Friday, October 15, 2010

Flower Power: GBBD October 2010

Fifteen days into the month, May Dream Gardens sponsors Garden Blogger's Bloom Day where we can record the plants that are producing flowers in our gardens.  As the temperatures have cooled, my blooms have revived.

Established Plants

The Soap Aloe (Aloe maculata) plants that missed last GBBD are in full form for this one.

Fall has seen the West Texas Mist Flower (Conoclinium greggii) explode into a mass of blooms - its the first time any of my plants has produced a swath of non-foliar color.

This past spring, I moved my Mountain Sage (Salvia regla) closer to a path so that one could better enjoy its large, brilliant red blooms.

Mexican Petunias (Ruellia tweediana 'Colobe Pink') seem to never quit producing light pink color.

And the Rock Rose (Pavonia lasiopetala) is another that seems to bloom from spring to freeze.

Adorned with triple petals, the Aztec Arrowhead (Sagittaria montevidensis) bloom stalk keeps the show going.


New Plants in the Garden

Though the blooms are quite sparse and hardly noticeable in its first year, the appearance of them on the Dwarf Barbados Cherry (Malphigia glabra) at least hints at future possibilities.

Sweet Violet (Viola odorata 'Royal Robe') is actually putting out a bloom or two - if you're willing to stoop down low to spot them.

The Ground Orchid (Spathoglottis plicata) blooms that initially appeared in last month's GBBD are still going strong.  Will be interesting to see if it survives the winter in ground (though I have one potted to ensure its continued presence).

My Salvia van houttei tends to have a significant magenta flavor to its blooms, though I have seen it on other garden blogs with a much more reddish tinge.


Potted Plants

The blooms of the Ox Tongue (Gasteria liliputana) are close to an end; as the age, they tend to lengthen and take on this pendulous form.

This year, the garden bloom for which I have the greatest excitement are those of the Toad Lily (Tricyrtis lasiocarpa).  I have a couple of the plants in the ground and, for the first time, one large one in a pot.  Though they all have more flower buds than ever before, the potted plant is absolutely exploding with them.  On it, though only a few have opened, there are well over a hundred buds ready to unfurl.

Tardies

A new plant this year, the Forsythia Sage (Salvia madrensis) will not quite make this month's GBBD.  The yellow flowers buds are almost there, but I'm still waiting for its first blossom.

Flower Wannabes

The berries of the American Beautyberry (Callicarpa americana) have, over time, darkened from their original bright purple, but the deeper wine-color is still quite appealing.

And some the Chile Petin's (Capsicum annuum var. aviculare) green berries have begun to transition to red.

Be sure to visit  May Dream Gardens to see what is blooming in gardens everywhere.

12 comments:

  1. Really interesting and lovely photos... L

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  2. I could stare at that Aloe bloom all day long.

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  3. Beautiful Blooms!
    I miss the aloe and petunia blooms back at my country
    Oh, and the last chili, In my city we know it as chiltepin, very good and spicy

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  4. I like how you have classifications for the plants in this post. I smiled when I read 'tardies'. Beautiful blooms for October.

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  5. You may remember that I asked about double blooms on the aloe a few posts back. Lo and behold I have a second stalk beginning on mine before the first has fully flowered. They are glorious.

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  6. Love TOad Lily - great pic of one! They are s tough to get a good angle on.

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  7. Some gorgeous macro shots. I especially like the Soap Aloe photo. My wife's ornamental beds still have flowers, but I suspect they'll be frost-killed within a week.

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  8. All outstanding shots but the prize to me is the ox tongue - absolutely gorgeous!

    I saw the ground orchid at Sharing Nature's Garden the other day and thought it might be a nice addition. Have you had yours long? Is it in shade? You know we both have lots of that in common :-)

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  9. LC: Thanks - glad you could stop by.

    Danger: I enjoy the muted nature of the colors.

    ~fer: You're braver than me - I've heard that this pepper is extremely hot.

    Darla: Thanks - I try to keep links to all the plants in my garden in my browser's favorites - cuz I'm always forgetting info about them.

    Paul: I remember - and that's great! Just yesterday I discovered another in my backyard starting to send up a stalk. That will be my first backyard bloom.

    Washington: They look like little orchid blossoms to me.

    Cityslipper: Frost within week - shudder! Come on down, we're still running around in shorts and t-shirts.

    Cat: This is my first attempt with this species of ground orchid - not sure if its the proper one for our area. Have also heard good things about Bletilla striata - its on my Gotta Get list.

    Queer: They have the most exquisite blooms.

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  10. I'm so jealous of your Mistflower...it's lovely! I'm also quite taken by the magenta Salvia...now THAT'S color!

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  11. Scott: The Mistflower's first year was rather scrawny, then a tree fell and suddenly more light was available to it - and it responded well to that!

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