GBBD for August

I have missed GBBD for July, I forgot if I were so busy, so lazy or I just really missed it. Actually, I was a bit busy, was sick and was not able to go home last month, so i missed taking pictures. Anyway, our garden dwellers don't really vary much in a month's time during the rainy season. There could be a foot growth in some plants, some bloomed maybe more profusely, but i am sure they will still be here this August or even next September. So i purposely post here mostly the foliage plants, next month if things will still remain normal i will post the real flowers.

We have a lot of them now at the middle of the rainy season. The problem is in limiting the number of posts and not the availability of photos to post. I promise we have a lot, and i am not yet including the butterflies and critters. I will save them for Saturday. This is just like an enumeration, or a parade, lined up for appreciation.

So this is the gate to the small garden in the province. I am at the garden facing the bar-less entrance. Beyond that entrance is the orchard that ends with a small forest, where birds converge for the night. A street divides the garden from the orchard. To the left where the crotons sit line the hedges of many different plants including heliconia, cryptanthus, candle flower, dracaena and golden duranta. I will not post here the hedges.

This is the close-up of the Alternanthera that grows at the right of the entrance in the top photo. It is a bit invasive, so i often cut them to the ground, but it grows fast in a few weeks. 

This is an unusual Coleus, which i grow to balance the mostly green surroundings. This growth is only from a planted stem. When still very young, its leaves are even larger and looking more vigorous.

We have a few varieties of Caladium. We just let them go dormant on the ground during the dry season, and the rains immediately resurrect them to this lushness. The above is already 5 years old. this is just below the blue Duranta bush.

This whitish caladium is known to send out very long petioles and wide leaves. I planted it on the ledge with very thin topsoil, almost on top of porous rock so petioles will be shorted and leaves smaller. As you can see, i got the desired purpose.

This clump of the old traditional caladium just grows here on the ground as a volunteer. It started last year and now is already a big clump. Even if not on the right area, i cannot just dig them for transferring, maybe i will do that during their dormancy when they are not as beautiful.

This clump was intentionally planted here, to balance the green foliage at the background and the cascading greens in front. 

Above photo is obviously a newly acquired one, as it is still planted on a pot being cared for to produce more corms. It is my reddest yet. I actually found its small corm two years ago from the garden show/exhibit. I am glad i noticed it before many feet trampled and mashed it to death.

Above left is our crinum with wonderful scent. This is already its 2nd scape this rainy season. It might still produce another one before the dry season starts. 

We can see a lot of blooms in one umbel of this crinum. They bloom staggered so the umbel last for about 2-3 weeks until all blooms are spent. That is long enough for the garden scent to be around the vicinity.

The hedge of the Caesalpinia pulcherrima grows to a tall bush. A lot of butterflies also love nectarring here, and the small yellow ones also use it as host plant. Above is orange while the bottom is pink.

I looted the seeds of this one from the highway when our bus stopped for an emergency. The pinkish flowers i thought are prettier than our common orange. This is still planted in a pot.

 Our Mussaenda 'Doña Luz' towers at about 10 feet. Pruning in December produce this show of the lovely bracts this time of the year. We have at least two plants of this size. It will be pruned again when the bracts turn brown starting this dry season.

Can you see the flower? They are those small yellow ones almost hidden among the multitude of bracts. 

The orange Lantana, i once took from the meadows of a southern province, is now the preferred food for our butterflies. This is actually an invasive species, but i want butterflies to come, so i ignore its invasiveness. We have it also in variegation of white and pink, but the habit is not as compact as this orange.

Another introduced species in the country are this Sanchezia speciosa and Alternanthera. They both grow vigorously without much attention, except for pruning. Cutting them at the start of the rainy season produce lush beautiful colored leaves like the above. Nothing eats them so they completely go to the compost pile. 

Next month will be the parade of the blooms!

Other Garden Blogger's Bloom Day for August Posts

Floral Friday Fotos

Fertilizer Friday