Tropical Treasures

This is a Carolina Breeze tropical hibiscus. These pictures were all taken last summer. This is one of my wife's (Jo's) very favorite flowers. We bought it last year only expecting to get one year out of it. I didn't even plan on trying to keep it alive through the winter. It's supposed to be totally intolerant of frost. Earlier this spring, I noticed that from the dead looking sticks at the base of the former plant there were little green sprouts of leaves coming out. It has survived! What a trooper. I'm hoping it looks this good in 2009.

Look at this deep orange color. It is a lighter shade as the day progresses and the sun bleaches the flowers. This thing was loaded with flowers and laughed at the heat of summer.

Here's a picture of the whole bush earlier in the summer before it got much bigger. Notice the butterfly magnet lantana behind the hibiscus. I never noticed hummingbirds or butterflies on the hibiscus, but the bumblebees loved it.

Some tips on tropical hibiscus:

1) Plant in full sun

2) Plant in a large container so you can bring it indoors when a freeze comes, or else you can try to just put large amounts of mulch over the plant and hope it comes back next year

3) I recommend you cut them back occasionally to keep them "bushier." It can get a little "leggy" in our long growing season down here if left alone.

4) Move to Louisiana so they will grow easier for you! If you want a similar plant that thrives in colder areas, then do NOT plant tropical hibiscus - instead plant hardy hibiscus.

Braggin' rights roses

It doesn't get any better than this! This bloom is from Belinda's Dream. I think we'll keep this rose. If this is what it does the first year, I can't wait to see it in a couple more. If you want a big, medium pink, fragrant flower that is also good for cutting, then you can't go wrong with Belinda's Dream. Add to that resistance to blackspot and you have a rose made for the South. It's listed as an Earthkind rose - a designation given to virtual carefree roses. Fear not my Northern friends, this one is listed as hardy to zone 5, so you can grow it too. Highly recommended.


If you look back in my blog you will see other pictures of Abraham Darby. Here's yet another pic of him. Listed as an "English" type rose, this one is an orangey-pink. The smell is out of this world and the plant gets big. These blooms are huge and the plant is covered with them. My plant is 3 years old and blooms in flushes from now till frost. Blackspot gives this one real problems in the summer, but the blooms are worth it. I frequently cut some blooms for this house off of this one. If you follow this blog, prepare yourself to see pics of old Abe pretty often.

What a fragrance!

Have I said how much of a sucker I am for a fragrant plant? This is one of those plants that I had to get because of the smell. It's real name is michelia figo, but it's better known as banana shrub or magnolia fuscata. The nondescript flower exudes one of my all-time favorite scents. To me, it smells like Juicy Fruit gum. There is no way I would be without this shrub in my yard. It is an old Southern favorite that is not seen as much these days, though I can't imagine why.

Michelia figo is an evergreen, tropical looking shrub that gets about 15' tall. It prefers a partially shaded area and acid soil - pretty much the same conditions as azaleas. Makes a nice understory plant under a large tree. It can be grown from zone 7B and southward.

Cottage Craziness

Here are some of my "cottage" flowers. This first picture is a bloom on my lone stokesia ("Stokes Aster.") This is a nice perrenial that grows well in the South. It's said to be a butterfly attractor. It's also evergreen for me. It only gets about a foot tall and comes in all shades of blue/purple/pink. It's a very nice looking plant that I may plant more of in the future. This lone plant came from the fall plant sale at the LSU Arboretum.

Next up comes my larkspur. I think this is the "Rocket" variety, but I'm not positive about the name. I'm a big fan of larkspurs - they are very easy and put on a spectacular show. The hummingbirds down here like them and visit frequently. They get about 5' tall, so don't put them at the front of the flower bed. You can also see some sweetpea blooms, toadflax, and poppies in this picture.

Here's littly Ali watering away on my larkspurs, California poppies, and dianthus. I think orange and purple flowers look nice together. This is my first year of planting California poppies, but it will certainly not be the last. They are definite winners for cool season planting in the South. I just have oranges and yellows, but might try some different types next year. Mine are about 18" tall and very showy.

Ducher Rose

This is the cute little China rose, Ducher (pronounced dew-SHAY.) It is the only rose in the China class that is white. For those of you who don't know, the China roses are a perfect fit for the South. They love hot, humid weather. They are also evergreen down here and have "twiggy" branches. Most of the time, the new leaves have a bronze coloration. Ducher is a rather small plant. It has a reputation for being resistant to blackspot. This particular plant was another of my October 2008 plantings. It sure does look healthy and I'm expecting great things from it. This photo was taken 04-04-09 by my wife, Jo.

See how healthy it looks despite being covered in aphids for the last few weeks? I decided to just let them go and not put insecticide on the plant. Just shows me that the aphids don't really harm the plant much. I have seen plenty of wasps and ladybugs around the plant presumably eating the aphids. I'm attempting to limit the insecticides since I'm wanting to attract more butterflies and hummingbirds to my yard. Not to mention that the poison can't be healthy for my kids!

Does anyone else find it hard to get the lighting right when photographing white flowers? Seems like the exposure is always set too bright. My cheap digital cam doesn't allow me to customize the exposure very much.

Dublin Bay Climbing Rose

Here's the latest rose I have blooming. It's called Dublin Bay and it's a nice climbing rose. Mine was only planted in October 2008, so I haven't had it long enough to have a very informed opinion. The blooms are all that I could wish for - deep red and nicely formed. One downside is that it doesn't have much fragrance. My sister, Susie, has an older one that is growing by leaps and bounds. So far, neither of our plants has exhibited disease problems, but that could change once the dog days of summer come around. Anybody else got any feedback on how Dublin Bay performs in the South? By the way, my wife Jo took this picture since I'm still away at work.

Madame Alfred Carriere

Live in the South and want a white, climbing rose? I've got the rose for you! It's called Madame Alfred Carriere. It's an antique rose with very light blush pink blooms that quickly turn pure white and that have a very sweet fragrance. Need some more encouragement? Well, this thing is vigorous! It just takes off and wants to cover territory. Mine's only going on its 3rd year and I've already had to cut it back to keep it under control. It also has very few thorns. My plant is growing in the shadow of a very large live oak tree so it doesn't get the best of rose conditions. These pics are from last year - wait till I get some new ones from this year! When I left home to go offshore this time, this rose was just putting out it's first buds of the year. It should be covered in blooms in a week or two.

Daddy's Helpers

Just a few pictures of my little helpers around the yard.


Rhonda and Isaac with new hoe and shovel. This was actually 2 years ago. How time flies! The green square of grass that they are standing in has been transposed into a mulched shrub area with several roses, some plumbago, lantana, sago palm, hibiscus, and some various annuals.

They found a worm!

Alison ("Ali") isn't all that much help, but she does appreciate a fragrant rose when she sees one. Unfortunately, this Double Knockout doesn't have any fragrance!

Rose companions

Last year I had portulaca planted at the base of some of my roses. They look pretty decent in this picture, but didn't do well for long. I'm looking for ideas on what to plant around my roses this year. The roses are already much bigger than in this picture and have significantly more room at their bases now - at least my older ones. I'm thinking that portulaca didn't do so well because I have a drip system installed at the base of each rose and I water them quite a bit. Portulaca like the ground much dryer than roses, so I don't think they are a match made in heaven. How about some better suggestions? Here are some of my ideas:

1. Scabiosa
2. Scaevola
3. Verbena
4. Miniature zinnias
5. Torenia
6. Convolvulus
7. Allysum
   

Gertrude Jekyll

I'm at work out in the Gulf of Mexico and so cannot take new pictures for the next 2 weeks. That leaves me putting old pictures from last year. This picture was taken 04-27-08. It's a shot of one of the blooms on my Gertrude Jekyll rose. I'm hoping to see some blooms on this bush when I come home again. This rose was planted in May 2007. Here's the lowdown on this particular rose with, first, the good news:

1) It has the strongest most delectable fragrance of any rose that I've ever smelled. It's the hands down fragrance winner of all roses I've come across.
2) The bloom is perfect. It is very full with loads of petals and a deep, hot pink color.
3) The plant is very vigorous

The bad news:
1) The plant is VERY vigorous! It sends out long "octopus" canes that reach for the sky
2) It has the most vicious thorns of all my roses. This is especially bad since I have it planted in my little rock garden area right next to my house.
3) It gets blackspot terribly and must be sprayed to stay healthy.
4) Doesn't have very good re-bloom.

I've been told that this plant performs best if either kept pruned way back or else trained very horizontally on a trellis. Where mine is planted it must be pruned way back. It's certainly not a low-maintenance rose.