The rainy season is in full swing in my garden. Heat and humidity rule the great outdoors. The truly tropical plants love it and are starting their summer show. Two out of the four plants in the arrangement just appeared in the garden, I am not sure this ever happened in my previous garden, serendipitous shrubs and perennials placing themselves perfectly – garden karma. Patience rewards the gardener, I suppose. I rarely pull anything out unless I am sure it is not welcome.
The white flowers in the arrangement are Bridal Bouquet Frangipani, the red and yellow are Parrottflowers (Heliconia psittacorum). I planted both of these and they are finally recovering from the double whammy of Hurricane Irma and mid thirties (Fahrenheit) temperatures in January. The other two just appeared. I have embraced the Asparagus Fern for use in arrangements, a better filigreed texture cannot be found and it is the perfect foil for the coarser tropical flowers. It grows under some shrubs in my Rainforest garden. The red plant is a Java Glorybower (Clerodendrum speciosis), I cut one of these last year and dumped it out beside my front porch – where it rooted perfectly centered on an 8 foot peach colored blank stucco wall. If I had tried to do that it would not have worked. The shrubs grow about six feet tall and I am looking forward to seeing it in its glory. bower. There are Orange Bird of Paradise in front of these. Mother Nature is wise.
On the butterfly front, I have a chrysalis in my herb pot. The Swallowtails have nearly consumed the Parsley. In the picture you can see young and old caterpillars and a green chrysalis. It seems it take weeks for the Butterfly to emerge…
The Shrub Queen 
You are lucky to have something worthwhile seed into your garden. Seems like I mostly get invasives. It is very tropical here with lots of rain, high temps and humidity. I can take it in late July and Aug. but would prefer cooler temps for June. As you say, it is making things grow like wildfire.
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Yes, it amazes me what comes up.
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The Parrorttflowers almost look like flames in your arrangement. Don’t you just love it when plants put themselves in the right place?
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They do look like flames. I like self arranged plants,my front porch is landscaped by birds!
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I find it interesting where plants end up.
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This is one of my favourites; I fear I say this lot about your vases but you have such interesting flowers and these are so well arranged. Love the image with the caterpillars and chrysalis. I saw a newly hatched Swallowtail this morning too.
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Thank you, I am back to the more tropical flowers. What color are your Swallowtails? Forgot to tell you,my brother loved Viterbo and wants to go back.
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I love garden karma…..and yours is sweet. I think if I were to grow a tropical garden it would have to have Frangipani….love how you arranged this vase!
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Thank you,I love the karma plants, too.
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Such a pretty vase, Amelia – and just how white is that frangipani?!
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Thanks, it is white with a slight yellow center. Would make a lovely Bridal Bouquet.
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I wish I had better luck growing Plumeria – yours is absolutely beautiful! I love the caterpillar shot too.
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Thanks, Kris, I like that Plumeria so much I root everything I prune off – they are everywhere..need a cutting
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That frangipani or plumeria is about as white as I have seen it. My colleague down south supposedly as the whitest of the white, but it is hard to say what that means. It could be the same as yours. I have never seen it bloom.
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That Frangipani is white with a slightly yellow center, it is semi evergreen and columnar.
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The one down south is columnar as well, which is why I have not gotten a cutting from it. It never needs to be pruned.
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This one makes me want to have a vacation
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Me, too. From weeding.
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Amelia, you did a beautiful job on that vase. Inspiring. The Frangipani is gorgeous.
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I used to get your posts via email, but it seems WP dropped the ball…hmmm?? Have to fix that.
At any rate, I love your arrangement this week – parrot flower and frangipani especially. I love your pic of small, medium caterpillars and chrysalis, all in one shot. We’ve had lots of Eastern Tiger Swallowtails in the past two weeks. I think the hosts are willow and poplar.
Also love the story of the plant rooting after being dumped – only in the tropics!
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WordPress was out of sorts on Monday, who knows? Thanks, I looked up the Tiger Swallowtails, they are beautiful! Ours can be yellow, brown or black so far…I find all sorts of things growing outside.
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You have obviously got green fingers if plants root themselves perfectly for you without any attention! The fresh greens and the red flowers come alive next to the white Frangipani flower. We have had some almost tropical weather here too, although I doubt it is anything like your idea of humid! 😉
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Weird coincidence, and I am terrible at propagation. I would probably think the weather in Germany is heavenly.
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How wonderful to have all those vibrant tropical flowers. Does that beautiful frangipani smell?
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