Brugmansias and Trees

Posted on by capentalc

One of my favorite trees to grow is the brugmansia or also known as Angel’s Trumpet. They are highly fragranted, fast growing, and produce abundant beautiful flowers year round. They are so easy to propagate in a glass of water.

The brugmansia below is propagated from another plant and it is a little over a year and a half. It is about 3 feet tall. You may notice in my posts that I like to say how old and how tall my plants or trees are. I do that because I feel sometimes new gardeners like myself like to know how big plants could get and how long it takes to get such and such sizes. I find that very few gardening sites tell you how big plants are at certain stages. If you look at all the tall things growing in my yard in these pictures, know that they are about at least three years old because that’s how long I have been gardening. My BEFORE garden pictures were posted in this earlier blog here.

Charles Grimaldi Brugmansia

They can get pretty tall like this one, which is about 10 feet tall if you trim the side shoots. Bees love them and so do pests like aphids. I don’t remember what kind of brugmansia this pink one is because I’ve had it for over 15 years.

The mother plant Charles Grimaldi of all my Charles Grimaldi brugmansias. It blooms continuously throughout the year.

The picture below does not do this Duranta Erecta justice. It has beautiful purple flowers all year long. In the late afternoons, I can hear hummingbirds zipping in and out of this bush like Star Wars pod racers. This tree is 20 years old and is now about 16 feet. I have seen most people keep this type of tree much shorter around 6 feet but I just let it grow to enhance the landscape.

“Duranta Erecta” Sweet Memory Bush

The Red Baron peach below is about 2 years old and will be turning red sometimes in September. Right now there are some peaches on the tree but it is still slightly brown and green so my dogs have not discovered it yet. Once it ripens and stands out more in the tree, I will have to figure out how to keep it from being snatched off the trees by my dogs. It drops leaves in the winter and then develop buds which later turns into beautiful reddish blossoms.

This here is my Cranberry hibiscus tree which I grew from seeds. It has been about 3 years and they have these beautiful reddish foliage like a maple tree but better because these stay like this all year. This tree was about 10 feet tall at one point but it was growing awkwardly so I trimmed it down and trained it to lean more upright. It was leaning 45 degrees when it grew! Now it is somewhat upright, more like at an 80 degree angle. The flowers are really pretty cranberry-colored like the picture below. It blooms during the day and closes up each day.

This is a three year old papaya tree grown from seeds. It is about 3 1/2 feet tall. I’m not sure when they are supposed to have fruit but they get yellow leaves when I try to give it water. Besides the Red Baron peach, this papaya is my other favorite fruit tree in the yard. I’m hoping it will flower and give me fruits soon because I love papayas!

I am also growing some cherimoyas, a starfruit, a persimmon from seeds. I don’t know where my persimmon plant is out there right now.

Cherimoya – 2 year old from seed about 12 inches tall
Starfruit: the center woody stick about 8 inches tall after 2 years

While I was outside, I noticed this Columbine flower which I am sure I never grew. It was such a wonderful surprise since I have been wanting a Columbine for a long time. I will leave you with admiring that flower.

Amazing Orange

Posted on by capentalc

I don’t normally like to grow orange flowers but some of these were from a discounted “mix” pack in seeds or bulbs. One thing I’ve learned is never to buy a “mix” of any plant offerings online unless you don’t mind getting ugly colors. I didn’t know that so I bought several of daylily mixes and I got a bunch of bright orange that I would’ve never purchased had I known.

However, now that I have them, I learned to like them since I raised them from pups. They stand out in my garden of pinks and purples.

Now this Big Kiss White Flame Hybrid Gazania (what a mouthful) is actually one that I picked out on a seed website.  Have you seen anything more vibrant? The flower is about 3″ wide with bright yellow-orange and red petals. I gush with delight when I see this flower open up every morning!

This is an orange California poppy that was in a mix. I was hoping it was pink or purple but this is what sprouted. It is cute though.

This Ruby Spider daylily is the BOMB! What an amazing show of red and orange in this outrageous beauty! I would love to have a bunch more of these.  Sadly, it opened for a day or so and I was not able to enjoy it more.  There are some new ones getting ready to open soon though.

At Last rose is one of my favorite of orange roses. Flowers are smaller than most roses but it has beautiful shades of oranges and yellows.

Below is an orange zinnia from a mix. This is really an unexpected color in the seed mix but I think I am in love with it. This picture is actually a day before it fully bloomed that’s why it had those neat beige colors in the center. I wish it stayed like that forever.

These daylilies below are all from a mix. As you can see they are quite orange and almost red. I’ve had these for a couple of years but this is the first time I’ve seen it flower.  They are all over my garden and so ORANGE!

Here are some of my pretty garden pictures. The best time to catch beautiful pictures of my yard is on a cloudy day because it shows off the colors so vibrantly. In the picture below I have a plumeria, pink alstroemeria, iris, and tall pink Verbascum Southern Charm way in the back.

Below is another garden patch nearby where I have a 3 year-old sage bush with purple flowers, purple magnolia, purple daisies, purple roses, lily tree (center), and the pink, fast-growing Strybing Beauty.

In this picture below are General Sikorski clematis, blue chicory flowers, plumeria, and magnolia Souvlangiana.

Below are some rose mallow, yellow daisies, and a Red Baron peach tree. The Red Baron will change its leaves into red sometimes in early September, I believe. As you can see it has grown quite a bit since last year when I first wrote about it.

That’s all for now. I have more to show you in a few days!

Succulents with Flowers

Posted on by capentalc

Around this time of the year many succulents are blooming or growing babies. I found a few of these adorable Echeverias at my local Walmart Garden Center. They have tags on these pots but I’m not sure I can trust Walmart’s labeling. Anyone interested in the actual names written on the pots let me know and I will find out for you.

I’m not an expert on these plants but it appears winter is their time to flower and shine as you can see here. This one below is so adorable and its flowers are in my favorite yellows and pinks. Echeverias tend to shoot out 8-12 inches tall flowering shoots like this. The flowers last about a week or more. They don’t require much water in winter but definitely more in the hot summers, maybe once a week in extreme Southern California heat. They like morning sun and afternoon shade. Too much sun especially in the summer will scorch their leaves.

This one below is also very beautiful. I love these shades of pinks and yellows. I especially like that the plant has these colorful petals. My camera skill is not so great in capturing flowers up close, as you can see the flowers looked a little blurry.

Another Echeveria below with light blue green leaves.

The pink succulent below is an aurora borealis kalanchoe. It is so pretty with green, pink, and cream leaves. In late fall and winter it shoots out 7 inches long stem of pink flowers. Super adorable! These flowers are bell-shaped.

I cannot remember the name of this orange succulent below. I’ve had this for a while but this is the first time I’ve seen it bloom white flowers.

The awesome pink plant below is a “cobweb” Hens and Chicks succulent. It sprouted these adorable pink flower stems and I believe these last almost a month. It has white cobwebs on top of the plant as you can see. Very unique!

As usual, I’d like to end it with other highlight blooms from this week. Here are some amazing blooms from my Red Baron and Babcock peach trees. The Red Baron will eventually have reddish leaves in the fall and that is one of the main reasons I purchased this tree last year. This tree is the closest thing to a red maple which is what I wanted originally. After seeing these beautiful reddish pink blooms, I think I made the right choice in choosing this tree because those flowers will turn into peaches!

The Babcock peach tree’s blossoms look like cherry blossoms from far away. They are so pretty and delicate. The inside of that flower looks like a butterfly landed right in the center.

My bearded irises are blooming like crazy too and it is about three times more abundant than last year. I also inherited a purple iris from my father-in-law who passed away a couple of weeks ago. It bloomed the day after I brought it home from his house.