Some Fall/Winter color in the garden

[Mikey]

Our red-hot poker plant (Kniphofia zululandis)  always blooms this time of the year to add needed color to the garden.

[SueSTx]

I love them.  Mine always blooms in the spring.

[Mikey]

I purchased these at a specialty nursery and I have never seen them since.  All other hot poker plants I have seen also bloom in the spring.

[Jerry]

Remember these?
Mikey took this at Deascanso Gardens a few years ago.  Good to see a gardening post again.

[Indiana Karen]

Those are great!  Mine used to bloom really nice (mid June) but they have fizzled.  I moved them last year, but still no blooms.

[miguynmkoi]

Those red hot poker blooms are fantastic!  Such eye catchers for our winter garden.

[Mikey]

I noticed another fall/winter bloomer tucked behind some gingers.... an amaryllis (Hippeastrum reticulatum striatifolium)

[tinkster]

They are beautiful.. have a question.... its all I can do to keep my soil composted and feed for just one growing season.. how do you do it when you have soil that eats or needs to eat year round Bet you never really get a break from garden chores?

tink

[Mikey]

And what makes things worse is my sandy soil that doesn't hold moisture or nutrients well.  Many of my plants are stunted when compared with plants in better soil.  I have a friend who lives just a few miles away who has clay in her soil and her Tropicana Canna is MUCH taller and healthier looking than mine.  I got rid of my compost piles because they attracted rats and raccoons and now I compost directly on to the garden, returning all my trimmings back to where they came from.  It doesn't look pretty but it helps hold in the moisture and build up the soil.  Because the trimmings are in contact with the soil they decompose rather quickly.  By the time I die I actually might have nice soil.......for the next occupant who will likely put in grass......