Welcome to SOS, December 11, 2021 edition. It is warm and sunny in South Florida and the birds, bees and flowers are enjoying the blue skies. So is the gardener. Though it could be a little cooler (83 F today), are we ever happy with the weather? I am joining Jon at http://www.thepropagatorblog.wordpress.com with the SOS crowd linking to his blog. Follow the link for more garden fun.
I had to share my Malaysian Orchid in full bloom today. This is an amazing sight and the bees are enjoying the flowers. I finally got a picture of the elusive green orchid bee.
This is a very active, flitting bee. I stood and waited to take the picture. These bees are native to Central and South American and are thought to have been introduced to Florida in 2003 via a nest in a wood pallet from Mexico. There are a fair number in my garden.
The bag garden is producing cut flowers and vegetables for me this week. We have been eating green beans, radishes and tomatoes – it is time to plant a second crop of radishes and beans. I am rooting tomato suckers for a later crop of tomatoes. Here is a sunflower and below, the Cactus Zinnias.
The Papaya decapitated last spring is flowering again. The flowers so far are female, they are usually self pollinating hermaphrodite flowers – so, it will be interesting to see if it is self limiting the fruit production due to the pruning.
The hard cane dendrobium orchid I installed in a Gumbo LImbo tree has started budding. I am wondering how long this will take to flower???
That’s all from my garden this week.
Happy Gardening.
The Shrub Queen 
This bee is really beautiful! (The Malaysian orchid of course too! )
I’m amazed to see flowers on your decapitated papaya tree again.
(I had flowers but they never opened and now it’s dormant in winter here …).
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Thanks, the green bees stopped me in my tracks the first time I saw one. I am curious to watch the Papaya. The stalks don’t look like they can support the fruit.
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Tie them with bamboo canes close?
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Maybe with a net bag to support the fruit..these can weigh 4 lbs.
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Your bags seem to be working out well. The sunflower really caught my eye.
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Thanks, they are, I am going to cut the sunflower (first ever) and see if I get rebloom.
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The Malaysian orchid and metallic green bee are very exciting. Once again, I am envying your papaya. My seeds failed to sprout. Will have to try again!
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Thanks, I think Papaya seeds need warmth to sprout I do them in spring here.
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Beautiful flowers and I’m envious of your weather. It’s been in the mid-30s and pouring rain most of the day. Brrr.
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Brr, indeed, though, my guess still a bit too hot for you?
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Heck, no. Even though it isn’t good news for flora and fauna, one perk of climate change is our winters have grown milder. Less snow, more rain is okay with me.
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You like gardening at 83 degrees??
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Ha, I thought you meant mid-30s was too warm! 83 is the upper limit to my comfort, so long as it isn’t too humid. Humidity kills me! Thus, no FL homestead for me. 😉
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How many times can one papaya produce fruit? I do not remember. I can remember that people would grow a few in the greenhouses at work, but individual trees did not last long. I never noticed how productive they were, or how many times they produced. It seems like they grew up, and then were done.
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Here, twice a year, though the summer ones get eaten by moths (relatives of tomato hornworms) so it is really once.
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But, how many years do they last?
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Well, the decapitated one was planted five years ago, we shall see if any fruit is made.
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How many times has it fruited already? I remember only the recent fruit.
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many times probably eight.
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Oh wow! That is more than I would have expected. I think of them as short term perennials that produce for only two or three years at the most, with only one, two or maybe three fruits annually. That is likely because they live in greenhouses. They might perform better if they lived inside for winter, and then outside for summer, although it does not get very warm here, and is not humid. Although I am not so keen on the fruit, and they are wimpy here, I would consider growing a few just to experience the species. They are typically grown just inside the northern doors of greenhouses, out of the way of the crops within the greenhouses. I have never done it before, but have seen others do it. I have not worked with a warm greenhouse for years, but could someday get a small household greenhouse for my own garden. (It is SO tempting. I dislike household greenhouses, but could build one as a room addition.)
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The tree was about 16 feet tall before I cut it down. I grew it from seed from a neighbor. I think there are shorter varieties and I like the Hawaiian Papayas better than the Mexican ones.
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The ridges of the greenhouses at work were less than twenty feet high, but steeply sloped roofs. The papayas that I remember were in shorter greenhouses, so were pressed up against the ceiling, even though they did not get very big. Household greenhouses are dinky. If I build one as a room addition (with doors to separate it from the rest of the house), it will be as high as the roof of the house, but extend below the floor to the ground below. Because of the steep slope, that is quite high. There would be a deck at floor level, but also space for larger plants to grow up to the deck, such as vanilla. It sound cool, but I do not want it to make the house look silly.
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Enjoyed reading your post. That little bee must have been quite tricky to photograph, but with its shining green body well worth showing us all.
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Thanks, Noelle.
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