It’s summer and it is hot. My garden is providing hot summer color to get me through the worst of it. The Farmer’s Almanac claims the dog days of summer will end August 11. Probably not here. I am joining the Propagator gang again today with six items of interest from my garden, to see more posts, follow the link – http://www.thepropagatorblog.wordpress.com
The Beautyberries (Calliocarpa americana) began their lurid purple march down the stems this week.
Parrotflowers (Heliconia psittacorum) are peeking through the trunks of the Bougainvillea.
Rain Lilies (Zephyranthes spp?) are responding to the, yes, rain and popping up throughout the garden. These are sharing space with a Burgundy Aechmea Bromeliad.
The Mystic Spires Salvia is finally established and flowering madly.
Purple Setcresea flowers are dotting the purple masses of foliage. This plant seems to have a lot of botanical names. What is Setcresea anyway, it sounds awful??
Moses in a Cradle flowers. It took me a bit to understand why that is the common name – until it flowered. Moses has a snail along for the ride in this one. These are also called Oyster Plant, I think it has been decided Transcandentia spathacea is the botanical name. For the time being.
That is my Six this Saturday.
Happy Gardening!!
The Shrub Queen 
I call them Moses in the bulrushes. My rain lilies never bloom in the summer, only in spring no matter how much rain we have. Probably different varieties.
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I can see that, the bulrushes..I think there are a lot of varieties of Rainlilies..
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For me, setcresea is named tradescantia pallida.
I’ve got 3 different : T. cerinthoides and T. pallida potted and T. Virginiana in the ground. So pretty flowers aren’t they?!
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You are right. I have several Tradescantias in the garden. There is a native Spiderwort in my garden and I use T. zebrina as a groundcover. I like the ceranthoides but don’t grow it.
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The parrot flowers are beautiful and love the color. Lately, I have been obsessed with more tropical looking plants; sadly here in my zone it is not doable.
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I learned the hard way about keeping tropicals in the basement when living further north..stick with what works for you. Peonies and Delphiniums are gorgeous exotics to me.
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Beautyberry are still green in other gardens. You know, I still have not started any yet. I was supposed to do so last winter, but things went . . . they way they did. I could do it this winter if things work out that way. I am in no hurry. I know I will do it eventually. they sure are alluring.
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The Florida Beautyberry are weird, I think. They grow in full sun and have berries for months. These are still flowering, have green fruit and purple fruit.
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Is that because of climate, or genetics? Do you think that is is a variety of the species?
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Yes.. they look different than the ones I grew in Atlanta.. though there’s no named cultivar.
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Were those in Atlanta purchased from a nursery rather than growing wild? They were likely ‘selected’ even if not a named cultivar. However, I would guess that a ‘selected’ beautyberry would exhibit a longer season. . . I really do not know if a long production season is better than a brief but showy fruiting season.
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From a nursery.. though I would see them wild.. never with fruit in August..these are showy and long season.
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It makes a change for you to include a couple of things that I grow as well. Gives me a bit of respite from envying all the exotics you can grow. I have a rain lily in flower, albeit in a pot. I bought it as Habranthus brachyandrus but that seems to be wrong. I also have a very similar Salvia, ‘Indigo Spires’, which will come in for the winter.
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Oh, wonderful. amazing the variety of Rain lilies. That may be the same Salvia, I know gardeners in California and the UK that grow it.. surprisingly resilient plant if it’s standing up for all of us!
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