Category Archives: Bromeliads

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.

Six on Saturday – A Bird in Hand

Saturday morning has rolled around again. My garden tour this week features a new experience for me. Spring is in full swing here, the birds are singing, the plants are producing loads of pollen and I am thinking a bird in the bush is better than one in the hand. To view more Saturday garden tours, visit Jim’s blog, Garden Ruminations follow the link and peruse the comments section to complete a world garden tour.

Beaming with good, proactive gardening tendencies, I set out to prune my rambunctious Firebush. After a few whacks, a bird came flying out, fussing as she flew away. I stopped chopping to see what that was all about and found a nest with eggs. It was later revealed to be a cardinal as she returned to warm her eggs. This bird has since put a leaf over the nest so I can’t peek in anymore. The shrub remains semi-pruned and my hopes for a clean tree formed Firebush have been temporarily dashed.

The interior of the Firebush revealed one more secret. Tillandsia bromeliads growing inside the branches.

My recently installed orchids have fully opened. The other orchids are putting out new growth, I am hoping for sprays of yellow onicidiums this spring.

Tiny Rangpur limes have formed. These will not be ripe until December.

The Nam Doc Mai mangoes are growing and the tree produced another round of flowers. Now I am hoping for mangoes all summer.

The Shell Ginger (Alpinia zerumbet) has nearly reached the roof. Officially over six feet tall.

That is all from my garden this week. My loppers are looking for a new place to land! No worries, plenty of vegetation to chop here while Mrs. Cardinal completes her duties.

Happy Gardening!!

Six on Saturday – New for Spring

Spring plant shopping is irresistible for most gardeners. Buying a few new things for containers, resupplying herbs and shopping around my own garden for new finds was on the SOS agenda for the week. Here is what I found around the garden this Saturday morning.

The updated herb container on my front porch. I have been looking for thyme this winter and finally found some English thyme. I can’t recall having English, but it probably won’t last the summer. The pink Dianthus won’t either, but I will enjoy them while they last and hopefully the rosemary in the back of the container will take over, if we don’t eat it all first.

A new mixed container. This is purple agastache, white calibracoa, silver helichrysum, and chartreuse coleus (or whatever they call it nowadays) I am not sure which is the thriller or filler – the agastache or coleus.

One of the orchids from last week is just opening.

At long last, flowers on the Catalina Avocado! Seven years in the garden.

I haven’t seen these in a while. Flowers on the Aechmea ‘burgundy’ Bromeliad. I can never figure out what inspires bromeliads to flower.

The big Begonia nelumbiifolia in flower. The flower spikes are about three feet tall. This is an impressive Begonia and forms tubers like potatoes.

That is it from my garden this Saturday. For more spring tours or maybe a fall tour from the Southern Hemisphere – visit Jim’s blog, gardenruminations and follow the links in the comments section.

Happy Spring!!

Six on Saturday – Chicken Gizzards?

My garden tour this Saturday morning revealed a few new things in the garden. I have been shopping online. It seems safe to say not everything that will grow here has been tried here. Famous last words. Spring brings new things to all gardens. To tour more gardens and see what’s springing elsewhere from many different places, follow this link to Jim’s blog and check out the comments.

One new thing is the Chicken Gizzard plant (Iresine herbstii) There are a few mysteries about this plant. First, why is it called Chicken Gizzard? Second, where to plant it? The pundits disagree on whether it will grow outside here and say full sun. Full sun in Ohio (the plant was grown there) is one thing, in South Florida it’s a whole different thing. A dilemma to be solved.

The miniature pineapples are flowering.

An example of how tough bromeliads are. I was clearing some bromeliads, cutting this pup off early this week, left it on top of the bucket, not feeling decisive about where to replant it, then forgot about it. It just kept on growing. This is a silvery purple brom with pink flowers. I may remember the name…

I hope this is a praying mantis and not an evil plague.

A Dracaena reflexa I am pruning to a multi trunk tree. It is at least 10 feet tall.

Mangoes are looking more like mangoes!

That is all from South Florida. Our crazy warm weather continues – it is forecast to be nearly 90F/32C here today. I am heading back out to plant that bromeliad pup before it gets too hot.

Happy Gardening.

In a Vase on Monday – Tropical Spring Roll

My spring roll is filled with different ingredients than one found in a Thai restaurant. A bromeliad leaf is wrapped around delicious contents from the garden. The names of some of the contents could be considered food – asparagus (fern), sage (salvia) – but I think we would be hard pressed to chew through the roll. It could possibly be considered high fiber/low carb for oh, say rodents or a passing iguana. My plan is to admire the flowers.

The ingredients:

My salvias are having a great year. Here they are again, Mystic Blue and White Flame. The pink flower is known as the tulip of the Treasure Coast. They don’t really remind me of tulips, but I get it. They are actually bromeliads, Billbergia pyramidalis. Green foliage is Asparagus fern and the wrapping leaf is from Blanchetiana Bromeliad (Aechmea blanchetiana). I love the green/mahogany coloration of the Blanchetiana leaves in winter, they are chartreuse in summer.

The weather here has finally turned in favor of gardening. My tomatoes are ripening and spring is in the air. On the down side, the moles ate all the bulbs and tubers, making me realize I should stop wasting money on these lovelies. I also accidentally grew some rabbit tobacco I thought was Chinese Forget Me Nots, oh well. Rabbit tobacco is a weed and a rite of passage in my youth. Boys would smoke it pretending like it was cigarettes! I am told it was harsh, but I never tried it.

Thanks to Cathy for hosting this weekly meme. Follow this link to see more vases.

Six on Saturday – Late Winter Colors

On my weekly garden tour this morning I realized my thinking that cold weather caused color changes in the garden might not be what actually happens. The weather has warmed considerably and now I am seeing the Blushing Bromeliads really looking embarrassed. The garden continues to educate me.

I am joining the group of SOS’ers sharing their garden tours with six items of interest. To join the crowd or visit the other gardens, follow this link to Jim’s blog.

Blushing Bromeliad (Neoregelia carolinae) in full blush, backed up with Quesnelia testudo bromeliads in pink.

Another blusher, Neoregelia ‘MacWilliamsii’, quickly becoming another garden favorite. These are not sharp and like a little or a lot of sun. They are completely green in summer.

I love finding Gallardia flowers in February.

I am hoping this is a future avocado. This is a Cuban Avocado, an unusual variety I had not seen prior to moving to South Florida. A rare one that is true to seed. A friend grew this from seed and brought a small tree to me about seven years ago. The avocados are the size of footballs. Fingers crossed.

The Cuban Avocado tree, about 15 feet tall.

The Sweet Almond (Aloysia virgata) has started flowering again – adding fragrance to the garden.

That completes my weekly tour. Happy Gardening wherever you are.

Six on Saturday – The Year of the Dragon

Welcome to The Year of the Dragon. Chinese New Year is today and what will the Dragon bring to my garden? Above, in celebration of this event I have shared a piece of art created by two local ladies who are responsible for the creation of https://www.facebook.com/tctrashart, A Facebook page dedicated to raising awareness and getting rid of garbage on the beach by creating and sharing art they make from their finds.

I went looking in my garden this morning to find six new possibilities for the Dragon. Fruits and flowers are budding and sprouting, it’s looking promising for the New Year! To tour other garden possibilities, visit the host of this weekly meme, Jim, at his blog.

The Rangpur lime is flowering and has set fruit for next winter. I managed to collect enough fruit and made a pie with the juice and zest this week. We ate it!

Rangpur limes are considered sour oranges as it is a mandarin/lemon cross. So – in Old Florida this would be considered a sour orange pie.

The Mexican papayas I planted from seed last year are now five feet tall and setting buds. Upper right side of photo. Papayas are not true to seed and are either male, female or hermaphrodite. I planted two trees, the other one is looking male, so I hope this one will be female or hermaphrodite.

Zinnias or sunflowers sprouting. I haven’t planted anything in this bed for a couple of years, it was infested with nematodes and has been “lying fallow” to get rid of the buggers. Fingers crossed.

Ice plants, they used to be called Delosperma cooperii in latin. I think the botanists have changed the name again. There are two schools of thought about these growing in South Florida – yes and no. I found some very low priced plants and am trying them. They are looking good so far, August will be the true test.

Alligator Lilies (Hymenocallis latifolia) waiting to find a new home. They are a very pretty native lily, but they are difficult to site in the garden. They are looking for moist, well drained dappled sun and they only make foliage if not in their preferred location. I move them around sometimes, contemplating their next location.

‘Burgundy’ Aechmea bromeliad showing new spring color. These have finally found their happy place. And I don’t want to move them as they are sharp.

That is all from my garden this Saturday. Happy New Year!

Six on Saturday – Succulent Things

It’s finally a sunny, warm blue sky Saturday morning in South Florida. Not to worry about perfect weather, tomorrow’s forecast predicts a 90 percent chance of thunderstorms. So today, I planted sunflower and zinnia seeds. I discovered on my weekly tour my succulent plants are doing well and fruit growing in the garden looks promising for succulent treats. Join other garden tours by visiting Jim’s blog and following the links in the comments section.

I cut my first Rangpur lime this week. It was very juicy, but I did not get quite enough juice for a pie so I froze it until the other lime was ripe and picked it this week. There is a lime pie in my future.

The next lime and my first tomato of the season! I think it is a Lost Marbles tomato.

The mango trees are loaded with flowers and setting fruit. This is a Glenn Mango and the fruit is delicious. This is early for mangoes to set fruit, so I am hoping it all works out.

Baby mangoes are visible on the Thai dessert mango, Nam Doc Mai. This variety reportedly can set fruit four times a year. It has been in the garden for about 8 years and I have never seen more than one crop, last year being the best ever. I was vigilant about fertilizing and we had a lot of rain, so this may be the result of water and food.

Senecio barbertonicus is starting to flower. This is about all you get for flowers, soon there will be dandelion like seedheads.

The indestructible Graptosedum. I dropped a leaf in my bookcase and it sprouted. I use these as pseudoroses in flower arrangements. This one lives in a pot with Fireball Neoregelia Bromeliads and a Desert Rose. Never watered and rarely fertilized.

That’s all from my garden this Saturday. Happy February to everyone.