What’s Blooming

A Couple of Plants for a Supermoon Garden: a marvelous night for a moon dance

Posted on September 7, 2014 by thegardenmaiden

When the sun begins to sit in the west and summer temperatures wane, you may venture into the garden and wish there was more to enjoy while the temperatures are a bit cooler.

September Super Moon high in the sky. TheGardenMaiden_copyright2014

In fact, you may venture into the garden after dark, when the moon is high in the sky! Just in time for the September Supermoon, my moonflowers are finally coming into their own.

Moonflower. TheGardenMaiden_copyright2014

Moonflower, Ipomea alba, is one of my favorite night blooming vines. Though I noted mine are not fragrant (though many report it to be), they are very pretty from dusk (about 6 p.m.) until sunrise. This is one annual vine I don’t mind tending to. In fact, I am collecting seed for next year as the flower pods dry and the seed is set. (Look for fat brownish pods at the base of the flower (moonflower has a very long style that leads to the ovary where the seeds form). You can pick seed up most anywhere, but this past winter I purchased mine from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds in Missouri.

I plant some vines near my front porch, some near my back patio and some out on the trellis that connects two of my raised beds. I want to give myself and anyone else visiting the garden the best chance to see these beauties.

The moonflower photo above was taken about 10:00 p.m. at night. Moonflower is in the same family (Convulvulaceae) as morning glory, cardinal climber vine, and a few you probably cuss for popping up in your garden. The Missouri Botanical Garden provides good information on moonflower. Last night I was literally walking around at Midnight, in My Garden of Good and Evils. In fact, I went out barefoot and without a flashlight, holding just my camera. This proved to be a chuckle-worthy mistake as I stepped on something that moved and proceeded to spook myself (of course I had been watching Ghost Adventures and the Dead Files). Talk about a funny moon dance: when you step on something unseen and squishy that moves under your feet and you jump out of your skin.

Hedychium coronarium Butterfly Ginger. TheGardenMaiden_copyright2014

In addition to moonflower, hummingbird ginger (Hedychium coronarium) is a highly fragrant, white blooming perennial that is lovely day and night. I was excited to find it in my south Mississippi patio garden when I moved into my house. White flowers seem to “glow” a bit more in the moonlight. Moon gardens are a fun way to extend your garden enjoyment, especially if you are into evening entertaining! The University of Florida Extension Service has a nice page on this ginger.

Sphinx moth on Hedychium coronarium Butterfly Ginger. TheGardenMaiden_copyright2012_RStafne_web

Be still as you observe fragrant flowers in your night garden and you might see the impressive hummingbird or sphinx moth (yes, it’s the more unique and somewhat beautiful adult form of the tomato hornworm!) as pictured above. This moth also loves my evening blooming four o’ clocks (Mirabilis spp.). Sadly, the winter of 2014 claimed my nightblooming jasmine (Cestrum nocturnum), but fear not, for replacement is ahead for 2015. Check it out on Dave’s Garden.

The next time you look out onto your garden from your recliner, get up, put your shoes on, and remember as Van Morrison sings “It’s a marvelous night for a moon dance”.

“Well, it’s a marvelous night for a Moondance
With the stars up above in your eyes
A fantabulous night to make romance
‘Neath the cover of October skies
And all the leaves on the trees are falling
To the sound of the breezes that blow
And I’m trying to please to the calling
Of your heart-strings that play soft and low
And all the night’s magic seems to whisper and hush
And all the soft moonlight seems to shine in your blush”

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The Garden Maiden 🙂

Categories: Observations from My Garden of Goods & Evils, What's Blooming | Tags: butterfly ginger, garden of good and evils, hedychium coronarium, ipomea alba, moon dance, moon garden, moonflower, night flowers, night time garden, sphinx moth | 2 Comments

Blooming in My Yard: April 5-11, 2014- I wanna ROCK! Do you “kick it” in your garden?

Posted on April 14, 2014 by thegardenmaiden

Tung tree blooming in my yard. TheGardenMaiden_2014_RStafne-003_WEB

Welcome to another addition of “Blooming in My Yard”: a few rock stars for early April. This week I begin with a flower that many will see blooming along highways of southern Mississippi. Tung tree (pictured above). Beautiful spring flowers. Not a native. The history of this tree in Mississippi and the Gulf Coast is fascinating! Read more on this Biloxi Historical Society website. Purdue Horticulture has some good information on this tree. The tree seeds sprout readily just about anywhere down here, making this escaped exotic somewhat of a pest, if not invasive. But darn the flowers are nice! Grown for their oil, tung tree plantations and processing plants were found everywhere along the Gulf Coast until Hurricane Camille in 1969.

Gaura blooming in my yard. TheGardenMaiden_2014_RStafne-003_WEB

I planted two Gaura last year. One of them struggled and appeared to have died out over the winter, but it came back from the roots and is already about seven inches tall. The other is now blooming and what sweet sprays of flowers it boasts! The Missouri Botanical Garden has a nice information page on Gaura lindheimeri ‘Siskiyou Pink’, a very popular variety of this fine perennial.

Sweetshrub blooming in my yard. TheGardenMaiden_2014_RStafne-003_WEB

I was really excited to find this fine, native shrub (Calycanthus floridus) blooming near the shed in my backyard. Its actually not planted in the best location, squeezed up next to the shed between a camellia and bridal wreath spirea (see last week’s post). In fact, I didn’t find it until year two living in my new home. My sweetshrub has several nice suckers and I plan to relocate all of them to shady areas under the mature tree canopy in my yard where they will get bigger and bloom more profusely. The fragrance is very pleasant, but not overwhelming, though the plants I have are so crowded there are few blooms per plant. Until I found the first bloom last year, I had no idea what the plant was or that it was hiding back there. Since it has just opened its first two flowers, I hope to get some better images in the next week.

Rose blooming in my yard. TheGardenMaiden_2014_RStafne-003_WEB

This rose bush was propagated locally by a gardener and I inherited one of the plants. It is trouble-free, blooms nearly all year (seriously there was only about 2 months this past winter with no blooms). I’m going to have to have a heavier hand in pruning it soon because it is planted inside my herb garden and starting to elbow its way around. But its a beautiful, sweet, red-pink color and a nice addition. Propagating and gifting plants from your yard is an inexpensive and rewarding way to create your own gifts for friends and family.

Rhododendron blooming in my yard. TheGardenMaiden_2014_RStafne-003_WEB

Goodbye to Romance (Ozzy Osbourne) is exactly how I felt over the weekend. My rhododendrons have peaked and made it Over the Mountain (Ozzy Osbourne). It was a great couple of weeks and while there are still many blooms to be found rockin’ it in my yard, their peak season is over; the week or two when they nearly poke your eyes out with brilliance and color so outstanding you want to drop to your knees and throw your hands in the air.

Carolina desert chicory blooming in my yard. TheGardenMaiden_2014_RStafne-003_WEB

This member of the Asteraceae family looks very similar to a common lawn dandelion, except the flowers are borne on stalks about 12-15″ (in my yard). Pyrrhopappus carolinianaus (Carolina desert chicory) is a native flower. I think the images on Southeastern Flora are better for this species versus the images linked to the Wildflower.org site above, but they have better taxonomic and cultural information. It is growing under the semi-shade canopy of mature (not crape murdered) crape myrtles along the sidewalk. This is one of several native wildflowers I allow to bloom before mowing.

Fringe tree blooming in my yard. TheGardenMaiden_2014_RStafne-003_WEB

Last week I included a photo of fringe tree (image above), but it was just beginning to flower. The image above shows this excellent, small, native, flowering tree in its prime in my yard with more of a closeup of the flowers. Read more about Chionanthus virginicus from Wildflower.org.

So that wraps it up for last week’s blooms. I was working Friday and unable to make a post over the weekend. As far as kicking it in the garden goes, I can frequently be found rockin’ out while working in my yard/garden. Whether it be a selection of Hawaiian CD’s (IZ, Don Ho, Jack Jackson, Martin Denny, Henry Kapono) in the stereo, a jazz playlist I created in my MP3 player or tuning in to Radio Margaritaville, Lithium, or Ozzy’s Bone Yard on satellite radio, music moves me while I groove in the garden. Gardening can be a quiet, serene time for reflection and inner peace or it can be a rockin’, kick ass party to help you de-stress and have fun. Do you “kick it” in the garden?

Keep on Growin’, Finz Up, Hang Loose and (insert devil horns…K.I.S.S. Rocks!)
The Garden Maiden

Categories: Observations from My Garden of Goods & Evils, What's Blooming | Tags: aleurites fordii, butterfly flower, calycanthus floridus, carolina desert chicory, chionanthus virginicus, fringe tree, gaura lindheimeri, mississippi flowers, music in the garden, Pyrrhopappus carolinianus, rhododendron, rockin' in the garden, sweetshrub, the garden maiden, tung tree, what's blooming | 1 Comment