Ice plant

 

You know those decorative cups and plates that seem to accumulate even though no one ever puts food or drink in them? This one now has a plant in it.

Purslane shows the wonders of selective breeding

One is wild, the other is not.

Flowering Maple and Mushrooms

This seedling has friends.

Yellow Rose

It looks ratty but smells divine.

African violet cutting

Many books say you can stick an African violet leaf in dirt and it will send out roots and make a new plant. They do not mention that it will take almost a month before any sign of new life shows itself above the dirt.

Datura seeds

Maybe it will self-seed.

Hyacinth bean

A neighbor has grown these for years and gave me a paper bag of dried bean pods. When the vines bloom all at once, it can look at a distance almost like wisteria. Sometimes the flowers have a faint yet very sweet scent.

Morning Glories: Flying Saucers

Usually morning glory flowers have 5 petals (well, all the petals are fused together so… petal sections?):

But this one flower had four petals instead. Even the other flowers on the same vine didn’t do this.

Flying Saucers is one of the prettiest morning glory varieties out there. But they also get sick and die really easily.

As the flowers fade and close, the blue turns pink or magenta.

The pink color can be even more striking than the blue from when the flowers were fresh.

Marvel of Peru

A whole seed packet labeled “mixed colors” came up all yellow. The next year, new plants came up pink.

The flowers have a subtle smell that you don’t notice until you stick your nose right into the flower’s business, but it’s very sweet and a lot like jasmine.

Even if you flood the garden with the sprinklers, the flowers only open after the rain. The rest of the time, they do this.

Purple Coneflower

As the flowers fade, they start to look like metal sculptures.