August

Passion vine flower

I came back from vacation and I immediately went to check the garden. The only casualty seems to be the mulberry bush. I didn't have time to put it on the ground before I left so I put the pot in an area that I thought it was fine. The lower leaves are brown and only the tips are still green. Maybe it didn't get water there. It was raining when I got here so it was watered but who knows how it was the other days. The 4 cuttings I started are growing! That is excellent news because I want to have lots of mulberry bushes.

Some of the plants are overgrown and two potterweed plants were leaning, perhaps from a storm, but everything else was fine.

I trimmed some things this morning and I hope to be able to work more in the garden now that the kids are going back to school.

What's blooming now: The red firespike looks good, the bulbine, black eye susans. milkweed and firebush are doing great. I also got two flowers on the tiny hibiscus. The pentas don't have as many blooms as before but they still ok. The shampoo ginger is sending more flowers. I am not sure if I like the plant or not. I like the flowers but I don't like to see the ginger leaves leaning so much. The Hedychiums had lots of flowers. They don't last a long time but they smell great. I brought one inside the house and Don made me put it outside, the smell was very intense. :)

The roses are still blooming. I got my first passion vine flowers! It is from a plant I got from a gardenweb friend. I think it was Joanmary but I am not sure. They are purple. I also have a red one that hasn't flowered. The pink morning glory is stil doing well. I love the mandevilla, the flowers are so big. The ruellia is growing. I also got some flowers in the blackberry lily. I am going to plant it in the yellow/orange bed.