Cats in the Sunroom--A Pictorial

Our cats have been enjoying the sunroom as much as we have, almost from the first. So I thought I'd share some photos of them in the room, along with a couple of extra shots showcasing some of the plants.

Peppermint atop a tall ladder in the finished, but not yet painted sunroom

Maybe he wanted to help.

After the room is finished, Luke strolls in like he owns the place.

Northwest corner of the Sunroom, with Strelizia nicolai: White Bird of Paradise.

Luke and Peppermint seem far too interested in this Ledbouria socialis.

Southwest corner, with blooming Hibiscus rosa-sinensis.

"Hmm, let me see."
 Luke examines a rug I received as a Christmas present, which I've decided to display
 in the sunroom.

"Nope, doesn't look a thing like me."

In this picture, Peppermint seems pretty sanguine about his lookalike pillow.

That wasn't quite the case earlier.

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day, January 2011

Once again, I am joining the garden blogging community in celebrating Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day. I'm pleasantly surprised to have several plants blooming this week. First of all, I'm thrilled that at least two of my Hibiscus rosa-sinensis plants have bounced back sufficiently from their white-fly infestations to grace me with flowers. (If this is their swan song before their insect-induced demise, I don't want to know about it.)

Hibiscus rosa-sinensis with a peach-colored double flower

Another tropical Hibiscus, this one a single-flowered yellow

Also in flower are the two NoID Phalaenopsis which surprised me by putting out new buds on old stalks, which I originally wrote about on November 27.

Yellow NoId Phalaenopsis, which has been in bloom since November

Two views of a multicolored NoId Phalaenopsis flower, which just opened this week. When clicked for a larger view, the second pic really shows off the sparkly petals.

Hippeastrum 'Lilian' is blooming for the third time. You can see the remains of the second flowering on the left. I must get around to cutting that off.

Besides the Mystery Echeveria which I wrote about in my most recent post, the only succulent currently in bloom is this Euphorbia milii:

Euphorbia milii, also known as Crown-of-Thorns. There are two different plants in this pot. The multicolored yellow flowers belong to the plant with the longer, paler leaves; the pink/peach flowers belong to the plant with the darker, more oval leaves.

Apparently, the color theme for January is yellow, peach and pink. Nice, cheery colors for a not-so-nice, dreary month.

For the New Year: Change from Within

It has occurred to me that pride and perfectionism are among the sources of the difficulties I have had coming up with posts recently. I take great pride in having healthy, good-looking houseplants, and I love writing about and showing photos of my successes. But I also feel embarrassment bordering on shame when something goes wrong. I suppose such feelings are understandable when the problem is due to lapses in care (forgetting to water, or worse, putting off watering for too long; not keeping up with grooming; placing a plant in a spot that I know is all wrong for it. These are all things of which I have been guilty from time to time.) But the embarrassment is kind of silly when a plant starts to decline for reasons I don't understand, or for reasons I don't necessarily have full control over. (Pest infestations come to mind for the latter.) This has prevented me from posting pictures of plants in less than good condition, and more importantly, from sharing things I might do to fix things. It also deprives me of the chance to provide good before-and-after shots of things that do improve.

So this year, I resolve to be more forthcoming with the problems I have with my plants and, gasp, to even post the occasional ugly picture. Like the following:

Bedraggled Hibiscus rosa-sinensis plants, quarantined in my basement after treatment for a white fly infestation. I'm hoping that they recover.

While I hope less embarrassment will lead to more interesting posts, I do hope that my plants will thwart my resolve just a little bit, by staying healthy and good-looking!

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day, November 2010

My goodness, I actually remembered this time. Here is what's blooming in my home and garden on this lovely November 15. And yes, it actually is lovely. Sunny and around 50F. Crisp leaves underfoot. I'm learning to appreciate autumn for what it is, rather than imbuing it with a sense of dread and doom as winter approaches.

Indoors first, since this is a houseplant blog:

Hibiscus rosa-sinensis, unidentified cultivar

Aloe greenii x lineata

Crassula lactea

Three views of Echeveria 'Black Prince.' First the whole plant with bloom stalk, then a closeup of the blooming rosette, then the flowers themselves.

Now for the outdoors. We've had a mild November for the most part, but we've had our frosts at night. Most of the garden has gone to sleep, but there are a couple of things hanging on, and one thing, at least, freshly emerged for the season.

Gaillardia x grandiflora 'Dazzler.' This late planting is still hanging on, well past its usual blooming season.

Mums among the leaves. These Chrysanthemums are past their prime, and a touch frostbitten, but still pretty.

Newly emerged Autumn Crocus. (Crocus pulchellus, I think.) I planted a few earlier this season, and amazingly, the squirrels didn't get them all.

Happy Bloom Day, every day.

Tropical and Temperate Beauty

It's been a good year for Hibiscus here among the leaves. I don't usually have serious problems with my Hibiscus rosa-sinensis plants. Oh, there was that attack of aphids a couple of years ago. And there was some serious leaf loss due to underwatering last winter. But with diligent use of insecticidal soap, and a good pruning, all turned out well. They bloom sporadically during their cool months indoors, and more regularly during their summer outdoors.

Hibiscus rosa-sinensis 'Carolina Breeze' enjoying summer on my front stoop.

The cold-hardy garden plant Hibiscus moschuetos is usually another story. Oh, mine grows vigorously enough every year, but it is also the Japanese beetle magnet from hell. While those voracious little demons (Popillia japonica) will eat almost anything, they do especially love the Malvaceae, the family to which Hibiscus belong. They are also particularly drawn to white flowers, which my particular H. moschuetos has. (Alcea, aka hollyhocks, are also in the Malvaceae, and the beetles go after them as well. Strangely, they tend to leave 3 out of my 4 H. rosa-sinensis alone. They do like my peach double-flowered Hibiscus, which has thinner, more tender leaves than the other three.)

So this year, I planned to get rid of the H. moschuetos, since I never got to enjoy the flowers without those nasty bugs crawling all over them. I cut it down to within a few inches of the ground in May or June, with plans to dig it out later. But I never got around to doing so, and the plant started to grow back. This year's beetle season turned out to be quite light, so the foliage remained relatively untouched. And because bud formation was delayed due to the drastic pruning, the plant is just coming into bloom now, instead of its usual bloom time of early August. (The peak of the beetle season is generally July through mid-August in my area, though in heavy infestation years, it can start earlier and go much later. )

Hibiscus moschuetos, cultivar unknown. The photograph doesn't fully capture the tinge of pink at the edges of the petals.

I'm thrilled that for once, I get to fully enjoy both types of Hibiscus in my garden.

Leftovers

Well, it's the weekend. It's hot, it's been stormy, and I can't think of a thing to write about. When I plan posts, I usually take a lot of photographs to go along with them, and I seldom use them all. Sometimes, an old photograph will prove useful for a later post, but most of the time they go unseen. Which is too bad, because some of them are pretty nice.

So without further ado, here are some pictures I took for posts in June and July that ended up unused.

Houseplants and Succulents:

By mid-June, my Neoregelia 'Zoe' which had been mostly green and white, was definitely showing a nice rosy blush

Peach and Red Hibiscus rosa-sinensis in bloom

Three shots of my succulents outdoors. The large Aloe in the third picture is supposed to be Aloe vera, but I'm not 100% sure. I do love how it colors up in the sun.

Adeniums. I think the one on the left is A. obesum and the one to the right is A. arabicum.

More uncertainty. I've always thought that this was Aloe dichotoma, but I am open to the possibility that it may be A. ramosissima.

Three pots of Crassula 'Campfire'

From my Outdoor Garden:

Linum lewisii (Flax) in June. I am completely smitten with that ever-so-rare shade of blue. It is still blooming intermittantly now, but its peak is over.

Coreopsis verticillata. I think this cultivar is 'Zagreb'

Rubeckias and Echinaceas in my Coneflower bed

Another view, showing most of the bed

Last but never least, (if you ask him, he's the Most) Peppermint enjoying the garden.

Outdoor Garden: July 4 and 5, 2010

This is the time of year that my garden explodes with color. I'm not the tidiest of gardeners; most of my beds aren't planned in advanced. I place plants wherever they will fit, and also let things spread and reseed themselves where they will. But I kind of the like the wild, pseudo-Impressionist look I end up with.

Front garden with flag on July 4, facing west

A bit closer. The red flowers are Crocosmia 'Lucifer,' the yellows are Rudbeckia hirta cultivars, including 'Prairie Sun,' (with the green eyes) the blues are Platycodon grandiflorus, the oranges are Asclepias tuberosa, the pinks are Echinacea purpurea, and the whites are Leucanthemum x superbum.

Facing south

Despite a rough winter indoors, my Hibiscus rosa-sinensis varieties are doing well outdoors:

My double flowered peach Hibiscus. The flowers seem to be slightly darker than those from last year.

Yellow flowered Hibiscus. I truly thought this one was a goner, as it died down to one stem. But it is now doing well.

Odds and Ends and Updates

Well, now I know which of my unidentified Hibscus rosa-sinensis plants received the hard pruning described in my post of January 8. It was the yellow-flowered one. I know this because the red flowered one bloomed today!

NoId Hibiscus rosa-sinensis

Now, if I'm smart, I'll put a label in the plants so I'll know what's what from now on.

Foxy, my rather brutally pruned Asparagus meyersii, has put out another new "frond." I think I'll declare this experiment a success.

This new branch has a fairly loose growth habit, due to the fairly weak winter sunlight. I think that it is pretty, anyway.

I wrote on January 27 that I would post a picture of my Sansevieria gracilis/ballyii/whatever flowers when the buds opened. Well, some of them opened and closed and fell off before I remembered to take a picture, but here is the bloom stalk with at least some open flowers.

Sansevieria flowers

From that same post, I noted that my Sinningia speciosa was re-sprouting , and posted pictures of its tiny new leaves. Here they are today:

Sinningia speciosa (Florist Gloxinia) leaves, considerable larger than in the original post

Finally, yesterday, I said that I had decided not to post pictures of heart-shaped leaves for Valentine's Day. But I like these pictures of Peperomia incana, so I decided not to let them go to waste.

Heart-shaped Peperomia incana leaf, silhouetted against the snowy outdoors...

...and here, showing the fuzzy texture of the leaves.