"Gardening is about enjoying the smell of things growing in the soil, getting dirty without feeling guilty, and generally taking the time to soak up a little peace and serenity. " ~Lindley Karstens

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Spring Garden Progress

There were lots of rain this past weekend, but I did manage to get a little work done in the garden.
  • Divided some bulbine plants, and some Agave desmettiana 'Variegata' pups to pass along to my friend.
  • Potted some cuttings of dragon-wing begonia for the same friend.  This begonia should be fairly easy to root from cuttings.  This container of dragon wing begonia is at my front porch.  Really enjoying it every time I pass by.

  • Planted some caladium bulbs in one of my containers.  After seeing so many amazing pictures of caladiums (especially at Hoe and Shovel), I decided that I will give it a try for the first time.  I bought a package of 24 mixed caladium bulbs this year.  Since I will be out of the country for a long period of time (3 weeks) this summer, I want to save most of them for the fall garden.  I only planted five in a container this time.  Can not wait for them to pop out of the soil...
  • Sowed some seeds of Nasturtium (Jewel, Mixed colors, from Ferry-Morse).  Love the leaf shapes and the flowers.  It would be interesting to see how they will grow.
Here is some spring progress in the garden:

The frangipani cutting is finally shooting out the new leaves.  Still not decided where to put this in my garden...


Angel's Trumpet is growing very fast after I planted the cutting in the ground.  This cutting came from my friend at work, the same friend who brought me the initial bulbine plants and the frangipani cutting.   I have been removing some new growth on the lower part of main trunk to force it to form a small tree instead of a bush like.  We will see how it turns out to be.


Newly purchased bromeliad is about to set the bloom.  Isn't it just gorgeous?!  Love the deep pink color in the center. 


Sedum is now all showing its yellow flowerings.  It really made the garden looking more "Spring".

Sedum Hybrid Florida Friendly Gold

I have been mistaking this Crape Jasmine as "Star Jasmine" until recently FlowerLady at FloweLady's Musings made a post about it to ask for the identification.  Thanks, Flowerlady!

Crape Jasmine

Various Pentas are really in full bloom.  Wondering why I still don't see butterflies visiting them, or maybe I am just not around when they pay the visits??  Envy all those wonderful butterflies shots my fellow gardeners proudly show in their posts!

Pentas
This Purple Verbena is a new addition to my garden.
Purple Verbena

Self seeded mounding buttercup (Turnera ulmifolia) is showing its first flower.  I have been transplanting the seedlings around the garden.
mounding buttercup (Turnera ulmifolia)

Dipladenia pink is really putting on a show, although it never really stopped blooming the whole winter.  This plant is basically care free.  I don't see any pest problem.  Just some water, it gives me non-stopping blooming all year long.  Got to love that!
Dipladenia pink

White Voilas is still hanging on...
Voila
Stock (Matthiola) is about to come to the end.  It is producing lots of seeds to continue the life in another form.  I will try sow these seeds for the fall garden.
Stock (Matthiola)
Now here is something fun for you all.  Can anybody guess what flower it is?

22 comments:

  1. Ooh, I like the nice borders on your photos! Your flowers are lovely. Isn't it fun to share with friends? I tried rooting my dragonwings last year, but they didn't take. Then again, I wasn't diligent with the watering. If I were you, I'd plant those caladiums now. They usually go dormant in the fall, at least where I live. They put on an awesome show for several months between spring and fall. Mine are just now coming up.

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  2. Hi Ami, thanks for your visit and putting me in your side bar. I have not finished visiting my followed blogs yet, i've been doing it since last night.haha! Your plants all look very healthy and well-cared for. The Pentas there seem different from here, maybe they are more suited to your temperatures. I have a white variety also. By the way, they selp pollinate on their own and eventually you will be getting different colors, if you let those seeds grow. Here, we just let them on the ground and they just grow on their own, mine is a biodiversity garden, remember? hehe.

    I learned something from your post today, that Turnera ulmifolia has been growing like weeds in our garden, but because it is dry they grow tall before flowering, looks lanky, but butterflies love them so we just let them there. It is just now that i learned of its real name. thanks.

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  3. I really love your begonia - so colourful and graceful.
    And all the other flowering plants really make your garden look very pretty.

    I guess the last picture is a garlic or onion flower?

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  4. Your flowers are looking lovely, and I was just thinking that your diplandenia looked very much like my mandevilla. Well, I did some research and it is the same plant. Mine did not like the hot humid wet summer we have just had. Hopefully now that our weather is drying out it will look as nice as yours!

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  5. Everything is so gorgeous and lush, Amy! I love that container arrangement with the sedum! It's all looking lovely!

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  6. Lucky you to get rain. We haven't had any in weeks, and non-irrigated spaces are getting crunchy.

    I have some caladium bulbs to plant too. I don't know if the ones from previous years survived the harsh freezes.

    All your plants are looking so beautiful.

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  7. Wow Ami ~ your have some wonderful flowers there. I love the red dragonwings. I'm glad we both found out what the Crepe Jasmine is.

    Enjoy your lovely gardens.

    FlowerLady

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  8. You have many beautiful flowers Ami. That Mandevilla is so full of flowers! I never can keep mine over winter. Yours seems so happy.

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  9. What a beautiful container of plants. I love the combination. I just divided my Agave desmettiana too. I am trying to find homes for the pups.

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  10. You have a lot of pretty blooms, Ami! I am getting ready to plant some caladium bulbs, too.
    Your sedum container is really pretty! That does look great for spring. The white violas are still blooming..I think mine are done. I put purple verbena in a container, recently. We have a lot of the same plants!

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  11. Sounds lovely. I'm trying some sedum also and just started frangipani but mine don't have leaves yet.

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  12. Sounds like a lot of work.. but great pics to show for it!

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  13. Your flowers are blooming vigorously and bursting with colour now. Just look at the voluminous pentas. BTW, I am really very curious what is the flower in the last picture?

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  14. It looks like your garden is very colorful these days. I really like the angelwing begonia. The red color is very striking. I didn't realize the gold sedum blooms...what a nice added benefit.

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  15. Thanks all for your nice comments!

    For those of you who is interested to know what is the flower in the last picture, here is the answer: It is the flower from green-onion :) I growed some green onions roots from store-bought ones in the container. The flower itself is insignificant, but when I took macro picture, I found it is quite beautiful in the photo :)

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  16. Hahaha Ami, you are so clever. I cracked my subconscious to dig about it, no wonder it is not there, because onions dont flower in very hot climates. We always import seeds to grow them. Thanks.

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  17. Andrea: It is interesting to know that onions don't flower in the hot weather since I consider South florida is quite hot here :)

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  18. Oh, James: Forgot mention that you actually nailed the answer about the flower in the last picture. You must have seen this flower before?

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  19. Hi again Ami, sorry for the endless conversation. Florida conditions are the nicest place for us, so i actually envy my friend whose backyard now is the Everglades, hehe. If you think it's hot there, then we are in the oven, esp now that the El Niño is staying longer and wrecking havoc here. Even our elevated latitudes experience hot temps now.

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  20. Andrea: No need to apologize. Nice to talk to you. That does sound very hot! Hope you can get some time in a day to feel the cool. Our hot summer is yet to come, and at that time, I won't want to stay in the garden too long, or maybe just go out after the sun down.

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  21. Hi Ami, I am glad you found the name for the rose. It is such a beautiful pink with the darker surroundings. The name suits it perfectly.
    Your flowers look gorgeous so healthy and fresh;like Nasturtiums which grow here in winter. Wanted to buy Caladiums because was so impressed with Meems Caladiums. They are hard to get here.
    I was never lucky with this specie of Dipladenia, the one with the crinkled leaves did well. Yours looks just fantastic.

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  22. Your blooms are just stunning. You have such a variety, I can't wait until my garden matures enough to offer such a variety of colors and shapes.

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