Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day-May, 2014

Seriously? I haven't done one of these since November?? I was thinking February, at worst January. Sheesh. Well, happy GBBD, everyone! I am doing a super abbreviated tour of my yard today, but first, here's what's blooming in my house!

I'm not sure what kind of orchid these are, but they are part of a bouquet that hubs brought home about a week ago. 

I love that they look like somebody cartoon painted them and then sprinkled them with gold and silver fairy dust.

OK, let's go outside because one of my favorite flowers is blooming today! It's a daylily, and that's about all I can tell you. That, and it smells fabulous. Here you go:

 

When I went outside at 6:11 this morning, she was just thinking about waking up to greet the day. Looks like she got a little fairy dust on her as well. 

An hour later she was pretty much wide awake...

and just needed that extra half hour for the sun to warm her up and make her shine. Did I mention she smells fabulous?

You know what doesn't smell fabulous? A corpse flower, Amorphophallus titanum. No, I don't have one of these in my yard, but Foster Botanical Garden has three, that's right, three, that are blooming right now, so I'm going to cheat a little bit and show you what's blooming in their gardens today (well, OK, yesterday, but still).

Corpse flower inflorescence-if you zoom in on the diagram (or click on the "corpse flower" link above), you can see that the plant goes from a tuber into either a reproductive (flowering) stage or a vegetative stage. On the right-hand side of my photo, you can see the leaf (which looks like a tree) of one of the plants in the vegetative stage. The crazy thing is (like there’s only one crazy thing), this growth cycle, into miniature tree or giant flower, only takes about 2 weeks (talk about progression obsession-you know I'd be all over documenting that)! 

This flower has just bloomed and is already starting to close back up. OK, technically, the spathe (the pretty petaly-looking part) has just unfurled. The actual flowers are all on the inside at the base of the spadix (the tall part in the middle...for which the flower is Latinately named). The pot on the left has an Amorphophallus konjac (voodoo lily) that has put out a leaf instead of an inflorescence.

Side view: In the background, you can see another plant that bloomed a few days ago, and the spadix has already started to collapse.

Collapsing spadix, spathe falling off, flowers, both male and female, on display for all the world to see. It’s hell gettin' old.

Flowers at the base of the spadix-male (top, yellow) and female (bottom).

The actual flower parts of a corpse flower. Also, kind of stinky when you start getting this close. Or downwind. I would recommend staying upwind-they don't call them corpse flowers for nothing!

I went back a little bit later and caught some afternoon light coming through the spathe. Obviously, I played around with some of the light and color balances-it didn't look this dramatic in person, but the drama was definitely there, just waiting to make an appearance.

Since I don't have one of these in my yard to obsessively photograph, you can check out some time-lapse videos that other people have made of corpse flowers blooming.

To check out what else is blooming today, or to show off your garden blooms, please visit our hostess, Carol, at May Dreams Gardens and enjoy today's Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day posts!

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day-May, 2013

Well, it's been a while since I've gotten myself together enough to A) remember that it's GBBD, B) go outside and take the requisite pictures, and C) put said pictures together in a post in a timely manner. So, yay for little victories! And yay for my daylilies, which greeted me today like this:

 Well, hello, Lovelies!

These are some of my most anticipated blooms every year. They are beautiful, and they smell amazing--sweet and subtle, like the lovely ladies they are.

Accompanying my daylilies is this ever-blooming hardy ice plant, Delosperma cooperi.

This little clump of sweet alyssum has volunteered itself to grow in this pot. I wonder if it realizes the fight it's going to have against this pot's other volunteer, the winding, vining passion flower (the big leaves that you see going over the edge of the pot). Then again, seeing as how it seems to have walked itself over from those pots you see in the background, maybe it will be able to hold its own.

Two other faithful bloomers are my blue plumbago and my false heather, Cuphea hyssopifolia.

This was one of my most faithful bloomers for a long time, but my golden shrimp plant, Pachystachys lutea, seems to have taken a break over the last few months. I'm glad to see it making a comeback. 10 points for sticking your landing, Pachystachys.

Speaking of comebacks, I thought this poor bougainvillea had kicked the bucket. It didn't have a single leaf anywhere for several weeks; it was completely bare, naked I tell you!  As you can see, it's decided that it still has some life left in it; it's decided to put on it's frock and come to the May party. 

Seeing as how it's May, you've probably got all kinds of good stuff going on in your garden too, and Carol at May Dreams Gardens would love to see what you've got (as would the rest of us), so head on over to her blog, share your blooms, and see what else is blooming on this beautiful May day! Even if you don't have any blooms to share, you can live vicariously in gardens around the world--come check it out!

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day-May, 2012

Happy Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day! It turns out that May is a pretty happenin' month out in my yard, so let's get started!

My lobelia have come back from a near-death experience in February, so I'm happy about that!

This day-lily, which smells wonderful, seems to be blooming a little early this year, but there are a lot of buds, so maybe it will continue to bloom into its normal June time-frame. 

My Texas sage still has me mystified. I can't quite figure out exactly what combination of neglect/water/drought/sun/etc. prompts this to bloom, but it's always a nice surprise to find a few flowers.

My lavender is also making a nice comeback after the same near-death experience that my lobelia suffered.

The bougainvillea is in full swing right now.

My lime tree is starting to put on some new flowers, and some teeny, tiny little limes!

The puakenikeni has been perfuming the entire yard lately! Here we've got a newer bloom (cream) and an older one (one- or two-days old).

This is a young-ish red ginger starting to open up.

Lots of spider lilies (Crinum asiaticum) out and about today.

These little buds on my bleeding heart (Clerodendrum thomsonae) are just getting ready to go full-bloom. Pretty soon they will look like... 

...this!

Then, apprently, they start doing this...whatever this is. I've never noticed this twisty, cork-screw filament thing happening before. I don't know if this is a sign of fertilization or if it's trying to self-fertilize or what.

It's kind of cool looking though.

I have, once again, been lured into buying a delphinium...wish me luck! If the slugs haven't eaten it by the time the next GBBD rolls around, we can celebrate.  

My Blue Daze (Evolvus glomeratus) seems to be blooming in a more...multiple? fashion than before. I used to only get one flower per stem, now I've got several.

I couldn't pass up these red orchids at the flower shop the other day. I don't know what they are, but they looked really nice with the lilacs and peonies that I also got that day. Unfortunately, these are the only survivors after just a week. 

I'm sure I'm not the only one who has a plethora of blooms in her May Garden today, so head on over to May Dreams Gardens (hmmmm...it's all starting to make sense now!), say hi to our GBBD host, Carol, and see what else is blooming!

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day-May 2011

Happy May, everybody!  It's the 15th of the month, and you know what that means--Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day, hosted by Carol at May Dreams Gardens, is showing off garden blooms from all around the world.  Stop by to see what else is blooming or to share your blooms.

Today, making its first GBBD appearance is my canna, Cannas Picasso.  It had a hard time getting started; every time it would poke its little head up above the ground, the snails or slugs would come along and mow it right down, but we finally managed to get it past that phase, and big enough to bloom.  Yay!

Putting on a pretty constant show on my back porch is my Blue Daze, Evolvus glomeratus.

This red ginger will soon be making an appearance in its own Progression Obsession post.  I've been documenting its unfurling since about the middle of April. 

Still blooming like crazy are my white spider lilies, Crinum asiaticum

Even though it's gotten floppy and fallen over into its neighboring pot after all the recent rain, I still love my rose, (Mardi Gras (Jacfrain)) and I'm glad it lasted just long enough for Bloom Day.    

In that same pot, my sweet alyssum is gaining ground again after a harsh pruning last month. 

 My bouganvillea usually doesn't have a lot going on, but, again, thanks to the heavy rains, it is full of color right now.

My plumeria continues to put out one or two flowers a day. 

My poor plumbago never gets any attention here because it is always in bloom--it's like the good kid who never gets any attention because he's *always* good, but I thought it deserved some love today.  

I think these snapdragons are getting darker with age, but I like the deeper burgundy tones that are setting in after the lighter pink has "faded". 

I always try to plant zinnias, and they always do well for a few weeks and that's about it, so this might be the only appearance this one is going to make here.   

Next to my zinnia (see them in the picture above?) are my little lobelia, which, despite what the guy at Home Depot tried to tell me, are not Johnny Jump-ups. 

Another constant bloomer, my Golden Shrimp Plant, Pachystachys lutea

This Hardy Ice Plant, Delosperma, is another new addition that I hope will last longer than one GBBD. 

Same goes for this Gazania.   

And, finally, the lizard population always seems to be blooming  in my yard.