From Seed to Fruit in a Season

 

The season isn't over and fruit is not ripe but we are seeing progress.

Seed planted late April now producitng tomatoes.

 

Cassia alata Candlesticks from seed. Bloom expected late summer.

Fruit from Candlesticks are seeds for subsequent years.

 

 

From bottom: Cassia alata, Silene from scattered seed, reseeded

petunia and second year Pride of Barbados plant from seed.

 

Pride of Barbados and Cassia were started in greenhouse.

 

Flamme tomato plant started in greenhouse in April, now in Front

Garden bed and starting to bloom.

 

All tomatoes fertilized yesterday and today and given a small spoonful of Epsom Salts.

Black Cherry Tomatoes in Ruins Bed were staked and grass and weeds pulled.

 

Dark buds of Purple Datura and black stems, plants from seed this Spring.

 

 Not many seedlings are left in the greenhouse except for a couple of Gerbera Daisies. Something has sprouted where I thought cuttings were earlier that I have to wait to identify until it has true leaves.

 

Only a month until time to plant perennial and biennial seeds. Some of my Sweet William plants have root rot. Dianthus has a hard time in hot humid weather. Bath's Pinks cuttings are struggling too.

 

 

Random in the Greenhouse

I'm trying to keep the greenhouse at a reasonable temperature until everything inside is ready for planting or a summer outside in part shade.

 Big plants like Epiphyllums are already summering outdoors. I try not to look at them except to water in hopes of discovering buds soon. I made pics but they're just a mass of huge leaves and stems. I repotted the two in small pots. Even cuttings get big and need a heavy pot to stay upright.

Miss Winnie's Easter Cactus finally commenced bloom.

My smaller, rooted Rhipsalidopsis have no buds yet.

Ike's Lemon Grass. He kept the tops chewed off during the winter.

It kept him from shredding things like Bromeliads. 

I planted out the culms I brought in to grow better roots, now these can go out.

 

Begonia bloom.

Between the Jungle Cacti and Begonias, there

would be plenty of color in the greenhouse

in winter if I planted nothing else.

 

I could let this Christmas Cactus fruit mature and plant the dustlike seeds....

I watched a video. The tiny seedlings were so precious and then he said 'years' to bloom.

 

White Begonia cuttings and a Bromeliad.

 

Daturas from seed, both white and Purple. They need to grow on a just a bit.

I am very fond of nightblooming plants. The shiny black stems on Purple

Daturas give them a really exotic appearance.

 

Another Amaryllis that I had given up seeing bloom again has put on a bud.

I didn't take a picture; we've looked at Amaryllis buds all winter.

Another Amaryllis planted in the ground outside is about to bloom, a red.

 

 

We Are in that Time when Plants Want to Go Outside

Late yesterday I planted all but one of the Gerbera Daisies That you see

lined up along the timber to the back of this bed behind Sweet Williams.

Pentas on the ground are ready for planting as some in the garden return from

roots. I can never be positive they will return, so I always have cuttings.

Some things moved out, some wait. Bird's nest fern will go in the house.

 

Datura seed in yogurt cups. Only Purple have a set of true leaves.

Datura likes hot weather.

 

 

Kalancoe cuttings needing a spot outside or pots.

 

Persian Shield cuttings, ready for a shady location. 

White Shrimp Plant putting on blooms, finally.

Red Shrimp plant outside is blooming like crazy. 

 

                                                                                  

Chartreuse alternanthera cuttings.

Alternanthera in the garden is emerging from its roots in spots, some failed.

Alternanthera blooms in winter, insignificant white blossoms.

 

It is the time of year when I am fearful of putting plants into cool soil, fearful of a late frost, sure that Spring has sprung because I see new growth, overwhelmed at all the tasks ahead knowing that hot weather will be here soon when I'll need to stay inside where it's cool and the permanent greenhouse tropical plants will spend the summer out under trees in partial shade.

 

Are you ready for Spring?

 

 

 

 

 

 

White Garden around the Greenhouse

Phildelphus inodorus blooming in April

It's a start. I dug two Philadelphus suckers to put at the northwest and southwest corners at front. I wanted little trees that are bare in winter and bloom early spring. Mock orange blooms just after Dogwoods here, with bloom continuing into May. Kept pruned upward, they make a graceful arching small tree.

White Datura, if only for the night fragrance.

 

Big plans, slow progress with these beds. Five of 6 white lantana rooted; really 6 rooted but during the event with the squirrel in the greenhouse one broke off at the soil line.  I stuck another piece in the flat but whether it roots remains to be seen. Five will probably fill the south side bed in short order next summer.

 

Tattered Tiger on White lantana.

 

Ice Follies

I'm still deciding whether to put some white daffodils along the south side. The north side can have most anything that likes shade, maybe some Thalia triandrus Daffodils followed by white Begonias.

 Pink Gerbera

If seedling Gerbera daisies turn out palest pink/near white, they may go on the sunny south side. The daisy seedlings are in 4" pots now and most look great.  The Gerbera above is the one that seeds came from. I think. These are most like species Gerberas, rather than the showy hybrids usually seen in garden centers with fat rounded petals in bright colors.

 

White pentas, palest pink is good, too.

Unless every cutting fails, I'll surely have white pentas along with white lantana. Butterflies seem to like white Pentas every bit as well as brighter colors.

 

Sometimes I have to think of new ways to use old plants. Spider plants abound in pots and planters. They do well in the ground and would make a great green and white edging.

 

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String Lily crinums make a stunning addition.

 

Violas in pots last winter.

Not sure about all white violas; winter needs color.

 

 

Seen though a Camellia tree last winter.

 

I'm always hopeful of blooms and fragrance year around. White or blue hyacinths will scent the greenhouse in winter, daffodils outside in March. No fragrance from my Mock Orange, but warm weather will bring out Daturas for summer nights bloom. Gardenias nearby in June.  Lantanas, Gerberas and Pentas have no fragrance but bloom all summer until hard frost.

I'm linking to Tootsie's Flaunt Your Flowers Friday Fertilizer meme.

 

Do join us for garden pleasures. 

 

 

 

 

 

Crinums in the Morning

Last evening I blogged about Crinum jagus which was just opening in late evening. This morning the blooms are wide open, still fragrant.

Still fragrant, the blooms will last all day. There are buds for another day.


Cold light of day reveals crape myrtles in two colors in the background.

… and a last look at Daturas light and dark, single and double, open and buds.

I'm joining the Party atTootsie Time where we are all flaunting our flowers.

Crinum jagus and Daturas for a Moonlight Garden

Crinum jagus has a musky vanilla fragrance, more pronounced in late evening.


This crinum has been here for many, many years, surrounded by greenery of
boxwood and camellias. It sits in a groundcover of dichondra and mini-jew.
Up close on the right are boxwoods. We have a plethora of boxwoods.


I was pruning boxwoods on Saturday when a wasp stung me on the wrist,
halting progress. They await further pruning. My arm is back to normal size but
I'm reluctant to go back out there and start snipping again.
It's easier to prune ancient boxwoods into topiaries than to try to keep them at
a smaller size.



This could be the backbone of a moonlight fragrance garden.

White Daturas bloom on the other side of the boxwood hedge.

In addition to white Daturas there are Purple Swirl Daturas blooming.

I got the notion this year to plant the two colors in the same bed.

Notice the shiny black stems of this Datura.

Daturas have a sweet, lemony fragrance that attract night pollinators.

Angel's Trumpets, Devil's Trumpets and Good Things to Eat

Flowers of Brugmansia point down like Angel’s Trumpets, pealing from the heavens towards the Devil down below.

Angel's Trumpet bud almost open on Wednesday.

This plant wintered in the greenhouse. It was awkward and gangly and lost

most of its leaves. I had hoped for pink trumpets in the winter.

This Brugmansia came back from roots. It is a ways from blooms.

It is about 2 feet tall and the trunk is very thick.

Datura’s trumpet-shaped flowers call upwards to the heavens.

White Datura here came back from roots and are blooming now.

When I go out the side door after dark, there is an incredible spicy

fragrance coming from this plant. Petunias add an exotic note of their own.

The nearer the species, the more fragrant the scent of petunias.

Seedlings of Purple Swirl Datura on left.

I failed to plant seeds of yellow Datura. Looking at previous

years' pics makes me wish I had. I could still plant a few.

Datura prefer to be watered only when the roots are dry; Brugmansia enjoy more plentiful overhead watering. This also provides an atmosphere less hospitable to red-spider-mites, which thrive on hot and dry conditions. These plants are non-edible.

Now to Good Things to Eat also in the family Solanacea -- the Potato family. Daturas and Brugs are related to Potatoes, Tomatoes, Peppers and Eggplant. The last three are beginning to bloom in the greenhouse and tomatoes have set a fruit or two. Eggplants growing look as exotic as flowers to me.

Angel trumpet last September 3.


Purple Datura from 2009    

Devil's Trumpets and a Red Spotted Purple

Purple Swirl Daturas are blooming.

Red Spotted Purple  Limenitis arthemis sampling

where the satellite guy's truck dripped

condensation on the driveway.

Flowers and text are from the garden of Nell Jean blogged on Dotty Plants Journal in hot, humid Southwest Georgia.