I'm amazed
>> Monday, September 12, 2016 –
blooms,
castor bean,
foliage
There are a few things about this year's garden that have surprised or amazed me. For instance, the Pachypodium lamerei...
...has been flowering constantly for almost 60 days. I did not expect this!
It just keeps pushing out blooms!
I don't detect any scent, but I can't get close enough for a good sniff. I don't see any fruit forming, but I've read it is pollinated only by moths, and I suspect they have to be pretty large ones.
Also amazing are the castor beans growing next to the deck:
This seems like the tallest they've ever gotten, almost 24 inches (60cm) above the deck railing with some time still left in the season!
Spectacular!
Also amazing but in a less positive way are the castor beans next to the driveway:
These are usually 8-10' tall at this time, but this year they're less than half of that! Surely they were crowded out by Agastache foeniculum this year -- I really should have thinned those plants!
Back to the deck for a minute:
It amazes me that a vine (Hyacinth bean, Lablab purpurea) can have all of its leaves stripped when young, yet still creep its way upward until it is above deer-chomping height. This one emerged a couple of weeks ago and as you can see is now beautifying the deck. So nice!
And finally, a surprise of my own making. It amazes me how a little bit of colored wood...
...can make a little mess of a spot look almost planned. Love that color!
Anything amazing you about this summer's garden?
.
Your ricinus is starting to reach tree like stature, fantastic! And it's an achievement enough to get Pachypodium to flower, let alone blooms continuously for over two months, cool!
I cannot begin to fathom Castor Bean trees...seriously fabulous.
Yay for the castor bean tree! Its beautiful!
Amazing indeed! I thought of you when I got a small Pachypodium at a recent odd plant show and sale. Glad yours is still blooming. It's amazing how adding a little structure in front of jungle-like growth makes it seem planned...until the plants start growing over the furniture.
Something I forgot to point out... in the wide shot of the castor beans near the deck, look at the leaves next to the deck post. That's a separate plant that grew in the shade under the deck on the ground (not in the raised bed). It was a late-sprouting volunteer and is almost to the deck even though growing in mostly shade. Amazing!
Mark/Gaz: this might be my favorite plant this year. I'm a bit worried about it being too tall to bring indoors...
Loree: I almost made a comment about the "tiny" front castor beans (4' tall) being very PNW, but thought that might be mean. :)
If you said this was a garden in Hawaii, I'd believe it!
Love the Caster and Hyacinth beans, they were always a winner for my garden but now I have 2 small dogs one of which eats anything. The Pachypodium lamerei is new to me ,must look it up. 6 months of blooms woo hoo !
I grew caster bean plants on the farm! Love love them. I'm back in The city now and NEXT year I'm having them! 🌴 Thanks! Love the dark ones!
Gerhard: I'm starting a fund so that I can garden in Hawaii -- care to make the first donation? ;)
Patsi: it's not 6 months of blooms yet, just 2. Still worth getting excited about!
Karen: The dark ones (sometimes seen as 'New Zealand Purple' I think) are my favorites too. Although there is one cultivar with HUGE leaves that I wouldn't mind growing.