The Garden.org Plants Database

I am not an expert on bog plants or having a bog garden, but I looked up some information online. This species is native to a few areas in Tennessee, North Carolina, Georgia, and northeast Alabama. It is sometimes called the Mountain Pitcher-Plant as it grows in inland, mountainous conditions where it snows. Its light green pitcher can be without any venation to having heavy red venation and throat sploches. Like other pitcher-plants, it needs lots of sun and a very acid, organic, constantly moist to wet soil. It can be grown in containers and pots with a medium mix of half peatmoss & sand or perlite. Kept constantly moist with pure water without minerals and never fertilized. It has to be over-wintered by keeping it in a place below 50 degrees F for 2 or 3 months. The plant and the container can be put into the ground and covered with mulch for the winter where the temperature does not get below 0 degrees F upon the plant and it must remain with moist soil. There are a few specialty mail order nurseries that sell some form of this species and other Pitcher-Plants. There are a few cultivars of this species also. In the wild it is very endangered and can only be handled with a special permit by expert ecologists or horticulturists.

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I received a 6" plant in a trade in 2015. It has thrived in my zone 9. It grew about 18 inches a year and branched out to 12 inches. Last year it needed a larger pot, so I moved it to a 5 gallon pot and it took off. This year I've trimmed 12 inches of top growth to keep it a manageable 6 foot plant and now I'll allow it to get wider branching for a nice plump bush. It's 4 years old and hasn't bloomed yet, so I moved it to a full sun location. This requires a strict watering routine since it's in a pot, but I'm not ready to plant it out.

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I got seeds from poisondartfrog in the Nov. 2017 seed trade and planted them March 1, 2018. Most seeds sprouted so I had about 10 to share and kept 2. It's late July and the plants are 2 feet tall and just started flowering. She noted hers had a light yellow edge but the 1st three flowers have been true double, solid white flowers with a soft sweet fragrance. I love them, Thanks Alana!

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I collected red to black seeds in March 2018 from plants in my daughter's yard. After they completely dried up for 3 months, I sowed 12 seeds on June 22. It's July 20 and today I found a 2" sprout and 2 more breaking through the soil. This happened overnight as I've checked daily, anticipating sprouts any day. I'm thrilled to have babies of this nice plant that does very well year around here in zone 9. I will report more progress in a month.

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Regalia is 3-4 lb. galia type melon from Burpee. It is lightly netted and ripens to a brownish gold. It does not slip which makes harvesting a judgement call. Pale green flesh is very sweet. It performs well here.

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The 6' row of these against the wooden fence of my backyard is in full bloom. It's July and with the flower and stem they are 6 feet tall. A couple are almost 7 feet because they are taller than the fence. I had sprayed them regularly with Sevin to keep caterpillars away, but we just had 3 weeks of off and on rain that interrupted my spraying regiment, and this week there were signs of caterpillar invasion. It's raining less, so I cut the rolled buggy leaves and started spraying again. Cutting them to the ground after they flower encourages new growth from the rhizomes and I get a fall display of flowers again here in zone 9.

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In May 2018 a neighbor gave me a rhizome with an unfurling leaf. I planted it in a 12" pot on my patio so I could monitor its growth and spray it regularly with sevin to ward off caterpillars, which are real pests to cannas here in south Louisiana. It's late July and that starter plant is now 3 feet tall and has 4 different stems of leaf clusters that seem to be setting flower buds. Because it's been in morning sun only, it still has its deep vibrant coloring that would have faded in a full sun position. Best of all, the caterpillars never invaded it, so it's a picture perfect specimen. I will take pictures to post later.

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I got seeds labeled 'Black Moon' vinca in a big seed swap here in Nov. 2017. I thought they'd be a novelty color to try so I planted them in an orange hanging basket on my porch. They grew well but when the flowers opened they were not dark 'Black Moon' but, I think, 'Cora Punch' pink. They are blooming beautifully, but they really clash with that orange pot I thought 'Black Moon' would have looked wonderful in. I don't know whether the seeds were mislabeled or cross pollinated, but my disappointment was tempered by these very large fuchsia-pink beauties. Now I don't have the heart to disturb them by removing them from that glaring orange pot!

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I have a couple of these small, dark green "bird's nest" plants. They stay about 5"x5" and send out several pups when they are root bound. I've given away lots of offspring through the years, but I always keep a mother and a couple of pups for a variety of sizes and to propagate more. Mine grow on my porch close to the house where they get filtered morning sun and bright light all day but no rain. I keep them on a strict once-a-week water routine because they will die if they are left too wet for too long. When temps are dropping below 40*, I bring them indoors by an east window for winter. By April 1st here in Zone 9 out they go again. They are great beginner's indoor plants I call "Plant Pets"; cute and easy to grow.

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I have a 5-year-old plant that has reached its mature size of 5"x5". It was only a 2" pup with 3 leaves when I got it in a trade. It didn't even have visible roots, so I kept the soil in its 2" pot moist to encourage healthy roots. It grew well, so it must have developed good roots, and by 6 months I allowed it to dry out a little between weekly watering. It continued to grow, but very slowly. It looks like all the posted pictures but most like extranjera's. It's now root bound in its 4" pot, so I'm joyfully anticipating pup development any time. I will take a picture soon and get it posted when I can. I lovingly call cute and easy-to-grow plants like this one "Plant Pets." I have quite a few "Plant Pets" at this time.

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Tree aloe from South Africa to 10-20 feet with outstanding bicolored flowers (red buds opening to greenish white blooms), to which the Latin name refers. The head usually points to the side (often north in habitat) rather than straight up like most tree aloes, thus the common name tilt-head aloe.

Leaves are long, thin, drooping, blue-green, and have fairly insubstantial reddish marginal spines that are usually more like serrations. Inflorescences are relatively short, unbranched, and densely flowered, often appearing more than one at a time. Usually solitary in harsh habitats but capable of branching.

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My gold-edged 'Laurentii' is sending out pups. It's several years old and rootbound, which triggers it to multiply. The new 3" pups don't have the gold edge yet. They change over time as the sprout gets to be 6 months old and about 8 inches tall. At this rate I'll have a lush, full pot by next year. This pot is by a north window that gets full day bright light. I water it once a week. It's very happy!

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I've grown these perennials for many years. As always, it's mid July and here come the flowers. Because they die back to the ground each winter even here in zone 9, they return and grow from April till July to be a two to 3 foot plant before starting to flower. I have the tall purple and the pink, which are so pretty in a mixed bed. I had them take over one year and it took 3 years to manage them again through pulling, cutting immature seeds, and even "Round-Uping" them. It's a shame they overpopulate because otherwise they are disease and bug proof beauties that attract bees, butterflies and hummingbirds.

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Mediterranean native tree whose bark is used to make corks for bottles, as well as for other uses like mats, etc. The bark is rough and fissured and very distinctive looking.

Cork is a renewable resource. The trees are not killed when the bark is harvested, and in fact just grow more. This is considered a soil forming species and it may provide an important ecological niche for animals across its range in southern Europe and northern Africa.

Half of the cork produced in the world comes from Portugal, where cutting down cork oaks is generally prohibited except for forest management.

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I believe this is the dwarf variety of purple I have. It's mid July and flowers just started opening every day on this border plant of my front yard beds. It only gets 8 inches tall, and it branches, so each plant grows to 8"x8" and looks perfect in a border. They will bloom into fall and get nipped by the 1st frost but they are perennials, so they will return in spring and flower by July. It can be invasive as it pops seeds out 3 feet like its taller variety.

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It's late July and I found the first seed pod that forms after flowers. It's still green, so I will watch for it to brown over the next month, When it's dry, I'll collect seeds to trade in a seed swap here on garden.org. There are still lots of flower clusters as it's a summer/fall bloomer starting about mid May here in south Louisiana, zone 9.

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The White Wings pictures you are using is not White Wings. They are actually White Versicolor. They are two separate varieties and often are mislabeled.

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My 'Pink Panther' is blooming now, July 2018. I have several varieties with red blooms and another with a peachy pink, but this is the hottest pink and looks so pretty against the dark marked leaves. It's growing indoors where it gets 4 hours of filtered east morning sun, then 8 hours of light from my SunBlaster over head. I love Episcias more than African violets, so I'm always open for a trade of a variety I don't have.

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I have tried these from seeds I've gotten in seed trades for several years and they never bloom true white. In my research I found that the traders all grew other varieties close by, so cross pollination may be the reason. I will have to buy a plant and then test to see whether it comes true from seed growing in my mixed environment. I think root divisions are my best way of propagating this pretty color. I'm in south Louisiana and all echinaceas do well here and are a mainstay in attracting butterflies to my yard.

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I have this very fragrant bubblegum-pink variety. I started it from seeds I got in a trade with another gardener in summer 2016. Here in zone 9 it has performed as a true perennial, returning and blooming well for 2 years now in a pot on my patio. It's multiplied, so I will plant it out in a flower bed this fall. It's the most fragrant I grow and it can be smelled from 4 feet around the plant. I love it and will collect seeds this fall to share in a trade here on garden.org.

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