As always Carol at May Dreams Gardens is the host of Bloomday. Thank you Carol!
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Friday, September 16, 2022
Blooms in September
I don't have a lot of flowers to share for this Garden Blogger's Bloomday post (which is a day late, Bloomday actually falls on the 15th of each month). I do however seem to need to tell a story about some of the ones I do have, thus this isn't a short one...
These spiky leaves belong to either Fascicularia bicolor or Fascicularia pitcairnifolia, I've lost track. Either way it's a hardy bromeliad that can be grown semi-epiphytically, as mine is—tucked into the trunk of one of my palms—with a little soil in a moss ball.
While it's obviously not yet a flower it is about the brightest thing I've got going in my garden this month! The leaves turn bright red when the center of the plant is about to push out a bloom.
That white center will soon turn bright blue with yellow bits, something like what you see here.
Moving on, Paris polyphylla 'Heronswood Form' is still looking good.
A close-up
There are still several blooms on the Hibiscus syriacus 'Red Heart'. Thirteen years after I planted it this one has achieved it's promised 12ft tall, 8 ft wide... and then some.
For me Passiflora lutea is all about the foliage, if there are flowers they're usually so high up (the vine climbs my tallest palm, a Trachycarpus fortunei) that I can't see them. Especially since the flowers are about a half an inch wide! Here however is one I spotted in time for this Bloomday post.
And the foliage...
Blooms developing on the Hakonechloa macra 'Aureola'.
This orange crocosmia wasn't yet in bloom last Bloomday and is just a little past its prime this month. It's still a bright spot in the garden...
This is the only shot I have of the flowers looking good, and it's not a great photo.
Vic! The the blooms on my Agave victoriae-reginae spike started to open last week. It's pretty exciting stuff...
For those unaware of the spectacle here's the plant, growing in a large container.
It's tall bloom-spike started to grow back in early July, now it's over 8ft tall...
A bit of quick research tells me that the flowers are pollinated by bats* and hummingbirds. I've seen several hummingbirds flitting about, and I know we have bats nearby. Fingers crossed they take care of business. (*I've been corrected, see the first comment below, evidently our bats regionally are insectivores, not pollinators)
Cryptanthus flower
NOID on the plant, which is living tucked into this large bowl.
Passiflora 'Snow Queen'
Another flower just opening, before the anthers flip downward facing.
Canna 'I can't remember'
I took a video of the bees swarming around the Metapanax delavayi flowers and posted it on Instagram, they're working it!
Schefflera delavayi bloom.
A flash of white caught my eye...
What do you know!? The first flower of the season on Cyclamen hederifolium 'Xera's Sterling'.
There are a few more fat buds on the cup and saucer vine, Cobea scandens. I'm looking forward to more of those big colorful flowers opening.
Hesperantha coccinea 'Oregon Sunset'
Liriope muscari
Indigofera amblyantha
A late couple of blooms on a Callistemon 'Woodlander's Hardy Red' has the ants excited.
And while I wish I'd have captured this Salvia clevelandii flower when it was covered with more blue "trumpets"—c'est la vie... it is still quite fabulous at this stage, don't you think?
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Our bats regionally are insectivores. They aren’t pollinators. There are several species of nectar feeding bats, but none of them range further north than southern Arizona. Hawkmoths and bees pollinate various Agave species as well. The larger pollinators are more likely to regularly cover the distances between these flowering plants, distances which can be greater than that covered by more localized populations of bees.
ReplyDeleteThank you! I edited my text to reflect this info, appreciate your sharing it.
DeleteWho knew Hakonechloa bloomed?! (Not that I have a chance of growing it in the dry conditions here.) The Agave bloom spike is impressive. Not all agaves bloom so prettily. I wish I could grow Hesperantha and Indigofera but I'm too far out of their range to try. I love your passionflowers too. I'm closely watching my one and only passionflower to see if it'll reward me with a bloom or 2 this year.
ReplyDeleteThere are so many "tropical" passion flowers that I'd be growing if I were in your Zone. I don't remember which one you've got by expand and grow some of the really fabulous ones!
DeleteI wonder if the Fascicularia will manage to bloom while still outside, before the migration indoor.
ReplyDeleteThe large planting bow in the shed pavilion is a wonder. Especially I love that duo ghostly striped Cryptanthus!
Salvia clevelandii is particularly fun: it appears growing on the Callistemon :-D
Chavli
That fascicularia stays outdoors unless things get really out of hand and then it might tossed into the shade pavilion "greenhouse"... I think it's gonna make it happen though!
DeleteScanning all of your photos what resonates with me most is the variety of textures and foliage colours that are happening all through the garden. The blooms are little details that encourage you to go and take a peak. The garden has it's subtleties while overall it's not subtle. You do have an eye for mixing it all up perfectly.
ReplyDeleteYou really do understand how I garden! Wish you could visit in person.
DeleteStriking Fascicularia there, and the Bowl O' Bromeliads is really pretty!
ReplyDeleteS. clevelandii does have beautiful flowers.
I never thought of those whisps on Hakone grass as "flowers", but of course that is what they are.
I regularly overlook my few grass flowers, like the hakonechloa. I saw more today. They're so subtle.
DeleteIf my Agave bovicornuta were further along in its flowering cycle, I'd ask you to send me some pollen of your A. victoriae-reginae. I think that would make a beautiful hybrid!
ReplyDeleteI love your Fascicularia! You gave me an offset years ago, and I planted it in the ground in the backyard. It's still alive but has never flowered. I understand that can take years...
I can't wrap my head around what an Agave bovicornuta / A. victoriae-reginae hybrid could begin to look like, but you're right—it would be cool!
DeleteI'm bringing up the rear on Bloomday this month, I didn't post til this afternoon. I do love your Snow Queen passion vine, which I think it might be foolhardy for me to grow-assuming I could ever find it. They like it a little too much here. Do you worry about Vic toppling over ?
ReplyDeleteWe had a weekend of very high winds with strong gusts and Vic was fine. That pot is heavy! Maybe if it was a branching inflorescence I would be worried. For some reason I thought you had a Snow Queen Passiflora...
Delete