Floral Friday: Flowering Maple

Flowering Maple, or Abutilon, is an annual that I overwinter indoors and sporadically rewards me with flowers. (It blooms more steadily when it grows outdoors.) This hybrid, blooming now, features a bloom that reminds me of a hibiscus. I have also grown varieties with bell-shaped flowers.

This hybrid is hardy to USDA Zone 9 (20 to 30 degrees F) and can grow to 36 inches tall. This is the first winter that I've brought this specific plant indoors but the older variety I have (on it's second winter vacationing indoors) is close to 48 inches tall. These plants prefer full sun but they also tolerate part sun.

Floral Friday: Amaryllis 'Double Dragon'

Here's a beautiful "new to me" variety of amaryllis called 'Double Dragon'. I purchased and potted this bulb up in late November (click here to watch the video) and it took almost a month to break dormancy.

It was definitely worth the wait. This double-flowering variety features deep red flowers that have been in bloom for two weeks now. 

Once the bulb breaks dormancy, I place it in well lit area and turn the pot regularly if the stem starts to lean toward the light. (Using a heavy pot helps prevent the plant from toppling over.) I water when the soil gets dry. And that's it! I'm going to treat my plant to a little organic fertilizer to keep it happy.

Do you grow amaryllis bulbs indoors?

Floral Friday: Lipstick Plant

This unique looking plant gets the name Lipstick plant (Aeschynanthus radicans) not because of the open flowers, but because of the way the flowers look when they are in bud — like they are peeking out of dark-colored tubes, or miniature tubes of lipstick. 💄 

My first encounter with this plant was at the cafeteria at work a few year's back and I was intrigued by the flowers.  (They are kinda weird looking but cool at the same time.) At work the plants were in hanging planters — and it looks like a vine when it gets large — but I grow mine in a terra cotta pot. 

This houseplant has been a bit fickle for me, but I've managed to keep it alive. The first year I had it, I put it outside for the summer but that was a mistake because I almost lost it. (I think it just had too much summer rain and almost rotted.) 

It turns out this plant is an epiphyte (just like orchids can be) and in its native habitat it can be found growing on trees. So now I am much more conservative when it comes to watering, and letting it dry out before I water again.

It has moved around my house in an effort to find the best lighting — most recently it was set up on the ground alongside my grow lights, and that's when it started to bud. (Being directly under the grow lights was just a little too much light for it, and I ended up scorching some leaves.) 

But, despite my mishaps, it has been resilient. This fall I picked up another variety of this which will get orange flowers instead of red, so I'm hoping there will be a Floral Friday in the future when I can feature that one as well. I recommend it as a houseplant you should try growing.  

Floral Friday: Thanksgiving & Christmas Cacti

Thanksgiving cacti (Schlumbergera truncata) and Christmas cacti (Schlumbergera x buckleyi) are two plants with often mistaken identities because they generally look pretty much the same. Instead of leaves, they have segments, called phylloclades, and that's where you can identify the different varieties. (Patty at Almost Heaven Farm offers an in-depth post on what to look for in the leaves and the flowers.)

I own two Thanksgiving cactuses (identifiable by their tooth-like segments) and one plant identified as a Christmas cactus, but the leaves do not look as scalloped and rounded as I'd expect to find them— so maybe I have three Thanksgiving cactuses after all.

Two are blooming on this Floral Friday, which also happens to be Houseplant Appreciation Day, too.

A recent addition to the houseplant gang, with a plant tag that says Christmas cactus, but I suspect might be Thanksgiving cactus after all. Either way, it's still pretty, and blooming.

Another recent Thanksgiving cactus addition, still blooming in January. Who can resist that color?

Do you grow either variety?

Add these 9 new varieties to your 2020 garden

One of the best things about a new growing season is seeing the new varieties that make it to the retail bench in the spring. I was able to test* and grow some of the newest upcoming varieties in 2019, and out of all the new plants I trialed in my northeast garden**, nine annuals and perennials really stood out.

I grew all the annuals in containers, but they can be planted directly into your landscape as well. For the perennials, I mixed it up — some were planted in the ground and some in containers. All sample plants I received were given about the same amount of care: watering when containers were dry and placed in an area to meet their specified light requirements (full sun, part sun, shade).

New annuals 

Proven Winners 'Diamond Snow' Euphorbia is paired here with 'Supertunia Raspberry Rush', 'Supertunia Vista Snowdrift' and 'Superstar Pink' Penta (top center). 

Three annuals from Proven Winners stood out in this year's trial, including 'Diamond Snow' Euphorbia, which stayed compact and bloomed throughout the hot summer days. The Euphorbias ('Diamond Snow' and 'Diamond Frost') are Proven Winner's 2020 Annuals of the Year. I grew my sample plant in a side planted container mounted on a pillar (to add drama of course to the back garden), along with two plants each of 'Supertunia Raspberry Rush' and 'Supertunia Vista Snowdrift'. The Supertunias did not disappoint, and I think if the basket was a bit larger for the roots, they would have reached their maximum spread of 24-36 inches. Both Supertunias attracted hummingbirds throughout the summer as well.

Calibrachoa 'Kabloom Orange' blooming in containers in mid-July.

I grew Calibrachoa 'Kabloom Orange' (PanAmerican Seed) in containers, where they flowered continuously despite the very hot days. Usually the calibrachoas I grow peter out with the extreme heat, but this variety didn't seem to mind it. They spread horizontally and formed a nice 10" mound below the abutilon it was paired with. They grew between 8-12" tall in a sunny spot. The blooms were not as prolific in the fall but I think that had to do more with the container location, which received more part sun and late afternoon shade as the season grew cooler.

'Dekko Deep Lavender Vein' petunia in mid-July. 

Another great container plant was 'Dekko Deep Lavender Vein' Petunia (Syngenta), which offered cascading deep purple flowers throughout summer and into the fall. This variety stayed between 8-12" for me (in full sun) but if it was planted directly into a raised bed it might have expanded to its 18-22" width. I loved the deep moody color of the flowers, especially paired with the cobalt blue pots.

Angelonia 'Serenita Rose' provided non-stop blooms. 

Angelonia 'Serenita Rose' (PanAmerican Seed) is one of the first angelonias that I have grown that bloomed non-top throughout the summer. I planted all three sample plants together in one large container with two other annuals and even on 90°+ days, they performed really well. They formed 12-14" mounds and were a dusky pink color. I rarely went back and trimmed the spent flowers, but that didn't stop 'Serenita Rose' from sending up more flowers to bloom.

New perennials

'Super Star' Coreopsis was, sorry for the pun, a star in the garden.

'Super Star' Coreopsis (Darwin Perennials) flowered throughout the summer in my butterfly garden raised bed, where it was neighbors with milkweed and rue. This spot ended up getting part shade in the afternoon, but the plants still performed well and were always blooming. (The preferred planting area is full sun.) I especially loved Super Star — it stayed on the shorter side (it will reach 14-16 inches tall at full size) and the flowers were large and cheerful. The bees seemed to like it as well.

'Sky Blue Marvel'  Salvia nemorosa (Darwin Perennials) is the latest family member added to the Marvel family. For testing, I planted two in a raised bed and one in a container. The one in the container did well, sending up one or two bloom spikes, and the ones planted in ground had to (unfortunately) battle the many slugs that assaulted many of my perennials this past year (but they bounced back). This variety stays fairly short (14-16 inches), and I'm expecting it to act like its sibling 'Rose Marvel'  — which was a plant sample from a previous year. 'Rose Marvel' spent its first year getting settled in the garden and then the next year bloomed nonstop. 'Sky Blue' concentrated mainly on settling in this year as well, but when it did bloom the flower spikes were a pretty light blue. (I didn't get the timing right to photograph this one.)

Echinacea Sombrero® Baja Burgundy. Photo credit: All-America Selections.

Echinacea 'Sombrero Baja Burgundy' (Darwin Perennials) is bred to be hardy to Zone 4 (-30 to -25 degrees F) and is also a 2020 AAS Garden Winner (after being evaluated for three growing seasons). I planted two plants in my garden and one in my friend's garden (with slightly more sun). The test plant in my friend's garden was eaten by a groundhog early in the season, but it bounced back quickly. This plant stayed fairly compact in its first year in my garden (it didn't reach it's full size of 18-20 inches) but still sent up a bunch of smaller flowers (seen at right). This is another variety that I'm expecting to leap next year (remember the perennial adage, sleep, creep then leap?).

Whether for containers or planting in the landscape, one of the nine flowering varieties should easily fit into your gardening plans.


* All the plant varieties in this blog post were provided to me free of charge by the plant company listed. All opinions expressed above are my own.

**I garden in Zone 6b, where temperatures can get as low as -5° to 0°F.

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Floral Friday: Queen's Tears

One of my New Year's resolutions is to bring Floral Friday back to my blog. In past years, I heavily documented what was blooming on Fridays, but over time, life got in the way, and in 2019, my Floral Friday posts fizzled out by April.

So today's Floral Friday — the first of 2020 — highlights ‘Queen’s Tears’ or Billbergia nutans, which is in the bromeliad family. This is my fourth year growing it. It only blooms once a year for me — in December and/or January. I basically ignore this plant and it still thrives. 🤭

While the flowers are pretty unique, I think my favorite part are the pink bracts, which remind me of flamingo feathers.

It hails from South America and is considered an epiphytic plant that grows primarily on trees, but at my house, it lives in one of my lower light rooms. Since it is supposed to be easy to split and share, it is also called The Friendship Plant.

I think it might be time for me to repot this plant, since it has grown a lot since the last time I potted it up two years ago. I haven’t fertilized it, but I have seen plants with more flower clusters, so I wonder if fertilizing would help with that. 🤨 Do you grow this houseplant in your home?