Firey Begonia

I  ❀ LOVE LOVE LOVE ❀ this firey flower called Begonia boliviensis "Bonfire".  It is spectacular, no?  I first saw it 4 years ago in Washington DC of all places in a pot outside the Smithsonian castle.  I pined for it for a couple years not being able to find it locally.  Don't you ever pine for plants?  :-)  I finally mail ordered 2(in case one died) from Logees and have had it for 2 years.  Now it's in nurseries all over.   I have mine in 2 separate pots; one in the back yard and one on our front porch.  The one that gets brighter light is doing better. This is a tuberous Begonia and dies back completely!   It sits all winter with just a nub showing like a Cyclamen bulb.  Then it starts growing in about March and in a few months, this amazingness in my photos occurs!  It's flowers are a beautiful pomegranate or persimmon orange red.  I just can't tell you how much I adore this plant :-)

What's a Swainsona?

Yeah, I'd never heard of it either when I saw it. This is another plant I bought at The Huntington Library & Garden's nursery.  It's Swainsona galegifolia 'albiflora'.  For my non die hard gardener friends, you know that botanical latin is easy to decipher.  "Albiflora" means white flowers.   Must have leaves like a "Galeg" whatever that is.   The foliage is ferny like a Jacaranda.  It's in the legume family as it has pea flowers.  But it makes not pod.  Curious.    I just read that the Leguminosae family is now the Fabaceae family.   Great!  I hate it when the botanical world changes names of things that you've known forever!   This wonderful plant flowers for months and is from Australia.  I always love Australian plants!  I hope to visit there someday. I'll go crazy with all the Eucalyptus, Grevilleas, Melaleucas and koala bears.    I had a hard time keeping this plant from wilting when I first got it. So, I kept potting it up and it's now in a 7 gallon can.  Hopefully before the end of the year it will get planted in our new garden IN THE GROUND!  Whoo-hoo!  It blooms for so long.  Research says it blooms in Spring and Summer.  I've seen it bloom from Fall into Winter too.  Must be our mild climate. Or the plant is just homesick for it's southern hemisphere :-)  I've had my Swainsona for about 3 years. It takes sun or part shade and grows to about 3 feet.  I never saw it in any other nursery until recently at La Crescenta Nursery.  Go check them out if you are in SoCal.  La Crescenta Nursery   I only cut it back when it gets long and stupid or has some dead branches.  Then is comes back into flowering. It must like being trimmed :-)  

Unusual Plant

I bought this unusual plant from The Huntington Library & Gardens about 1, 1/2 yrs ago.  It was in flower when I bought it, then didn't flower for a year or so.  It just started to look this amazing.  It's Dianthera nodosa "Brasil" and super cute.  The tag said clusters of pink flowers over a long season. Perennial 1-3ft. Bright or part shade.  Mine is about 2 ft tall now. 

The first two photos are mine.  I look forward to finding a spot in my garden when my ground is ready.   The third photo I found on the web.  It gives you a better idea what the plant will look like.  

I had never seen it before or since I bought it in another nursery or garden.  Love it!   I wonder if it will grow from cuttings?  Hm...

Hydrangea

Summer has come along with the heat. Ick. I hate summer as I work out in it. But in Southern California summer brings Hydrangea macrophylla into full flower. I don't know if that story of rusty nails or even aluminum sulfate added to the soil will absolutely turn them blue. I always forget to do it in late Winter or early Spring or whenever one is supposed to! But the pink and the white flowered Hydrangeas are gorgeous right now! Remember that Hydra really means water in Latin. That's why a hydrangea is usually the first thing to wilt or crisp. So, water water water!

Awesome Eucalyptus Purchase

There are these 2 Eucalyptus macrocarpa that I visit at The Huntington Library that are amazing!  They are each about 6 feet wide but only about 4 feet tall because they are sprawling.  The leaves are HUGE, about 8 inches across and their impressive red flowers are about 3-5 inches in size.


But I really love the caps that fall off the buds before the flowers open. They look like elf hats, pointy and round, soft when fresh but harden later.   Don't tell anyone but I like to scoop them up when I'm there to take home. They are so cool!  I'm going to make something with them some day.  For now they are in a glass bowl.

I have never seen this plant for sale anywhere until yesterday. I was poking around La Crescenta Nursery(if you haven't been there- go, it's fabulous!) and they had one 5 gallon plant. I tried to talk myself out of it as it was $35.00.  But when you see something rare, you've got to buy it! So, I did!

I'm not sure where to plant it yet and my yard isn't quite ready.  But here's my newest addition to the Buntopia jungle!  

Pink roots!

I planted a little job for a client today. One of the plants is Loropetalum. It has burgundy leaves. Anybody who knows me knows I love plants that are something other than green. When I lifted it out of the pot I saw that it has PINK ROOTS! How pretty! What a plant geek I am!

My Planted Urn

My first post here showed an urn planted at The Haunted Mansion at Disneyland that I wanted to replicate. Urns are usually hefty in weight(cement or iron) and price(hundreds of $$). I found this fiberglass one at Home Goods for $35.00. It was tan and I spray painted it black. I finally found the curly Epiphyllum at Home Depot in Duarte(they didn't have it at several SF Valley HDs) and bought 2. I chose the Coprosma 'Rainbow Surprise' that I already had for the center instead of the burgundy grass that DL had in theirs(and they have since replanted). It was really always about that curly Epi and the urn anyways. I can't wait for the Epi to cascade as it grows. Yay!