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- More from Monica's garden (nothin' but stuff to love there!)
- My lawn is more of a ... meadow
- Chapter 12 - In which we visit the other Tribune garden writer's garden
- I'm about to save you $16 -- here's the highlights from Epcot's Behind the Seeds tour
- Boots gets the bronze and other winners of the recycled yard art contest
- Money? Who needs money for great yard art? (Not you!)
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- Miracle-Crack -- it's a hard habit to break
- Picture yourself here: More photos from The Dirt's Dirty, Dirty Tour
- The 1st Dirty Dirty (hot and sweaty but wonderful) Dirt Tour!
- Glamour shots make us all want to hug a tree
- Dracaena teepee insists: "I'm more than a garden prop!"
- Willy the Garden Cat -- Adventures of a Horti-feline
- Fall bloomers? We got fall bloomers! ("I see trees of green, red roses too. I see them bloom ...")
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I realized while I was out clipping and weeding and watering today – and admiring my October bloomers – it was a year ago this month that I was moaning right here about having nothing blooming in the fall.
A year ago, I figured most plants just don’t bloom in the fall. My garden was a one-season wonder. I do most of my planting in the summer (I need the rain because my plumber husband STILL has not provided an irrigation system despite us living in this house for 19 years! But yeah, that’s a personal problem.)
One tends to buy what’s blooming so I had summer bloomers. Summer. When no one works outside, plays outside or even sits outside. When we do everything we can to avoid being outside.
So I was moaning about fall being a colorless season in Florida and Susan Gillespie of Riverview responded.
“I have fall bloomers. LOTS of them!”
Bragger!
This is Susan.
Her bragging led to a column about her fall bloomers in The Tribune, and lots of seeds and cuttings in Penny’s backyard. Thank you, Susan! (And yes, it also led to a new friend. Ain’t gardening grand?)
It’s fun to learn, and being an advanced beginner in gardening, I do a lot of that. Working in my garden today, I realized I’ve learned a lot in just the past year. And thanks to Susan, I have fall bloomers, too!
I adored her black-eyed Susan vines, and she actually bought me a packet of seeds and mailed them to me! I planted many of them, MANY, indoors and out, and couldn’t get the first one to even germinate. So she somehow dug up part of her plant, potted it and gave it to me. That worked.
It’s an energetic twining vine that needs only a little hand-holding guidance to move down along a fence instead of strangling its dreamy, live-and-let-live neighbors. It’s usually covered with flowers. Mine is looking a little bare because I’m a bad person. (But I still have blooms! As you see)
If you like this, I found a version called black-eyed Susan ‘Spanish Eyes’ sold by Renee’s Garden, a seed company. You have to buy the seeds on-line – I haven’t found them locally. Spanish Eyes has sunset-colored blooms—pinks, yellows and oranges with dark “Spanish” eyes. I planted two of the seeds a couple weeks ago in a pot outside and they’re already up and growing.
They’re $2.99 a packet and you only get about a dozen seeds, but hey, if they all sprout, it’s money well spent.
These guys, by the way, need a sunny spot.
Susan also blessed me with Philippine violet, a shrub. Hers (and mine) has white blooms. Some varieties have lavender. The first spot I planted it, in the ground, it lived but didn’t enjoy life. I moved it a couple months ago, and it got happy.
This one likes sun but seems to need a little break from the hottest parts of the day. It has a kind of narrow, upward growth habit.
I’ve mentioned them here before but I can’t say enough about datura – or devil’s trumpet. It’s SO easy to grow from seed, and it produces lots of seeds in thorny golf balls that some (Kim) might find unattractive. I love the flowers and only wish my three datura would get as big as the one I started for Janna Begole (another Friend of the Dirt.)
These guys tend to lean and bend and generally behave in an uncivilized manner. They’re not for the well-manicured garden, and probably not for the garden with the house full of teen-agers. (Parts of the plant—I don’t know which—are used as halluconigenic drugs. My college-age daughter knows people who were “strung out on datura” for months.”)
Posted by Penny L. Carnathan, on 10/29 at 04:38 PM
Glad your garden survived, Janna! We had one nice night of rain, which I’m sure made it up to your house.
The field trip should be fun, but I was hoping for cooler weather by now. ... Our FODs will all have special little name tags to wear 
Posted by Janna, on 10/29 at 04:30 PM
Looking forward to meeting all of you on Saturday! (Hope you can slip out, even for a little while, Susan.) So nice of Rick to give us a tour! I have some datura seeds (purple) to bring and some rooted cuttings of red hots and cat’s whiskers. Does anyone want any “devil’s backbone?” If so, I could bring some cuttings of that, too. I’ll try to bring some hollyhock seeds - depending on Janice’s answer on whether or not they are ready!
Posted by Janna, on 10/29 at 04:19 PM
Great colorful photos, Susan and Penny! I just got back from vacation, took a walk around the yard and realize that I have lots of work to do! Luckily, the Datura are thriving and doing well, the black-eyed Susan is a little wilty (might need water) but hanging in there, and I have another hollyhock blooming beautifully!
Janice, I want to bring some hollyhock seeds for the swap and I know you told me it takes awhile for them to be ready. I have some “brownish pods” where the prior blooms were, but when I opened one up, the seeds were also beige/light brown, not like the black ones I got from you. Should I let them stay on the stalk a little longer??
Posted by Penny L. Carnathan, on 10/26 at 08:18 PM
Ah, Janice, apparently you didn’t read your FOD rulebook! You gotta take the money—otherwise, I’ll never again be able to say, “Please pick me up one of those plants, Janice!” (You were so sweet to do that for me! Thank you!)
I’ve never seen a yellow datura so I’m looking forward to your photos AND seeds. The purple one is one of my favorite flowers, though my bushes are pretty scraggly looking. Not sure what they need.
Chip, thanks so much for turning us on to that great cherries jubilee bargain. What a big, beautiful plant! Now I just have to figure out where it’s going to go. At least I know it wants space!
Posted by Iluvpumpkins, on 10/26 at 07:29 AM
Not going to take the money!!!!!!! But I am going to send a picture of the yellow datura when it blooms and save the seeds for you. Janice
Posted by Penny L. Carnathan, on 10/25 at 09:20 PM
Good plan Janice. Your garden will have a brass section again in no time.
By the way, if you have seed golf balls on your yellow datura, I would love some of those seeds.
Oh! And I forgot to pay you for my gorgeous cherries jubilee! I’m so sorry—I actually swiped a fiver from my husband just for that. I’ll settle up with you on Saturday. (And no arguing. Gotta keep my lines of credit open!)
Posted by Iluvpumpkins, on 10/25 at 09:11 PM
Thanks Penny. I am going to take cuttings and start over it is I can think to do. I just need to do it this week. Janice
Posted by Penny L. Carnathan, on 10/25 at 08:53 PM
Ha! Janice—so funny you predicted my comment about the rain tree! The fish problem would drive me NUTS.
It has been a tough year for us Tampa gardeners. (Janice, could you hear my heart breaking when I saw your beautiful angel’s trumpets in such agony? They were so stunning! I know that’s gotta kill ya cause it kills me!)
However, I have to say, usually, I’m not very happy with how my garden looks, but this weekend I was liking it. Lots of blooms at the moment (with a little help from my friends), and I think it must just look better when the weather is so fine.
Posted by Iluvpumpkins, on 10/25 at 08:12 PM
Susan,My perennial sunflower is just blooming at the top too. I thought maybe it was not getting enough sun. Now to those fish, I got in the pond and scraped up all of the leaves from the bottom and drained 2/3 of the water, then added fresh water. This is day 3 and the fish are still alive.Janice
Posted by Susan Gillespie, on 10/25 at 07:11 PM
Thanks Janice. That was so nice of you to say. I should show you the mosaic bra I made for a breast cancer awareness event at our plaza. It took in the most donations at the event.
All my sunflowers are sadly gone for the season. Or do you mean the sunflower Monster? Yes it is in bloom. I wasn’t sure it would this year and at that it is only blooming at the very top. Tough growing year.
I would be ticked too if my tree was killing my fish. What did you do about that? Move the fish?
Posted by Iluvpumpkins, on 10/25 at 06:30 PM
Boy, you guys have been busy blogging today. I took a nap now I am ready to go. I was reading the blog catching up and read up to Susan saying her favorite tree is the Rain tree, so I knew what Penny would say next. I am not gong to tell you just read the blog. Susan great picture of you, none of us want to see a picture of ourselves. Thank you so much for the mosaic butterfly brick, you really have talent, even my daughter noticed all the detail. Susan is your sunflower in bloom? I have one and it started blooming today. Janice
Posted by Penny L. Carnathan, on 10/25 at 04:29 PM
I will definitelty miss seeing you there so it would be great if you got a few minutes to pop over! I could give you a call when it looks like the tour part is wrapping up, if you want to do the seeds exchange.
My tree is probably about 3 years old and I started it from seed. I’ve got another small one that was a volunteer I dug up. It has no blooms.
Once you move the seedling through pots and it gets a good size to put in the ground, it grows pretty fast.
You’ll have flowers soon and you’ll love ‘em. Mine bloomed early—usually they don’t go till November.
Posted by Susan Gillespie, on 10/25 at 03:24 PM
I DO believe you are the one who started the Farmville bug, Penny. And thanks for the compliment. It’s way fun to see things bloom there and making virtual money to spend is a lot easier than real life. Ah! escapism.
My desert cassia has little blooms but no flowering yet. How old is your tree? Did you start that one from seed too?
If I find the least bit of leeway in my schedule Saturday I will shoot over to the real flower farm. I feel like I am missing something. 119 fabulous gardeners, that’s what. Take lot’s of pics.
Posted by Penny L. Carnathan, on 10/25 at 03:13 PM
Chip, if you go back a month or two on blog posts, you’ll see one I did explaining Farmville (I feel a bit like I may have introduced Susan to virtual crack, but hey, she’s VERY good at Farmville!)
We’ve got 119 people signed up for the flower farm tour! I was going to stop taking ‘reservations’ at 60, but Farmer Rick said, “The more the merrier!” I’m betting only a few of those people will hang out afterward for the seed/cuttings swap.
Golden rain tree is beautiful, Susan. Janice Vogt has one too (doesn’t like it because it “rains” in her fish pond and kills the fish!) My little desert cassia is in full bloom right now. GORGEOUS.
Posted by Chip, on 10/25 at 01:30 PM
Ok I did not know that! I have not gone into face book that would explane a lot. “Chip”
Posted by Susan Gillespie, on 10/25 at 01:24 PM
Hey Chip,
Farmville is a game on Facebook where you build a virtual Farm. It’s addicting, a time waster and totally fun.
Posted by Chip, on 10/25 at 01:18 PM
Where is Farmville ? must not be in Fla. I seen it mentioned here but I am not sure what state it is in. “Chip”
Posted by Susan Gillespie, on 10/25 at 12:40 PM
You crack me up Penny. Let’s hope that’s all it is.
I have a favorite fall tree in my yard called the Golden Rain Tree. I know it can be invasive but I love the colors it throws off in the area every year, first yellow then orange. Too pretty. I got that tree as a sapling at a yard sale for $2. That one grew like crazy. But the Nellie Stevens had a couple more zero’s at the end of that price so I seriously don’t want to lose it. Maybe it can use some Farmville fertilizer.
Posted by Chip, on 10/25 at 12:33 PM
Ok sorry Susan my mistake. Still like the rake wine glass holder though! I hope I have enough seed’s for every one how many are going? I was fretting about what to bring when a rather odd set of circumstance’s happened to me. It is a bit involved to be explained here but the result is I have a lot of seed’s to give away. ...“Chip”
Posted by Penny L. Carnathan, on 10/25 at 12:12 PM
Actually, the wine glass rake idea was borrowed from a magazine. A friend and I had both seen it, but it was the friend who spotted the old rake head at Webster flea market and said “Get this!” So I get 0 credit. (But I have it and that’s all that counts! )
Chip, if you sat on that old bench you’d quickly find yourself on the ground! It’s trash salvage spotted and toted by my (surprise!) husband. I have a comfy swing for that glass of wine!
Susan, I sure hope that holly is OK. I know how you nursed it through the transplant. Maybe it’s just losing leaves because it’s—ahem!—fall!
Posted by Susan Gillespie, on 10/25 at 09:01 AM
Oh Penny you are a sweetie. Thanks. My black eyed susan vine is not as prolific this year but I don’‘t see much yellowing. But then my neighbors may have more on the other side of the fence than I do. Flowers, that is. It has been a hard year for anything we have tried to grow. Too much water, not enough water, hot, hot hot.
My newest tree, a Nellie Stevens Holly, was losing a lot of her leaves. The arborist is going to come take a look at it. I sure hope I didn’t kill the poor thing.
Chip, unfortunately this is not my garden. It is, I am assuming, Penny’s. Her rake idea, etc. Although I have all the same plants blooming away for fall color.
Posted by Chip, on 10/25 at 08:38 AM
Beautiful Garden Susan ! I just love big flowering plant’s and you have a nice mix in your garden.
useing the old rake head for wine glass rack truly inspirational.There are a lot of plant’s that will bloom this time of year if you look for them. Diane and I mostly do veggies and in doing so must have flowering plant’s [to attract bee’s]. I can see having the bench as a nice spot to enjoy your garden and unwind from work have a cup of tea or glass of wine. Diane and I look forward to meeting all of you at the field trip next weekend can not wait! “Chip”
Posted by Penny L. Carnathan, on 10/24 at 09:15 PM
I think you look HOT Susan, but if you’d like, I can switch it out. I have lots of Susan pix!
Take another look at the post—I just realized I screwed up something and it was missing a chunk, but I believe I’ve fixed it.
PS I finally got to give Janice Vogt the mosaic brick you made for her. Just saw/delivered today. She loved it!
PPS Is your black-eyed Susan vine starting to look a bit yellowed? I’m a little worried about mine. Still growing like crazy, but it doesn’t look as happy as it did a month ago
Posted by Susan Gillespie, on 10/24 at 08:13 PM
Your “fall bloomers” are doing lovely, Penny. But——-can I have a picture do-over? Yikes!
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Kim's a Want It Now (WIN): Everything pretty, everything now.
Penny's a Nurture And Hold (NAH): Nah, I won't pull that out yet, it's still got a green shoot.
Kim will resort to full-spectrum insecticides in desperate situations, and believes it's her duty and right to buy new plants every weekend.
Penny likes dragonflies, lady bugs and new stuff only after weeding, pruning and fertilizing.
Both advocate Plant Choice (SOMEthing besides crotons. Please!), lots of color and low maintenance.
We don't agree on everything, but we're smart enough to learn from each other - and from you.
Posted by Iluvpumpkins, on 10/29 at 07:03 PM
Janna, The Hollyhocks seeds are ready when they turn dark brown and open on there own, you will know when they are ready. I look forward to meeting everyone also on Halloween. Janice