Since it has been an unusually rainy winter I have been baking a lot of winter treats. Now that the weather has (sort of) cleared up I am finding treats in the garden. I’m joining fellow SOS’s sharing my garden treats this Saturday, to see other treasures, visit Jim’s blog and follow the links.
The salvias have been relishing the rain and are showing their appreciation. This bed has ‘White Flame’ Salvia, Golden Dewdrop Duranta (Duranta repens), Soap Aloe (Aloe saponaria), ‘Mystic Spires’ Salvia, and Dwarf Red Ixora (Ixora ‘Maui Red’) in background. These salvias are short lived perennials here.
An unnamed Neoregelia Bromeliad variety showing winter color. These are green and white in summer.
New to me and the garden – ‘Apricot Queen’ Angel Trumpet. This is a rooted cutting I planted in December. It is taking very well and has already produced a side shoot. I have never seen an Angel Trumpet in my neighborhood, so I am wondering about this one and keeping my fingers crossed.
Another treat unearthed when clearing out the garden. A Vriesea ospinae ‘Gruberii’ Bromeliad. Something has been trying to eat the leaves (notice the shredding). It is a rare animal that can eat these.
The tomatoes are finally making some progress. I planted all the cherry varieties as I have no luck with big tomatoes. Oddly, these are the biggest cherry tomatoes I have ever seen. Kind of wondering about the seeds!
The first sign of recovery on what I suppose was a tactical error. This is Miss Alice Bougainvillea. Apparently, she resents being cut back hard and left out in the cold. Usually, the Bougs are indestructible. Alice has been naked for at least a month and I was fearing her prognosis. I’m planning on buying some special Bougainvillea fertilizer now that the leaves are reappearing.
That’s all from my garden. Wishing everyone Happy Gardening, armchair or otherwise.
The Shrub Queen 
I had Angel Trumpet at my Coral Gables home and it is stunning when in bloom. I do hope it is happy in your garden, mine was huge.
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Ohh, that sounds wonderful. Fingers crossed here.
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Lovely combination of color… the Duranta really shines!
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Thank you, Eliza.
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I hope you get flowers on that Angel Trumpet! I don’t know if it was you who already talked about it, or if I already read it on another blog or post, but the Apricot Queen variety sounds good and I can’t wait to see the result. I have a lot of brugs here and some measure almost 2m high before giving their first flowers. Here I need 2 seasons, but with you it should go quickly!
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Thanks, Fred. The cutting has tripled in size in about six weeks. I think that is a good sign.
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I’m looking forward to seeing your Angel Trumpet thrive and bloom, I’m so dry here I haven’t had good luck with them.
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So am I! The soil here is pure sand and that may be why there aren’t any here.
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Your garden is looking good and you have tomatoes. I would think the Angel Trumpet would grow there. I think it takes about two years to bloom, but maybe you will get lucky.
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Thank you, I am interested to see what kind of tomatoes I get. It seems strange that I have never seen one around here, hoping for flowers.
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Alice looks determined! Lovely to see the splashes of colour.
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Thanks, I hope she is.
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What a lovely selection – I feel warmer just looking at these photos, in fact I had to go back for a second look because they were all so cheering!
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I should add – I have a brug even here in soggy cold Wales! I keep the really big crowns outside and they die back to stumps every winter but magically regrow, and I use the regrowth to take cuttings. If I remember to overwinter a cutting properly I will usually get some flowers when potting on the two year old specimen, though last year was just not warm enough and I did not take cuttings in time – I will have to hope the crowns give me some cutting material this year and give me flowers next year. I bet yours will reach enormous heights in your lovely warm climate! Do keep us posted.
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Thank you, there is a lot of variation in timing for the flowers. The plant seems to be doing well though I am not certain I have it in enough sun. We will see.
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Thanks I’m glad you enjoyed some Florida sunshine.
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Oh, I was not aware of the problem with ‘MIss Alice’ bougainvillea. My pair of ‘White Stripe’, which was to replace the pair of ‘Jamaica White’, defoliated partially, but that is normal for such small bougainvilleas during cool weather. (‘White Strip’ is a dinky variegated cultivar that will not grow as large as I want it to grow, so I may add ‘Jamaica White’ to grow up and over them. I do not like mixing cultivars, especially of the same color, but I think I can do this.) As I mentioned earlier, it is odd that angel’s trumpet is not more popular there, but as you mentioned earlier, there must be a reason for it. Obviously, they like warmth and humidity.
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I think Miss Alice did not like the cold weather (it was in the high 30s here) Wait and see on the Angel Trumpets.
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As it grows and needs pruning or trimming (if it does so), you might want to plug the scraps as cuttings into other areas of the garden, so that if it does not perform well in some places, it might find a place that is more satisfactory.
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Thanks. I think I will try that.
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Tomatoes! Tomatoes!! Tomatoes!!!
Love the leaves on the Vriesea ospinae ‘Gruberii’ Bromeliad! Happy you have sunshine!
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Thanks, Chris. I am at the tomatoes are taunting me stage – get ripe now!!!
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😆😆😆
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Hope the Bougainvillea makes a complete recovery Amelia. That bed in the first photo looks so lovely with the sun shining on it, and the tomato is a nice reminder of what is to come here this summer! 😃
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