I am joining the SOS gang this morning with Six items of interest from my garden; focusing on the unusual for January and things I am looking forward to seeing again. Or for the first time. To see more SOS posts visit Jim at https://gardenruminations.co.uk
January can be a wonderful gardening month in South Florida. Like everywhere in the world, we have our trials. This year it has been cold weather. I believe it is possible to grow Zinnias year round here, but haven’t worked out the seed planting schedule. Above is my first bud, on an ‘Envy’ Zinnia.
Ranunculus sprouting. I have never lived anywhere these would grow. Somewhere I read they can be grown as cut flowers in the winter here – then I ran across a really cheap bag of bulbs at an end of summer sale. Then the bulbs sat in my living room for months along with an end of season bag of Dahlias. Then I forgot about them. Upon discovering the extraordinarily desiccated bulbs; I debated throwing them away or just throwing them in a pot. Two out of three of the Dahlias had turned to dust. The bulbs were thrown into a pot and watered – a lot. And here they are. I am hoping to see some Ranunculus flowers. The Dahlia that hadn’t turned to dust remains incognito.
Alcanterea odorata Bromeliad grown from grass pups. These are big (3 feet across), very showy, grey bromeliads that are grown in full sun. A friend sent me five grass pups a couple of years ago. Four were lost to squirrels and this one took and is just starting to show grey coloration.
Florida Gardenias (Tabernaemontana divericata) in January? This is strange, even in South Florida. This is usually a deciduous, winter dormant Gardenia that blooms all summer.
Dragonfruit cactus is finally making its presence known. This has been in the garden for years. Probably 7. I planted a lot of fruit in 2016. These tend to grow up for a while and then horizontal like this to produce fruit. I would be happy to see a flower. And happier to eat a Pitaya.
More cruel Zinnias teasing me. These are Apricot Profusion. Very happy in the heat and very unhappy in the cold. I am hoping to plant these out next week and coax them into happiness.
That is all from my garden this week.
Happy Gardening!!!
The Shrub Queen 
Clearly not liking the cold. I notice here that as soon as the temps drop below 55º in late summer, my zinnias immediately show it. Hope it warms up soon for you!
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They really don’t. It is almost 80 today, so they are feeling better. I think all the leaves burned.
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Zinnias are too much work for me, but I do love their gaudy flowers. The weather patterns are very topsy turvy lately. No wonder plants are confused.
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I grew zinna for the first time this year and I am a definite convert, Envy sounds wonderful. Always lovely to see your exotics (to me), I feel a little warmer just thinking about them. Have a fun week. 🙂
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I love the weird green flowers or anything chartreuse.
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I have tried Ranunculus in the past and they might have lasted a year or two. Plants have to be tougher to live in my garden. I have zinnias that come up on their own and do the best.
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I am expecting the Ranunculus to be annuals at best. I have never seen one, so it will be a surprise.
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I really liked them and they are very pretty. I’ll look forward to your pictures.
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My mother tried to grow them for years in Atlanta with no success. I have never seen one. Looking forward to flowers too!
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I haven’t sown any zinnia yet, I don’t have any gardenia, but on the other hand my ranunculus are ahead of yours! I’ll have to post about that soon…
I’ve never tried dragon fruits, the weather doesn’t seem warm enough here so I buy them at the supermarket! Good luck and can’t wait to see the flowers on yours
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I will be very interested to see if I get any Ranunculus or Dragonfruit!
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I hope your ranunculus flower for you, they are such wonderful flowers. I’ll be planting mine soon! Your zinnias are coming along. I have a few flowers coming out, but they are nowhere near as prolific as they’ve been in the past. The weather is confusing everything.
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Thanks, I do, too. I want to see a Ranunculus. Do you plant them every year? The zinnias here are very sluggish, I think you are right about the weather.
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I don’t bother to lift my ranunculus….far too fiddly! Some of them reappear and some self seed. This year I’m going to plant some new ones as a friend gave me a lot of corms.
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Hmm, I have a feeling our summers would roast them.
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Maybe not. Here they flower in early spring.
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Now that dragon fruit is growing here, I am sort of disappointed by what those who have already grown them say about them. They had been quite a fad. I typically dislike fads, but tried this one as it was becoming less popular. I will continue to grow them, but will be more realistic with my expectations of them.
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Since this has been in the garden so long I have no expectations and can’t remember what type of dragonfruit it is? a surprise.
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Well, even if it is not very good, it will be gratifying.
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Now if those give you just a few flowers, you are sure to get the roots again, and this time plant them on time. I did the same as you one year with Tulip bulbs, but nothing came of those, so you are indeed lucky to have these growing up. IAVOM some time soon I hope!
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Hoping for flowers, I think all the bulbs came up which is a bit of a shock.
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Hope things warm up soon and stay that way, your zinnias will surely explode when that happens.
Amazing how a little pup looks so cute and innocent, finally starts to grow a little and then someday soon you’ll wonder where that monster came from!
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Thank you, bromeliad pups can be intimidating.
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Hope it warms up nicely for the zinnias – the buds look full of promise, so good luck!
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Thanks, they are turning out pink!
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Its exciting to see a garden with lots of the same garden plants ❤ But being able to grow them at a different time of year!
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