Wednesday, August 19, 2015

Garden Odds and Ends


An errant seed found it's way into the yard. I have no clue where this watermelon came from, but once I recognized what it was, I've been trying to keep it growing. It's producing quite a few little melons, so we'll see if they're any good or if the squirrels get to them first.


Canna Topicanna Black has been flowering non stop since I got it into the ground, (watermelon vine in the background.) I know these were heavily cultivated to have larger than normal blooms, but my one complaint about this cultivar is that the flowers occasionally get so large they become top heavy and bend the whole stalk to the ground. The humming birds, dragonfly, and occasional butterfly do love these Canna flowers though.



Still potted because I plan on overwintering this bananna plant inside this winter, Musa acuminata ss. Java Blue, aka "Ice Cream" banana. I bought this guy as a tiny little start from Wellspring Gardens and in the spring and it has done remarkably well this season. So far, at least quadrupling in size the past few months. I just left it in the middle of the sunniest spots in the yard, watered and fertilized it heavily. Next spring it'll go in the ground somewhere, in the mean time, I'm now realizing what I thought was overpotting it, turned out not enough. Needs another repot already!

I picked this banana specifically, as being in zone 9, if I grow bananas that flower early in the summer they have a chance to set fruit before it starts to get cold here. I've also read that much of the tissue cultured Blue Java is actually Namwah. Either way, both banana's fruit is said to be delicious, and both are fairly cold tolerant varieties, so I don't much care as long as it fruits. I'm just having trouble finding out when the Namwah flowers, and if it might be the dwarf or tall variety.


After flowering, I thought I killed my Sauromatum venosum "Voodoo Lily." I stuck the pot in the corner of the garden bed I haven't dealt with yet, thinking I'd dump the soil another day. I should have read, because then I would've known after flowering it dies back to the bulb and shoots up about a month later with leaves. Neat leaves.



Glad I didn't throw it out now, as it's a pretty cool looking plant, not in bloom.