Author Archives: theshrubqueen

In A Vase on Monday – Plethora of Purple

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My quest for anything Autumnal continues and the Beautyberry (Calliocarpa americana) satisfied my Fall in the garden desires this week displaying its wares at their lurid purple peak. Days have been numbered for the branches loaded with purple fruit that were too close to the house. I planted this beside the door from our screened porch as it is reputed to deter mosquitoes. I sometimes put a few crushed leaves in my shoes when working in the garden and it does seem to help.

The guy next to the vase-a mythological figure gifted to my husband by some friends from South America.

This is a rangy shrub that is difficult to prune into cooperation, I think there are still some structural decisions to be made. There were so many berries on the branches the vase was actually heavy from the weight of the fruit.

Adding to my happiness, I found a touch of fall color on the foliage. Just a touch, can’t get too excited. Joining the plethora of purpleness in the vase are: in green with purple backs, Oyster Plants or Moses in a Cradle (Rhoeo or some botanist changed the name) and a sprig of Setcresea or Purple Queen (tired of botanists-think they are both Transcandentias now, but it won’t keep me up nights)

Celebrating our Fall potential by starting seeds for my butterfly garden.

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The mermaid watches over everything and encourages the seeds to sprout and grow. The winter butterfly garden will have (hopefully) Heirloom Lavendar Cactus Zinnias, Phlox drummondi, Sea Star Asters, Lime Basil, Petunia excelsa, Moonvine and Coral Vine. I think I need to find some yellows or lime greens to temper the color mix. Any thoughts?

Happy Fall Gardening.

In A Vase On Monday – Desperately Seeking Seasons

20180923_125831Today is the second official day of Fall.  Looking over my coffee cup this morning, I noted the temperature was already in the 80s (25 C) with 97% humidity. My garden is calling me to get back in the groove and clean things up for South Florida’s winter gardening season. I am desperately seeking the season and was inspired to create a Autumnal vase.

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The vase is a silver plate goblet collected by my mother on one of her many ‘junk store’ adventures. It doesn’t hold water, so it requires a recycled yogurt container tucked inside when used as a vase. I don’t think I would use it for beverages.

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My pseudo Fall flowers include: Gallardias (Gallardia pulchella) in red and gold; fruit is Surinam Cherries (Eugenia uniflora); the sprays of berries are from the non native Firebush (Hamelia patens); red “fall” leaf from Raggedy Ann Copperleaf (Acalypha wilkesiana); grey background foliage is Texas Sage (Leucophyllum frutescens) and the cream colored spikes are from Wireweed.

To see some real Fall vases, visit the hostess of the IAVOM, Cathy, at Link to more vases

For those who don’t remember Madonna in the movie Desperately Seeking Susan, here is the video from ‘Get Into the Groove’. Hoping to get back in the gardening groove soon

Madonna – it’s age restricted!

In A Vase on Monday-Trading Vases & Places

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The flowers in my vase this week are Cattleya Orchids, from a plant gifted to me several years ago by my neighbor. I have been watching this plant for years, moved it around in the garden – nothing. Finally – three buds appeared, weeks ago. I watched, waited and watched some more, not a sign of opening. Just big, juicy buds displaying a tasty reticence.  I occasionally had to chase some leering grasshopper away. Sigh, more waiting.

After a rough couple of weeks,  my husband and I decided we needed a change of scene and took a few days to walk on the beach and rest. We packed up Alan the Greyhound and some coolers and headed to a lovely semi deserted beach miles from home.

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Of course, I checked the Orchids just prior to leaving and one bud was opening! Sigh, again. Hoping I wouldn’t miss the show, off we went. The picture is sunrise on North Hutchison Island, Florida.

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Deciding to cut the flowers was easy, I have two more buds and these were browning on the edges a bit. I’ll enjoy them in the house as long as they last. The vases (three again) were another story. Seeking a simple container for these complex flowers; I decided they needed a backdrop of a big tropical leaf (Seagrapes – Coccoloba uvifera). For vases, I started with a rose teapot, then went to the black vase, then the glass vases.

No leering grasshoppers in my house, but I did bring in a little bee.

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In A Vase on Monday- Corsage Ready

20180909_153340-1Gardenias always remind me of corsages. My mother, for some inexplicable reason, wanted a Gardenia wrist corsage when I married-unfortunately, it was April and no Gardenias could be found. She settled for Orchids. Non wrist at that.

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These are Tropical Gardenias (Tabernaemontana divericata). The fragrance is not as strong as Gardenia jasminoides, but similar. This particular one is about 10 feet tall and I have been slowly reclaiming it from the blob of plant material that separates me from my favorite neighbor. The blob is a professional term I learned while in design school at The University of Georgia. One of my professors is probably feeling a really bad vibe right about now.

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My favorite neighbor also shared her big white Cattleya Orchid with me. Never one to struggle with convention, I installed it on a tomato cage hoping for an Orchid tower in the garden outside my Living Room window. I have been rewarded with three huge buds and am hoping for another corsage ready vase next week. Wrist band optional.

In A Vase on Monday – Whispers of Fall

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Sunday in my neck of the woods began stormy and transitioned into a cool, overcast day (high of 80 degrees F) My husband and I sat on our screened porch for the first time in months. Fall is elusive in South Florida and sometimes the flowers speak for the season. Chapman’s Goldenrod is flowering in my garden, an indestructible and polite native wildflower that reminds me of much more Autumnal months spent further north. Our weather is not reliably cooler until mid October, so this first whisper of Fall was a welcome respite from the usual steamy late summer temperatures.

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The Chapman’s Goldenrod (Solidago odora ‘Chapmanii’.) is the yellow flower in the middle of the arrangement. Here is a link to More about Chapman’s Goldenrod . 

Clockwise from the Goldenrod, in red spikes, Tropical Red Salvia (Salvia coccinea); a sprig of Blueberry Flax Lily (Dianella); The orange tubes are Firebush (Hamelia patens var patens);white buds from a Tropical Gardenia (Tabernaemontana divericata); Daisy mixture is Beach Sunflowers (Helianthus debilis) and Gallardia pulchella. The far left side of the arrangement has a Red Shrimp Plant (Justicia brandegeana); the background plants are Wireweed (in white); and a bit of Dwarf Pineapple foliage (the spear).

For an arrangement in a vintage Dansk candleholder-  there is a lot stuffed in there. Initially, I decided to try a hand tied bouquet (which I do not know how to do) gave up on that,  kept adding flowers, changed vases three times and ended up here.

Listening for more whispers of Fall.

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In A Vase on Monday – Beauty of Berries

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Many gardens sport a Beautyberry (Calliocarpa americana). Native to a large portion of the Eastern United States, the promise of lurid purple berries is hard to resist. Add to that the buzzing of native pollinators around the flowers in the form of rare Atala butterflies in my garden and the natural mosquito repellants in the leaves of the Beautyberry, these shrubs are a must have in my garden. I was surprised to see the Atala butterflies sipping the flower nectar.

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Continuing with the purple theme, I added foliage and flowers from Purpleheart (Setcresea); accenting with a few white flowers and dark green foliage from the Tropical Gardenia (Tabernaemontana divericata) and a few stems of the chartruese little black dress of the garden – Alabama Sunset Coleus.20180826_123642

Voila, the beauty of Beautyberries and a welcome sign of summer winding down in my garden.

In A Vase on Monday – Many Miniatas

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The garage sale Bromeliads continue to amaze me. The red flowers are from Aechmea miniata, a Bromeliad I stumbled upon at a garage sale a few years ago. Five bucks is my limit for a plant unknown to me, as this one was when I found it. Bromeliads tend to run anywhere from 12 dollars for a small unnamed mystery plant at the Big Box stores to $100 and up for a named, big, lush specimen. The problem with these named, expensive plants is generally no one can tell you where they will grow “move them around til you find a place it likes” or “I think it flowers”. I am too frugal for this sort of nonsense and think if a plant is sold for prices like that you should get some reasonable directions. Or at least knowledge of whether it flowers. More Florida gardening nonsense. The market here demands nothing.

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I have been trying to decide if the flowers look more like trees or broccoli. Neither, really. The flowers are crunchy and last about two weeks in a vase. The green swirling fern is a cutting of Asparagus Fern I twirled around the base of the Miniatas.

20180819_132030-1The Miniatas are flowering madly and have been for a month or so. The tree that shades them got a fairly major pruning after Hurricane Irma last year.  The normal olive colored foliage has burned from the sun (or lack of rain) but has been bravely sending up flower after flower. Time will tell what happens next should be interesting, the other Garage Sale Bromeliads are producing pups – I should have hundreds of dollars worth of Bromeliads shortly. Unfortunately, I hate having garage sales.

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Sad news from my garden this week. I lost my sweetest, spotted Greyhound to bone cancer on Friday. Farewell, faithful Charles.

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Charles

In A Vase on Monday – New Summer Favorites

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I am embarking on my sixth year of gardening in South Florida. What a ride. As always, I am amazed by what will grow in infertile beach sand. My summer favorites have changed with my gardening location. I used to love Hydrangeas, Roses and Clematis. Now I am loving the contents of this vase and more…20180812_150621

The smorgasboard of plant material that grows in South Florida continues to boggle my mind. I love Bromeliads and there are 200,000 varieties! Mind boggling. My garden is on the northern end of tropical, so the trick of siting the plant and maintaining a proper environment has been a challenge.  Then, there’s always the native plants to consider.

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So, my new favorites are a little bit of everything.

The white flower is a Tropical Gardenia (Tabernaemontana divericata) – not a true Gardenia, mine was rescued from the underbrush and is now recovering at 8 – 10 feet tall, I continue to prune the jungly interlopers.

The red flowers with blue tips are Miniata Bromeliads, Aechmea is the genus, I think – then again there are 200,000 others?!

The pink and red Salvia are Tropical Red Salvia (Salvia coccinea) – a reseeding native perennial that never dies but doesn’t look very good unless it is raining.

The foliage. Well, Asian Sword Fern is hard to beat in an arrangement and the garden. Considered invasive, it would take a bulldozer to remove it from my garden. Finally, the striped foliage, the indestructible New Zealand Flax (Dianella) if only there was a dwarf variety…. It would be my new favorite.

In A Vase on Monday-The Green Swan

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I was going to call this post swanning around, but there are way too many interpretations of that term to have it in a title. Mind boggling how many ways a saying can be taken from sexual to merely showing off.

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The late summer daisies are showing off – in yellow, Beach Sunflowers (Helianthus debilis) the red ones are Gallardias (Gallardia pulcherra). The white flowers are Bridal Bouquet Plumeria (in full glory) and Sweet Almond Bush (Aloysia virgata) backed up by a few Asian Sword Ferns.

The Green Swan is actually a candy dish I inherited from my mother. She was a collector of swans and loved to say ‘Why, I’ll Swanee’ – the polite Southern lady version of I swear.

Happy Monday.

 

The First Sign of Fall

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Fall is greatly anticipated in South Florida. Humidity and temperatures um, fall. And we love it.

Here is the first sign. Berries on the Beautyberry (Callicarpa americana). The butterflies have been enjoying these flowers and now I will enjoy the fruit. Floridians (not me) make jelly from the berries (usually described as astringent). If I find some jelly, I will buy it – having recently learned about Jamtinis, you guessed it fruity cocktails –Jamtini ideas. 

73 Days until October 15. The usual date for our first cold front.

It’s time to plant vegetable seeds! And have a Jamtini.