Flower Power

As I was walking around the garden this week there were a few flowers that just struck me as ridiculously perfect.  Notice the structural similarities of the first three which are all more or less lilies (this family is always changing).

Hymenocallis 'Tropical Giant Sister' aka Spider Lily

Lilium duchartrei

Gloriosa vine is reportedly hard to grow here in Seattle because of its tropical origins, but for me it has been well worth the effort.  The flowers on this climbing lily are green when they open up, then slowly evolve to red and yellow before flattening out and becoming a deeper, richer red as the grand finale.  They are long-lasting and take about two weeks to complete their entire display. 

Gloriosa rothschildiana

I put some bromeliads & orchids from the clearance rack at Lowes in this hanging basket (No names unfortunately - I need to smack their garden supplier in the head and tell them "Assorted tropical foliage" is not good enough for me).  They have literally been blooming all summer and are still going strong.

Bromeliads & orchids in a basket

Abutilon or flowering maple is not completely hardy but here's what I do to keep it alive: I buy one in the spring and plant it in the ground, let it grow and flower like crazy, then in September or October, I take cuttings (5 or 6 inches long from the growing tip) and stick them in a glass of water with a clear plastic bag loosely covering it to help retain moisture.  They will be sprouting roots in no time, and then I can pot those up and place them next to a window for next year.  If we're lucky and get a mild winter, the one in the ground will survive.  'Tiger Eye' is my favorite cultivar.

Abutilon 'Tiger Eye'

Lobelia tupa is right in the middle of its almost endless stretch of flowering.

Lobelia tupa

Another plant that slowly changes the color of its flower is this Opuntia which I'm 99% sure is Opuntia engelmannii.  It starts out bright yellow, is orange by the next day, and then turns red on the third day.  A flower that lasts for three days isn't bad for a cactus!

Opuntia engelmannii

Same Opuntia engelmannii a day later

And finally, here's one of the Plumeria cuttings I "collected" from my trip to Hawaii this past winter.  This is the only one out of the four I brought back that has flowered so far:

The Propagation Table

It's pretty amazing how you can cut off 10 parts of one plant and get 10 brand new plants.

A Begonia luxurians cutting sending out some new roots

That's what I did with this palm leaf begonia (Begonia luxurians).  What's the secret to getting them to root?  Well, there are a lot of secrets.  Here is the process I took:

1 - Cut off a non-flowering growing tip of about 4" at a node.
2 - Dip the cut end in rooting hormone.
3 - Place the cutting in a seed tray using a 50/50 peat/pearlite mix (or any sterilized potting mix).
4 - Create a humid environment for your rootless cuttings so they won't dry out.  In this case, I used a large zip-lock bag.
5 - Place the cuttings on a heat mat.  Yes, this step is necessary.
6 - Water them.
7 - Be patient and keep the cutting under an optimum amount of humidity (enough so they don't dry out but not so much that mold will easily grow).  You can see in the picture below, I opened the ziplock bag to let some moisture out.
8 - New plants need a lot of bright, indirect light, otherwise they will wither away and die.  I put them right under a giant fluorescent light and it works great.

Aeonium cuttings

These aeonium cuttings also started out as one plant.  The trick with these was to let them sit on a shelf for several days after cutting them off from the original plant.  These were actually on a shelf for eight days but that's probably a bit excessive.  The cut end needs to form a callus which will enable it to root.  I planted them in individual pots with a mixture of sand and seed starter mix.  Because they are succulents, they can just be left out in the open, no extra humidity needed.  They have bottom heat keeping them at about 65-70 degrees and have already started spreading out their thin, stringy roots into the sandy potting mix.

Below are four Beschorneria yuccoides seedlings (out of several hundred seeds that I tried germinating).  I took the seeds from a plant I've had growing since 2008.

Beschorneria yuccoides

I am insanely stoked about these Fatsia polycarpa cuttings that have rooted.  This is a pretty exclusive plant.  You have to be pretty important to own one.  I own three.

Fatsia polycarpa

These Lobelia tupa seeds germinated much more readily than the Beschorneria seeds.  These are going to feed a lot of hummingbirds!

Lobelia tupa

And finally....if the previous plants haven't been rare enough for you, below is perhaps the rarest of them all.  This is a Schefflera fengii I received as a gift from Kelly Dodson of Far Reaches Farm.  It resembles a Schefflera delavayi but with more serrated leaves.  It's reportedly hardy to 5 degrees F (-15C).  I'm growing it through the winter under a grow light in hopes of getting it big and strong enough to be able to take cuttings off of next spring.

Schefflera fengii

I Should Be Gardening Right Now.

Lilium duchartrei

Blogging in the winter is easy because differing variations of rain, wind, dark and cold make sitting at a computer very appealing.  But it just doesn't feel right in the summer when it's absolutely perfect outside.

Lavatera olbia 'Aurea'

  Suffice it to say there will probably be very few posts between now and the end of August.

Lobelia tupa

Hummingbirds have been visiting this Lobelia tupa every day for the past couple weeks.

Passiflora caerulea

Even though blue passion flowers originate in the South American tropics, they can handle a mild Seattle winter with no problem.  Another plant from South America but not quite hardy enough for us is Brugmansia or Angel's Trumpet. It's still well-worth the effort, rooting very easily from cuttings which can then over-winter indoors.  Below is Brugmansia 'Little Angel' pictured with Lilium 'Stargazer'.  These are the two best smelling flowers in the world.

Brugmansia 'Little Angel' with Lilium 'Stargazer'

The veggie patch

The peas are done for the season but the fava beans are just starting to ripen.  In the above photo, they are on the left towering above the potatoes.  Below, you can see how huge they are compared to a regular-sized fork.  The beans are an inch long.

Big old fava beans

A new flush of growth on the Fatsia polycarpa.  I was a little worried about this plant because I (stupidly) left it in a pot without drainage holes, only to notice it about a week later (a very rainy week) half-filled with water.  Yikes!!  Good to know this little guy is a trooper.  I've since drilled drainage holes in the pot.

Fatsia polycarpa

One of the things on my "Buy this regardless of price" list are plants that have fluorescent-looking flowers and/or foliage.  Kniphofia 'Shining Sceptre' is one of those plants, and there are a few other Kniphofias that have similar super-bright-orange qualities including the ones with 'Mango' in the name.

Kniphofia 'Shining Sceptre' with Butia capitata

Everyone was asking about this plant on Saturday:

Francoa sonchifolia

Francoa sonchifolia

Francoa sonchifolia is a hardy, mounding evergreen perennial (it doesn't look like it's evergreen but it is), and has copious spikes of white & pink flowers.  Also drought-tolerant, as discovered by the fact that when I went to dig some up to give away, the soil happened to be incredibly dry.

Some more great lilies in bloom right now:

Lilium 'Juan de Fuca'

Crinum moorei

 Finally, here are the great new plants I picked up from Far Reaches Farm on Saturday:

Paris polyphylla var. yunnanensis, Schefflera fengii, and Berberis malipoense/hypoxantha