poinsettias and ducks?

[D'Angelo N Va.]

That is right. They are not toxic. My friend owns a florist shop and hands out fliers to that affect each year.

 

[AquaEyes]

I know this is a bit of a thread-hijack, but when I mentioned earlier about how I liked to "try" planting things that might not be hardy, it reminded me of how I made jaws drop at my old home on Long Island (in New York, east of NYC) -- I grew banana plants in the front bed. They didn't fruit -- just for the tropical look. After the first frost, I'd cut down the leaves, wrap the pseudostems in newspaper, then slide a garbage bag with a hole in the bottom over them, fill with leaves, and tie closed. Come spring, after the "last frost" date, I'd remove the bags and wrappings, and leaves would already be sprouting again. Here are some pics -- the plants are one year old here (their second summer, started from two tiny babies in 4" pots).

 

[grawg]

Quote:
Pretty cool. That gives me hope for growing some banana plants in tennessee. I like the look of that bed.

 

[AquaEyes]

Quote:
Pretty cool. That gives me hope for growing some banana plants in tennessee. I like the look of that bed.

Thanks. The banana species I bought was Musa basjoo. There are a lot of online nurseries that have it. If you've never heard of them, I'd recommend www.plantdelights.com (that's where I bought mine, and a few other plants, and I've always been impressed with the size and quality of what they send -- worth the price). If you wrap them for winter, the stem will be saved, and they'll start growing leaves in the spring where they left off the previous season. Otherwise, they'll sprout new from the ground like Cannas. They don't get new leaves below, so they'll have a sort of "trunk" look to them. Also, if you wrap and mulch them, you'll find plenty of pups growing at the base the second year. That's what you see in the pics. I started with two, and the second year the originals were bigger, and a little colony of babies were growing around each. I shared some with friends. So if you have a spot where you'd like one, you will have plenty more to divide and transplant the following year.

If you like the bed, these are what the other plants are:

The silver foliage plants (there are 3 in the front) are Artemisia "Silvermound" that I got as gallon plants at Home Depot a year before that picture. They spread really wide if you don't keep pruning them back in the spring. I wanted them to do so, so I let them get big.

In between, I planted daylilies "Black-Eyed Stella" but they sort of got swamped. If I was to do it again, I'd just leave them out.

The red-leafed red-flowered plants you see right behind the Artemisia and in the back are a form of Celosia I got as a flat of annuals from a local nursery. I replanted them each spring, but also noticed that they'd seed themselves all over. To contrast, I also planted groups of green-leafed yellow-flowered Celosia, also purchased in flats from the local nursery.

To the sides of the bananas, you'll see a big red round flower. That's a perennial Hibiscus moscheutos cultivar. I found a little online nursery that specialized in them and Brugmansias, but they've since disappeared (or at least, their web site isn't working anymore). In any case, there are plenty of other cultivars of them around. A popular red-flowered form is called "Lord Baltimore" that I'm sure you can find almost anywhere.

The orange flowered plants you see next to the Hibiscus are Canna "Tropicanna" which I also bought from Plant Delights Nursery. They have a few really interesting and unusual Cannas there. And if you like the look of a banana but don't want to bother wrapping the stem, check out their Canna "Musifolia." I bought one of them for the back, and it grew to over 10 feet tall, with HUGE leaves.

I was going for a tropical island look. The Artemisia was supposed to evoke sea foam spilling over the edge. The only thing I had to replant each year were the flats of Celosia, but as the other plants continued to grow, I bought fewer each year.

In the last pic, on the left, you can see a vine climbing up from the two little beds at the base of the stairs and across an ugly railing between the columns (I was renting there, and the landlord thought a metal pipe railing secured with metal zip ties was adequate....). What I did was use black plastic bird netting as an "invisible trellis." I bought a roll of it, and cut a piece to go across the ugly railing. Then I cut two other pieces and used them to connect the railing to the lower beds. In each bed, I planted one Passiflora ("Incense" on one side, and "Inspiration" on the other -- they looked nearly identical, but having two different ones meant they would set fruit -- yes, I got passion fruit from my garden) and one Clematis "Niobe." I got the Passiflora from www.logees.com. I don't remember where I got the Clematis, but "Niobe" can be found in a few places -- I wanted a dark, almost maroon red flower to contrast with the purple-blue of the Passiflora and the white and light-gray marble of the front of the house. The Clematis was hardy -- it sprouted new leaves on vines grown the previous year. The Passiflora were not -- they'd get cut to the ground with the first frost, then I'd just heavily mulch the base for winter. The Passiflora would start anew from the ground, but they were huge by the end of the season. And here's a (bad) pic of one of the "Incense" flowers. They were about 4-5" wide, and VERY fragrant.

 

[grawg]

Never seen that site. I'll make sure to check it out. Thanks for all the info on the other plants. I thought I saw some celosia in there but I wasn't sure on the others.That yellow celosia does look quite nice paired with the banana.

I've been looking at some of the clematis cultivars, but I'm still a couple years from putting them into a landscape.

Where I grew up the passion flowers grew wild. I remember eating the fruit but I don't think I was overly impressed. The flowers are quite stunning though.

I've got a spot in the yard where I planted some red bamboo this year, I might try to get a couple banana established there and start working on a tropical corner myself.