Wooden Frog Drums

Wooden Frog Drums
Wordless Wednesday

Black and White Maui Flowers

Black and White Maui Flowers
New Guinea Impatiens
Impatiens x hybrida
(im-PAY-shuns)
Synonyms: Impatiens hawkeri



These flowers were blooming in the up country part of Maui. I was leaning over a little planting bed taking pictures when someone walked up and that they were all native Hawaiian plants. I didn’t say anything because the bed did have some native looking stuff but I knew these flowers were native to South Africa.

It is one of my favorite annuals and we still grow it even though some years it doesn’t look that great. When it is on it is one of the most classy, dainty and dignified annuals in the garden.

When I visit Hawaii I expect to see some different things. It is in the tropics and a long, long way from home (5,000 miles) so things are bound to be a little different.


However I really didn’t get this Buddha with a chain around its neck. It was weird and went right over my head (probably better that way). Here is a regular Buddha that was ‘normal’.

Franklin Tree

Franklin Tree
Franklinia alatamaha
(frank-LIN-ee-uh) (uh-lah-tah-MAH-hah)

Yesterday there was a little extra time in the day so I checked out Lasdon Park in Westchester County.

It is quite a beautiful garden that is big and well cared for but not overwhelming or overdone. In fact I wanted some pictures of seed heads and broken down perennials but they had dutifully cut them all back already.


Seeing this Franklin tree in flower and fall foliage was a rare treat. They really had some nice other trees at the arboretum. The Franklin tree is named after Ben Franklin and is considered extinct in the wild. It is probably the latest flowering tree around here.

Here is a link for more information:
New Georgia Encyclopedia – Franklin Tree . I like how they refer to it as “The Lost Camellia”.

For more flower pictures from around the world check out:
Today’s Flowers . The links open at 1400 GMT.

Daylily ‘Lavender Illusion’

Daylily ‘Lavender Illusion’
Hemerocallis
(hem-er-oh-KAL-iss)

This large flowered Hybrid Daylily was introduced in 1975. It really had unusual color. It is considered to be a diploid type that grows to about 30 inches tall. There seems to be some variation of color between plants and even individual flower stalks. Maybe that is where the illusion part comes in.

The freeze came last night and the flower garden looks almost completely wasted. The Nemesia and some of the mums might make it but we will have to see what happens when the sun comes up. I have to work today but I am not complaining about it. We just got a large transplanting job and it needs to get started as soon as possible. The two largest plants are a eight inch caliper Variegated Japanese Maple and a ‘Hoopsi’ Blue Spruce that is about 12 feet tall.

Mums and Snapdragons

Mums and Snapdragons

This is one of the late season containers we planted at work. The mums are the ‘premium’ type and I am not sure exactly what type they are. Every year some of the pots get changed over to something like this when the regular annuals get tired.

This pot had some Salvia ‘Argentine Skies’ and they did okay but there wasn’t a lot of color at the end of the season. You can’t see it but there is also a ‘Blackie’ Sweet Potato and some Brachyscome multifida daisies in this pot. They were left over form the summer and still looked good.

Thankfully the forecasted snow didn’t come last night. We are in for a windy and cold day for today. Tonight it is supposed to drop to 27 degrees F and that is going to finish the garden around here. The gardens at work have a forecasted temperature of 32 degrees, which means a lot of cleanup on Monday.