Author Archives: theshrubqueen

In a Vase on Monday – Not Summer Blues

img_20200112_114018-1

January in South Florida is not summer, it just seems like it today. The air conditioning is running; despite the fact this is the dry season, rain showers are making above 80 degrees (F) weather steamy and not conducive to gardening. My reward is flowers and vegetables in the garden. I have ripe tomatoes and Papayas; my second planting of green beans and first lettuces and spinach have come up. Some interesting flowers are also gracing the garden.

The Blue Willow teapot is a favorite of mine, bought with my mother on a long ago antiquing adventure (she referred to this as ‘Going to the junk store’).

img_20200112_114504-1

Zinnias grown from seed continue to boggle my mind – not sure what they are at all. These are much bigger than those in the smaller vase and have longer stems. I’ve added pink and green Dombeya (Dombeya wallachii) flowers. The green are the buds, the Dombeya itself is huge and I don’t mind cutting some buds, though I feel the bees would disagree. The flowers have an amazing honey fragrance and I have never seen as many bees on a plant. A closer view:

00100lrportrait_00100_burst20200112114620183_cover-1

The white flowers are Sweet Begonias (Begonia odorata ‘Alba’), another subtly fragrant flower and the spikes are seedheads from Tropical Red Salvia (Salvia coccinea)

This vase, another ‘junk store’ find has Dombeyas and Zinnias, just the shorter-stemmed version. The green seed heads are from the Sweet Begonia. I like the seeds as well as the flowers.

img_20200112_114316-1

I have both vases in my foyer; the Dombeyas tend to be ephemeral in vases, not lasting more than a day. The fragrance from the combination of Dombeyas and Sweet Begonias is ethereal, I can imagine angels in flight leaving this scent. Worth every moment and curing the Not Summer Blues. Back outside tomorrow.

Six on Saturday – Too Windy

00000img_00000_burst20200111101024436_cover.jpg

I have a Florida Box Turtle family in my garden, this one was scurrying (as fast as a turtle can scurry) away from me as I snapped the picture.

I have planted some seeds for lettuces and root vegetables and wanted to plant more, but the wind has been blowing steadily about 20 mph seemingly for the last week. Here are some Arugula seedlings, they need a major thinning, I dropped the seed packet into the pot.

img_20200111_100555

Winter brings a new color to Bromeliad foliage. These are Super Fireball Neoregelias, they are green in summer and go to reds and greens during the winter.

00100lrportrait_00100_burst20200111101008445_cover

Winter also brings some new and different flowers, these are buds on a Dracaena reflexa.

00100lrportrait_00100_burst20200111101410743_cover

The New Zealand Flax Lily (Dianella) has finally started flowering. It suffered through the summer sitting on the ground without a pot. Amazing survivor.

00100lrportrait_00100_burst20200111100928114_cover

My one Passionfruit. I planted a Passiflora edulis vine for larval hosting of butterflies. I have seen very few butterflies on it, two flowers and one fruit. I am interested to taste the fruit; it has been ripening for at least a month and I am told you must wait until they fall off to eat them. I hope I see it before the turtle does.

00100lrportrait_00100_burst20200111101050340_cover

That is my Six on Saturday, for more posts go to thepropagatorblog.wordpress.com to see six items of interest from gardens all over the world.

Happy Gardening.

In a Vase on Monday – From Florida with Love

img_20200105_110936

As I was putting this vase together it occurred to me there probably isn’t another garden with this mix of plants in January unless it is in Florida. It is a season spanning  concoction. Spring and Summer flowers, some fall berries and pineapple foliage. My husband and I refer to this time of year as Not Summer. The rest of the year is Summer.

The weather during Not Summer is delightful for gardening, highs in the 70s with low humidity and ocean breezes. The climate is not without drawbacks, I cannot let my cat outside as there are several things that might eat her, I believe I have nematodes in my vegetable garden (disastrous), persnickety rabbits ate most of my radishes but only one kind of Basil and I am slightly overrun with Papayas. Not to mention the possibility of hurricanes. I will persevere. Actively looking for Papaya fans. Few takers.

img_20200105_164920

A closer view of the vase:

00100lrportrait_00100_burst20200105111020363_cover

The big pink flowers are Zinnias, despite my best efforts I have no idea what kind. Popsicle sticks labeled everything blah, blah, blah. Planted some free mixed seeds,  but I labeled them something else.  Ironically, my favorite Zinnia thus far.

The  yellow and orange flowers are Gallardia (Gallardia pulchella), Florida natives that reseed freely and invent new colors every year. The chartreusy spike above the Gallardia is a new Celosia (Texas Vintage Rose Mix) from Floret. Described as heart breakingly beautiful like faded velvet or something like that; my heart is not broken yet though  I will  monitor these. Pink stars are Heirloom Pentas (Penta lanceolata). There are a few white  and  peach Tropical Red Salvia (Salvia coccinea). The big orange flowers are from Soap Aloe (Aloe saponaria), red and green foliage from a Miniature Pineapple, purple berries are still hanging around on the Beautyberry (Calliocarpa americana). Birds  have eaten the berries on the other shrubs further out in the garden. These are closer to the house and my dogs may be keeping the birds away.

From last weeks vase, the Dombeya everyone  was interested in. The  wind  died down a bit and here is the whole shrub.

img_20191231_154047

From Florida with Love.

Happy Gardening.

Six on Saturday – New Year’s Projects

For 2020, I decided to add more vegetables to the garden, containers to my screen porch and fix an ongoing drainage problem.

img_20200101_124151

See all  the sand on the porch? I am adding a walkway and a wall to hopefully capture most of it. I have planted the pots with vegetable seeds – lettuce, spinach and  root vegetables.

The walkway under construction, landscape fabric filled with drainage gravel will go under the area where most of the water flows.img_20200104_095639

A concrete mermaid will be added  along with crushed shell and stone in front of the pots to help with drainage. Here is the mermaid, I call her me-maid as I have grey hair and brown eyes, considering adding glasses. And  fixing her arm, oops

img_20200104_095250

 

Replanted pots on the screen porch: A Fireball  Neoregelia Bromeliad, Flapjack Kalanchoe and Boston Fern. All transplanted from the garden.

 

img_20200104_095730

Another pot. The dark Bromeliad is Luca Neoregelia, the green one is Super Fireball, a bit of Asian Sword Fern and Wandering Jew (Transcandentia zebrina) More garden transplants.

img_20200104_095725

Papaya seedlings grown from the fruit of my tree. Papaya trees grow fast and don’t last long so you need back up trees for continous Papayas.

img_20200104_095423

That’s my New Year’s SOS, join the Saturday fun at  http://www.thepropagatorblog.wordpress.com.

Happy New Year and  Happy Gardening.

Dirty Little Secrets in the Garden

img_20191231_111429

Since I live in the former ‘Pineapple Capital of the World’ I feel compelled to eat a lot of the fruit; and then attempt to grow more. The dirty secret? I cut the tops off and throw them into the front foundation planting in my garden. If they take root, yay! Then they get moved to the pineapple patch in my pollinator garden.

These two are coming along nicely and will join their friends in the backyard. Eventually, I will have homegrown pineapple.

img_20191231_111345

Here is their destination:

00100lportrait_00100_burst20191025102234585_cover-1

 

Here is a link to more information about pineapples.

Pineapples and their Cousins

Happy New Year, I think I need some pineapple in a festive cocktail later….

20190123_091413-1

 

In a Vase on Monday – Dombeyas End the Decade

img_20191229_100435

Dombeyas fill the last vase of the decade. Ten years ago, I did not blog; I did not live in Florida and I did not know what a Dombeya was. What a difference a decade makes.

We have spent the past few weeks cooking and going to holiday parties. My husband and I enjoy cooking but we are taking a break and fortunately have leftovers. He is a great pie baker – this year making an apple, a pumpkin and a Rangpur Lime pie with fruit from my neighbor’s tree. I need to get back to the garden to work all the calories off.

00100lrportrait_00100_burst20191224174455859_cover

Here is a closer view:

The  pink flowers are the Dombeyas (Dombeya wallichii); the burgundy and silver striped leaves are Transcandentia zebrina, sometimes called Wandering  Jew; the silvery succulent is  the flower of a Flapjack Kalanchoe and the ferns are Boston Ferns (Nephrolepis exaltata).

00100lrportrait_00100_burst20191229100332806_cover

Dombeyas are sometimes called Tropical Hydrangeas though they are not related to Hydrangeas but belong to the Mallow family. Hydrangeas have their own family (Hydrangeaceae). Here is the Dombeya flower in situ. The shrub is about 9 feet tall and wide and the leaves are at least a foot wide and fuzzy. The bees love the flowers and I brought one in with the flowers. I think of them as reverse Hydrangeas since the flowers hang under the foliage.

00100lrportrait_00100_burst20191229102516193_cover

Happy New Year and Happy New Decade, hopefully the twenties will roar again. But, nicely and with many flowers.

A heartfelt Thank You to Cathy for hosting this wonderful weekly meme. More vases may be seen in the comments of her blog http://www.ramblinginthegarden.wordpress.com.

Six on Saturday – Fruits and Flowers

20170304_140011.jpg

It has been a rainy and windy week in South Florida, Christmas is over and I am looking forward to a new decade in my tropical paradise. Winter brings changes to the flora and is the most enjoyable time of the year to be outdoors. We live on our screen porch, my next task is to plant some containers for the porch.

Above is a Shell Ginger (Alpinia zerumbet), I cut these  frequently in the winter; they have a light, gingery scent and are very reliable in the garden. Other Gingers suffer in silence in my garden.

Below is a Hong Kong Orchid Tree (Bauhinia purpurea) These are common parking lot trees and produce a lot of seeds and seedlings.

20161130_095020

The Dombeya (Dombeya wallichii) finally opened  on Christmas Day, a wonderful gift. It is so windy it makes pictures difficult to take as the flowers swing in the wind.

img_20191228_092859

Zinnia of unknown origin. In December.

00100lrportrait_00100_burst20191228093114521_cover

I have three types of Mango trees in my garden, all are flowering, it is a bit early.  Here is the flower of the Glenn Mango. These are panicle flowers, if pollinated produce numerous small Mangoes.

00100lrportrait_00100_burst20191228092540632_cover

And  finally, my first homegrown Papaya breakfast – with honey vanilla yogurt and granola. A very satisfying end to my gardening year.

00100lrportrait_00100_burst20191228084000909_cover

Six on Saturday is a gardening meme hosted by The Propagator. For more posts, go to http://www.thepropagatorblog.wordpress.com.

Happy New Year!!

Amelia

In a Vase on Monday – Zinnias & Indiscretions for Christmas

img_20191222_130731

My South Florida garden, being perverse as usual,  produced Zinnias for Christmas. I have been trying to figure out when to start seed for a couple of years and bought some fancy seed from Floret to try this fall. The seeds were Macarenia Zinnias – the red and gold flowers are Macarenias, most of the rest  came up from the same seed pack and are solid pinks, apricots and oranges. I actually like those better, the Macarenias look like  weird Marigolds to me.

The small tree is a European Cypress, I forwent a big Christmas tree as my younger greyhound, Fiona has been suffering from dietary indiscretions. First, I caught her trying to eat a CD?!  They are very crunchy. And then she gorged herself on Cabbage Palm berries resulting in a trip to the vet and a special diet for almost two weeks. I make an excellent canine chef and have cooked vats of rice, pumpkin and turkey for her. The food and medicine has her running laps in the backyard again. Here she is reclining on the porch.

img_20191201_102708

00100lrportrait_00100_burst20191222130918401_cover-1

Some close ups of the Zinnias. I am not sure what they are at this point. Mixed Christmas surprise Zinnias. The vase is a sugar bowl; the white flowers from Juba Bush (Iresine diffusa) and Asparagus Fern greenery that just floats around in my garden until I cut it for flower arrangements.

The back side of the vase, more surprises. I  planted some other Zinnia seeds – 4 cells out of about 20.

00100lrportrait_00100_burst20191222151509417_cover

 

My older, more discreet greyhound, Alan Alda – under a past Christmas tree.

20151213_162756

Thanks to Cathy, at http://www.ramblinginthegarden.wordpress.com for hosting this weekly event. Visit her blog to find links to vases from all over the world.

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah to all.

 

 

Six on Saturday – Gifts from the Garden

img_20191221_084837

It’s  time for Six on Saturday. Six pictures of anything interesting from your garden.

Just in time for Christmas the garden is gifting me with some wonderful things. Above, finally a nearly ripe Papaya.

Below, green beans and radishes:

00100lrportrait_00100_burst20191214164145845_cover

In honor of the holidays, a few red flowers are blooming. The weather is dreadful today,  howling wind and rain, so pictures were taken inside.

This is Nodding Hibiscus (Hibiscus malvaviscus)

00100lrportrait_00100_burst20191201153744562_cover-1

Red Shrimp Plant (Justicia brandegeana)

00100lportrait_00100_burst20191013163634634_cover

The garden provided plenty of Blanchetiana flowers (and foliage) to make this wreath.

00100lrportrait_00100_burst20191220124823831_cover

And a greyhound to watch over the front porch:

00100lrportrait_00100_burst20191220132202744_cover

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all!

For more Six on Saturday posts go to http://www.thepropagatorblog.wordpress.com

In a Vase on Monday – Holiday Bus Again

img_20191215_111104

Here’s my favorite holiday tin again. Several years ago a client of my husband brought this from the UK, filled with Scottish Biscuits (shortbread cookies in US speak). The cookies were divine (and didn’t last very long). I am a lover of tins and used it IAVOM twice before during the holidays. This year it is crammed full of red, green and white flowers and foliage, having some perspective on my garden and many others through blogging I realized how downright odd it is to have red and green foliage to cut for Christmas decorations. And I haven’t  done the wreath yet.

A closer view:

img_20191215_111125

The big white flowers are Bridal Bouquet Frangipani (Plumeria pudica), smaller white flowers and bigger foliage is from Sweet Begonia (Begonia odorata); white and red spikes are from Tropical Red Salvia (Salvia coccinea); the red spikes on the sides are Pineapple Sage (Salvia elegans), red berries are from Brazilian Pepper (Schinus terebenthifolia) – a dreadful weed.

Below is a better image of the red and green foliage – at the right end a Martin Bromeliad (Neoregelia Martin) leaf, the middle has foliage from Mammey Croton (Codieum varigata ‘Mammey’)

00000img_00000_burst20191215111656967_cover

Here is the tin from 2016:20161211_102634-1

And  the original tin/ vase from 2015.

20151220_160007-1

Hmm,  which is your favorite.? 2016 has one of my favorite plants, the Parrotflower (Heliconia psittacorum)  – I like the Flapjack Kalanchoes in 2015 (grey foliage). I may combine all the plants next year into a 2020 mash up.

For more vases on Monday, visit our hostess, Cathy at http://www.ramblinginthegarden.wordpress.com

Happy Holidays!