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.