Incidentally, after looking at some photos online, I wonder if this might be Tricyrtis formosana 'Autumn Glow'... When I bought my two toad lilies at one of the Mobile Botanical Garden's sales, they were labeled Tricyrtis formosana and Tricyrtis variegata. Since this one is variegated and the other is not, I'm positive this was the one labeled "variegata", but now I'm wondering if whoever labeled them just didn't do a very good job... It certainly looks a lot like 'Autumn Glow' to me.
Whatever its true identity, the variegated toad lily has been blooming, lately. I'd grow it just for the foliage, but the flowers are undeniably interesting, too. They're tiny, but wonderfully detailed, somewhat resembling orchids.
The latest late-planted plant to show signs of life is the orange bottlebrush ginger lily (Hedychium aurantiacum). It's in a pot, probably until autumn. I bought it online (Brent and Becky's Bulbs) at a late-season, 50%-off sale-- the same place I got the mature pineapple lilies, tuberoses, and white muhly grass (Muhlenbergia capillaris 'White Cloud') that I've shown photos of in the past month or two. I doubt it will bloom this year-- especially since it's gotten such a late start-- but I'm just happy it survived its delayed planting. I'm still waiting on one last plant-- 'Twinkle Stars' pineapple lily... Keeping those fingers crossed for it!
Succulents.
More of the crepe myrtles have begun to flower. This is 'Victor' in front of the night-blooming jasmine.
And then serving as a backdrop for some celosia (maybe 'Mega Punk'?)...
I took a lot of photos of celosia and bees, this time around... Too tempting a photo subject to ignore.
...a little closer cropping...
Coreopsis 'Mercury Rising'.
Purple heart plant.
Bougainvillea 'Purple Queen'.
The hydrangea blooms are
Passion flower 'Lady Margaret'.
The blooms are smaller than the wild/old-fashioned purple passion flowers, but the colors are so bold, they may make a stronger impact from a distance. My purple passion flower isn't blooming, this year-- or wasn't, the last time I checked-- but from what I remember, the pale purple blooms tended to fade out of sight unless viewed up close.
Ah, and here are some of the plants I was mentioning before...
The tuberoses (in the clay pot) are growing well. Directly behind is one of the pineapple lilies. (It's interesting that that one has a stronger purple tinge to its leaves than the other two, though all are supposed to be the same kind, unless there was some mix-up.) Behind that is the variegated ginger (Alpina zerumbet 'Variegata'). In the teal pot is the white muhly grass (just a tiny plug, at this point), and the big leaves encroaching in the photo from the left are from another ginger, Curcuma 'Scarlet Fever'.
Not very many daylilies are blooming, by the end of June-- nor have they been for a few weeks.
Here's one that is reblooming-- a double copper-orange. This division came to me from Mom.
This pale yellow seems to bloom for a nice, long time. It started later than most of the daylilies in our garden, but that means it's still in flower long after most of the others are finished (or busy growing another round of scapes).
One downside to this daylily, though, is that it doesn't often (ever?) drop its flowers cleanly. It really does need someone to come by and deadhead, or else the old flowers just hang onto the plant in a mushy mess, sometimes interfering with new, fresh blooms.
Butterfly vine (Mascagnia macroptera).
This was a "borderline tropical" plant from Mom's lucky clearance find, last year. It came through its first winter with flying colors (although it was a mild one). Its been blooming wonderfully this summer.
The flower buds are interesting-- the flowers themselves are eye-catching from a distance-- and then there are the light-green (turning tan) butterfly-shaped seedpods, which give the vine one of its common names.
It's also known as the yellow orchid vine. It can live in sun or shade and is heat- and drought-tolerant. It may die to the ground in zone 8, but will usually come back in spring, though flowering may be delayed by late frosts.
Duranta erecta 'Sapphire Showers'.
This is another of Mom's "tropical-ish" clearance finds (same time as the butterfly vine). She gave me two, and both came through the winter well. The dainty, white-edged, purple flowers are very pretty, viewed close, though they don't seem to "carry" as well over distances as lighter or larger flowers do. (Of course, mine aren't absolutely smothered in blooms, so that probably has something to do with it.)
The flowers (which are supposed to be lightly scented, though I haven't yet given it a sniff) are followed by orange berries, which are responsible for a couple of its common names-- pigeon berry and golden dew drop.
From what I've read, they can live in zone 8, but will die back to the ground in winter (as mine did). They come back and flower in summer, but the winter die-back keeps them at a smaller size than they can attain in milder climates. (So far, that reflects what I'm seeing in my own garden.) Some report that they can be grown as container plants and overwintered in the garage in colder zones.
Our watermelon-pink crepe myrtles have started to bloom.
Most of the new-this-year canna lilies have flowered by now, I think. Seems like most of the ones we have are red-flowered, with two or three yellows and/or yellow speckled with orange.
I have to admit that the canna flowers themselves are not (yet) among my favorites... They're okay-- they may even be growing on me-- but I think they're generally better from a distance.
Tithonia.
The Mexican sunflowers have begun to bloom. I know orange is an unpopular color, and it probably wouldn't be my first choice very often, either, but there are some gorgeous orange flowers-- and so many of the heartiest plants have orange flowers that I decided some time ago to learn to love it. Think of them as glowing embers at the heart of a dying fire...
Sunflowers.
The last days of June have slipped by, and now it's the beginning of July. I took the photos for the monthly garden survey on the 2nd of July, so maybe I'll go ahead and process them for the next blog post.
Our watermelon-pink crepe myrtles have started to bloom.
Most of the new-this-year canna lilies have flowered by now, I think. Seems like most of the ones we have are red-flowered, with two or three yellows and/or yellow speckled with orange.
I have to admit that the canna flowers themselves are not (yet) among my favorites... They're okay-- they may even be growing on me-- but I think they're generally better from a distance.
Tithonia.
The Mexican sunflowers have begun to bloom. I know orange is an unpopular color, and it probably wouldn't be my first choice very often, either, but there are some gorgeous orange flowers-- and so many of the heartiest plants have orange flowers that I decided some time ago to learn to love it. Think of them as glowing embers at the heart of a dying fire...
Sunflowers.
The last days of June have slipped by, and now it's the beginning of July. I took the photos for the monthly garden survey on the 2nd of July, so maybe I'll go ahead and process them for the next blog post.
