Category Archives: treasure coast gardening

Six on Saturday – Progress

Since I have been complaining about the lack of rain – we have had the complete opposite this week. South Florida’s classic humidity skyrocketed again followed by daily showers and thunderstorms have been the weather theme this week. I have made some progress on my new beds, they are well watered and establishing, but it is slow going due to the weather.

The lawn replacement is installed and I am hopeful this works. It is hard to express how done I am with St. Augustine turfgrass. Ugh. There is a bit next to the edge of this paver parking pad that needs planting to keep the soil from washing and undermining the pavers. It was turfgrass for several years, we tried two different kinds, then weeds and now I have installed a new groundcover..Tada!

Samantha Liriope, an Liriope muscari variety that has pink flowers, stays low and reportedly grows in Zone 10 in full sun. That remains to be seen. Most Liriope is not good this far south or in the full sun of South Florida. This looks shady now, but gets full fry at mid-day.

The front bed is under renovation. I planted New Gold Lantana and Ice Plant (Delosperma cooperi) in the mulch and am planning to add Goldstrum Rudbeckia behind the rocks in the Salvia border. I have killed every last Rudbeckia I have tried here. They usually succumb to white mold of some sort. My hope is these will be winter annuals at least.

A few surprises appeared in the garden this week. Semi progress. The yellow Pitaya or Dragonfruit finally flowered and started to set fruit. I wish I had seen the flower, this is a spectacular night blooming cactus. Unfortunately, the whole thing disappeared. The yellow Dragonfruit is supposed to be very good.

I have been trying for years to get this Coral Vine (Antigonon leptopus) to climb the fence. It sulked, slowly creeping on the ground. Imagine my surprise when it was inspired to reach the fence.

A new color of Tropical Red Salvia (Salvia coccinea) appeared in the garden this week. I like this color and hope it hangs around. These can have seedling varieties from white to red, orange, coral and pink.

More to go:

Hopefully the rain will slow a bit next week and I can get the rest of the plants in the ground.

Thanks to Jim at http://gardenruminations.co.uk for hosting Six on Saturday. To see progress in gardens across the world follow the link.

Six on Saturday – New for Fall

The Fall Equinox has provided us with some blessed relief from the heat and humidity. A high of 83 degrees F (28 C) is very meaningful. My Saturday morning garden tour found some new things in the garden.

To see more SOS Equinox garden tours visit Jim at http://gardenruminiation.co.uk

After seemingly waiting for a few months, I was finally rewarded with a decent Envy Zinnia.

I like to use locally sourced materials in my garden, we added a new shell and salt finished stepping stone walkway and repaired our slightly washed out shell driveway this week. A closer view below:

The driveway repair. I had the shell drive put in about 10 years ago. As it is used the shells get squashed into sand and begin to wash away, leaving me chasing my driveway down the street. The size of the new shells breaks up the force of the rain water keeping the shells in place. These break up and smooth into a more even surface as the driveway is used.

Much to my delight, I found I still had an active wholesale account with a grower! So I went a little crazy. This bed is prepped for the addition of New Gold Lantana and Ice Plant.

Another driveway erosion correction under construction. I found some Zone 10 recommended Dwarf Lirope called Samantha on the growers website. I will be installing the new plants as soon as possible as these arrive bare root. This paver parking pad has a small concrete edging holding it in place and needs some additional support from a planting to keep it stable. As you can see summer weeds are awful in Florida.

That’s all from South Florida. I will be pulling weeds in anticipation of new plants.

Happy Gardening!!

Funky Florida Flora – Bossa Nova Bromeliad

Meet “Bossa Nova” Bromeliad. Bossa nova means new music in Portuguese and is a style of music that originated in Brazil in the late 1950s, a mixture of jazz and samba. “The Girl from Ipanema” is probably the most famous bossa nova tune, and a prodigious ear worm producer.

True Brazilians, these plants were brought to America from Brazil in 1988. This one does make me dance, just a little. It will grow in a full sun southern exposure in an area with great amounts of reflected light and no irrigation, a bit of a miracle in my world. I had not realized until last year these would grow in full sun, they had been sulking for a few years in full shade and were moved into the light during the proper season – fast approaching, November through March is bromeliad relocation time!

Botanically speaking these are Neoregelia “Bossa Nova”. A stoloniferous groundcover, they reach 12-18″ height and 24″ spread. Neoregelia bromeliads typically flower inside the cup and are planted for their foliage as the flowers are not particularly showy. It is reported to turn red around the cup before flowering. I have not noted this in my garden. Maybe this winter I will see some red coloration.

Sulking in the shade below:

Much happier in a sunnier place:

More funkiness to come! Happy Friday!

Six on Saturday – September Stars.

I took my Saturday morning stroll around the garden and picked some stars. After a remarkably wet summer, the rain spigot has been cut off. Boom, no more water from the sky. I hand watered a little, but it is not my favorite thing to do in hot weather. So, may I present the survivors who are thriving.

For a world wide SOS garden tour, visit Jim at http://gardenruminations.co.uk

Blue Porterweed (Stachytarpeta jamaicensis). This one is living in a shell walkway and I forgot about watering this area. Amazing.

Rangpur limes are still hanging in there. All two of them.

Providing a super tropical vibe is a seedling of a Chinese Fan Palm (Livingstonia chinensis). This seedling is about 8 feet tall. This is 10 or 15 years old. One thing I have learned about palms since living in Florida, they are slow growing for the most part.

The bromeliads, of course, are thriving, water or not. This is a Painted Fingernail Neoregelia coming into flower.

‘Bossa Nova’ Neoregelia putting out pups in a big pot. The mother plant is fading and will likely pass on over the winter.

Several people asked about the Senecio last week. This is the mother plant, about 30 inches tall. These produce yellow aster-like flowers.

That’s all from South Florida this Saturday. Hoping for a little rain and no cyclones!

Happy Gardening!!

Six on Saturday – Florida Weirdness

Another Saturday, another garden tour. My garden is looking a bit end of summer tattered. The rainy season abated for a week or so and we have been enjoying lower temperatures and humidity while watching the massive Hurricane Lee form in the Atlantic. Current predictions give the storm 180 mph winds. Fortunately, it is well away from me and most people, what next week holds is anyone’s guess. The current spaghetti models have it heading to Canada or New England. Here is a link to the models, I find them fascinating. https://www.tropicaltidbits.com/storminfo/

If you are in search of hurricane free garden environments to explore – visit our host Jim at http://gardenrumininations.co.uk

Invasive Agama lizards haunt my screen porch. I am not sure what they are eating, but they are always on this corner. They are about 8 inches long and either yellow or rainbow colored. I always hope something will eat them.

Lacewing eggs on my front porch. I have been watching these for a while and they don’t seem to be making any progress. Lacewings are a beneficial predator, they eat aphids, so I was hoping to see a few.

Miniature pineapples going to seed. The pineapple is shrinking and the top is getting bigger. It is time to cut the top off to propagate new plants.

The Turkey tangle frogfruit lawn is establishing oh so slowly. The plant is supposed to be 3 inches tall and like groundcover. Patience. This started from a rooted cutting.

These Envy zinnias have been sitting in bud for weeks! I am not sure what to do or why this is happening. Too much heat and not enough food?

A successful experiment. I rooted a few Senecio barbertomicus last spring and decided to see if they would live in the garden. They are known for dying if left outside during the rainy season. Both have survived and are thriving and it has been very rainy.

That’s all from sunny South Florida this Saturday.

Happy Gardening!!

Six on Saturday – Succumbed to Temptation

SOS time again! Here is the pretty picture this Saturday. To see more SOS posts for a fascinating tour of what grows where in this world, visit Jim at http://gardenruminations.co.uk

Below is a Dwarf Red Ixora (Ixora taiwanensis) having a really good year.

It’s Saturday morning and after looking around my overgrown garden – I decided to make a confession. I have succumbed to the End of Season bulb sales. The dahlias and gladiolus were too cheap to resist, so I stocked up. The bulbs and tubers arrived in wonderful condition. Stored in dry peat moss and holey plastic bags.

In South Florida, the state of garden weirdness rules and I had to dither about storing the bulbs for a couple of months until I can plant them for winter cut flowers. I asked fellow bloggers about storage and dithered until the dahlias started sprouting. This spurred me into action. I cut the sprouts off, shook the peat moss off and laid the tubers out to dry. Then, decided on the Mousseau method (Chris at County Gardening) wrapped the tubers in cling wrap, rolled them into a paper bag and put them in the refrigerator.

These shall luxuriate in cool, dry air until October at least. I suppose I should have a look at them to make sure they aren’t molding. I could not cope with the idea of sprinkling fungicide on something and keeping it in the refrigerator.

Green Flash Parrot gladiolus joined the dahlias in the fridge. I marked them so my husband won’t eat them. Ha! The last instructions I read about growing glads in Florida was they needed to be coated in DDT to keep insects or everything away. Not happening here and crossing my fingers for future flowers.

All the bulbs made it necessary to reclaim a bed that has been lying fallow for a year due to root knot nematodes. The weeds must be removed and a layer of clear plastic put over the top of the dirt to solarize the bed and kill the nematodes.

Root knot nematode damage. This is a tomato plant that has passed on. You can see the thickened roots and knots on the roots. Nematodes infest the roots and feed on the nutrients, the plants come up, look great and slowly wither away. I have grown some really wimpy vegetable plants, not realizing what was happening. This plant was in a pot, these microscopic worms amaze me, they have gotten into pots set on pavers on my front porch while I wondered why I had the worst herbs ever! Solarizing that pot, too.

Of course, after the bulb and tuber event some new types of seeds were required. The Moonflowers were sent to me by a friend. I am going to try to grow these along with the Bougainvillea for scent this fall. I have not had Orlaya or Buplerum before and look forward to trying these as cutting flowers. I should have some mad green bouquets this winter. Hopefully with dahlias!

Happy Gardening!!!

Six on Saturday – Steamy Summer Florals

Saturday is here again. I took a steamy tour of my garden this morning. The humidity was at 90 percent! I wasn’t sweating, but my skin had condensation on it and so did the windows in my house. The plants continue to thrive and I have a new weed, Rice Paddy Weed.

To join the SOS World Garden Tour – visit Jim at http://gardenruminations.co.uk

The Purple Prince zinnias are gaining strength and size. I am hoping for long stemmed cut flowers. Unfortunately, I usually get short stemmed zinnias.

Hummingbird or cypress vine rambling through white salvia. I am probably going to regret this when all the little seedlings come up – until then I will enjoy the little pops of color.

New flowers on the Medinillia cummingii. So tropical. These grow in tree tops in their native habitat. The green orchid bees love the flowers.

Brown Eyed Girl sunflowers continue to flower. I got these in February and they are still blooming. Oddly, they have lost their brown eye.

Mexican Honeysuckle (Justicia spicigera) is a summer standby.

Another stalwart in the summer garden, Spiderwort, the wildflower is sprinkled around sunny spots in the garden. I love the blue and am not sure which Transcandentia this one is.

Here is the Rice Paddy weed. A new one in my world. I thought it was an old fashioned penta (which would have been great!) so I left it in a pot and came to find out – it is an invasive weed in swamps and rice paddies that can produce 250,000 seeds each flower. As my garden is non-water holding sand I am not feeling afraid but getting rid of it shortly.

I have a question for you gardeners. I have been waiting to try this natural weedkiller, Torched, that is non toxic. It was supposed to be available in smaller quantities than a gallon ($74 gallon plus shipping) but the manufacturer decided against the smaller bottles. Would you pay about $90 US to try this?? Thanks for answering, I am curious. Here is a link:

https://www.southlandorganics.com/products/torched-all-natural-weed-killer?variant=43855976661237

That is it for this Saturday. I wish you Happy Gardening.

Six on Saturday – Small Things

Saturday has rolled around yet again and it is time for the worldwide garden tour called Six on Saturday. To complete the tour visit Jim at http://gardenruminations.co.uk.

Sirius the Dog star is still shining in the night sky, so we are deep into the dog days of summer. It seems the world is a hotter place these days and my garden is no exception. Most days I walk outside, look around, think of several things I should do and then retreat into the air conditioning.

One of the many things I enjoy about gardening is the details of flowers, seeing something new or noticing how plants grow.

These are African Horned Melons, grown by my neighbor. They are very seedy and should be ‘mixed with yogurt’. I tend to avoid vegetables that require yogurt to be palatable and decided to dry these. Christmas ornaments, anyone?

The flower of a Neoregelia Bromeliad.

A new Gumbo Limbo (Bursea simarouba). These trees are native to South Florida and the Caribbean. They are called living fences in some places as a limb can be stuck in the ground and a new tree will grow. A few months ago a UPS delivery truck knocked this branch off another tree, I trimmed the leaves off and stuck it in the ground. Voila! a new tree is growing.

These zinnias are positioning themselves to stay out of the midday sun. It makes for a curly stemmed zinnia.

First summer zinnias. Purple Prince and Envy.

This is not from my garden, but a common summer sight in South Florida. The Royal Poinciana (Delonix regia) These are often called Flamboyants, for good reason. I don’t think there is anything quite like this.

The dog days end in approximately three weeks! I think my dog has the right idea of what to do until then.

That’s all for this Saturday from inside the house!

Happy Gardening!!

Six on Saturday – Balmy and Palmy

Summer is settling in on the Treasure Coast of Florida. Afternoon thundershowers are keeping the garden watered and everything is flourishing, even the weeds. Especially the weeds! Though it is very green. Palms and cycads are hard to resist planting in a tropical garden, so I have several to explore today. To see other Saturday garden explorations visit Jim at http://gardenruminations.co.uk

This is an Adonidia Palm (Veitchii merrilli). Grown from seed by my college friend Eddie, it has been in the ground for about 10 years. The off white things on the trunk are flowers, if left in place they make red fruits that look like Christmas ornaments – it is sometimes called Christmas Palm for this reason.

The Lady Palm (Rhapis excelsa). This one is starting to run in my Rainforest Garden. Super Fireball Bromeliads in the foreground.

A Bottle Palm (Hyophorbe lagenicaulis) just starting to make the bottle. The old fronds eventually fall off revealing a green bottle shaped trunk. The process takes about five years. This palm has been in the garden for at least that long, so I am hoping the fronds will come off soon. They are impossible to pull off now. One thing I have learned about palms – they are slow growing. This was a surprise.

The Dwarf Pygmy Date Palm (Phoenix roebellini). This is one of those plants that needs a friend to make dates. I have read that they will produce dates here, but have never seen any. One thing I did not realize when this was installed was the size of the thorns on the fronds, ouch!

This is a Coontie (Zamia integrifolia) an interesting cycad native to the state of Florida. These were harvested nearly to extinction in the quest to make arrowroot flour from the roots. The roots are deadly toxic and must be washed extensively before milling into flour.

Another near victim of extinction from the arrowroot flour quest is the Atala butterfly whose larvae host exclusively on the foliage of the Coontie. The butterflies were thought to be extinct until a small group was found on an uninhabited key in South Florida in the 60s. Gardeners embraced the plight of the Atala and planted Coonties for them. The Atala population has rebounded, while still considered rare, I see them in my garden from time to time.

The Atala butterfly laying eggs…

Atalas are around in January or June here; so I look for them every day. So far, I have seen some cicadas in the Coontie. Hope springs eternal.

That is all from palm infested South Florida this Saturday. I hope everyone is enjoying summer and experiencing garden happiness.

In a Vase on Monday – June Bride

I was inspired to cut some Tropical Gardenias after they started flowering in earnest. Several afternoon thunderstorms provided the inspiration for the flowering, I think. As I was gathering gardenias it occurred to me it felt like I was carrying a bridal bouquet and it certainly looks like one. This is not a proper hand tied bouquet – it is rubber band secured. The gardenias exude a sticky sap, I am not sure how good this would be to carry down the aisle. They also brown quickly like the more common gardenias. With the addition of the Sweet Almond flowers, the fragrance is amazing.

A closer view:

A closer view:

The vase is a thrift store find I have enjoyed for years. I love the sprays of buds on the Tropical Gardenia (Tabernaemontana divaricata), they last longer than the flowers and rarely open. The white spikes are the very fragrant Sweet Almond Bush (Aloysia virgata). I cut these back about two months ago and they have grown four feet and need another trim. Abundant rain in South Florida is a plant stimulator, I am not sure I even fertilized these. Greenery is from the gardenia and Asian Sword Ferns.

I needed some color and also needed to deadhead the Brown Eyed Girl Sunflowers, so I made another little vase. Continuing the wedding theme, these are for the tables at the reception..

The vase is a Pier One oil jar from who knows when. I trimmed the sunflowers as they needed some air to hopefully help with their tendency for powdery mildew. It has been raining too much to do anything else about the mildew. A few snips of Salvia are included: in blue, Mystic Spires; in white and pink, Tropical Red Salvia. Greenery is a bit of Asian Sword Fern and a few stems of Blue Lagoon Rosemary.

A closer view:

My wedding plans are complete! More than 30 years ago, anyway. Thanks to Cathy at http://ramblinginthegarden.wordpress.com for hosting this weekly meme. Visit Cathy and find more vases to explore.

Happy Gardening!!