in your zones?
I have calla's, glads, and miracle lilies (naked ladies), all with very minimal mulching (if any).
I will push the zones more with a new "tropical" bed when we buy our forever home, with bananas, and EEs, and Amaryllis (since the miracle lilies do so well here). I think I will push it pretty hard LOL. I get tired of dragging in and out pots.
Oh dear Heavens. I could post all day on this. (How much would you tolerate from me?- I mean that this could get more than out-of-control)
Thanks Shelly.
This wirey new culm on the bamboo came up about four days ago. Yep. I shouldn't have put it near the house.
One of the palms.
Planted August 05. Surrounded by Delosperma nubigenum, a S. African native.
I, too grow Callas in-ground, Shelly.
Outstanding!!
I will try different cala's, now that I know. I was so naive.. lol I had NO idea the naked lady, and glads werent hardy here. My Grandma in z4 has been growing naked ladies for YEARS.
I have to wonder, what is the "real" definition of hardy?
Hearty = what grows in the poorest soil in the area you live without irrigation, protection from winds, cold, and what ever could kill a native. When you build your garden to the needs of the plants like Kenton you move into a stronger, happier, and heartier plant. Good work Kenton! I'm waiting for your pictures of Acer japonica.
Your acer really is impressive. You can focus more time on it, I guess, as you grow just one or two true zone-pushers.
"Hardy" is a relative term entirely. (Usually ought to have the prefix "winter-hardy." There are so many plant that are not "summer hardy" here!) A plant is hardy in a given place if it can overwinter there at all, by my definintion. That means that a z5 plant cane become a zone z7 plant if it is unhealthy. And likewize, as zone 8 plant could be a z6 plant if it is particularly healthy. Just look at the Bananas in St. Louis, Mo (zone 5a-5b).
Shelly, the key to overwintering colored callas is excellent drainage. Keep those puppies dry in winter.
Variegated Canary Islands Ivy. (zone 8 or 9, they say!) January: most of the leaves hung on there until a cold snap, but the stems were fine and gre new leaves in short order.
It is odd how most places put z8 on most gladiolus. Drainage helps them trmemendously, too. My grandmother in Craig, CO (NW) has "Naked Ladies" lilies. (Lycoris squamigera)
If you want a magnolia, the deciduous ones are very hardy, and the southern magnolia is the best evergreen one. Try 'Braken's Brown Beauty" or "Twenty-four Below." They are the toughest varieties.
A hybrid between a Southern Magnolia and a Sweet Bay Magnolia. Evergreen here.
Kenton
your right Kenton that summers are killers of many Rocky Mountain zonal conflicts due to the hot dry winds that come up in the summer. I have planted Acer Glabrum (a native) to block the hot winds and provide humidity. They are in the upper picture to the right and are placed windward of my JMs. My A.Palmat. Bloodgoods were not making it through the hot part of summer until I provided this protection. I also have a timer on a sprayer to go off every hour for 3 minutes to spray the A glab. to provide the moisture I needed for the Bloodgoods, and Full moon. This is an after to show what I mean. This is taken at 2pm on a hot dry day. When the leaves start to curl I will start the water cycle. (If my well is recovered).
Fancy.
You're more clever than a fox who has gone to Oxford and earned a degree in clever.
ROFLOL you guys are a treat.
I don't think I have any zone pushing plants. I'm a rather casual gardener, plant it, water it and forget it. then one day you notice it's doing rather well. Or alternatively, one day you realize it's gone. LOL
~Blooms
You know Blooms that a parent loosing a child is the most pitiful sorrow that our society embelishes. I cannot let my children suffer and die.
I must confess, I'm a mass murderer, then, LOL. Only the brave and the tough survive my gardening skills and attention (or lack there of). Drip irrigation on timers has improved the odds for most, but then there is the feeding and weeding and extended business trips when a 15 year old boy and a dog are in charge of making sure everything survives... so life is still pretty dicey if you are a plant growing near me! House plants have it even worse! (You'd think they'd do better because they don't get the winds, but they don't get the automatic watering either...)
I blame the plant if it fails. (Last resort, actually, but it has been the case a time or two)
Well gee, it looks like I'm going to have to clutter this thread until the rest of the mob notices it and makes a contribution.
Vines. Just for fun.
Get Cactus, eh Kmom?
Here is a nifty climbing Bleeding heart that must not get enough light- it hasn't bloomed this year.
The novel Arum italicum
A Robust male fern, one whose latin name means "Robust male fern." Suprising.
These are prevalent on the Western coast of Donna's state. The evergreen Clematis armandii. First year.
Brugs can be grown here, but bugs grow here naturally...
Earwigs!
Crocosmia.
An orchid. We'll see how it comes out of winter dormancy, that's what worries me. I hope my drainage is good.
Dracunculus. I love this picture. (March 10) I though it was a gonner here...
But it didn't die, in fact it did superbly. The flower was enough to scare the UPS man.
But, (here is that familiar story...) we had a windstorm the third day it was blooming that killed it.
This is what a Banana looks like if you are as silly as I am and don't mulch it well the first part of winter. The stem froze off, but the roots lived.
May 4.
Last Tueday.
I really encourage anyone to try this silly beast. Read up on it and either buy one or convince someone down south that they have too many and should liberate a Musa basjoo to the post office.
Come now, surely there are other RMountainers who have something none of their neighbors have?
Finally... I passed this on the way home.
Kenton
LOL, love the sign!
By the way, I have several TONS of sand, if you want to improve drainage. I know if you mix it with clay, it will turn to cement, but if you mix it 1 part clay to 1,000,000 parts sand, it might just be OK.
Enjoyed the photos. I am very familiar with the "had a wind storm... killed it" story. And such a lovingly evil looking thing, too.
Please then, just Fedex a few tons over if its not too much trouble.
Kenton You are the only RM er that tries to grow what shouldn't. We all look up to you for signs of what could be. Your youth denies the probable outcome and you continue to grow what the rest of us have killed. Thank you for your pictures (from some California garden) that we have to trust you have grown in Clinton, CO. LOL
Ha ha hee!
Great pictures! This is giving me such an idea of what to try!
"Brugs can be grown here, but bugs grow here naturally...
Earwigs!" LOLOL I can relate! They are so bad!
The brugs do okay here.. its too darn dry. I have a few kinds, and have a heck of a time getting them to flower. Its not the watering part that gets them, its the lack of humidity. I will have to work toward a desert brugmansia!
That would be a Datura, my dear...
JamesCO, as soon as I find a source for a few tons of compost, I'm going to take my tractor and start escavating... 2 tons sand, FOB Nevada on the way :-)
Ok, Ok, Ok... I occasionally(everytime I peruse a new plant cataloge) get the urge to grow things here that well... really shouldn't grow here. Like the time I entertained the idea of growing Mutisia spinosa, or a qiwi vine, and yes I've even toyed with the idea of Musa bajoo. I just haven't gone that direction yet. I have however tried several cacti and succulents that grow and return here in my yard that according to cold hardiness rating shouldn't. I've posted pictures of several of them in Plant files. I also grow a Salvia greggii that is rated a zone 7, but it's in the hottest place in my yard. It's all about micro climates. Cacti and succulents typically only need attention paid to soil drainage and placement near structures objects that can modify temperature. Where as tropicals not only need this but humidity and moisture. Adding a misting system might be a possible solution for this though.
I grow a miniature bamboo nandina domestica 'tama shisi'. It is suffering from chlorosis this year, and like so many other things I grow receives the occasional treatment of Cheleated iron. Also have Ophiopogon planiscapen thats listed as marginal for me and a coral bark Japanese maple. I also have a weeping and standard form of atlas cedar. Hows that for a start.
Mine arent Dats. for sure. I have many brugs that I have grown for a few years.
LOL The Dats. I have no problem with flowering. They arent even in good soil LOL. The brugs I baby along, and am lucky to get a few blooms a year, when everyone else gets flushes of them at least twice.
Kenton,
Datura grows wild here and looks like it shouldn't. It is lovely and exotic looking. What is the name of the plant that scared off the UPS man. It is georgeous.
Brugs -- I have seen them. They are lovely. I haven't tried growing them, but I would love to grow the plant that scared the UPS man.
I plan to try a banana tree for culinary purposes and to freak out my friends. Also for old times sake. I grew up in New Orleans. We had lots of banana trees especially in patios. They got quite large. And we did have the occaisional cold spell there, even snow a couple of times. Since bananas aren't woody plants, a really hard freeze that lasted for a while covered everyone's patios with mush. But the trees did come back.
I expect when I grow mine, it won't get so large. And I can throw the mush in my compost.
Ally got me all jazzed up about Cedrus. Well done, well done. Put that in the zipcode report if you will. Is your normal atlas cedar green or blue form?
Exactly, Betty-Paja. The UPS plant is Dracunculus vulgaris, Dragon lily. The best source is B & B bulbs, you order them now with tulips. I wish I had a basjoo to give you! Wait, B&B has those, too in spring.
kmom, I've got the compost!
K
I finally got a few blooms on my old faithful Ecuador Pink. LOL Bless its heart, can you see the dead stick in the middle? This is where it had to come back from. This year I wont cut it back when I take it in, I will just strip the few leaves it has, and hope next year she blooms more.
I know for sure I cant leave this one out, or I would try popping it in the ground. I surely will have to try for a very hardy one.
