Grant, a quick google search tells me that what you're calling mile-a-minute vine is usually called alamo vine. I would love to try to grow some, any chance you have seeds you can share? I have some golden columbine seeds I could send you in return, if you're interested.

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I have no idea what this cactus is, besides a cereus; I took a cutting from a pet-sitting client's yard. The flowers are as big is your hand.

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peruvian daffodil
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Its not what i ordered but its blooming and it looks good

Great new posts and pics! Devonfawn, I love your Peruvian daffodil, so pretty! What's the leafy plant behind it?

Piranha, great pics too. LOVE the cactus blooms and the columbine is really pretty. Does it hold up for you okay in the heat? I know most of them get pretty tired when it's hot, but then bounce back. I really like it too. And yes, another common name of the mile a minute is Alamo vine, like you said, that's why I always include the botanical names so folks can cross-reference the various common names out there. It's a weed in many climates, but for me it's so easy, and fun, and the fact that old Mr. Baker Sr. (RIP) gave me the original seeds is a nice memory for me. Email me privately if you'd like seeds, Piranha, I can send you some (grant_in_arizona@yahoo.com).

Keep the fun pics and updates coming everyone!

Here's a quick pic towards one of three birdbaths in my little garden. That's a Polaska chichipe cactus at left, some Echinopsis at center, some seed grown Stapelias, Echium candicans ("Pride of Madeira") seedlings from my larger blooming plant, and some foliage from my Confederate rose (Hibiscus mutabilis) in the foreground, and I just noticed the white night-flowering tobacco (Nicotiana alata, a plant I've been growing via seed since the mid 1980's and love) plus some other things too, LOL.

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Plumeria / frangipani 'Celandine' on her second month of blooms so far this summer. The scent is absolutely intoxicating, and the sun resistant blooms last a very long time. I've grown this one outside full time for five years without any protection winter or summer and it's done great.

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Quick pic looking west from the small bistro table on the patio where I have coffee and read the paper super early every day this time of year. It's not quite as leafy/flowery as autumn/winter/spring when I've got lots of pots of geraniums, pansies, and petunias, but I've got some pots of vincas waiting in the wings, LOL.

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Keep your updates and pics coming, everyone. You all are growing some amazing plants, and your green thumbs are very, very evident!
Take care,
Grant

Here is a link that might be useful: My little garden blog, just a post or two a month

Grant, the columbine didn't bloom at all the first year I had it; but it grew and grew, and then this spring it burst into bloom. It bloomed for a long time, maybe 2 months, before it started fading just this month. I had it on my front porch, which faces north, and just in the last week or so the sun has come far enough north that it was getting too much, so I moved it into deep shade. It is much happier and trying to bloom again.

Sent you an e-mail, thanks! :-)

Seems like I remember the yellow columbines being the only ones that do well here, is that right? Serious cereus, lol!

I don't blame you for not wanting to cut that artichoke bloom down, it's gorgeous.

Pagancat, yes this yellow columbine is an AZ native, and is probably the only type that will grow down here in the desert, with a little babying (shade and water.) I bought it at the Tohono Chul nursery here in Tucson. They specialize in native and desert adapted plants.

Fun updates! Your seeds went out in the mail today, piranha, and yes, I'd love some of the columbine seeds. I have a few friends who grow different types and they do well as short-lived perennials for a few years, and of course there are always plenty of new seedlings as replacements. Like you said, some summer shade really helps, as does tolerating that they're semi-dormant in the heat, especially in years when they flower and set seed. I'd love some, oink oink oink. :) Thanks!

Speaking of flowers, here's one that's so easy to grow and blooms it's a bit shameful to even boast about it, but c'mon, it's beautiful, easy, and floriferous, good old Cosmos sulphureus, an old time classic available in a range of colors from yellows through oranges, apricots and reds. Easy and fun! This one is in full hot sun, planted directly in the ground as seed. It gets watered three times a week.

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There's plenty that still looks good out there, and mornings are still wonderful, so get out and enjoy it.

Take care and happy gardening,
Grant

i believe i've said this before, grant your garden is jaw dropping!

most things in stasis here, sugarcane and peppers looking better than last year.

perhaps someone can recommend a tall, productive sunflower strain that does well in the heat? mine are pretty ragged now and aren't giving the birds much to eat besides aphids :)

It's great to see all the lovely plants. Thanks for sharing them! My sunflowers are hanging in there pretty well. The leaves do wilt a bit during the heat of the day but they seem to recover. They're getting lots of water. I shot this pic this morning. The seed packet just says Sunflower "Red Sun" but I don't think they're special as far as this heat is concerned.
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Before they bloomed, there were hordes of aphids on them. I patiently waited while a solitary lady beetle came to feed and lay eggs. An assassin bug also deposited some eggs and in short order most of the aphids were gone. Now the ants have found the plant though, and I'm trying to keep them off with a barrier but don't know how well it will work. I'd hate to see the plants overtaken again with aphids now that the heat is upon us.

Lots of stuff still looking really good, except for two of my tomatoes and Mister Lincoln. The rose really took a beating this year with the cutter bees!

mine were pretty thrashed between the bugs and the wind. some of them seemed to attract more than others.

of course you know you could try diatomaceous earth around the stem :)

the plant behind my peruvian daf. is a Dalhia. it was growing great then the kids kicked the soccer ball into it and cut it in half, but its a hardy little guy and is coming back just great. i can't wait to find out what color the flower will be. heres the last one to bloom on another plant just acouple of feet away.
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My Hong Kong Orchid tree is blooming again! I thought this tree only blooms once a year in the spring time, but mine is full of flowers again.

Watermelons are starting to get ripe. This one is the first one to be picked.

It's a yellow fleshed watermelon. My first time ever growing these and first time tasting one, and holy crap are they goooood!!

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Good to know, I've always wondered if those yellows were much like the ol' fashioned pink/red.

Wow, that Dahlia was really nice - I'm amazed that it would do so well here. Gorgeous!

I forgot about sunflowers, thanks for the reminder - them, and the Cosmos sulphereus... they were invasive in TN, so I've avoided them for the past few years. Time to revive that love!

Enjoying everyone's pics and updates!

Grant, I meant to send out your columbine seeds yesterday, but never did -- they will go out TODAY, I promise!

I scored and soaked a couple of the Alamo vine seeds you sent, they will go in the ground today. Can't wait to see if they grow. Thanks again.

That purple dahlia is the most gorgeous color, and that melon looks so good I am salivating! I picked some eggplant and some green chiles yesterday.

Great new updates everyone, keep them coming. So fun to see who is growing what!

haname, those sunflowers are really pretty! Great color too and it's fun to hear your description of the fauna associated with them. I try to do the same thing when I see aphids: wait until ladybugs move in to devour them. Sometimes it's hard though. Great pic, too!

Devonfawn, that's a great dahlia, I love it. Do they do well for you long-term (as in year over year?). I've had a few friends give them a try with pretty pitiful success, so I'd love to hear what conditions you give them, and what sort of "letter grade" you'd give them as garden plants. A? B+? The pic sure is an A+ that's for sure! :)

raimeiken, congrats on the extra blooms on your orchid tree, and on the beautiful (and apparently delicious, LOL!) watermelon. It's a perfect size, too. I'm envious! Great job!

Piranha, let me know when the seeds are in the mail so I can keep my eyes open for them. I'm excited. I'm glad you got yours and are already soaking/planting them. The biggest issue with those Merremia vines for me is that they always outgrow whatever I grow them on, no matter how tall! It's a good problem to have! Good luck and keep us posted.

Now, for fun, I'm going to try the new "browse" button to upload a pic. It's just a pic of a seed pod on a Merremia dissecta vine. It looks like a little dried flower doesn't it? You can easily see the relationship the mile-a-minute/Alamo vine has to the Hawaiian Wood Rose, specifically grown for its ornamental seed pods. We'll see how it works, LOL.

Take care and happy gardening. It's another beautiful early morning (74F) and I've got the whole house open for a few hours each morning still.
Grant

Grant, your seeds went in the mail yesterday afternoon. That seed pod is very cool-looking. I can't wait to see one of my own.

xoxos, Thanks for the tip about the DE, that's a good idea. So far there aren't many aphids. I think the long-legged flies (Condylostylus sp.) eat aphids so even if ants keep the ladybugs away, they can't do anything about the flies.

raimeikin, when did you plant the watermelon seeds? What soil and growing conditions did you give it? How many melons do you get per plant and how much space does it need? It looks so yummy and refreshing. I ate some yellow watermelon in Texas once, it's so sweet and has a lovely rich flavor.

Devonfawn, your Peruvian daff and the dahlia are both so exotic and gorgeous. This is why we are all addicted, right? :)

Grant, that's a cute seed pod. It almost looks like a flower in its own right because of the way the calyx is spread out. Do these morning glory plants naturalize in the desert?

my watermelons are planted on raised beds. I put a lot of composted manure and mixed it with some good well draining soil. I also added some slow release fertilizer on each area where I planted the seeds in. I started my watermelon seeds indoors this past january and set them out mid february or maybe even late feb.

I have about 5-6 vines per mound and they do need a lot of room to sprawl out. I just let them go, I try not to trim any vines off since they need lots of leaves to capture all the sunlight they can get. At first all the flowers are male but a few weeks after the males, you'll start seeing the female flowers. I hand pollinated the flowers to ensure that they'll become fruit. I've had a few that developed a little bit and then turn yellow and fall off :(

I've read that one vine can support up to 3-4 watermelons, but right now I have one watermelon on each vine, so I don't have to worry about that. I also fertilize them once a week with a liquid fertilizer that's 0-4-5 to help on the development of the fruit and ripening. The yellow fleshed ones are smaller, but I have a moon and stars variety that has two big melons on it right now.

The vines get watered 3 times a week 20mins each time. This goes for all my vegetables.

those are amazing! I love those types of plants

Thanks raimeiken, if you love em (fat plants), i suggest growing some :) it's been and continues to be a blast. Don't let them intimidate you >=)

Occasionaly i have cuttings and seeds for trade.

Those are awesome. I need to check out Tohono Chul. Usually when I go to Tucson I hit Bach's.

I need to learn how to post pictures. My Neem trees have doubled in size after putting them out in full sun 4 weeks ago. Water only every 5 days, they like the hot dry heat. My mangoes are starting to ripen( mallika, haden, glenn, kent, tebow, manilla, corriente, carrie). Black sapote will be ripe in about 4 weeks. Surinam and Barbados cherries are fruiting. Curry, plumeria, champak, guava are flowering.

Sounds like you have some neat tropicals. Its good we live in a decent climate for them.

Mary, tohono chul is having their plant sale at the end of july. I for sure plan to make it. I have not made it down to bachs yet, will probably make a visit for sure in july as well.

phxplantaddict, my curry tree is growing very well, no flowers yet but looking good. It's about twice as big as when I got it from you. Will that neem tree grow to full size in this desert? That will be a big tree.

I hope you can post pics. GW has added a feature that allows you to upload a picture directly from your computer using the browse button on the post page. Just click browse and find the picture on your computer. Your picture will appear at the end of your post. I have found that if you preview and edit, then preview again, the picture will not be included so the picture needs to be added in the final edit before posting.

The old way of posting pictures is not that hard but it is a pain. This method is best if you want to post more than one picture. Instructions below.

Here is a link that might be useful: How to Add Photos (the complicated way)

AWESOME fatties, azant, really fun to see, thanks for sharing them with us. I love them! I'm not super familiar with cultural requirements for Pterodiscus, can you share with everyone how you keep yours so happy? Great stuff all around!

Piranhafern, the columbine seeds arrived yesterday, thanks so much! I'll plant them in early autumn so that they're nice cute babies before winter and then they can easily coast through winter to bloom next spring (my usual formula for leafy perennials and biennials), thanks so much! Great luck with your Merremia seeds. They take a few weeks to pop up, but when they do they really grow! Haname, they're not technically morning glories (different genus), but I have not heard or seen any warnings about them escaping into the desert.

Plantaddict, definitely post some pics here or on various threads....we'd love to see! Gardenweb has kindly added a "browse" button that we can click on to browse out on our computers to upload pics. Easy and fun. In fact, I just took a screen shot of the button and am going to try to upload it, even though you should see it just above anywhere you type on GW now. Great fun.

All the best everyone,
Grant

Grant and whoever else is interested, they are quite easy.

I like to grow my plants hard and they do not get royal treatment by any means. I like the stout and weathered look they take on from this treatment. Pterodiscus though get water maybe twice a week during their growing season because of the small pots they are in and i believe this helps the seeds pods that do develop to continue doing so. Fertilizing is kept to a minimum or if i even remember to do it at all (with the exception of my commiphoras and boswellias, they do get food on a more regular basis, especially the bullokia bursera). In the winter i give them a good misting once every 3 to 4 weeks making sure not to drench the soil.

I try to protect them from temps below 30* F. Wet and mucky soil at these temps i imagine would be certain death.

Also, if you do happen to get seed pods, let them mature on the plant until they fall off then store them until the following growing season as they will not germinate the same year they are formed.

I find ants make great little pollinators, i see them crawling up and down my pterodiscus all the time, they also do good work on most of my collection, especially my Burseras and Boswellias. The adeniums on the other hand, I usually just hand polinate, as they need a special pollinator.

Not sure if i missed anything except for maybe... a good soil formulation goes a long way.

Grant and whoever else is interested, they are quite easy.

I like to grow my plants hard and they do not get royal treatment by any means. I like the stout and weathered look they take on from this treatment. Pterodiscus though get water maybe twice a week during their growing season because of the small pots they are in and i believe this helps the seeds pods that do develop to continue doing so. Fertilizing is kept to a minimum or if i even remember to do it at all (with the exception of my commiphoras and boswellias, they do get food on a more regular basis, especially the bullokia bursera). In the winter i give them a good misting once every 3 to 4 weeks making sure not to drench the soil.

I try to protect them from temps below 30* F. Wet and mucky soil at these temps i imagine would be certain death.

Also, if you do happen to get seed pods, let them mature on the plant until they fall off then store them until the following growing season as they will not germinate the same year they are formed.

I find ants make great little pollinators, i see them crawling up and down my pterodiscus all the time, they also do good work on most of my collection, especially my Burseras and Boswellias. The adeniums on the other hand, I usually just hand polinate, as they need a special pollinator.

Not sure if i missed anything except for maybe... a good soil formulation goes a long way.

raimeiken, you said:

"My Hong Kong Orchid tree is blooming again! I thought this tree only blooms once a year in the spring time, but mine is full of flowers again."

My Palo Verde just started blooming again, too. I don't remember it ever doing this before, is this normal?

Haname, Neem will grow big here. Big tree at the Glendale library as example. Needs some frost protection while young, as most things do, but whats nice about Neem is that it wants full sun and a dry climate. So many uses from the tree. Thank you for your advice with the pics, Ill try this weekend.

Here's something that's looking both good AND awful...my fairy castle cactus. One big, fat spike fell over today. I've cut it off with a sharp knife, close to the soil level. I should wait for the cut to crust over before repotting, then water sparingly right?

GREAT PIC, Mary! Sorry about the floppy stem. Your plan is good: cut it, let it air dry for several days, and then plant and water very sparingly. I love the little picotee-edged blooms in the blue pot. They're either mini petunias or calibrachoas and they're looking really good for this late in the year. I'm envious! Thanks for the pic, and do keep us posted! Happy gardening everyone!

Grant, those petunias were called "Rythym and Blues Petunias". I picked them up at Summer Winds, Scottsdale, about a month ago. I'm surprised too that they still look that good. It gets lots of shade there.

phxplantaddict - was it you that posted about available neem seedlings earlier then... i'm still up for it.

i purchased 100 seeds from india last fall and have had increasingly poor germination and a hostile environment for seedlings.. i've managed to control the fungus gnats to a large extent by watering with silicate, which kills the larvae.. now i have to learn to help my seedlings survive that...

..is anyone aware of a neem to gather seeds from in tucson?

I leave town for 4 days and this is what I come back to in the garden. 22lbs Moon and Stars watermelon, a bowl full of ripe Red reisentraube tomatoes, chocolate peppers, okras, yellow fleshed watermelon

Those are gorgeous, yummy looking fruits. Here's a pic of one of the fruits growing on one of the eggplants. They're enjoying the heat and producing nicely. The culinary sage is also looking exceptionally well, though I haven't used much of it.

Which eggplant is that one? I tried to buy several different varieties, but seem to have ended up with globe and a white Japanese type. Not that I'm complaining; they're one of the few plants doing well.

This is a Thai green "Kermit" eggplant. I got the seeds from Reimer. I blogged a bit about it too. :)

Here is a link that might be useful: My Little Blog

Great updates! raimeiken, that's another really impressive harvest. I'm green with envy. Good job! Thanks for taking the time and effort to share the harvest with us. Great stuff! Cute eggplant too, haname, thanks for the pic! Mary, thanks to the information on your little petunia there, looking good. Have you potted up the floppy cactus piece yet??

Afternoons are just hot, but mornings are still super nice! Here's quick and casual pic looking southwest in my garden this week. Vincas (Mediterranean hybrids from Park Seed, which have a nice cascading growth habit) just blooming away. They're definitely my go-to plants for summer flowers.

Take care and keep the pics and updates coming!
Grant

Grant, is dat a dat in the lower left? ;o) Of course it is; i just couldn't resist the pun. I have two like that. I never bought any; I think they were planted by birds.

XOXOS, I do have the Neem trees.

Do Neem trees require much water?

Grant, those hanging baskets are lovely.

Neem want little water. My container trees in full sun are getting watered about every 5 days right now.

i understand neem plantations are used in arid climates for economic revitalisation :p should be easy to find sites on them.. all in all i understand they ought to do very well, though in this country a lot of people seem to blanch at the odor.

TY, i'd like one but am somewhat impecunious at present. perhaps i can catch you in a few weeks :) in the meanwhile i'll give the last few seeds i have a shot, though the previous efforts seem to indicate fresher seed are preferred.

Here's a fun super dwarf, variegated-leaf Ruellia brittonia that I grew from seed making its very first bloom. I love the compact habit, and the variegated leaves, plus the pretty little blooms are nice (and I see lots of flower buds for future blooms too, yay). Nothing fancy, but nice to have leafy, flowery perennials that need very little care. Like all other R. brittonia varieties, this one spreads a bit by runners and will self sow, so be sure you want them if you plant them, LOL. Happy gardening!

planted my last load of neem seeds, and a few are showing radicals :) so with any luck i'm sorted.

(germ notes..)
i received them from india last autumn.. some germed then but didn't survive the winter. had slow germs and issues with fungus gnats in early spring. 24 hour soak, husked them.. i like to germinate in a tupperware with a 1/2" of perlite on the bottom and a 1/4" of water, occasionally dropping some h2o2 if there's a fungus outbreak. they go in soil when they've got a nice radical.

This butterfly bush has outdone itself this year. I love these flowers; they look like pink organza.

Nice way to end the month! Congrats on the seedlings xoxos, and very pretty blooms, tomatofreak! I like one of the other common names for your plant "pussy toes" as the seeds really DO look like little kitty toes. Great pic!

Thanks for the eye candy, all!
Grant

Hello, azant, very nice plants you have. Such (with bulbs, "legs", fat stamps) I like most of all :-) Is it possible to buy something ? How ? I live in Lithuania :-) Jūra