I have recovered from my SOS slump and got it together to take some photos of South Florida winter gardening fun. To see more potential examples of winter gardening fun, visit Jim at GardenRuminations.
I had a little surprise encounter while picking Rangpur limes. This is a corn snake, non venomous and a good snake to have in the garden. They eat rats and other things you don’t want around. Unfortunately, this one is a very similar color to the fruit. They usually don’t bite, unless, say you try to pick them. Fortunately, I realized what it was before I tried to pick it!
The Rangpur limes are having a good year. We have had Rangpur pie, chicken marinated with garlic, black pepper and fresh oregano and limeade. I am going to channel my Southern old lady and make some Lime Sour bar cookies (I had to find the biscuit pan first). I have frozen juice and zest for pies, given limes to friends and neighbors and still have a few left on the tree. I stopped picking them before I almost picked the corn snake.
More of the weird and wonderful in my garden. This is a Strangler Fig (Ficus aurea) seedling seeking ground from the top of a Sabal Palm. The fruit from the Strangler Fig is left by wild life in the crown of the palm. It sprouts and eventually sends a tree back down to the ground. The tree roots and grows up around the palm and “strangles” it. Very Harry Potter.
Flowers of the China Hat (Holmskioldia sanguinea) sometimes called Chinaman’s Hat. These are native to the Himalayas, seems strange to me they grow here.
This is a Mona Lavendar Plectranthus. These are fairly common around here, generally used as annuals. I use them in containers. They last a year or two and are very hardy. This container has Licorice plant (Helichhrysum petiolare), a charteuse coleus, and Starry Night Petunias.
The container next to the Mona Lavendar is planted with Wishbone flowers (Torenia fournieri). I am not sure which named variety this is – it is my first time trying these. So far, so good. I am enjoying the color.
There, slacking off did not happen this week. I am wishing everyone good gardening surprises. No snakes in the lime tree.
The Shrub Queen 
What a surprise the snake was. And how strange that a plant local to the Himalayas is happy to settle in Florida.
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Yes to both!
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The snake bite must be painful even if it’s not a venomous one… how lucky for me to live in a region where there are no snakes
About the Strangler Fig, are you going to leave it or remove it? You could lose the palm tree if it “strangles” it
Otherwise you showed us some very pretty flowers still unknown to me
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Probably painful and maybe needing antibiotics? I don’t want to find out the hard way. I’m not sure about the Strangler Fig – I don’t think they grow fast enough for me to worry about it strangling anything.
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‘Rangpur’ lime is still rad! I am slowly collecting some of the citrus cultivars that I want to grow; but I am growing them from cuttings rather than grafting them. I suppose that, in the future, I could grow understock where I want them to be, and then graft onto the understock from the cutting grown trees. I will more likely just plant the cutting grown trees. By the time they get too big, they will not be my problem.
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They were trying these for understock as they thought there was resistance to citrus greening. I am not sure what happened. This one was grown from seed, is probably 10 years old and a 4 inch or so caliper tree. This is the first good bearing of fruit.
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Those that we grew were grafted on Cuban shaddock. We grew nothing grafted onto them. It seems odd that they can be grown from seed, since other citrus cultivars revert so something else, and grow in a juvenile phase for their first several years.
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Good catch to see the snake. We have black Rat Snakes that are similar. The first time I heard of them, a “country” person told me they were bird nest snakes as they climbed trees and ate eggs and babies. Birds are upset when they see them. That is a lot of limes. It’s good that you can freeze them for later. Your Mona Lavendar Plectranthus is beautiful and now I need one. I love Wishbone plants and their secret is that they will reseed. I also collect the seeds which are very tiny. Last year when I cleaned up the plants, I threw them in a bed and seeds dropped out and germinated in the summer. They don’t come up until it gets hot.
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I have heard them called bird nest snakes as well. I’m not sure what this one was after. You definitely need a Mona Lavendar. I hope this Torenia reseeds, though it is a named cultivars.
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Love every pic Queen
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Thanks, Flower.
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Ooh, what a surprise to find while picking limes! Even though we don’t have venomous snakes, they always startle me and I scream… then I laugh hilariously at myself! It is a totally automatic response before thought enters my brain, must be in the DNA.
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It’s your reptilian DNA!
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Oh my that would be a surprise! Snakes are always a surprise though, and I don’t think I would trust a person who just shrugs it off with an ‘oh, snake.’
Some wonderful color in your garden, and in case you needed something to be smug about this morning I can point out that my coleus cuttings are not entirely happy, even in the house, because the temperatures are too chilly for them. Happy New Year!
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You are indeed lucky that you noticed that it was a snake as it really is a very similar color to the fruit. Not seen one like that here and I’m quite happy about that.
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Oh, a sneaky snake! I rarely see a snake here, but always jump if I do, or when I see a slowworm in my compost bin… they are completely harmless. The Plectranthus is a lovely colour.
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My goodness, if I’d come in that close proximity to the snake I think you would have heard me scream. We have snakes here and since I came face to face with one that reared up at me (a viper) I am terrified. I don’t hang around to see if they are venemous.
The wishbone flowers are pretty and work well in the little container
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