My Garden

Okay. So I am a bit OCD, but not in an unhealthy way. I tend to want to get all varieties of something if I like the thing. For instance - I like butterfly ginger (hedychium), so I have all of the varieties I have found in this area and am now sending to Hawaii to get more exotic varieties. I have Coronarium, Flavum, Elizabeth, Kahili Ann, and now I have gardnerianum, so I have gingers in white, yellow, mauve pink, pale peach and now orange.

Likewise, I have the jasmine varieties - winter or spanish jasmine, night-blooming jasmine, confederate or star jasmine and mock orange jasmine. I know there are a few more varieties out there, but I haven't broken down to get them - yet!!

Now I am working on Hibiscus. I already have dwarf hot pink, single pink, double peach and double red, schyzopetalus, a powderpuff red hibiscus and I just got double pink, double white, double yellow (debbie morris?), a darker version of double yellow, and single nairobi orange. I think I am working on constructing a multicolor hedge across the back fence.

My friends and family are very surprised to see my garden since I was never one to do any gardening at all. Our yard was totally devoid of plants other than a terrible tangerine tree and some suriname cherries. Well, I joined a garden club as an outlet to meet people and make new friends. Our garden club has monthly meetings in member gardens, with potlucks and plant raffles. I was always bringing home plants that I had won and was filling up my patio with all of them. I finally broke down and started planting, so I wouldn't kill everything off. I started with a pink brugmansia in the corner of the yard and moved out from there. The hibiscus went along the back fence, and the gingers went against the screen porch. Things have progressed to the point that I now have a 3 foot wide plant bed that runs fully aroung the back of the house and another fully around the plot line, against the fence. That lead to putting in a drip irrigation system, and getting a truckload of mulch from the city (big mistake)! I will tell you all about that fiasco very soon.

My newest obsession is plumeria! I currently have 10 different color plumerias growing around the house, and I sent to Hawaii to get 35 more cuttings - thank heaven for Ebay!! I can't wait for it to get warm enough to plant them. I just took the first cuttings of my original plants and have been very anxious to see if they would sprout again. I am so happy to see the first leaves appearing on those bare sticks.

Well, I am pleased to say that in 4 years of my new found hobby, only a handful of plants have abandonned me, much less than I expected that first year. Oh well - enough for now. I have so much more I can talk about - passiflora, shell gingers, cannas, - you'd think I have acreage instead of a small back yard! More later - Bryan