December is a great time to be outdoors in South Florida. The weather is simply wonderful and fruits and flowers start showing up to enjoy time in the garden. I am joining Six on Saturday at http://www.thepropagatorblog.wordpress.com to share six items of interest from my garden.
The very seasonal scourge of South Florida, Brazilian Peppers. These outrageously fast growing small trees have taken over hundreds of thousands of acres of land. However beautiful the berries are, I try to get rid of as many as possible. The birds love them and I believe every last on of them germinates and is 10 feet tall in a few years.
The Surinam Cherry, more bird food. These are pretty, but taste a bit resinous. I am told by locals to soak them in water to get the worms out…
Seedpod on Roselle, edible Hibscus flowers, another weird tropical fruit. I harvested a lot of these and they are in my freezer. Just don’t quite know what to do with them.
Radishes, almost ready to eat.
Pineapples producing pups after I harvested the pineapple. It took 3 years from pineapple top to harvest. The theory is once the pups start the harvest increases with the number of plants and the fruit overwhelms the gardener. Time will tell.
My winter favorite, Dombeya – Tropical Hydrangea – buds are starting to show color. This one is about nine feet tall and covered in buds. It should be a sight to behold in a couple of weeks.
Happy Holidays to everyone and thank you to Jon for hosting Six on Saturday.
The Shrub Queen 
All so very exotic – and so very beautiful – when viewed from the other side of the Atlantic!
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Thank you, sometimes it all seems very weird to me..
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Lovely to have beautiful weather and radishes growing outside. I love all your berries. I grew dombeya in the greenhouse years ago and although it grew enormous it never bloomed. I’m looking forward to seeing yours.
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Thank you, the berries are a double edged sword. Dombeyas are interesting and there are numerous varieties. I have a D. wallachii which is supposed to do well in a greenhouse – though the size and pruning time is difficult to deal with.
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Oh, goodness, I can’t wait to see the tropical hydrangea in flower!
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I’m surprised that there isn’t a ban on Brazilian Pepper trees in FL, but perhaps the horse is already out of the barn on that one, just like all the noxious invasive plants up here. Along our river, they hoard the resources and are out of control. Most are spread by birds, exponentially so.
I heard that the hibiscus makes a nice tea, high in C, have you tried it?
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Peppers are banned in Florida, we pulled the originals out several years ago, but are still haunted by them. The bird thing. Tea seems to be it, though I want to make relish…
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Presumably one can eat the pink peppercorns on the Brazilian Tree. I am always on the look out for them for dishes, as they are so pretty.
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How nice to be overwhelmed by pineapples. Sounds good to me.
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So far I have been underwhelmed by pineapple 🍍
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Brazilian pepper is famous for being an aggressively naturalized exotic species in some regions. It does not seem to be so aggressive in Southern California, although some would disagree.
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Yes. I have seen some beautiful Peppertrees in SoCal
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The beautiful pepper trees were probably Schinus molle, California pepper, from Chile.
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oh, interesting – they look like real trees with a trunk?
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Yes, but bulkier and more sculptural than those of the Brazilian pepper, with finely shredding bark.
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So exotic, so many new (to me) plants. Thanks for sharing
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