Sunday Plantings

My brother, Dennis was kind enough to help me plant the red ginger that my aunt gave us last week. He is not only a fabulous artist but a terrific gardener as well.


He looked around the small space and thought at first that he would plant two circles of ginger plants. He used flour to mark the circles that he'd have to cut out of the sod. After staring at the small space a bit longer, he changed his mind.



While Art and I went off to get some compost, Dennis sifted the soil. Why? I don't know.... but he did.

Then he added the compost to the soil.



Now we'll just have to wait and see how the plant does. I'm already imagining 5 foot tall spears of red flowers. Dennis says we'll have to just wait and see.












Once the ginger was planted, Dennis could concentrate on his herb garden. Dennis and my sister-in-law live in a condo so we set aside an area where he could grow his herbs. I bought him some basil plants because his family loves his pesto sauce. He's also a great cook.





We noticed that the Mickey Mouse tree we planted was blossoming but the flower was yellow. We thought it was supposed to be red.




I'm planning for this tree to grow around 6 feet tall. It may take 60 years but it's my plan.


We went for a walk around the area and found a Mickey Mouse tree with the yellow blossom. Then we noticed that the red flower that we thought was a flower was actually the seed or fruit. I'm learning all the time.

"Mickey Mouse Plant - Ochna serrulata
Five-petal yellow flowers. Once the petals fall off, the bracts turn bright red with 1 to 5 green berries. This red 'flower' stay on the plant for quite a long time for the berries to mature, turning black. At this stage, the bract and berries resemble Mickey Mouse's face.
The plant starts to bloom in 2nd or third-year, when it is not even 1 foot high."