September | 2014 |

Author: jw

Lewisia pygmaea

I was surprised to see that a little pot of Lewisia pygmaea seedlings was flowering even though I think of Lewisia as spring flowering plants. But a little research showed that indeed they can flower again in the fall after being dormant in the summertime. The odd thing here is that this is the first bloom for these plants. They only just germinated this spring from seeds distributed by the Alpine Garden Society in 2013. And there are no such flowers on the plants in the alpine bed which flowered wonderfully this spring. Anyway I’ll enjoy them as a little bit of spring in the fall.

The greenhouse is producing the other pronounced springtime right now. All those plants that happily produce wintertime flowers are putting up green shoots like mad and some are even flowering. The oxalis caught me off-guard with their rapid growth. I dimly remembered planting them in early September last year, but that is clearly too late. This is what some of the new acquisitions looked like when I pulled them out of their bag.

Oxalis sprouting

And the plants that I had moved to basement to spend a dormant summer were growing vigorously, regardless of having neither water or light. Needless to say I will be more aware next year. Anyway, I potted the new ones up and brought the old ones from the basement. And in a little more than two weeks they are growing vigorously.

Oxalis caprina

Oxalis caprina was the first to flower, even though it was just planted from a bulb. It’s small and a bit scraggly as a plant but like all the oxalis it’s flower is worth looking at closely. Second on the scene is Oxalis polyphylla v. heptaphylla.

Oxalis polyphylla v. heptaphylla

In this case it is from one of last year’s pots. The flowers are somewhat larger than the Oxalis caprina. Many more varieties are on the way.

Oxalis hirta (pink)

Oxalis bowiei

Altogether I count more than 35 different kinds of oxalis at this point, mostly from the Pacific Bulb Society bulb exchange and Telos Rare Bulbs.

The oxalis have lots of friends and neighbors that are sprouting too. The Ferrarias, Moraeas, Babianas, and Lachenalias are all coming along rapidly.

Ferraria ferrariola

So you can see that I am actively contemplating the greenhouse in bloom but the outside is still filled with fall pleasures. I’ll leave you with an image of Chrysanthemum abundance.

Yellow Chrysanthemums

Garden Blogger’s Bloom Day September 2014

Author: jw

Mammoth Sunflower

For September’s Garden Blogger’s Bloom Day it is only appropriate that we lead off with the late Sunflower that resulted from seed that my granddaughter shipped down from Boston. She said the squirrels ate the ones she had planted and so could I please plant the seeds in the envelope to see if they would grow. We did and they did. The lovely sunflowers grew wonderfully and ended up in a Van Gogh-like vase on the inside of the house.

As the picking garden winds down from its full summer glory the zinnias are decaying and the marigolds getting smaller. Still brilliant however is the singular Tithonia that self-seeded from last year.

Mexican Sunflower (Tithonia rotundifolia)

The sense of fall approaching is helped by the appearance of the Colchicum in the lawn. Only one species has come back from the previous year but it seems quite vigorous.