As I was searching the garden for flowers to cut, I started thinking outside the box. Well, I inhabit the area outside the box anyway and it dawned on me that there is fall color in South Florida. It is just not the typical seasonal color changes – it’s the flowers and berries! Such a relief after all these years of feeling deprived of fall color.
With a fresh perspective, I snipped a fall vase and plonked the flowers into a mason jar. Here are some closer views.
Yellow flowers are Beach Sunflowers (Helianthus debilis); orange tubular flowers and berries are Firebush (Hamelia patens); white flowers are ‘White Flame’ Salvia.
Red spike flowers are Tropical Red Salvia (Salvia coccinea); red and yellow flowers are Parrotflowers (Heliconia psittacorum ‘Lady Di’.
One way or another October always makes me happy. Bar hurricanes from that statement. The weather cools and this month marks my return to gardening. I spent Sunday morning in the garden dodging rain showers and toweling Fiona the Greyhound off every time we had to run back into the house.
There are seemingly millions of sticks scattered throughout the garden from the glancing blow of Hurricane Milton. It doesn’t seem like I have enough trees to have produced all of these sticks. They can’t really be raked up, so I have been picking them up one by one. Sisyphus would have loved it.
Some of my favorite native plants flower in the fall. The Juba Bush is one that causes jubilation as does Muhly Grass, both lending their fluffy pastel brilliance to this vase. I cut a handful of blooms and plonked them into my Ute tribe vase, swirled them around and viola!
Closer views:
The Juba Bush (Iresine diffusa) is the creamy white flower. It has a wonderful fragrance and is a good cut flower. The plant, being native, has a mind of its own and will only grow where it decides to. I leave it in the middle of pathways, etc. as I enjoy the flower. Here’s the full story from George Rogers at Treasure Coast Natives if you want to read up on Juba Bush. The peach flower is Tropical Red Salvia (Salvia coccinea) wearing fall colors; a bit of Pink Muhly Grass (Muhlenbergia capillaries)
It’s hard to see these blue flowers in the vase – ‘Sapphire Showers’ Duranta (Duranta repens); they rarely flower – so I plucked a few to enjoy in the house. The white daisies are another native, Bidens alba, I pull and cut these at will – they never go away and will happily grow with no attention whatsoever.
That’s all from my garden this Monday. I hope to be back in the garden with Sisyphus, clearing up the sticks. Follow this link to visit Cathy and see more vases in the comments – RamblingintheGarden
Fall is slowly finding its way to South Florida. October is a month of contrasts – one of the most active months for tropical weather, witnessed last week by the havoc wreaked by Hurricane Milton, it also ushers in welcome cooler temperatures. Sometime around October 15 usually brings the first cold front of the season and it was right on time. Temperatures in the 70s (F) have been experienced for the first time in months. Ahh.
Hurricane Milton passed about 100 miles north of my garden. The havoc wreaked here was by a series of tornadoes spawned by the outer bands of the storm the day before landfall. My area was peppered with these storms packing winds in the 150 mph range. A great deal of destruction ensued and lives and many properties were lost. The hurricane was a snooze compared to the tornadoes. We are unscathed and grateful.
I plucked some cooler colors, fall tones and pseudo fall leaf color for my vase this Monday:
The off white flowers are ‘Miss Alice’ Bougainvillea’, she is leaning a bit towards green having fallen off her trellis in the storm. Blue flowers are Blue Plumbago (Plumbago auriculata) the tropical rains seem to have inspired a new flush of flowers for October. The gold glass container is an olive oil cruet.
Faux fall color is provided by peachy Choconiana Heliconia (H. psittacorum) and the leaf of a Piecrust Croton (Codieum varigatum).
I guess I can pretend I am raking up fall leaves instead of hurricane debris since its October!
Visit our hostess, Cathy, at RamblingintheGarden and follow the links in the comments section to see more vases.
I fully intended to put a tropical mixed vase together..until the predicted tropical rainstorm started and hasn’t let up. I had just cut the Heliconias when the bottom dropped out. This weather is a harbinger of things to come this week. Hurricane Milton is brewing in the Gulf of Mexico and is headed my way or somewhere on the Florida peninsula. The weather pundits are babbling away. I rooted around in my vase stash and came up with a red vase for my downsized vision. Sigh.
A closer view of “Lady Di’ Heliconia (Heliconia psittacorum)
I am thankful for simple pleasures this Monday. Fingers crossed for a safe week for all. Thanks to Cathy for hosting, visit RamblingintheGarden to see more vases.
The pink flower in this vase is a Silver Urn Bromeliad (Aechmea fasciata). The tips go silver and the pale pink deepens to rose as the flowers fade. I like the coloration and have appreciated this flower for quite some time – it opened May 12th! I think I got my money’s worth. They never last very long in a vase, so this is its swan song.
Supporting players in this swan song.
In white, a few Tropical Gardenias (Tabernaemontana diviricata) are still in the garden; varigated foliage is Chicken Gizzard plant (Iresine herbstii). I am told the name originates from the tropical island these plants are from – they were eaten with chicken gizzards. Chartreuse foliage is from an incredibly prolific coleus.
The wispy accents are from another Caribbean tropical, Juba Bush (Iresine diffusa).
We are still dreaming of a fall cool down and thankfully were missed completely by Hurricane Helene.
Here’s a new word for you. Propavasing. This occurs when taking cuttings to root in water, followed by finding a few clean vases around the kitchen sink, plonking and fluffing the cuttings – voila!
The cuttings:
I left some chartreuse coleus in a few pots to dress up later for winter container plantings. Not a good idea – especially when combined with leftover moldy zinnias I let go to seed, hoping for some more hot pink/orange flowers next year. The seeds aren’t quite made yet, but the chartreuse coleus is definitely done. Hence the cuttings.
The vining plants are Turkeytangle Frogfruit (Phyla nodiflora). I have been propagating these and creating a lawn of curated weeds in the front garden. I am very happy with my ‘lawn’ and the butterflies are loving it. TTFF hosts three different types of local butterflies.
The flowers:
Orange tubular flowers are Firebush (Hamelia patens); red and yellow flowers are ‘Lady Di’ Heliconias (Heliconia psittacorum); white flowers are Tropical Red Salvia (Salvia coccinea).
It’s still summer here. The fall colors are not making me feel cooler.
If wisdom is being sought from my vase, it is time to look elsewhere. The sage here is Salvia, I noticed its wonderful sage herbal scent as I was cutting this bunch to fill a crystal pitcher. The crystal pitcher is a wedding gift. I would hazard a guess Tiffany’s would recommend its use to serve orange juice for Mimosas at a fancy brunch — not serving as a receptacle for a native bunch. The native wildflowers in my garden are flourishing from abundant rain in the past weeks. I picked all native wildflowers today.
Closer views:
Red and pink spikes are Tropical Red Salvia (Salvia coccinea) these reseed prolifically and are everywhere. Cutting the flowers saves me some seedling removal chores. The same goes for the white daisies, Bidens alba, incredibly prolific – the pollinators love them so much I almost hate to cut them.
The airy plant in the foreground is native Witchgrass (Dichantthelium spp). These are small grasses that pop up in the garden. They are reminiscent of Panicum. They are not too aggressive so I leave them be.
I’m dreaming of a cold front, realistically, we are a month out from that first delightfully cool day. One can dream. Pop over to Cathy’s blog to view some more vaseage…
The zinnias had their last gasp this week. There were so many buds I could not bring myself to pull them out until I picked the last flowers. I cut the flowers for this vase and pulled all but One plant. The One still out there is a doozy. Hot pink and orange mix. The zinnia plants were huge and required a lopper to get through the main stems, they were woody and an inch in diameter. I have never seen anything like it. Many other plants are at the end of their season and have been included in this mixed vase.
The lone remaining zinnia:
Time for the close ups:
Blue flowers are from the old fashioned favorite, Blue Plumbago (Plumbago auriculata); white flowers with yellow centers are ‘Bridal Bouquet’ Frangipani (Plumeria pudica); white flowers in foreground are Tropical Gardenias (Tabernaemontana divaricata) and yes, the scent wafting from this recycled florist vase is wonderful.
The fruity side, miniature pineapple is ‘Lava’ variety – I think, not particularly edible, but can be juiced. I usually dry them, spray paint them gold and use them in holiday arrangements. Multi colored zinnias are the last of the Zin Master plants – I’m letting the One still flowering go to seed. White daisies are Bidens alba, a very prolific native wildflower.
I’m looking forward to Autumn here. It’s marginally cooler and I just planted the first seeds of the gardening season. This always makes me happy. Cooler weather and new plants!
To see more vases visit Cathy’s blog by following this link RamblingintheGarden
It’s Labor Day, the holiday weekend that marks the end of summer. The plants in my garden are feeling the cumulative effects of summer and slowing down. The zinnias I have enjoyed cutting all summer are very capably catching all the fungal organisms Florida has to offer and displaying them on their foliage. The flowers are visibly smaller. It’s time for removal and renewal. The good news! All the seeds are on sale – the bad news, not everything I would like is available. I am making do by trying some new things and thankful I thought ahead a little and bought my favorite tomato seeds. Last year I had weird tomatoes due to poor timing. The tomatoes were good, just sort of oddly gigantic cherry sized fruit that was not quite red.
What’s in the vase:
Multi colored flowers at bottom of image are ‘Zin Master’ Zinnias; white daisies are Bidens alba; purple spikes are Arabian Lilac (Vitex trifolia) ; pink and white flowers are Vinca (Vinca rosea).
Yellow spikes are Thyrallis (Galpinia glauca); red, white and peach spikes are Tropical Red Salvia (Salvia coccinea). The vase is a thrift store find.
There! A full color display of the summer dregs from my garden. Not bad, all things considered.
For a full late summer garden tour via vases follow this link to visit Cathy’s blog.
It’s the end of summer hot in South Florida. We had a cold front (ha!) come through with Hurricane Ernesto passing by – bringing the daily high down to a bone chilling 88 degrees F/ 31C. I cut flowers early Sunday morning taking advantage of a brief respite from humidity while simultaneously importing a number of green garden spiders into the house. I enjoyed watching the spiders go up and down the sides of the flowers like tiny window washers on a high rise. I am hoping these spiders eat ants as they have tired of the heat as well and are coming inside.
Spider hanging on for dear life.
My Zin Master Zinnias are still going great guns; sadly brown spots are setting in on the foliage. I think this is Mother Nature’s way of telling me to start some new seeds. Now is when seeds are started for winter herbs and veg. After jealously looking at summer tomatoes on other blogs I am looking forward to fresh herbs and vegetables. My favorite parsley collapsed last week.
Survivors of the summer – Zin Master Zinnias and Beach Daisies (Helianthus debilis).
More heat lovers. Red bells are Firecracker Plant (Russelia equisetiformis); white daisies, Bidens alba; Asian Sword Ferns and a few sprigs of white native salvia (Salvia coccinea). The extremely rustic blue mug has the handle glued on – it’s one of those things I wonder why I keep, then I fill it with flowers and spiders and enjoy the color.
Thanks to Cathy for hosting. To see more vases follow the link RamblingintheGarden and check out the comments.
The Shrub Queen 