As I was searching the garden for flowers to cut, I started thinking outside the box. Well, I inhabit the area outside the box anyway and it dawned on me that there is fall color in South Florida. It is just not the typical seasonal color changes – it’s the flowers and berries! Such a relief after all these years of feeling deprived of fall color.
With a fresh perspective, I snipped a fall vase and plonked the flowers into a mason jar. Here are some closer views.
Yellow flowers are Beach Sunflowers (Helianthus debilis); orange tubular flowers and berries are Firebush (Hamelia patens); white flowers are ‘White Flame’ Salvia.
Red spike flowers are Tropical Red Salvia (Salvia coccinea); red and yellow flowers are Parrotflowers (Heliconia psittacorum ‘Lady Di’.
Feeling ever so autumnal now..
To find more vases for viewing visit Cathy at this link – RamblingintheGarden.
The Shrub Queen 
It is hard to distinguish fall in warm climates. You found some great colors for the season. I am surprised at how many plants wait until fall to bloom.
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Some chaparral and desert species bloom for autumn because they are more likely to desiccate during summer, or because their pollinators are more active during autumn than during summer. Some exotic tropicals bloom whenever they want to because they do not know to get ready for impending winter. We can grow bananas here, but only fruit that is developing by the end of spring can finish prior to the following autumn. Fruit that develops any later can not finish in time. Banana trees bloom throughout the year because they do not know any better.
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It is. We may be able to tell by being able to sit outside..
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Really. My family up north went out on Halloween in T shirts. Unusual for them normal for us.
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Weird..
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Oh yes, I opened your post here and immediately smiled. Your arrangement is beautiful and vibrant and creatively arranged. Love the Parrotflowers and the Firebush, which I don’t see often here in the north (unless people plant them in pots). The combination of blooms and foliage is lovely. 🙂
Beth @ PlantPostings.com
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My Heliconia psittacorum grew like a weed just as summer was beginning to cool, but will not likely bloom this year. If it is trying to generate any bloom now, such bloom will be stunted if it survives through winter. I do not mind though. It seems happy.
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next year!
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the foliage is nice, even without bloom.
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Oh yes, the sunflowers round off your autumn colours nicely. The Firebush is especially pretty. (And the red salvias are, of course, beautiful!)
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For some reason the red and yellow colors of the parrot flowers had me thinking of candy corn, Amelia! Even though I’m not actually very fond of candy corn, I love your flowers. I think the candy probably came to mind because, once again I haven’t eaten yet and in addition I’m concerned that I don’t have enough candy on hand for even the small number of Halloween visitors we usually get 😉
https://krispgarden.blogspot.com/
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LOL! the appeal of candy corn is lost on me.
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Beautiful, I love the tropical look of the parrot flowers. Probably because I don’t see them around here. The firebush is gorgeous, too.
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I like the Heliconias, too, kind of an architectural flower.
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Tropical autumn colors work well! A beautiful creation, A!
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Thanks, Eliza
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You’ve certainly packed some glorious colour into your autumnal vase Amelia – no need to feel deprived. A most eye catching arrangement.
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Thanks, Anna
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Glad you found autumn nearby! Lovely.
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Thanks, Susie. It only took 10 years or so..
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Your vases are always such wowzers! You will have to keep us going through the winter months with the wonderful colours you have in your garden. Another beauty.
https://zonethreegardenlife.blog/2024/10/28/in-a-vase-monday-october-28/
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Thank you.
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It was an interesting discovery to make, Amelia, that you do have autumn colour after all, albeit in different plants. Your vase still has the same shades, though, the reds and oranges and yellows, and I think we would all consider it an ‘autumnal’ vase – not that we have to have autumnal shades in autumnal vases, of course!!
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