What a Difference a Day Makes

We've had some lovely weather this week, and I've been doing some tidy up in the garden - pulling out the finished zinnias, trying my hardest to get rid of the bermuda grass and nutsedge.  This resulted in two rather empty island beds, so I headed to Plants for All Seasons to get some winter color.

These little violas will last from now until spring and will brighten an otherwise drab garden through the winter.

They spread a bit, so I spaced them out and had enough for both island beds, the containers by the bird bath and the raised bed by the trellis on the back wall.

Skip forward to this morning and I awoke to hear the drumming of rain on the roof and the sounds of the water barrel overflowing.

As always happens when we get a heavy rain, the garden flooded.  We keep meaning to get something done about it, but the water usually drains after an hour or so, provided it stops raining.

But what's that I see behind the bird bath?  

Yes, the Angel Trumpet that offered one bloom after a rain storm at the end of October (see my post here) is literally covered in blooms!

Now the rain has passed and the sun is shining again.  Here's a photo of the Angel Trumpet in the afternoon sunshine.

It's bright and sunny outside, but very blowy, so I hope this doesn't get blown over.  That would be a disaster!

I noticed earlier when I was re-positioning it to make it more stable on the sodden earth, that the pot is starting to crack so I'll need to replant it eventually.  I'd like to find somewhere to put it in the ground, but everywhere seems to be a battle of roots.  I'll have to give it some thought and decide where would be the best place for it.


Words and photographs by Jayne Wilson, Green and Serene, Jayne's Country Garden.

After the Storm

As most people are aware, Texas got a lot of wind and rain last weekend, courtesy of Hurricane Patricia.

The predictions were pretty grim, and we were expecting the worst, but luckily, the storm downgraded and we didn't get hit as badly as we feared.  We didn't get flooded (although some roads were closed) and we didn't lose power.

Still, that didn't stop folks having a little fun on the internet at our expense!  (I can't talk, I shared this one myself on Facebook :-)

So after the storm, I took a stroll round the garden to see how everything had fared and was happy to see that other than some drooping Milkweed stalks, everything was fine.

I also got a pleasant surprise when I saw that the rainfall had encouraged my Angel Trumpet (Brugmansia) to bloom.

It has been in a container in that same spot for at least three years and this is the first time it has bloomed for me.

There was also speculation on the internet about how Hurricane Patricia would adversely affect the Monarch migration as they would be passing directly through the area.

Well it seems that our local Monarchs found somewhere safe to hunker down during the storm and have been seen the past couple of days, fueling up on the Vitex and laying eggs on the Milkweed before they head south.

I also read an interesting article on AZCentral.com, Hurricane Patricia: How Monarch butterflies faced down the storm and it seems that butterflies flying through Arizona, in the direct line of the storm were pretty darned smart.

"But those butterflies shifted their flight east, away from the hurricane’s track, according to the Mexican national agency tasked with tracking them.

The butterflies “changed their route from west to east and have taken refuge in the ravines” of the country’s eastern mountain range, the Sierra Madre Oriental, the National Commission of Natural Protected Areas (CONANP) reported."

Isn't nature wonderful?

I've linked this post to Today's Flowers, hosted by Denise at An English Girl Rambles.

Words and photographs by Jayne Wilson, Green and Serene, Jayne's Country Garden.

Repotting the Angel Trumpet

 In the corner of our garden, by the bird bath, we have a lovely bushy green Brugmansia, or Angel Trumpet. 

 It was in a container and was doing so well that I scarecely gave it a thought.  However, after the recent rains I happened to look closer and realize the container was full to the brim with water. It wasn't draining for some reason.

I carefully laid it on its side to let the excess water drain out and soon realized why it wasn't draining. At some point I had apparently moved it and forgotten to set the saucer back underneath it and the roots had grown through the drainage holes.

Because one of the roots had broken as I laid the pot over to drain it, I was left with no alternative but to repot it.  First, of course, I had to do some surgery to get rid of the big chunk of root that was holding the plant in the pot. (below you can see the rest of the root in the ground -- no wonder the plant had looked so nice and healthy, look at the size of the root!)

I repotted the plant in a huge container into which my husband had drilled some additional drainage holes on the side.  I'm hoping that will provide it with drainage while stopping it from rooting in the garden.

After that, it was up to the plant.  I watered it and set it back in the border and hoped it would make it. By morning it had dropped a ton of leaves, but the ones it retained looked okay.  When I got home from work, it looked awful, nothing but a few droopy leaves at the end of the stems.

Next morning it looked better and I checked the moisture level and gave it another drink.  By the time I got home from work it was drooping again.

I really thought I was going to lose it, but eventually it seemed to pull through.

It's just a shadow of it's former self at the moment, having lost so many leaves,  but it's got lots of new little leaves budding out so I'm hopeful that it will eventually look as lovely as it did before.  Perhaps it will even grace us with some blooms next year.

Wish us luck!


Words and photographs by Jayne Wilson, Green and Serene, Jayne's Country Garden.