Tag: plants

March lily

Amaryllis belladonna,[2] the Jersey lily,[3] belladonna-lily, naked-lady-lily,[4] or March lily,[5] is a plant species native to Cape Province in South Africa but widely cultivated as an ornamental. It is reportedly naturalized in many places: Corsica, Portugal, the Azores, Madeira, the Canary Islands, the Scilly Isles of Great Britain, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ascension Island, Australia, New Zealand, Mexico, Cuba, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Chile, California, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Michigan and the Juan Fernández Islands.[6][7]

Description

Perennial bulbous geophyte with one to two erect solid stems which appear in late summer. The inflorescence bears 2–12 showy fragrant funnel-shaped flowers on a ‘naked’ (leafless) stem, which gives it the common name of naked-lady-lily. The pink flowers which may be up to 10cm in length, appear in the autumn before the leaves (hysteranthy) which are narrow and strap shaped.[4][5]

Crazy plant

The crazy plant: I took a picture when it was almost the height of the fencing. It was very pretty, very symmetrical. Then it reached my height, and then the gutter, and then some of the branches fell over. Their ends then turned skyward and kept growing.

I suppose I should get rid of it, but instead I’m amazed by it, growing out of a tiny bit of sand that rarely gets water.

Non compost compost

My favorite gardening technique is letting things plant themselves…

These little squash plants (what kind, who knows) are growing from my “compost” (noun) for a transplanted palm that didn’t in fact compost (verb).

Meanwhile, my recent re-jiggering of my non-composting compost has resulted in another little accidental garden. (I have no idea what that big-leaf plant in the background is, but it’s obviously happy and it’s not bothering me.)

Closer view of the non-garden “garden.”

Como trasplantar

I had a problem. A little palm plant wouldn’t grow in the sandy soil of our home near the beach, so I moved it to the country as a little accent. A year or two later, that little accent was three meters high, growing inside as well as outside the carport, which I had obviously placed it way too close to.

I cut it down to under a meter high, and here it is a couple months later.

Time to move it again. So, with pick and shovel I worked and worked and worked and … that thing might as well have been set in concrete. So I wondered if my neighbor Jerry might enjoy a little challenge. I have never operated a backhoe, so the chances of me getting the thing out of the ground without also removing the carport as well were slim to none.

Jerry thought it sounded like a fine idea. And so…

The face-off.

Jerry comes in on the left.

And on the right, within an inch of the concrete pad. At this point, the plant is still showing little to no sign of budging. So…

… taking the plant off guard, he comes in from the side. And the plant comes out of the ground.

I spent 40 minutes chipping at the root ball to remove clay, and the thing was still too heavy for me to lift. But with an AAAAARGH!!!! I did anyway, got it in the car, and brought it to Atlántida.

Here it is in its new home, planted in sand but with a wheelbarrow full of compost, and my promise to give it as much water as it could possibly want.

Ya veremos. We will see.