Garden Update this week from Staten Island, NY

 Here's what's happening this week! 

Deciduous azalea - Garden Rainbow. This year it only made one head of blooms, it might be time to plant this in the ground

The Palms are back in place my Adonidia palm is taller but the Bottle palm is SO much heavier

Hello from my new Queen Palm

Variegated Lantana is returning underneath the Cabbage Tree (Cussonia). The salvia and geranium all survived too in the garage, but the pansies are new. No doubt the new Verbana will survive also! 

Hedychium making a nice comeback after a winter in the garage. Ixora and European Fan Palm there too

Thanks for looking! (Mountain Bluet (Centaurea montana))

Clerodendrum Butterfly bush TRAGEDY (Clerodendrum ugandense or Rotheca myricoides) is

The rain and wind from Memorial Day weekend knocked a lot of really beautiful plants down. One of the victims was my Clerodendrum Butterfly bush (Rotheca myricoides). The entire stem was twisted. It was 4 days later that I was able to visit my parents and try to salvage it.

I had a choice, it it down and be-head it, or give it a chance to recover and tape it together. I chose the latter. It'd been on the ground for 4 days and the leaves still looked okay despite some warm weather so it's possible it will recover. Send your best wishes! 

May 27 Hardy Ground Orchid (Bletilla striata)

 The hardy ground orchids only bloom for about 2-3 weeks a year but WOW what a show. These Hardy Ground Orchids (Bletilla striata) are so low maintenance. I just got a white variety for my own garden on Long Island 

It's Peony Season!

This variety is called Bartzella. It's an Itoh peony which is an intersectional peony (a cross between a tree peony and herbaceous peony). A huge benefit is they don't flop over! 

I got this as a root in Mid-March 2023 and it actually produced a bloom that same year. In 2024 I got 2 blooms, this year I have at least 6! 

I also have a baptisa in bloom and some happy encore azaleas 

Amaryllis in bloom

I've had this plant for years but it's been a while since it bloomed. It overwintered beautifully in the garage! It hangs out by the pond

My Drive way Citrus smell amazing!

It's mid May and my citrus are fruiting beautifully. On my driveway I have a Meyer Lemon, Ponderosa Lemon, Fukushu Kumquat, Variegated centennial kumquat (not in bloom) and a Satsuma Owari Mandarin orange. 

These photos are taken on May 19

Back from the DEAD

Spring is FULL of surprises. After a rough winter like this one, you always expect the worst, but 4 days in the 90s woke a few plants up that I really wasn't expecting. 

The latest of the bunch was my Musa Basjoo. I've checked every day and here we are on May 22! Still no word from my Mekong Giant so I think that one was unfortunately a loss, but we can't give up hope yet. 

My Hedychium ginger was a really big surprise. It started showing signs of life on May 20th in this photo

My Butterfly clerodendrum overwintered in the garage. I thought it was dead or at least died back significantly, but NOPE it's alive and well and leaves are coming out of nearly every branch. These photos are from May 19th

No photos of my Brugmansia, but as of May 23 leaves are very very slowly trying to appear. I think next year I will have to start that one inside the house.