Group shots
This amazing plant was just a little guy when I found him at Ace Hardware last fall.
He has grown considerably since then. Here, he is underplanted with bright rose impatiens for a bit of color amongst the green. The tree fern is surrounded by 5 dark green holly fern and variegated liriope - giving the front courtyard a decidedly tropical look.
This grouping is on the south side of the driveway in full sun. The huge calla lily produced 3 white flowers. Each of them lasted a couple of weeks. It is underplanted with mondo grass, the heavenly scented purple heliotrop and red, yellow and cream gerbera daisies. The daisies seem to be slowly sinking into the soil, so will dig them up this fall and re-set them higher in the ground.
I'm trying some striking blue delphinium on the north side of the driveway. The plant may grow as tall as 30" and it is the perennial variety. I don't know if it will survive our Florida summer, though. It may be more of an annual where I'm concerned.
Next to it is a white pot of blue lobelia, grown from seeds I planted last fall, is showing some calla lily stalks that I stuck in the base of the pot. I wondered if they could come up through the lobelia because it did shade the bulbs, and it took longer than I thought it might, but they are coming along. This is part of a box of calla lilies that I bought at Wal-Mart one day. It's a very inexpensive way to have some lovely and long lasting cut flowers. In the lower left hand corner, in front of the delphinium is a candy rose bacopa and a pink dianthus.
The center bed in the front yard - this is how much ground the bacopa has covered. Two 6-inch pots of bacopa has spread and covered a third of the bed in just 6 months. It is always covered with little white blossoms and I pretty much ignore it. I did fertilize the plants when I put them in the ground, but I don't think I've fed them again. I planted a ring of pink and white impatiens around the oak tree.
This shot comes from a center bed south of the house. Beginning at the left, in the background, pink and white impatiens in front of the Algerion ivy growing up a trellis. That's a rose geranium in back of the amaryllis with the pale green flowers.
The large plant in the back right section is a pink cleome. In front is a white impatien setting off the bluebeard that I planted from seed. This one is flowering blue. Others, from the same pack of seeds, have come up pink. Two days after this picture was taken, 3 more amaryllis blooms opened.
Just for a change of pace, this “group shot” is of the iris and crocus that I bought at Wal-Mart. As soon as I began watering them, flower stalks started growing. The flowers came along in about 2 weeks, lasted for another 2 weeks and then went away. They were fun to have, but once the blooms were spent, I tossed them. It would be more work than it was worth to try and get them to rebloom next year.
This hanging pot of vanilla-scented alyssum and ‘Great Blue Lobelia’ graces the front courtyard. It has been just stunning all winter and spring.
I grew the lobelia from seed that I ordered from Park Seed. It's been quite a producer. I've got it in several pots around the house.
I divided the bidens this past weekend (March 2002) and moved half of it to another spot. It's a larger area and next year I want it to be full of this glorious bright yellow flower. It's the most constant bloomer I've ever seen. It doesn't require deadheading either and that's a definite plus!
Just to see what would happen, I planted a a lovely blue scaevola in a large hanging basket on the east side of the house where it gets afternoon sun. I filled it in with a few pansies, which are still blooming at the end of March.
I also have a patch of scaevola on the west side of the house so it gets some heavy duty sun in the afternoon. It is a never-ending mass of lavender blue blossoms.
Blue daze and white alyssum. The blue daze was overflowing the basket until our winter freeze. I had to cut it way back, which allowed the alyssum to grow and spread. The daze will grow back and overwhelm it in another month. This hanging basket is also on the east side of the house. Honeysuckle is growing up the trellis behind the basket. It's coming into bloom for the first time and smells oh so sweet.
The fourth hanging basket on the east side of the house is full of purple verbena with one rosey impatien to fill out the center. This verbena is hanging almost to the ground. Once those blooms begin to fade, I'll trim it back and root the trimmings for more plants. I really like verbena and I have it in 7 different spots all around the house.
My husband built 4 window boxes for me and painted them to match the house. Sometimes I plant them all alike. It gives the house a nice finished look. But, I like to play around with plants too much! The tall red plant in this window box is skullcap, a member of the salvia family. On the left is a petunia that apparently re-seeded itself. I was surprised to see it show up this spring. I filled it in with the always dependable and sweet smelling alyssum. The palm tree fronds cover the right end of the box.
This window box is on the other side of the palm tree. It has rosy impatiens at each end with alyssum next to each plant. In the center is a white verbena.
Oh, did I say 7 different spots of verbena? Better make that 8 -- I forgot about the window box. All of my hanging baskets and the 4 window boxes all have bubblers so they are watered whenever the irrigation system runs.
I have a lot of color in the flower beds south of the house. Around the outer edges, at left and going around, rose and white impatiens, blue torenia in the hanging basket, and in the right corner, cocoplum and white impatiens. In the center bed: dark rose geranium, amaryllis, more impatiens, cleome (tall and pink) more rose and white impatiens. The cat with his head stuck in the blue box is a bird feeder that our South Dakota kidlets sent to us.
You can't see all the daylilies and dwarf agapanthus in the center bed, but they'll become more noticeable once they come into bloom. I have 3 crape myrtles in the center of the bed, but they are just coming into leaf, a bit late for some reason. My other crapes have fully leafed out. This center bed is outlined with about an 18-inch strip of grass. Just about how much my husband likes to mow!!
This only qualifies as a group shot if you count the hundreds and hundreds of blossoms that make up the blooms. I can't say enough good things about heliotrope.
In fact, it does have its own page -- Heliotrope. I've got a good half dozen cuttings rooting down to increase this rich looking beauty. It's got everything going for it. The lush, dark green leaves, flower heads so heavy that they droop gracefully or just give it up entirely and lay on the ground, as this plant is doing. Bees and butterflies love heliotrope and it has the most heavenly scent, too.
This group shot is from the bed north of the driveway. Beginning at the left, a planting of lavendar-blue pentas, Crystal Tide daylilies, creamy white firecracker draping gracefully over pieces of rainbow rock (Brevard Stone on US 1, a couple blocks south of 520), fluorescent pink purslane and in the upper right corner, the lucious bidens that has bloomed nonstop for 6 months.
Regarding the pink purslane -- it is one of the most dependable summer growers and this particular variety is stunning. Last fall I took cuttings from all my plants, stuck them in the ground and forgot about them. This year, I've got plants and gorgeous blooms everywhere. It doesn't do much in the winter, but in the summer it will amaze you. The flowers open about 11 a.m. and stay open till 5 or 6 p.m. with the longer daytime hours. I plan to fill my window boxes and hanging baskets with this plant, which is why I took so many cuttings last fall.
Because purslane is also known throughout Florida as a common weed, a lot of people think they don't want it in their yard. However, this particular variety looks more like portulaca than purslane and it would be a valuable addition to any garden. It's one tough little flower that just keeps on giving all summer long.
