Angel Trumpets Everywhere!

My yard is being taken over by Angel Trumpets (Brugmansia).  When we moved in a year ago, these were little sticks in the ground with some leaves.  They grew large during the fall but died back to dead sticks in the winter and then I cut all the sticks back to the ground.  Once Spring came, these Trumpets started their crazy growing cycle.

Here's a picture of how big the plants were when we moved in:

Now look below to see these same bushes...

Almost as tall at our screen porch.  

The flowers on these Angel Trumpets are massive with some yellow, some white, and some white with yellow lines.  I'm not sure if these are all the same variety or different.  They were planted in 3 different areas of the yard when we moved in so they very well could be different varieties.

In the picture below we have two large clumps growing back after I recently cut them back to the grown.  As you can see, these are right next to our double gate, so I accidentally drove over them with my boat trailer.  Angel Trumpets grow back like champs but I definitely need to move these to another part of the yard or sell the established clumps to clear up this area.  We actually had 3 large clumps but I pulled one up so the fence could be installed.  That clump lasted a month or two above ground before I replanted it by our butterfly garden... that was a mistake, it's so tall now that I can't see our bluebird's nesting.

Angel Trumpets are extremely easy to propagate from cuttings.  Basically, just cut a stem into 8-12" or bigger lengths and put them in dirt.  They root quickly and the roots grow through the bottom of the pot, so it's best to put a barrier separating the pots from the ground.

Look at those roots!

Large pots getting ready to be sold.

Around the yard:

The drift roses are starting to fill out.  The pale green one is going through some shock and hope is recovers.  We also have hydrangea and plumbago planted on the end.  

These roses are growing very quickly.  I need to take more cuttings and grow more of these along our garage.  We've also decided to plant a yellow hibiscus on the other end to go along with the red hibiscus.

My new cutting bench.  Right now I'm working on fire spike, spiderwort, and obviously angel trumpets...

A few weeks ago I posted how all the milkweed I had blooming were yellow.  Apparently this is the same species but different variety of scarlet milkweed (Asclepias curassavica).  I plan on starting native butterfly milkweed seeds soon.

June Garden Update - It's Hot Outside...

It's been a busy couple weeks with school getting out and some traveling.  We had to deal with Tropical Storm Colin's flash flooding and now we are back to 90+ degree heat.  The following pictures are what's going on around our yard.

Tomatoes growing everywhere.  The seeds came from overripe fruit that I sliced and placed in the garden.  I thinned out the seedlings once they began growing.

These tomatoes grew out from our compost bin.

Beautiful sunflowers that grew from spilled bird seed.

Our hibiscus flowers are big and plentiful.  

Before

Before and after pictures of removing the boxwood hedge and planting peach drift roses.  As you can see, the boxwood bushes were dying back.  My hope is for the roses to fill out and cover the ground.

The squash died back because of the heat, so I planted some watermelon seedlings in the big garden.  The carrots and pole beans are still growing well.

Our first oranges!  The lemon tree keeps blooming but the fruit fall off before getting any size.

I sold my first angel trumpets!  Now it's time to expand the nursery!

Ox Eye Sunflower blooming tall.

These orange day lilies are the prettiest in our garden.

Any idea what this is that grew from birdseed???

Starting a new endevour

As far back as I can remember I've been interested in plants.  There is something about how they start from a tiny seed and grow into something as enormous as a Redwood Tree.  My goal for this blog is to start organizing my thoughts as I expand my garden, yard, and landscape into a natural organism.  I would like to grow more native grasses, wildflowers, shrubs, and trees, and eventually grow enough to start making some extra money.  You will see some non-native plants but my overall landscaping vision is to stick with natives.

On to the plants...  We had another freeze last night with frost covering my truck's windows and the Knockout Roses by my driveway.  This afternoon I took some quick pictures of projects that I'm working on around the yard.

I started a bunch of saw palmetto (serenoa repens) in the fall and only 2 sprouted. If you look closely there is one longleaf pine (pinus palustris) and one sabal palmetto.

This is the beginning of my nursery.  It's gradually growing every week.

I have roughly 100 angel trumpet (brugmansia suaveolens) cuttings that are hopefully rooting.  Most of these in the 1 gallon pots are recently planted.

 Hibiscus cuttings showing a little green.

Cleaning up around my shed.  My goal is to extend the roof so that I can store firewood and my wheelbarrow without being rained on or covered in leaves.

Cuttings that I planted tonight.  Lantana, milkweed, and boxwood.  Let's see how well they root.


As I continue to write more blog posts, I'll update the progress of these plants, the expansion of my tiny yard nursery, and thoughts to grow more!