Check out what's blooming & growing in our November garden

This year's November vegetable garden is a much better site than last year's, thank goodness.  Our vegetables are doing well and I have had many wonderful surprises.  Remember the post in September of how only 50% of the vegetable seeds actually sprouted?  Ok, well I literally threw the soil from the cups that didn't sprout into an open spot in the vegetable bed.  We had a few days of solid rain & voila.....they sprouted!!!  Go figure?!?  Now I have a mixed bunch of tomatoes, so should be exciting to see which one is which.  I think I even saw a few carrot tops popping up too, lol.  So here is what the garden looks like now with the addition of the new seedling sprouts I transplanted this weekend.

From back left to right: Stowell's Corn, Basil, Purple tomatillo's, Hillbilly Leaf Tomatoes, Black From Tula Tomatoes & Collard Greens
From front left to right: Purple Romaine, Green Romaine, Purple Curly-leaf lettuce, then the mix-n-match tomato patch, basil, cilantro, tarragon.  
In front of the collards are Purple Peruvian Peppers & Detroit Red Beets. 
All the yellow flowered plants are Marigolds for pest control...so far so good! :)

This is to the east of the vegetable garden showing
our Papaya, Dragon fruit (white flesh) & Osmanthus Fragrans or Sweet Tea Olive shrub.

Our first ear of Stowell's Corn, yippee!!!  Hopefully we can eat before the bugs do, lol

My cattleya orchids are blooming like crazy right now with the combination of the cool weather and all the rain we have been getting within the past few months.

Ctna. Florida Sunset Nov 2011
Ctna. =  Cattleytonia orchid
The newer blooms have light yellowish, pinky,
orangey colors to them. The older the bloom the
darker the colors become hence the name.  They
usually have small clusters of flowers all over
with different color hues but this is the only one left.

Ctna. Florida Sunset Nov 2011
The leaves of this compact orchid are narrow, perky, stout and upright so they can handle very bright light.

Lc. Phra Nakhon Khiri x
C. Netrasiri Beauty 'lake view'
Lc. =  Laeliocattleya orchid
C. = Cattleya orchid

Lc. Phra Nakhon Khiri x C. Netrasiri Beauty 'lake view'
A gorgeous little orchid with super intense but light & sweet smelling fragrance.  The colors of pale yellow & bold magenta create neat
mixed colors with orange & pink tones.  Flowers are 3 1/2"-4"
& grow in tight clusters of 5-7 flowers. A real show piece!
One of my all time favorite orchids ;)

Mtssa. Shelob 'tolkien' AM/AOS
Mtssa. = Miltassia orchid
Flowers are 5"-6" w x h,  a very large spread
on the flower and almost look like Banana spiders.
No scent to these but their dramatic color & pattern
make up for the lack of smell. Compact size orchid.

Mtssa. Shelob 'tolkien' AM/AOS
Super easy to grow, a great beginner's orchid or even a great gift to someone.  Mine is a little ratty recovering from last year's cold spell.

Pot. Ikuko Akatsuko 'shining'
Pot. = Potinara orchid
Super sweet & heavy scent to this super large
flower which is 7"diameter.  The flowers bloom
two to a cluster though those two are impressive!

Pot. Ikuko Akatsuko 'shining'
A very large leafed & wide spreading orchid which needs space to grow.  I have had this orchid for
almost 6 years now that I bought on an orchid ramble with the Fort Lauderdale Orchid Society.

This is a "no name" orchid I adopted from a
foreclosed home.  Unfortunately whoever lost
their house lost their orchid collection too, sad.

I am guessing could be a Laeliocattleya or Brassavola???  Brassolaelia??? Anyone know???

Side view

Top view

The light pick Cattleya on the left lost it's tag so
unfortunately its a "no name" as well but by no
means lost it's luster. Amazing bloomer!

Super large blooms of 6"-7" diameter with two flowers to a cluster.  Frilly edges to the soft flower petals.
Very sweet perfumey scent to this flower 

You can see how big the flowers are in relation to
my hand.  The mouth of the flower is just spectacular
with all the colors of magenta, yellow & pink in it.

The plant is small in stature compared to the size of the blooms. Likes bright light but will get burned easily with direct sun like in the Pot. Ikuko Akatsuko 'shining' pic above.  These usually bloom twice a year.

So that's a little of what's blooming in our neck of the woods this week...would love to hear what's blooming in yours!  Happy Gardening! 

Merci beaucoup!

xoxo