Container Renovations 7! (smile)

We came from here:

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/976228/

That last thread was getting very long! I have to say that my poor containers have really suffered this summer, mostly from the extreme heat and secondly because I've been so busy (neglect). Most of my annuals have expired and I've replaced a lot with Caladiums which seem to be able to take this heat well.

I hope everybody posts photo's of their great containers, as right now in the cooler areas they should be at their most beautiful! I look forward to seeing them!

Here's a pic of my old reliable Thai Caladiums which really came up well this 2nd year!

Kat

I spent a few hours outside today but it doesn't even look like I put a "dent" in the jungle! The lizard lounge is getting really overgrown! For now it's okay though. In a few weeks I'll really give things a renovation...

Amazingly enough I still have some Petunias hanging in! Popped these caladium bulbs in a couple of weeks ago though and they've replaced some impatiens...

These Crown of Thorns have to be the best plants! They bloom all year round. They're getting huge though and I'm not in the mood right now to transplant (judging by the size of those thorns!).

Gotta say I have been fertilizing though and it's keeping everything green! We haven't had a lot of rain and it's been a constant watering by hand chore!

A close-up of my Plumeria (Pudica) tree - it's about 9' high now! The blooms are gorgeous!

Now talk about neglect!!! Look at these two sorry looking characters! I think they need a haircut...or something!

My moonflowers I planted in a container to wrap around the columns of the potting pergola have done well though...

This isn't too exciting but it has grown well - Tomtom caladiums and sweet potato vine...

Ran out of room for containers in the back...so they're now gradually appearing in the front! LOL!

I so look forward to your pictures - your garden pics are beautiful and containers always very creative combinations. I've kept many of them for future reference of plant combinations - I even have a folder called 'KatG' for ideas in my little courtyard.

Thanks TXdoodlebug! When you get to planting...I would love to see some of yours!

Kat

Katg !nice Thai caladiums
I love the hot color combo with the orange pig planter.

I too admire your plants and have kept several pics as guides too. In the last photo what is the large palm type? What size container is it in and what is the large leaf plant beside it?

Thanks for sharing your lizard lounge with us.

very classy front

Guess What????????? My ornamental sweet potato has a sweet potato. Can I eat it????

WOW I neve r have seen one do that

The funny part is that the sweet potatoes that I planted to eat aren't doing that. I'm supposed to cut the vine back in order to help them form potatoes.

Thanks ge1836 - I just love those Thai Caladiums! I was surprised how nicely these guys came up this year again...a little mutated but really different!

Snowtop - those are California dwarf elephant ears. They're in a container about 24" tall by about 12" wide. The large leaf plants are Giant bird of Paradise and really need to be cut back. They've bloomed a lot this year, but they're really not the prettiest of blooms!

Tina Honey!!!!

I'm as mystified as you are! They sure don't look like regular sweet potatoes do they? I keep digging them up out of my pots and this weekend I dug up the "MOTHER". Thought I had dug them all out of this container last year!

Okay...I'm curious too!

Just cut off a little bit and tasted it! It's kinda sweet, but not the texture of a sweet potato. Very starchy like a regular potato. I don't know what to compare it to! Leaves kind of a nasty aftertaste.

Okay...I tasted it! I know I disappear off these boards every so often, but if I don't return tomorrow you'll know it's poison! hahaha

Here's a pic of the one I dug up this weekend and I chopped half of it off in the process...

Kat

I'd check with horticulture people before I ate it.

Oh ge...you're right, but everything is fine!

Here's what Jeremy from my Florida thread has to say and he really know's his stuff!
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Hi, Kat. Yes, I think a monkey haired spiky brunette would make a great looking head!

I happened to pull up a fairly good sized ornamental sweet potato tuber a few weeks ago. I wondered, too, if they could be eaten. A brief search seems to indicate that some of them are:

Quoted:
Some varieties of sweet potato vines are so attractive, they're sold as ornamental foliage plants at garden centres. They're striking in window boxes and containers, and also make great groundcovers. Some even produce edible tubers. Pinched-off tips can be rooted in water and the tubers can be saved till late winter or early spring to sprout in water just like their grocery-store cousins

From Canadian Gardening http://www.canadiangardening.com/how-to/gardening-with-kids/...

What you are probably experiencing as the aftertaste is likely to have come from nearly pure starch. The ornamental sweet potatoes probably don't have as much sugar content as their grocery store cousins and would have mostly starch. All sweet potatoes are in the same botanical classification, Ipomoea batatas, whether they are edible or ornamental

http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/adv_search.php?searcher[com...

so I guess it is just a matter of personal taste as to whether to eat them. I can't imagine any of them could have any toxic effects (other than when cooked according to my recipe with a heavy handed pour of Jack Daniels added to pureed sweet potatoes LOL) I adapted the recipe from the one provided in the original "Joy of Cooking." I was so impressed by the instruction to start with "six shapely sweet potatoes" that I felt I had to try the recipe. I've spent much of the past several decades forever in search of a "shapely" sweet potato. LOL

According to what I saw on-line, you can cut off pieces of the ornamental sweet potato tuber and root it with toothpicks holding it over a jar of water, as you can with grocery store sweet potatoes.

Jeremy

cool ! ! !

I gifted containers to friends and sister this spring
Visited sis yeaterday and took pic of hers. I hadnt seen it since May 17th

Oh Kat - your slideshow pictures of Canada were just what I needed. I vacationed there for several years in a row and they brought back LOTS of memories for me. Met another DGer in NB and I am in love with PEI - in the summer. Thank you for posting the link!

-Kim

ge1836 - Isn't that just the BEST gift!!! I LOVE your combo of Coleus and Caladiums! They look great together. But then again I am a freak for both of those plants! Sweet Potato Vine is good in there too!

bluekat...I'm so glad you enjoyed that little slideshow. I would go back tomorrow! And like you, I am totally in love with PEI also (in the summer! hehe). It's a place like no other. It just seems like time has stood still (all for the good!). Loved Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, but PEI was my favorite. Would love to rent a cottage there and stay a couple of weeks. Pristine...is the word that comes to mind when I think about it.

Kat

(looking for flights from Tampa to Charlottetown! haha)

Katg! That is such a colorfull display of coleus. I racognise Lancelot Moca but what is the large red tipped leafed one.

they seem to grow over night

.

ge1836

WOW! You sure have put some gorgeous combinations together! I love your selection of pots also. Top right hand corner of the 1st photo - are those Whitewing Caladiums and what are the yellow flowers? They are so pretty. Love your petunias also and so many different varieties of coleus! Do you keep any going over the winter inside or do you just replant new varieties each spring?

Sorry, I don't know the name of that Coleus...

Thanks for the pictures of your containers...they're beautiful!

Kat

HiKat
The caladiums are Christmas
coleus The Boss and Wild Lime
yellow flowers:
Begonia Pendula and Lantane

KatG I took 3 cuttings from my modest assortment last year.
I had never done it so wanted to be conservative.
I ordered 60 varietied from RD co-op and have taken over 20 cuttings for this winter.I wanted to see the true colors for my situ. and some I ordered were disapointments.
I dont know how I'm going to move around my tiny space but will probably go into DD's livingroom after the crismis tree comes down.
This is whats comming in for the winter
There might be dupes ,sorry Its early to be making collages
clockwise left-right
envy
jungle love -trailing quees
wild lime-swiss sunshine
inly toes
oxblood
violet tricolor-
little copper ( my name for it)
raspberry ruffles - dexter
psycoleos - lord voldemort

This message was edited Aug 19, 2009 5:36 AM

There are some of the rest, might be duplicates.
If anyone sees a coleus miss ID'd speak up.
The copper was given to me ,I have no idea.
A closer look showed me I shouldnt try to make collages so early
top left to right
glory
watermelon
fiesta
felix
swiss sun
wild lime
kona red
jungle love
trailing chocolate
dexter (again)
peter wonder
glory (again)

This message was edited Aug 19, 2009 5:43 AM

Ge1836 - They're fantastic and thanks for all the names!

I just updated my garden slideshow on Phanfare and there's a lot of coleus I planted this year. Unfortunately some of it has expired and I wasn't smart enough to take cuttings! A lot of these photo's have been posted on here, but there are new ones also.

http://katg.phanfare.com/1709026_4678153#imageID=78673723

View it in Fullscreen for larger and clearer photos!

Take care all

Kat

very nice. I have zone envy now some of your tropicals are wonderful

Lovely containers, I especially like the ones with coleus....

one of my jobs>

I just finished looking at your slideshow Kat and am blown away at the beauty. The flowers, containers, pups--so much to look at. Would love to sit on your patio and have a glass of wine and take in the beauty. You also have the best looking pots. Love it all. Laverne

Kat, you have enough material for a book! 10 min. of unadulterated eye candy. you've got the gift of combining eye pleasing and striking combos/

Thanks for a gorgeous show.I love the bright colors all mixed together. Lots of great ideas for me..What do you feed all your containers and how often?

Kat.... thanks so much for sharing your vacation slides. We have spent time in Mass and went as far as Portland. We could never find the time away from work to go further. It was great seeing all your lovely pictures. shirleyt