BOGTURTLE'S GARDEN-Oct 2026

Pleased that Selaginella uncinata, the 'Peacock Moss' is doing well in the jar, but I am sure I am not seeing the color as it is. Age has brought cataracts and it will be interesting to see things after those are corrected. This plant may be even bluer that it looks to me. I saw this little creeper on the ground from the rail one rides at Disney, in FL An amazing botanical garden a great number of folks might not know about or appreciate.  S uncinata is supposed to be hardy to zone 6, but I doubt that. If I have enough, I may try it outdoors in this zone 7a. It sends out rhizomes and is very easy to divide. 

 Why this Green Frog decided it would be a good idea to sit in the net I use to move the Guppies is a mystery. It is 2x the size it was, in late Spring, when it first arrived. It just showed up, as they might, one rainy night. So shy that getting photos is iffy. I trust it cannot help itself to the dozens of fish that have come from a pair I bought to keep mosquitoes from breeding. As temperatures drop, the Guppies will die, and I have moved a few into an indoor tank, but cannot keep them all. An effort to have anyone come and help themselves has gotten no response.

The view, on a rainy day, out from where I type at the computer. Endless garden work, by my free choice. The Hummingbirds will be gone, soon. Off to Mexico, eventually.  The center circle in the lawn was over-run by Japanese Honeysuckle, Woodbine (Virginia Creeper) and some nasty Greenbriar. With a 4 tined tool, like a rake, I rooted most out and roots and all went into the chipper, shredder. So now, a bag at a time, woodchips are being used to put a layer of them down to keep weeds out. Works, sorta. And for a year or so.The bird bath was in that circle, but, since the lid to the septic is there, I topped it with a round flagstone and that birdbath. The line of Daylily 'Happy Returns" is down to the last few buds, but I still expect some days will be warm and they will be fine.

Monarch Butterflies are on their way to the Yucatan in Mexico and it is clear why the Butterfly Bush has that common name. This is often shown and is the only one, of many introduced, presently still here. Buddlea weyeriana 'Honeycomb'.

The Buckeye Butterfly. Two on the bush the day I took this photo.

And this is a very tattered Vanessa Butterfly.  

Probably shown recently, but I think this is Ipomea hirsuta, maybe. A Morning Glory that is really blue, shading towards violet, and only about  an inch across.

Among the most significant shrubs is the huge Viburnum 'Popcorn'. A mass of these ball shaped flowers that, basically, hide the foliage every Spring. But here are a few flowers out of season banked against the rust colored Fall foliage. 

All over the property there are varieties of Winterberry Holly, Ilex verticillata. The plants are deciduous, and should be spectacular  against the snow. Never!  Every year, after the leaves have fallen, the Robins come here from the North. They feast on berries on the native Ilex that fills the understory in these woods, and get all these shown,.Actually bought netting to throw over them, but the birds got their feet entangled, and it all was not worth the effort or expense. 

As with all Holly, plants are either male or female, so a male, that never gets berries, must be as close as reasonable, to provide insect born pollen, or berries will be fewer. Even on my property, I see the amount of berries related to how close the purchased males are. Forest Farm, a nursery out West, actually has published a chart matching male and female that bloom at the same time, to maximize the berries on your property. 
Always wondered if a rainy week might make a difference, in holding down the little flying pollinators, in a particular Spring.

The dwarf Acer platanum 'Fjelheim' again. Apricot colored foliage each Fall. Orignially propagated from what is called a 'witches broom' found on the Japanese Maple well known for its red bark, 'Sango Kaku'.  

Not much to look at, but strangely satisfying, on a perfect Fall day,

 I spent over an hour blowing fallen leaves off the lengthy circular drive and more. In a few days, it will have to be done again.

   
10/24         Camellia Sasanqua 'Autumn Moon" is coming into bloom. Seems, only a few weeks ago, the buds were tiny. It and another are on one side of the pool deck fence.

Among the last blooms of Morning Glory 'Knowlian's Black'. It just returns from seed. A bloom not quite as big as most.

Where this Japanese Maple 'Fjelheim' will have blood red newer twigs, I notices 'Bijou', over by the little pool, has bark, now, a little greenish yellow. Its foliage is pale yellow and the tree is normal, for a Japanese Maple. Not a dwarf like this 'Fjelheim'.

Another feature of the Ground Cover type perennial Plumbago larpentae is the maroon foliage for Fall. Wish I had far more of this plant.

Growing under the Camellia is this Fern called The Autumn Fern. Unlike the Japanese Painted Fern, it has not ever shown up anywhere else on the property, and seems not much bigger, while being here over 10 years. 

At least a month ago I noticed the Sour Gum Trees beginning to turn. Near water they seem to turn intense scarlet. The one by our front walk never does. But this year, along with many of the trees, color seems more intense. Along the front walk there is a Viburnum with tabled, layered branches, that is the brightest orange rust, and two Dogwoods. One a native white flowered, and a pink flowered, that we planted the first year we lived here. 

The Buckeyes, an early and later blooming strain of Aesculus pauciflora color yellow each Fall.