Last Saturday, I posted some mysterious bud photos from my garden. This week, I have flowers to share and some updates to my front garden. The weekly six:
The Aechmea Bromeliad is opening. How much more it will open is anyone’s guess. The flowers tend to last for months on these Broms. It reminds me of a Bird of Paradise….
Here are the flowers on the Haworthia from last week. The stem is too long to take a picture of. Below is the origin of the stem.
I have been working towards a perennial border look in my front garden. This is uncommon in Florida and I have grown most of the flowers from seed as they are not grown or sold here. The area behind the rocks was the site of a former driveway and hard as a rock. The coral flowering shrubs refused to grow in this area (I don’t blame them) so they were asked to leave and have been replaced with flowers.
A closer view:
Plants in this area are: coral flowered shrubs, Dwarf Red Ixora (Ixora taiwanensis); chartreuse foliage, Gold Mound Duranta (Duranta repens); blue flowers, Chinese Forget Me Nots (Cynoglossum amiable); gold flowers, Mountain Mint (Tagetes lemmoni). The succulents in the above photo are Soap Aloes (Aloe saponaria and produce deep coral flowers about 4 times a year. I think this area needs a touch of white flowers…
A nearby bed:
The fallen leaves from yesterday afternoon’s mega thunderstorm (with hail!) are visible. The gardener will pick those up later..bamboo sticks are to keep rabbits away. The Mountain Mint in the above photo has such a weird scent that deer won’t touch it. I am wondering if that is enough to keep the rabbits away.
Plants in this area: in apricot, Apricot Profusion Zinnias; in blue, Mystic Spires Salvia; in white, Tropical Red Salvia (Salvia coccinea); in chartruese, Gold Mound Sedum (Sedum acre). I have a feeling the Sedum is losing its battle with South Florida..
That is all the news from my garden this Saturday. To see garden updates from around the world visit http://www.thepropagatorblog.wordpress.com.
Happy Gardening!!!
The Shrub Queen 
Your front garden is looking gorgeous, and not at all what I would expect for Florida! Really like the golden Duranta.
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Thank you, Cathy. It is not normal for Florida!
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Very nice perennial border. I like the combination of colors and your use of the soap aloes.
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I love your mix of flowers for the front gardens. Most people do not plant flowers in the front here, just shrubs.
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Thank you. It is the same here. Though most people don’t plant flowers at all…I had this idea in my head I could plant annuals in front..they just fry, so we will see how this works over the summer.
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Well done for trying to bring new plants to your Florida garden.
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Thank you
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Your border arrangements is looking good. I’m also loving that interesting rock with the craters in it, and the small shells keeping company at it’s feet.
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Thank you, Lisa. It is somewhat difficult to find rocks in Florida – that is limestone which is native here and I like them too..
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The haworthia flowers are different, with their blu stripes – like a hat out of a Dr. Seuss book.
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They are like fairy hats…something they call a native Clematis here with similar flowers.
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It’s true that this flower of aechmea looks like a strelitzia. The last 3 photos are interesting because there are very nice combinations of colors and textures of different leaves. I do like the coral flowered shrub which contrasts with the Duranta. A lack a lighter color you’re right, but you could simply add the Mystic Spiers Salvia ??
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Thanks, Fred. I think I will throw some Salvia seeds over and see what comes up with the summer rain.
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Oh gee, I can not keep all of this straight. ‘Mystic Spires’? Well, I do not expect you to remember what I confused that one with earlier. It certainly is pretty, although nothing like . . . the other one. I do not know if white would help. I tend to use too much white in my own garden, and I do like it, but I do not know if it is so important in other gardens.
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Well, there are way too many Blue Salvias, the first I recall are S. farinacea and they go on and on from there…
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