The Garden Thread that two people wanted

[LilyBLily]

Your garden is full of genuinely exotic plants. Your photos are always fun to see. The fountain is very clever.



 

[Jan Hurst-Nicholson]

What's that white-barked tree in the background?

It's a leopard tree. Apparently indigenous to Australia. Pretty bark, but they can make a mess with the leaves. They have hard, dark brown flat seed pods, which make quite a noise when they fall on the carport roof  ,

[Jan Hurst-Nicholson]

Your garden is full of genuinely exotic plants. Your photos are always fun to see. The fountain is very clever.

Thanks. We are fortunate to have a sub-tropical climate and most plants grow quite easily. People joke that if you push a walking stick into the ground in Durban it will grow. 

The donkey tail grew well in the fountain, but we had a dry winter and the plants round the base died off so I've just planted some Wandering Jew that seemed to survive the drought. We've also had a problem with moles that have managed to make the fountain lopsided.  Haven't figured out to right it without breaking the fountain 

[Jan Hurst-Nicholson]

Got a nice crop of papaya growing. They can grow really big. Unfortunately the monkeys enjoy them  I can put nets around the lower bunches, but the higher ones will require a ladder and a bit more skill.

[LilyBLily]

We have our first snow on the ground. Quite a contrast to your papayas!

[Jan Hurst-Nicholson]

We have our first snow on the ground. Quite a contrast to your papayas!

It certainly is. Christmas is always bitter-sweet here in SA as I lived in the UK until I was 24 yrs and my most treasured memories are those of my childhood and of snowy Christmases and roaring fires. Although I've been in SA for 50 years it still never feels like Christmas when sitting round a swimming pool.  But I don't think I could cope with the cold weather now. Will have to turn the aircon down low and pretend there's snow outside 

[Vijaya]

Jan, I can only imagine how discombobulating it can be to have a warm Christmas in the Southern hemisphere when all the popular Christmas songs have snow and mistletoe... I grew up in India where Christmas is a non-event for most, given most are predominantly Hindu. But we had our quiet celebrations at home. It'd be cold. I never saw snow until I came to the US and I still think it's magical.

[Jan Hurst-Nicholson]

Jan, I can only imagine how discombobulating it can be to have a warm Christmas in the Southern hemisphere when all the popular Christmas songs have snow and mistletoe... I grew up in India where Christmas is a non-event for most, given most are predominantly Hindu. But we had our quiet celebrations at home. It'd be cold. I never saw snow until I came to the US and I still think it's magical.

Have to get used to different traditions as well. We don't have holly and mistletoe but tend to use poinsettias as a Christmas flower. We have the ordinary one and the rams horn growing in our village. 

[LilyBLily]

Nice.

[Vijaya]

Lovely! Here in the lowcountry of Charleston, SC, our parish decorates a tree with shells, starfish and sand-dollars. Picture in this post: https://vijayabodach.blogspot.com/2018/12/merry-christmas.html

Let me see if I can post the picture directly:

[Jan Hurst-Nicholson]

Lovely! Here in the lowcountry of Charleston, SC, our parish decorates a tree with shells, starfish and sand-dollars. Picture in this post: https://vijayabodach.blogspot.com/2018/12/merry-christmas.html

Let me see if I can post the picture directly:

Lovely idea. We also make sandcastle 'snowmen' 

[Jan Hurst-Nicholson]

My neighbour's ponytail palm is in flower again. We have a few more dotted about our retirement village. 

[Jeff Tanyard]

My neighbour's ponytail palm is in flower again. We have a few more dotted about our retirement village. 

Does that have any kind of aroma?

[Jan Hurst-Nicholson]

My neighbour's ponytail palm is in flower again. We have a few more dotted about our retirement village. 

Does that have any kind of aroma?

My neighbour's one doesn't have a fragrance as we just pulled one down to try it, and I've never noticed it on others, but they are too high to get close. However, Mr Google says they do have a fragrance 

[LilyBLily]

Quite amazing and lush.

Currently, I have many snowdrops blooming and the daffodils near the house are up several inches. Snow is coming, but they don't care.

[Jan Hurst-Nicholson]

Orchids flowering in our gazebo garden. Not sure the name of the orchid. Staghorn fern below them. 

[Jan Hurst-Nicholson]

We've got lots of the purple flowering cacti, but this is the first time I've seen a green one. 

[Jeff Tanyard]

Stuff is blooming around here, but I've been sick, so I haven't been outside much.   

Hopefully I'll get well before the flowers fade so I can enjoy the spring a little.  The season arrived a week or two earlier than usual this year, but we also had some brutally cold and dry stretches during the winter, so I guess it averages out.

In the meantime, I'll just enjoy all the wonderful alien-looking plants Jan posts up.   

[Jan Hurst-Nicholson]

Stuff is blooming around here, but I've been sick, so I haven't been outside much.   

Hopefully I'll get well before the flowers fade so I can enjoy the spring a little.  The season arrived a week or two earlier than usual this year, but we also had some brutally cold and dry stretches during the winter, so I guess it averages out.

In the meantime, I'll just enjoy all the wonderful alien-looking plants Jan posts up.   

So sorry you haven't been able to get into the garden to enjoy the flowers. I hope you'll soon be up and about again. 

[Vijaya]

Jan, you take lovely photos. Lots of stuff blooming in South Carolina and I love the jasmine. The air is so fresh and fragrant. Lots of pollen too. Bees are busy!
Jeff, get better soon before the bugs decide it's really nice out too. I'm already getting bitten by no-see-ems.

[LilyBLily]

We have a ton of daffodils blooming here in West Virginia; and hyacinths; purple anemone blanda; blue, pink, and white scillas; snowflakes; and the beginning of the grape hyacinths.

The deer have been eating my hyacinths before they open and smell so strongly. Was it just this morning that I cranked a window and coughed at the deer to make them go away? Deer are silent except for that warning cough they give, so when I want them to vamoose, I cough. They took off, but they'll be back at night to rampage through my tender little plants, alas. 

[Jeff Tanyard]

Deer are silent except for that warning cough they give, so when I want them to vamoose, I cough.

This is one of those Bud Light presents "Real Men of Genius" kind of things.   

I'll try to remember the coughing thing next time I have a deer encounter.   

[Jeff Tanyard]

Here's some current flower pics for y'all.  All pics taken in the afternoon of April 4th.

Azalea:





Black Cherry:





Bearded Iris:





Dogwood:

[LilyBLily]

Lovely photos.

All the ornamental fruit trees opened up at once where I was visiting in northern Virginia this weekend and the cars in the parking lot were covered in visible yellow pollen. Meanwhile, I was sneezing my head off.

[Jan Hurst-Nicholson]

Lovely flowers. Glad you were able to get into the garden. 

[Jeff Tanyard]

Here are some photos taken on the afternoon of April 14th.

Light blue Bearded Iris:





Yellow Bearded Iris:








Holly flowers:   





As I've mentioned before, the holly is a particular favorite of mine due to the flowers' aroma.  It's also a favorite of the bees, and when the tree's in bloom, they're all over it.  I like to stand under the branches, inhale the aroma, and let the constant drone of buzzing bees lull me into a pleasant zen-like state.   


Wild strawberry:





Before anyone gets too excited about the strawberries, here are a few unfortunate facts...

When they're about the size shown in the photo, they don't have any taste.  (I've eaten several of them, so I have a pretty good sample set.)  If I give them more time to grow bigger, then the squirrels and other critters will eat them before I can pick them.  And they're growing in the shade, so they're unlikely to fully ripen anyway even if the critters weren't an issue.  So they're basically just an interesting weed.   

I have no idea how they got there, by the way.  I certainly didn't put them there.  This is only the second or third year I've noticed them.  I can only guess that some animal pooped out some seeds after eating some strawberries somewhere else.   

[LilyBLily]

I am not convinced those are the true wild strawberries, the fraises du bois that I picked as a child and that taste absolutely lovely. There's another item that looks very like them but actually is larger. Kind of darker and furry, too. I will talk to my family plant expert tomorrow and get that name. I know he has eaten the lookalikes and said they're flavorless. Also harmless.

[Post-Crisis D]

When they're about the size shown in the photo, they don't have any taste.  (I've eaten several of them, so I have a pretty good sample set.)

So, black nightshade berries you'll taste but spit out rather than eat, but wild growing berries in bright red poison warning colors you'll eat because they look like little strawberries? 

Well, I'll just warn you that if you get one of those "I've been hired to kill you" eMails, I think you best not eat anything resembling strawberries for 72 hours.  Just saying . . .

[Jeff Tanyard]

When they're about the size shown in the photo, they don't have any taste.  (I've eaten several of them, so I have a pretty good sample set.)

So, black nightshade berries you'll taste but spit out rather than eat

They didn't taste good.  Sort of queasy-sour like tomatoes, and I don't like tomatoes.   

...but wild growing berries in bright red poison warning colors you'll eat because they look like little strawberries? 

Well, I'll just warn you that if you get one of those "I've been hired to kill you" eMails, I think you best not eat anything resembling strawberries for 72 hours.  Just saying . . .

I'll keep an eye out for hit men.   

[djmills]

I was given strawberry runners and (stupid me) I planted them. The strawberries were large and sweet and my hens loved them. I never ate any, after tasting one.
The strawberries attracted leeches and slugs, and a small lizard.
Next thing they had runners and the runners had runners. They took up an entire side garden. I tried pulling out most of them. More grew so I poisoned them. Three months later I now notice two or three trying to grow again, so will also poison them when the rain stops.
I believe strawberries are a noxious weed. :-)

[Vijaya]

One person's weed is another's delight. I happen to like dandelions too.
Jeff, beautiful pictures. I love sitting out on the porch to write and listen to all the critters. We also keep bees and you're right about how calming it is to watch/listen.

[LilyBLily]

Despite claims, most poisons stay in the ground--and show up in the crops we eat, too. I accidentally poisoned two entire trees just trying to kill some poison ivy with the wrong poison. Possibly a third tree on the other side of the yard, as well. Oops.

As for the strawberries--https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potentilla_indica