This Saturday we are in the midst of the peak of hurricane season in South Florida. The cicadas are singing, the temperature and humidity are soaring, the plants are wilting and so am I. Oddly, the hurricanes are in New England and Mexico. Last weekend, Tropical Storm Fred dropped eight inches of rain at my house. The garden was happy for a while, but is thirsty once again. We are definitely in the pits.
The pit above is much more interesting and from the garden. I finally got one Nam Doc Mai mango from my tree. This is a Thai mango bred to eat for dessert, featuring a small pit, fiberless flesh and a coconut mango flavor. The pit is nearly as long as the mango (6 inches) and about 1/4 inch thick. Here is the mango with a cherry tomato. My husband and I ate most of it for dessert last night. Yummy.
Another interesting observation in my steamy jungle this week – the formation of new shoots on the Hard Cane Orchid I installed in my Gumbo Limbo tree this winter.
Another view:
The Orchid is putting out roots and hopefully will grow into the tree trunk and flower this winter. The sprays of flowers are supposed to be five feet long. Hopefully. I mounted the Orchid by tying it onto the tree with old pantyhose. There is a bit of Orchid soil mix in the hose that has supported the plant while it grows in. I was about to remove it when a swarm of large ants came bursting out..the hose are still in the tree, ants and all.
Another new shoot.
A new butterfly in my garden this week. This is a Mallow Scrub Hairstreak on a Sweet Almond Bush (Aloysia virgata) flower. A tiny butterfly, maybe an inch wingspan. Picture taken while crossing my fingers. The Sweet Almond is very popular with bees and butterflies.
That is it from the pits. To see more SOS posts follow the link and visit Jon, http://www.thepropagatorblog.wordpress.com.
Happy Gardening..
The Shrub Queen 
The orchid sounds amazing! Can’t wait to see it bloom. The little butterfly is wonderful, good capture. I don’t envy you your weather, it sounds exhausting and terrifying (huricanes) but I do envy you your mango, I can almost taste it …… Stay safe and well.
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I am anxiously awaiting a spectacular orchid show. I usually have dreadful luck with orchids. Thank you, go away storms!
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I hope Grace doesn’t create more damage and flooding in your area! This mango looks tasty (I’m jealous of course…) Take care.
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Hey Fred, Happy Saturday! Grace is pummeling Mexico near the Yucatan. Clear blue skies here and over 90F..the mango is good!
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I hadn’t seen its trajectory so it should be fine. But there will be others…
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Hopefully not
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Ooh, that mango looked good, I love the smooth texture of Thai mangoes. Hope your orchid flowers exuberantly and butterflies continue to dance in your garden!
Say a prayer for us up here in New England, it isn’t looking good for all our trees and I expect my garden is going to be flattened. Wah!
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Thanks, Eliza. I have been thinking about you – are you far enough west to miss the brunt of the storm? I watch NOAA this time of year and it is crazy that Henri…
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The eye is expected to go over just 80 miles to the west of us with 4-8 inches and 40+ mph winds. NOT looking forward to this… my poor garden!
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Yikes.. just looked at NOAA..the storm has moved closer to you..time for some vases and photos. Hopefully you put anything flyable away. Be careful and stay safe.
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Thank you, Amy. I’m just heading out to cut armloads of zinnias and dahlias. It’s gonna be a heartbreaker, for sure.
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Safe travels to the garden.. has this ever happened before? Our closest brush blew all the leaves off the trees the garden recovered more quickly than the trees and shrubs.
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Almost 10 years to the day, Hurricane Irene tracked right up the CT river valley into VT. Our river rose 15′ (luckily, our house is set up the hill from the river). Around here, most roads follow rivers through hilly country, so there were a great many washed out roads and bridges as water rushed down ravines and hills to the watershed. It took years to rebuild. I’m trying to stay optimistic, but those memories are still fresh.
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just looked, batten down!
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IKR? Aiming right for us! We’ve been getting bands of rain for a few hours now and intermittent gusts. What worries me is how slow it is going, allowing lots of rain to fall before it moves on. We’ve had so much rain this summer (I know folks out west would love to have this problem), that the ground is saturated, so most everything that falls will hit the watershed. Storms are so worrisome!
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Ugh, slow is not good at this time. It is fascinating to watch though – when you can watch the wind changing direction as it goes by.
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Yes, I feel like an internet addict, checking the weather tracker every hour!
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Been there.. after awhile it doesn’t help.
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You’re right, ha! Not much one can do, but wait it out.
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Good luck š¤
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I love your posts – always so exotic! Hope the storm has blown over.
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Thank you.. the current set of storms is nowhere near me.
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I’ve never seen an orchid with roots in a tree. Very strange plant. ššš
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Hi FQ, it is common here for orchids, bromeliads and ferns to root into and grow up trees. This particular orchid is bigger than usual and new to me. They are from Southeast Asia and Australia, not sure what it is..could be phalenopsis or Dendrobium mix, waiting for flowers.
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At first glance I thought the piece of stocking holding the orchid up was some kind of lizard!
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We have lizards, probably more lizards than hose.
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Congrats on the orchidā¦itās looking good. Also a nice find on the Mallow Scrub Hairstreak. I havenāt had a Thai mango š„ but bet itās wonderful.
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Oh, . . . pantyhose in a tree. That is not a good look. . . . Yes, I know from experience . . . with other people’s pantyhose.
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It is a common method for attaching bromeliads to tree trunks. I would take them out except for the ants..
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Heck, ants do not even wear pantyhose, . . . do they?
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Florida ants do, big ones!
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Big pantyhose?!
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Yep, they are mine
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oops
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Ha…
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Florida is so exotic. I am looking forward to seeing how your orchid does.
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Florida is weird with a side of exotically interesting plants. There are some great gardeners locally that grow orchids in trees.
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