This Saturday I am joining the SOS gang featuring six things in my garden that made me happy today. To see more SOS posts visit Jon at http://www.thepropagatorblog.wordpress.com.
First, from my refrigerator – the growing jar of nasturtium capers..made from seed pods from my garden. The capers are luxuriating in a bath of white wine vinegar, red pepper, bay leaf and thyme.
Second, the Fire Sticks Pencil Cactus (Euphorbia tirucalli) is putting on new growth – earning its name.
Third, despite virtually no rain the Shell Ginger (Alpinia zerumbet) is flowering abundantly.
Fourth, the Mexican Honeysuckle (Justicia spicigera) flowers.
Fifth, the results of my pruning the Miss Alice Bougainvillea, here is the before:
Sixth, the results of last September’s pruning.
The greyhound is still standing sentinel. The image made me realize I need to go put the landscape light back on the Bouganvillea, it is lying on the left side lighting nothing!
Happy Gardening….
The Shrub Queen 
That bougainvillea is stunning !! You’re so lucky to have it … 😍
And your capers are starting to fill the jar well!
LikeLike
Wow, your bougainvillea has clearly benefited from your ministrations. I am impressed by the stature of your firestick. Mine has been putting on significant new growth in the brighter sunlight, but remains dwarfish by comparison. Your lovely shell ginger is inspiring me to try growing some indoors.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks, the Pencil Cactus thrive, I have seen the green ones 10 feet tall and wide here..Good luck with the Ginger – it is the only one i have had any success with here.
LikeLike
Is Miss Alice one of the more docile bougainvilleas, without those long vigorous canes? The only white cultivar that I ever met was ‘Jamaica White’, but I do not know it well, since it is so rare. Most bougainvillea are grown for their vibrant colors, rather than white. ‘Jamaica White’ might be slightly more susceptible to frost here.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Miss Alice is more docile and nearly thornless. Nearly! sometimes called Singapore White. The orange ones would look good with my house but have huge thorns.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oh, I know that name, but have not met it before.
There must be a few oranges cultivars available even here. (Catalogs show more than what we can find in nurseries.) The orange sorts that I read about are rather docile, but I know that there is one that can get somewhat large. I do not know its name. I think that they yellow is pretty also, with stems and foliage that resembles that of ‘Barbara Karst’, but not as dark green. The main gripe about it was the bland foliar color.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I think they are California Gold!
LikeLiked by 1 person
‘California Gold’ is the yellow cultivar, and might be the only commonly available yellow cultivar here. ‘Orange King’ is one of the orange bougainvilleas, but I really do not know which is which. When I ask, I get names that are obviously not accurate, such as ‘Rosenka’. Brent has a variegated orange bougainvillea that, except for the floral color, looks just like the variegated purple bougainvillea that it is planted with. It is very pretty, and gets quite large, but is not as big as the big sorts.
LikeLiked by 1 person
The varieties are endless. Varigated and orange is too much for me.
LikeLiked by 1 person
The small ones do not look much like bougainvilleas to me. I think that bougainvilleas should be big, bold and colorful. ‘Barbara Karst’ is my favorite, but I also like the others that get about as big with ‘distinct’ colors. Some of those mixed colors, or bright colors that fade to something else, are weird. The double flowered sort do not shed their spent bloom well.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Barbara Karst is the favorite here and Palm Beach Purple which I think they call something else now.
LikeLiked by 1 person
That’s interesting that ‘Barbara Karst’ is the favorite there too. I would have guessed that the lighter and brighter colors would be more popular. For a long time, there were not many of the other cultivars available here. ‘Barbara Karst’ was the standard, and might be more resilient to minor frost.
‘Palm Beach Purple’ looks like what I know as Bougainvillea brasiliensis, which is the only bougainvillea that I know by species name. I have no idea why it alone got a species name. Perhaps it is not a hybrid, and the others are. If there are other cultivars of it, I have never seen one. It is readily available here, but also seems to be the most sensitive to frost. However, some insist that it is more resilient to frost than other cultivars. My colleague down south grew it for foliage on the wall of his office, but it gets pruned too much to bloom much. Another specimen out front blooms quite nicely. He has several smaller bougainvilleas around his garden, including the variegated purple and orange bougainvilleas grained on the trunk of a Mexican fan palm out front.
LikeLike
Your bougainvillea is stunning… Definitely put that spot light on it! 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you…fortunately it is pouring down rain and I forgot about it!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Ah, so you got rain at last!
LikeLiked by 1 person
woot, woot a couple if inches. the tomatoes will probably explode.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’ll be interested to hear how your nasturtium capers turn out. And I agree with the others who have commented on the beauty of your bougainvillea.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks, I am also interested in the capers!
LikeLike
Wow just look at Miss Alice. Your tropical flower pictures always make me happy. We are having a cold weekend here in the UK.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you, I am pleased with Alice. Tropical flowers will warm you up anywhere!
LikeLike
Your Pencil Cactus really caught my eye with its unusual shape and colors. I won’t see a flower on my variegated ginger for a year or more. They are struggling to come up after the freeze.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks, I am about to lop the top off that Pencil Cactus, it is near a gutter and the summer rains will knock it over…I am amazed your Varigated Ginger blooms at all. It is every 10 years on the Varigated ones here.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I guess I shouldn’t feel so bad.
LikeLiked by 1 person
All your tropical plants are a joy. So the pencil cactus is actually a euphorbia, it is impressive. I have a leggy bougainvillea in the greenhouse, I shall prune it now I’ve seen how lovely yours looks.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you, the Pencil Cactus is quite something. Prune away! I wrote an article for The American Gardener about Bougainvillea and was amazed to find out how many people grow them where it freezes.
LikeLike
Mine has to come indoors for winter, it won’t take any cold, even the greenhouse killed my last one.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Wow, the landscapers around here were appalled people bring these thorny things into the house..
LikeLike
Pruned to perfection! Looks great Amelia! How long will it flower for?
LikeLiked by 1 person
Bougainvillea have six week cycles of flowering followed by vegetative when day and night are roughly equivalent.
LikeLiked by 1 person