Garden Update 9-30-13

The temps are finally back to seasonal norms, which at this time of year means highs in the 90's and lows in the 60's, and the plants are responding affirmatively.  Even though I'm disappointed by how few of the sunflowers I sowed actually sprouted, those that did are being rather showy, with multiple flower heads. They're also attracting bees, which is good for the sunflowers and other plants in the gardens.

My small sunflower patch.

A honeybee diligently going about its' duty.

One of the native bees loaded with pollen.

The Dwarf Mexican Petunia, Ruellia brittoniana, is blooming profusely now that it's no longer in the shadow of the hollyhocks.  I think I need to move this, maybe to a large pot, so that it gets more sun year-round.

I'll be collecting seeds from this one soon.

The cannas are really liking the cooler weather and are blooming profusely, as are the roses.  speaking of roses, I found yellow mini roses at the 99 Cents Only Store and bought 9 to fill one of my window boxes.  I removed all the soil, mixed in some rose food and added more soil, then refilled the box and planted the roses in it.  While they look nice now, they'll be magnificent once they get established and fill out.

There are bloom stalks like this one throughout the canna patch.

The perfect rose bud.

At only $1 each, I'm sure to buy more of these.

The habanero plants are over a year old now and still produce profusely once the temps get out of the 100's.  I expect to get a couple of pounds of fruit from the two plants in the next 6-8 months, provide we don't have another freeze this winter. About a week ago I sowed seeds for 18 varieties of peppers and most of them came up, so I transplanted them to individual 2" peat pots. Since there's no way to put labels on peat pots, I made markers by printing out enough labels for each seedling and taping them to toothpicks like little flags. Soon I'll resow the ones that didn't come up and replacements for any that don't survive the transplant, plus a few varieties that didn't get sown the first time.

36 pepper seedlings

And finally, here's an updated photo of the inflorescence on the plumeria 'Novelty'.  It's about 3" tall now and definitely developing blooms, but as long as it's taken to get to this point, I'm not sure when to expect them to open.

Plumeria 'Novelty'