Six on Saturday – Hoomid

The most outstanding feature of my weekly garden tour – extreme humidity. The plants, house and even the doors and windows are dripping rivulets of water. Not a good gardening day. Next week is predicted to bring blessed relief from the soggy environment I keep finding myself in. To see other, less sweaty garden tours visit Jim at http://gardenruminations.co.uk

Reflections and the view outside this morning. The humidity was 80%, it is creeping downward through as the day goes on.

Some plants are enjoying the onslaught. This is a ‘Jill’ Neoregelia Bromeliad pup climbing a palm trunk.

‘Bridal Bouquet’ Frangipani (Plumeria pudica) is soaking up the moisture and still flowering. These are unusual in that they are considered semi evergreen and the shape of the foliage is different from other Frangipani.

Yellow Allamanda (Allamanda catharitica) is running rampant. Vines can be a little scary in South Florida.

My first tomato seedling. The weather has been good for seed germination, although I did get a bit of dog vomit fungus in some of the pots.

Buds on the Soap Aloe (Aloe saponaria). These succulents seem almost architectural to me. One would think they would rot with all the moisture, but they are reveling in it and flowering like mad. I think this shows how sharp the drainage is in sugar sand.

That’s all from the swamp this Saturday. Wishing everyone some crisp Autumnal days. I am awaiting the end of soggy.

Happy Gardening!!

In a Vase on Monday – Lady Di was a Firecracker

My mother used to refer to spirited women she admired as “Firecrackers”. This is probably some sort of weirdness from the Deep South, but an apt description of many women who capture the imagination of the world. I think Diana, Princess of Wales qualifies.

What does this have to do with my vase this Monday? Well, we have Lady Di Heliconias and Firecracker plants together in the vase. The flowers have a kind of spirited pow going on as well.

The seemingly perpetual rain the last week of September inspired some serious late season flowering on most of the Salvia in the garden. I am waiting for a bumper crop of seedlings. The pure white Tropical Red Salvia was too luxuriant to resist and I cut quite a bit to add to the vase.

A closer view:

The “Lady Di” Heliconia (Heliconia psittacorum) in red and yellow; the red bells are Firecracker Plant (Russelia equisetiformis). The Russelia is amazingly drought tolerant and I love the unusual foliage texture. The rain seems to have encouraged the flowering, I have never seen quite a show like this.

Tropical Red Salvia (Salvia coccinea) occurs in several colors; surprising to me is that pure white is my favorite. The spike foliage is from the fronds of Sabal Palm (Palmetto sabal). Russelia foliage is in the background. The vase is a thrift store find.

The precipitation onslaught has finally slowed. We are getting some nice rains for growing new plants and I hope to get the rest of them out and established before the inevitable dry season sets in a month or so.

Thanks to Cathy for hosting IAVOM for weeks and weeks and years now! Follow this link to her blog to see creations from other gardeners – http://ramblinginthegarden.wordpress.com

Six on Saturday – Floridian Fall

It’s Saturday again and time to join the worldwide garden blogging community to share six items of interest from the garden. Follow this link to Jim’s blog http://gardenruminiations.co.uk to check out what fall fun other gardeners are sharing.

South Florida does not have what I would consider normal signs of fall, just symptoms. The air is cooler in the morning and a few plants produce colorful berries. The most significant sign is it is comfortable to work outside again, but only early or late in the day. It has finally stopped raining constantly ! I have been able to plant some of the perennials I bought and replant those little pots with seeds and cuttings for more plants.

The berries. These are the fruits of the Christmas Palm (Adonidia merrilli) By Christmas they will be completely red and resemble ornaments for the tree.

Another sign of cooler weather. Turk’s cap Hibiscus (Malvaviscus penduliflorus). These just seem to appear in the garden. I enjoy the flowers and cut them to hang over the edge of vases. Floridians call these Nodding Hibiscus. I guess there are hats like this in Turkey?

Atala butterflies are back in garden. These are the caterpillars consuming their only host plant, the Coontie cycad (Zamia integrifolia). I hope to get some butterfly pictures, Atalas have a fluorescent orange body with black wings streaked with turquoise.

Mulching the bromeliad beds with the leaning greyhound standing guard. Straightening the statuary is next on the list. The bromeliads were moved last spring and have been established over the summer.

The box of perennials I planted last week has been refilled with fresh soil and planted with Senecio and Turkeytangle Frogfruit cuttings. Senecio is the succulent. The Frogfruit is to fill in my slowly growing lawn replacement. Seeds for dill, basil and tomatoes were planted. I bought some thyme seed, but did not realize how long it takes to germinate (28 days) and decided to buy a plant.

This is not a regular fall event, a fairly rare sight actually. One misty afternoon this week I walked outside and spied a double rainbow.

Still looking for that pot of gold to buy more plants.

Happy Gardening.

In a Vase on Monday – If you like Pina Coladas..

I was remembering a song lyric from the 80s “If you like Pina Coladas and getting caught in the rain” – the new next line would be to come visit my garden in South Florida. I have pineapples for juicing and so much rain it is seemingly impossible not to get caught in it. I think it has been raining for about 10 days. Fiona the greyhound has somehow figured out when to go out for the least amount of precipitation. Dogs know these things. She is now walking me.

The vase was chosen because it looks like it could be used to serve cocktails. The plant material was limited to tropical to enhance the pineapple. The mini pineapple plant is called ‘Lava Flow’; white flowers are Bridal Bouquet Frangipani (Plumeria pudica); orange and sage tipped flowers are from Soap Aloe (Aloe saponaria).

Another view:

Orange flowers are ‘Choconiana’ Heliconia (Heliconia psittacorum). Greenery is a frond from a Lady Palm (Rhaphis excelsa); fiddle shaped foliage is from Bridal Bouquet Plumeria and a few sprigs of Asian Sword Fern.

That’s all from the swamp this Monday. To see more vases from gardens around the world, visit Cathy at http://ramblinginthegarden.wordpress.com

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!

In a Vase on Monday – Cones of Uncertainty

We are on the downhill slide to the end of hurricane season. The peak is September 10. November 30 is the official end but mid-October is the unofficial end, though we had a wimpy hurricane the first week of November last year. So far, we have been lucky and stayed outside the cone of uncertainty in the weather forecasts. Watching these cones is a daily ritual in September and October.

Here is the recent cone from Hurricane Idalia.

There are some cones of a different sort in my vase this week, certainly not originating in my garden.

I love pine cones and collected these in Atlanta, prior to moving to South Florida. I keep them in a large brandy snifter on my side board. Something about the textures in this arrangement just demanded a few cones. These are from White Pines (Pinus strobus). It is really too warm for them in Atlanta and I am wondering if there are any there now with global warming.

The rest of the vase is mad tropical flowers and foliage. The orange and yellow spikey thing is the flower of a Blanchetiana Bromeliad (Aechmea blanchetiana), probably 3 feet long; colorful leaves are Piecrust Croton (Croton variegatum); palm frond is from a seedling Cabbage Palm (Palmetto sabal); the big leaf is White Bird of Paradise (Strelizia nicolai). The vase is Tiffany crystal, a wedding gift from a dear friend.

I’ll be checking the cones daily as a new potential storm might form off the coast of Africa this week…

Thanks to Cathy at ramblinginthegarden.wordpress.com for hosting. Follow the link to see more vases.

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!!

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!!