Friday, September 24, 2010

Ox Tongue: Better Late Than Never

 
"I'm ready now.  Where is everybody?"  The Ox Tongue (Gasteria liliputana) missed Garden Blogger's Bloom Day by a little over a week.  But it is finally dressed and ready to party.


Thick, stout speckled leaves erupt from a cluster and are quite nice all by themselves.


But for the first time in my garden, the Ox Tongue decided that conditions were right for it to add its red & green blooms to the show.


As Paul from Handlebar Gardens commented on my Bloom Day Tardies post: It was just being fashionably late.

8 comments:

  1. I know how you feel about those fashionably late party attenders...My spider lily just bloomed. I was spying yours and thinking "what gives?" then, there it shows, 3 days later - fashionably late! I especially love the first shot with the shadow of the bloom - lovely!

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  2. What an intriguing little flower...

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  3. Cat: I have several planted, but only one bloom thus far. Sure hope the others follow.

    Katina: It really is fun; looks almost exactly like most of my Aloe blooms.

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  4. I love those unusual blooms. I wish I had more shade in my yard. I have to cram all my favorites in two little spaces. Is that a pond I see in the background?

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  5. I love the color on the Ox Tongue. It looks a salmon color. I am always on the lookout for more shade loving plants--the shade is growing by leaps and bounds every year.

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  6. Amy: Yep - that's my shady pond tucked back in there. Ain't we a pair: you want more shade and I want more sun (we gardeners are so funny)!

    Morning: That's an apt description of the red shade: salmon. It does well in dappled sunlight on my deck, but has to be protected from our freezes.

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  7. Too bad it doesn't bloom at Christmas, that red and green is perfect.

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  8. Bob: It certainly does have nice holiday colors.

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