St. Joseph's Lily.

picture taken today.

St. Joseph's Lily.

• http://www.plantanswers.com/grant4.htm
• http://www.amaryllidaceae.org/Hippeastrum/johnsonii.htm

 

Gardenia Glee.

no doubt this will immediately cause the plants to keel over dead, but the gardenias i grew from cuttings have produced three beautiful blooms.

i'm not sure how many actual plants there are -- i stuck some number of cuttings into two pots -- but i think i have at least five survivors. i'm afraid to repot them but i'm going to have to at some point because the current pots are too small.

for the record, after potting the cuttings seventeen-ish months ago, i ignored them. totally. they sat outside on a bench next to the "mother" plant and every few months i looked to see if they were still alive.

about two months ago, noticing the flower buds, i moved the two pots onto the deck so i could keep an eye on them.

April Flowers.

• allium cepa (multiplying onion)
• a. schoenoprasum (chives)
• anethum graveolens (dill)
• asclepias tuberosa (butterfly weed)
• coreopsis grandiflora
• coriandrum sativum (cilantro)
• cuphea hyssopifolia (mexican heather)
• dietes bicolor (african iris)
• gelsemium sempervirens (carolina jessamine)
• hibiscus
• ipheion uniflorum "wisley blue"
• unidentified yellow iris
• justicia spicigera (mexican honeysuckle)
• misc. lantana
• lavandula dentata x l. lanata (goodwin creek grey lavender)
• l. heterophylla (sweet lavender)
• l. multifida (fern leaf lavender)
• lonicera sempervirens (coral honeysuckle)
• osmanthus fragrans (sweet olive)
• penstemon tenuis (brazos penstemon)
• rivina humilis (pigeonberry)
• serrano peppers
• salvia elegans (pineapple sage)
• s. officinalis x s. fruticosa (ne'we ya'ar sage / silverleaf sage)
• s. urtica

Phlox divaricata.

i'm very happy with the phlox divaricata (louisiana phlox) i bought last march. it started blooming about ten days ago and is still going. it's a great looking groundcover by the front door; if only i had twelve plants instead of two.

p. divaricata can be propagated by division in the fall; hopefully i'll remember to do it.

February Flowers.

• azalea
• crinum
• crocus tomasinianus
• cuphea hyssopifolia (mexican heather)
• gelsemium sempervirens (carolina jessamine)
• ipheion uniflorum "wisley blue"
• justicia spicigera (mexican honeysuckle)
• lavandula multifida (fern leaf lavender)
• narcissus tazetta "erlicheer"
• pentas lanceolata
• plumbago auriculata
• salvia elegans (pineapple sage)

Ipheion uniflorum "Wisley Blue".

the wisley blues that were just starting to bloom nine days ago are gradually increasing in number.

the flowers are not large, but they close at night (and on overcast, rainy days) and reopen for three or four days. i haven't tried cutting any to bring inside, so i don't know how well they hold up. i'm torn between leaving them to try for the flower-carpet effect and satisfying my curiousity about their vase viability.

update: i decided to go ahead and cut some to put in water. i'll try to note how long they last. the erlicheers i brought in yesterday remain beautiful.

i'm also trying to remember to note how flowers smell. the wisley blues have a delicate scent similar to green tea.

Narcissus "Erlicheer".

the narcissus "erlicheer" by the front door started blooming late last week. unfortunately, the recent rains have beaten down the scapes. i think part of the problem is that they are top heavy -- the scapes are relatively long and have multiple flowers, anywhere from six to twelve per scape.

since the poor things were pretty much lying flat on the ground i went ahead and cut them to bring inside. and that led to an extended flower photo session. my digital camera is far from top-of-the-line and my photographic skills are far from great, so i had a tough time getting pictures that could do the erlicheers justice. and, of course, pictures can't convey the scent of the flowers. it is strong but not unpleasant -- sweet and citrusy, i would say. in the background is my lavandula multifida (fern leaf lavender).

last year the erlicheers bloomed a few weeks earlier, early-february rather than mid- / late-february.

Ipheion uniflorum "Wisley Blue".

the wisley blues that started sprouting long ago in november may finally be ready to bloom. one lonely flower opened today.

First Crocus.

at last, a month after i found the first sprouts, the crocus tomasinianus have arrived. i had thought that last year they were blooming on february 3rd (our anniversary) and was a little discouraged that they weren't blooming yet. of course, if i'd bothered to look in my own archives, i would have discovered that they are pretty much right on time.

next year i'll try to remember that the crocus bloom for valentine's day, not our anniversary.