Christmas Cactus

This naughty little plant seduced me at the garden center yesterday and I had to bring it home with me:



It's a Christmas Cactus and they have the most beautiful blooms. These are tropical succulents and live in the same environments as the orchids. They are light sensitive, so in September and October you want to keep them in a cool place (around 50 degrees) and out of electric light at night to ensure they will begin to set blooms. Also, water less during the blooming cycle and make sure they are not exposed to a freeze. If the buds start to drop, the issue may be over-watering, lack of humidity or insufficient light.

The rest of the year during their growing season they are treated as other tropicals. Make sure they get enough water and humidity and fertilize with a water-soluble fertilizer with a nitrogen ratio of no higher than 10 percent.

Oh, and you also don't want to re-pot these until they are done flowering. I want to re-pot this one, but I will have to wait until it's done blooming to do that. I guess I will just sit it inside a nicer pot for the time being.

These cactus are long-lived and if you take care of them, they grow into fabulously beautiful plants. My mother had a ginormous one for years and years. Hopefully I can get mine to do just as well.

More butterflies...

The garden continues to play host to many butterflies this fall. Here are a few:

American Snout:





American Lady:



Queen:



Gulf Fritillary:

Butterflies Dig Yellow

Lots of butterflies to be found in the garden today. They are mobbing the yellow Copper Canyon daisies and the Tropical Milkweed:

Planting Bulbs...

My bulb order arrived from Brent and Becky's and I am planting bulbs today. The bulbs all looked big and healthy too. Yay!

What I planted:

1)Narcissus - Sweetness (this one is yellow and supposed to smell sweet, hence the name)
2)Narcissus - Avalanche (called 'Seventeen Sisters' in the past because of its 15-20 white and yellow blooms on each stem; this is also supposed to smell sweet)
3)Narcissus - Flore Pleno (a double yellow jonquilla-ish bulb)
4)Crocus - Tommies (cause I REALLY want to have some spring crocus and I hear these sometimes work down here. I'm gonna give them a shot; they were cheap, so if they fail it isn't that big a deal)
5) Freesia Laxa - (these are winter growing south african bulbs. I put them where I have canna in the summer in the hope of having some winter color in that spot. I hope these work out for me!)

Why I now will be adding watermarks to all my images

So, I just realized a company in California has stolen my images and content, claimed them as their own and placed them on their business site selling ponds and fountains. I am pretty fricken pissed about this whole thing. They do not have an e-mail contact, so I will be calling them Monday asking them to please remove my images from their e-commerce site, otherwise I will be forced to take legal action.

I want to encourage anyone to NOT purchase anything from columbiawatergardens.com as these are the thieves who have stolen my images.

I will be placing watermarks on all my images from this point forward. I fucking hate people.

Anticipating a few late season blooms....

There are a couple of blooms stalks I am keeping an eye on right now:

The Aloe is sending up a flower shoot. Last year the first freeze of the season was December 5th in my garden and the aloe bloom stalk froze before it could open. This year, I am hoping the bloom preceeds the first frost:



The Mexican Tuberose is also sending up several bloom stalks; the garden will be perfumed with their intoxicating scent when they open:

Bloom Day - November 15th - a day late...

Happy November Bloom Day! (so I'm a day late - it happens..)

Autumn crocus coming up and blooming (these are new this year):





The Mexican Tuberose are getting ready for their second round of blooming this year. I adore these bulbs.:



Mexican Mint Marigold:



Copper Canyon Daisy. These are light sensitive and only bloom when the days are short in the spring and fall. Don't plant them near an evening light source (street light/house light) or they get all confused and won't bloom:



Mountain Sage:



Mealy Blue Sage covered in skippers (the butterflies, not the fast food fish for those who know what I am talking about):



Shrimp Plant:



Coneflower:



Mexican Bush Sage:



Texas Bluebell (Yep, still flowering. Gotta love this one):