THE TROPICAL GARDEN AT THE END OF SUMMER

Turk's Cap grows wild in Houston, Texas

Long ago I fell in love with tropical plants. As a child, I would watch Tarzan movies and any show with mysterious jungles and steamy rainforests. Afterwards, I would climb my favorite tree and dream of far away places.

Houston is on the very northern edge of all things tropical. It's a nice place to push the boundaries of tropical house plants that can grow outdoors. 

Here's a sample of what I have right now in our Houston garden.

Perhaps even Tarzan would feel at home! :0)

Alocasia

Umbrella plant

Mexican fire spike

A species of gardenia with huge leaves!

Root beer plant

Our native sabal palm with lots of friends.

Pothos and airplane plants

Banana cannas

My last surviving coleus with a Sansevieria.

Air potato

"The Flamingo Trail"

That's the end of our tropical tour through the garden. All of the plants shown are easily grown outdoors in our Texas coastal climate. Tropical plants thrive in heat and humidity....two commodities Houston is famous for.

All for now. Happy Gardening!

David/:0)

THE SHEAR JOY OF TRIMMING HEDGES

I learned how to trim hedges long ago when I was only 10 years old. We lived on a ranch and one of the gardeners took a special interest in teaching me his secrets. Now, 50 years later, I keep those secrets alive each time I work in the garden. 

I love to keep my hedges very neat and tidy. That's because the rest of my natural garden appears a bit too wild & crazy for most of the neighborhood.  In the above photo, you can see a typical garden across the street. 

A few years ago I met a gardener on one of my bike rides. He had trained a bunch of his young, wild Carolina laurel trees into beautiful hedges. Discovering his garden was one of the most wonderful moments in my entire gardening life. From his example, I learned what to do with all the myriads volunteer laurel cherry trees  found growing in my flower beds. I would transform them into beautiful additions to the garden instead of pulling them up and putting them on the compost heap!

During our conversation, I dreaded asking him how LONG it would take to get a nice looking hedge. I was shocked; he said things really start to look good by year 3!  I was expecting him to say 10 years!

The hedge shown above is now starting its third year of trimmed growth on the bottom. I'm starting a second portion at the top. It will be ready for its first shaping soon.

Most gardeners seem to have a number of traits in common; they love cats (or dogs), they love reading, they love gardening, and they love being creative (artistically or otherwise).

I have a large dose of art in me as well as gardening.

As you can see, I'm working on a much more complicated project with this set of three trees.

This project will take another good year to start looking like the multi-level lines I've outlined above. I'm excited each time I think about it.

Here's one of our beautiful native holly trees. I'm going to gently shape it since my neighbors are fretting about the berries dropping across the fence. According to everything I've read, the berries only cause a mild stomach ache to pets. It will be a big challenge, but I'm up for it and both of us will be happy!

 I'll end with a nice view of our dwarf yaupon coupled with some other garden plants.

Happy Gardening! Find a great reason to get outside today!

David/:0)

FROST FREE GBBD and FOLIAGE FOLLOW-UP FOR NOVEMBER

It's still warm here in Houston despite some close calls with frost.

Here's a sample of what's in bloom this November day.

As much as I love the blooms, I'm really more of a tropical foliage freak.

For that reason, I've put some green goodies at the end of the post.

Happy GBBD!
P.S. To see the whole collection of GBBD gardeners, just 'google' May Dreams Gardens.
Carol would love to see you. 

Rock rose loves to scramble over walls.

I can't find the name of this little zinnia, but it has had the best year ever in my garden.

The pentas are perfect. Please Mr. Frost, stay away!

Am I a terrible gardener to allow the Gay's Delight coleus to bloom? Kick me out of the garden society, but I'm not pinching back the coleus!

The squill is a thrill.

Hummers are enjoying this native member of the hibiscus family.

The lantana is leaping out of the flower beds! Butterflies love this plant.

This little member of the mint family had no tag, but has round, gray green leaves.

I wish someone could help me identify it. It's very aromatic, but it's not catmint.

Here's the Texas cottage garden for November. The Cape Daisy (yellow) seems unstoppable.

The white Zinnia is also reliable along with the purple Mexican heather.

Our cat Binky enjoys rubbing against the gomphrena. I bought about 2 dozen of these plants in shades of white, purple, and lavender.

Here's some native nightshade in bloom.

And here's soft pink Agastache. It's now blooming after a long summer siesta.

The 4 o'clocks will bloom until frost. I love, actually change that to LOVE the fragrance of this night bloomer.

This is my favorite photo to share. These little tradescantias bloom endlessly throughout my garden.

Honeybees and other insects converge on them daily.

Speaking of insects, I did not realize this goldenrod was occupied until one of the 'buds' started to move.

This is a tiny 'true bug' but I haven't a clue to its name.

Since I've not used poisons or insecticides in my garden for almost 30 years, I find new and fascinating visitors every summer.

I'm going to end the post with the next photo and do the foliage followup tomorrow.

I didn't realize I had so many flower photos.

It's been a nice November here in Houston.

Here's a taste of foliage follow-up. See ya soon!

David/:0)