Category Archives: Tropical gardening

In a Vase on Monday – Pineapple Perspective

After collecting flowers for my vase, I looked at what I had gathered and thought, “What a nice fall vase”.

Then, it dawned on me that fifteen years ago I would have thought no such thing. Moving to a frost free area changes your perspective on what a fall flower is – and then pineapples easily grow outside here. I have developed a pineapple perspective on gardening.

The flowers in the vase bloom prolifically in the fall and late summer to early fall is the prime pineapple season here. The town I live in, Jensen Beach, was at one time the pineapple capital of the world. Rarely, I run across a wild pineapple plant on the barrier island near my house. These are very sharp, the foliage covered in spines and have small pink pineapples.

The flowers:

The flowers are Parrotflowers (Heliconia psittacorum) “Lady Di” in red, and “Choconiana” in orange. These are hard to beat for a touch of tropical in the garden. The colored foliage is “Mammey” Croton (Codiaeum variegatum “Mammey”), a dwarf Croton that works great if a low shrub is needed. Boston Fern (Nephrolepsis exaltata) provides some green texture. The vase in an olive oil cruet that belonged to my mother.

The pineapple:

This is an overripe miniature pineapple with a twisting top. It is probably really seedy, these can be juiced or used for decoration. Either is a dicey situation as the whole thing is very sharp. That’s why it got left on the plant so long. I did not want to handle it.

That is all this Monday from the land of pineapples. Thanks to Cathy at http://ramblinginthegarden.wordpress.com for hosting. Follow the link to see more vases.

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!!

In a Vase on Monday – Flash Fall

I associate the first week of September with cooler weather and the start of fall. This is usually not the case in South Florida. This morning was different. I enjoyed a small flash of fall while walking Fiona the greyhound. A cold front had penetrated the heat dome somehow. The humidity dropped to 50%, a breeze came up off the ocean and it was a clear sunny morning. In celebration of this minor miracle I went in search of an autumnal plant palette.

The fruit is from Cordia boissierei, the White Geiger tree. These seem to flower whenever the mood strikes and have nice clusters of white flowers and fruits. The sulphur butterflies adore the flowers which is an added bonus. The orange Firebush (Hamelia patens) is a garden stalwart and another favorite of the butterflies.

The faux fall foliage is actually from a very colorful tropical shrub. The Piecrust Croton (Codiaeum variegatum). This one does remind me of pie crust and this is the older growth, usually darker in color.

The white daisies, Bidens alba are still out in force plotting to take over the garden, so I cut another bunch. The yellow foliage is also from the Piecrust Croton, this is the new growth. The vase is a historical artifact from the Crate and Barrel, a vintage 70s candle holder that lost its mate somewhere along the way.

That is all from South Florida. I will enjoy the humidity reprieve as long as possible.

Thanks to Cathy from http://ramblinginthegarden.wordpress.com for hosting. Follow the link to see more vases.

Happy Gardening!!

In a Vase on Monday – Bidens Control

Much like the President of the United States; this Bidens is a love it or hate it situation. It’s Bidens alba, a very cute – but very prolific native wildflower. The white daisy in the vase. My husband was in the hospital last week and during the course of his stay we managed to contract Covid. We are both on the mend. The Bidens took advantage and started flowering all over the place. I have been cutting it as birth control. This plant can put out 1200 seeds per plant. It doesn’t take long to have way too much Bidens. It is also called Spanish Needles due to the appearance of the seeds, they stick to everything (especially the dog!) Seeds can be seen in the photo below:

I cut the Bidens regularly and rarely use it in a vase. I have never had this much. I have grown to appreciate the flower by seeing it up close. It is a favorite of pollinators. However, I am happy to have saved myself from having to pull about 4,000 plants!

The rest of the vase:

Brown Eyed Girl Sunflowers smile from the front. I added a few ‘Purple Prince’ Zinnias and Mystic Spires Salvia for color. The vase is from a long ago florist arrangement.

That is all from South Florida . I’ll be relaxing a bit this week. Keeping an eye on the newly named Tropical Storm Idalia. I am a long way from the cone of danger. Wondering who the heck is Idalia?

Thank you to Cathy at http://ramblinginthegarden.wordpress.com for hosting. Follow the link for a world tour of vases.

Six on Saturday – Autumnal Color Pops

The Saturday morning greyhound tour featured a refreshing breeze from the ocean. Visions of cooler weather danced in my head. The fall flowers are coming into season. In South Florida a gardener has to seek fall color and use their imagination.

To tour more SOS gardens, visit Jim at gardenruminations.co.uk

Lemon Blanchetiana Bromeliad (Aechmea blanchetiana) flowers are not something one normally associates with fall color. In my garden they are. Standing about four feet tall and flowering for months starting in late summer with toasty orange and rusty colors, it is a bold statement.

I had just been thinking about how marvelous the Desert Rose (Adenium obesum) looks…when I noticed the evil oleander caterpillar lurking in the foliage. This time of year they show up and eat all the foliage. I may throw them off, or not, they make an interesting black polka dotted moth.

Fruit hanging over the fence from my neighbor’s Areca Palm (Dypsis lutescens). To me, Arecas are the trash plant of South Florida. Overused and jam packed as screening plants, they often develop fungus problems and die en masse. Not pretty, though I like the fruit.

The old reliable. A sunny South Florida native, the Beach Sunflower (Heliathus debilis). These smile through everything.

I have been enjoying the color mix of the succulent containers. Gardeners around here gift succulent cuttings, I don’t think I bought any of these. To the best of my knowledge, I have Flapjack Kalanchoes, grey Graptosedums, Green Haworthia, Jelly Bean Sedum, and Fish hook Senecio. I let the Purple Queen ramble through for a shot of color.

The intrepid Tropical Red Salvia (Salvia coccinea) in pink and red, peering through ‘Java White’ Copperleaf (Acalypha wilkesiana ‘Java White’)

That’s it for this Saturday. I will be seeking cool breezes and fall color a while longer.

In a Vase on Monday – Caveman Style

On Sunday morning I got in touch with my inner cave woman and went to the garden to bag my vase. I didn’t use the prop in the photo, instead a pair of clippers was used to hunt and gather some summery flowers from the garden.

The prop. It’s a Native American stone ax head. This is an heirloom from my father, the geologist, who frequently found these near rivers on his field trips in the Southeastern US. I suppose they were using it for bashing fish (or bashing something?!)

The vase is a jar tucked inside a paper bag. It occurred to me the colors would look nice together so, I gave it a try. Lesson learned from this. Put the jar in the bag first. Then add flowers and water.

The flowers: in white, ‘Miss Alice’ Bougainvillea; yellow sunflowers are ‘Brown Eyed Girl’, still flowering at about seven months in the garden; yellow spikes are Thyrallis (Galphimia glauca); bigger red flower is Miniata bromeliad (Aechmea miniata); red bell shaped flowers are Firecracker Plant (Russellia equisetfolium); white daisies are Bidens alba.

The other side:

Even cave women like a little fragrance, the white flowers are ‘Bridal Bouquet’ Frangipani (Plumeria pudica); a few varigated leaves of ‘White Java’ Copperleaf (Acalphya wilkesiana ‘Java White’); and a ‘Lady Di’ Heliconia (Heliconia psittacorum) is in the mix in red and yellow.

My vase is in the bag this Monday. There will be no fish bashing in the garden. Thanks to Cathy at http://ramblinginthegarden.wordpress.com for hosting – follow the link to see more vases.

Six on Saturday – Rain Flowers

I noticed a few things on my Saturday morning garden tour. Slightly cooler weather, slight being the operative word. And an abundance of flowers in the garden from all the rain. A few of the non native salvias have succumbed to something, but most everything else is very happy.

To take a world tour with SOS gardeners, visit Jim at http://gardenruminations.co.uk

Rain lilies (Zephyranthes or Habranthus) are having their best year ever. I like the name Zephyranthes better, the other one sounds like a dinosaur. Why do the botanists have to change these names constantly?

Meet Bidens alba, sometimes called Spanish Needles due to the sharp seeds. These are fortunately cute and last a long time as a cut flower. A Florida native wildflower – they are unfortunately prolific and require pulling lest they take over the garden.

Another one of my butterfly plants, ‘Sapphire Showers’ Duranta (Duranta repens). This one is a tree form and not very happy about it. It keeps sprouting at the base. Its current form is blob.

An all around good wildlife plant, this is the fruit forming on the ‘Sapphire Showers’ Duranta. These will be attractive yellow berries soon and the birds will enjoy them.

The Dragonfruit or Pitaya has put out a huge new shoot. I am not sure what to think of this as it has been sitting in the garden, doing nothing for years.

The garden announces the peak of hurricane season. These are called hurricane lilies, and other common names. They are a bromeliad, Billbergia pyramidalis. The peak date for hurricane activity is September 6 or thereabouts and these are usually in full bloom by then.

That is all from my garden. Eastern South Florida remains hot and rainy. The west coast is in drought. Go figure. I may try to beat the rain and pull some weeds.

Thanks to Jim for hosting. Happy Gardening.

In a Vase on Monday – Cathy’s Challenge

Last week I challenged myself to create a colorful, informal vase with gardenias. As usual, I chatted back and forth with Cathy at http://ramblinginthegarden.wordpress.com, our IAVOM host. We were talking about my dearth of pastels in the garden. The challenge was not a teapot vase – but one filled with pastel colors. To see more vases follow the link to Cathy’s blog.

A closer view:

It took a while to suss out a total pastel palette. I suppose the light here is so strong I tend towards using higher colors in the garden and have a few pastels. Many are serendipitous (Weeds!)

The long pink flower and foliage is chandelier plant (Medinilla cummingi); pink flowers are annual vinca (Vinca rosea), a perennial here and a weed; yellow flowers hanging over the edge are snapdragons, surprising me by coming up from last years winter annuals seed; blue flowers are plumbago (Plumbago auriculata); green flowers are Envy zinnias; purple backed leaves and flowers are Arabian Lilacs (Vitex trifolia); coral spikes are Tropical Red Salvia (Salvia coccinea).

The teapot is from an antiquing venture long ago, teacups are from my grandmother, cow creamer was a gift from someone and the tole tray belonged to my mother.

Tea, anyone?

I have been baking again. This is vegan. Vanilla cupcake stuffed with pineapple reduction and pineapple buttercream frosting.

In a Vase on Monday – Country Challenge

I am holding out hope for cooler weather as the dog days of summer officially end on August 11. I doubt that will bring an end to our daily high temperatures of over 90 F, but one can dream. September brings an average high of 89. October is when the real cool down begins. Rain is still copious and all the more tropical summer flowers are relishing the moisture and flowering with reckless abandon.

I challenged myself this week to create a vase with gardenias that wasn’t all white or seemingly formal. This is the easy, breezy, country casual gardenia vase. Tropical version.

The vase started out in a mason jar. Very casual country. The clear glass showed too much of the weird and thick tropical stems of the bromeliad and palm. Who ever thought stems would be distracting? The vase needed clothes. A basket a friend sent with a gardenia plant (I killed it, G. jasminoides) was pressed into service.

The red and yellow flowers are parrotflowers (Heliconia psittacorum ‘Lady Di’); the red and blue tipped flowers are miniata bromeliads (Aechmea miniata); white flowers are tropical gardenias (Tabernaemontana diviricata); white green stems with berries are adonidia palm (Veitchii merrillii) unripe fruit; striped foliage is martin bromeliad (Neoregelia martinii); ferny accents are asparagus fern.

Another view:

Thanks to Cathy at ramblinginthegarden.wordpress.com for hosting this weekly array of floral abundance. Follow the link to see more vases.

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!!!