Our daily dose of JOY!

12 Nov '07 9:28 pm

Your picturea are beautiful, Jacqueline, they are good enough to win prizes in phorography competitions. I love the Maxi photo - he's smiling! Of course dogs can smile! Your borders make the pictures look soooo professional, too! I agree with Gordon, about the speed at which your vegetation grows. Thank you so much for sharing these beautiful things with us, and please give Maxi a special treat from me!

I love the composition particularly in the Peace Lily picture. Your eyes and imagination, helped by computer and camera - what a great team!
Cheers.

13 Nov '07 12:53 am

Your pics really benefit from being seen enlarged and en masse. Then one can study the intricacies of composition and the subtlety of the framing of each. I love the way the diagonals in the double caterpillar composition draw the two together, the Japanese simplicity of your Peace Lilies and the way the blurred edges of the mixed planting with Heliconias and palms implies that all the lushness carries on for ever in all directions. You have added a whole new dimension to the art most of us on the forum practise! Thank you again, Jacqueline

14 Nov '07 8:11 pm

My dear wonderful friends: Liza, Jack, Faith, Mark, Gordon and Mary – thank you so much for your kind and generous compliments. I’m so happy that you’re all delighted! Maxi is thankful too and extends his left paw for a shake (hehe, trained by his left-handed mom who's finding it almost impossible to correct that habit of his now! Rolling Eyes

). In my small way, I wish very much to show my thanks and appreciation through my pictures for the many, many times you ALL (including the rest of our forum community) have shared your garden joy and given me such endless pleasure and delight. Smile

Yes, Jack and Faith, you’ve both correctly nailed the ID of my scarlet pink vine. Thanks so much for with that clue I was able to google and narrow it down to Mandevilla sanderi and cultivar could be either ‘Red Riding Hood’ or ‘Scarlet Pimpernel’, probably the latter.
And Faith, thanks for following up on the other two vines...I’m patient so please take your time.

Gordon – the pretty insect is a member of the family Dinidoridae with the generic name of either Coridius or Cyclopelta, according to the generous Professor David A. Rider of Dakota State University. However, I’ve searched the internet and could not get further confirmation with a picture of this species at all! Hah...you’d think me crazy emailing Prof. David (address obtained when browsing http://www.ndsu.nodak.edu/ndsu/rider/Pentatomoidea/index.htm ) in the first instance when I couldn’t get a specific ID from BugGuide.net? Well, I’ve surrendered and this is as far as I’ll go with identifying this beauty! Wink

Regarding the small hanging pots...yes, they are orchids, mostly dendrobium that can tolerate strong sun at that location.

15 Nov '07 5:18 pm

Thanks, Jacqueline, for the information about the insect and the orchids. I have 3 orchids that I keep inside for the winter but put outdoors for the summer. One is nearly dead but the other two look fine, although they both came inside with black spots on their leaves this fall. Last year they both bloomed profusely after their summer holiday, but this year the one which tried to put out a bud stalk seems to have given up, as the stalk has turned all brown. I don't know what could be the matter. These two plants are supposed to be cool-weather hardy, and everyone else keeps theirs outside in the warm season. Any ideas? Could it have anything to do with the black spots?

Cheers!
gordonf

p.s.- There's another severe storm from the ocean just starting this evening as I write. We have weather warnings for the night of winds up to 90km/hour and severe rainfall again, and it's cold, about 4 degrees C.!

16 Nov '07 12:43 am

Sounds like you're in for a real battering. (Congratulations on the good timing on your roof repairs.) I think "snug" takes on a lot more meaning in weather like you're having than it does otherwise. Seems like a good time to cozy up to a fire or computer monitor with a cuppa something warm or maybe a big chair with a blanket, a book and a dog. I'd say you've learned to deal with your weather given the evidence of all your garden photos.

16 Nov '07 1:00 pm

Well Jacqueline, I think I might have found a like candidate for your beautiful vine with the variegated foliage. I think I mentioned earlier that it reminded me of a begonia and the plant I found which looks almost exactly like yours is Cissus discolor or Trailing Begonia Vine. My book says it likes bright light, warm temperatures, extra humidity and is difficult to grow. Knowing your luck with tropicals I would venture to say you have no problem growing anything. I haven't had any luck with the vine with yellow flowers though. The flowers slightly resemble those of a Yellow Jessamine, but the leaves are nothing like those on your plant. The only other thing I saw that might bear a slight resemblance is a species Clematis, but again I don't think the leaves are right. Sorry.

16 Nov '07 3:01 pm

The folliage on that fancy folliage vine sure does look like some of the begonias I've grown too, though the leaves aren't as asymmetrical as most begonias. Many of mine trail but would only 'climb' if they were staked up. I thought it might be related to persian shield, a Stobilanthes. While I read there are some 200 or so besides the one we all know there isn't a mention of a vine and the back end of the leaves looks wrong.

I also agree with Faith that a yellow Jasmine vine is the only thing that comes to mind for that one.

With both I often just assume that if it comes from Jacqueline's garden it may well be something I won't have heard of before. Then she goes and surprises me by growing plants like hydrangeas or roses that I don't think of as tropical at all.

I enjoy guessing but I have to admit I'm stumped here.

17 Nov '07 8:37 pm

Gordon - Oh, I’m sorry to hear about your orchids. Orchids are such charmers but when diseased they either die or regain health with insecticide or fungicide. That’s why we ended up growing mostly dendrobiums and a few vandas and cattleya, all of which are sun-loving ones that are hardy and least affected by pests. When diseased, my beloved spouse will just give a slight spray of insecticide (malathion) and it works. The shade orchids like Phalaenopsis (Moth orchid) are more disease-prone, so we just gave up growing them long time ago. Frankly, dear friend, I have no idea about the black spots but can just refer you to this educative link http://www.orchidsusa.com/1Introduction.htm - comprehensive guide to orchid culture, which is amongst my favorite bookmarks.

Faith - thank you so much for identifying the Trailing Begonia Vine, really appreciate your efforts. Smile

Amazing, I never knew there are vining begonias, and mine has tendrils too...how fascinating! As for the other unknown, I'll probably visit TopTropicals.com and immerse through their wonderfully large photo gallery to nail it! Just to share our little secret...we succeed in growing lots but as many failed too! Rolling Eyes

For instance, our Brazalian Bellflower had been snuffed off by the mealy bugs/white flies and Bleeding Heart expired due to root rot. Thought we were smart to replace the former with Mandevilla vine but googled and found that this vine attracts the same pests? How's that for ignorance...hope we have better luck with it, their scarlet red trumpet flowers are stunning! Wink

Mark - thanks too for helping out, much appreciated. Hmm...these hydrangeas are so awesome, we too thought they're non-tropical and have been missing out growing for years! And previously, seeing Dixie's and Liza's gorgeous hydrangea blooms always makes me dreamy and yearning! Wink

18 Nov '07 1:13 pm

Jacqueline - Thanks a lot for the reference about orchid-growing. I now have it bookmarked and will check it later today.

Cheers!
gordonf

20 Nov '07 10:16 pm

Hooray! I’m so happy to have found the ID of my third mystery vine! It is Tristellateia australasiae (Shower of gold climber, Vining Galphimia, Vining Milkweed). How wonderful! Very Happy

Normally, I’ll go through the whole list of TopTropical’s plant photos here http://toptropicals.com/html/toptropicals/catalog/photo_db/A.htm?NumPerPage=20&NumPerLine=4&listonly=0&first=0, starting from A, then onwards to B and so on until I see an image similar to my plant. This method is so laborious but that was how I managed to ID most of my plants then, before I joined this wonderful forum. This time though, as I became more internet savvy, Wink

I just type ‘vine yellow flowers’ in the search box beside plant catalog and voila!...51 plant results on only 6 pages and my vine showed up second last. All it took was 10 mins! Imagine time wasted had I scrutinize from A to T, though it would have been great to peruse this lovely photo gallery had I lots of free time!

Our daily dose of JOY!

Beautiful Pictures

Gorgeous compositions

Thanks and appreciation

Batten down the hatches, Gordon

Mystery Vines

I'm thinking Faith may be right about the those vines.

Orchids and mystery vines

Thanks for the Reference

Third mystery vine unravelled!