Saturday

Twelve Plants I need to Use in New Ways in the Garden


Lemon Grass and Madagascar Periwinkle from another year. Periwinkles are just now showing up with some blooms. Lemon Grass is enjoying the heat.

This GH bed has a mass of white Lantana this year, no Pentas.

Alternanthera Rubiginosa is a great plant where a
large dark mass is needed. 

It will choke out bermuda grass.


Agapanthus, chlorophytum, Purple Heart

Agapanthus bloomed in May, 2013.
A hard freeze in winter will kill the 
tops like last winter and set them back.

I bought Agapanthus in 2007 and 2009.
In 2013 I borrowed seeds off a plant in Tallahassee
and finally had a white bloom in a pot this Spring.
I am going to pot up more plants in August.

Plants I sometimes take for granted:
Persian Shield and its winter blooms,
Tecoma stans' all summer blooms,
Pentas as butterfly magnet and Melampodium,
Loropetalum blooms twice: early spring, late summer.


Beds of Salvia Leucantha need renovating for a
show like this one.

Wax Begonia, what a bedding plant.
Ruellia elegans 'Katie' needs some Lemon Grass.
My variegated Liriope did not thrive.

When these bloom they remind that Begonias are
 worth the trouble to haul them in for winter's keep.

From 2008: The flavor of this bed has changed. Crape Myrtles are now trees.


Gulf Fritillary

Butterflies do not magically appear in Spring and last through fall. You may see some on early warm days and not see more for several weeks as new broods hatch. If there are host plants and nectar sources available, you may see various kinds at different times all through warm weather. A good example are Buckeyes. You might see a few in early spring and great waves of them in autumn when False Foxgloves bloom.

Gulf Fritillary on Lantana and on Porterweed.



The other butterflies I am seeing right now are numerous Pipevine Swallowtails, Dogface sulfurs and many tiny skippers. Once in a while I see a Red Spotted Purple hanging around for a few days.

What butterflies are you seeing during these hot summer days?

Tuesday

Hydrangeas

A hundred years ago they were called 'Hortensias.'






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