Meyer Lemon Tree

Since it will drop into the 30's this weekend the lemon trees are in the garden room. After a long summer outside at the edge of the circle they moved onto the south facing porch when we had an October dip in temperatures but now it's time to head indoors. They will just get the afternoon sun at a west facing window but it seemed enough last year & is their only option to stay warm.

 The flowers are so scented they fill the room & will have to be hand pollinated with a feather.
There are 3 large lemons on the older tree & 5 smallish lemons on the shrubby plant. Probably should have removed some of those.  Hopefully they will be ripe by Christmas.

I bought a granular citrus fertilizer & applied every month but the dark green leaves & healthy crop of flowers I also put down to my homemade liquid comfrey concoction.
There is lots of advice from YouTube videos on how to grow these tropical trees. I like the one from Logees. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DooPww-e8Xk

November Flowers

Evergreen Chrysanthemums are in full bloom & the sages are still going.

Hillside Sheffield Pink

Ryan's Yellow

Salvia leucantha & Salvia 'Indigo Spires'

Below Carolina Aster; Sasanqua Camellias with red Dogwood foliage & under the trees Cyclamen hederifolium

Red Buckeye

Aesculus pavia the small tree known as Red Buckeye lost it's leaves a while ago. Often the squirrels get to the seeds before I do. According to the Wildflower Center in Texas they are full of fat so are either eaten or degrade quickly after dropping. This year it has been so wet especially for the last week or so the seeds are sprouting before they have a chance to drop to the ground.

 Hard to see but in the top photo the shoot is poking out of the seed. The middle photo looks as if the 'Pink Snow' Camellia sasanqua is growing out of the seed pod but that's just an optical illusion.
Below the seeds ready for potting see that they are ready to root.

Learn more of this slow growing but interesting native tree.

http://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=AEPA

 My seedling, now 10 feet tall, a gift seedling from Nelda's tree, is probably 15 years old. Another gardening example of delayed gratification!

Camellia sasanqua

Camellia sasanqua 'Cleopatra' with Muhly grass (Muhlenbergia capillaris)
These Camellias are self cleaning that is they drop their petals adding another layer of color to the landscape

The fall here in Eastern North Carolina is as colorful or maybe more so than spring. Some gardeners feel worn out by this time of the year but for me it is an exciting time. Yes, there is a lot to cleanup if you like that kind of thing but I prefer the more natural look. (To me cleaning the garden of all the dead & dying seems a bit too much like housekeeping.)
One of the staples of fall color are the Sasanqua Camellias. All of mine are old varieties as I propagated them from a previous old garden. These large evergreen shrubs are understory trees in their native Asia. 

Appleblossom

Showy Natives for October

The usual tangle of mostly native plants in the rain garden.

Swamp sunflower (Helianthus angustifolius) falling over Goldenrod (Solidago). Goldenrod, (not the cause of excessive sneezing BTW) is the state flower of Kentucky; Nebraska & South Carolina even if they might be slightly different species.
The vining plant is Carolina aster (Aster carolinianus or maybe Ampelaster carolinianus)
it has no tendrils or suckers but weaves its way through other plants or trellis.

In the circle the Amsonia hubrichtii is starting to get its yellow foliage before going dormant and the Aster grandiflorus makes a nice contrast.
Also in there the native coral honeysuckle
( Lonicera sempervirens) but out of flower now

Digiplexsis

A hybrid of the purple foxglove (Digitalis purpurea ) of Europe & its hot blooded Canary Islands look alike ( Isoplexsis canariensis ) Digiplexsis is new in my garden.

I bought this at Big Bloomers in Sanford NC in the spring. Once things got going promptly forgot about it.

I have been clearing out some of the circle to revamp it for something less attractive to my deer friends. (Getting rid of daylilies  & roses replacing them with grasses & sages.)   I came across this lovely bloom.

 Luckily we have had plenty of rain and it fought it's way through the jungle in the circle.

It will be interesting to see if it survives next year.

In warmer areas they think it might be evergreen. This link tells more.




http://www.smgrowers.com/products/plants/plantdisplay.asp?plant_id=3889

Fireworks Goldenrod

I have always been slightly puzzled by the name of this variety of Goldenrod
( Solidago rugosa 'Fireworks' )
But this year I saw it in a different light. On July 4th in California my family attended a fabulous firework display while we sat on the grass in the dark.

( I admit that a lot of my firework experience has been on rainy November nights in a British back garden with my Dad lighting the paper of rockets in bottles and running back to watch only to have the things fizzle out drowned by the downpour. We always had sparklers which could be enjoyed under a porch out of the rain.)
In sunny dry California the fireworks were fabulous ending in sparkling showers of shooting stars.
Just like this Goldenrod.

This website has some nice historical information about this variety

http://www.northcreeknurseries.com/plantName/Solidago-rugosa-Fireworks