At long last our dry spell was broken last week. Locals swear that those of us who live on the limestone ridge (the highest point on the East Coast of Florida) are in the doughnut hole – a place where rain goes around us. Sometimes I believe this. This summer it has been true, the rain just wasn’t quite getting here. The garden gratefully soaked up all the moisture from the sky and promptly asked for more. This afternoon is looking quite promising for a rain shower. Things are looking a bit torched around here, so it seems a perfect time to introduce the Flaming Torch Bromeliad.
Meet the Flaming Torch (Billbergia pyramidalis). These are very aptly named, when the sun hits them just right, they look exactly like that. Another common name is Hurricane or Foolproof plant. The peak of hurricane season is September 6th, so I can get that. As far as being foolproof, I have killed a number of these following directions that they grow in full sun. This is not true. Those planted in full sun were torched!
The rest of the arrangement has Zinnias, in pink and orange. Firebush (Hamelia patens) is orange tubular flowers. Dark foliage and pale yellow flowers are from Bronze or Copper Fennel (Foeniculum vulgare). The vase is a non heirloom florist vessel from somewhere..
That is all from my garden this morning. To see more vases, visit Cathy at RamblingintheGarden
Really looking forward to FALL!!
The Shrub Queen 
We have had some rain but not nearly as much as your area south of us. All of it seemed to fall whenever I was going somewhere. 😊 Pretty vase this week as usual.
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I think Ft Pierce got all the rain!
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How high is the Limestone Ridge? I would not guess that it is high enough to affect the weather. Billbergia is impressively diverse. I have encountered only two here, and they are the scrawny sort. One is Billbergia nutans. I can not remember the name of the other, but it is like a larger version of Billbergia nutans.
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The ridge is 55 feet and next to a river. I agree with you about the Billbergia.
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That fiery Bromeliad is stunning! And when combined with the Zinnias–wow! I didn’t realize that your area of Florida is somewhat drier than its surrounding areas–very interesting! Our summers vary so much, particularly with precipitation. Some years it doesn’t rain for weeks (sometimes months when we have droughts) and some years too much. This year, S. WI has been one of the wettest locations in the U.S., and with the hotter than average temps it has seemed downright tropical around here. Now we’re cooling down and drying out. Lovely arrangement. Happy IAVOM!
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Thanks, Beth. weather definitely does its own thing.
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A stunning arrangement and just look at those colours, I like the greens too and also seeing the stems in the water.
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All so apt, Amelia – what a great selection of blooms to fit your theme. I always felt that we are in ur own microclimate here too,and with our amateur weather monitor linked to Weather Underground you can sometimes see that rain clouds really do miss us, even if they still reach the next village two miles down the road. You and your garden must have been thrilled with your recent rain. We are forecast showers for the rest of ts week… 🤞
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I am so thrilled with the rain.
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Your Flaming Torch is fascinating. I swear we had the same weather pattern in my part of Houston. I called it the split, as it rained all around us.
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Thanks, There has to be a heat island or something.
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I love your ‘Flaming Torch’! We were teased about the prospect of a thunderstorm a few days ago – unlikely as any summer rain is here, the air itself was charged with the possibility – but of course it didn’t materialize, at least not along the coast. Some of the inland areas did get a bit of rain, regrettably accompanied by lightning which touched off at least one fire.
https://krispgarden.blogspot.com/
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Thanks, Kris. These fires seem like they are getting more frequent.
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Awesome inflorescence! Glad you were finally able to find a spot it liked. And nice that you finally got some rain. Tough to garden without it!
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LOL, I fried some more this summer. These things are like weeds if you get them in the right place.
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That’s a wonderful torch Amelia! I like flowers that glow in the light like that. Let’s hope hurricane season goes by quickly with no horrible ones hitting land. Glad you got the rain at last though! We are due the tail end of the monster one called Erin soon, so should get rain too thankfully. 😃
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Thanks, Cathy. Erin was by here last week. It seems weird to me we get the same storms. Oddly, Erin churned up the ocean here and made it cold. Hopefully that puts a damper on the hurricanes.
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Beautiful. Love the Bromiliad – even its stem is attractive. I like the little grouping of Zinnias aa a contrast.
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Thank you. I was not so sure about the stem.
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The arrangement is lovely. The flaming torch worked well with the other flowers in the vase.
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Thank you.
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