Jump to content
IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT ABOUT LOGGING IN ×
  • WELCOME GUEST

    It looks as if you are viewing PalmTalk as an unregistered Guest.

    Please consider registering so as to take better advantage of our vast knowledge base and friendly community.  By registering you will gain access to many features - among them are our powerful Search feature, the ability to Private Message other Users, and be able to post and/or answer questions from all over the world. It is completely free, no “catches,” and you will have complete control over how you wish to use this site.

    PalmTalk is sponsored by the International Palm Society. - an organization dedicated to learning everything about and enjoying palm trees (and their companion plants) while conserving endangered palm species and habitat worldwide. Please take the time to know us all better and register.

    guest Renda04.jpg

A few fall flowers..


Silas_Sancona

Recommended Posts

Thanks in part to the warmer than average Autumn weather so far,  some stuff that typically starts to wane this time of year is extending the flowering season a little further than normal. Other stuff that have flowered closer to Thanksgiving, extending some color into the holiday season, ( in past years ), are flowering a little ahead of schedule.

  Some pics aren't exactly the best I can capture, but thought I'd share anyway... Will add some others later. 

 

Yellow Necklacepod,  Sophora tomentosa. Been growing this for years from seed collected from both the Clearwater Beach / Indian Rocks - Treasure Island area ( Florida )  Pretty trouble free here though it will burn if stuck in full sun in the summer. Biggest growth spurts occur in fall and spring here. Flowers pretty much on time mid/ late fall- until about Januaury each year. Seedlings I've tortured in a 1gal pot have been just about as tough. 

20191106_095207.thumb.jpg.5fd8420f4028de45a30cbb966e196db2.jpg20191106_095034.thumb.jpg.b6122e0bf1d6beda6cdffc09e44dcc3e.jpg

  • Like 2
  • Upvote 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Marlberry, Ardisia escallonioides ( Primulaceae, Primrose Family) 

One of my star Florida trial subjects..  Aside from needing to be repotted, has preformed quite a bit better than expected under such different growing conditions.  Kept in my " Shade Alley", and given regular water thru the summer, holds its own until the worst of the heat subsides.  Experience some leaf drop in mid winter just after finishing flowering before it pushes a new flush of growth.  Another faithfull late fall- winter bloomer for me here.  While smaller, flowers are quite fragrant.. Scent is almost like Jasmine or Gardenia, but richer. Can be detected several feet away as well. Not sure why but have yet to produce seed here.  Apparently quite attractive to both various Bees, and various Hover Fly sp. Counted at least 5 sp. while getting pics today.  Can grow into a 10+ft tall shrub / small tree in the ground. 

Couple pics from last week.

20191106_101131.thumb.jpg.fbeb6440115d0e764467f3e567d1180f.jpg20191106_101151.thumb.jpg.58807c4f365dbf2310a7e42aa4312b2c.jpg

 

Flowering this week, little ahead of schedule. 

20191111_093142.thumb.jpg.3ae95a7d0971169c3769ec19e554c022.jpg20191111_091341.thumb.jpg.4ccbca46579036f602c0cbdbd32606ce.jpg20191111_093101.thumb.jpg.9f2310b901d39a72a3178718c89a18b6.jpg

  • Like 2
  • Upvote 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

White Coral Vine, Antipogonon leptopus var. Alba, Polygonaceae/ Buckwheat Family..

Compared to the normal, pink/ reddish flowering variety of the species, the white-flowering form seems to be much less agressive.. or has been my experience w/ it here thus far.  Only the second time I've got it to flower well since I picked it up ( 2016 ) Even placed in more shade/ given lots of water, somewhat slower grower compared to the standard form which can be extremely invasive. Not advising anyone to try it but seed of the species is supposedly edible ( can be roasted, like pop corn )  Nice contrasting complement with the Purple Orchid Vine I have growing behind it. 

20191111_092657.thumb.jpg.1e8a9d9e09d5e311a2f8f5f4bca5c6ed.jpg20191106_095636.thumb.jpg.9c0cef5a5cc7777b2042944123f33ff8.jpg

 

Florida Fiddlewood, Citharexylum spinosum, Verbenaceae. Another trial subject that has held its own here ( Shaded / regular water thru summer ) While I get a few on and off spring-fall, primary flowering season is right about now.  Powerfully fragrant up close, and bees love it. Another Florida sp. that can be evergreen or drops leaves in the late winter as new growth starts to push ( has been my experience here anyway ) Can grow upwards of 15+ft in the ground.  Male/ female flowers produced on separate plants..  Need to track down a female specimen later on.

20191106_101121.thumb.jpg.572ccab9750255c134a9974912d9f53b.jpg

  • Like 3
  • Upvote 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Purple Orchid Vine, Mascagnia lilacina, Malpighiaceae.  Rarer cousin of the more commonly seen Yellow Orchid Vine, and like a little more shade too.  Isn't as free flowering either, doing so mainly late summer- fall here.  Yellow flowered sp. can flower all year. Tolerates alot more sun / direct heat as well.  First year this one has really put on a show.   Easy to root new plants by ground layering, ie: taking stems, and laying over a pot.. covering with a little soil and placing something heavy on top to secure until stems have rooted into the pots. 

Bee/ Hummingbird magnent.

20191106_101326.thumb.jpg.82d455392df729f38359908430445c19.jpg20191111_092728.thumb.jpg.260e33825d6439e1664d151621de0abc.jpg

 

Few more later...

  • Like 3
  • Upvote 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

White Coral Vine ? never seen one in Darwin.... we have the Pink variety ( as you say very invasive ! ) Plant once, well you will have for life haha.
I let my specimen climb into my 40 year old mango tree ( foolishly ) resulting in the tree falling during last year's Cyclone Marcus.
20180317_100923.thumb.jpg.cd6aef5b7207da0db8cb2c10f6fac6a8.jpg

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 minutes ago, greysrigging said:

White Coral Vine ? never seen one in Darwin.... we have the Pink variety ( as you say very invasive ! ) Plant once, well you will have for life haha.
I let my specimen climb into my 40 year old mango tree ( foolishly ) resulting in the tree falling during last year's Cyclone Marcus.
20180317_100923.thumb.jpg.cd6aef5b7207da0db8cb2c10f6fac6a8.jpg

Yea, that's not good, lol..  Remember seeing it growing up telephone poles/ covering lines, covering large trees in a few places between where I worked and the house back in Florida.. Beautiful vine but covered ( ..more like smothers ) any/ everything in its way there.  Contrast that with how ratty and sad it can look ( most of the time ) where it grows in Baja Sur.  Will be interesting to see if the White flowered one stays somewhat tame, or gets just as big ( and aggressive ) when in California.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just now, Silas_Sancona said:

Yea, that's not good, lol..  Remember seeing it growing up telephone poles/ covering lines, covering large trees in a few places between where I worked and the house back in Florida.. Beautiful vine but covered ( ..more like smothers ) any/ everything in its way there.  Contrast that with how ratty and sad it can look ( most of the time ) where it grows in Baja Sur.  Will be interesting to see if the White flowered one stays somewhat tame, or gets just as big ( and aggressive ) when in California.

Yes they are very ratty on our 'dry season', but spring to life with the first rains. Honey bees love the flowers, as do some of our nectar loving birds.
An 'old school' garden plant in Darwin, still common in the older suburbs. A fair percentage of my garden chores revolves around controlling its growth......

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...

As promised, some additional pics of end of summer / fall flowers ..of a bit better quality, lol    Taken before my camera died :rage:

Flowering on schedule, as summer heat starts to fade a bit, Calliandra tergemina.. Can't beat the combo of neon red flowers/ Maroon spotted new leaves.
DSCN6876.JPG.a91280a6828d1afdd1d7417ad0598b9e.JPG


Little leaf Cordia, Cordia parvifolia responding to one last burst of warm season showers.  Survives on very little water once established, but becomes quite lush when soaked once a month. One of those somewhat obscure plants that should be planted/ trialed much more than it is. Did fine for me in both San Jose, and while in Florida. Supposedly doesn't produce seed. Possible that the pollinator is restricted to where this sp. is native to in North Central Mexico.
DSCN6762.JPG.d1d01c6af12837a3d1945186d843aa48.JPGDSCN6924.JPG.12111a15aa84aaa23fbb020288a2fdf5.JPG


Cassia ( Senna ) ..possibly wislizenii, though i thought it was labeled Cassia pallida when i bought it. Regardless, always flowers late. Took a couple years but finally flowering well.   Flowers have a strong fragrance similar to Daffodils up close.
DSCN6850.JPG.4f1e083e506738445bb76e5251a77a98.JPGDSCN6855.thumb.JPG.7056322400fa6b6f96922a92f54a2aa7.JPGDSCN6848.thumb.JPG.ebd98e6cbcec3874a05846c816593a1d.JPG


AZ. Summer Poppy, Kallstroemia grandiflora.. This years show was somewhat interesting.. Plants that tried to germinated back in July rapidly declined and had faded out before doing much due to our dry summer.  These came up in mid September after a rather light shower. Though fading out, there are still a few flowers on the last couple plants atm, in December..  died off and pulled by Halloween last year.
DSCN6882.JPG.f5f563b70d473ce593f2afae2b12e3c1.JPGDSCN6883.JPG.504e7fe0e10d75c3c2b5052a17b43073.JPG


Sacred Datura, Datura wrightii.. @Fusca Waited all summer for these to do ..anything.. After aborting flowers all summer, biggest plant put out one flower, in October. Trying to flower again.. Weird. Considered a toxic weed by some, Sacred Datura are one of the best of the tropical looking / night flowering companion plants one can have in the summer garden, here in the desert.
DSCN6925.JPG.e5396919ddad479b2bb42b97919dec85.JPGDSCN6928.thumb.JPG.313cc488a01f18c3fe940b36d3bb599a.JPG

 Surprise, late summer re bloom on a couple of the Trichocereus.

Tricho X 'First Light'
DSCN6792.JPG.95ffba8530d8a4e600a03f044415fa84.JPG
Tricho X 'June Noon'
DSCN6754.JPG.a678ecaf21ac49feda25401279b78efb.JPG

Unknown Composite sp. Possibly one of the Isocomas ( Sometimes called Alkali Goldenbush ) Believe there are 2 or 3 different species native to this part of Arizona, and aren't easy to tell apart.  Sprung up last year in a part of the front yard that never gets water. Wasn't sure what it was so i left it alone until it started flowering. Tough plant..
DSCN6958.thumb.JPG.a53cfb7094f8cc39baa02cf7cfe9a26f.JPG

A nicer close up, compared to the others i posted earlier, of Purple Orchid Vine, Mascagnea lilacina.
DSCN6950.JPG.05d19062bd9a488e31a688beff15e5bf.JPG

  • Like 2
  • Upvote 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 minutes ago, Silas_Sancona said:

Sacred Datura, Datura wrightii

That is odd you just recently got flowers.  Mine went crazy with flowers through the summer and are now becoming ratty looking, but still blooming!  One that is in my front yard I cut way back after it had leaned over and nearly completely broke the main stem.  I'm curious to see if it will come back from the roots after it freezes back or just re-seed itself 100-fold like it did last year.  Honeybees can't wait for the flower to open - it's amusing to watch them struggle to push their way into the unopened flower to get at the pollen!

  • Like 1

Jon Sunder

Link to comment
Share on other sites

22 minutes ago, Fusca said:

That is odd you just recently got flowers.  Mine went crazy with flowers through the summer and are now becoming ratty looking, but still blooming!  One that is in my front yard I cut way back after it had leaned over and nearly completely broke the main stem.  I'm curious to see if it will come back from the roots after it freezes back or just re-seed itself 100-fold like it did last year.  Honeybees can't wait for the flower to open - it's amusing to watch them struggle to push their way into the unopened flower to get at the pollen!

I thought the same thing,.. Kept looking over the plants anticipating flowers all summer but they kept producing duds.. When this plant finally budded, first thought was.. "Jon is gonna like this, lol"  They kind of struggled through the heat through the summer, despite making sure they got more water than everything else, except the Plumeria out there. I'd have thought they would be dying down for the year now, not trying to flower.

Had one do something similar.. Looked like something tried to eat the base of the plant. Rather than cutting it down, and hoping it would regenerate from the roots, i piled more gravel/sand around it to keep it upright. Guess it worked since it kept growing.  One of the Brittlebush did something similar. Left it alone and its growing like mad atm.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

@Fusca

Couple pics of the crazy, trying to flower ..in December..    Datura wrightii.  Counted 9 buds on it before the big storm we had today blew in.
512308513_120919152747.thumb.jpg.6721c2275b70c8cf81c443d8859cbbcd.jpg174262184_1209191527a48.jpg.58930c81ea23ef3480b5c2653df91330.jpg

Edited by Silas_Sancona
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

16 hours ago, Silas_Sancona said:

Couple pics of the crazy, trying to flower ..in December

Nathan yours looks much better than mine at the moment although mine is still blooming as well.  Consistent watering must be key.  Here is a pic I took at the end of Sept after it fell over and before I trimmed it.  I lost count of the flowers but there's a bunch!  At 50-60 seeds per seed-pod how many seeds do you think it produced?  LOL!  There's already volunteer seedlings popping up.

datura.jpg

Edited by Fusca
  • Like 2

Jon Sunder

Link to comment
Share on other sites

48 minutes ago, Fusca said:

Nathan yours looks much better than mine at the moment although mine is still blooming as well.  Consistent watering must be key.  Here is a pic I took at the end of Sept after it fell over and before I trimmed it.  I lost count of the flowers but there's a bunch!  At 50-60 seeds per seed-pod how many seeds do you think it produced?  LOL!  There's already volunteer seedlings popping up.

datura.jpg

Nice!.. That things' a monster.. This is what i was hoping at least 1 of the 3 i planted out there might look like, in September, lol.  Thanks to Non-Soon '19™, they looked thirsty and not al so great until we started getting rain in November, then they perked up.. Except for one i ran over w/ the hose by accident.. Will survive just fine, just a bit beat up for now.. 

Will be real interesting if the bigger plant hangs on thru the rest of the year, and is flowering as the winter/spring wildflowers start flowering toward the end of Jan.. Noticed the beginning of some flower buds on the Datura that had been chewed on as a seedling too earlier today..

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

We've been through a pretty dry fall also.  This Datura was reaping the benefits of a leaky outdoor faucet that has since been repaired.  When it fell over it nearly crushed a juvenile Chamaerops behind the monster.  I trimmed it back to let the Chamaerops get some sun again.  I'll probably get more volunteer seedlings sprouting in the cracks of the driveway which are less annoying than spotted spurge. 

  • Like 1

Jon Sunder

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, Fusca said:

  I'll probably get more volunteer seedlings sprouting in the cracks of the driveway which are less annoying than spotted spurge. 

Spotted Spurge is almost as evil as the "wild", impossible to kill Bermuda Grass i've been battling out front.. Spray it, repeatedly.. Dig it out, constantly.. Even throw boiling water on it.. Nothing kills the stuff long term.  At least Spurge only appears during Monsoon season.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now



  • Recently Browsing

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...