Orange Outgrowth

The color orange comes in many different hues.  The color I think of as true orange is the color seen on  the Orange Plume, Justicia spicigera.

This large shrub is the current favorite of the hummingbirds.  I'm hoping to be able to capture a photo of the little birds sipping from the tubular flowers but so far they have been too fast for my shutter.

The Amaryllis that have been purchased in the past few years from after Christmas stock at my local big box store are blooming like mad.  None of them resemble the picture on the box.  In fact, they are all different colors.

A single pinky orange and  this double bloomed light orange striped one were both supposed to be single rose pink blooms.  No problem for me that they aren't what was on the box.  I think they are both quite pretty.

Another orange with pinkish tints is seen in the blackberry lilies which are blooming away this spring.  I love this carefree plant that adds height to the garden and blooms throughout the year.

Last year I thought maybe I had purchased the wrong plant as blooms didn't appear until very late in the summer.  This year the Coral Honeysuckle is leaving no doubt that I did indeed purchase the right plant!  The hummingbirds love this one too.

There are quite a number of other orange colored flowers yet to bloom in the garden.  Some will be hitting their peak mid summer as some of the spring blooming flowers fade.  

Blackberry Lilies

These little twisted buds will soon open to reveal the sweet flowers of  Blackberry Lily.  I've heard Belamcanda chinensis called by many different common names. Blackberry Lily , Candy Lily and Leopard Lily all describe various cultivars of this great all-season plant.

I can see the reasoning behind the name, Candy Lily, in my own flowers.  They are just a sweet, candy colored blend of pink, yellow and orange.  The sword shaped leaves stand three feet tall with the bloom spikes rising above them. 

There are some of these lilies which have red-brown spots on the petals.  The name, Leopard Lily aptly fits those.  My lilies, though, have no spots. 

The name, Blackberry Lily, comes from the berries that form after the blooms are spent.  The flowers are produced all summer long then the "blackberries" give fall/winter interest.  I left many of the seeds on the plant because of their beauty and in hopes for seedlings to pop up this spring.

I started with three plants last spring and this spring I have about nine.  They spread from underground as well as from seed so I'm hoping that this little grouping will multiply freely in time to come.  There are many spots within my garden that could benefit from the mostly evergreen foliage and cute little flowers and berries held high above.

What I Like in My Garden Right Now

There's not much to like right now, but here and there a little green can be found.  The overall look of the garden is that of ugly brown sticks but if I squint my eyes just right I can focus on the occasional green plant in a vast sea of dead leaves.

The boggy area, which has been bone-dry this entire year, still has green stalks of umbrella sedge, Cyperus involucratus sprouting up five or six feet in height.  The dry conditions may be why it hasn't spread as much I would have liked or maybe I'm just impatient.  At any rate, it is living and it is green.

The stalks of the black berry lilies, Belamcanda chinensis, provide great 'winter interest,' which is a term I am using much too frequently these days.  Their leaves are still green and there are new fans popping up around the original plants.  The background fortnight lilies, Dietes iridioides, have finally become happy in their home against the fence and even put up a bloom once in a while.

 Tea olive, Osmanthus fragrans, is a bit scraggly as a shrub but the sweetly scented, inconspicuous flowers are why two of them live in my garden.  I wasn't able to squint hard enough to keep all that brown perennial peanut, Arachis glabrata, from getting into the picture. 

I read somewhere that winter rye grass can be sown over the peanut in winter. The front lawn gets the annual rye grass treatment each November so the peanut area will be included next year to see how it looks.

Coonties, Zamia pumila, keep it green by the front door along with jasmine minima, Trachelospermum asiaticum, and  one of my most cold hardy bromeliads, Neoregelia spectabilis.

The impossibly green rye grass makes a great backdrop for the rabbit's foot fern, Davallia fejeensis, and more of that bromeliad, N. spectabilis.  I did a really good job cropping this picture.  You don't have any idea of the carnage surrounding this scene.  But, I'm talking about what I like in my garden right now.

This little bird is definitely something I like in my garden. 

( Goldfinch?)

Something Just Caught My Eye

When I took my morning walk along My Garden Path, a few things drew my attention.  This Butterfly Bush, Buddleja davidii,  is constantly producing blooms and what is truly amazing, it is healthy.  I buy one of these bushes every Spring only to watch it wither away.  This year's bush has been different - in a good way.  I don't know the cultivar name, it was simply labeled as "purple."

The Blackberry Lily, Belamcanda chinensis, is actually in the Iris family.  What I noticed on my walk was the seed pods forming.  This is exciting stuff!  It means I will have more of these beauties to spread around My Garden Path and to share with other gardening friends. 

Look at this!  The Red Firespike, Odontonema strictum, is starting to bloom.  These spikes will get much larger and open up into many tiny trumpet shaped blooms that the Hummingbirds love.  Last year, this was the number one plant where I could count on seeing a Hummer sipping away. 

 

Another favorite with the Hummingbirds is this Firebush, Hamelia patens.   This particular shrub was planted this Summer to replace the one that never returned from the winter freezes.  It has been planted in a shady area in hopes of the big oak giving it some winter protection.  The shade has not diminished the blooms,  I'm happy to see.

 

Oh Look!  The Celosia has a bud forming.  I bought this plant for $1 from the County Jail Horticulture program.  I've been taking cuttings and rooting them without realizing I was keeping it from blooming.  I just love the red foliage.  I guess I'll stop cutting it and let these buds blossom.  I have learned since planting it that it re-seeds so if I want it next year I need to let her bloom. 

Oops, those aren't blooms on the Milkweed!  Those are Monarch caterpillars.  Yay! 

The Sweet Almond, Aloysia virgata, has been really blooming of late.  The sweet scent is so nice in the garden.  I've read these can get 10 feet high or more.  I can't wait for my little sprawling bush to grow up and really fill the air with the perfume of many more blooms. 

There are a couple of things I noticed about these Mexican Petunias, Ruellia brittoniana.  First, they are staying in a neat clump and not taking over the world.   These are a sterile cultivar that are more upright in form than the type I have planted (and regretted) in the past.  They really are staying in one spot. 

Another thing that caught my eye was the fact that the Bamboo is weeping over on top of the Mexican Petunias.  That side bed is going to have to be widened.  But, it's definitely a project for a cooler time of year.