A Tiny Fragrant Star Winter is my time for basement gardening. Where we live we have to put our tropical plants in the basement for the winter. It’s a lot of labor to go through twice a year. We take them in when we know that the night temperature will drop and stay below 45°F, usually around late September or early October. Then take them back … Continue reading Water Jasmine
Dependable For Late Season It can grow more than 30 feet in a single season, climb and entwine on everything within its reach. The UPS, FedEx and USPS people no longer drop shipments off on our patio since they are not sure they can go under the thick overhanging vine covering the walkway. My fault! I draped the young vine over the walkway without thinking … Continue reading Sweet Autumn Clematis
About Time To Go Back To Winter Camp It’s a little bit too cold for mid-September this year. Some nights the temperature has gone down below 40°F and hovered around mid 50°F during the day. But it has gone up to 70°F during in the last two days. The thirty degree gap between high and low temperatures makes it difficult for me to decide whether … Continue reading Later Summer For Tropical Plants
Not Many Flowers, But Enough To Give Me Hope I’ve been buying one or two stems of Tuberose (Polianthes tuberosa) at the Union Square Farmer’s Market for the last couple of years. I love its fragrance, very sweet and unique. The scent brought me back to my childhood when my grandmother grew them in her garden. The memory of walking in the garden when they … Continue reading Tuberose
Another Fragrant Flower Someone named this small tree ‘Water Jasmine’ (Wrightia religiosa Benth.ex Kurz). I guess because its flower is white and fragrant though it is not a shrub. This Water Jasmine can grow 10 to 15 feet high and frequently grows right next to fresh water. I have grown this plant from seed and it’s been with me for 15 years but I couldn’t … Continue reading Water Jasmine
The Poet Yes, someone named this jasmine ‘Poet’ or ‘French Perfume’ (Jasminum grandiflorum). I’m not sure I like the name or the scent best. I can see why it get this name. One whiff of its scent and you can write a few lovely lines of poetry. If you keep sniffing it, you may be able to pull a Robert Frost act. It’s a lovely vine with … Continue reading Poet Jasmine
Snow in Fall I’ve been doing my best to create a garden that have flowers from early spring to late fall, both day and night. It’s getting there but I don’t know when I’ll finish. I’m not going to beat myself up for it since a true garden will never be done anyway; it just evolves. I don’t remember who proclaimed that but it’s a … Continue reading Clematis ‘Sweet Autumn’
Petals and Wings 