Ample moisture from seemingly everywhere has made June the wettest month in recent memory. The windows on my house are fogging up with the humidity in the air outside. The plants in the garden are enjoying long soaks and the tropical flowers are bursting with joy.
I am sharing my steamy, tropical joy with the SOS crowd today. To see Saturday tours from less steamy places, visit our host, Jim at http://gardenruminations.co.uk
Cattleya orchids growing on tree trunks opened their first flowers this week.
Aechmea rubens bromeliads opened this week as well. These flowers last several months and are very sharp.
One of my summer favorites, the Lobsterclaw Heliconia (Heliconia rostrata) is slowly opening.
Another bromeliad, the name of this one escapes me. If I ever knew it.
Yet another bromeliad, the pineapple. This one is coming along – it was grown from the top of a grocery store pineapple, so I have no idea what it will be. These homegrown pineapples are usually very good.
We have been eating Pickering and Glenn mangoes for a couple of weeks. This is the Thai dessert mango, Nam Doc Mai, finally showing some signs of ripening.
There, six from steamy South Florida.
The Shrub Queen 
Tropical is right, it seems like the monsoon season here. Everything looks beautiful.
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Thanks, Karen. I don’t remember the rain being quite this persistent before.
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Persistent and hard. Just think, our summer has just begun.
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I know. Seems strange. Especially after last year being so dry.
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How lovely, I tried growing a pineapple but we just don’t have the right climate. Love the lobster claw flower.
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Thanks, I think pineapples need a lot of light and warmth.
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A tropical paradise. I am so jealous of your orchid, it is beautiful. We could get up to 103 this coming week without the rain, but lots of humidity.
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It seems strange to me I can tie an orchid to a tree and forget about it and it is beautiful – but, try to grow it in a pot in the house, not happening! We have highs in the 80s and 90s and lots of storms..stay cool.
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I never had any luck growing them in pots.
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Same here…
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While I don’t envy your steamy climate, I sure do love seeing your tropical flowers and fruit. Very cool growing your own mangoes and pineapples! Love the heliconia, such a beautiful thing.
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Hello! Lovely heliconia ! I try to grow a more hardy variety (Heliconia schiediana) adapted to our climate. 1st year so I’ll see. I’m sure this pineapple is tasty and sweet. I lost mine this winter and so I will try again.🙏
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Thanks, Fred. I have to look up that Heliconia. There are actually wild pineapples here, frighteningly thorny and they can cross with the other ones making a seedy, not tasty pineapple. It is a gamble.
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Hey, I just featured a Heliconia also, . . . although neither as interesting nor as developed.
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I saw it. I like the H.psittacorums too, lots of varieties of that one.
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This particular cultivar is supposedly simple yellow, although I thought that it was simple red. I may not remember it accurately, but Brent is an idiot. So much junk lives in that garden that it could be two distinct cultivars. It is unimportant. I just want to grow it.
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Probably a Lady Di. A little of both. I will be interested to see how it does for you.
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I hope not. That one looks more like Ronald McDonald. This one lacks variegated foliage.
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You have a pineapple growing as well as mangoes? Wow! I am not sure I would want your climate though, even for the tropical fruits you can grow. How long does this steamy season last?
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I have pineapple, they are difficult to time and beat the animals to them. I think you have been in Northern Europe too long to cope with the heat here. It will be steamy until mid October and then dreamy. We cannot cope with cold!
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Fabulous 6. The stuff that dreams are made of here. To have Cattleya orchids growing in trees and to be able to pick ripe mangoes and pineapples. And I would love to grow Heliconia.
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Thank you. I wonder if you could grow heliconia in your greenhouse, there are some more cold hardy types. The mangoes are fantastic, I thought I would freeze some, not so far…i just keep eating them.
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