Category Archives: snowbird gardening in south florida

Six on Saturday – Hallelujah

Time for six pictures of what going on in my garden. I am joining in with gardeners from around the world on The Propagators blog, follow this link to see more posts THELINK

The Hallelujah Billbergia Bromeliad has finally bloomed. Flowers and foliage don’t get much crazier than this one:

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Here is another Bromeliad flower, I think of these as the tropical version of tulips. Meet Quesnelia testudo, this one has very sharp foliage and one of  the hardiest of  the Bromeliads, surviving 25 degrees (F).

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Another Bromeliad, an unnamed Guzmania in full flower.

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The seedling of a Strangler Fig (Ficus aurea) growing in my Tiki. I need  to take  this out soon.

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A bud of yet another Bromeliad, ‘Little Harv’ Aechmea. These are yellow and pink when in full flower.

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My Leonitis flower, I am very pleased about this one I started it from seed last year and it has straight stocky stems. The plants from last year were curved and languished on the ground when flowering.

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That’s my six this very windy day. The wind has been howling since yesterday morning. It is a north wind so gusty it blew the Papayas off the tree and the cushions off the chairs on the screen porch. No gardening today for me.

In a Vase on Monday – Winter Cheer

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Our air conditioner has been running today, this always seems odd to me given the month is February. This explains why I have Summer flowers to provide Winter cheer. It’s warm in South Florida!

Despite the black vase, the colors of the flowers are so bright and happy and the foliage is Pineapple Sage – It’s like a bowl of summer radiating an herbal fruity scent of the tropics in my foyer. During the completion of the arrangement I had to relocate two whitish green garden spiders  (with the long front legs) outside and suffer a proper foliage selection dither (chartreuse or deep green?) Pineapple Sage won based on color and scent.  I was cheered by this vase once I finished it.

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The vase is a thrift store find I have enjoyed tremendously, I hope whoever made it feels the happiness it generates for me. I placed a glass flower frog inside the vase to support my Zinnias; they are oddly short stemmed (day length not long enough?) A majority of the flowers were grown from seed by me. This is a first for me as I usually buy plants and not seeds. The seeds were a bit of work – the results have been fun to witness.

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There are two colors from the Texas Vintage Rose Celosia mix hanging over the edge, the  jury is still out on this series of seed. The plants are just not that attractive, and in my heart, I think Celosia is weird. Trying to keep an open mind as is does thrive in my sugar sand. So far, anyway, I will be interested to see what summer brings.

The Zinnias are a mystery – I  planted several kinds of seeds and these don’t really look like any of the pictures on the seed packets. Yellow and red Gallardia (Gallardia pulchella) and a seedhead are stalwarts in my garden and provide nectar  for many butterflies – the Tropical Red Salvia  (Salvia coccinea) in the background (in peachy mode) does as well. The thick stems with blue flowers are Blue Porterweed (Stachytarpheta jamaicaensis) another amazing nectar plant for butterflies. The backdrop of fragrant chartreuse foliage is from Pineapple Sage (Salvia elegans) there is a red Pineapple Sage flower in there as well.

I have been having trouble commenting on blogspot blogs  – if anyone knows how to fix this please let me know! Thanks.

Happy Gardening!

Six on Saturday – Pole Beans and Papayas

It’s time for Six on Saturday. A garden meme based in the UK; hosted by The Propagator. The concept is to post photos of six items of interest from your garden. Follow this link to see more:THE LINK.

I have flowers, fruits and vegetables coming along in my garden. Today I had a papaya for breakfast and picked pole beans. I may make a Papaya Seed dressing for the beans later, this papaya had especially peppery seeds.

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The Mango trees are busy making fruit and they are big enough to see the difference in varieties. This is a Nam Doc Mai, a fiberless Thai dessert Mango.

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This is a Pickering, a condo Mango – dwarf varieties that bear fruit early.

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A pineapple flower, just starting.

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Buds on the Lotusleaf Begonia

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And  buds on the Leonitis, I love these spiky ball buds and flowers. I am proud of these, started from seed in September.

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That’s my six from South Florida.

Happy Gardening.

In a Vase on Monday – More Love

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It’s Valentine’s week so…another red vase for the month of love. I  am realizing another oddity of tropical gardening. It is February and I have several types of red foliage to choose from for this vase. Croton foliage is in the vase, but I have several red Bromeliads and Copperleaf foliage as well. Color rules the tropics.

There is also fruit in this vase, it is winter and the fruit has been forming since fall. Which is kind of normal? Or should I say typical? Here is a close up:

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The red vase is a thrift store find. The red flowers are from Tropical Red Salvia (Salvia coccinea); red foliage is from Mammey Croton (Codieum variegatum); chartreuse winged fruit is from Sweet Begonia (Begonia odorata ‘Alba’)  and the berries are from Firebush (Hamelia patens)

I have been collecting ingredients for a different Valentine’s treat, a tradition in our house.

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The recipe is called ‘A Very Good Chocolate Cake’ by Edna Lewis, my favorite Southern cookbook author. I have tweaked it a bit over the years, but usually make for my husband’s birthday and  Valentine’s Day. Suffice it to say I will get my cholesterol  bloodwork done before February 14th!

Happy Valentine’s Week!

For more vases on Monday – follow link to Cathy’s blog VASES

Six on Saturday – More Bromeliads and Caterpillars

I went to a plant sale today with only cash to stop myself, I came home with 13 cents and had lunch, all in all a pretty good day.

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This is one of the new Bromeliads, Vriesea ospinae gruberi, usually extremely expensive – I found this for $20, a third of the usual price. Grabbed it. Here it is in the garden, sitting in it’s pot. I may leave it here.

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My first ripe Passionfruit, much tarter than expected, frozen for future cocktails.

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Another new Bromeliad, Tillandsia ionantha. I am planting it a booted palm. These are flowering and new to me, I will be interested to see what happens next.

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A  Lotus Leaf Begonia, people usually stop when they see this, the leaves are about a foot wide. Flowers are white and less thrilling than the foliage.

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The latest butterfly in waiting in my garden, this is a Long Tailed Skipper caterpillar. I  did not know what it was and thought it was a pest, several have folded the leaves on pole beans. I posted it on Facebook, a fellow enthusiast identified the caterpillar so I left them alone. I had the butterflies all  summer and look forward to more.

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That is my Six for this Saturday. To see six gardening related photos from gardens around the world follow this Link to Propagator!!

Happy Gardening!!

In a Vase on Monday – February Love

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This vase marks the first for February, the month of love. I challenged myself to create a  shades of red vase in honor of February.

The combination of plant material is unusual, to say the least, ordinarily (not sure why) I don’t like to combine tropical plants with non tropicals, but this is meant to be love struck pinks.

The construction of the vase is a bit unusual as well, the red container is from Christmas, too lightweight for the thick stemmed Shell Ginger. To conquer this issue, I placed a glass pickle jar inside the red container – it was too tall and I covered the jar with Bromeliad foliage. Here is a closer view:

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The  pink and white flowers are Shell Ginger (Alpinia zerumbet); these are just about to burst into full bloom, really buds. The center plant is a Zinnia of unknown heritage that looks a lot more pink in the garden. The beige and pink flowers are Texas Vintage Rose Mix Celosia grown from seed supplied by Floret. The green tracery in the background is the flower of Dracaena reflexa. The foliage around the base is from a Blushing Bromeliad (Neoregelia carolinae).

Another close up:

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Happy Month of  Love!

For more Vases on Monday filled with flowers from all over the world follow this link to Cathy’s blog In A Vase on Monday

Six on Saturday – Winter Color

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This is a Blushing Bromeliad (Neoregelia carolinae); they only blush in winter the rest of the year the foliage is solid green.

Here is another Bromeliad – the Hallelujah Billbergia, it’s flowers  are red, white and blue later in the year and are quite a sight with the purple spotted foliage. The green coloration comes out in winter.

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The fruit of Candy Portea Bromeliad, it flowers in the fall, the fruit is purple at first and later turns white. The foliage is also purple, so this is a striking plant.

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Real fruit in the form of a pole bean. I love fresh green beans and am looking forward to this.

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Seedheads on a Sweet Begonia (Begonia odorata ‘Alba’). I like the seeds as well as the flowers and use them in arrangements.

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It has been a surprisingly rainy dry season and here is the proof – a Rain Lily.

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That is my Six for this Saturday, for more photos of six things from gardens around the world, go to host blog, here is the link.The Propagator

In a Vase on Monday – Bromeliad Cachepot

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I decided to do something different this week. This is a pot of Bromeliad cuttings from my garden. The cuttings are in a 1 gallon nursery container double potted inside the cachepot. These Bromeliads are so bulletproof they are planted in old dried out potting soil and sand, a very well drained mix that will serve them well for months to come.

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Here is one of the cuttings, a Super Fireball Neoreglia, wonderful groundcover and hard to kill. One of my favorites. It grows almost on a runner (actually a stolon), the mother plant (on the left) dies and generally makes two or three pups like this one. The mother plant is cut off and  thrown away, I always feel bad about this. The roots are left intact and placed inside the nursery container.

Super Fireball Neoregelia in the garden, cold weather makes the red and peach coloration come out, these are closer to green in summer.

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Another  view:

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The cachepot is Portmerion, bought years ago on an antiqueing mission with my mother. The pot is a favorite of mine, but I rarely have houseplants as I have a strong tendency to kill them. The Bromeliads should last for months and root into the pot.

From above:

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These are all Neoregelia Bromeliads, grown primarily for foliage. The flowers are not very exciting. I know two of the four varieties – there are 3500 types of Bromeliads and I lost track of some or never knew the name ( i.e. bought at a garage sale for 5 bucks) The bigger chartruese plant with the red center (the center turns red with cooler weather) is a Blushing Bromeliad (Neoregelia carolinae). The Burgundy with green center and no spots is Super Fireball, the spotted ones I have not a clue the species. The grey plant in the foreground is a succulent – a Graptosedum of some kind that a friend gave to me, they enjoy the same soil conditions and I have a few in containers with Bromeliads on the porches at my house. Spanish moss is used for fill in the edges (and hide the black plastic nursery pot) is also a Bromeliad (Tillandsia usneoides)

Happy Gardening!

For more vases from around the world, visit Cathy at http://www.ramblinginthegarden.wordpress.com.