New Orchids

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I picked up two new Orchids today - a Den. phal hybrid of some sort and something that belongs to the Oncidium alliance. It wasn't labelled at all (anymore) so I've really got no leads other than its alliance.

The other is easy (Not that I have a name or anything. I really don't even know what colour flowers it has):



NOID Dendrobium phalaenopsis (hybrid)

From my research I should start to water and fertilize fairly heavily once the new shoots roots start to grow. Then I should let it rest (but not a complete rest rest, just reduce watering and no fertilizer rest) once the growth stops (I guess I'll figure out when that is when it happens?) and hopefully it'll bloom in the spring. Then, once even more new growth starts in the spring and starts to put out roots, water again, letting it rest at the end of the summer for a fall flowering. Doesn't sound too bad.

The plant needs to be re-potted though, as I'm sure 90% of the roots on this thing are visible in the picture and the medium is complete garbage (compacts so much when dry, really not good when it's supposed to go dry for long periods of time). Seems like it'll stay too wet the rest of the time too.

A few more flowering Saintpaulia cvv. for you

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It's hard to be too excited about an African Violet flowering because they do it so much it's really not that big a deal. I'll try though, these are some of the more interesting.



"NOID 0020" - I lied, this one is not interesting. It is pretty though. Actually a bit part of the reason I like this one is not pictured here. The leaves are large, and round, and light green. The white flowers bring it all together but they've mostly been opening under the larger leaves above. So I was really only able to get a good shot of this one flower that's decided to make itself visible. I also had to do some serious photo-shopping to get any detail in the flower without having it horribly underexposed or with highlights blown. It worked well but what you can see of the leaves is way way darker than they actually are.


Saintpaulia 'Rebel's Splatter Kake' - I've posted this one several times before. I was happy to see a large head of flowers on it... But most of them do not have the same quality or amount of spotting on them, so another closeup it is. I think the colour's closer to the real thing in this picture, and the light is softer and maybe the focus is sharper so you get to see it again.


"NOID 0006" - I think this was ID'd as Saintpaulia 'Sergeant Pepper' but we did not (apparently) update the label. I like it.

Just for fun I'll throw in a bonus:



Streptocarpus 'Sultan's Ruby' first bloom. It's dark but red, not the purple you saw here.

The waiting game: shoots and buds.

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I have a lot that will be going on sometime later. I've even got a few first blooms for some plants, and first re-blooms for others, which is pretty exciting, or at least it will be.



Unknown Aloe hybrid

Both of my new Aloes are in bud. I hope there will not be any complications from having to bring the one pictured inside when the temperatures drop too low, the other (Aloe descoingsii x Aloe haworthioides - couldn't get a clear picture of the tiny spike) is already inside and was when the bud showed up so I'm not so worried about that.



An Echeveria cv. in bud too, another first.

I've got some exciting action going on with the Orchids as well.



Neostylis Lou Sneary 'Bluebird' is in spike.


Aerangis biloba

I only just got the Neostylis this spring and usually it takes longer for me to get any results from my Orchids, so very happy with that spike. It's supposed to be fairly reliable at flowering more than once a year so with any luck I'll get another spike on it in the spring (it was flowering in February when I bought it).

The Aerangis has flowered for me before, though this year it looks like I'll only have one spike. The plant was allowed to get too dry too often this spring and I'm paying for it. The moss packed (densely) around the roots stayed wet for a long time so I removed it, and increased watering. At least, for a time. Then watering slowed, and the plant went downhill. I moved it to the plant stand where I'd have better access to it and watered more and new leaves started to grow so I've tied a looser layer of moss around the roots and it's definitely responding to the moss and the more frequent watering. Still, i didn't expect flowers after its mistreatment.



NOID Miltonia

This has been a slow grower for me, happy to see new growth though. Will keep it wetter next summer than I did this year.



NOID Cattleya

I've had this Cattleya for a long time with no results. This will be its fourth new shoot since I got it with no flowering yet. It will likely run out of pot next year and will have to be repotted. This year it spent the summer outside in full sun, which I'm hoping will get me something for my trouble. My Oncidium Sharry Baby 'Sweet Fragrance' AM/AOS is not showing any signs of spikes after summering outside, and maybe it's too early but nothing yet from my Cymbidium. Night temperatures are dropping to single digits now so I'm really hoping to see something from the Cymbidium.

Fall's come early this year

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Not much to say here, snapped this picture of this maple today showing some nice late fall colour relatively early this year. Can't see it so clearly here but many of the leaves have already dropped. This tree us usually early compared to other maples, it's in a dry spot on a steep slope in clay soil with baking sun.

Phone stuff - a new keyboard

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I was finding the default keyboard on my Acer liquid E to be a bit of a pain to type with so I've just been checking out  a few options. I did not try many (most either don't have a free version to try or just didn't seem top have anything available at all - for example the closed beta only for Swype) but SlideIT is by far the best, easiest to use and fastest keyboard I did try. It takes a little bit of practice to get used to but really makes typing on a touch screen really simple.

Problems I have had include words containing the letter "p" (presumably  also "l"?) can get interrupted if your finger slides off the screen giving you two wrong words instead of one right word (it's usually excellent at getting the right word, even if you don't hit all the letters properly). All special characters can only be accessed through a button press (if you're lucky, sometimes it can take more since there are several screens of these characters - parentheses take two clicks to get to, and apparently I use them a lot). One of my biggest problems with the default keyboard was not having any way to easily go back and edit text. You could try clicking and hope for the best but otherwise you were on your own. SlideIT has arrow keys to move through text but unfortunately they are hidden on there fourth page of special characters. It's also really easy to hit backspace when you're trying to move right, or space instead of down - a big problem if you're trying to scroll through a lot of text and can't easily see where the extra space ended up. It's a little easier to click your way to a problem spot anyway but easier access to those buttons would be nice. There are also some handy looking cut/ copy/ paste buttons but don't ask how I'm supposed to select text! (oh wait, double clicking works most of the time, but only if you only want to select one word) Also as I've been typing this I've also noticed that the enter button is much closer to the period button than I'd like.

I've actually typed this whole post on my phone with little to no problems. I'm also impressed with some of the words they've got built in to there dictionary. Like Rhododendron (would not have been fun to touch type that on the old keyboard!). Another nice feature is being able to switch to a standard touch keyboard, though trying it out I could not help but notice how many keys I hit wrong in a very short time.

I would probably say worth getting the free version, the frustrations with trying to select, edit, or even move through large amounts of text really limit the usefulness of this keyboard. The Swype/Slide mechanism is interesting and it's a huge improvement over the stock keyboard but otherwise it needs some changes to justify spending money on it.

Oh, and speaking of Rhododendrons (were we? not really, oh well), I've tracked down a Lee's Dark Purple even though we supposedly ran out of them at the start of the month. Hopefully I can get some space cleared for it tomorrow, and get the rest of my bulbs planted. I guess I also need to really start bringing plants back inside now that were hitting single digit overnight lows.

Sorry no pictures tonight with this post, I'll try to get something something more plant related tomorrow.

Dracaena problems

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Can anyone tell me what seems to be the problem? Does not seem to effect the new growth, mostly older.

Just in: Hydrangea 'Little Lime'

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We just got these in at work and I wish I had a spot for them. Just like 'Limelight' but only growing to 3-5' tall.

We've also gotten Hydrangea 'Bella Anna' which should be like an improved 'Invincibelle Spirit', but it's not in bloom so doesn't look much different from a regular 'Annabelle', just in a blue Endless Summer pot.

Tillandsia mount

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I picked up some wood today to mount some of my Tillandsias to try and get them looking a little bit more ornamental. I chose a piece of wood with grooves so I could get the finished piece to look natural in the placement of each plant. I may get one more smaller specimen for the front, below the other two. Or, leave it as is. Odds are I'll leave it as is. Hopefully the larger one (a NOID) will recover from becoming a kitten chew toy and become a nice large specimen. I don't want it to look crowded once that happens.



New Tillandsia mount.

Right now the larger one is wedged fairly tightly into a small hole, the smaller is just resting in a nook. I'm hoping they'll both root in place and I won't have to tie (which I've actually done since I wrote this) or (gasp) glue them in place.

Dark Flowered Gesneriads

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A couple of the darker flowered Gesneriads I have flowering right now.


Streptocarpus 'Ink Blot'


Saintpaulia 'Black Ace'


Streptocarpus 'Purple Pepper'

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day - September 2010

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Lots flowering again this month. Many earlier flowering plants are repeating, and all of my fall flowering plants are going. And some have never really stopped.



Actaea (Cimicifuga) simplex 'James Compton' is one of my favourite plants. It is matched on the other side of the yard by the equally lovely 'Hillside Black Beauty'. It is rare for either of these to flower before September making them a real fall flowering plant. The buds start to form in mid summer so there's a lot of expectations on these once they open. A. simplex is faintly fragrant with a sweet candy like scent. Do not try to smell A. racemosa though!


Tricyrtis 'Tojen' is another star of the fall shade garden. I had a picture of the flower a million times better last month but this better shows the massive number of flowers this can get. At each axle the plant will produce a branched flower stalk with between 10-15 buds, which open over an extended period. It starts in August but will not stop flowering until snow. This year as well there were no lily beetles to ruin the look so it'll be looking its best all fall.


Lonicera japonica 'Halliana' is repeating in its corner. Apparently with a little more light it would be more of a continuous bloomer, which would be nice, but I'll take what I can get. My Clematis 'Rebecca' is reblooming as well. It was hit hard by the unprecedented heat waves of this summer and does not look too good in pictures right now!


Persicaria affinis started flowering in May and has not stopped. There's a better picture in the link but this shows the effect later in the season as the older flowers have darkened to a nice pink colour with more white flowers opening constantly.


My Bougainvillea is also still flowering well with little sign of stopping.


My NOID Red Rose. I can't say enough good things about this plant.

There's even more flowering inside but I imagine that soon enough I'll be posting those exclusively so for now enjoy the late season garden.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you liked seeing some of what I have flowering this month. And as always head over to May Dreams Gardens to see what's flowering for other Garden Bloggers.

Checking in on Musella lasiocarpa

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I posted a while ago about how much this plant had grown in such a short time. Little did I know even that would be dwarfed by what it would manage by the end of the season.


May 21, 2010


June 25, 2010


September 14, 2010

Another new bulb - Iris bucharica

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This sort of jumped out at me today and I had to pick one up without hesitation (or any research).



Iris bucharica
(Photo by Michael Wolf used under CC license from here.)

The leaves are so un-Iris-like I'd have never guessed it was an Iris, if it weren't for the flowers anyway. I was musing about using Iris reticulata 'Cantab' in the warmest part of my back yard (along with the purple crocus and Snowdrops) but I think this will take that position.

This spring it should be interesting to see all the new plants and bulbs start to flower and fill in.

'Tis the season... for bulbs.

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In my front yard around my Hosta 'Captain Kirk' I'll be planting this combination of bulbs.


Iris reticulata cvv.


Crocus chrysanthus 'Romance' (I've planted this one before and been very impressed with the show it puts on. I think I had it mixed with an even lighter yellow/white that I may also try to track down again.)


Galanthus nivalis - Snowdrops

Most likely Iris reticulata 'Harmony' towards the back of the garden. This will keep the taller leaves away from the hosta and help keep it a little tidier looking. I'll have several groupings of the Crocus chrysanthus 'Romance,' possibly interspersed with a light yellow/white variety. Towards the front (all over the place ideally) I'll have the Snowdrops. I also have just gotten a purple Pasque Flower (not planted yet) and a Primula marginata ‘Mauve Mist’ that may decide to join the party. The colours should all work together so I'm looking forward to seeing how that all works together.

In my back yard I have a space under my Clematis which is probably the first reliably snow free spot in my yard. I've got a handful of dark blue NOID Crocus there already that I've just transplanted this year. I will add a few more purples, maybe some 'Harmony' and a bunch of Snowdrops.

I can't see myself doing too much other bulbs planting this year but we'll see. So far nothing else has really caught my eye but of course we'll have to see. I may also just pick up an extra bag of Snowdrops and tuck them around in different places.

Must get - small cardboard palm

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We've just gotten a pretty big shipment of tropicals from Florida and there's a lot of interesting things. I'm most likely to get this: a small "bonsai" cardboard palm. Also of note are some Vandas, a nice "bonsai" ponytail palm (nice, but a little more common so I can wait to pick one up) and a whole lot of nice Euphorbias (which I'm also willing to wait on).

Of course things haven't been 100% unpacked so I'll have to see if anything else jumps out at me. Space is limited so I need to make sure whatever I get is something I really "need." Maybe also a few of the more interesting Euphorbias...

Clematis 'Rebecca' in Steroescopic 3D

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Just a quick post today. I first saw this technique used at Plants are the Strangest People and have wanted to try it out since.

To see the picture in 3D you'll have to cross your eyes so the pictures overlap.




I'm happy with how it turned out and I'll definitely be playing around with it again.

Outdoor Plants at the Toronto Zoo

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Many of the outdoor plantings at the Zoo don't really take off until around this time of year. Here are a few pictures I took yesterday.



Some sort of Pennesetum, possibly 'Little Bunny'.


Large Castor Bean plants outside the front gate, along with large Sunflowers, large Cannas, and really nice "annual" Fountain Grass.


Lobelia cardinalis


Probably Asclepias curassavica?


Natural wooded area near an unnatural waterfall near the Mayan Temple display.


Some sort of Miscanthus, even more of these will start to really put on a show as we get later into September.

Tropicals at the Toronto Zoo

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Here are a few pictures I took at the Toronto Zoo today. Mostly stuck to the Americas pavilion today which seems to have the most interesting plants of any section of the Toronto Zoo (The Indomalaya pavilion is a very close second).


Eucharis x grandiflora


Heliconia flowers and Monstera leaves.


Bird's Nest Anthurium (Anthurium hookeri?)


Not sure what this one is.


Jealous of this Tillandsia wall. I've never actually noticed it before.

Bulbs are here!

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Setting up bulbs today, what to buy...I'm thinking at least Iris reticulata, Snowdrops and possibly some sort of Allium, will have to see once everything's been unpacked.

Sort of unrelated but late last night I walked past a large grouping of some sort of Datura. The smell was fantastic. I think maybe next year I might need to look into getting one of those as well.