The Variegated Thumb

My wife’s family owns a wedding chapel just outside of town.  For the past couple of years Christie and I have helped maintain the flowerbeds and do other projects.  This year we’ve handed the job over to some other relatives who wanted a side job, but when we were there recently I got to see some of the fruits of our labor.

Hemerocallis 'Always Afternoon'

The Daylilies we planted a couple of years ago are all in bloom.  It is nice to see some splashes of color on an otherwise green palette of grasses and other drought-hardy plants.

Peach daylilies

There are several of these peach-colored daylilies and they are also the most prolific bloomers of the bunch.

Hemerocallis 'Irving Hepner'

I don’t recall all the varieties that we ordered, but they are all doing really well, spreading and blooming more each year.  I’m wondering if any of these will naturally cross-pollinate.  Does anyone know?

I’ve mentioned before my mom’s affinity for Asparagus ferns.  My mother-in-law also has a wonderful Asparagus fern that I was not really familiar with until I saw hers.  Since then I have seen it growing in a couple of other places, but it is not very common for some reason – possibly because it is less hardy.  My mom’s plants (Asparagus densiflorus) can usually survive our harsh Oklahoma winters in the garage and will sprout new foliage in the spring.  A little farther south of us, the plants can be left in the ground year-round.  This year, even the garage in Oklahoma got too cold for them.

My mother-in-law's Asparagus macowanii two years ago.

My mother-in-law's Asparagus macowanii now.

The plant my mother-in-law has is Asparagus macowanii and is sometimes called Ming Fern.  She has had the plant for many years, but it has only been the last couple of years that it has really started to take off.  It has broken several pots open with the force of it’s ever-expanding root system!

Stems and roots of the Asparagus macowanii. The greenish stem in the bottom left corner is the newest growth.

Recently when I was at my parents-in-law’s house I saw this huge stem growing out of the pot.  The new stems do look very much like edible Asparagus (see the picture below).  After this thick stem grew several feet long it produced blooms, followed by the regular fine foliage of this interesting plant.

New shoot from the Asparagus macowanii at the Myriad Gardens. You can see how much this looks like the edible Asparagus.

Asparagus macowanii new leaves or flowers

There was a small division of this plant that I easily removed and have potted for myself.  Maybe someday I will have a monster plant to match!

My friend, Warren, gave me a jewel orchid (Sarcoglottis sceptrodes) at the IAS meeting in Fort Worth last fall.  Over the winter, several leaves turned brown and mushy and I had to remove them.  I asked Warren for some advice and he suggested I might need to increase the humidity.  I repotted the plant, having to cut the plastic pot apart to get the plant out.  Now it is in a larger plastic pot sitting inside a ceramic pot, where the humidity is a little enhanced from the rest of the greenhouse.  I was upset about the lost leaves because I really hadn’t seen any replacement leaves coming.  But then recently I saw some new growth, an offset, and also some new leaves(?) emerging from the center of two of the plants.  About a week later I could tell these weren’t leaves, but the emergence of blooming stems.

Sarcoglottis sceptrodes first bloom stalk starting - April 11, 2011

The bloom stalk grew pretty quickly in height and another started a couple weeks later.

Sarcoglottis sceptrodes - April 28, 2011

About 10 days after the stalk reached it’s full height the buds began to separate from the stem and start to open, from the bottom up.

Sarcoglottis sceptrodes buds - May 16, 2011

The flowers area small, so all of these pictures are close-ups.

First open Sarcoglottis sceptrodes bloom - May 16, 2011

First Sarcoglottis sceptrodes bloom from the front - May 16, 2011

First Sarcoglottis sceptrodes bloom from the side - May 16, 2011

I realize these green blooms aren’t the most magnificent thing you’ve ever seen, but I think they’re pretty neat anyway.  And I really like the way the “fuzz” shows up in these pictures.

Sarcoglottis sceptrodes - May 24, 2011

Now the first stem is in full bloom and the other stem is starting to get taller.  It will probably be another 2-3 weeks before it starts to open.

Sarcoglottis sceptrodes - May 24, 2011

Warren, who gave me this plant last year, just last week sent me two more small jewel orchid cuttings to start.  I’ll be posting photos of those soon.  Thanks, Warren!

Last year I transplanted all of our Irises from various places in the yard to one central location around the light post in the middle of our backyard.

Two tone iris - Sorry I don't know the name.

At the time, it looked pathetic, but I knew all of those rhizomes would sprout new leaves and fill out the area. This year, the irises definitely filled the area with green. There weren’t as many blooms as I would have expected, but we did get two Irises to bloom.

My pups sure know how to stop and smell the irises

Simple white iris

I’m hoping for considerably more to bloom next year!

Previously, I posted pictures about my Dracaena deremensis blooming.  Well, truth be told, it hadn’t actually bloomed yet.  The pictures I posted were just the flower buds – and lots of them!  I didn’t realize that at the time.

Dracaena deremensis bloom open

Since then, the buds have been opening and filling my greenhouse with what can only be described as a controversial fragrance.  To me, it smells bad.  To some, it apparently smells good.  It actually smells a lot like some perfume fragrances that I don’t care for, so I guess I shouldn’t be too surprised that it does smell good to some people!