Garden Blog: Plants for Me!
The lady in the Houston area to whom I sent a box of 50 Gorizia Rosemary cuttings several weeks ago has sent me my plant in exchange - and several others! Yay!
* Double purple Datura (Datura metel) - I've always wanted one of these, and now I have TWO! A perennial shrub with large (4-6") double flowers that are deep purple on the outside and silvery-white on the inside, it's also highly toxic...and since the new puppy likes to munch the landscaping sometimes, these are going to have to go on the front porch, unfortunately, where I won't be able to look at them as often (but they'll look great in the purple/burgundy/black color scheme of the front garden, so, yay!)
* Scaevola (Fan Plant, Fairy Fan, etc.) I've never actually seen one of these in person, so I'm excited to have this. In this part of the country, it looks like this is grown as a tender perennial (it's a tropical plant, from Australia, Polynesia, Hawaii), and is reputed to stand up to the central Texas heat pretty well, which is good - no wusses in my garden!
* There's a tiny "Katie" Ruellia (Mexican, Wild, or Dwarf Petunia; native originally to Mexico but naturalized all over the damned place) that I'm kind of interested to meet when it gets nice and big. I'd never had any interest in Ruellias, but I'd never seen one in person, and the more I learn about them online, the more I think they're probably just completely gorgeous in flower, and perfect for my hot, dry, mostly-full-sun backyard. .
* It's the Butterfly Vine that I'm most excited about, though - Mascagnia macroptera (form. Stigmaphyllum ciliatum). This thing is freaking COOL. Never heard of it before. Another Mexican Native perfect for my backyard: drought-tolerant, full-sun-loving, evergreen, blooms from Spring to frost. Attracts butterflies, but that's not where it gets its name - check out the butterfly-shaped seed pods in the pictures I linked to. They look SO neat in person. I can't wait to see what the seeds inside look like.
You know, I didn't set out to create a "butterfly garden", but that's what my backyard is turning into. Between the Bauhinia, beans, Esperanza, and Lavender, my entire backyard is covered in butterflies, bees, and hummingbirds in the Summer, as well as dogs leaping in to the air trying to catch all that stuff, LOL. Now there'll be Butterfly Vine and Ruellia, too! (Ruellia's leaves are food for several species of butterfly young).
I also didn't set out to create a Mexican Garden, but Mexican Petunias (Ruellia), Mexican Orchid Tree (Bauhinia), Esperanza, Mandevilla, Jatropha (southern Mexico to Brazil) and now the Butterfly Vine...hey, look, an accidental theme! I suppose I should count the occasional tomato, too, hehe.
What I'd really like to do is build on the semi-Tropical theme that back there - I love all my Mexican plants, and my Plumbago, too (South Africa). I'd really like to bring in some Bouganvillea (South America; this will actually grow in the ground here as a perennial if you shelter it when it's young, until it gets strong enough to withstand our winters on its own) and Crepe Myrtle (India, Australia). There's a small Elephant Ear (South America and southeast Asia) in the front that's never taken off because it's not getting enough sun, that I'd like to move in to the back. I'm rooting some cuttings of the Persian Shield (Strobilanthes dyeriana, from Myanmar) in the front garden to put into the back next year in a couple of sheltered, shaded spots - I think I'd like to add some big floppy ferns there, too, since the area I'm thinking of is contained enough that they won't take over the whole yard (not that that'd be a bad thing, but my neighbors might object to ferns creeping under the fence).
Which sounds like a lot, but mostly it's just moving plants around that I already have, barring the Bougavillea and Crepe Myrtle. First, though, I have to get that puppy to stop eating my Mulberry Tree! I put a fence around the trunk, and she started nibbling on the longer, low branches. I put a BIG fence around it, and she found a way to jump over/through it to get at the trunk. She also strips the bark off my Bauhinia, and pulls vines out of the Clematis! GRR. Anyone want a dog?? (Kidding).
*
* Double purple Datura (Datura metel) - I've always wanted one of these, and now I have TWO! A perennial shrub with large (4-6") double flowers that are deep purple on the outside and silvery-white on the inside, it's also highly toxic...and since the new puppy likes to munch the landscaping sometimes, these are going to have to go on the front porch, unfortunately, where I won't be able to look at them as often (but they'll look great in the purple/burgundy/black color scheme of the front garden, so, yay!)
* Scaevola (Fan Plant, Fairy Fan, etc.) I've never actually seen one of these in person, so I'm excited to have this. In this part of the country, it looks like this is grown as a tender perennial (it's a tropical plant, from Australia, Polynesia, Hawaii), and is reputed to stand up to the central Texas heat pretty well, which is good - no wusses in my garden!
* There's a tiny "Katie" Ruellia (Mexican, Wild, or Dwarf Petunia; native originally to Mexico but naturalized all over the damned place) that I'm kind of interested to meet when it gets nice and big. I'd never had any interest in Ruellias, but I'd never seen one in person, and the more I learn about them online, the more I think they're probably just completely gorgeous in flower, and perfect for my hot, dry, mostly-full-sun backyard. .
* It's the Butterfly Vine that I'm most excited about, though - Mascagnia macroptera (form. Stigmaphyllum ciliatum). This thing is freaking COOL. Never heard of it before. Another Mexican Native perfect for my backyard: drought-tolerant, full-sun-loving, evergreen, blooms from Spring to frost. Attracts butterflies, but that's not where it gets its name - check out the butterfly-shaped seed pods in the pictures I linked to. They look SO neat in person. I can't wait to see what the seeds inside look like.
You know, I didn't set out to create a "butterfly garden", but that's what my backyard is turning into. Between the Bauhinia, beans, Esperanza, and Lavender, my entire backyard is covered in butterflies, bees, and hummingbirds in the Summer, as well as dogs leaping in to the air trying to catch all that stuff, LOL. Now there'll be Butterfly Vine and Ruellia, too! (Ruellia's leaves are food for several species of butterfly young).
I also didn't set out to create a Mexican Garden, but Mexican Petunias (Ruellia), Mexican Orchid Tree (Bauhinia), Esperanza, Mandevilla, Jatropha (southern Mexico to Brazil) and now the Butterfly Vine...hey, look, an accidental theme! I suppose I should count the occasional tomato, too, hehe.
What I'd really like to do is build on the semi-Tropical theme that back there - I love all my Mexican plants, and my Plumbago, too (South Africa). I'd really like to bring in some Bouganvillea (South America; this will actually grow in the ground here as a perennial if you shelter it when it's young, until it gets strong enough to withstand our winters on its own) and Crepe Myrtle (India, Australia). There's a small Elephant Ear (South America and southeast Asia) in the front that's never taken off because it's not getting enough sun, that I'd like to move in to the back. I'm rooting some cuttings of the Persian Shield (Strobilanthes dyeriana, from Myanmar) in the front garden to put into the back next year in a couple of sheltered, shaded spots - I think I'd like to add some big floppy ferns there, too, since the area I'm thinking of is contained enough that they won't take over the whole yard (not that that'd be a bad thing, but my neighbors might object to ferns creeping under the fence).
Which sounds like a lot, but mostly it's just moving plants around that I already have, barring the Bougavillea and Crepe Myrtle. First, though, I have to get that puppy to stop eating my Mulberry Tree! I put a fence around the trunk, and she started nibbling on the longer, low branches. I put a BIG fence around it, and she found a way to jump over/through it to get at the trunk. She also strips the bark off my Bauhinia, and pulls vines out of the Clematis! GRR. Anyone want a dog?? (Kidding).
*