Ornamental Kale

Posted on by capentalc

The ornamental kale that I grew earlier this winter have finally changed colors and taken shape. It is a slow process so patience is needed for growing ornamental kale.

The only one that is the oldest is the one below which I first talked about back in December 2021. Yes, it is the same one but has completely changed! The branch grew longer and older leaves fell off making room for new flower. In my pictures below the branch grew about 4 feet long and circled at the bottom. New pink petals replaced green ones from earlier in the year. This one is one of the most amazing plants I’ve ever grown and it’s called “Crane Pink”.

Here are other ornamental kale varieties I grew from seeds this past January. Most are grown in poor soil with little fertilizers, so easy right? Something in my yard has been eating the leaves as you can see.

These adorable little cream and pink kale is called “Lucir White”. They grew tiny little flowers on short stems of about 9-11 inches long.

Other flowers in my garden are this new camellia I just put in the ground a few month ago. I don’t grow things well in pots so anything I love, I always try to put in the ground.

This gerbera daisy pot my husband received from his work. I am in love with this deep red and planned to put it in a bigger pot soon. Gerbera do better in pots for me so it’s one of few plants that I will keep in pots long-term. I have beautiful pink ones in pots too.

“Twilight Zone” rose

I don’t know what kind of bearded iris this is. I got them from my mother-in-law long ago before I cared about gardening. They were in pots but I started putting them in the ground and now they’ve really taken off. They have at least 4-5 flowers so far already.

This “Alfred Sisley” rose is beautiful but I don’t own it…YET! It’s big and more expensive than what I want to pay. I found it at my local Home Depot store and have been dreaming of it these past two weeks.

That’s all today! Long Thanksgiving weekend is over and tomorrow back to the grind.

Dogs, Flowers, and Interesting Things

Posted on by capentalc

This week I have a bunch of cute and interesting pictures I want to share. Some are pictures of my dogs and some are pretty flowers in the garden. I also found some interesting grasshoppers in my backyard. Plus you’ll find out how I love planes!

Dogs

Let’s start with my dogs! My dogs are so cute in these pictures. Hunter, the tan-colored hound below likes to be buried under blankets. His tail was sticking out so I let him sniff it to see if he knows it’s his. Sometimes the way he looked at me when I showed him his tail, I don’t think he knew it belonged to him. He always had a puzzled expression! Or maybe it was an expression of “what do you want me to do with that”?

I love it when he sits on the couch like this waiting to be bombarded with kisses all over his face. Doesn’t that face begged to be bombarded? Sometimes he looked worried too because I think he knows what will happen to him next.

This cafe-au-lait-colored dog below is Lord Waggles. He likes to sleep on my husband’s leg. He’s precious when he has his eyes open too. He’s the one that likes to sleep on his back in the garden.

Now on to flowers…

Geranium (Pelargoniums) Flowers

A few interesting looking geraniums that I grew are blooming this last week. These are some unique ones I have never seen at my local garden centers. I like them because they resemble mini roses, especially the appleblossom pelargoniums.

“Pink Rosebud pelargoniums
“Appleblossom Rosebud” pelargoniums

Strawflowers

These are soooooo pretty. I love the dark magenta flowers. There are many and they last a long time, like two months or more.

“Chicago Peace” Rose

Poinsettias

Poinsettias are making their appearance as we get closer to winter. This one below has leaves that are starting to turn red.

This one below is the yellow poinsettias and it is also starting to change color. It is a beautiful yellow chartreuse color. Last year I found a pink-orange colored poinsettia but it died somehow. I’m going to buy those again for Christmas this year.

Grasshoppers

I found two grasshoppers mating in my plants. These are not your average grasshoppers! I’ve only seen the brown variety but never a green or a transparent, albino kind. Have you? By the time I got my camera out they already split up but below are pictures of these weird creatures.

Sorry this grasshopper was shy, it only showed me its behind and refused to get her head out of the plants. You can see how delicate and transparent her limbs are.

Planes

I love planes, trains, and automobiles! So last weekend my husband and I went to an outdoor concert by the airport. We saw many airplanes go by. There were one every 10-20 seconds. My camera is no good zooming in but here are the best two I captured. Planes fascinate me! They fascinate me because they reminded me of the first time I boarded an American airplane coming to the U.S. as an immigrant from Viet Nam.

Now that concludes this week’s post! I hope you enjoy your weekend. Thanksgiving for us here in the U.S. next Thursday and I will have a four day weekend so I am looking forward to more time in the garden!

Iochromas

Posted on by capentalc

After a year of growing in the ground with no flowers I decided to read up on these iochroma cyaneas. They were growing taller and bushier every minute for the past year but no flowers!

I learned that you have to trim them in order for them to bloom. I still can’t figure out whether they are blooming on new growth or old branches. It’s really hard to tell when looking at the branches. They just appeared out of nowhere. The last few weeks I have a lot more of these flowers after I trimmed them a month ago. So below are some of their amazing colors.

IOCHROMA “Princess”

This “Princess” bush is about 7 feet tall and it was planted last spring. She is a fast grower for sure.

IOCHROMA “Royal Blue”

The “Royal Blue” has not been quite as quick to grow. It is currently only about 4 feet tall even though it was planted only a few months after the “Princess” iochroma. I love these colors because they are so vibrant.

That’s all I have this week. Daily savings time ended for us last week so I haven’t been able to catch any flowers blooming out there when I get home from work. It was cold and dark outside so I’ve been staying indoor most evenings. This weekend I have three days to work on my garden. Hopefully I will feel motivated enough to get out and do some serious planting and transplanting.