I am joining the SOS gang once again at Jim’s blog – http://gardenruminations.co.uk Follow the link to see more garden fun. This Saturday I am looking at the more tropical side of my South Florida garden.
Nothing says tropical like a big, tasty mango. These are Glenn Mangoes ripening on the tree. I am looking forward to a June day when I can eat one.
Spring brings bromeliad pups and these unusual rick rack shaped pups are growing up from a Macwilliamsii Neoregelia. These bromeliads are mottled green in summer and develop red coloration in winter, the red at the base of the pups is fading.
Shooting out some pups, Fireball Neoregelia are a famously tough groundcover bromeliad. Deep burgundy red in full sun and green in shade, these are underplanting a Brown Eyed Girl sunflower in a container.
Hippeastrum can stay outside year round in my garden. These are Red Lion inherited from my Father in Law years ago.
I installed some Cattleya Orchids in the Pygmy Date Palms (Phoenix roebellini) in my front garden this week. The orchids are wedged into the pruned part of the crown and secured with jute twine. The orchids are already putting out roots and should flower late summer, these are purple Cattleyas.
Schomburgkia orchids were mounted in the Gumbo Limbo (Bursera simaruba) tree last year. They have multiplied and are sending up buds (the brown stem looking like a bamboo shoot). These orchids are native to mangrove forests on the Gulf coast of Mexico; how they ended up here is anyone’s guess.
That’s all from my garden this week. I am breaking rules next week. Bromeliads are supposed to be divided and moved by March 31. Guess what I am still doing? I am enjoying the Lost Marbles tomatoes so much I am considering planting another batch – pushing the tomato envelope here. The last tomatoes should be planted in March. Oh, the dilemmas…
Happy Gardening!!
The Shrub Queen 
I love that you can grow orchids in your trees. No such luck here. 🙂 Do you have to net your mangoes to protect them from wildlife?
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The squirrels have a field day eating the seeds of the mangoes and spitting out the flesh – doubly annoying. I will cover some of the fruit. Right now there is enough for everyone and then some. Usually a lot falls off, so we will see.
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Hello Amelia, I had Hippeastrum Red lion living outdoors (amongst others) and they were nibbled by small slugs over a year ago. The bulbs are ko now and I’m going to plant new ones but in my greenhouse this time. The phoenix roebelinii is fragile here and only survives in the south of France ( Riviera) . Even in pot I lost 2….
Nice choice as always this week 👍🏻
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Hmm, one good thing about sand in the garden is no slugs. Roebellinis are difficult to grow indoors as they need a tremendous amount of light and the thorns! I would not have planted it if I had realized the size of the thorns.
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Yummy looking Mangos and your orchids are doing so well.
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How wonderful to be able to plant orchids in your trees!! Looking forward to seeing their flowers!
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I am keeping my fingers crossed for the orchids. They have been hanging around the garden for a while.
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Oh mangos! How lovely.
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hopefully, last year I had one and the squirrels got it.
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Do Pygmy date palms stay within reach there? They get taller in Southern California than they do here, but still stay mostly within reach. I drove by some today that I did not like when they were first planted. I figured that they would not survive for long. That was in the early 1990s. Their trunks are only about four or five feet tall below their canopies though.
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This one is 10-12′ tall and pretty average in size for around here. They are relatively common and nearly indestructible – some amazing multi trunked specimens available.
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Oh, that is impressive. I have seen only a few that tall, and they were very old, and in Southern California.
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This one has been in the ground for about 10 years and probably started as a 6 foot triple.
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That is even more impressive; that they are so young.
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I am a believer in the Palmtone!
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Brent uses specially formulated palm ‘food’ for palms that benefit from it, such as king palm, and perhaps queen palm. I do not, just because palms do not benefit from it as much here, and I see no need to rush palms that eventually get too tall. However, many queen palms appreciate a bit of supplementation to compensate for micronutrient deficiency. Some seem to lack magnesium and manganese.
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Yes, virtually no micronutrients in the soil here and the fronds yellow if not fed.
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?! But palms are so healthy there? Are they all getting fertilizer?
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The native ones don’t..the rest, yes.
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So, more than just queens? Kings supposedly appreciate fertilizer, but I do not work with them here.
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Queen Palms are frowned upon here and I have never seen a King..We probably have more tropicals than desert palms.
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Queens are happier within drier and warmer inland climates than they are on the coast, although I do not believe that they are desert species. I do not know if they like the warmth or the aridity of inland climates, or both. Kings are supposedly tropical.
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My computer went nuts yesterday when I was trying to comment on your post. Maybe the Orchid Hunter could say how the orchid got there. I started to read the book and never finished.
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I’ll have to look for that book. Sounds interesting anyway. That particular orchid type is usually found in mountains in Central America, this is the only one found at sea level and somehow made it to Florida. Did someone know what they were doing or just lucky.? A botany professor on the west coast of FL identified it.
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The mangoes take quite a while to ripen then. Will they get much bigger? Seeing the orchids growing in your trees makes me think how artificial the ones in our garden centres look, planted upright in pots! Go for the tomatoes, I’d say. What have you got to lose? 😉
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They say 100 days from the formation of the fruit for ripe mangoes. I never remember to count. Mangoes are a summer fruit here and you can get early to late season varieties. The orchids grown in trees here have been a revelation to me. There are some really amazing booted palms filled with orchids up and down the trunk. I have tomatoes to gain by giving it a try?!
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