I was outside checking up on my plants all week. The rain this week has sure been helpful. I see so much more growth on things that seemed to be hibernating. My hawaiian ginger has sent up a few new shoots, so I am anxious to see how it will bloom later this summer. Likewise, Elizabeth and Fluvium have both been sending up new stalks. I am very familiar on those flowers, so in late summer/early fall I will start to see the raspberry and yellow blooms that fill my screenroom with sweet-smelling goodness. And my white butterflies are more prolific this year than they have ever been. I intend to get more gingers at Greenthumb in a few weeks, so I have been saving my pennies.
The small heliconias have been starting to sprout, a little later than usual, but welcome just the same. I have andromeda, guadeloupe and lady di varieties, which are all colorful parrot-style heliconia. I also am happy to report that most of the plumeria have started to foliate. Hopefully all will bloom this year as they become established. Of the ill-fated cuttings I got on Ebay, one is sending off a flower stalk, while 3 others have started to show growth. I have been using mega-grow on them to help spur them on.
I have some questions to ask anyone out there about a few of my other plants. First, I planted a small brugmansia in the back end of my yard, in the semi shade of the bitter tangerine tree. It has almost tripled its size since I planted it last month, and the leaves are growing so big, but I have noticed something eating the leaves! I was told that brugmansia have no natural pests, and I have never noted any leaf damage on my large plant, but this one has had some kind of a leaf miner going to town on it. Maybe because it is still so close to the ground. Any ideas on what could be doing the damage? Better still, how do Iget rid of something I haven't seen??
Now on to something I have seen. I have some
beautiful passiflora that Jim Nevers shared with me. I am really enamored of the variety of the flowers, with their SPUTNIK looking filiments and curled back petals. I have had about 8 different varieties, primarily the purple passionfruit and the yellow passionfruit. I did loose most of them to nematoads that killed them before they had a chance to take hold in the yard. Sadly, I had to remove the purple one since it was choking off some of the nearby plants, as clinging vines are apt to do. I will miss the hundreds of flowers that it produced during its season. The yellow one just brought it to mind since it started blooming this week. The softly scented flowers are so welcome, yet I am going to be more watchful to ensure that it doesn't get too invasive on my other plants. It should be easier since all of my passion vines are on the back fence now, not on the side, so I can see them from the kitchen table.The exotic passifloras - the tetraploids - have yet to bloom this year. Last year was my first with them and they were pretty stingy with the flowers.
I couldn't get either of them to fruit. Jim has shown me how to manually pollenate them, but I have been nearly unsuccessful. I had one fruit start, only to be stolen by squirrels! Still, they are growing and have several buds started. Blue-eyed susan and the no-name hibrid are side by side inbetween the yellow passionvine and the confederate jasmine vine, so it will be a very colorful fence once everything starts blooming.Today I noticed a big caterpillar on one of the passiflora leaves - on one of the hybrids! I know that these plants are rife with possible pests, and caterpillars are very common on them. I haven't seen any damage yet, but it will probably start showing up now that I have spotted a predator. I hate to kill any caterpillars - it's like crushing a butterfly. Does anyone know what kind of butterfly this will become? I am interested in seeing what is being attracted to my meager garden.
Okay, enough fun for now. I have to work on getting Brad's newsletter converted for the website. More later - Bryan
Bryan
ReplyDeleteSnails and slugs munch on brugmansias. I wouldn't worry about it unless you begin to notice lots of leaf damage. If this becomes the case then you can put out some snail & slug pellets around the plant. I think that the caterpillar will become a Gulf Fritillary butterfly if you don't "terminate"it in the interim.
Brad