Mike, as usual, ALL your plants are drop-dead gorgeous!

I'm shocked your Natal Plum is blooming!! Never saw NP in flower. Is it fragrant?

Do you keep Orchids outdoors? If so, aren't you worried they'll burn?

Yep, nights are 50's here, too. What happened to August is the hottest month of the year? Unusual.

Day temps are 70-74F. Nights, 50's. The next five days will be cool, too. No sun. It feels like October.

Anyway, gonna snap a few pics, but very few are in bloom. Toni

Mike, I don't have a single thing blooming, but your plants are beautiful, as usual...

Christopher.

Not a houseplant but the only thing blooming for me right now.

Rudbeckia 'Little Goldstar'

Planto

Hi, I like your plants and blooms Mike, I like the varigated last one nice, I'd like to see more of your pond.....the rudbeckia is very nice I really like them they are so showy... I don't have any house plants blooming either, but I have flowers.....

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I hope you like....linda

Such beautiful plants everyone has. And great pictures, too. For some reason, no matter how hard I try, I rarely can take a good picture.

Here are some pictures that I took this morning.

The only blooming plants in the house at the moment, with the exception of an anthurium flower that's on its way out. These mostly look a little ragged because they've had a hard past month. They were doing really well until two had surgery (sucker removal) and then I fell on the shelf, damaging a few of them. Poor babies.
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Outside this morning:

Two of my many, many pots of torenia:
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Oriental Stargazer lily & background (ragged) zinnias:
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Oriental Stargazers:
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Salvia, my youngest gave this to me and it spent several unhappy months inside until I convinced him to let me put it outside. I had actually cut it practically to the soil level but since it's been outside it's much happier.
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One of my least ratty impatiens - the others have been cut back pretty severely and aren't blooming again yet.
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One of my many dianthus that manage to hang on over the heat of the summer in full sun from 12pm-until. I think they're looking forward to cooler weather even more than I am.
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Blue Daze. I want to get this into the ground but I'm not sure the best exposure for it. I have gotten a lot of mixed information.
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A few caladium, a calla lily and a coleus cutting.
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Taken last week, this guy is about 4" long:
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And some older shots because I don't always take horrible pictures (just mostly):
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Really sad I didn't know enough about these to keep them alive more than a couple years. Or that I didn't realize how easily they start from cuttings.
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I just thought these were kind of neat because of the damage:
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I don't have that many flowering houseplants - here are the only three blooming....

AV
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Brugmansia
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And one orchid
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Some of the flowering - and just starting to flower -plants outside:

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Still flowering perennials:

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Rina

The only houseplant I have open now, besides the silly Bowiea volubilis, is my Tacca chantrieri (Black Bat Flower). Sorry for the slightly bad photo. Anyone else growing this monster? It's been working on blooming for months and now it's finally sending up spikes at seemingly regular intervals. I had some trouble with the roots when I first got it since it came out of a hothouse into my cool sunroom with relative humidity much lower than a greenhouse. It looks like it finally established itself in this pot. The "whiskers" are about a foot long.

Everyone has so many beauties. All so beautiful.
No houseplants flowering for me right now.
But I have a cactus about to flower.
I'm so excited!

Nankeen

That's very nice looking Bat flower...I tried one, bought seeds but I am sure I did something wrong then, never got a plant. Like those whiskers.

You have some very nice plants, have seen photo of your Amazon lily too. So healthy looking. From what I read, little finicky to grow?

Rina

Hi..Nankeen,
what a great flower, I have never seen one before...
Gesssssssss now I will be looking for one of thoses...
I know nothing about it, research time....lol...
thanks for posting...I loved seeing it....linda

I have several African Violets that are currently blooming. Shirl's Red Sky was a rooted sucker that was given to me this past Spring. It has grown tremendously over the past few months and is currently in its second bloom cycle. --Tim

Shirl's Red Sky (Shirley Sanders) Single light red pansy/white eye Variegated dark green and pink, pointed. Miniature.

Rina, thanks. Eucharis is one of my easiest plants, but apparently they aren't easy for everyone. Just water, sun and fertilizer.

Linda, thanks. I looked for a nice chantrieri for quite a while in all my local nurseries, but all I found were integrifolia. Finally, Portland nursery had a nice sized plant for $30 so I had to buy it. They seem to like high humidity a lot so all my summer leaves are a little warbly due to the low humidity outside. Hopefully the fall and winter leaves will be better.

Here are a few:

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Aeschynanthus ellipticus 'Coral Flame'
This is one of the heaviest blooming Aeschynanthus I know of, and it doesn't get nearly as large as some of the others.

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Acalypha pendula

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Miniature Sinningia hybrid (unnamed) I grew this one from seed.

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Streptocarpus saxorum

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Unnamed Sinningia speciosa hybrid

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Nematanthus 'Black Gold'

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and Episcia 'Suomi' is blooming again for me today

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Saintpaulia ionantha 'Yukako' (African violet chimera)

I have many more blooming AVs at the moment too, but I won't post them all here.

Mark

TN, your African Violet is so pretty. Love the flowers.

Snappy, very nice. Your Aeschynanthus and Alcalypha have the prettiest flowers.
Not the common Lipstick and Alcalypha types.

How did you get your Sinningia to bloom? What's its care?

Bridal Veil

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Spath

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Peanuts

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Medinilla, (almost 1-yr in flower)

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Inch Plant

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Hibiscus

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Haworthia

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Geranium

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Epiphyllums

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Euphorbia Swirl

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Crown of Thorns, variegated

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Crown of Thorns, Orange Blooms

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Wax Begonia

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Aglaonema, 'Marie'

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Adenium

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Toni

Hopefulauthor,

Sinningias are gesneriads, and the most famous plant in that family are African violets. Their care is similar, with a couple differences. I use a mix of 1:1:1 peat moss, vermiculite, and perlite. I also wick water to keep it evenly moist at all times. They require brighter light than African violets to grow and bloom well. I keep mine in an east window with no sheer curtains and the blinds wide open. These plants have tubers too, and once they finish blooming they should be allowed to keep their leaves for several weeks to put energy into the tuber. The plant may then die back on its' own, or the crown can be cut off. Some people then unpot the tuber and put it in vermiculite in a bag until it sprouts. I just repot it into new potting mix and it has resprouted for me very quickly. Then the cycle begins again.

Mark

Although it never flowers since it's a fern, my Platycerium bifurcatum doesn't get its picture taken very often so I thought I'd share. It lives under the greenhouse benches and is very heavy. In 2002 or so, I stuck a rod through the center of the plant and hung it up. It's eventually grown completely around the original potting medium like a sphere of sterile fronds. I got this plant nearly 30 years ago when I was 5.

Been blooming for a little while now...

Aechmea fasciata

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tj

@nankeen, I've never seen a Black Bat Flower, how odd and yet interesting looking!

I forgot my $2.00 Spath (I found it on clearance) that seems very grateful for the new home is blooming. It had a little bit of sunburned leaves not to mention a mass of dead/dying leaves. I cleaned it up, repotted it, and named him 'Peewee.' To imagine, it's only been a couple weeks since I picked him up.

Poot, I forgot to post the picture.

Planto

nankeen

Another beauty!
Looks like you really know how to take care of unusual, exotic plants...please keep posting, they are beautiful.
Rina

Wowowowowowo! I can't believe the beauties here!

That Bat Flower is to die for and no I too am on the prowl..lol
I never saw one like that before. Well cared for and long whiskers, like my cat!

Your flowers are amazing everyone and this is turning out to be a very colorful thread. Keep them coming, please.

Toni, you of all people growing 'NUTS'? lol

I love the variety. It almost feels as if I am shopping, without paying a price, just yet. We'll see how long it is before I buy another looking all these.

Well, I must get back to spraying fungus control all over my perennials. Boy, is it bad this year.

I'll be back with more pics soon.

Toni. How in the world did you get your Haworthia to grow a spike that tall? Sheesh!

One of these days, real soon, will learn how to post a pic w.i. text. In the mean time, here is my water hyacinth in bloom this morning. It is an aquatic along with the Red Mangrove accompanying it.

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:97140}}

Cereus getting ready to open.

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:97141}}