It's not a daylily, but our Cassia bicapsularis is looking good this year. We have a pair of them in the front yard, about 150 ft from each other. For some reason this year, they're not in synch with each other. One of them is just about bloomed out, but this one is at peak.

Absolutely beautiful!

Wonderful, John! Thanks for sharing.

They are blooming all over gainesville as well. I dont know why I am noticing them more this year.

Not as colorful, but blooming is blooming.

gardenglory said:They are blooming all over gainesville as well. I dont know why I am noticing them more this year.

Some years they seem to be more spectacular than others. I have no idea why.

John and Pam thanks for sharing those beauties.

John and Pam - Beautiful blooms!!!! I just happened to check out this thread and what a sight to see!

John - My Cassia tree bloomed liked crazy, too, in November. It was so full and heavy with blooms that the branches were nearly touching the ground! One of my favorite small blooming trees! The Sulphur Butterflies love that host plant species!

Before pruning:


Looked a lot better after being pruned:


Right before a cold snap, there was so much blooming in my backyard, but then it got down into the high 30's and the Plumbago and a few other plants stopped blooming. All that color was sure nice while it lasted!


Now the roses and Brugmansias are blooming. They prefer the cooler weather. (Though today it was rather warm.)

Beckygardener:

Here in zone 9a inland, we don't have to prune the Cassia. Mother Nature does it for us every couple of years, so the only pruning we do is cutting out the dead wood when winter is over.

Becky, love the pic above. The yellow reminds me of our forsythia in Spring. I miss my brugs blooms too. I would love to have a small GH to overwinter them in. I tried moving 5 in one yr and had a huge gnat problem!

What do you have on your archway?

John - How does Mother Nature prune the Cassia? By the larger branches breaking in storms?

I have to prune mine so my path is cleared, otherwise it is impossible to use that path. There are 2 Cassias and 2 Wild Lime trees/shrubs all growing in that area. (Both plant species are host plants for different butterflies!) The whole clump of growth gets quite large. It's all part of my butterfly and hummingbird garden. The birds perch in there all the time and use it for cover. I host hummingbirds and Painted Buntings in Winter. These plants are favored by the wildlife and get lots of use.

Teresa - Thank you. I have 2 Old Blush climbing roses growing up that cattle panel arbor. I grow them in the pots because of the root knot nematodes that are in my ground soil. They surprisingly survive and thrive that way. I have another set of climbing roses (Chinese roses) growing on a wooden arbor near my backdoor. (Also growing out of pots, though I suspect that those roses have roots extending into the ground through the bottom drain holes in the containers.) I've had to think "outside the box" on how to grow plants that I see being grown and trained up arbors in other parts of the country. I envy folks up north with much better soil than I have here in Florida. (Though I do not envy their long, cold Winters.)

I love hummingbirds and indigo buntings. I have yet to see a Painted bunting in real life. I love the pics in Birds and Blooms tho!
I am as far north as I want to go. I can grow a variety of plants. Tropical I have to bring in or dig the canna and EEs.

I have a daughter in Boston, lovely area to visit but not to stay for me. I am hoping for a White Christmas, just a snow shower would be great. That is in the forecast!

You have a lovely yard Becky

Teresa - I am part of a study host group for the eastern Painted Buntings. Their numbers have declined (probably due to development causing the loss of their habitats along the eastern coast from the Carolinas down into Florida). I was also part of a host project for Ruby-throated hummings in 2011. The past few years I've hosted at least 3 RTHs each Winter in or around my yard. In 2011, I had females. Since then, I've only had male birds. I love both bird species! In Winter, they delight me when the blooming plants are mainly just my Brugmansias and Roses. Few other plants bloom at this time of year. When the birds leave, the daylilies start blooming. The constant change in my garden is the reason I've never gotten bored of gardening. There is always something to delight me! I am interested in everything ... my other interest is the butterflies. Which has been my longest interest and why I started gardening 10 years ago. I should have had a career in biology, forestry, or something similar. I missed my calling ....

Here's a photo of some the Painted Buntings at my feeder. These birds hang out with the Cardinals that are year round residence. The buntings are migrants. A bander comes to my home at least once a year to band the birds she can catch. So far she has banded 13 Painted Buntings this year. She will be back later in the Winter to band again. We estimated that I had about 12 birds last January. It's funny because I just thought I had one or two pairs of buntings, but it turns out I had quite a few more. Only a few were coming to the feeder at one time. I live in a residential neighborhood. Just a lot, not acreage. Anyone who thinks they need a large piece of property to grow plants and attract wildlife is wrong. My yard is not big, but it is packed full of garden areas. My goal ... no lawn.



I am like you ... would only want to visit snow states, not live there!

Cindy - Thank you. I am hoping some of the seedlings I grew from your seeds bloom this year. I haven't yet had time to sow/start the freebie seeds yet. Hoping to do that within the next 2 weeks. It's exciting to see any hybrid plants and what they produce as blooms! I love daylilies ... rust and all! LOL! I also love Brugmansias. I have several that were grown from cuttings. But most were seedlings. The seedlings are a different species of Brug, so the blooms are much smaller. I decided I prefer the larger blooming brugs more. I have 13 Brugs. It's interesting to see how they grow. Some are quite tall, one looks like a dwarf. Some have small blooms, some have large blooms. Many are white blooms. My favorites though are the large flower pink and yellow brugs. I have no names for any of them. All unknown or seedlings.

Beckygardener

Mother Nature doesn't prune our Cassia, she kills them back every other winter or so. I was making a feeble attempt at humor. When it gets a few degrees below 30, the Cassia die back, and we have to cut out the dead wood in the spring.

Love the bunting photo. I have them here in the summer, but only occasionally see them. Here they tend to be really shy. They come to water in the water trays that I keep water loving plants (like cannas) sitting in. Especially those where there is enough foliage to more or less keep them concealed. I don't keep food out anymore. It proved to be an attraction for mice and field rats. A problem with living in the country. Those are plentiful in the pasture and relocate to the house quite readily.

John - I have had Mother Nature "prune" mine with hurricane winds. I thought that is what you were talking about! LOL!

You know what ... mine would die back too and I used to prune what I thought was dead wood every Spring. One year I didn't cut back the dead wood and guess what ... most of the "dead" limbs produced leaves in the late Spring. I was amazed! My son used to tell me to chop them down and remove them because they looked so dead, but alas .... they were only sleeping. I've not had to remove but a few pieces of dead wood even after the coldest winters. Mostly I prune live branches because the growth is incredible once I stopped removing the "dead" wood after each Winter to allow them to grow larger. LOL! They are pruned into tree form. Many of my taller shrubs are grown as standards in my yard. From Cape Honeysuckle to Brugs to these Cassia plants. I like small trees because it gives the birds and butterflies a place to hide/roost. I have to prune the branches though so I still get filtered sunlight to grow all the ground level plants. My backyard looks like a jungle during the height of the growing season here. The downside ... it's a lot of work to maintain. But .... I get my exercise ... so it helps me stay healthy and active. LOL! (That's what I tell myself anyway! LOL LOL LOL)

Donald - I have the same problem. Though the rats prefer sunflower seeds not so much white millet seeds. I came up with a solution that so far has seemed to work. I have my main seed feeder framed out with wood at the base. I cut to fit and laid a tarp underneath the feeder. I have a squirrel guard on the wooden post. Every evening I fold the tarp up and dump the seeds in a compost pile outside my fenced backyard. If any rats come to the compost area, predators get them because there is no protection for the rats in that area. It is in the open. I have bobcats and domestic cats in my area. As well as owls and hawks. I haven't seen any rats in my backyard or near my house since I started doing that. I also considered just dumping the fallen seed into a plastic trash bag to toss for the garbage pick up, but that seemed wasteful. I do get sunflower seeds sprouting in the compost pile! LOL!