It’s a great Saturday morning in South Florida. The drearies have been conquered for the moment and the sun is shining. The flowers perked up and I am finding new blooms in the garden to share this Saturday. Visit Jim’s blog to join Six on Saturday tours of gardens around the world.
Here’s a mad flower from Bromeliadland. This is a Quesnelia testudo. I am not sure of the common name. These do well in my garden and are reliable winter color.
Another mad bromeliad in flower. This is a native Tillandsia, a relative of Spanish Moss, the flowers are brown. This is called Ball Moss (Tillandsia recurvata). It is growing on the trunk of a Bougainvillea.
I finally snagged a Rangpur lime before the vampire rats sucked the juice out. I need a few more for pie.
The mango trees are setting buds. This does not bode well, I think. They usually flower in March and we get fruit in June.
Heliconia psittacorum “Lady Di” expressed her appreciation for all the rain.
Google identified this as Golden Stonecrop (Sedum adolphi Firestorm). This has been in a pot for a few years and has not flowered before.
A question ?? Does anyone know if this is a Dahlia? I planted some tubers of a Dwarf Dahlia in October in this spot and this is coming up. I have found that Dahlias have a mind of their own when deciding to grow.
Thanks for the input and thanks to Jim for hosting.
That’s all from my garden this Saturday. Happy Gardening!!
The Shrub Queen 
Oh my, what wonders! I am a little concerned by the vampire rats though. Maybe I should google them, maybe not ……
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Thanks something left big teeth marks and no juice in the other limes. Vampire rats!
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Your lime looks like an orange! And I love the Quesnelia testudo!!! As for the last one..looks more like a pansy/viola leave but I’m no dahlia expert! A friend is leaving for a Florida vacation today – I’m so glad it’s warming up for her! And you!! 😁
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It does.. considered a sour orange here not sure why they call it a lime. The mystery plant is a salvia I think something crossed and reseeded. The tourists have been very unhappy with the weather..next week is better.
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When I grew citrus in the 1990s, we considered Rangpur lime to be a sour Mandarin orange (or sour mandarine).
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Yes, that is what I was about to say. It looks like a pansy or viola, but not a dahlia.
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It is a salvia
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Another great discovery with the testudo Quesnelia that I didn’t know! #6 for me, it’s not a dahlia… It looks a bit like viola leaves or salvia leaves… Let us know, if you know what it is!
This lime first reminded me of a pomelo so it’s big (or looks big)
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It’s a salvia Fred! The smell of the leaves gave it away. The lime is similar in size to Valencia orange or Honey bell tangerine
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I also thought the lime looked like a orange. Please post a photo when you cut it. If that plant is a salvia, you should be able to smell it. The sun sure did bring some flowers out for you. All my plants are mush and we may get 4 inches of rain to make clean up even worse.
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The inside is orange as is the juice. Floridians call these sour orange and use them for cooking and cocktails. I think it’s a lemon mandarin orange cross. Brilliant idea for smelling the leaf. It’s a salvia, there are several nearby and I think something crossed as the leaves don’t look like the other ones..I hate the mush. Ugh. Maybe the rain will wash it away.
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That’s my little trick. I have identified plants by smell that rabbits and deer won’t it. I sniff my way through the nursery.
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I 💕 it!
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Glad you got the plant identified, I was going to suggest something soft leaved.
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It had not crossed my mind to smell it! It is good to have blog friends.
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Ah, sunshine! Everything is bursting to life, Lady Di is beautiful.
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Sorry if this is a double post- first one disappeared (I think).
I can feel the sunshine from your pictures! Lady Di is beautiful.
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Thanks, WordPress can be confusing. Enjoying the sun today, the polar air gets here tonight. Not too bad.
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Glad you have finally had some sun… endless gray days can be so depressing… (ask me how I know, lol). Nice to see all those warm tropicals!
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Lots of lovely things going on in your garden. I confess, this Wisconsin girl is a tad jealous of your warm, sunny weather.
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I confess to enjoying snowy pictures from a far!
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It’s lovely to see such exotic plants at this time of year, and it’s really interesting to read about the Rangpur lime.
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Thank you, a little taste of the tropics!
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Glad the plant has been identified and that you finally got your sunshine back. 😃 I am also curious about the lime being orange. Is that normal?
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Yay! the lime is normally orange. It is a lemon and mandarin orange cross. Why they call it a lime is beyond me.
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Thanks for sharing these beautiful pictures and helping us think of warmer weather!
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Stay warm!!
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The updated name for Sedum is Hylotelephium (an absolute mouthful!) Yours looks like mine would if we were to get Florida sunshine.
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Thank you, a chara. The botanical names are difficult to keep us with and seen to get stranger as time goes by.
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