What's Blooming In Your Backyard?

Love this time of year in the garden. Flowers still blooming with summer's last heat while you can almost feel autumn approaching.

At my neighbors, blue vines are uplifting color with the polite 'Heavenly Blue' morning glory vine and the impressive Sky vine.



'Heavenly Blue' Morning Glory, Ipomoea violata



Blooms open every morning in the full sun and last several days.




Flowers open up deep blue, then deepen until purple in the afternoon.

Sky vine, 'Thunbergia laurelfolia'



Sky vines bloom in sun or partial shade.

While morning glories are subdued by the winter cold, Sky vines can get out of control so be careful where you plant them or keep them under a watchful eye. I have seen them cover a house roof in very little time.  Glad it's at the neighbor's house so I can enjoy their beautiful blue flowers.

I have periwinkles, roses, dancing ladies are just popping up, and this striking Ixora  'Maui' which loves the sun and shade under our oak tree.

 Ixoras love acidic soils, full sun to partial shade, and really do thrive on neglect. No pest problems to speak of, so easy maintenance.  Ixoras can grow to ten feet tall but doesn't need to be pruned often.  Ixoras provides the perfect tropical look to your backyard.  Ask your local garden nursery for this beautiful flowering shrub.

If you love the  jewel tones of fuschia purple, add the Florida native, Beautyberry to your yard. Callicarpa americana, is an ornamental shrub that reaches six to ten feet naturally, has small white flowers and delivers on excitement with the edible purple berries in the fall. Low maintenance, loves sun or shade.



Beautyberry, Callicarpa americana

Burpee has the heirloom 'Heavenly Blue' morning glory seeds, Top Tropical nursery has the Sky vine, and check out the Florida Association of Native Nurseries,  or on Twitter: @FANN, for nurseries that sell beautyberries.

Teresa Watkins is a garden expert, landscape designer, and the host of her own gardening radio show, In Your Backyard, heard every week at 1pm EST on Tuesdays at www.My790am.com.  

Road to Bali and Moonflowers

I'm always on the lookout for flower and gardening references in movies and commercials. I was thrilled to discover one of my favorite blooming flowers in the Bing Crosby and Bob Hope "On the Road" movie marathon this weekend. In "The Road To Bali" there was a great song about the exotic fragrant moonflowers.


Growing moonflowers is easy. Either find moonflowers in seed packets at the garden center or find someone with moonflowers. The seed pods are plentiful. You'll never need to buy moonflower seeds again. Make sure you soak the seed pod overnight and score the hard shell with a knife before planting. They will emerge quickly and seem to grow overnight to about 8 to 10 feet tall. This is a wonderful plant for children as it combines human senses; large, white flower that literally blossoms in front of your eyes for sight, heady perfume for smell, and it opens at night.

Moonflowers in "The Road To Bali" should be the clue that this annual vine will freeze in cold weather. But finding the flowers in bloom and seed now will allow you to save them for next spring.


You can hear Dorothy Lamour singing the song here.

MOONFLOWERS

From the film "Road To Bali" (1952)(Johnny Burke / Jimmy Van Heusen)

Romance comes with the moonflowers.

Tonight the moonflowers will be in bloom.

Love walks among the moonflowers.

I planted moonflowers outside my room.

I'll watch the path that winds by the wishing tree.

It ends beneath my window and there I'll be.

And there I'll wait for the love I longed for

Tonight the moonflowers may bloom anew.

(Orchestral Interlude)

I'll watch the path that winds by the wishing tree.

It ends beneath my window and there I'll be.

And there I'll wait for the love I long for

Tonight the moonflowers may bloom anew.