Mallow-Licious Tropical Delights

I think that by now, anyone who has read at least a few posts here at Urban Oasis knows that I'm a hopelessly addicted Hibiscus fanatic. (If not, you'd better study up using the labels provided. They will be on the final exam!) The last few years I've ventured back into growing the tropical varieties again after taking several years off ... when we first moved to Casa IVG back in September, 1998, I had been growing a lovely orange one for a couple of years and we brought it with us. Unfortunately, I treated it so well that it grew to be over 6 feet tall in its big pot, and every fall we brought it in, we grumbled about its size --not to mention weight-- and where to put it (that's a real problem for us with everything that spends the summer outside). I'm not sure when exactly it happened, but one fall it just happened to be outside when we got a hard freeze, so that was the end of that. I felt bad enough about that episode that I stayed away from them for several years, and just began re-entering the fold about 3 years ago. That was about the time that I discovered the incredible new varieties being developed by Bahama Bay Hibiscus, the inspired breeders who brought these two stunning examples shown here to the mass market. Of course, these days tropical hibiscus are pretty common, easy to find tropicals at many nurseries and mass merchandisers, and though there are a lot of perfectly lovely, simply colored varieties available at reasonable prices, they certainly don't hold a foot candle to these showier (read: more expensive) hybrids. I guess when I decided to get back in touch with my inner tropical hibiscus again, I also vowed not to grow just any Hibiscus I found, but rather to limit myself to the truly remarkable cultivars. This way I can grow fewer plants, enjoy them more, and give them the winter pampering they so desperately need (and demand).

Thus my acquisition of these two stunners (from the top), 'Erin Rachel' and my newly purchased 'Sun Showers' from last spring. They are indeed the two most eye popping hibiscus I've seen in years, so of course, I just had to have them! (Photos taken on September 13, 2008, the first is mine and the second courtesy of Fernymoss.)
Fernymoss 'posed' this second shot so he could get both blooms in to show the contrast between these newest cultivars ('Erin Rachel' hit the market last year, and 'Sun Showers' this year) ... talk about the full range of the fire colors? Put these two together and you can run the whole rosy red orange yellow gamut of possibilities hibiscus can offer. I'm sorry, but if you want more colors included, I think you're going to have to either depend on Bahama Bay or breed them yourself! I'm really proud to have these two as part of our collection, even if we are going to have to make some concerted efforts to keep them happy during the coming winter.

Like most tropical hibiscus grown outside during the summer and brought inside in fall, they do not like the transition to a less sunny and humid place, thus they lose lots of leaves for a while. Though it's no reason for despair, you do have to be aware that they should winter in the sunniest areas of the house you can provide, keep them watered regularly and hold off on feedings. During the summer we generally feed them monthly with an organic fish emulsion solution, which keeps them robust and blooming during the warmer months. I discourage feeding during the winter because they tend to get somewhat leggy anyway, and feeding will only promote this further. If you can provide additional light (e.g. fluorescent or grow lights), they may well bloom for you over the winter. We have two direct sun Southern windows on one side of the house and that's where they will winter here, and hopefully give us a few blooms. 'Erin Rachel' did bloom sporadically last winter after she recovered from the initial shock, but towards spring she developed a bit of root rot (due to the container she was in) from which it took her most of this summer to recover. She's obviously feeling --and looking-- much better now, and I hope that we can keep them outside for at least several more weeks before we are forced to bring them in. It all depends, but the signs seem to point to an early frost this year for some reason. I certainly hope I'm wrong, but I can kind of sense it in my gardener's bones already.... Only time will tell.

Last weekend, Fernymoss and I sat down to decide what bulbs we are going to order this year and came up with a preliminary order from Van Bourgondien, a supplier we have used and been quite pleased with in the past. To be honest, we didn't really want to order much because it's so much work digging all the holes when the weather is so fickle in October and November, but this year Nature pretty much forced us into it. I've already bemoaned, gnashed teeth and otherwise pulled out thinning hair about the loss of most of our tulips earlier this year, so I won't rehash all that now. (Whew for readers!) So here we go again ... we are going to order about 80 more tulips (mostly Darwins), some more Crocus, Camassia, some small Fritillarias, Stargazer Lilies, and a few others mostly chosen from the 'bargain pages.' We're still debating about whether to get another Dragon Arum (aka: 'Mr. Stinky'), but at this point we've decided that since our other one is spreading so well, we may just skip that one, since the 'Voodoo Lily' Arum we planted this summer is up and growing right now. That doesn't mean we won't change our minds before we actually place the order soon, heh.

Are you other gardeners out there planning for fall plantings yet? I know some don't have the luxury of spring bulbs, but what else are you planting when fall is in its last phases?

Detecting a Real Fall Trend Here ...

This past weekend certainly had all the harbingers of fall in sway ... with cool, rainy days and nights, and as we experienced today, some of the very windy, remnants of Ike blew through. I saw on the regional radar last night that a few former outer bands of Ike's stormy weather were actually passing through the SE corner of the state, into Illinois and beyond. I suspect that more than a few midwestern gardeners also noticed these effects as well... Indeed, Fall is creeping quickly on to the gardening scene around Casa IVG, as the rest of this post will show, I hope....

Anyway, as you can now see, the Chrysalis has now been officially vacated ... it must have been sometime Thursday (when last we checked it) overnight or during the day Friday, which was a very rainy day and night here ... in any case we wish her/him well on the journey ahead, and hope s/he comes back next year and brings friends! I guess I know instinctively what's coming ahead in the season, and with the imminent departure of the butterflies, it's near certain proof that it's time to quit boating in denial, and just accept it.

The Praying Mantises are still around and quite visible, especially on the aphid infested Heliopsis (aka: Yellow Rogue) out by the shed. Both Fernymoss and I got shots of this guy at work, but I liked this series that Fernymoss got, so his photos won out. Just a Saturday afternoon session at the Lunch Counter for this lucky Mantis pal of ours ... and most days if we take a good look around, we can usually see this or one of his friends hanging out as well. I hope they do realize that they are the only reason why these Heliopsis haven't been dug/ripped out of the ground by now. Fortunately those aphids don't migrate to our other plants, and we've decided that the Mantises definitely have had something to do with that. Anyway, as most now know, we're tickled to have these guys in the garden ... we think they may be here to stay now that we've two full years of Mantis Guard....
Out in the savage back veggie garden, Punkinstein is still running amok and now crawling over the fence we have up to keep the dogs out (it doesn't work well with Pepa!), and into the back yard. They're still blooming prolifically, and are producing a few pumpkins --unless there are some as yet undiscovered ones, which is possible-- but we're assured we'll have at least two small ones ... now the question is whether they will fully ripen to orange by Halloween. We went grocery shopping today and saw they already had pumpkins for sale, but I somehow suspect they came from another place, because I'd find it hard to believe Iowa grown pumpkins would be that ripe already ... anyway, time will tell. Now, what might Pepa be peering through the fencing to see?
Yep, it's one of Punkinstein's progeny lying just on the other side of the fence, and when I looked at this new one last time, I recall it was about baseball sized, and now look at it! I'm sure they appreciated all the cool, rainy weather we've had for the last week and have really been (literally) soaking it up. Even though the veggie garden has been a savage jungle the last month or so, we're really proud of two of our more unusual growing attempts ... we had several rows of our own, organic corn that gave us several good meals, and now we seem primed to have our own organic Halloween pumpkins as well! The corn stalks are starting to dry on their own, and the few tardive ears that have developed --since we stopped harvesting a week or so ago-- will be shucked and left to whatever critters in the yard may want them. I suspect the tree rats will likely be the recipients, but I wouldn't mind if a raccoon happened through and found them ... one of our mild concerns with the corn was that we'd lose it to raccoons, but if they've been around, they have either been very discreet in thievery or respectful ... in either case, we got a crop out of it, and have even more Halloween decorations drying out back...
Though this is anything but a 'fall' flower, the abundance of fiery orange certainly suggests (ok, it screams) autumn hues. Both 'Sun Showers' and 'Erin Rachel' (more on them in another post) were blooming abundantly this weekend, and both of us ended up taking very similar shots of them (though independently of each other!), and we both focused on getting close ups of this particular bud, with another open bloom in the background. Both sets turned out pretty well, but I selected this one from Fernymoss' because I liked the detail and the overall composition ... aren't those buds as delectable as the open flowers? I have to say, 'Sun Showers' is the most spectacular tropical hibiscus I've ever owned (even when pitted against the double blooming red Chinese one I had through college and grad school), and it was worth every bit of its high end price of $45! You can bet we'll be pampering these two more this winter to keep them happy, and even perhaps blooming! Anyway, such vibrant orange leads to thinking of Halloween, which then leads to thinking of Halloween themed colors, such as black....
While I was out looking for the Chrysalis yesterday, I spotted this spider working her web in the vicinity of the now-voided chrysalis ... I can't provide a positive ID on her, but she looks a lot like that one I posted a while back (the one who was carrying her little ones). In any case, when I shot her, she was pretty mellow (Fernymoss tried later and scared her a bit), so I was able to get up fairly close. Hmm, spiders, fall, black after orange ... there is definitely a fall trend going on here.

As the garden winds down, inevitably, there are still bright spots to be seen, mostly among the remaining annuals you'll see over the coming days ... some of the perennials (namely the Ligularia dentata) are still in full swing --yay Toad Lilies! Yay Queen Rudbeckia!-- but the general trend is definitely on the winding down side of the cycle. I picked a few tomatoes yesterday and they're ripening much too slowly with this recent cool weather, but are still tasting pretty good ... my miserable peppers are now rebounding (too little, too late), but I still hold out few hopes to see much from them. So we were blessed by the garden gods in some respects and eh, slighted in others? Such is the gardening cycle we play every year ... we play with what we're dealt, and given the unusual nature of this particular summer, I think we still came out pretty well, all things considered. At this point, we're still pretty pleased, despite the onslaught of weeds this wet summer brought upon us....
I'm sure no one saw this coming ... Halloween Full Bore is nearly upon us here at Casa IVG. As long time readers already know, this is our big decorating event of the year (aside from Christmas blogging). While we were out shopping today, we made one of our periodic trips to Big Lots, one of those stores we like to check out every couple of months or so, just to see what they have ... and where we can often pick up many grocery items we'd pay more for at the regular places.

Of course, they had all their Halloween regalia on display, but aside from the usual items astute Halloween shoppers see, this particular item, 'Mr. Foggy, Mist Making Skull,' caught my eye, imagination and $20. It's actually a quite fun --and different-- Halloween decoration that does something ... it produces ample water vapor illuminated by interior LEDs. So I thought I'd include this short video just for fun ... I think you'll get an idea of what it does, even from this rudimentary set up. What we really intend to do with it is a bit more thematic ... some gravel, rocks, bones and other items placed around it. But I couldn't resist showing it off as it gave one of its début performances. After a while, it actually makes a nice, quiet gurgling ambient sound, but what you'll hear most prominently is the sound of Rolly panting in the background ... this recent weather with so much humidity in the air hasn't been kind to either humans or animals, but it too will pass soon...

Update on other matters: In case anyone was wondering what I was up to this weekend, other than neglecting the blog, I was very much involved with searching out and testing various programs to produce the Urban Oasis Calendar 2009. After upgrading to the most recent version of my photo editing software, I realized that it really lacks the capabilities to produce the kind of calendar we want to do, so I went hunting on the tubes to see what I could find that would do what we want to do. After testing out about a dozen or so programs (all rejected for one reason or another), I've almost come to a decision, and it may be a somewhat costly one, but still ... We want to produce a quality product we can proudly give our friends and family.

At this point, I still have a couple of other programs I want to check out, but I'm tending toward the higher end (e.g. expensive) solution offered by SmartDraw. It has the kind of ultimate hands on control of all options of the calendar I want to be able to manipulate, but it comes at a price ($99.00 US) ... we'll see what wins out, but at any rate I wanted to say that we're working on the calendar in the background, and it's pretty certain that it will happen eventually (I'd like to have it wrapped by mid-November). Fernymoss has been busy of late compiling some really cool and helpful enviro-friendly tips about pest control and other topics ... we'll also be including all the usual (and unusual) holidays, as well as the moon phases, and even more that Fernymoss will probably contribute. We've got the basic layout (depending on the software I choose) established at this point, and some preliminary photos have been identified, so it's just a matter of time ... and software chosen to do the job! I'll keep you updated....

And, as I've said before, if anyone would like to nominate particular pictures they've liked over this year, feel free to point them out in the comments ... we've got each month mapped out provisionally, but are certainly still open to suggestions. Depending on what software I eventually choose, we can probably include multiple images on certain pages (cover, interior page, back cover), so if anyone has any favorites, let us know!

End of August Garden Bounty

It's been a relatively lazy weekend around here, and fortunately I have one more day to savor before back to work, which --as you may have guessed-- has been pretty busy for me the past two weeks. I've got a brief respite before another wave hits me full force again. So, as a small personal reward, I basically allowed myself a relatively slackerly Saturday and Sunday (though I did get caught up with laundry, no small feat there).

Thus the leisurely tone for tonight's post ... since Fernymoss has to work tomorrow, we did a bit of grilling to honor the weekend's official wrap up of Summer (though we're still hoping for plenty more warm weather to come for at least a while). So, in that spirit, this will be a basic "look and see what I saw" tour around the back.

I'm sure no one noticed the first shot did they? 'Sun Showers' is back in bloom again, after a brief rest, and wow, it's as eye popping as always! I'm really not regretting having forked over the big bucks for this plant now ... it's been a steady and profuse bloomer most of the summer... how could anyone quibble with walking out back and seeing a few of these screaming Heeeyyyyy look at me! You know when you're looking at such a fiery flower and realize that the coolest color in the entire bloom is hot pink, you're dealing with truly over the top Hibiscus! We absolutely love it, and will be taking meticulous care of this and 'Erin Rachel' this winter... they both deserve the pampering....
This shot is just one of the several (at least) progeny of Punkinstein, who is still trying to conquer the entire garden, and we keep putting him back on the ground ... that is, until he sneaks out of bounds again. We haven't been able to inspect the total sprawl of this plant for pumpkins, but we're sure they're in there hiding somewhere... while he was shooting this one, Fernymoss also discovered a much smaller one set on not far away from this one, which is the largest we've yet found. We're getting excited about them hanging on all the rest of the season so we don't have to buy any this year, but again, time will tell....
Let's venture down into the corn patch ... here you can see one of the many Zinnias we have planted in various spots around the veggie garden, and more importantly, a few ears of corn nearly ready to be picked just behind it. I think that this Zinnia, one of the 'Cactus Bloom' varieties we had mixed in with what we planted, is a particularly pretty one, but then I'm slanted to the fire colors, so take that as you will. Anyway, this shot serves two purposes: to illustrate a bit more detail of the corn patch and also to show a bit of brightness amongst all that green....
Today was our first harvest of the corn, and we picked 6 ears, of which we kept 3 and gave 3 to our neighbor behind us ... but what she's really looking forward to is when we have more ripe tomatoes, uh huh! Well, so are we, so I'm hoping that some of the myriad green ones out there start ripening a bit more quickly, but then again, given the weirdness of this summer, we're lucky they're still growing so well! As long as we can keep the warmth up in September, I think we should be in luck, because I have photos that remind me that in past years, I've had a bumper crop of tomatoes into September, so again ... patience is still difficult at times....
Finally, here we have an arrangement of just what we brought in from the back garden today. We're a bit disappointed in the onions, because though most of the tops had died back, they just aren't very big, but they'll certainly get used all the same, and some chopped onion may well go into the burgers I am planning for tomorrow's grill fest (along with my usual, trusty companion, A-1 Sauce). Obviously, these are the 3 ears of corn we picked and consumed within about 2 hours ... as well as some of the tomatoes we got today. These need about one more day to ripen inside, and then BLTs are going to be on the menu, and I finally got the bread, bacon and lettuce today ... one of those summertime pleasures I've yet to experience this year, and we're both looking forward to it!

On tonight's menu: Marinated Pork Tenderloin (with El Rey hot sauce, A-1 and Dijon Mustard), along with sweet corn of course, and some sliced fresh tomatoes I picked a few days ago. Aside from the pork, everything else came from the garden .. finally! In years past, we would have had such a meal weeks earlier, but given that none of the veggies got planted until almost late June (Memorial Day in May is usually my cut off for planting), I think we're heading into a bit more of the feast part of the cycle. Except for those pathetic peppers of ours. We had a work meeting the other day, and I asked one of the women there (who has a huge veggie garden out in the country) how her peppers were doing. She replied (just like everyone else I've asked) that hers were the worst in years, and she wondered if she'd get any at all. I don't know what it has been (erratic weather? that's a good scapegoat) this year, but no one I know has had any success with them. Ours are starting to perk up a bit now that the worst of the blast furnace heat has abated a bit, but I have no expectations that we'll see anything significant. More likely, they'll get their second wind right before frost and put on tons of tiny, useless ones not worth harvesting. That is, unless we have some minor miracle combination of warmth, cool nights and frequent rains, I've just about written them off. Next year I may just elect to plant them all in pots and try that again (I used to have great success with that when I first lived here and had very limited space). How disappointing ... I used to be reputed for making the greatest fresh garden salsa, but again, this year, that's unlikely to happen, alas.

There are good garden years, bad garden years, and then there are the downright bafflingly odd ones, and this year seems to represent a good exemplar of the latter. But tonight, we dined well from the garden, so we give thanks for what the earth has given us so far, and look forward to more for at least a little while!

Photos taken August 31, 2008, Hibiscus and Veggie arrangement by IVG, Pumpkin, Corn and Zinnia shots by Fernymoss.

Fernymoss Having Fun Shooting 'Sun Showers'

I've got a couple of pretty intense work weeks ahead of me, so my posting may be somewhat spotty, so bear with me if I don't keep up with my regular schedule. Come early July, things should have calmed down a bit and I'll be back in the usual swing ... In the meanwhile, Fernymoss is having even more fun with the S700 so he'll be doing a lot of the photography in the interim, though I hope to have the chance to shoot a few myself ... it all just depends on the work demands. Enough Whining. (Bring on the triple crème Brie!), here's some fun shots of our new tropical Hibiscus, 'Sun Showers,' who I introduced to you all last week ....
We had a quadruple blast today, but you can only see three of the blooms in this shot, but it's a good one, I think! (Fernymoss did great, as always!) Keep your eye on the leaf hopper in the first flower, because you'll see more of him in greater detail later ....
This shot really blows me away by the range of intense colors represented in just one flower ... It's difficult to describe (or photograph) the incredible range of color variations in each flower and you could spend hours peering up close and comparing different blooms. More and more, I'm glad we sprang for the (gulp) $40 price tag on this specimen, and believe me, we're going to pamper it!
Ok, Olivia, here you get not only IBs, but the shadow of IBs, how's that? Kind of a sort of meta-photography, eh? Again, note the leaf hopper on the upper right of the flower.
And finally, a crop of another shot where Fernymoss got up really close to get the leaf hopper in focus ... who knew they were so pretty up close! My first thought was to compare it to those 'Neon Tetras' I used to have in aquariums when I was a kid ... how about you?

So ... are you ready to go out to the garden centers looking for this hibiscus? Ok, I realize that not everyone is as hibiscus-obsessed as I am, but it truly is a spectacular plant that we're really excited to have in our collection now, even if it does have to winter indoors and suffer a bit in the process. But there's always Summer to watch them spring back and truly show their best assets!

Oh, by the way, have I mentioned how much I love all sorts of Hibiscus in the garden? I'm irreversibly hooked on them, and always have been, since I got my first double blooming red Chinese Hibiscus back in 1977....

We Had 'Sun Showers' Today!

Our newest addition to the hibiscus family, Sun Showers, graced us with three gorgeous and huge (about 8" across) flowers for the first time today!

The past few years I've been tempted by (and succumbed to) some of the striking new Hibiscus hybrids being developed, most notably the ones from a company called Bahama Bay Hibiscus. This is one of their newest introductions this year, and we think it's a real stunner, with its bright blasts of colors ... Orange, red, shades of pink and interesting blotches of yellow. It's touted as a variety that will bloom constantly in summer given a sunny spot in the garden (or in this case in a pot on the patio), and has the potential to grow up to 8 feet tall in warmer climates. Since it's a tropical variety, we'll have to bring it in for the winter, which usually means that it will not bloom much (if at all) over the winter. We may, however, rig up some additional lighting for it, but even when hibiscus bloom indoors, they are rarely as large as the flowers one gets during the height of the summer months. But I have the feeling that we're really going to enjoy having 'Sun Showers' around this summer and it will impress more than a few people with its electric eye popping colors ...