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October usually marks the start of the cooler weather, and this month was no different. For about a week we had gloriously cool days, perfect for sitting outside and enjoying our bulb empire.
The only slight drawback with this month is that it also marks the time when the clocks are moved, and suddenly the evening vanishes just at the very time when the weather makes the out-doors life so pleasant... anyway, enough of such ramblings, its time to get to the bulbs
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Our first new bulb is neither new, nor a bulb. It is another look at our Globba (Dancing Ladies) ginger - showing how the little flowers turn into a sort of breadlike fruit, which contains lots of seeds. I think it looks better like this than in its initial flowering form!
A joy to gardeners in the late (late) summer is this ginger, Hedychium Coronarium, or more commonly "butterfly ginger". This 5 foot plant boasts a couple of great features- As well as having very pretty white flowers, probably about 2 inches accross, there is also thier incredible fragrance - Described commonly as a smell which lies somewhere between Jasmine and Gardenia, a real treat!
This is the Zingiber Zerumbet, or Pinecone ginger - This flower head (called an inflorescense by ginger gurus) has a number of flowers which pop out of the scales (one flower is shown here) - when the flowers are all gone, the show continues, as this inflorescence (the "pinecone" ) turns red. An additional feature of this plant is that we have the variegated version. Along with the other October gingers, this one will reliably come back year after year in Houston, though it will freeze back in the winter months, emerging in may.
Our first true bulb of October is Lycoris Radiata, or Spider Lily. Unfortunately I rather amatuerishly took this photo before the real display began (many flowers opening rather than just one or two), but until next year this photo will have to suffice.
Apparently the Lycoris family of bulbs is very unusual in the plant kingdom, as different variants of the species cover the whole range of the colour spectrum. Another bulb with similar properties is the Iris
Also making appearance in October was this Tricyrtis (toad lily). I am not sure of its variety name, but I know that it is the common one. It is a lot more bland than our other "amethyst" toad lily which bloomed earlier in the year (I think it was May), but still an unusual plant- The bees seemed to hover over it, wondering weather it was really a flower at all, a couple of them tried to make a landing, but mostly they gave up and went to the more normal-looking flowers planted nearby after a bemused look
Last, but not least in October we had our first Tuberose (polianthes tuberosa) - Famed far and wide for its fragrance- lots of garden books said "dont plant this close to your house because the smell is so strong" . I must admit I wasnt that impressed, given this incredible reputation (it is grown a lot specifically for making perfumes in some places). Here in Houston it is a plant which can be left in the ground over the winter , and is relitively pest free - at least up to a point : This flower might have made it onto june's page, but just as it was about to open, some nocturnal rodent thought it looked nice and ate it, only to spit it out again a few feet away...
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