Today I have just a few photos of some of the neat things in the garden. The first one is an unknown dahlia of some sort (EDIT October 13, 2014: It’s actually got a name! It’s called AC Rainier). It was given to me by a relative, who got it from a neighbor in Spokane. The tuber had been sitting in a garage for a while, and they figured it could use some TLC. It’s about 2 1/2 to 3 feet tall, and the flowers are about the size of an orange. It’s been a neat experiment to see what it turned out to be.
I decided to try and keep a shrimp plant alive outside and unprotected earlier this year, in February if I remember correctly. It started out pretty pitiful, and it’s finally starting to look nice again, with minimal intervention on my part and a healthy dose of sunshine. Here it is, hidden underneath an Abutilon ‘Tiger Eye’.
Another of my canna seed starts this year is ‘South Pacific Scarlet’. Wow, impressive color!
One of my new favorite brugmansia is ‘Rhapsody’. It has huge blooms that really add structure to an already impressive plant. This one is in a pot even though it requires much more water than it’s in-ground neighbors. I like to have a little bit of insurance on my less than completely hardy plants.
This one isn’t a bloom, but it’s close. These purple fruits are the product of the Purple Appleberry vine. I’ve read that the berries are ripe when they begin to soften. They are getting close!
My Christmas Cactus has decided to bloom. I think it is a little confused, because it is nowhere near Christmas.
The final shot of the day is of Alstroemeria ‘Glory of the Andes’. It finished blooming a few weeks ago, but I haven’t posted in a while and couldn’t forget about it. It is a slow spreader, so I think I’ll have to collect the seed that seems to be ripening now.
Big Leaves 