On My Walk This Morning 4f

This amazing Succulent Garden appeared suddenly one morning, actually two of them,

one on either side of the door.  I checked and a tenant from New York who is a florist

and landscape artist, offered to plant them for the building.  I think he did a wonderful job.

Now I shall keep checking to enjoy them and see how they survive.  He included four

or five colors and sizes of stones in the garden and several containers.

All of these plants are drought resistant and may not need any watering.

At the top and on a lattice on either side are two bougainvilleas, a red and a purple.

One of the containers is filled with "Blue Daze," a flower I first met in Montreal.

I think this will require manual watering, but it seems to be quite hardy.  "Blue Daze" 

is often used as a ground cover and spreads quickly.

On top of the posts and in containers are a variety of plants, which I will look at

individually.  The different elevations, colors, and textures offer wonderful

visual delights.

A small agave in a container.  I had never seen such small decorative agaves

used before.  Very interesting.

"Pale Green Sedum."  The plant is common as a ground cover, but the color is very nice

as a standout plant.

"Drooping Algernon Agave" in planter and beside a small bamboo lattice.

This one I knew from the Garfield Park Conservatory in Chicago - the "Pencil Plant /

Naked Lady / Euphorbia."  It grows in the desert, in Arizona, and does not send out

leaves.  Its stems are green and carry on photosynthesis and make food.

In front is a pineapple plant with a young pineapple growing.

"Pastel Patsy" Copperleaf Plant.  This is a variety of plant which is very popular

down here because it comes in so many colors, it grows rapidly, and is very hardy.

It can be severely pruned many times and it keeps coming back.

Close-up of "Pastel Patsy Copperleaf."

Also in front of this building is "Sunburst Yellow," one of the purest and most

radiant yellow hibiscus of all the many varieties.  Everything - outer leaf, inner core,

stamen and pistils are all yellow.

"Red, White, and Pink Pentas / Egyptian Star Flowers."

Each day I walk by this building, I stop to enjoy this pot.  It keeps getting

fuller and more lush all the time.  It was a wonderful idea, I think.

There is a matching pot on the North side.

"Purple Shamrock / Oxalis Triangularis."

I remember this one from last year, and it has come back very nicely.  It looks like

a shamrock, but is actually an oxalis.  Tiny oxalis plants in white or pink are

found all through our lawns, kind of like a Floridian Dandelion.

In intense sunlight or deep shadow, the leaves appear almost black,

and it is sometimes called "The Black Shamrock" 

"Green Spider Croton."  The variety of colors, shapes, and sizes for crotons

seems to be infinite, and I enjoy seeing all the new ones.  They are decorative

plants for the garden, not flowering.

    

This wasn't exactly on my walk, but in my living room.  A "Waxed Amaryllis."

A friend sent me the bulb at Christmas.  It arrives as that red waxed ball at the

bottom, which looks like a Gouda Cheese.  You just set in on a dish in a bright

spot, but not direct sun, and wait.  No water, no food.  It gradually sends up a

couple of leaves and then a stalk, and mine opened into these two beautiful

red flowers a few days before Valentine's Day.  Each flower is about 5 inches 

in diameter.

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