A few random garden shots

[swords]

I thought all my mantids had been eaten by robins this year but I was out and found one lone survivor (that i know of) he's about 2" long:

he decided it was night time so he crawled under the leaf and was getting ready for bed(I love how they hang upside down like bats when they sleep) I like to think he's saying goodnight in this shot

Here's some Datura seed pods (illustrating why they call them Thorn Apples:

I only leave one to ripen at a time so I can get maximum blooming (plus each pod has some 200-500 seeds so I don't need more than that for next year)
Tonights open Datura is D. inoxa:

I'll have 5 Datura inoxa blooms open tomorrow night on one plant! And soon the first bloom on the largest species D. wrightii (the first bud is forming).

 

[schloaty]

nice!

My Datura stink this year.

I just can't seem to get them to grow to that nice, big busy my mother in law turns them into.

 

[setep]

Nice pictures! I like your mantis, and the Datura takes me back to my childhood in S. Illinois.

 

[swords]

Thanks! I hope there's more mantids left out there somewhere! Otherwise I've fed about 5000 mantids to the birds!

Schloaty, whats your Datura's soil mix? What species are you growing? The hardest for me has been D. quercifolia (oak leaved Datura). For all my garden plants I'm using a base of shreded cypress mulch with about 25% sphagnum peat added to bind it, so there's lots of air/space in the soil. Also feed and water Daturas & Brugmansias like crazy! Mine usually wilt every 2-3 days so I have to water every other morning or they'll be wilted. I use 2 teaspoons per gallon of fertilizer on them with almost every watering. My plants get direct sun from 11AM til 3-4 PM with bright shade the rest of the time.

From seedling until first flowering I use 2 tsp/gal of high nitrogen feed. Once the first flower bud starts at the tip of the stem (before it starts to branch) I switch and begin to feed 2 tsp/gal of high phosphorus fertilizers and cut off all spent blooms at the stem the next day so the plant continues to push the blooms and not make seed pods. I always leave at least one so I have next years plants in the bag but the more "thorny apples" you leave on them the fewer blooms and slower the plant will grow. Lemme add I don't normally use crazy amounts of fertilizer but on this family it's justified cos they'll put on a great show!