Fuchsias, Hollyhocks, Columbine, Strawflower, Mallows, and More

Posted on by capentalc

There are more exciting plants this week with some I have not expected and some I have been waiting a long time for. I just celebrated my birthday this week so with the arrival of these flowers, they are the perfect surprise gifts. I also got a gift card to a local garden center and logically I should go right away to use it but I held back. I wanted to THINK about what I REALLY, REALLY want this time. I have so many plants so I wanted this purchase to be really meaningful.

Part of me wants to buy hanging pots for epiphyllums, but then I wanted to buy a cute orchid too. Would it be better to buy much needed fertilizer instead or a houseplant? Hmmm, too many choices.

FUCHSIAS “DEEP PURPLE”

STRAWFLOWER

HOLLYHOCK

Did you notice there is a grasshopper eating the leaf in this picture? I watched him gobbled it. It was pretty cute so I let him have it, plus there were many leaves on the plant, I should share. I love this black hollyhock and grew this from seeds several years ago. I have not seen the parent plant for a season or so but last year these came up. They didn’t flower until this season. I have two tall hollyhock plants next to each other and about 12 feet away from where the parent plant used to be.

ALSTROEMERIA “DUSTY ROSE”

This alstroemeria is a surprise because I planted two years ago and it looked dead last year. This year it came up nice and tall. What a beautiful dusty pink color!

ROSES

The golden yellow rose is the “At Last” rose and the pink is the Princess Charlene de Monaco rose. The At Last roses is mixed in here with my purple foxglove and pink geraniums.

ROSE “CHICAGO PEACE”

What I love about this Chicago Peace rose is that it changes from a dark orange, melon colored, to light pink. This year it is blooming the best it has ever bloomed. The flowers are about 5 inches across.

CAPE MALLOW

This cape mallow is one of my most prized trees. When I see it, it makes me smile and gush about how adorable it looks. It is about 6 feet tall and bloomed more this second year, it’s still not the best blooms but I expect as it gets older it will get more prolific. I LOVE the deep purple in the center with white petals.

ISLAND MALLOW

This shrub has been growing for almost two years and finally bloomed for the first time this year. It is about 7 feet tall with lots of bright pink flower like below and about a million little buds getting ready to bloom.

COLUMBINES

The purple is the “Rocky Mountain” and the yellow is grown from seeds mix called “Mrs. Scott Elliot”. That yellow columbine is a major surprise because I thought it died last spring when it disappeared after it was planted in the ground. What an AMAZING recovery! Beautiful yellow flowers in the midst of my mostly pinks and purples garden.

BEARDED IRIS “ANACONDA LOVE”

“DISCOVERED TREASURE” BEARDED IRISES

That’s all the flowers for now. More to come soon! Have a nice week ahead.

Alstroemerias

Posted on by capentalc

Alstroemerias are another one of my favorite flowers because of how easy it is to grow them. In Southern California, we have great conditions for them to grow with little water and some naturalize very easily.  They are usually used in flower arrangements.

I like them because they have interesting colors and strokes of colors inside their petals. They can be divided, so you get more for your money. They make great ground covers. This post has all of the alstroemerias growing in my garden.

While I am not a fan of white flowers usually, I got this from a friend and I kind of liked it. It looks pretty and delicate.

“APRICOT”

“TAMARA”

“CREAM LOW”
NO ID

This NO ID pink flowers must re-seed like crazy because they can be found coming back year after year and spreading to various places in my garden.

“RIANE”

“KATIANA”

“LIGTU HYBRIDS”
“CERISE”

That’s it for the alstroemerias. I must show you a picture of my cute baby Hunter in someone else’s bed.

Isn’t that ridiculously cute? He must think it’s fine.

Epiphyllum Blooms

Posted on by capentalc

The epiphyllums I planted from cuttings in December 2020 are finally blooming. I posted about them in August of 2021. At the time they were about a year old. I forgot that it’s taken me 3 years since I acquired them when they were only about 6-8 inch cuttings. They grew long branches that are hard to keep them upright. I put mine in terracotta pots but I think eventually I will need a deeper and heavy pot to hold them steady. The flowers are definitely worth waiting for.

“HOCUS POCUS” EPIPHYLLUM

NO ID EPIPHYLLUM

This epiphyllum below is a No Id one too. I got them from my uncle about 5 years ago and it has so many flower buds on it right now. Yesterday was when it opened. In the afternoon the second flower opened. The colors are so strong and vibrant it almost looked fake to me. They are very delicate flowers.

Can you believe that after all these branches came from just one cutting I received five years ago? I predict I will have a month of these flowers taking turns opening one at a time.

The second flower opened and here I was trying to get them to get in the same picture. They tend to droop down so I had to hold their faces up.

That’s all the epiphyllums to share for now. I hope more will flower soon for us to see. Happy Mother’s Day to all you mothers out there. In anticipation of the extraordinary amount of food I will eat later today and the Coca Cola chocolate cake I plan to make, I will have to do some major running this morning.