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Wednesday, August 14, 2013

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!








28 comments:

  1. your garden is so pretty, so lush, so vibrant. you could charge entrance fee.

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    1. hahaha, if only it is possible that could be a lovely source of income! Our property is dissected by the public road so it is very difficult to secure and a waste of resources. If you only see the wide angle shots, you will not say that, now i am revealing the truth, LOL.

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  2. What a wonderful August garden. Your crinums actually look much like some of the ones in my southeast Texas garden. Happy Bloom Day!

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    1. Thanks Dorothy, yes that crinum has wide range of habitat, and Texas is also tropical so we share many vegetation. By the way, i can't see your blogsite because clicking your name here goes to your Google plus which doesn't allow me. Thanks for dropping by.

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  3. So many different lovely foliage, and so many wonderful plants I have never seen before or not even know the name of :-)
    Happy GBBD!

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    1. Hi Helene, juts like when i look at temperate country plants like in your blogsites, i love the plants but many are so alien to me. Thanks for coming here.

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  4. Oh, so pretty! I love those caladiums; wish they were perennial here.

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    1. Caladiums are really a must in gardens, as they are very good joy enhancers!

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  5. Oh, yes! I enjoyed the Caladiums, too! I planted some last year, but not this year and I miss them. They will be in my plan for next summer! The Lantana is like a bush!! Happy GBBD!

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    1. Hes Beth, this Lantana grows to a big bush if not pruned. I actually got it from a far island here, am glad it withstand the long travel by plane, bus, boat and jeepney and some more land transport before reaching our place.

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  6. Lovely garden. I too am very fond of caladiums. They are so many cultivars to suit one's liking. The mussaenda is quite a specimen. I especially like the white cultivars.

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    1. Yes we have lots of mussaenda cultivars here in the country, as our scientists bred them long ago. You should see the dark red variety, it is awesome.

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  7. That Caesalpinia is gorgeous, I love the color! And I wish our Lantana would grow like the one in your picture.

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    1. Hello Jason, the orange Caesalpinia has been there for decades, i just prune them yearly, and they are shaded by trees. Maybe the lantana you have are the viny type, they are not endemic here.

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  8. Beautiful! I love the different colours and patterns on the leaves.

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  9. I love your red-centred caladiums. I find the pink Caesalpinia attractive compared to my yellow one that I accidentally bought. I didn't know that you have the potential to turn into a highway looter ;)

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    1. Yes the pink and orange are nicer than yellow, pink even better than orange. That's the reason i had to loot from the highway, hahaha! Don't forget that i also loot that orange lantana from the wild in a very far province. The cuttings took lots of transport styles before reaching my yard!

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    2. You are very ingenious for a plant looter. I salute you for your devious ways while at the same time admire your passion. The lantana from the wild is more leggy than the dwarf varieties that I have.

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    3. Thanks, but i should know as I expect myself to know how to make them grow. But lantana cutting was experimental, i guess an invasive species always withstand many stresses. I don't plant the more beautiful hybrid lantana because they might expect better caring, which i cannot provide. I am the worst gardener.

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  10. this certainly is very tropical; lovely coloured foliages too

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  11. Simply gorgeous! Your gardens are so lush and vibrant!
    *hugs*deb

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  12. Love your great collection of Caladiums, and that Crinum is beautiful. Everything is looking so lush with the coming of the rain. I was amazed at the height of that white Alternanthera in the first photo. It looks terrific in amongst the greens.

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    1. Hahaha, that's the beauty of photography Bernie, we can hide the bad growths and angles. If i show you the wide angle shots, you will change your mind. But yes, lushness is here because of the rains. And i still have lots of flowers which cannot anymore fit in here! Thanks.

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  13. That's quite the collection of plants you've got there, very impressive.

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  14. You are lucky to have both exquisite foliage and exotic flowers.

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  15. Love the Caladium, I agree with Donna's comment too.

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  16. Such lovely colourful foliage Andrea! I would love to grow a Caladium inside my house but don't know if it will survive winter, my house is is not very warm in winter. I added this site to my rss feed so I'l be back :)

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