First of all, allow me to apologize for the time spent away from this blog. I “discovered” Tumblr while answering questions over at yahoo questions. I’ve been posting away, exploring the theme possibilities, helping people to get their blogs back after the mad hijacker tried to take over the place… and posting single picture posts.

Anyway, on to the red pics that I took this month.

Double red rose of sharon

I grew this tree from a stick… felt like Aaron, brother of Moses, when he shoved his staff into the ground, and it bloomed.
I trimmed some branches, planted some immediately, and left the rest in a bucket of water until the leaves fell off… planted those dead-looking sticks anyway… they all grew!
While I like the looks of the single blooms, they tend toward weediness with all those dropped seeds coming up everywhere.

Here’s a flower that looks like it could swallow a hummingbird…

Hardy Hibiscus ‘Fireball’
I don’t know much about this flower, It’s been in the garden for a few years, blooms these huge flowers, but still seems overwhelmed by the other hibiscus varieties growing nearby, and the other tall stuff, like the cannas, brugs, helianthus augustifolius (they bloom a bit later).

The Swamp Hibiscus is a very happy plant when given enough water & sunlight.

Hibiscus coccineus These plants tower, and take as much space as they’re allowed! I’ve been putting tomato cages around them to prevent the sprawling they will do when the plant gets top-heavy. Seedlings come up everywhere, this is an easy plant to share! If the swamp hibiscus doesn’t self-sow for you, try sowing the seeds in the Spring after danger of frost is past.

Another wetland plant, the cardinal flower

Lobelia cardinalis This guy doesn’t get that tall, so I give it a choice position at the front of the bed. The deer eat this beauty, and everything I read about the toxicology, suggests they shouldn’t, it’s related to tobacco…

Another hibiscus, this time from the shade garden.

Malvaviscus Arboreus Turk’s cap hibiscus is an admirable plant, growing without problems in extremely dry shade. This hibiscus has a prostrate growth habit, throw some wood chips over the stems, and they’ll root, and cover an area as densely as turf. I haven’t seen any problems of weediness usually associated with the plants that grow as a dense ground cover. Propagate by cutting back and potting up in pots of soil.

And who could forget the daylilies?

We didn’t have the display of daylilies here in middle Georgia that we usually have, due to the unending drought. 8 inch deficit, and the people in the Mississippi river valley stay flooded with storm after storm “blessing” them with the rain we so desperately need.

Canna

What needs to be said about cannas? humming bird magnets, but the leaves don’t go with anything… A funny looking plant, unless planted with other tropicals like ginger and bananas.

I’ve got a garden full of salvias and monardas, but I don’t have those pictures handy, I may add them later, after I look through my camera card… some plants are simply difficult to capture in the harsh sub-tropical sun.