and starting to fade a little. Amazing how much difference location can make.

Although not my favorite plant, I do love the flowers on my Lantana. There's something whimsical about them that I find charming. 

Chive flowers are understated but kind of pretty in their own right. 

Even with all the things blooming in my yard, sometimes I break down and buy flowers at the store. When I discovered this composition on my counter today, it made me laugh. It seems the people in the house are not the only ones who like wine!

Another store purchase to brighten up the powder room.

Thanks to everyone who went on this garden tour with me, and thank you, as always, to our Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day host, Carol at May Dreams Gardens. Head on over there and see what else is blooming today! 

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day-January 2011

Happy New Year, everyone!  Let's see what the torrents of rain have brought in the way of blooms recently.

I can't believe my Pink Quill (Tillandsia cyanea) is still blooming.  I thought everything would be blown out and faded by now, but as you can see, there is still quite a show going on.

I know it looks dark, but that was the setting I had to go with to get an accurate representation of that purple, and the pink is accurate too.  Isn't that a great combination?  

Similar in structure, but totally different in pallet is one of my most consistent bloomers,  my golden shrimp plant (Pachystachys lutea (hee hee-it sounds like it's related to a pachyderm)).

Well, unlike a pachyderm, the flowers on my polka dot plant are teeny tiny and freakin' hard to focus on when there is any sort of breeze in the yard (which there always is when I'm trying to get my GBBD photos! Not that I'm complaining-it's awfully muggy without it.)

In the same pot and also with great foliage and tiny flowers is my coleus. It's hard to focus on the flowers with such pretty leaves below, but they are an awfully nice purple. 

And, speaking of purple, my African Daisy (Osteospermum) still has a few nice blooms on it and even a couple specks of pollen in the middle for contrast.

My bougainvillea is beginning to fade a bit, but I still found one creamy flower very much on display for GBBD.

And, finally, I've shown you what my red ginger (Alpinia purpurata) does when it's done blooming.  It starts putting out new foliage to grow new plants...except when it puts out new flowers instead.  See the gangly, spent flower coming up out of the middle and falling over toward the left?  All the other flowers are coming out from around the base of that one. I haven't yet figured out when it makes foliage and when it makes flowers-anyone out there know?  

To see what is going on in other gardens around the world, or to share what is going on in your garden, visit our Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day host, Carol, at May Dreams' Gardens

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day-January 2010

Happy Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day!  Visit our host, Carol, at May Dreams Gardens to see more gardens in bloom or to participate.

Wouldn't you know it? About two days after the last GBBD, my Tilandsia cyanea (Pink Quill) started spitting out bright purple flowers.  I thought about taking pictures then, just in case, but I figured I had enough that they would last me until today.  And they did...sort of.  There are still a few left that haven't bloomed yet, so it isn't out of blooms, they just aren't blooming today.  *sigh*  Oh, well, maybe in a couple more years, I will have some Tilandsia blooms to show you. Until then, you can visit this link, and just pretend that the flowers you see there are on my back porch.

Here's what I do have:

The usual suspects, a.k.a Pam, Jay, and Nameless Bob

Den. Pam Tajima (atroviolaceum 'Pygmy' x eximium) 

Dgmra. Memoria Jay Yamada 'Hawaii'

Seriously, "Nameless Bob" is all I have for this one.

My Euphorbia Leucocephala still have a few hangers-on,

but mostly, it's getting a little leggy and sad. The white is fading, and the new growth hasn't really begun yet. February for my Euphorbia is like the in-between stage of trying to grow your bangs out for you and me.

It's cousin, the rescue pointsettia, seems to be in its prime. I say rescue pointsettia because this was one of those Christmas dinner center pieces from two Christmases ago that was headed for the compost bin if I hadn't brought it home with me. Most of the year, it just sits quietly in its pot, growing out its bangs, but for a month or two every year, it does fancy itself up a little bit.

My Red ginger (Alpinia purpurata) is in pretty constant bloom,

but now it's starting to do something strange. All of a sudden, there seems to be a bunch of new growth coming up from the flowery part of the plant. What is this? Is this normal?

Anyone?

Bueller?

My orange shrimp plant (Pachystachys lutea) is still putting on a good show as well.

 I tried to get a good shot of what's going on inside, but this is the best I could do.

Right next to my shrimp plant is my spider lily. It's got some nice blooms today as well as some seed pods setting from the last group of blooms.

The snails like to hang out on this plant, and as far as I can see, they don't seem to be doing any damage.

Here are three of them tucked down into the base of my lily.

They're sort of like teenagers hanging out at the mall. I tend to eyeball them with suspicion, but I can't really pin anything on them. Every once in a while they wander over to my kale, where they DO do some damage, but I just pull them off and relocate them to some detritus-filled area closer to my lilies. Also, snails are tenacious. And stretchy! Maybe I'll get a picture of that one of these days.

My Clerodendrum is just revving up for what should be some nice February blooms.

My bouganvillea was all a little faded last month, but it's rallying nicely this month.

I'm not sure what these are, but they are little border plants whose blooms I discovered quite by accident. I cut some of the foliage to use in a bouquet, and when I got them up to eye level, I realized they have some sort of bloomy, flowery thing going on.

I recently planted some lobelia, and I couldn't be happier with the color. They're almost iridescent in person.

I'm looking forward to some tomatoes soon!  Two, to be exact.  Hey, I'm not feeding the world, but every now and then I can make my salad more exciting.

And, if the birds don't get these, I will have two strawberries to go with my two tomatoes.

My garden buddy, Buster, got out of his crate and walked from the back yard to the front yard with me while I was collecting pictures, but he hasn't been feeling well lately, and that was about all he felt like doing. After that, it was time to lie down again. The doc's got him on some meds, and he is definitely feeling better than he was a few days ago; but I know we have to start steeling ourselves for the day when the meds don't make him feel better, and I'm afraid that's going to be sooner than later. So, if my GBBD posts fall off, you'll know why, but in the meantime, please send happy, healthy thoughts Buster's way.

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day-January

I am really excited about this month's blooms! I have been documenting the progression of two of my plants, and it's been fascinating for me. First up, though, is this guy (gal?).  Notice the bee hanging out on the leaf right under the little hangy-down piece?  =)

I believe this is a white spider lily; sorry I can't be more specific. I inherited this from a friend who was moving to Korea about 3 years ago. It sat terribly neglected in my front yard for about a year (in a garbage bag if I remember correctly-*cringes*-it was tucked away under a tree, nobody walking by could see it!) and finally found a home in its current pot on my sidewalk; this is the first time it's ever bloomed! Yay! I was afraid it was going to continue to get big and sprawly and never bloom, and I'm terribly happy to have been wrong.

Next up, I have my red amaryllis. I'm afraid the tag doesn't provide any more useful information than that. I broke down and bought this at the grocery store around December 22, and this is only the 2nd houseplant that I have purchased IN SEVEN YEARS. Seeing as how I live in Hawaii, you might be wondering, WHAT???? Fair enough. The thing is we have ants out here like crazy, and almost any plant you buy at a nursery is going to have ants in it, and I have been loathe to start a new ant colony in my house. I hemmed and hawed over this beauty, but in the end, it came from a grocery store, not a garden center, and the potting soil seemed to be pretty ant-free. And it was just so pretty! Up until December 31, it was just a flower bud atop a stem that was growing up, up, up like crazy. On January 1, I got my first glimpse of the blooms!

January 1, 2009

January 2, 2009

January 5, 2009-Notice how much growth there has been? See how the leaves are dark on the tip and lighter on the bottom? The darker parts are all that were above ground when I bought it, a mere two weeks earlier. That second stem was nothing more than a bud just barely peeking out of the dirt as well.

Janauary 10, 2009-Interesting note here-I had to untie the rafia so that I could attach the second stem to the support dowel. During all of this, the blooms at the top were getting shaken around a bit, and several droplets of red liquid came flying out from the dying bloom. I had a horrified moment when they landed on the white shirt I had soaking in the sink, but luckily they rinsed right out. I've never seen a flower bleed before!

January 13, 2009-For the record, there has been 2 feet of growth in just 3 weeks! This may be old news to some of you seasoned amaryllis growers, but this is blowing my mind! Also, sorry about the unflattering bathroom background, but that's where the plant is. What can I say?

January 15, 2009

Next up is my Purple Leafy Plant.  I'm pretty sure that's it's official name, but I could be wrong.  If anyone has any other suggestions, please feel free to let me know.  I was fascinated by what appeared to be the growth mechanism on this plant-the little kidney-bean shaped lump on the stem-I've never seen anything quite like this before, and I wanted to see how it unfolded, literally.  This one is a slow-mover, especially compared to my amaryllis.

November 21, 2008

December 28, 2008-It's been over a month, but finally!  Something is happening!  Sorry the image is blurry-I couldn't figure out how to get my auto-focus to focus where I wanted it.  The kidney bean has split down the middle and each side is peeling back to reveal a dark mass of tiny leaves inside. 

December 29, 2008

December 29, 2009-Close-up.  You can see the stem starting to stand up and unfurl.

December 31, 2008-Fully emerged.

January 1, 2009-A bird's-eye view, and it kind of looks like a bird right now!

January 8, 2009-Completely emerged, all pretty and shiny and purple, ready to duplicate the whole process again with a brand new kidney bean already in place. 

Thanks for stopping by!  I can't wait to see what's blooming in everyone else's gardens on this Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day over at May Dreams Gardens.