Always Growing

“The Eagle Has Landed”, a copyrighted post, was written for my WordPress blog called Always Growing by Jan in Covington, Louisiana 

The Eagle has landed?  Well, not quite.  But, it is a rather momentous occasion for me.  My bird of paradise has finally bloomed.  After years.  At least six years, maybe more.  I bought it as a one gallon plant and did every thing I read to get that plant to bloom.  I kept it pot bound, I kept it fertilized, I kept it watered and in full sun.  Nothing.  Recently, I read that it had to have a certain number of leaves before it bloomed.  (Twelve, which is why it is sometimes called the Apostle plant.)  Then, I started counting leaves.  I would drive past homes where there were birds of paradise blooming, and they were in SHADE!  I was so frustrated.  I finally told my plant I was tired of taking care of it, tired of dragging it inside every winter, and tired of no blooms.

My lecture must have done some good because soon there was a bud.

I was so excited last Monday when I saw it.  Every evening I went out to check to see if it had opened.  When we were getting thunderstorms, I worried about it.  I don’t think I could have stood for it to finally bloom and then have it destroyed by a rain storm.

Today, as I sloughed around the yard checking out how the garden looked after the .5 inches of rain we had last night, I suddenly saw that my bird of paradise bud had opened.  Hallelujah!

It is only one flower and not fully opened yet, but at least I know that the darn thing does bloom.  I guess I now know what a late bloomer really means.

“What’s Going On?”, a copyrighted post, was written for my WordPress blog called Always Growing by Jan in Covington, Louisiana 

Today was a fairly nice day, weather wise.  A dry front moved through, and early this morning the air felt cooler than normal.  It still was hot, but the humidity was down so that made the air a little more bearable.  Too bad I had to go to work and couldn’t do a little garden work.  I have been working late every day this week, so I could use some garden time.

This afternoon after yoga class, I went for a walk around the garden.  Since I really didn’t have a chance yesterday to really check out things, I paid close attention to everything.  When I walked by the Fairy Rose bush, I was surprised to see a new rose on one of the bushes was blooming white.  Now these roses will fade to a very pale pink as they age, but this was a new rose.  How strange is that.  Here is a photo of this white rose.

Here is a photo of a normal pink one with the white one in the back – both on the same bush.

I know that plants can often have a branch show up that is a throw back to the parent plants, but I looked up The Fairy’s lineage to four generations back, and none were white.  Strange, huh?

Another surprise that awaited me in the garden, but by now it was too dark to take a photo.   For years I have had some red shot canna growing in the side yard.  I even remember it blooming once several years ago.  It has grown well, but hasn’t bloomed in years.  I figured it was not getting enough sun now to bloom.  Well, this evening I walk by and smell that heavenly aroma of butterfly ginger.  That’s right.  The canna is ginger!  Now, I do not remember planting butterfly ginger there, though it is possible.  And, maybe the canna died, and I just didn’t realize it.  But, now I realize, I do not have any of the red shot canna from my mother anymore. 

I just don’t know what’s going on anymore.