Expecting Lilies

I bought five Ellen Bosanquet Crinum Lily bulbs at the end of year 2010.  After one and half years, finally it bloomed for the first time.  Love the hot pink color! I hope they can multiply as fast as what I heard.

They are located in a full sun area, may get a couple of hours of shade from the neighbour's coconut trees.
   

Here Comes the Rain!

I think the raining season finally comes to South Florida!  The past week, almost everyday we got some rain, enough kept my garden watered.  Everything looks more lush and green, including grass.

Rain lilies (Zephyranthes) opened after a good rain.  I only had one rain lily last year, and this year I bought one small pot from my favorite nursery, and came home found there were more than two dozen of bulbs packed in!  I planted them on the border of my flower bed.  They were still quite young.  Expecting next year they can really make the show when they multiply more and open flowers all together.

Meems at Hoe and Shovel got me hooked on caladiums with her beautiful caladium pictures in her garden.   I do not have much shade or partial area in my garden, but I still managed to squeeze about 75 bulbs into different flower beds and containers. 

I think this is ‘Florida Cardinal’.  

Meems also sent me some of her favorite ‘Miss Muffet’ caladium.  They blend in the Bromeliad corner so nicely .  Just love the texture and the color! Thanks, Meems! 

I need to buy more of these.  This year it was sold out on the online store when I was ready to put the order.

The same bromeliad corner from another angle.  The white caladium in the distant is ‘White Christmas’.

Don’t know what is the name of this caladium.

This is what happened when you bought those “mixed” packages, and had no idea what would come up when you planted.  Maybe I should sort them out before they disappear to the ground this fall, so that I can have more planned color arrangement next year.

Although I don’t mind this combination in the container…

Firespike (Odontonema strictum) is setting lots of flower scapes.  Hope I can see hummers visiting this one soon.

Self seeded white Zinnias and pink Vincas are becoming a nice combination in this flower bed.

I tucked different types of house plants into this container and now it mixes with all different textures and colors together quite nicely.    Sometimes simply throwing something together might not be a bad thing.

Yay!  Finally I got several shots of a Monarch butterfly on my Zinnias!  Not very clear shots, but I was so happy that I finally found some butterfly other than ‘White Peacock’ visiting my garden, and I was able to capture it in my picture.

More Siam tulip flowers…

Now we have more rain, Ground orchids are picking up the speed to shoot more flower scapes.

It is nice to see this Griffinia liboniana is reblooming! 

My family is going away for a two week vacation starting this weekend.  We are going to visit YellowStone, Grand Canyon and other national parks in the West.  Kids are excited, and me too!

This raining season came just in time, so that I don’t need to worry too much about my garden.

If I don’t post again before I go, Happy 4th of July, and Happy Gardening, my friends!

May Flowers

Just realized that I have not posted for quite a while, although my May garden has been growing by leaps and bounds. 

I have been working on a new raised bed in my garden, which will also be served partially as a vegetable bed.  Will show you some photos when it is more presentable.

For now, let me just show you some new flowers in the garden.

Tropical Liac (Cornutia grandifolia) lost majority of leaves during the cold weather in last December.  It grows so fast after the weather warmed up.  Now they are shooting their  lavendar colored flower spikes into the air again.

Just love the scent of this plant when walking by and brush against the leaves, or when hand-watering the leaves.

Since this plant is not seen in the nurseries, I have tried several times to start more of this plant from seeds, or cuttings to share with friends,but with no luck. I heard it should not be too difficult based on what I read from the Internet. So, I will keep trying.  Maybe I just did not do it in the right way.

I picked up this Salvia 'Black and Blue' at the clearance rack in last December after the cold front visited Florida.  The plant had bad frost bites.  Now it looks so happy in a full sun location of my garden.  I love any blue flowers in the garden, and the almost black sepals contrast the blue flowers so nicely.  Oh, wait a minute.  Is that a spiderweb?  Often when I intend to capture a spiderweb in the picture, it hardly comes out good.  It is either out of focus, or invisible in the photo.  Seems this spiderweb that I caught by accident in the photo  is my most successful shot!

Salvia guaranitica 'Black and Blue'

 Another blue flower: Blue butterfly. It has such beautiful flower, does look like a blue butterfly.

Clerodendrum ugandenseCommon name: Blue Butterfly

This Penta plant was started from several cuttings from my friend's garden.  It now becomes my favorite Penta plant.

Yay, Medinilla started showing lots of flowers again after a dormant period!  Remember how I got it?  See the story behind this plant, read here.

Medinilla cumingii

Crape Jasmine in full blooming...

Love the combination of Crape Jasmine and the pink Ixora.

My friend gave me this bush daisy.  I love its airy leaves, and risen cheery yellow flowers.  The flowers come in waves, one flush after another with a short resting period in between.

Bush Daisy (Gamolepis chrysanthemoides)

Remember I mentioned that I only have one green branch left in my Hybrid Tea Rose 'Peace' in my Rose Update post?  That single green branch recently had one bud developed, and it is blooming now!

'Peace'

Look what I found in the garden!  A Calla Lily bloom!  Yes, you can tell I am excited.  My friend gave me a bunch of seedlings from her Calla lilies, which were originally bought from a big box store.  She said every year the leaves emerge in early spring, but never re-bloomed for her.  Last year, the leaves grow so nicely, but no flowers, and then leaves disappeared in the winter.  This spring the leaves grow again, and I did not expect much from them although the leaves alone are beautiful.   My friend called me a couple of weeks ago and told me that she saw one flower from her Calla lily, and sure enough, one week later, I saw one from mine!  Yes, it only has one flower, but better than nothing, and it is a good start!

Here is another surprise from garden. When I just started my garden almost two years ago, one of my coworkers gave me one bromeliad with dark purple leaves, and no name.  He only told me that the leave will burn if put in a sunny location.  So I kept it in a container located in a partial shade area.  For two years, it did nothing except shooting out of the pups.   It started looking messy, and working around it becomes a dangerous job since the edge of the leaves has saw blade like spikes.

I am that close to toss it away.  It seems knows what I am thinking, almost like all of sudden, two flower spikes shot out from the middle of leaves, and The flowers are orange-red color, and have wax like texture.  Anybody recognize this bromeliad?  I think for the time being, it will be a keeper.

What have been flowering in your May Garden?

Another Lily from My Favorite Nursery!

In one of my recent posts I mentioned that I bought an unknown lily from a local nursery.  Floridagirl at http://gardeninpeace.blogspot.com/ helped me to identify that lily is one of Griffinia cordata, Griffinia aracensis or G. liboniana.  I think the best match is Griffinia liboniana since my plant has spotted leaves.  Thank you, Floridagirl!  Its origin is Brazilian rainforest.  Even it is small, but what a cute beauty it is! 

Griffinia liboniana
Family:Amaryllidaceae
Chinese Common name: 蓝晶花 (blue crystal flower)

I visited the same nursery again a couple of weeks ago, and discovered another lily like plant in blooming.  The flower is orange color with long yellow stamens.  The one that is flowering doesn't have leaves, but I can see leaves on other non-flowering plants.  The leaves are similar to the one that Griffinia liboniana has, without spots though.  I asked the owner Sherry what its name is, and she said:  "Orange lily, go find the name and bring back to me, and I will write down."  She is such a pleasant lady with a good sense of humor, and every time I visit her nursery, we always chat a little bit about plants.  

Eucrosia Bicolor
Family:Amaryllidaceae

I used the google image to match this lily. After going through a couple of hundreds of pictures, I found the match!

It is called Peruvian Lily or the scientific name Eucrosia Bicolor, from Amaryllidaceae family. It is found in Ecuador and Peru. I am so glad to find another bulb will thrive in South Florida.

Now you know why Sherry's nursery becomes my favorite nursery.  Every time I go there, I feel like going treasure hunt.  With no disappointment, I almost always can find something new and worth bringing home.  This lily is another treasure I discovered!

For readers living in Broward County Florida, if you are interested in this nursery, you might not be able to find it from the Internet.  Its name is "Bah's Nursery", and it is located on the south side of Griffin Rd, East of I-75.  If you drive on Griffin Rd from West to East, you can find "Bah's Nursery" sign on the right side of the road after you pass I-75 not far away.  No, Sherry did not ask me to write this for her,and she even does not know I have a blog.  For a nursery like this, I am happy to use my little public space to promote this hidden treasure. Happy Hunting :)