Category Archives: treasure coast gardening

In a Vase on Monday – From Florida with Love

img_20200105_110936

As I was putting this vase together it occurred to me there probably isn’t another garden with this mix of plants in January unless it is in Florida. It is a season spanning  concoction. Spring and Summer flowers, some fall berries and pineapple foliage. My husband and I refer to this time of year as Not Summer. The rest of the year is Summer.

The weather during Not Summer is delightful for gardening, highs in the 70s with low humidity and ocean breezes. The climate is not without drawbacks, I cannot let my cat outside as there are several things that might eat her, I believe I have nematodes in my vegetable garden (disastrous), persnickety rabbits ate most of my radishes but only one kind of Basil and I am slightly overrun with Papayas. Not to mention the possibility of hurricanes. I will persevere. Actively looking for Papaya fans. Few takers.

img_20200105_164920

A closer view of the vase:

00100lrportrait_00100_burst20200105111020363_cover

The big pink flowers are Zinnias, despite my best efforts I have no idea what kind. Popsicle sticks labeled everything blah, blah, blah. Planted some free mixed seeds,  but I labeled them something else.  Ironically, my favorite Zinnia thus far.

The  yellow and orange flowers are Gallardia (Gallardia pulchella), Florida natives that reseed freely and invent new colors every year. The chartreusy spike above the Gallardia is a new Celosia (Texas Vintage Rose Mix) from Floret. Described as heart breakingly beautiful like faded velvet or something like that; my heart is not broken yet though  I will  monitor these. Pink stars are Heirloom Pentas (Penta lanceolata). There are a few white  and  peach Tropical Red Salvia (Salvia coccinea). The big orange flowers are from Soap Aloe (Aloe saponaria), red and green foliage from a Miniature Pineapple, purple berries are still hanging around on the Beautyberry (Calliocarpa americana). Birds  have eaten the berries on the other shrubs further out in the garden. These are closer to the house and my dogs may be keeping the birds away.

From last weeks vase, the Dombeya everyone  was interested in. The  wind  died down a bit and here is the whole shrub.

img_20191231_154047

From Florida with Love.

Happy Gardening.

Six on Saturday – New Year’s Projects

For 2020, I decided to add more vegetables to the garden, containers to my screen porch and fix an ongoing drainage problem.

img_20200101_124151

See all  the sand on the porch? I am adding a walkway and a wall to hopefully capture most of it. I have planted the pots with vegetable seeds – lettuce, spinach and  root vegetables.

The walkway under construction, landscape fabric filled with drainage gravel will go under the area where most of the water flows.img_20200104_095639

A concrete mermaid will be added  along with crushed shell and stone in front of the pots to help with drainage. Here is the mermaid, I call her me-maid as I have grey hair and brown eyes, considering adding glasses. And  fixing her arm, oops

img_20200104_095250

 

Replanted pots on the screen porch: A Fireball  Neoregelia Bromeliad, Flapjack Kalanchoe and Boston Fern. All transplanted from the garden.

 

img_20200104_095730

Another pot. The dark Bromeliad is Luca Neoregelia, the green one is Super Fireball, a bit of Asian Sword Fern and Wandering Jew (Transcandentia zebrina) More garden transplants.

img_20200104_095725

Papaya seedlings grown from the fruit of my tree. Papaya trees grow fast and don’t last long so you need back up trees for continous Papayas.

img_20200104_095423

That’s my New Year’s SOS, join the Saturday fun at  http://www.thepropagatorblog.wordpress.com.

Happy New Year and  Happy Gardening.

In a Vase on Monday – Dombeyas End the Decade

img_20191229_100435

Dombeyas fill the last vase of the decade. Ten years ago, I did not blog; I did not live in Florida and I did not know what a Dombeya was. What a difference a decade makes.

We have spent the past few weeks cooking and going to holiday parties. My husband and I enjoy cooking but we are taking a break and fortunately have leftovers. He is a great pie baker – this year making an apple, a pumpkin and a Rangpur Lime pie with fruit from my neighbor’s tree. I need to get back to the garden to work all the calories off.

00100lrportrait_00100_burst20191224174455859_cover

Here is a closer view:

The  pink flowers are the Dombeyas (Dombeya wallichii); the burgundy and silver striped leaves are Transcandentia zebrina, sometimes called Wandering  Jew; the silvery succulent is  the flower of a Flapjack Kalanchoe and the ferns are Boston Ferns (Nephrolepis exaltata).

00100lrportrait_00100_burst20191229100332806_cover

Dombeyas are sometimes called Tropical Hydrangeas though they are not related to Hydrangeas but belong to the Mallow family. Hydrangeas have their own family (Hydrangeaceae). Here is the Dombeya flower in situ. The shrub is about 9 feet tall and wide and the leaves are at least a foot wide and fuzzy. The bees love the flowers and I brought one in with the flowers. I think of them as reverse Hydrangeas since the flowers hang under the foliage.

00100lrportrait_00100_burst20191229102516193_cover

Happy New Year and Happy New Decade, hopefully the twenties will roar again. But, nicely and with many flowers.

A heartfelt Thank You to Cathy for hosting this wonderful weekly meme. More vases may be seen in the comments of her blog http://www.ramblinginthegarden.wordpress.com.

Six on Saturday – The Deluge

img_20191213_093746

One day this week we had 4 or 5 inches of rain,  this wheelbarrow full of water is from that storm. The crushed shell residue is from my work on the cleaning and touching up the pathways in my garden.

Below you can see the cleaner part at the bottom of the photo is the new shell, well water irrigation has been staining the shell rust, and I have redone the irrigation so it doesn’t spray on the walkways – the rain helped by compacting the shell.

 

img_20191213_095417

The rain also made this fungus open and let loose their spores. We called these puffrooms when I was a child. And stomped on them.

00000img_00000_burst20191213095505817_cover

I had to tie the Snow Peas up.

img_20191213_095748

The rain also gave me some flowers: Pineapple Sage (Salvia elegans)

00100lrportrait_00100_burst20191213095343329_cover

And a new flush on the Porterweed (Stachytarpeta jamacaensis)

00100lrportrait_00100_burst20191116083407155_cover

A little rain can be a good thing, it has been fairly dry here lately. I just looked at the weather radar, more storms on the way!

That’s the six from my garden this Saturday.

To see more Six on Saturday posts,  go to http://www.thepropagatorblog.wordpress.com

Happy Gardening. Stay dry.

Six on Saturday – Waiting for Dorian

I live on the Atlantic side of South Florida and for most of this week, we have been watching now Hurricane Dorian forecasts. Our area has gone from obliteration to partial obliteration, currently, the storm is predicted to not hit us, no obliteration! At least for this morning. I took photos of things that might be blown away by the wind.

First, my Dombeya, it is a tropical version of a Hydrangea. I have been pruning it into a tree form all summer. These flower in December with pink balls hanging below the branches.

img_20190830_092302

Second, a pink Tropical Red Salvia (Salvia coccinea) – these can flower white, pink, red or neon orange. I enjoy the little color surprises from the seedlings.

img_20190830_092323

Next, the Blanchetiana Bromeliads in bud. These flower stalks are about 6 feet tall and will survive high winds, blooming while bent over later this fall.

 

img_20190830_092448

Fourth, the Red Shrimp Plant (Justicia brandegeana). These are a Florida passalong plant that came from my neighbor, they bloom off and on year round.

img_20190830_092547

The flower of Setcresea pallida, Purple Hearts, these tend to appear in the garden and I enjoy their purpleness.

img_20190830_092638

Last, the native Chapman’s Goldenrod (Solidago chapmanii, I think) Chapman was an early plant explorer in Florida and many native plants carry his name.

img_20190830_094246

Happy Gardening, I hope all these plants are here next Saturday.

Funky Florida Flora – Snake Plants

This is my side yard. When I moved to South Florida and rounded the corner of my new (old) house I could hardly believe my eyes.

Brain says “Snake Plant”, a person from much further north says “Not possible”. Oh, but it is. I would guess there is a ten-foot wide band of Snake Plant alongside my house- yes, Sansiveria and/or Mother in Law’s Tongue and the band is at least a hundred feet long. And they flower. I have cut them for arrangements, not a particularly long-lasting flower, but kind of interesting.

House plants run amok. One has to wonder, did someone throw out Snake Plant a hundred years ago and this is the result.

Snake Plants are considered invasive in South Florida. I have managed to make a dent in some of them:

20190207_100010-1

Yes, that is a pile of Snake Plants in front of a Bobcat (not the feline version) It is strange to me that we (my husband and I) would rather look at a telephone pole than all the Snake Plants and assorted garbage (Brazilian Peppers, another story for another day)

The Snake Plants grow running tubers (if that is a word) similar to Ginger. It is nearly impossible to pull up without breaking it and when it is broken it just reproduces – hence, the Bobcat.

Our landscapers are now mowing over the tubers weekly; we will see if the mowing actually helps.

I read somewhere a Snake Plant as a houseplant will clean the air. This means having one of these things in my house – and watering it. Um, no.

I am going to pass on that and use them in a vase. One less for the Bobcat. Here is a Vase with Snake Plant.

20180107_164420-1

Funky Florida Flora – Jamaican Caper

00000img_00000_burst20190522092749300_cover

One of my favorite Florida natives (people not included) started to flower last week, the Jamaican Caper (Capparis cynophallophora). This plant is related to the culinary caper, but is not edible for humans – though birds enjoy the fruit. One of the interesting things about this plant is the flowers start white and the next day turn purple.

00100lportrait_00100_burst20190523085230238_cover

The different colors make for a more colorful show and contrast nicely with the olive green and brown backed evergreen foliage. If you look closely at the foliage you can tell something has been munching on it. This is also a host plant for the Florida White Butterfly, many have stayed in my garden after starting life on the Jamaican Caper.

Screenshot 2019-05-23 at 2.42.52 PM

The Jamaican Caper is reported to be a large shrub/small tree. I think it must be fairly slow growing as I have had one several years and it is only 3 feet tall. Although, my husband ran over it with the lawn mower and I moved it during the dry season.

This is a pretty good plant.

In A Vase on Monday – Shell Loopy

20190224_131521_Burst01

The Shell Gingers (Alpinia zerumbet) are flowering again. This is such a dramatic plant, I think it should be displayed on its own. Of course, me being me, I had to do something with it. Feeling there was a bit too much foliage in the arrangement I cut a lot of it out, enjoying the gingery fragrance and wishing for a Thai food lunch. As I was in a state of ‘garden dress’, lunch out was out of the question; so I persevered with my arrangement. I rolled some leaves into loops and added a few red burgundy Blanchetiana Bromeliad leaves.

20190224_131606

Shell Ginger needs a bit of shade to be at its best. Last year, my neighbor destroyed all the shade, removing trees on the other side of the fence. Oddly enough, the Ginger has responded with lighter foliage and a bounty of buds, the likes I have never seen before. It will be interesting to see what happens next.

20190224_131553

News from the garden. I have been reporting/complaining about my Papaya experience. Well, the tree added some newly hermaphrodite flowers and now I am getting female and mixed (hermaphrodite) flowers – and more fruit. Four, so far. I can’t wait to see what the tree produces. Here is the first fruit from last week.

20190219_163841

In A Vase on Monday – Tea Time

20190120_105154-1

Wintry weather has arrived in South Florida. Having had a warm and too dry winter thus far a bit of rain was welcome, my suspicion is the wind following the rain will blow the moisture out of everything. Myself included.

Seems like a really good time for a cup of tea. I brewed a cup of English Breakfast and got the antique teapot from Rington Limited Tea Merchants down to serve as my vase. It seemed there was not much blooming, after the rain stopped and the sky cleared I went out and looked. To my surprise, I shortly had assembled a vase with an unusual combination of plants.

20190120_105252

The pink balls are from the Dombeya (Dombeya wallachi);  white flowers spilling over the edge are Sweet Begonia (Begonia odorata); a few purple Ground Orchids (Spathoglottis ‘Cabernet) are peeking out about above the Begonias; the yellow daisies are Beach Sunflowers (Helianthus debilis); the purples are Lilac Emperor Zinnias and Tampa Verbena (Glandularia tampensis); the backdrop of burgundy leaves is Red Giant Mustard ( I don’t eat it, I use it in winter containers) other greenery is another form of Asparagus Fern that pops up in the garden.

20190120_105455-1

We have added a new family member, meet Fiona the greyhound. She is going to be a garden hound, I think. She waits patiently by the gate while I putter around in the garden.

20190116_173122-1

In A Vase on Monday – Mostly Wildflowers

20181014_122435-1_2

This vase is a result of my plant shopping trip last week. I posted some pictures last week on my blog from the tropicals nursery I visited with a friend (made through gardening on social media, not blogging, though). The idea for the vase was started by another nursery we visited, Indian Trails Natives Nursery located in Lake Worth, Florida. Here is a link to their website Indian Trails

 

 

The nursery has an extensive stock of native plants, a demonstration garden and they will give a price list. Meaningful. I bought several plants and decided to deadhead my new Black Eyed Susans in hopes of more flowers -the genesis of this vase.

20181014_115041

I have been working on my native pollinators garden for a little over a year. The results are amazing, so I keep adding butterfly and bee plants concentrating on natives. My big however is … I don’t feel that it’s mandatory that every plant is native. I would go as far as to say non natives enhance the appeal of the garden to pollinators. No elitism in my garden!

20181014_114937-1

Plants in this vase include: the Black Eyed Susan (Rudbeckia hirta) – these are Florida’s native Black Eyed Susan, I grew Rudbeckia fulgida ‘Goldstrum’ further north and tried to grow these Rudbeckia from seed to no avail. Hopefully, the plants fare better and I end up with too many. Red flowers are Tropical Red Sage (Salvia coccinea); blue flowers are from Porterweed (Stachytarpeta); off white spikes are Wireweed (Don’t know whatis); white flowers are from the one non native, Sweet Almond (Aloysia virgata) hailing from Argentina, our native (endangered) Atala Butterflies love this one. Pink plumes are from Muhly Grass (Muhlebergia) just starting their fall show; the sticks are from the native grape Muscandines (Vitis rotundifolia) – I stripped the leaves, the raccoons ate all the grapes.

20180714_074527-1

Here’s our native Atala butterfly emerging from their chrysalis on native Coontie Palms. Their mom enjoyed nectar from Beautyberry and Sweet Almond before settling down to lay eggs.