Weather is heating up in South Florida as summer approaches, we had a round of thunderstorms yesterday and expect more in the coming week. The Frangipani (Plumeria) has set buds promising a fragrant yellow flower with pink accents.
Buds and one tiny flower on the Blushing Bromeliad (Neoregelia carolinae) .These will flower, put out some pups, and then stop blushing until next winter.
More Bromeliad buds, these are Tillandsias and the flowers will tell the tale of which variety – they will be red or green. I am hoping for Cardinal Air Plants, red flowering Florida natives.
This is a Roselle, an edible Hibiscus (H. sabdariffa) – Most of the plant is edible, the leaves can be cooked as greens or added to salads. Sometimes called Jamaican Sorrel, I am thinking is it sour, but haven’t tried it yet. The burgundy ‘fruit’ is the base of the flower, called a calyx – these are used as a substitute for cranberries. Thankgiving relish may go tropical this year.
This is not a bud, but a cone. It is the female cone of a Coontie (Zamia integrifolia) the only Cycad native to the U.S. Cycads are gymnosperms and have male and female cones.
One of my garden buds and a frequent companion when I am in the garden. An Anole lizard, not sure which one. I have read there are 2,000 lizards per acre in Florida and I believe it.
I hope everyone is surviving lockdown. My husband and I are thinking this is causing brain fog. Probably best to keep thinking!
To see more Six on Saturday posts visit The Propagator at http://www.thepropagatorblog.wordpress.com.
The Shrub Queen 
Great close-up photography.
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Thank you
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I think many of us are feeling lethargic. With no outside demands on our time, it is easy to get lazy. I know I should be taking advantage of the cooler weather and get garden work done before the bugs hatch out. Still, I procrastinate. Interesting, the many ways that we are reacting to sheltering-in-place.
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Yes…it seems like laundry is haunting me.
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The colours in the Rosella plant are very striking. So glad I don’t have lizards in my UK garden!
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Thank you, i am looking forward to eating one. Lizards may be an acquired taste.
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Our Southern flowers are very different for Easter. I’ve been looking at photos of tulips, daffodils and dogwood from Northern gardeners.
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Yes, I have enjoyed seeing the pictures – those are more authentic spring flowers to me. We have Amaryllis blooming here which seems like Christmas…
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Who would not wish to have such a beautiful lizard as gardening companion?
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i have black racer snakes and turtles as well. Never alone in the garden.
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I love the Tillandsia – what is that they are growing in?
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Thank you, they are in the boots of a Sabal Palm. Boots are the bases of old fronds left on the trunk, sometimes they are cleaned off for a smooth appearance.
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I love the lizard. I wish my newts were that sociable!
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Hmm, newts! do they run from you!?
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I love the lizard. Brain fog here too. Crossword each morning to try to stop it
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Hi Dorris, thanks I enjoy the smaller lizards, there are some bigger African lizards that are creepy moving in. I have been drawing dream container plans…for the fog, it helps.
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Dream container plans? I look forward to seeing those
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There are some truly mad succulents here.
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Plumeria are one of many genera that my colleague down south can grow, but I can not. The common sort makes a significant tree over one of the patios. I prune it if I happen to be there in season. It gets only minor trimming in between pruning every few years or so. Others stay quite small. I intend to get cuttings of most of them, but they need protection through winter here, and can not get too big.
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when do you prune them? I would like for these to be small trees, right now they are Y’s.
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I pruned them before the end of winter, but only because I only gutted them of inferior growth that would not bloom anyway, and trimmed away what was hanging over the roof. Otherwise, they should be pruned after bloom. All the scraps were canned as big cuttings to be used on jobs. They all had different personalities, and my favorite (at my colleague’s home) refused to branch. It was a ‘Y’, with a single trunk that branched into two limbs. I did not prune it with the others, but instructed my colleague to cut the tips off after bloom, in order to promote branching. They just produced a single ‘branch’ where topped, and continued with nothing more than a kink where they had been pruned! After several years, there are only two branches! The flowers are great, but the plants looks weird. Of course, none of the others are so uncooperative.
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Okay, thanks, they are all starting to flower and I will trim the tips and see if I get branches. Some of them are so sculptural when pruned properly..the scent is delicious from the flowers.
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Yes, you can prune them after bloom.
The various cultivars have distinctive personalities. Some are sculptural, but some develop into simple small trees. The white one that I want to branch more is just a pole that splits in two. Some stay quite small. Pruning can enhance their natural form, but can get them to develop in a manner that is unnatural for them.
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