Purslane

I planted this as a "filler" in the passion flower garden.  I didn't know that there are recipes using the flower to lower blood pressure and cholesterol levels because of its omega-3 fatty acids.  I'll have to Google more about this!

It's perennial, that's good to know.  I actually bought this plant and then found out that I have some growing between the cracks in the sidewalk.  How funny.  Maybe I'll transplant the sidewalk ones before the lawn people come....

The plant blooms morning until sunset.  The blooms only last one day, but the plant is typically loaded with flowers.

Passion Vine

The header picture for this blog is a passion flower.  LOVE them!  It's my favorite in the gardens.

When I saw two different colors of the passion flowers at the nursery, I wanted both.  There's purple and the magenta:

I didn't know that the passionflower (passiflora incarnate) is used to treat anxiety and insomnia.  "Scientists believe passionflower works by increasing the levels of a chemical called gamma amino butyric acid (GABA) in the brain.  GABA lowers the activity of some brain cells, making you feel more relaxed."

It's a perennial climbing vine.  They are easy to grow once established, but can be difficult to keep over winter months because their roots are prone to rot if kept cold and wet.

Passion Flowers have small root systems, making them difficult to transplant.  (My friend, Kim, will agree with this as it took her 5 times to transplant a passion vine from her friend's garden.)

Right now, I'm trying to root two from Kim's garden.  (The above pictures of the passion vines are in my backyard - I call it the Passion Flower Garden.)  The three vines from Kim are in the front garden, planted in the wall box:

The one towards the back looks good and one of the vines in the front has a new leaf, so that's a good sign.  Don't know about the vine next to it.  This is my experiment in rooting new vines.

In the meantime, there's something you should know about these vines.  Butterflies LOVE them.  Specifically:   Gulf Fritillary

Within MINUTES of planting the vines, butterflies fluttered in.  You'd think, "That's great!"  Yep, I did too.  Let me tell you about butterflies.  They lay eggs.  The eggs turn into caterpillars.

Meet the Gulf Fritillary caterpillar:

My husband, Greg, said, "He's ugly!"  I thought so at first and then I thought he was cute.  Within a few weeks, I thought he was horrible....

Let me show you what Mr. Gulf Fritillary in the caterpillar stage does....

He ate a HOLE through the passion flower bud!  Through all of them!  I took a video and pictures and showed it to a local nursery.  The guy, Scott, said, "Normally they don't eat large buds like that.  It must have been hungry."  Then I showed him a picture of 10 caterpillars in ONE area of the vine, that wasn't all of them.  Scott said, "WOW.  Looks like every butterfly in your neighborhood came to visit your vine."  He gave me a pesticide to use on the vine.  The caterpillars had basically killed the passion vine, almost.  Scott did add, "The passion vine is a host plant to the butterflies.  They don't generally kill the vine, because they need the host alive.  But in this situation there are too many caterpillars and you need to give the vine a chance to grow back."

I sprayed the vine down and no caterpillars.  Both the magenta and the purple vines are coming back, happy to report!  I even have some new purple buds on the vine!

So, if you get the vine, having caterpillars is perfectly OK, but having too many - know that you can do something about it :)

Chicago Picotee Lace Daylily

I almost forgot about this flower in the hibiscus garden!  Probably because it only bloomed once and it looks a little on the weak side.  For some reason, the lilies don't do too well in my garden or maybe it's just the incredible heat this summer?

Here's a picture of the Chicago Picotee Lace Daylily when it bloomed:

Hibiscus

Hibiscus are eye-catching with their large, brightly colored blooms.  With just a small amount of care, they will bloom throughout the year.  Hibiscus like warm temperatures, but not extremes.  I read somewhere that they like much the same conditions as people - acceptable between 60 to 90 degrees.

Here are my pink hibiscus:

If temperatures drop below 50 degrees, most blooming will stop.  Flowers will decrease in size as it gets cooler.  In temperatures over 95 degrees, the flower buds will drop off before they bloom.  Hibiscus can survive the heat, but they will need adequate water.

Here are the yellow hibiscus in my garden:

In hot weather, water the plants consistently.  If the leaves look droopy, they need more water.
In the cold weather, fungus disease could attack the roots.  Don't water as much during the winter to deter the fungus.

Here's a picture of the red hibiscus.  The pink hibiscus (first couple of pictures on this post) have dark centers.  The red hibiscus don't.

One more picture... not of hibiscus... in the same garden with the hibiscus, I planted vincas and white pentas as fillers between the larger bushes.

Bottlebrush Plant

I like different.  The bottlebrush plant's blooms are cool looking.  It's a desert plant that is perennial.  It's supposed to be hardy, low care, relatively drought resistant, easy to find and cheap to buy.  All of which is a plus in my gardening budget.

They like full sun and though they are drought resistant, they need a water source.  It's not a fast grower, which I'm grateful for... because these things can get really big.  I'll have to buy some shears to keep it in line once it starts to get tall.

The bottlebrush will attract nectar feeders, like hummingbirds :)

(I mention this plant right after the rose garden, because it's planted next to the rose garden.)

Hybrid Red Rose

That's all I have for the name "Hybrid Red Rose."  Nothing else to go on from the tag and the nursery (Jefferson Feed) couldn't tell me anything further either.  Other than, it has a lovely scent.

I will say this, of the three, it's beautiful with the red blooms, but.... it definitely tends to produce a lot more yellow leaves and doesn't appear to be very hardy.  I'm concerned for the livelihood of this rose in my garden.

If I had to go with another rose bush, I'd stick with a Julia Childs, but we'll see how this one pans out.

The blooms are beautiful!

Julia Child Roses

Julia Child roses - personally chosen by the award-winning chef herself, this English-style rose looks like a rose should look with double layers of petals and smells like a rose should smell - perfume in bloom (likened to a sweet licorice scent).

Another reason I picked this rose bush to go in the rose garden at my home is because it is disease resistant.  The bush grows into a more rounded form, with little pruning to maintain.

Knock Out Roses

When I researched roses, I wanted something very hardy.  (Years ago, I tried to grow roses and killed them.)  This time, I wanted to do my best.

My grandmother told me one of her roses was "knock out roses."   I thought she was kidding about the name, but it's true.

Knock Out Roses are GREAT to grow in Louisiana!  They have a continuous blooming cycle and if it's not too cold during the winter, it will bloom throughout the year.

These roses need full sun - 8 hours of sun daily to perform and bloom their best.  They are easy-to-grow, but they still need raised beds for proper drainage.

Prune mid-February by conducting a two-thirds height-reduction pruning.  Prune again in early September by conducting a one-third height-reduction.  Add mulch as needed - two to three inches of mulch are great for roses.

OK, two negatives to this rose.... 

First, it has NO smell!  Seriously, no fragrance, but it's hardy and disease resistant.  I figured it was an excellent rose bush to start with.

Secondly, the roses are kinda small, not layered heavily.

The rose bush gets as big as 4-5 feet tall.  In the below picture, the bush is about double the size as when I first bought it this year.

Blue Daze

Blue Daze - beautiful bright blue flowers!  I love it.  It's a hanging pot in the large section of the front garden.  They bloom just about every other day.  But warning - don't even think about not watering them daily!!

If you skip a water day, they let you know - the leaves shrivel up.  My parents had a hanging basket of blue daze.  They went on vacation and didn't water it.  I stopped by their house and thought, "Oh my gosh, it's dead."  It was brown as brown could be... I gave the hanging plant a thorough watering, stopped by the next day and it was already perking back up.  So don't give up on this little guy.  He needs water daily, but he'll come back too!

I wish there were more blue blooming flowers.  I'd get them in a heartbeat!

This might be the end of the front garden by the door.  Oh, wait, there's a vine I left out, but I grow that same vine in the backyard garden, so I'll get to that later.  I also have a rose garden and hibiscus garden.  Those are next up :)

Jungle Flame Ixora

It's an evergreen shrub that will produce clusters of red flowers.  It loves warm climates, grows quickly and is hardy.  (Only, I didn't know they could get 8 feet tall!  Woah!  I'm hoping I have a dwarf version.)  The Ixora requires full direct sunlight and if you water it too much it might not flower (good to know).

Red Salvia

Salvia Coccinea 'Lady in Red' - that's the name of this one.  I've read that it grows in full sun, easy to grow (I can't agree, given I killed the first one).  It doesn't tolerate the winter well, but my grandmother says it comes back every year.

My grandmother gave me this plant while it was blooming.  The first go round, the plant died.  She gave me a couple more and I planted them together in the hopes that one of them would make it.  They are struggling, even after a week of being planted.  I'm hopeful.

I took a picture of the plant and posted it on Facebook.  It's an unknown, but a couple of people mentioned it might be a red salvia.  I did a Google search and found a match with the Salvia Coccinea.  the blooms are so delicate.

I have to add, the original first plant my grandmother gave to me, after I planted it -  everything turned brown and died.  But there's this one little itty bitty tiniest piece at the ground that is light green and fuzzy feeling.  Is it the swan song of the plant or a future growth.  It gets watered with the rest of the garden, so we'll see what happens.

Below is the second attempt from my grandmother's garden.  I sure hope it lives!

Update:  MawMaw's plant is still alive :)  It's been over 2 weeks now that it's been planted.  I should have cut the top sprouts and it would have bloomed more.  But I do have one tiny bloom - see below:

Another update  - it appears it will live!  Yeah!  More blooms on the smaller plant:

Unknown Lilies

I don't know if these lilies will survive.  Our dog yanked one out of the ground and chewed on the roots and destroyed three leaves.  It was supposed to be a spider lily and I was looking forward to seeing it bloom.  Now, it's barely hanging in there.

These are the "unknown lilies" because they came from Kim, but I don't know the exact names or the colors of the blooms.  I'm almost positive this is the one, that if it survives Penny's attack, will be the spider lily:

This next one is struggling.  I have to stop myself from helping it take that white casing off of the tip.  I read somewhere that it's good for a plant to struggle, because it makes it stronger.  Well, this unknown lily has been struggling for a week...  Will it survive?

Update on the above unknown Lily - The paper stuff is still on the plant, but it has some new leaves.  In the below picture, it looks like it's praying :)

This is the third unknown lily.  It looks a little sick to me.  Kim said to keep watering them and so I am...

I think Kim said one was supposed to be red, another purple and the other one, the spider lily.

In Googling what a spider lily is supposed to bloom.... oh, I want one!!  Now Kim has me wanting a Lily Garden.... and I know JUST the place to create the garden.  But I don't know if the heat of the summer is the best time to start a Lily Garden.

I'll keep an update on this page as the plants live or not.

Star of Gold - Day Lily

"STELLA!"

That's this day lily's name "Stella de Oro" - Star of Gold.

The blooms only last a day (hence the "day" lily name).  But this particular day lily blooms a lot.  It does need to be deadheaded, including the stem of the blooms.  I need to remember that, because there are two stems that need cutting on mine right now.

It's a compact plant, reaching a height of just 12' with a similar spread, blooming from May-July.  It's a favorite in many yards because of its constant blooming and wide range of planting zones.

Stellas bloom best when in full sun, but they will tolerate shade.  She's such an accommodating lily!

Society Garlic

It's an herb, but it's in my large front garden.  It smells like garlic but it's not the garlic you find in the grocery store.  However, I was told by Sue, who shared the garlic from her garden, that yes, the garlic leaves can be chopped up and used for a light garlic flavor in a dish.

I figured the garlic was just there to "fill space" in a very large garden bed.  Then I find out from Kim that society garlic blooms.  Cool.  The other morning I went outside to water the garden and from the low sunrise light, I thought I saw a small slug on the garlic.  I actually picked up a piece of mulch to get the slug off of the leaves... but it was attached.  It wasn't a slug, it was a bud!  Here's a picture.  The bud is in the middle (mid way to the leaves) of the leaves.  Kind of hard to make it out, because it blends with the mulch color.

I'm eager to see the blooms!  Interestingly enough society garlic (and onions and garlic) belong to the lily family.  Society garlic is a plant from South Africa.

Looks like this is a plant that can grow year-round outdoors.  It tolerates summer heat well and is supposed to bloom for months.  It does best in the full sun and light, sandy soil.  It will die in temperatures below 25 degrees, but it will grow back rapidly too.

I'll update another picture when it blooms :)

Just starting to bloom, you can see the bud better below:

Closer look at the bloom:

I never knew garlic could look so lovely!  I have another group of society garlic in a different section starting to bloom :)  They are great to have in a garden :)

Crossandra Apricot Sun

In the previous post, I wrote about Crossandra, Yellow Splash and how it liked indirect sunlight.

The Crossandra Apricot Sun likes full sun.  It's a tropical evergreen subshrub that grows 1-3 feet tall.  It's also "everblooming" if it doesn't get too cold.

And get this... it "needs high humidity."  Hello and Welcome to Louisiana, make yourself right at home!

When I saw this plant at the nursery, I was attracted to the color of the blooms.  Greg calls it "sherbet" and I agree.  It's a new member to my garden... wish it luck!!

Update:  So far, so good.  I planted this in the front garden (large side) where it should get plenty of sun.  There for a while it was looking icky, but it's perked up and still blooming :)

Yellow Splash Crossandra

The bright yellow blooms against the shiny green leaves caught my eye in the nursery.  I couldn't resist.  I didn't know anything about crossandras, but couldn't pass it by.

The tag said it likes "indirect light"... so I planted it under the juniper tree, where it should get shade most of the day but in the afternoon will catch the sunset light.  Warnings on the Internet say to not let the soil get dry between waterings.  It's not drought resistant.

This is a perennial, so it comes back every year.  I hope it's planted in the right area of my garden!  I would love to see this again next year.

So far, it's living.  It's the newest plant in the large section of the front garden.  I hesitate to blog about flowers when they are newly planted, because it's an "experiment" until I know if they will survive.  I'll have to update this as the plant makes it or doesn't.

Update:  It's surviving :)  It's been a couple of weeks now and still blooming :)  This is definitely not a fast grower.  It will bloom a bunch, but I don't think it's made an ounce in branching out any.  Another picture share, but it's dark, took it early in the morning.

Purple Potato and its Side Kick

Kim gave me the purple potato.  I gave her a funny look when she told me what it was.... and yes, it does actually make a potato on the root.  (And the potato is edible!)

I didn't know if I'd like it too much, because when first planted, it looks sickly.  But oh boy does it perk up and grows.  Fast!  It's great in a hanging pot, because it's a vine with lovely purple leaves.  It's something very unique in the garden.

And the "sidekick" - yes that's a name, is another type of potato plant... - Sidekick Lime.. the bright lime green colors - it's a patented variety that is less aggressive in growth and more compact.  I love it though!  Never thought I'd have a potato plant (or two) growing my garden.

They prefer full sun, but need water every day.

Oh and watch these vines, they will take root elsewhere in the garden.  I had the hanging purple potato plant in the small section of the front garden.  Then, about a week or two later, I found another purple potato plant growing in the large section.. in the ground.  No where near where the hanging purple potato plant was!

So, I uprooted the new purple potato and planted it with the sidekick green in a pot that sits up high.