Monthly Archives: September 2013

September 14, 2013 · 12:45 PM

More fall bloomers and SPARKcon

The colchicums are blooming! They are wonderful Fall bloomers that remind me of a giant Fall blooming crocus. After they bloom they grow wide, thick leaves which die back in the spring.

The hurricane lilies (lycoris) continue to bloom. After they bloom the foliage grows and persist through out the winter then dies in the spring.

And the garden in general is very lush because of a wetter than normal summer.

Of course, it’s best to begin the morning with an heavenly iced double mocha latte at Cup A Joe! Um, what does she have hand?

This weekend is SPARKcon in Raleigh which is an celebration of all the arts. There are sub-festivals such as musicSPARK, fashionSPARK, danceSPARK, etc- all named after the respective class of art.

Last night was circusSPARK. Fayetteville Street was closed and circus-type performers were doing their thing. The cooler weather was perfect! http://www.sparkcon.com/

Fall is just around the corner!

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September 7, 2013 · 3:24 PM

Weekends….and Four-O-Clocks.

Weekend mornings at the coffee shop are busy with older adults which is in marked contrast to weekdays. The NCSU college students are all still sleeping.

The adults are discussing sports, politics, and trying to boast about the accomplishments of their children. Its funny… but I digress.

I like to people watch and catch up with those I only see there on such mornings and, of course, enjoy my iced mocha latte. I have always found the older adult’s viewpoint interesting for their different and varying experiences. The retired professors, especially, seemed opinionated.

Its that time of the year when seeds are ripening in the garden and its time to collect and store them for next year or plant them around the garden.

The Four-o-clocks reliably produce small, black, hard seeds which germinate easily. Its early enough in the season they may germinate and produce a nice plant to survive over the winter. Otherwise, they would drop near the parent plant and produce large colonies.

Four-o-Clocks are named after their habit of opening late in the evening and closing the next morning. They come in a range of colors from white, to hot pink, and pastel shades. There are a few species with long trumpets or fuzzy leaves.

Here in Central North Carolina they are perennial.

They are very easy to grow and relatively pest free. I remember my grandmother in Beaufort, North Carolina always having a patch of them on the side of her house.

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Tagged as Beaufort, coffee shop, Cup-A-Joe, Four-o-clocks, Raleigh

September 3, 2013 · 3:00 PM

Bamboo harvest and other Fall things.

The timber bamboo (Phyllostachys vivax) I purchased and planted ten years ago has slowly formed a grove. I planted it to hide the neighbors behind me who have a yard full of English ivy and other assorted mess. I had started a Fall harvest of canes last year for the first time as a few canes came up where they were not wanted. Once the wood has hardened I cut them and dug up and moved the roots back toward the fence.

The canes reach about 30 feet tall and four inches in width. I hope they eventually form a grove.

Gus likes to sniff them after I chop them down. Well, he actually sniffs everything! The camera caught the reflection of the sun in his eyes just right to give him that “Possessed Dog” look!

There is a native yellow passionflower (Passifloria lutea) that grows wild in my neighborhood. The flowers are very small and they form small fruits about the size of a golf ball after flowering.

Also, the Hurricane lilies (Lycoris radiata) are blooming. They send up their blooms at the beginning of hurricane season here in The South of the United States which is why they are nicknamed Hurricane Lilies here. They are unusual because they bloom in the Fall, then the leaves grow and last through out the winter. The leaves die back midsummer them the blooms pop up out of no where in Autumn.

The Pampas Grass (Cortaderia selloana) is blooming, too. The male plumes are long and feathery and the female plumes are fuzzy and compact. Most clumps are a mixture of seedlings so they mature with both male and female plants. They grown about 10 feet tall and just as wide. They are a classic on the coast! They just about grow wild down there now.

This clump is in a yard in my neighborhood.