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roselee_gw

The Weirdest Flower in my Garden ...

These are the weirdest flowers in my yard with a name to match :-) Voodoo lilies, but I love them and also love the exotic foliage which follows. I've never had three of them bloom at once before ...

More traditional are columbines shown here with some old pots with a fish design that I recently painted yellow and then antiqued by going over them with coarse sand paper. They never showed up much before, but now they they set off the columbines, yellow four nerve daisys, Grandma's yellow rose, and later yellow day lilies ..

Coral honey suckle starts early and blooms all summer. I need to replace the one on the other side that didn't make it. On the right is one of my favorite evergreen shrubs, Winter honeysuckle. It blooms in January/February with a strong wafting fragrance. I'll be bringing several nice size youngsters to the S. A. plant swap on April 2 ...

I just finished putting together this hanging basket last week. Instead of buying a liner I first put black plastic deer net which disappeared once the shredded tree mulch was added. On top of the mulch is landscape fabric which holds in the soil, but lets water through to drain. Planted are various members of the cacti and succulent family, epis, rickrack plant, grape veld, donkey ears, starfish flower, etc., all, including the basket, were received as gifts and trades. Thank you! ...

It's hanging over the potted cacti and succulent garden in the front yard. They make long wrought iron hangers now to loop up in the branches of trees. They cost $18 to $24 depending on the length, but Bob made this one by bending the ends of conduit. I painted it. Cost? Less than $2.00 ...

Oh, and the roses are starting! Here's one of the earliest; Archduke Charles ...

So what's going on in your gardens? We want to see and hear all about it!

Comments (23)

  • 15 years ago

    Thank You for the beautiful photos. Where can anyone find those Texas Columbine. I keep looking but nothing so far

  • 15 years ago

    Beautiful as always! Your garden looks so good. Love those voodoo lilies. Love the yellow paint on the pots, looks good with the blue and green you also have there.

    That's a great tip on the hanging baskets. I have been looking at options for the store bought liners. I tried winding wire around to hold moss, but wasn't thrilled with the results. I'm going with your idea next time.

  • 15 years ago

    :D Roselee, you're such a restless, creative and inspirational gardener. Thank you for sharing your garden.

    Your Coral honey suckle and yellow columbines look awesome. Do the Voodoo lillies smell bad? I've the impression I read something about a "smelly" aroma somewhere but I am not sure. They do have an exotic look for sure.

    Omar

  • 15 years ago

    Omar, thanks for your comments. As for your question -- do they smell bad. Well, yes they do. However,the flowers last for a week or two, but are only scented for a couple of days, and it's not all that bad if you're not real close to them. The blooms produce bright red seeds, but I've never made the effort to plant them.

    And anyway, you have to admire a plant that has developed itself to be pollinated by flies so not to compete with other flowers for the pollinating action of bees, bats, and butterflies.

    So for all their good qualities I can forgive them for a couple of smelly days. Plus they don't bloom every year. It takes several years for the bulb to get softball size and bloom. Then that bulb dies and produces lots of little bulbs which give rise to the plant's beautiful spotted trunk and umbrella foliage.

    The lilies come up mid March and the foliage not until mid to late May.

    Wally, thank you. Most of the locally owned nurseries around here carry the Texas native columbines. Look for the yellow "Texas Gold columbine" which has the long tails and is a Texas Star plant I think, or the smaller yellow and red ones. Not all the larger eastern ones which you'll also see do as well as these two. Another good variety for Texas is the purple and white one "Little Winkie". It will mix with the yellow ones making for some gorgeous colors.

    Thanks for your comments, Shirley. I'm glad you like the yellow pots. And if you need some deer net for your wire hanging basket let me know. I have a roll of it.

  • 15 years ago

    Thanks for the offer. If you don't mind bringing a bit of the net to the swap I'd love to try it.

  • 15 years ago

    Okay Shirley -- will do!

  • 15 years ago

    Freakish! Voodoo lillies are very strange but neat looking. The rest of the flowers are bright and cheery. Your garden is just beautiful.

  • 15 years ago

    I really appreciate your suggestion to use landscape cloth in baskets and post!! Now why didn't I think of that? I have most of a roll left over from a project. I'll go ahead and cut up a bunch of it to fit pots and put them with my plant markers.

    I think its much better than coffee filters!

  • 15 years ago

    Very nice, Roselee! How tall are the Voodoo lily blooms? They look huge.

    I've never bought any landscape fabric, but have been using old plastic window screens for years to line hanging baskets. I also cut a piece to place in the bottom of pots, so they can drain without washing out the potting soil.
    Jim

  • 15 years ago

    Thanks for looking and for your comments PJ and Melvalena. I'm glad I was able to pass along some ideas. The idea of using the landscape fabric actually came from my friend, Linda M.

    Jim, the blooms ARE huge! The tallest flower is 40 inches from the ground to the tip. And yes, using old plastic window screen is an excellent idea also.

    Shirley, I can bringing some landscape fabric for you as well as the deer net. Will bring a little extra in case anyone else at the swap wants some.

  • 15 years ago

    Thanks, I do have plenty of landscape fabric already and use it to line the insides of some baskets. We put it down under gravel when reworking sections of the yard. I didn't even know about deer net until you mentioned it. We go with the wire fence panels shown in the Bluebonnet pictures and they don't bend like net does.

  • 15 years ago

    The theory about deer net is they don't see it at night and therefore walk into it which startles them. Plus unless there is good light they can't see it well enough to jump over it.

    I've read where some people put it up by stringing it between trees where it pretty much disappears from view. Some people string it at a slant making a wider area to try and jump if they have a mind to. Also it can be used to give more height to chain link fences.

    I have it strung on the sides of the house between my house and the neighbor's fence so they won't be funneled into that area, jump my chain link gate, and discover my back yard :-(

    So far so good :-)

  • 15 years ago

    hmmm. Would deer net make a good temporary trellis for annual vines?

  • 15 years ago

    Melvalena, WOW -- I bet it would! It's plenty tough and then you could easily take the whole shebang down and throw it away it, vines and all. I use cable ties to fasten it. They come in many different lengths.

  • 15 years ago

    Wow, voodoo lilies, good name for them!

    Thanks for posting them.

  • 15 years ago

    Ok.. next question, where do you purchase this 'deer net'?

  • 15 years ago

    Melvalena, I get it at Lowe's. Probably any of the big box stores will have it.

    It comes in several different widths and lengths. The one labeled 'deer net' comes in 7 ft width and 100 ft. long, but this is the same thing.

    Here is a link that might be useful: 4 ft. X 50 ft. costs $14.62

  • 15 years ago

    Thanks Roselee! I'll have to go take a look at it.

  • 15 years ago

    Roselee, I was told the Voodoo lily smells like rotten eggs? Do you have a diffrent variety? It looks alot larger than the ones I have seen. Barbra

  • 15 years ago

    Barbra, I'd say it smells more like a dead mouse; not something you'd want to plant under an open bedroom window, but tolerable outside for the couple of days that it releases the scent.

    It's grown mostly for the graceful foliage since it doesn't bloom that often. The flowers are more of an oddity, but appreciated non the less for their unusual form. It's amazing how mother nature produces such a variety of plants.

    Here's a photo of the foliage which comes up in late April or May ...

    Here is a link that might be useful: More varieties pictured ...

  • 15 years ago

    Love the foliage on the stinky lily! and I remembered late last night I already have a roll of that deer fencing! I'd been using it to cover the buried kitchen scraps to keep the dog from digging it all up.

    Now I have all the materials to set up temp trellis for annual vines with out tearing up the fence. Yay!!!

  • 15 years ago

    Gorgeous. Love those yellow pots, too. You have a unique and beautiful garden. What fun!

  • 15 years ago

    Melva, that's good that you found some plastic deer net type material that would work for a trellis. I found another use for it -- to drape over my newly rooted rose cuttings in their little pots so the squirrels don't try to dig in them and knock them over.

    Srburk, thanks for looking and liking my garden with the yellow pots. I'm liking them more and more. The small can of yellow paint I bought at the hardware store was too dark of a yellow, so I mixed it with some white paint I already had and it turned out perfect.

    Well, I'm off to spray the yard with beneficial nematoes. The flower beetles came back last summer after a long absence. I sprayed some nematodes then, but not nearly enough I guess as I kept finding grubs when digging this winter.