Wednesday, December 17, 2008

18 Degrees of Horticulture

I was a pretty avid gardner when I lived in the Midwest. Could grow just about anything and generally whatever I planted lived and flourished. One of my favorite plants were moonflowers. Cousins to Morning Glories, they are similar in that they are viny plants, but these have velvety leaves, and bloom only at night. The fill the air with a sweet, gardenia scent.

I brought some seeds down to Belize, and have planted them. They are difficult to start, as they automatically re-seed themselves. So when you plant the seeds, you have to lay them on top of the soil.

My best guess is that if you "sow" or lay about a hundred seeds, you will reap one plant by the time the birds and the wish willies have their bellies full. But I have one started out on the verandah, and it inspired me to check out some of the other things blooming in my garden.....................


My baby moonflower, struggling to survive.....

A full grown plant, with the huge flower open............


Wild and crazy pink and white bouganvilla on the corner of our yard.....

Pink Hibiscus..............


I've never known the actual name of this plant, but the locals call it "Rice and Beans". The red flowers are a great contrast to the little purple ones. This one grows like a weed and will vine over anything.....


Noticed that the tortoise and the hare have started another game of Tic Tac Toe


This is a fairly small Moonflower which I had back in the US.


Garden Fairy, resting on her laurels.......

Another plant for which I only know by "Live Forever" These plants reproduce themselves whenever their leaves touch the ground


A beautiful mauve climber....to which I do not know the real name......

The frog is catching the last few rays of sunshine under the coconut tree......


Above, a Castor Bean plant.....each of those little red balls is a seed......but the leaves turn red and yellow, sort of like a Maple.........

Coral colored Bouganvilla


My cotton plant is blooming again.....want to knit something?

Garden Fairy lounging instead of working in the garden..........

It wants to be a banana, and it wants to be a plantain, but alas, it is a strange hybrid mixture the locals call Blogo.....

2 comments:

Ruthie said...

I hope we can add some mint to your garden soon...

Anonymous said...

Be very cautious with the seeds from the castor bean plant, Cindy!! They are highly toxic (the poison ricin is derived from them) and should be stored in a sealed glass jar. Don't let them just fall to the ground as they could easily kill any animal that happened to eat them. that said, we grow them too and love how fast they shoot up in the warm summer months.