Category Archives: amelia grant

Six on Saturday – Turkey Tangle Frogfruit

I am joining the SOS gang this week with my latest garden adventure. Weather in South Florida is transitioning from Not Summer into Summer, rain showers have started back up, the humidity is up and a platoon of mosquitoes showed up this morning to interrupt my walk. I slathered myself in mosquito spray and braved the onslaught long enough to pot up the Frogfruit cuttings. Hoping for the dragonfly crew to show up soon and dispatch the mosquitoes.

To see more SOS posts, visit Jim at www.gardenruminations.co.uk.

The Frogfruit:

These don’t look like much right now. I want to get rid of the St. Augustine lawn in my garden. It needs too much of everything, water, sun, fertilizer and I refuse to put weed killers – especially Atrazine on my lawn. Florida, as a state, has mostly ruined their local waterways with lawn chemicals and sewage. And people wonder what happened to all the sea grass that the Manatees eat, duh. Put enough grassy weed killers on the zillions of acres of turf grass on sand and it’s going into the watershed to kill other things, especially the animals that rely on sea grass. The Manatees rely on sea grass and are starving, so the state is feeding them Romaine lettuce. I am so disgusted with these people. So, in my garden the lawn is mostly gone. And really ugly.

Rant is complete.

Turkey Tangle Frog Fruit (Phyla nodiflora) is an evergreen, low growing native wildflower – or weed, depending on who you ask. It is recommended as a lawn replacement in places other than Florida (Texas and California). It is also a host and nectar plant for many butterflies. For some reason, it is extremely difficult to source. I ordered cuttings in January and they just showed up in my mailbox. Now I have potted the rooted cuttings after several days of rehydration. Fingers crossed they grow. Who knew it would be so hard to grow weeds, uh, wildflowers.

The “lawn” as it is. Ugly!

On to prettier things.

Three miniature pineapples and a lizard on a favorite bromeliad. The minature ones are more reliable about fruiting than the big ones, but you can’t really eat them. I have read they can be juiced, but how much juice could really be in there? I like to cut these and let them dry, they are fun additions to flower arrangements.

Another oddity, Coral Plant (Jatropha multifida) The leaves look like marijuana, though the whole plant is very toxic.

A plant combination I like. On the left, the foliage, Golden Duranta (Duranta erecta); grey foliage with yellow ball flowers ‘Golf Beauty’ Craspedia; ‘Mystic Blue’ Salvia and the small yellow flowering plant is a native purslane, I am not sure which one.

Flowers on a Lotusleaf Begonia (Begonia nelumbiifolia). The leaves on this begonia are easily 18 by 18 inches. It is a great coarse texture accent in the garden – considered a roadside weed in South America, where it inhabits ditches.

That is all from lawnless land in Florida. Thanks to Jim for hosting and..

Happy Gardening!!

In a Vase on Monday – Red Lion Roars Again

The Red Lion Amaryllis in my garden is a long ago gift from my father in law, Glenn. He went through forcing bulbs every Christmas, saving them and planting them in the garden and then dividing them and after a while there was a pride of Red Lions. Glenn left us almost fifteen years ago and I still cherish this Amaryllis (he would never call it a Hippeastrum.) It refused to flower for several years, so I moved it to a sunnier spot and the Red Lion is roaring again. I was happy to bring it inside to enjoy in a Monday vase. I was even happier the lion was inside when a rollicking late afternoon thunderstorm roared through.

A closer view of the Lion:

Accompaniments to the Lion:

The white flowers are ‘Miss Alice’ Bougainvillea; orange flowers are Firebush (Hamelia patens var patens). This is a restrained plant palette for me. The vase is my favorite piece of vintage Blue Willow, a teapot from the UK.

The thunderstorms lasted longer than I thought they would – leaving 7 and a half inches of rain behind in a little more than two hours! Lots of roaring here today.

Thank you to Cathy for hosting IAVOM every week and hosting our Zoom meeting yesterday. Such fun to meet other garden bloggers. Follow this link http://ramblinginthegarden.wordpress.com to see more vases.

Happy Gardening!!

In a Vase on Monday – Delicate Dianthus

I have been enjoying the Giant Dianthus plants that I have been keeping on my front porch. I expected them to burn out as soon as the temperatures exceeded 80 degrees. They haven’t, surprising me with fringed flowers in shades of pink almost daily. The snapdragons are still hanging on as well. Laziness and distaste for throwing anything away that might possibly flower made me keep the snaps around. I was rewarded with a few more flowers, dwarf when compared to the earlier ones, but a nice accessory to the delicate dianthus flowers.

The vase belonged to my mother. It was her go-to container for pansies and a perfect size for the dianthus. I am wondering if this was once a jam jar, it has a very jammy vibe. This vase has some wonderful scents, basil flowers, dianthus and salvia; sweet, spicy and herbal. I am enjoying walking by.

The close up:

Giant Dianthus in pink; yellow snaps; a few sprigs of Genovese Basil flowers; ‘White Flame’ Salvia and ‘Golf Beauty’ Craspedia in yellow.

Pink snapdragons, a few sprigs of Tropical Red Salvia in white with Asian Sword Ferns and Asparagus Ferns for greenery.

This is a stuffed jam jar!

Thank you to Cathy for hosting this week (and every week) To see more vase follow this link to her blog. http://www.ramblinginthegarden.wordpress.com

Happy Gardening!!

In a Vase on Monday – No Salad Here

This is a spring mix of flowers from my garden. Spring mix is a kind of packaged salad greens I am not particularly fond of. Too bitter, I think it is the tatsoi I don’t like, or it is my husband referring to it as yard clippings? Anyway, there is no salad here and one of the cast members in this arrangement is poisonous, so we won’t be eating any of it.

I am pleased to have grown this poisonous Ranunculus, with the innocent sounding common name Persian Buttercup. This one looks like a tiny red rose and there is one more bud outside. This was a total experiment. I am supposed to be too far south to grow these and bought the bulbs at an end of summer sale. The bulbs arrived fried and I put them aside and completely forgot about them until they were desiccated shells. An old pot with soil in it appeared in the back yard and I had a ‘hate to throw things away’ moment and dumped the shells into the pot. An odd rainy, cold snap arrived, chilled and rehydrated the bulbs. Serendipity intervened and this is the first of probably two Ranunculus my garden will ever produce.

The rest of the mix..in blue, ‘Black and Bloom’ Salvia; white spikes, ‘White Flame’ Salvia; pink and white fringed flowers, Giant Dianthus; a little Pink Snapdragon; green Envy and pink Zinnias; the red Ranunculus; yellow ‘Golf Beauty’ Craspedia, and a few bits of Asparagus Fern. The vase was a gift from my older brother.

Thanks to Cathy at http://ramblinginthegarden.wordpress.com for hosting this weekly garden meme. To see more vases, follow the link.

Happy Gardening!!

In a Vase on Monday – Suntini

Sunday turned out to be a beautiful sunny and breezy day. The Brown Eyed Girl Sunflower was covered in flowers again, so I decided to cut them. For some reason, the stems were really short. It seemed like a good idea to utilize the short stems by hanging them over the edge of a martini glass. A Suntini was created to celebrate an abundance of sunflowers on a sunny Sunday.

The crystal martini glass is from my mother’s formal crystal used for holidays. To my knowledge, there has never been a martini in the glass. My mother was a prissy Southern lady who insisted these were fruit compotes. Southern ladies of her generation can only admit to drinking under certain appropriate conditions. I have never been able to work out the appropriate conditions; what has always seemed odd to me is this generation came up with the strongest drinks possible. Another mystery to ponder.

There are two plants in this mocktail. The Brown Eyed Girl Sunflowers in yellow and flowers and a going to seed flower from Lotusleaf Begonia (Begonia nelumbiifolia)

The swizzle stick is a stem from the Begonia with a sunflower at one end and a baby mango at the other.

Thank you to Cathy at http://www.ramblinginthegarden.wordpress.com for hosting this weekly meme. Follow the link to see more vases.

Cheers and Happy Gardening!!

Six on Saturday – Flowers

I am joining the SOS gang once again after checking out the flowers in my South Florida garden. The sun is shining and the weather is heating up again. I have been attentive to watering and fertilizing and have some new flowers to show.

The Chandelier plant (Medinilla cummingii) had a rough winter, not enjoying our unusually cold December weather. It has come back nicely and started flowering again. This plant usually flowers year round. This is the flower.

The fruit follows the flower and is just as ornamental. Eventually, the berries turn dark purple and become sticky. I am guessing in their native Philippines the birds eat them and distribute them in the tree tops. I smashed some of the berries onto some big branches in the trees in my garden last summer and nothing happened..

I am enjoying my recently planted Salvias tremendously. The sun was hitting the Black and Bloom Salvia as I walked outside this morning and I had to snap a photo.

Roman Red Salvia is also shining.

Our native Tropical Red Salvia (Salvia coccinea) sometimes appears in white. This amazingly hardy plant is happy with Blue Daze Evolvulus at its feet.

More blue and white flowers. White Flame and Mystic Blue Salvia.

Wishing everyone sunny days and warmer weather. Thanks to Jim at http://gardenruminations.co.uk for hosting. Follow the link to see more gardens.

Happy Gardening!!

In a Vase on Monday – Boing!

This time of year one of the things I appreciate most about blogging is the documentation of garden awakenings from their winter slumber. The images of spring bulbs and flowers bursting forth from bloggers living further north are a joy for me. South Florida is sadly lacking in spring color, many of the trees are evergreen or choose not to be deciduous some years. The season seems more like temperatures bouncing between spring and summer; eschewing the glory of throwing off the yoke of freezing cold and celebrating with flowers. Boing rather than spring.

We went from summer to late fall this weekend. It is overcast, cool and windy. I think this vase may be the last of my cool season annuals. The snapdragon flowers are about a tenth the size they were a couple of weeks ago and the dianthus is really slowing down. This is the end of Boing celebration vase and a wonderful tonic for a dreary day.

The silver goblet is an old silver plate treasure my mother came up with in her thrift shop trolling days. I like it as it has a wonderful patina and it makes me wonder and laugh about why my mother would buy such a thing? It certainly doesn’t hold water. I found this out the hard way and now use a small plastic cup inside the vase.

The flowers:

Another element adding a bit of boing to this vase – the Golf Beauty Craspedia in yellow. The selection in the vase represents half bloom to full bloom, as I was not sure when to cut these. The younger ones have been hanging around for a couple of weeks and participated in a couple of different vases. The other yellow is a tiny Snapdragon flower; in pink fringes, the Giant Dianthus; blue spikes, Mystic Blue Salvia; white spikes, White Flame Salvia; crimson flowers are the rest of the tiny Snapdragons. The foliage is Asian Sword Fern and a few sprigs of Giant Parsley.

I am hoping for the return of blue skies this week and possibly discovering some spring flowers.

Thank you to Cathy at http://ramblinginthegarden.wordpress.com for hosting this meme. Follow the link to see more vases.

Happy Gardening!!

Six on Saturday – Spring Happenings

I am joining Jim and the SOS gang this morning from my South Florida garden. Our weather continues to seesaw between spring and summer. I am wearing a sweatshirt one day and shorts the next. The good news is some rain has finally fallen after a long absence underscoring that we are still in our dry season. I am very grateful for the rain. To see more Six on Saturday posts, follow this link to Jim’s blog http://gardenruminations.co.uk

First up: Some of the tropical plants are showing their colors. These are the first flowers on ‘Lady Di’ Heliconia (Heliconia psittacorum). These are one of my many favorites.

The ‘Little Harv’ Bromeliads are flowering again.

A pineapple top I set aside and forgot about has rooted and is growing a pineapple.

The Nam Doc Mai Thai Mangoes have set fruit. Fingers crossed I get to eat a lot of these before the squirrels do.

On the less tropical side, the Golf Beauty Craspedia is in full bloom. Golf Beauty is a very appropriate name.

I planted a couple of ‘Black and Bloom’ Salvia last week. The black is a bit startling, but I love the contrast with the emerald green foliage.

That is all for this Saturday from my garden.

Happy Gardening !!!

In a Vase on Monday – Rustic Endeavors

I have been baking a lot lately and getting in touch with my rustic side. My husband had to cut down on dietary fat dramatically and is a dessert lover, so lower fat cupcakes have been an ongoing project. The latest, Gala Apple Pecan with Light Caramel Frosting. I am not a neat baker nor a cake decorator. The cupcakes never turn out quite the same size and the frosting is always a bit globby, so the house joke is that we have rustic desserts.

The apple cupcake. Moist, delicious and downright rustic. I find vegan butter makes a good caramel frosting.

The vase is rustic in the selection of the mason jar with a raffia bow and the old fashioned contents.

A closer view:

The flowers, in yellow, Brown Eyed Girl Sunflowers; shades of pink, Giant Dianthus; blue spikes, a few Black and Bloom Salvia on the left side and Mystic Blue Salvia on the right; white spikes, White Flame Salvia; yellow balls, Golf Beauty Craspedia; a few sprigs of Asian Sword Fern complete the vase.

I’ll be in the garden endeavoring to enjoy a cupcake.

Thank you to Cathy at http://ramblinginthegarden.wordpress.com for hosting this weekly garden meme. To see more vases , follow the link.

Happy Gardening!!

In a Vase on Monday – Brown Eyed Girl

One of the new plants I am trialing may be a new favorite, the Brown Eyed Girl Helianthus. I have had this plant for a little over a week and have already cut enough flowers for 3 vases. Officially called the SunBelievable Brown Eyed Girl Helianthus, the marketing spiel states it will produce a thousand flowers over the summer, it is a warm season annual everywhere. It will be interesting how long it will last in South Florida. August triumphs over many things in the garden. Though I can believe it will produce a thousand flowers.

The weather is wobbling between spring and summer already, but fortunately the humidity is still lurking in the Atlantic Ocean. I have finally figured out what to do with all the new plants and will hopefully get them settled in before the inevitable summer heat.

A closer view:

Brown Eyed Girl is stealing the show. The three new Salvias are the back up singers. I am hoping they will all be garden stars. The Salvias are: in white, ‘White Flame’; in red, ‘Roman Red’; in blue, Black in Bloom. The foliage is ‘Lagoon’ Rosemary and Varigated Flax Lily (Dianella tasmanica ‘Varigata’).

That is all from South Florida this Monday. Thanks to Cathy at http://www.ramblinginthegarden.wordpress.com, to see more vases follow the link.

Happy Gardening!!