It is Saturday again and I am joining the SOS crowd sharing six items of interest from my garden. To see more posts from fellow SOS gardening bloggers, visit http://www.thepropagatorblog.wordpress.com
The weather in South Florida has turned tropical and the more tropical plants in my garden are responding. Fruits and flowers doing their thing enjoying the humidity and rain.
My Passiflora vine dropped the first fruit of the season this week. I am surprised I got the fruit before my fruit loving greyhound or the raccoons. The dog chased me into the kitchen once he got a whiff of ripe passionfruit.
I baked a blueberry passionfruit pie – a new flavor for us and we enjoyed it. I will bake with passionfruit again, though I could use some ideas?!
I couldn’t resist trying it before I took the pictures. Please note I am a rustic style baker and use vegan butter…
This is a Miniata Aechmea Bromeliad flower, they gain blue coloration as they age. Here is the bud:
Here is the bud of a Dean’s Pink Aechmea Bromeliad. The flower stalk seems to be growing and is about 2 feet tall. I have not seen this one flower. Peeking into the center the flower looks like a corn cob. The flower should be interesting. The bud is inside the middle where the foliage looks cut.
Finally, the Tropical Hydrangea (Dombeya wallachii). I am working to prune this into a tree form and contemplating how far to cut it back. I have another month to prune – after that pruning will cut the flowers off. This grew seven feet last year after I pruned it. It flowers in December and January with pink ball shaped flowers.
That’s my six for this Saturday. Happy Gardening.
The Shrub Queen 
With passionfruit your can do a pannacotta ? ( here is a French recipe : https://www.marieclaire.fr/cuisine/panna-cotta-aux-fruits-de-la-passion,1195972.asp )
Lovely shrub that Dombeya !
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Pannacotta looks divine..need more fruit. thanks for the idea.
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I’d take pie any day of the week – my favorite dessert! Looks so yummy. 🙂
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The pie s good. Vegan butter a revelation after being sentenced to a low fat diet.
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I love passion fruit but have never baked with them. How about a passion fruit curd?
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Sounds like a good idea. I fear I need more.
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All nice selections. The blue of the Miniata Aechmea Bromeliad is cool. Pie looks yummy.
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Passion fruit looks weird. I want to grow it, but I do not understand the appeal. I suppose I would like it if I had grown up with it like so many of the other fruits.
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It is weird and has a nice flavor. Easy to grow.
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How wonderful to grow your own passion fruit. I love your bromeliad and view of the garden with the wonderful dombeya.
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I was going to ask how many you needed to make a dish, but I see by the comments that you need more. Do you freeze them until you have enough?
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You can freeze them. The pie is a mini pie (gluten free!) and I used one pureed with the blueberries. The best analogy is it like spices as a flavoring in the pie. They are used for cocktails as well.
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Your hydrangea grows 7 foot after pruning?! Wow! The pie looked good. 😃
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Yes, it is a Dombeya genus. Theoretically will get 25 feet tall. The pie was good, we are passionfruit converts!
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