Thursday, September 9, 2010

Here's what's blooming...Passion vine

Passion Vine
We finally had a little break in the weather this weekend.  With a little relief from the heat, a bad back and no out of town guests for the weekend, tho the beach was calling my name, I was good and pulled some weeds in the front flower bed.  Too many tourist on Holiday weekends anyway.  I wanted to share with ya'll what is blooming in our garden late summer.

The heat has really taken it's toll on most of the flowers in the garden except for the passion vine.  It really has grown by leaps and bounds.  I had to do a little research to remind me of why this flower is linked to religion.


Native to South America, Central America, and North America, the passion vine can be found growing in Texas, Kentucky, North Carolina, Illinois, Hawaii, and as far north as New York. According to legend, a Jesuit priest in Peru found the vine in 1620. That night, in a vision, the priest associated components of the blossom with Christ's Passion, leading to the common name, "Passionflower":

The five petals and five sepals were representative of the ten faithful apostles present at the crucifixion; the five anthers represented Christ's wounds; the three pistils, the nails. The corona was the thorny crown, while the leaves were reminiscent of the Roman spear, and the tendrils were their whips.

These Caladium Bulbs/Plants have done well through all of the heat and the days of rain.  They've been through a lot but still very pretty.  This is the first time I planted them near a patio area we use(around the side of our house) and wasn't sure how I would like the color with the color of the brick.  I usually keep the palette in the front white mostly with some soft lavender flowers.  But we have really loved these.  Living in Florida they overwinter well and I don't do anything but mulch heavily with pine straw and they will be up next year.


garlic chives blooming the bees and butterflies love them.

The garlic chives have been blooming and the bees and butterflies are so happy that I don't have the heart to cut them back and they are pretty in there own way.



The Crepe Myrtles are holding on to their last blooms.  The leaves are beginning to turn and fall.

Deep Pink Crepe Myrtle

Mexican Petunias
The Mexican Petunias are bloom their little hearts out now.  They are such a durable, predictable plant.  Very little problems with these and they multiply so quickly.  You will have twice the plants you initially purchased in one year.
Great for the back of a border.  Mine are about 3 feet tall now.  I started out with one pot of Petunias this dear sweet older man who was a Master Gardener insisted I bring home.  I think of him every summer while these are blooming he said he was old and not going to be able to care for "his babies" much longer and he wanted them to go to a new loving home.  Sweet huh?

The Hummingbirds go crazy for these too!

Black Sweet Potato Vine and Holley Ferns, Ostrich Ferns


The black Sweet Potato vine went crazy under this oak tree out back planted with Holly ferns and Gold Lantana, Butterflies are always found under that tree.  The contrast of the black vine with the yellow Lantana flowers is really eye catching and the fern softens the look.  This bed is more of a natural bed and not so planned or manicured.  When the Lantana is in bloom though it is beautiful.  FYI...black Sweet Potato vine looks great planted with/alongside chartruese foliage.

Even though they aren't looking their best these little flowers bloom all summer long and come back voluntarily the next year.  They tolerate heat very well.


They are such pretty flowers.  I can't remember the name of them to save my soul.  But they send out all kinds of seeds from seed pods.  I have left them in a pot through winter and they come up thick as can be in the late spring and then I divide that pot into small pots and have maybe 100 plants to fill in flower beds. 

I have one in Pink also.  The one above is a deep Royal Purple with a blue.

Maybe you can see the pink ones here, they are mixed in with the purple because they all came up from last years plants/seeds.  I have ferns and red Impatients planted at the foot of this oak.  My Grandsons planted this flower bed for me, because it is near my potting bench.  Where all the magic happens. The purple/pink flowers just popped up.  Pleaseant surprise!

I hope you enjoyed the tour.  That will wrap summer up for sure.  I usually plant a few Mums and some Pansies closer to Halloween.  My Hubz loves Halloween and he goes all out.  Can't wait to show you those pics. 

Have a great weekend and thank you all for the kind comments.

Carol-the gardener

6 comments:

  1. Hey - just curious.... Is the Passionflower very invasive?? I was going to plant some over my new backyard swing and my SIL warned me that it will go crazy wild....so I didn't...

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  2. Those little flowers are Violas,,, they also reseed.. I've planted those in the front and somehow they make their way to the backyard.

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  3. Well, I can see your love for gardening. I hope it doesn't kill our budding friendship if I tell you that I have black thumb. I can barely keep an aloe plant alive. I know, that is bad. However, your garden is lovely!

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  4. Never even heard of black sweet potato vine. They are very cool flowers.

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  5. I found the name of the flower. the purple flowers are Clown Flowers or latin name Torenia. I thought it wasn't violas since they don't do well in the heat here in Florida...so I searched until I found out. They do seed themselves like crazy.

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  6. Oh I wish I were an outdoor gardener! I do pretty well with herbs if it's not too hot outside. If it is, I let them die....except for the rosemary and well....it lives...no thanks to me. :0)

    So nice to meet you! Thank you so much for stopping by to see me and for following. You have a great blog with a great playlist. I am a new follower and look forward to getting to know you. Have a great weekend, Candace

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