The spoils of a jolly gardener

After months of drought and extremely hot weather, we finally got some rain at the end of August.  The relief was immediate with grass turning green and plants starting to bloom.  Plants that we had spent the last couple of months watering by hand on a daily basis acted like they hadn't gotten a drop of water until it rained.  Then they started blooming.

The jolly gardener is so proud of her flowers

Pippa has taken to standing in one location in front of an array of colors (Datura and Plumbago), posing with a big grin on her face.  We think she is trying to take credit for all of the flowers we're finally seeing.

Datura meteloides, I think.

Our neighbor's yard is a jungle, especially near the fence line. But one of the gems of the jungle is a Rose of Sharon (aka Althea or Hibiscus syriacus) with purple blooms. It hangs over the fence into our yard right by our corner garden and we are very grateful. Not only do we get to enjoy the flowers most of the summer, but we also get volunteer seedlings coming up all the time.

Rose of Sharon that hangs over our fence

I have allowed some of the seedlings to grow until they are big enough to be transplanted to locations where we want them. The largest of those transplanted Rose of Sharon is now about 3 feet tall and bloomed for the first time this summer. We were hoping for purple flowers, but we have pure white.

First bloom of the seedling Rose of Sharon

On a recent trip to Lowe's we took a quick trip through the depleted garden center and found some incredible deals on rose bushes. We purchased four roses for about $10 and some of those are now blooming.

One of our new roses

At the advice of the Lowe's cashier, we did not plant the roses immediately. We'll wait until the temperatures are a little less extreme.  Until then, we'll just enjoy them in their pots.

Another of our new roses

New blooms in the greenhouse

Some of my plants have been surprising me with blooms lately.  I figured the lower sun angle would be enough to trigger dormancy in some plants, even in the 65 degree temperatures of the greenhouse.  But none of my plants are going dormant and some of them are blooming for the first time.

Our neighbor across the street (the one who gave me the Begonia cuttings) is letting me overwinter her variegated Bougainvillea in my greenhouse.  It is in a hanging pot along a rod I installed in the top of the greenhouse and has just been hanging in there.  It didn't have a lot of leaves when I took it from her and I haven't seen very many new ones form.  But all of the sudden, it is blooming!  I think I will have to run it over to her house soon (on a warmish day) and show her the blooms.

First blooms from my Bougainvillea plant

I also have a Bougainvillea that was my Mom's.  She gave it to me about three years ago.  It has had moments of rapid growth and lots of new leaves, but always drops its leaves and looks really sad in the winter - until the greenhouse.  It has been pretty happy this winter in the greenhouse and is actually  producing the first blooms that I have seen on it since it has been in my care!

New blooms on my purple shrimp plant (Justicia scheidweileri)

I bought several Shrimp plants last Spring and Summer, most of which were blooming when I bought them and have continued to do so.  One of them, the Purple Shrimp Plant (Justicia scheidweileri), has been particularly difficult, though.  It wilts quicker than another other plant that I grow.  But it also bounces back quickly and is blooming for the first time since it lost its initial blooms.

After forming some small white flowers, which I didn't photograph in time, my Ying Yang Bean plants (Phaseolus vulgaris) are now forming pods of new beans.  I hope to get a decent crop from these plants, so that I can keep a bean or two myself and share the others with other local greenhouse owners.

Newest bloom on my yellow Datura

My lime tree and yellow Datura continue to bloom on a regular basis.  I dropped seeds from the Datura parent plant onto the soil under the same plant and some of the have sprouted and are producing new little plants.

Seedlings of my yellow Datura plant

I am anxious to see some of my Hawaiian ginger plants bloom, but that might have to wait until this Summer.  Some of them are quite large now - over 4 foot tall.  I would expect those are pretty close to blooming size.

Harvesting Datura seed

My mom purchased two double-flowering Angel Trumpet plants this last Spring and gave the yellow one to me to raise, while she kept the purple.  Each of our plants has produced between 5 and 10 blooms this Summer and seed pods have followed.

Seed pod and blooms on my yellow Datura.  Notice how spikey it is.

Originally I was thinking that these Angel Trumpet plants were from the Brugmansia genus, but after looking into how the seeds should be germinated, I realized that our seed pods match the genus Datura.  As far as I can tell, Brugmansias have long seed pods that look like green beans.  Surprisingly the seed pods from my mom's purple plant and my yellow plant have very different textures, but neither are bean-like pods.  Mine are spikey little balls that look like the "gumballs" produced by Sweet Gum trees.  My mom's pods are smooth and polished-looking.

Seed pod and bloom on my mom's purple Datura.  Notice how smooth this pod is.

After the seeds inside are ready, the pod breaks open and the seeds fall out.  I'm going to try to germinate some of these.  Wish me luck!

My yellow seed pod opening.  I had a lot of trouble getting this picture, since it was dark out in my greenhouse when I got home from work yesterday.  I really don't like the time change.

For now, I have just been scattering these seeds on the surface of the soil in the same pot.  With the next pod I'm going to be a little more intentional in matching the germination requirements of these seeds.

I imagine most people are thinking "Yeah, yeah - nice seed pods...  Show me the Blooms!"  Okay, here you go.

The stunning yellow Datura

Both of these pictures are from mid to late Summer.  Since then the flowering has trailed off.

The equally stunning purple Datura.

My yellow blooming plant is currently on a top shelf in my greenhouse.  I noticed last night that there were more buds forming on my plant, so I guess even though it lost some leaves over the last couple of weeks, it won't be going dormant after all.