Reason to Plant Encores

This is the reason you plant Encore azaleas. This is my Autumn Twist in full bloom in November. You can't help but love getting azaleas at this time of year. This one will only get better as it gets older. One thing to remember about Encores is that they like a little more sun than normal azaleas. This one is on the East side of my house and gets full morning sun and isn't shaded until mid-afternoon when the sun is at its hottest. This is about perfect for my plant. Keep it watered and mulched and let it go.

Double Delight Strutting Her Stuff

Double Delight remains one of the most beautiful rose blooms that can be found. If you want that classic, long-stemmed, immensely cuttable, fragrant-filled rose to fill household vases, then this is one rose to have. You will not find a more delicious smelling rose or a prettier one. I am NOT a fan of most hybrid tea plants because they are so disease prone. I only bought this one on a whim because I found it grafted on Fortuniana rootstock at a local Lowe's. Growing on that rootstock makes a HUGE difference. This plant has been healthy, floriferous, and a strong grower from day one.

The Unpretentious Tuberose

My tuberoses started blooming back in July. I never expected them to keep blooming this long. They are still sending up these spikes of super fragrant blooms. The individual blooms look and smell like miniature gardenias.


This is the spike that's blooming now, but there's yet another one coming up close to it. The only thing that will stop them is the first frost. This flower will spread fragrance all over that section of my yard, especially after dark. If you live in the South, get you some! They have demanded no care at all from me.

The Sweet Fragrance of Juicy Fruit!

Imagine my surprise the other day when my oldest daughter, Rhonda, came and told me to come see the blooms on my Banana shrub (michelia figo.) I thought these only bloomed in the spring! For whatever reason, my particular plant has several blooms in early November this year and I sure appreciate them. I've said this before in long past posts, but banana shrub has one of the most unique and wonderful fragrances of any bloom on the planet. It smells just like Juicy Fruit gum to my nose. It's also such a beautiful plant - evergreen, glossy leaves on an upright and full plant. They like partial shade and acid soil, similar to azaleas. I don't think they are particularly hardy, so don't try them above zone 8 or possibly zone 7. Not a well-known plant but certainly one very worthy of being grown by Southern gardeners. They were far more popular in by-gone years and are considered an heirloom.

A Treat for You Abraham Darby Fans

Several people have mentioned how they love the Abraham Darby blooms, so I thought this would be a great time to post some more pictures since they are really going at it right now. They are such wonderful blooms and have a delicious fruity fragrance. Enjoy the pictures!

My Huge Morning Glory

This Heavenly Blue morning glory vine is getting monstrous in size. It may be the biggest one I've ever seen. The stalk at the base of this vine is nearly 2 inches in diameter. It has just begun to really come into full bloom. Here are a couple pics of it strutting its stuff.

The Many Faces of Archduke Charles

Archduke Charles is a wonderfully healthy China rose. His signature trait is the varying shades of light pink to maroon that the flowers change to. These pictures show a little of the variety that can be seen on the same plant. Above is a bloom that has just opened fully. It's a fairly light pink. Below is an older bloom that has matured to a darker shade. I love the variety. This is yet another rose that thrives in Louisiana weather and conditions. Definitely a "fool-proof"rose for the Southeast. Archduke Charles hasn't bloomed continually for me this year, but it has put out new flushes of bloom monthly.

Continual Blooming Roses

I have 18 different rose plants in my yard. They are my favorite of all plants and I really baby them. All of them have been planted within the last 3 years, so what I have to say can be taken with the ages of my plants in mind. After close observation this year, I can definitively say that only two of my roses have been TRUE continual bloomers - Double Knockout and Ducher.


My Ducher plant was planted last October, so it is quite a young plant. I think this is the reason it got a later start this year and didn't begin blooming till late April. However, since April I don't think there has been a single day when there hasn't been at least one bloom open on this wonderful shrub. It has only bloomed more as the year has progressed. No other rose can possibly perform any better in Louisiana conditions than this one. It's got a bushy, compact form, no disease at all, lemon-scented blooms, and it thrives with little care.


The Knockout family of roses is well-chronicled as an easy care bunch of roses with pleasing shrub form and continual bloom. My Double Knockout has definitely lived up to this reputation. It is NEVER without blooms, gets no disease, and certainly requires little care. I shear mine back every couple of months to keep it from becoming too big for its space. It has no fragrance at all.

A couple of my other roses get honorable mention for being very close to continual bloomers. Maybe when they get some more age and size they will become continual bloomers. They definitely have flushes of bloom every few weeks. These roses are Julia Child, Earthsong, Belinda's Dream, and Double Delight (grafted on Fortuniana rootstock.)

The Colors of Sunset

Westerland is such a wonderful rose. I love its bright orange colors and especially its wonderful fragrance. It doesn't have a very full flower, but they look good anyway. It's a stiff climber that I'm hoping will look good growing on my chainlink fence. It's quite hard to train on this fence since it really wants to grow up, not out. A good rose that has shown no disease for me this year even with no spraying.



This is a neat picture I got the other day of an Abraham Darby bloom against the evening sky. Despite having only about 30% of its leaves, this rose is putting out full, luscious blooms. David Austin roses in Louisiana really need a full spraying regimen to look their best or they'll be blackspot magnets.

Purple and Gold

Since LSU will be playing their most important game thus far this year on Saturday against Alabama, it's time to post pics of a few purple and gold flowers.
First off, Julia Child, which is close enough to golden for me!

Next up, Golden Celebration. Such fragrance!

Good old purple coneflowers. This one is still blooming in November.

Last, thunbergia battiscombei, which I specifically planted because it so closely resembles the LSU colors. This plant has bloomed non-stop for me since April. The only problem is that the color does not look right in any of the pictures I take with my camera, so I seldom post them. Geaux LSU!!!