Garden puttering and bloom appreciation

I've reached that point where all of this year's major garden projects are complete and now my time time is spent puttering rather than intense "move it ahead" work from the early morning until time to shower and fix dinner project-focus. Puttering means watering, pulling a few weeds, cutting a few branches, planting a new plant (or three, or four), maybe adding a bromeliad to the vertical fence garden—but most importantly a lot of time spent appreciating and enjoying. Here are some of the things I've been appreciating, with a bloom focus because I missed posting for Garden Blogger's Bloomday on the 15th.

Santolina chamaecyparissus ‘Lemon Queen’

Feijoa sellowiana, pineapple guava

Bletilla ochracea, a surprise as the dormant pot I purchased was marked Bletilla striata (pink blooming).

Lonicera x brownii 'Dropmore Scarlet' without aphids! This is the first year in a long time that I've been able to leave the flowers to bloom rather than cutting them to rid the garden of their aphid infestation.

Yucca filamentosa

Lysimachia paridiformis var. stenophylla—sad flower showing, there should be dozens of yellow blooms. It's gotten very shaded over the years.

A few of the sempervivum I planted in the updated dish planters are blooming.

I shared this photo on my Instagram account and a commenter called sempervivum blooms "death aliens"... it fits! (the plant that is blooming will die, but it lives on thru it's "chicks" hence the common name of hens and chicks).

This blood red lady beetle really stood out against the rusty patina on one of my hose guides.

Photo from the hellstrip, I was surprised to see those all-yellow pups from the Yucca filamentosa ’Color Guard’, and yes, they're growing quite far from the mother plant but there is nothing else in the hellstrip besides the yucca, sedum and two lame trees (that's their dried blooms hiding the gravel mulch) so that's definitely what they are.

Such a cool little flower that is virtually impossible to photograph well, Fuchsia procumbens.

Agave lophantha 'Splendida' growing in a hanging container on the front of the garage.

Side view, with pup on a rope.

I feel sorry for it, after all it wants to be in the soil, but I am also kinda curious about what it will become.

Spore patterns on the back of a Pyrrosia sheareri.

Fine foliage appreciation: Pittosporum patulum.

Lomatia tinctoria

Sophora prostrata

It's showtime for the Arctostaphylos x 'Austin Griffiths'... 

This is a first, my "little miss figgy" aka Ficus carica ‘Little Miss Figgy’ PP27929 has set fruit! The folks at the Sunset Plant Collection sent me this plant back in May of 2021.

That's it in the black pot. It's a compact fig that stays small and yet is said to bear larger and more prolific fruits. This could be the start of a very happy relationship.

Green (NoID) cactus bloom.

Passiflora ‘Aphrodite’s Purple Nightie’

Bam! My NoID epiphyllum just keeps producing these huge (7" wide) flowers. 

I'll do a post about it and the surrounding plants later in the week.

It's July, so the Hibiscus syriacus 'Red Heart' must be blooming.

The flower-power of the garden was doubled when I brought home a vase full of lilies from Heather's garden.

Over on the fence I'm enjoying a growing assemblage of tillandsia, other bromeliads, staghorn ferns, rhipsalis, etc.

I recently posted a video to Instagram, a quick tour of the fence garden: here.

One last flower, Clematis repens 'Bells of Emei Shan'. I was pretty sure I killed this last winter, so I'm thrilled to see it flowering again, even just one.

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All material © 2009-2023 by Loree L Bohl. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.