Category Archives: Tropical gardening

Gardening Outside Your Zone

Burgundy Loropetalum in Atlanta

Burgundy Loropetalum in Atlanta

The song by the Rolling Stones goes, and I am paraphrasing  “You can’t always get what you want, but if you try sometimes you get what you need.” Sage words. That made me remember I want to plant some sage..

There are many transplants here in Florida – people and plants as well. The people are trying to grow the plants they know from home, maybe 4 hardiness zones north. The plants are unhappy. I was surprised by the number of folks trying to grow Lilacs in South Florida. Lilacs grow in the Northern US, not South Florida. South Florida may be the mold and mildew capital of the world and Lilacs are extremely susceptible. Of course, there are some delightfully fragrant plants that people in the North are trying to grow that thrive here and are really well suited for this climate- on it goes. Ylang ylang, anyone? If for no other reason it would be fun to try this because of the name. I actually had a vanilla orchid for a while, but I think one of my dogs stepped on it.

Tabebuia

Tabebuia

I am as guilty as the next gardener, to a certain extent. I like the new and unusual and there is a lot to see when you move to the tropics. My favorite tree ever, the Autumnalis Cherry, cannot be grown here. I readily accept that because of the other trees that can be grown here. My new favorite is Tabebuia which I have just found with orchid colored flowers – the Ipe Tabebuia. I also like the yellow one because of the nice corky bark. It is a dilemma to choose between the two, fortunately the back garden of my house is, well, um, non-existent. So, I can have either.

Burgundy Loropetalum in South Florida

Burgundy Loropetalum in South Florida

I have succumbed to Zone pushing by planting some Burgundy Loropetalum. One of my favorite shrubs from the frozen north. This is not supposed to grow in Zone 10, my research says Zone 9 is it for the Loropetalum. But I found one for 5 bucks and decided to try it. It is cheerfully blooming in my front yard in January. You may notice the Atlanta Loropetalum is robust and more than 6 feet tall. The one here in Florida tops out at 8 inches and looks a bit chlorotic. I guess it is time to wait and see.

Recovering the Herb Garden

 

Terracotta Herb Container

Terracotta Herb Container

I have had abdominal surgery twice in two years. This has been detrimental to the quality of my herb and vegetable garden. The last surgery was in October and (knock wood) there are no more holes in my gut to repair. Yay, I have been pulling weeds (and am able to pull weeds!-very exciting) in an attempt to reclaim my two herb beds.

These two beds were constructed a couple of years ago and contain the most fertile soil on the otherwise laughably infertile sand dune I live on. The pure fecundity and variety of the weeds I removed was astounding. What is also interesting is the Rosemary, Bay and German Thyme have all managed to survive the onslaught. Thyme isn’t even supposed to grow this far south. Go figure. I like to use all of these herbs and have clipped the tips off while allowing innundation of the rest of the plant so things are a bit leggy or perhaps I will decide these are simply tree form herbs. Garden problem solving at its finest. The tree form.

Reclaimed Rosemary

Reclaimed Rosemary

I think the Rosemary will be OK. My experience with Rosemary is if cut back too hard it tends to die. Oddly enough the  Rosemary is leaning in the direction of the winter wind, it gives a sculptural effect to the plant.  I discovered the Chives had made bulbs about three times bigger than any I had seen before:

Overgrown Chives?

Overgrown Chives?

I looked at these and realized I probably have enough Chives for a restaurant. Chives, in my experience make maybe 1/2″ bulbs and retain circular foliage. These bulbs are 3 times bigger and the foliage is flat and not particularly tasty. My best guess is to divide and conquer, so I chopped them into bits and replanted them into a shadier area. Time will tell about the success of the chive chopping.

I have been using a terracotta container on my front porch for most herbs while the bigger beds languished in benign neglect. Currently the pot has Parsley, Creeping Rosemary, German and Lemon Thyme and Basil. It is close to the kitchen and a real plus is that the cats can’t get to it.

The refurbishing of the garden begins tomorrow. I have collected Lemon Thyme, Dill, Cilantro, Snow Peas and Radishes to grow with the existing Tree Formed Rosemary and Bay.

Hopefully it doesn’t rain.

Fruits of the Labors of Friends and Neighbors

Local Bounty

Local Bounty

It’s Citrus season here in South Florida and everybody has some. Here is some homegrown produce I have collected recently. From the left, Honeybells grown by a friend of my neighbor, Meyers Lemons and Everbearing Persian Limes grown by my college roomate’s husband, a Cuban or Catalina Avocado grown by him as well and Blood Oranges from my neighbor the Chef.

Homegrown citrus is radically different from what might be procured further north. I was taken aback by this with the first taste of a Lime from my back garden (Persian of course) Juicy, fragrant and magnificently Limey (not like the British) I wonder if the term limey comes from a British tendency towards Gin and Tonic. I digress, here is my newest Persian Lime. I am told these bear fruit 4 times a year – I planted this about 6 months ago and have had two crops even though my husband ran the weedeater too close and stripped the bark off. The tree had to be pruned andmoved in mid August for its own safety.

Persian Lime in fruit and flower

Persian Lime in fruit and flower

Here’s another thing peculiar to Florida, in honor of the end of the holidays I am posting a Christmas gift photo, yes, I had to ask what is was:

The Nautical Christmas Tree

The Nautical Christmas Tree

Of course, the Nautical Christmas Tree was made in China.

Happy Gardening, I’ll be snacking on a Blood Orange.

New Years Day in My Garden

The turning of the year is a time for taking stock of what you have and looking forward to the future of what will be added to the garden. Here is what is currently in bloom in my garden.

This is an Aechmea Bromeliad and outstanding in its interesting flower. I have a feeling I am going to find out that is a bract or something.

Blanchetiana Bromeliad

Blanchetiana Bromeliad

This is an unnamed cultivar of Heliconia, I see it called Parrotflower in the trade. I have yet to see a parrot.

Sweet Begonias are new to me, Begonia odorata, I rarely catch the scent from this, but it has been blooming nearly nonstop since last spring.

Heliconia psittacorus

Heliconia psittacorus

Sweet Begonias

Sweet Begonias

Doesn’t everyone have a Purple Oxalis?

Purple Oxalis

Purple Oxalis

This may be my new favorite plant, a native groundcover used for controlling beach erosion, the Dune Sunflower was planted in the middle of summer in an unirrigated bed by the side of the road. I bought the plants on sale for $1.oo(US) each because they looked bad and the grower wanted to get rid of them. A couple of months later and a little TLC and these are madly blooming with little care. What’s not to like?

Dune Sunflower Helianthus debilis

Dune Sunflower
Helianthus debilis

The Tibouchina is another sporadic bloomer, love the purple though. The Shrimp Plants have been blooming nearly nonstop since last spring on my porch. I have unsuccessfully tried to root them.

The Glory of the Princess Flower

Tibouchina

Shrimp Plant Pachystachys lutea

Shrimp Plant
Pachystachys lutea

 

Some of these plants bloom nearly year round like the Ixora below, I call this the Azalea of South Florida because most people who garden have a few. A reliable plant that comes in several colors and sizes.

Dwarf Red Ixora Ixora taiwanensis
Dwarf Red Ixora
Ixora taiwanensis

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I feel as if I have been making steady progress in the garden having started it almost three years ago. I have definitely learned a lot about tropical plant material, and am looking forward to learning more.

My next project is to divide the bromeliads as the cooler weather has them sending up pups:

Burgundy Aechmea Bromeliad

Burgundy Aechmea Bromeliad

Then replant my herb garden, I found Lemon Thyme here last week after a three year quest and am very happy.

Happy New Year and Happy Gardening.

Merry Kitschmas and Flapjack Plants

 

CAM00060-1If you are in search of kitschy Christmas decorations, South Florida should be your destination. Within walking distance of my house we have lighted Flamingo Santas, Santa on a surfboard full of presents crashing into a palm tree and my favorite, a full sized sled with Santa pulled by 8 Flamingos (pink, of course) Very festive and very kitschy.

I have to say I really love the Flamingos, having spent many years in the company of proper design professionals a few Kitschy Flamingos just make the holidays more enjoyable. The mascot for my Landscape Architecture class in college was the Pink Flamingo.

Tonight Santa arrives in my neighborhood in a convertible Mustang complete with Christmas lights and the stereo blaring Christmas carols, drives around and gives candy to the children in the neighborhood.

Blooming in the garden is another sort of kitschy plant, the Flapjack Plant. I had originally thought this was a variety of Jade Plant (Crassula, for botanical name lovers) The Flapjack Plant turns out to be a Kalanchoe thyrsiflora, hmmm, interesting. These are used as summer annuals further north,  but are perennial in South Florida. I had never seen one bloom, the flower spike makes the plant about four feet tall.

Flapjack Flowers

Flapjack Flowers

The foliage looks less like flapjacks as it gets bigger:

Flapjack Foliage

Flapjack Foliage

Kind of red and green in the spirit of Christmas?!

Happy Holidays, Merry Kitschmas, er, Christmas and Happy Gardening..

 

Pygmy Date Palm – Friend or Foe

Pygmy Date Palm Phoenix roebellini

Pygmy Date Palm
Phoenix roebellini

I had a Pygmy Date Palm installed last year in front of my house. This is a dwarf palm rarely exceeding 10 feet in height and it looks great in front of my bathroom window. I selected a triple trunk palm to accent the house and landscape because as the largest element in the foundation planting  it needed some mass.

These palms are native to Southeast Asia and are common in South Florida. They actually do bear dates, but a male and female plant is required. I am perfectly happy without dates. Dates have always reminded me of roaches and I just don’t like to eat them.

I let the palm grow for about a year before attempting to prune it. Pruning done right reveals a trunk that resembles neatly stacked rows of whole wheat crackers- I have heard these called Triscuit Trees. What is not mentioned is the enormous spines at the base of the palm fronds. The spines are up to two inches long. Somewhere in a jungle I think Pygmies used these for poison darts. Later in the week I was talking to a physician, these palms are well known to the medical community due to the thorns. Wounds from the thorns tend to fester and cause infection.

While getting into the holiday spirit I decided to wrap the trunks with miniature white lights. It would have been wise to drink some spirits and don opera length leather gloves before attempting this. As I was decorating I was skewered through the hand and the thorn hit a vein; I now have a 3 inch bruise on my hand that looks terrible. Then I got stabbed in the head and decided to stop for a moment and go in the house. It took a while to get the thorn out of my hand and the bleeding from my head wound staunched. Duly anointed with antibiotic ointment, I persevered and completed my light display, then waited for darkness.

Ahh, holiday magic.

CAM00410

Strange Fruits

Passionflower

Passionflower

Here it is almost December and I walked out into my backyard to find a Passionflower in full bloom and fruiting. Very nice and so typical of the landscape in South Florida. Just when you are wrapping your brain around the fact that the holidays are here and the temperature outside is around 80 degrees – there is a Passionflower.

I was wondering if this was a culinary Passionfruit and apparently it is not. This is called a May Pop in northern climes. My father in law was from Northern Ohio and one of his favorite childhood memories was stomping May Pops on the way home from school. Probably in May and not December.

Passionfruit comes from Passiflora edulis, which is native to South America. The North American version is Passiflora incarnata, the May Pop. There are an additional eight varieties native to North America, the culinary variety is tropical and may be grown in South Florida.

Ponciana Pods

Poinciana Pods

Here is some more interesting fruit. These are the dried pods of the Royal Poinciana tree, a member of the bean family. The pods are about two feet long and I enjoy spray painting them a metallic color and using them in Holiday decorations. I am truly getting in touch with my inner Martha Stewart.

The last bit of strange fruit I spotted at my local library. I have watched these trees bloom for the past couple of years, but had not noticed the fruit (it is strange that I did not notice this fruit)

Golden Shower Fruit

Golden Shower Fruit

My husband was snickering when I showed him this photo. It is pretty strange fruit, the whole thing is around 3 feet long and looks like someone has been making green sausages and hanging them on the tree. The tree is a Golden Shower (Cassia fistula) – in the spring and summer it has chains of yellow flowers that resemble Hawaiian leis hanging down from the branches. Beautiful and kind of peculiar. Like many things in South Florida.

Another Bromeliad for South Florida – Aechmea blanchetiana

The Whole Plant

The Whole Plant

I found this on my doorstep earlier today and it is my birthday, so this was a great present. It is a Blanchetiana Bromeliad – another beauty from the rainforests of Brazil. The flower spike on this plant looks to be about 4 feet tall. These are fairly common on the Treasure Coast and they start blooming around Labor Day, I consider this a Fall color plant!

I know it seems weird thinking of a Rainforest plant as a Fall indicator, but, hey, they have fall in the tropics. The days shorten and things that are red and orange flower. Not much in the way of leaves changing color, but other things do.

The Flower

The Flower

The Flower is a funky thing that makes me think of crustaceans, King Crab legs or something like that. Now I just need to decide where to plant this…..

Fall Color in South Florida – Bolivian Sunflowers

The Sunflower Hedge

The Sunflower Hedge

I have been noticing these plants for the past few years and it always seems weird to me to associate Sunflowers with November. Gigantic Sunflower Shrubs, at that. I also assumed incorrectly they were some sort of Helianthus. Not the case, this is a Tithonia, Tithonia diversifolia – the Bolivian Sunflower. In another perversity of plant naming, the Bolivian Sunflower is native to Mexico and Central America. I am fairly certain Bolivia is in South America.The name Mexican Sunflower is already taken for a smaller perennial.

One of my neighbors has a hedge of Bolivian Sunflowers screening the yard. This Sunflower hedge is at least 12 tall and in full bloom right now. This plant grows Spring and Summer and blooms all Fall and Winter. It has just really started blooming in earnest and should continue for a couple of months. Another one of those kooky benefits of living in South Florida, Sunflowers all winter.

Since the possible 16′ tall shrub bears 6″ flowers profusely, I am imagining it can put out quite a few seeds and become a problem. I am not sure I would try a hedge, but maybe one or two to screen a view where the lawnmower will run over any nearby seedlings. One has to practice selective lawn mower placement of plants here if there is any question of overabundance. No frost means nothing ever dies. Or anything you want gone refuses to die.

Mother in Laws Tongue – Sansevieria

Mother In Laws Tongue Flower

Mother In Laws Tongue Flower

My mother in law didn’t have a a particularly sharp tongue. Well, maybe a little sharp. My Florida yard is blessed with an abundance of these plants. It still seems unreal to me to be nearly overrun by- well, houseplants.

The only way to describe the Mother In Law’s Tongue in my yard is a plethora. Or a Boatload. I am suspicious someone brought a houseplant from Michigan in 1964 and unleashed this unholy plant on my garden. The Florida gardening books consider this plant escaped and invasive.

I am certain I cannot rid my yard of this without total annihilation of everything so I have decided to live with it. I was surprised over the weekend to see that these plants flower. And are kind of pretty. On the flip side, this flower probably produces a quarter of a million seeds per stalk. I have ended up with at least 100 linear feet of edging of MILT about 5 feet deep. The only thing that keeps it in bounds is frequent mowing with the lawn mower.

The Mass of Mother In Law Tongues

The Mass of Mother In Law Tongues

If I step back and squint the plants have an interesting texture and a nice green color. An added bonus-extreme drought resistance. I just have to keep reminding myself of these good features.

More fun from the tropics…