Just beautiful! I am sure it is a mutual fan club. Has gdinie seen your garden in person too?

Yes, gdinie has been here several times - twice she’s given me a start of that begonia. Last year’s gift didn’t survive the winter. I’m hoping the one from this spring survives this winter! So far it’s looking happy where we planted it so we’ve got our fingers firmly crossed...!

What an enjoyable tour. Thank you for taking us along!

Very interesting carnivorous plant. I love it when people find unique things make a garden theirs.

The carnivorous cactus is most likely a Stapelia so not technically a cactus nor carnivorous :-) It is commonly called carrion flower because of the flower scent, which has been adapted to attract pollinators (typically blow flies), not to eat them :-)

gg48 - I’m sure gdinie knows all the technical details and I just reported them incorrectly :-) It looks sufficiently cactus-like for me and I’m careless enough to call fly-attracting plants carnivorous even if they technically aren’t. It doesn’t spoil my enjoyment of the plant.

I like this story gdinie told about the tall sunflower plant:

‘The towering sunflower is Helianthus salicifolius. I had seen pictures of it in British garden books. During the summer it is a great background with tall stems of drooping leaves. Nobody had it, but one day I saw it in a garden here in [ ]. There was a lady working outside, so I gathered all my courage together, got out of the car, and asked if I could maybe have a little piece. She did not understand what I saw in it, but she gave me a nice division. She had no idea what it was, it had been in the garden when they bought the house many years ago. I brought my prize home and planted it. This must have been in the mid-nineties. It did well, but I did not know what to do with the 8ft bean stalks in the fall, and in the end I got rid of it. Fast forward twenty years or so, I think 2014. I had redesigned the garden, gotten rid of the lawn, and all of a sudden I had a hankering for that plant again. I knew just the spot... No nursery had even heard of it, so in the end I again gathered all my courage together, drove to the house, and lo and behold, it was still growing in the same spot. No lady outside though. So I gather even more of my courage, and ring the bell. Guy opens the door, much younger than lady 20 years ago. I tell my story. No problem. He gives me a shovel and asks me to do self serve, the garden is his wife’s work, but she would not mind. As payment I give him the name of the plant . So that is how it landed in my garden.’

Great story! I will remember that plant for quite a while!

Hi there! I just happened to come across this thread while browsing through the perennial forum. I enjoyed reading it, and seeing a bit of gdinie’s garden. I especially like the rose/aster combo in that first photo. Do you know their varieties? Is that a tiny piece of clematis I spy in there, as well? My Darcey Bussell rose looks to be a similar color, and I’d love to underplant that aster with her. Not many asters are happy in my zone, however. It never hurts to ask. I just might get lucky:). Do all or many of the cacti need to be overwintering in a garage, or are they hardy?

I’m glad I saw this, so fun. Thanks for sharing your visit with us! Lisa. PS Did you get to see Tali, too?

Hey Lisa, fancy meeting you here ;-)! It was very ‘gezellig’ to have Woody and her husband over.

The rose is Munstead Wood, the actual colour is darker, as you know. That rose is so hard to take a picture of, it always looks a darkish medium red, instead of its velvety almost black. The aster is one of many seedlings of ‘Prof. Anton Kippenberg’. The prof was a well behaved gentleman, about a foot tall. I got rid of him after the first year. Too tame ;-). His offspring looks like the many wild asters here, more like what I wanted. The one by the rose is a bit like ‘Alma Pötschke’, but less vivid. I can see asters being a problem for you. They like their cold winters (unlike me). No clematis there. The cacti and succulents are all inside now. True cacti in an unheated room that gets down to 10-12 C (50-54 F), the rest under lights or in front of a window.

I took two of MW’s blooms inside yesterday. The last rose of summer. That fragrance!

Lisa - yes, we saw (and had a little cuddle with...) Tali. Cute kitty! I should have taken a picture of Tali!

Woodyoak, that isn't a cactus, it looks more like Caralluma, a totally unrelated species closely related to milkweeds.They aren't carnivorous either, but their flowers can smell like rotting flesh. Very cool plant, nice find.

Jay, thank you. As Gardengal and I mentioned, the plant is Stapelia gigantea, much more common than Caralluma, though both are stapeliads. Do you grow Caralluma? Very interesting plants.

I don't unfortunately, I live in zone 6 and don't have good indoor sun, but if I did, lots of cool Hoodias and Carallumas. Stapelia and Caralluma are very closely related. Stapelia gigantea.... good one gardengal.