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| Hibiscus |
We used to call them "shoe flowers" when I was growing up. I don't know why they were called that, but we never called them hibiscus.
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| Hibiscus Close Up |
The oranges are still growing:
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| Orange |
At the very far end of the garden...do you see what I see? That spike of white flowers:
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| Yucca in Flower |
I tried to do a close up, but not very successfully:
My poor little peach tree; hope it makes it through the winter and comes back in the spring:
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| Peach Tree |
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| Colorful Berries |
Matched by the pomegranates:
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| Pomegranates |
A bit of color from the gazanias:
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| Gazanias |
They are drought tolerant and seem to be doing well:
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| Gazanias, Close Up |
This plant is a species of Commelina, also known as "day flower". It is considered a weed in some places. But mine comes from a few cuttings I took from a plant a co-worker had in the office, way back in 1983! I rooted it in water and grew it in a pot. Many years later, it spread from the planter and has found some shady areas in which to grow:
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| Commelina |
It has the prettiest blue flowers:
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| Blurry Commelina Flower |
My gardener and I have our work cut out for us, this fall. Lots of cleaning up and consolidating.
Today, I am grateful for:
- Having a garden at all
- The plants that are still surviving the drought and neglect
- The flowers are that still blooming and brightening up the garden
- The fruits that are still forming
- Knowing the garden will continue to grow with a little more TLC
How is your garden coming along?
I never dreamed that a schefflera would have berries (and presumably flowers before them)! I've only ever grown this plant in the house. Love all your photos, I could look at plants forever!
ReplyDeleteBushlady
They have tiny, creamy white flowers. I have 2 schefflera growing in the garden and only one plant has the berries. It survived the heat wave we had, earlier, better because it is growing under the shade of the calamondin tree (a type of citrus). The other one is growing next to the yucca tree and got quite scorched. I think I am going to take some cuttings and try to root them to see if I can get some new, free plants. :)
DeleteMy yard is so in need of rain...[can semi relate to your lack of rain..sad to watch our flowers/trees shrivel up.] We are trying to water the main things --- sod we laid, new shrubs, etc.. But keeping the blooms going is difficult. I am watering the flowers on the porch and the surrounding porch..But it takes all the time I have.. Plus.. it gets expensive watering.. FALL is on its way though.. so happy.. Have a blessed day and I enjoyed touring your plants..Love the sheffler with all the colorful berries..so pretty.
ReplyDeleteHope you get some rain, soon, Judy. It is hard to maintain a garden without sufficient water, unless it is mostly cacti and succulents. It might be the way I am headed, with just the fruit trees getting watered on a regular basis.
DeleteYour garden is in a lot better shape than mind. I know it is irrational, but it blows my mind that you can grow pomegranates in your garden. They are an exotic here. Thank you for sharing the beautiful flower pictures. x
ReplyDeleteIf we could combine your rain and my climate, we'll both have the best ever gardens! The pomegranate tree was grown from a small plant gifted by the monks in our temple, when I bought my house. According to our culture, a pomegranate tree near the front entrance is supposed to be good luck.
DeleteI really enjoyed your tour of the garden. My flower beds did not do well after June, as we had the worst drought in our area of Ontario since the 30's. I watered my veggie garden but did not even try to save my flower beds. Most of the flowers are natives, so I have hopes that they will come back next year.
ReplyDeleteI have yucca plants called Adam's needle. They are very drought tolerant, and send up a shoot of white flowers about four feet tall. It looks like your yucca plants are that tall. Mine stay low to the ground.
Are Gazanias also known as ox-eye daisies? Some people here can grow those as annuals. I haven't had much luck. Maybe I have watered them too much.
I still hope to go back and read some of your posts I have missed. I've been kind of busy lately. Have a great evening.
Thank you, Susan. Sorry to hear your garden, too, suffered from a drought.
ReplyDeleteThe yucca plant that is flowering is about 10 feet tall; maybe more! But the flower stalk is only about 1 1/2 to 2 feet tall. It was already here when I bought the house, nearly 25 years ago, so I don't know for sure which type of yucca it is, but I believe it is what is called "Spanish dagger".
From what I understand, ox-eye daisies are a different genus from gazanias, but they both belong to the same "family" of "Asteraceae". Ox-eye daisies typically have white petals with yellow centers. Gazanias are typically yellow, although they range in color from white to red, as different cultivars have been bred for color. I tried growing Shasta daisies (which look a lot like ox-eye daisies; white with yellow centers), at one time and had no luck.
Yes, you are quite right. Ox eye daisies are "weeds", although I like the look of them. I grow Shasta daisies (in a temperate climate). I should have known. What I should have asked was, are Gazanias the same as African Daisies? But I looked it up since yesterday and discovered the answer is still no. African daisies are Osteospermum. Those are the ones that I have difficulty growing. Anyway, yours are lovely.
DeleteYes, they are different, African daisies and gazanias. I have African daisies, too, but they are at their best in the spring and early summer.
DeleteIt's nice to see some color in your garden!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Nathalie. It's there, but one has to look for it. :)
DeleteThose berries are very pretty! I want to plant a citrus tree in our backyard, but am waffling on variety. I use lemons all the time, but satsuma mandarins do very well here and that is tempting as well. I bet it is nice to have that fruit available when it ripens!
ReplyDeleteWhy not have both? A lemon tree and a satsuma mandarin? Each tree will require about 5 feet of space, so if you have the room, I'd plant both. I am considering planting a tangerine tree, this fall. Now that you mentioned satsuma mandarins, I think that would be nice, too.
DeleteIt's so nice that you have color in your gaden even under drought conditions. We just returned from a road trip to SanDiego and I thought of you! While in Tucson, the RV campground had citrus trees at each site. They were full of grapefruit, lemons and limes but weren't ripe. Brought to mind your orange tree!
ReplyDeleteHope you had a lovely road trip, Carolyn. Yes, I'm glad there's some color - have to look for it, but it's there. :)
DeleteI love all the fruit trees you have in your garden. I think it would be wonderful to go out and pick peaches, lemons, pomegranates.
ReplyDeleteMum always says weeds are God's flowers too. xx
I did a quick count and right now, I have 13 fruit trees, including the poor little peach tree and the loquat tree which look more dead than alive.
DeleteYour mum is right! Also, so many of so-called weeds are plants that people used to grow because they had some beneficial use - medicine or food - which we have forgotten. Dandelion, for example.
Hope all is well with you, Suzanne. Looking forward to your month-end post.
My mom and I used to go pick dandelions from the local soccer field to make salads.
DeleteMy dad lives in the Alps across from a pasture that gets sprayed with manure in the summer. In the Spring, the field is covered with dandelions. He picks them and makes dandelion wine and dandelion jelly with the flowers. It's called Cramaillote and it's pretty tasty. I'm not sure if he eats dandelion salads but probably :) You need to pick a whole lot of dandelions, though, as my brothers and I found out when we were put to the task by my stepmom when we went to visit 3 years ago!
Yes, I can imagine one would need a lot of dandelion flowers to make a batch of wine or jelly! The Armenian store I go to often sells dandelion greens. But they look like they are specially cultivated, because they are huge! Nothing at all like the dandelion that grow in my garden!
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