Mystery Fragrance

This morning as I rearranged a couple of my plants to their better advantage—and mine, a lovely fragrance attracted me. Where was it coming from? Not the scant honeysuckle on the back fence; I know that scent. It was right there in front of me, under my nose—literally; the Angelonia Angel Face exuded a new dimension of beauty. I don’t know why I haven’t noticed it before; were the purple flowers making this perfume before now? Or did I have to get down on my knees for it to reach me?

The hummingbird flitted in mid-morning to sip from the orange Million Bells. Two Red Hibiscus are blooming today as are hyacinth bean vines, Angelonia, the Victoria Blue’s, pentas, and earlier—a few four O’clocks.

Though the temperatures have been in the upper 80’s and low to mid-90’s, the drier air makes being outdoors delightful, especially when there’s a warm gentle breeze. I could have stayed…

The Beanstalk Has Blossomed

The lovely hyacinth bean vine is presenting her beautiful purple flowers (I use purple in a general sense to cover all versions of the color). I’ll have to sit on my hands to keep from “deadheading” these flowers (cutting off spent flowers to keep a plant blooming). I’ll have to remind myself that beautiful glossy purple bean pods and eventually artistic black and white seeds follow these flowers.

In one of my earliest gardening attempts, my parents let me plant English pea seeds in their front planter box. They came up nicely and bloomed. I had read about deadheading in my garden books—my first book club books were gardening books, so I dutifully deadheaded my pea flowers against my parents’ warnings. I unfortunately didn’t make the distinction between decorative flowers and flowers that “produce fruit”. I never did get any peas on that round. (I think there’s a parable in there somewhere. When I find it, I’ll let you know—or if you find it, you can let me know.)

A ladybug has made her way to my garden. May her tribe increase. The hummingbird darted in this morning for a visit while I was sitting in the garden. He or she briefly investigated the hyacinth vine flowers, flitted over the rest and darted away. The garden likes the cooler weather; yesterday the temperature only reached 73 degrees. As a result, more plants are blossoming, the four o’clocks were still blooming at 9 o’clock am and crickets are singing.

Staying Power

A couple of years ago I took a chance on a new plant at the locally owned garden center since I’m always looking for purple flowers for my garden. It was a little more expensive but I hadn’t seen it anywhere else. Angelonia turned out to be a great “investment” with its spires of small lavender flowers blooming right through the first frost! Though it was sold as an annual, I had nothing to lose to bring it in for the winter. The first one didn’t survive indoor dryness but the one I bought last year not only survived but it’s blooming now in my garden.

However, last spring my carryover flowerless Angelonia looked a little ragged so I set out to the garden center to get another. But instead of getting a replica of the one I already had, the larger Angel Face Angelonia caught my eye. Angel Face has the look and feel of larkspur but is easier to grow (though both Angelonias tend to spiral as they grow).

I had hurriedly planted it in a large pot with many other plants when I traveled but I may transplant it to a larger pot to give it room to grow and mobility to bring it indoors in winter.

Angelonia also does fairly well as cut flowers in small vases.