Who's Confused: Me... or Bengal Orange?

This will be the second winter that I brought 'Bengal Orange' bougainvillea into the house. Last year, I put it on a prominent spot on the plant bench... and it quickly dropped all of its leaves and looked like a cluster of dead sticks attached to a trellis. Its "play dead" act lasted until June, when it grudgingly put out new leaves after a couple of weeks outside. In spite of its sunny summer spot, though, it never did bloom.

Since it looked so uninspiring last year, this year it got tucked into a corner where it would be mostly hidden behind a large-leaf hoya on a stand, and a dark leaf rubber tree. It promptly dropped all of its leaves as expected. Imagine my surprise when it decided to throw out (tiny) leaves a month ago... and then started to bloom!

Granted, I'm using the term "bloom" lightly here. With bougainvillea, the brightly colored "flowers" are actually the bracts around the flowers, not the flowers themselves. But they do add a nice touch of color, and were a big surprise since this plant didn't bloom at all this summer.

I'm guessing that the south-facing window next to its current winter home has helped to encourage it to re-leaf and bloom, but I'm a little worried about it now. I don't want to have it go through another leaf drop and really get stressed, to the point where I lose it! It's used to having a cool, dry season in its native home, so I hope that bodes well for me being able to keep it in leaf and happy until spring.

Fingers crossed!

Stragglers & Grasses: GBBD November 2012

Since we've finally had a couple of frosts here, the garden is mostly finished for the year.  All that I have blooming outside for Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day are a few stragglers (an echinops seedling, 'Red Rocks' penstemon, and a few stalks of 'Acapulco' agastache):

Some grasses, like this miscanthus:

And a couple of lamium, like this patch of 'Purple Dragon':

Inside, the 'Blue Daze' convolvulus in a container of 'Bengal Tiger' bougainvillea decided to throw out another flush of blooms:

And one Thanksgiving cactus has decided not to wait for the holiday to put on a show:

I doubt that I will find any blooms inside in December, so this is probably it for the outside garden this season.  To find out what's blooming around the world this month, check out Carol's November Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day post!

Fading Fall Flowers: GBBD October 2012

Amidst the fading fall flowers this Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day, the freshness of this blue globe thistle seems a little out of place. That this seedling even bloomed at all this year is a tribute to the long growing season.

All of my other flower pictures show either slightly bedraggled blooms, like this dahlia...

...or vivid flowers against the fading foliage of fall:

From top to bottom, this post featured:  'Fresh Look Red' celosia, echinops ritro, 'Lady in Red' salvia seedling, blue angelonia and an unnamed lantana, verbena bonariensis, variegated sedum, chocolate eupatorium, caryopteris, and 'Hameln' pennisetum.

Also in bloom in my yard today:  Alpine strawberries, various coleus, wax begonias, 'Victoria Blue' salvia, 'Black and Blue' salvia, pineapple sage, hardy plumbago, various peppers, 'The Blues' little bluestem, 'Hopi Red Dye' amaranth, various pink Japanese anemones, various miscanthus, and 'Purple Dragon' lamium.

To see what's blooming around the world in various gardens today, visit Carol's October Garden Bloggers Bloom Day post!

The Invasion Has Begun

I think that my houseplants are WAY too happy after a long summer outside. This nepenthes was almost touching the porch rail by the end of this week... and is currently grazing the living room floor in its temporary home on a plant stand:

I say temporary home because all of my houseplants are scattered around in random places, hastily brought in when the forecast for tonight dropped into the upper 30's. 

I have no idea where all of these things are going to be able to overwinter...but I just cleared a path through the jungle kitchen and I think that means it's time to call it a night. Finding better winter homes for everything will just have to wait until tomorrow!

September Foliage Follow Up: Hot Fall Hues

It's not just the blooms who are sporting a hot color palette this fall. Foliage is following suit, starting with this interesting new "Thai" Chinese evergreen that I couldn't resist at my local garden center:

He's currently hanging out on the front porch with a few exotic friends, like a fat-leaf hoya and feathery dracaena:

Now that he's in place, I just love looking down at the progression of fun foliage on this side of the steps:

Speaking of that side of the front yard, the Japanese maple endlessly intrigues me.  For most of the day, it looks deep and cool and mysterious (as above)... but when the sun goes down, it sets the maple ablaze:

Here's a close up view of the leaves, with their tips tinged red:

Sunlight does the same thing for the carex buchannii. Except that when it's not backlit and glowing, it appears more neutral than cool-toned. This may have something to do with its planting companions, however:

Other times, cool-toned planting companions only serve to highlight the foliage heat... as shown by this dusty miller foliage against the molten backlit leaves of 'Purple Dragon' coleus:

And that pretty much covers all of the hot September foliage highlights here in my garden.  For more leaf love, check out Pam's September Foliage Follow-Up Post over at Digging.

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