After a morose month in the garden, I am finally witnessing the rebirth of the tropical vibe. It is such a relief to find bromeliads and tropical begonias flowering and the not really cold hardy palm is so fine I filched a frond. I found some green sprouts on my terrifyingly brown mango tree. Fingers still crossed for the mango.
A closer view:
Another shot, This is kind of a POW thing.
The red, yellow and blue flowers are from Billbergia vittata, a bromeliad that is obviously cold hardy. I would like to know the variety, but have no clue! Red and black (yea, weird) foliage is from Pie Crust Croton (Codieum varigatum) White flowers are Sweet Begonia (Begonia odorata ‘Alba’) this is a very common winter bedding plant here. I usually have them year round and take cuttings for new ones as needed. The frond providing background drama is from the native Thatch Palm (Thrinax radiata). These are so slow growing it is laughable. I bought one about ten years ago – it is not 3 feet tall yet.
I am pleased to report it rained! And more is in the forecast. And I have tomatoes. Life is getting better in the garden.
Follow this link RamblingintheGarden to visit Cathy and hear about her garden and find links to vases from other gardeners celebrating early spring…
The Shrub Queen 
Nice splash of color! Glad to see your garden is on the mend, rain and warmer temps definitely help. 🙂
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I’m glad to hear that your weather and your garden are bringing joy, Ame. I hope your mango tree bounces back too. Meanwhile, that Billbergia bloom is spectacular!
https://krispgarden.blogspot.com/
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That croton in rad! Thatch palm is . . . well, I will not be trying it here. It is pretty, but if it grows so slowly there, it may do less here.
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Lovely tropical display. Happy that your garden is doing better and tomatoes as well. That is great! We had rain too…I hope it fill help save some of our garden. We have so much damage from the 2 record setting 26 degree days we had in our area of Florida. .
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I love that Croton’s colors. It’s good you finally got rain. We have melting snow, making everything wet.
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Wow, that really is a tropical selection (I know that because there is nothing in it I recognise, oh, except for the croton, I suppose!). How gloriously bright and hot your vase is! Do the red ‘things’ (bromeliiads?) really have red stems, or is that part of the flower?
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