@tigerpaws Thanks for the kind words. Castor bean is a perennial, but is not hardy here in Michigan, so it must be started from seed every spring - when soil temps reach 55* is best. I usually plant 2 seeds in each planting hole and cull the weaker plant when the more vigorous seedling reaches about 6" tall. There are many varieties of this plant, many of which are genetically incapable of reaching that height in a single season. You want the plain old species plant if you're going for size ht. I really don't do anything special for the plant, other than sprinkle a high nitrogen fertilizer on the soil surface in a 4 ft circle around the plant and make sure they get enough water.
@Murky The mixed planting you asked about are 2-3 types of Coleus; the creamy-colored blooms are an Impatiens, and the red blooms are
Manettia cordifolia.
I know what you mean about working 12 months per year. When I was younger, I had 3 gardens and more than 200 plants in various stages of development as bonsai. I used to put together at least 20 mixed container plantings + another 20 single specimen potted plants that I displayed in the yard/ gardens/ decks. After tha crash of 2008, my business really took off and I couldn't keep up with everything, so I gradually shut down 2 of the gardens and started planting more bones (trees/ shrubs) in the garden, and stopped building and caring for all those containers. My real passion is bonsai, and I was grossly unable to devote the time I wanted to care for the trees. I now have maybe 175 woody plants, again, in various stages of development, and I'm 3-1/2 years retired. Currently, I can't wait until spring to get back to the plants, even though I have about 75 tropical trees under lights in a basement grow room; but by next fall I'll REALLY be looking for the break that winter affords me. I wouldn't mind living where frost would be no more a threat than the memory, but I know I'd have to cut the number of trees I keep by 2/3. It might be all for the better though, because I realize I'd rather have 25 evocative trees than 150 average trees.
The plant with the tortuous trunk is interesting because it's a 'blue rug juniper', the normal growth habit of which is prostrate - it lies flat on the ground.
This cactus is hardy to MI. NOID It is TINY - compare to the knap on the towel.
<<< Garden is on the left
4 kinds of mint.
Zelcova (dormant). Bonsai wannabe.
Zelcova (dormant) - branching more developed
Coleus
Aeonium in a Chapstick cap
Al
