Category Archives: Bromeliads

Six on Saturday – Summer Survivors or Not

It has been a hot and humid week. I strolled the garden in search of plants surviving and thriving in the heat. There is always a surprise or two. I pulled a few weeds, but mostly noted that there are weeds – waiting patiently for their demise during cooler days.

To join the world wide SOS garden tours visit Jim at GardenRuminations

Neoregelia bromeliads are very reliable survivors here. There are so many varieties, I don’t know the names of these two. This one is just starting to flower, signaling the end of its life.

Another Neoregelia of unknown origin. I bought many of these at garage sales (nobody knows names at garage sales) as broms are absurdly expensive when nursery grown.

Tropical Red Salvia (Salvia coccinea) in white. These love summer rain and heat.

The coleus tree. I have pruned it again. The winds from Tropical Storm Debby knocked a woody branch off the side. It is surprising how woody the trunk is.

It has been a great year for butterflies. I have been lacking the patience to stand in the shrubbery and wait for them to pose. This is the state butterfly of Florida, Zebra Longwing. It is sipping nectar from a Chaya tree. Chaya is a tropical spinach that grows into a multi stemmed shrub. I thought it would grow 4 or 5 feet – this one is almost ten feet tall!

Here is the not survivor. My hopes were dashed for Dragon fruit yet again. Sigh.

That’s all from South Florida. Dreaming of cooler days and a dragonfruit from the garden.

In a Vase on Monday – Summer Bromance

My husband may be wondering about my summer bromance (probably not). July is prime time for a Vase of my favorite summer bromeliad flowers, Aechmea miniata. To say this is a striking flower is a bit of an understatement. The flower is a nearly foot long panicle composed of what looks like red hot cinnamon candies accented with cobalt blue tips, it is a sight to behold. The plant has deep olive leaves with purple backsides and thrives in dry shade. I love it. Definite bromance here.

The plant in the garden:

A closer view:

An overhead view. The foliage accents are trimmed palm fronds from Sabal Palm seedlings (Palmetto sabal). The vase was repurposed from the florist.

Happy Summer Monday to all. To see more vases, follow this link RITG to visit Cathy.

In a Vase on Monday – Zen, Zin & Min

I am enjoying my new crop of zinnias – ‘Zin Master’, planted in big terracotta pots. I have been cutting most of the flowers in hopes of getting actual long stemmed zinnias – something that has always eluded me, my zinnias are always very short in stature. These are the longest stems I have ever grown and have a wiry appearance that I like. I visualized this vase as a Zen Ikebanaesque arrangement with winding stems of zinnias intertwined with the Min – Miniata Bromeliads. It was not to be, the glass frog serving as a base was not up to the challenge of the weight of the flowers. I had to add rocks on top of the frog to keep everything upright. I ended up not having a very Zen flower experience at all. It is what it is. A soup bowl filled with flowers.

The Zin – ‘Zin Master’ Zinnias grown from seed started around the first of May. I am enjoying the color mix, but thought I would get some different types of zinnias. I guess these are semi-double something. I bought some Cactus Mix seeds this week to spice things up. I am not quite sure what will happen in mid July with seed starting. Always an adventure.

The Min. These are Miniata Bromeliads (Aechmea miniata). A reliable summer flowering shade perennial, if one can think of bromeliads as perennials. The tropical plants always twist my mind a bit in sorting out what they are – house plants, perennials, epiphytes, plain weird? The big green leaves in the back are from a coleus and the vase is actually a soup bowl.

That is all from South Florida this Monday. I’ll be seeking further garden Zen from Zinnias this week. Follow the link to visit Cathy at RamblingintheGarden and see what’s appearing in other vases this week. Or soup bowls.

Six on Saturday – Summer Delights

My garden walk-around this morning produced photos of a few garden delights that followed me to the kitchen. I picked the last of the Thai dessert mangoes and am down to eight ripening on the counter. I have also been making desserts, plotting desserts, making salsa and chopping and freezing bags of fruit. The Zin Master Zinnias have been beautiful producing flowers and really attractive plants. I have had a vase of these by the kitchen sink for a couple of weeks. For an international garden walk-around experience visit Jim’s blog, Garden Ruminations and follow the links in the comments section.

This weeks mango dessert. Mango-Blackberry Coffeecake. Nice and not too sweet.

The bitter end of the mango harvest. These are all Thai dessert mangoes, Nam Doc Mai. I think the reason these are not found in grocery stores very often is they go from not ripe to emergency chop and freeze in a matter of hours. The one on top is hitting the emergency point.

We are still in the kitchen. Admiring the Zin Master Zinnias. Thanks to SOS, I now know how long it takes from seed to flower. About two months.

Foliage on Zin Master Zinnias. I have cut all the flowers!

Back to the Bromeliad garden for some July fireworks. These are very reliable July bloomers. Aechmea miniata Bromeliads.

Another hot summer flower, Firebush (Hamelia patens var patens) I have grown to love orange in the garden since moving to Florida.

More fruit, Rangpur limes coming along. These are orange when ripe and the juiciest limes I have ever encountered. There are at least 50 on the tree and these are very perishable, so I could be having another freezer festival late this year.

Happy Summer Gardening!!

Six on Saturday – High Summer Rising

June has actually been very pleasant, all things considered. I am suspicious July will not be, the wet blanket of sweaty humidity has arrived and the second tropical storm of the season is predicted to form next week. High Summer in South Florida has arrived. The good news, we get great tropical fruit and flowers. The bad news, we have to leave the air conditioning to see them. For a grand summer (or in some cases winter) garden tour follow this link GardenRuminations to Jim’s blog and visit the comments.

I am picking mangoes every morning. So many that I have started freezing them and giving them away. I’m currently waiting for a ripe one to make mango blackberry pie. There are 3 different types of mango here – Nam Doc Mai, Thai dessert mangoes, long and green; Pickering mangoes are peach colored; one Glenn mango in the top middle. Mangoes should be picked as they start to change color and easily come off the tree and then ripened on the counter.

Tropical or Florida Gardenias (Tabernaemontana diviricata) are loving the summer heat and rain.

Turkey Tangle Frog Fruit (Phyla nodiflora) “lawn” is flourishing and flowering.

Sea Grapes (Coccoloba uvifera), a native tree that seemingly will grow anywhere is making tons of fruit and dropping it everywhere. I like the tree, but wish someone would come up with a fruitless one. This is food for wildlife, the fruit is edible and I am told it tastes like figs – but, it is mostly seed. One of my numerous greyhounds was the only household member to enjoy it.

Silver Urn Bromeliad (Aechmea fasciata) is almost in full bloom.

That is all from South Florida this Saturday. I went out and looked at the weeds, plucked a few, and came back inside.

Happy Gardening!!

Six on Saturday – After the Deluge

South Florida has been featured in the news this week for its first tropical weather of the season. Miami and environs received 20 inches of rain in some areas and are still drying out. More rain is expected this weekend. I live in the far north of South Florida and realized I had left a bucket out in the front garden before the deluge started. After checking it out I found we had almost nine inches of rain this week. The first thing to pop are the weeds and mosquitoes!

The garden greedily gobbled up the water and the plants are a new shade of green this Saturday, some of the more tropical plants started flowering and setting buds. We have had a very dry spring so the rain was welcome. It is too bad there is no means to adjust the water flow from above.

Coontie Palms (Zamia integrifolia) recovering from butterfly hosting duties. The rare Atala butterfly lays eggs and grows caterpillars on this plant almost exclusively. These were eaten to the ground during the spring and have recovered nicely. Super Fireball Neoregelias in front of the photo are a bit scorched from the dry spring, they are usually red or green. I hope they recover. Fortunately, there are a zillion of these lurking in the back garden. The varigated shrubs in the background are Java White Copper leaf (Acalphya wilkesiana). Grassy plants are Rain Lilies.

Alcantarea odorata bromeliad gaining its glaucous foliage. This is a big, full sun bromeliad that eventually reaches 3 feet wide and tall, they are sage green and look like they have been dusted in confectioners sugar. A statement plant if you are into that lingo. I am trying to decide about underplanting it with purple verbena or orange groundcover orchids. A friend sent me an offset two or three years ago and it is finally taking off.

More bromeliads, this is a big mixed container. The purple foliage is Neoregelia ‘Luca’; the grey foliage with a bud coming on is Silver Urn (Aechmea fasciata)

Mexican Bush Honeysuckle (Justicia spicigera) is a reliable summer bloomer. This is the first flush.

Coral Plant (Jatropha multifida) starting its summer season.

Gopher tortoise visiting my front porch for a vegetarian snack. Any plant that hangs over the side is fair game. It took me a while to figure out what was eating the basil. This guy must not be Italian as he leaves the oregano alone.

That is all from South Florida this Saturday. For a worldwide SOS garden tour follow this link http://garden ruminations.co.uk to visit Jim’s blog.

Happy Gardening!!!

In a Vase on Monday – In a Pickle

I had my heart set on a linear arrangement to display my first Lobsterclaw Heliconia of the season. The problem – my linear vase broke in the dishwasher. I was in a Pickle, until my dilemma was solved by, of all things, a Pickle jar. My husband is a compulsive jar saver so the perfect vase was soon in hand and fortunately covered in label glue. This made it very easy to roll a bromeliad leaf around it and tie it up with raffia.

The Lobsterclaw Heliconia is definitely a harbinger of summer. We have had some very hot alternating with very pleasant days and no rain. I finished mulching the gardens this morning as it seemed like possibly the last cool morning for a while. My cool and everyone else’s are probably entirely different things!

The Lobsterclaw Heliconia (Heliconia rostrata) is hanging around with two red Nodding Hibiscus (Malvaviscus arboreus) and a few leaves from Mammey Croton (Codieum varigatum)

The linear aspect of this arrangement is enhanced with foliage from Blanchetiana Bromeliad (Aechmea blanchetiana) – this is wrapped around the pickle jar and leaf leftovers I decided to pop in to hold the Heliconia upright. The ferns are Boston Fern (Nephrolepis exaltata)

Hoping for rain in my garden this week! To see more vases, visit Cathy at ramblinginthegarden.

Happy Gardening!!

Six on Saturday – Summer Solstice Shortly

Summer flowers are budding and blooming in the garden this Saturday. I know this seems picky but the days seem too long now; but I know the Summer Solstice is just around the corner and they will soon be shorter. In December I am certain to be complaining that the days are too short. Follow the link to Jim’s blog gardenruminations to see more SOS garden tours.

Aechmea rubens Bromeliad buds. Once this blooms, the flowers last for months and then dry into red straw. They are big and sharp.

Buds on Billbergia pyramidalis, the flowers are pyramid shaped once they open and many people call this Hurricane Lilies (?) as they flower during hurricane season, which starts today.

Pineland Lantana (Lantana depressa) flowering for the first time. It seems very strange to me that I cannot grow New Gold Lantana, so I decided to try this native Lantana and it seems to be thriving. Go figure.

Miss Alice Bougainvillea has finally recovered from whatever was ailing her and is dressed for summer.

Another garden first, a Day lily photo bombed by a White Flame Salvia. This is a Purple Stella Daylily (Hemerocallis) it is reported to bloom all summer long.

The Mophead Hydrangea of the tropics, Blue Plumbago (Plumbago auriculata) is in full bloom in my garden. I enjoy these so much and never water, fertilize or even think about them. A summer favorite.

That is all from my garden this Saturday. I am hoping for rain, but currently enjoying a nice, cooling breeze off the ocean.

Happy Gardening!!

Six on Saturday – Not Hogwarts

Some Six on Saturday garden tours make me feel like there should be a garden wizard around the corner or behind the shrubbery. It has started raining again and the tropical creeping has started. I was contemplating my Strangler Fig and the cactus that produces Dragonfruit (there must be a wizard here somewhere!) winding its way around my fence. To see more magical SOS garden tours, visit Jim’s blog by following this link – garden ruminations.

The Dragon fruit (Hylocereus megalanthus). This is a night blooming cactus, a yellow flowered variety that is supposed to produce a fruit that is lemon sorbet flavored. It flowered last year, but produced no fruit. I am finding the fruit producing plants here will often flower for the first time and not produce and then the next year flower and produce fruit. Fingers crossed! It has been so long since I bought this I had forgotten about the lemon sorbet flavor. Thai dessert mango tree in background.

We had our rather magnificent Strangler Fig (Ficus aurea) pruned. Talk about a Harry Potter tree! These are quite interesting and don’t really strangle anything. It is amazing how quickly they can grow – 15-20 foot long branches (4-6 inch diameter) were trimmed back to the trunk from our roof line. I think it has been a year and a half since it was last pruned.

Fruit from the Strangler Fig. These are edible, but only wildlife enjoy them. And I think about a million of them fall to the ground. This is followed by fruit flies who are followed by birds. Wildlife enjoys this tree. It is also larval host to the Ruddy Daggerwing butterfly.

The birds take the figs up into other trees, commonly Sabal Palms and deposit them in the crown of the tree. The figs germinate, take root followed by a small branch growing out of the side of the palm. These branches eventually get long enough to reach the ground and a new Strangler Fig puts roots down and grows up right beside the palm. It is common to see a palm engulfed in a Strangler Fig. Maybe it should be called an Engulfing Fig.

The leafy branch is from the Strangler Fig seedling growing out of the palm trunk.

These trees also make buttress trunks. They are growing in a bed of Snake plants, an impossible to get rid of weed here that I have embraced rather than argue with.

I have just added some Guzmania bromeliads to some pruning made planters. These trees are known for hosting epiphytic plants, so I will add more.

That’s all from my magical tropical garden this Saturday. Wishing everyone Happy Gardening.

Six on Saturday – Tropics Rising

I’m joining the SOS crew this Saturday following my morning garden tour. April and May are our driest months and it’s windy as well. The garden is crying out for water and it is difficult to apply enough. I let some things go dormant (grass!) and try to keep the fruit trees and flowers flush for my own selfish reasons. This morning I noted the usual summer suspects are starting to show their colors. Visit Jim’s blog Garden Ruminations to find more tours.

The first Frangipani (Plumeria spp) of the season. These are just starting to flower and put out foliage. They reach their full, scented glory with the onset of the rainy season. This is an unnamed variety I bought several years ago, 8-10 feet tall now. Currently one flower, eight leaves and the rest is sticks.

This is a Florida or Tropical Gardenia (Tabernaemontana diviricata). These are, oddly to me, a deciduous Gardenia. They flower all summer. The scent is much more subtle than G. jasminoides, more detectable at night.

‘Little Harv’ Aechmea Bromeliad flowers. Little Harv is not that little, he is at least three feet tall and probably hangs around for a month.

‘Hallelujah’ Billbergia Bromeliad showing summer color. The whites and greens become more pronounced and then an odd red, white and blue flower that resembles curling ribbon appears. I wonder where these things come from sometimes.

A White Geiger (Cordia boissieri) tree I have been working on. I think about 75% of the top was removed. These grow very oddly with crossing branches galore and produce shoots about every four inches. I have a feeling I am not finished with the pruning.

Florida native Sunshine Mimosa (Mimosa strigillosa). This is a drought tolerant groundcover with interesting flowers.

That’s all from South Florida. The rain dance starts soon.