the flower experiment: potted plants

Showing posts with label potted plants. Show all posts

12-29-2016—Scleranthus biflorus Update

Tuft of Scleranthus biflorus continues expansion to create an ever more luxurious petting platform. Maybe one day it will consume the steel duct. It doesn't seem to mind Winter's wet, cool conditions.

Here it is a couple months ago.

10-10-2016—Scleranthus biflorus

I've been growing this Scleranthus biflorus since May. Wanted to wait before post, to confirm it would live. So far so good. Important to let soil dry out between watering. It has the interesting habit of folding open like hair on a scalp when it's drought stressed. I try to water it just enough to prevent its hair from parting. Not sure how it will fair in Winter rains (if it rains this Winter at all). Puya coerulea also pictured in foreground.

Scleranthus biflorus and Puya coerulea in planting containers

Here's Scleranthus biflorus a couple months later.

09-04-2014—Flower du Jour

Gardenia augusta 'Vietnam' flowering for the first time. Keeping it potted to control soil pH. It's placed so that the breeze carries its fragrance through an open window. It has that distinctive coconut tanning oil smell.

Gardenia augusta 'Vietnam' flower close-up with only 3 anthers on lower half

Not sure what happened to the rest of its anthers. This lop-sided configuration looks like a flower goatee.

08-05-2016—Flower du Jour

Stapelia divaricata flower

Cymbopogon citratus (lemon grass) flowers. Many non-gardeners think grasses don't have flowers, but of course they do. Grass flowers are designed for movement—not for the pleasure of birds, bees, or humans. Wind-pollinated plants are a visual reminder of the unseen forces of air. Need to watch Onibaba again, where grasses dominate the screen. Good Halloween movie. Putting on queue for October, just a couple months away.

08-04-2016—Flower du Jour

Sisyrinchium californicum (yellow eyed grass) reseeded in hypertufa container. Kept removing it since it's mature size seems too big for such a shallow planter, but over the course of a couple years it stopped appearing in the ground and was only in the planter. I left some to grow; it reached half it's normal size. I think it's trying to escape the grip of Viola banksii.

Sisyrinchium californicum in hypertufa planter

Sisyrinchium californicum flower close-up

07-07-2016—Jatropha berlandieri

Jatropha berlandieri flowering for the second time this year.

Here it is leafing out at the beginning of 2016. It stays indoors during the coldest months.

Jatropha berlandieri caudiciform with emerging stem and leaves

06-25-2016—Cheilanthes argentea

Cheilanthes argentea (Silver cloak fern) prefers front patio where is gets morning sun. Before it was in all-day dappled shade situation.

06-16-2016—A Spider By Any Other Name

Hymenocallis (spider lily) sp. mislabeled 'Sulphur Queen'

Potted Hymenocallis among other potted plants

05-28-2016

Neighbor's potted succulent and cacti garden

05-20-2016

Craigslist cacti and Yucca brevifolia. Yucca was grown from seed and is the same age as my marriage (10 years). Needs to be re-potted but otherwise in good shape.