Tag Archives: Gardening

Six on Saturday – Tropics Rising

I’m joining the SOS crew this Saturday following my morning garden tour. April and May are our driest months and it’s windy as well. The garden is crying out for water and it is difficult to apply enough. I let some things go dormant (grass!) and try to keep the fruit trees and flowers flush for my own selfish reasons. This morning I noted the usual summer suspects are starting to show their colors. Visit Jim’s blog Garden Ruminations to find more tours.

The first Frangipani (Plumeria spp) of the season. These are just starting to flower and put out foliage. They reach their full, scented glory with the onset of the rainy season. This is an unnamed variety I bought several years ago, 8-10 feet tall now. Currently one flower, eight leaves and the rest is sticks.

This is a Florida or Tropical Gardenia (Tabernaemontana diviricata). These are, oddly to me, a deciduous Gardenia. They flower all summer. The scent is much more subtle than G. jasminoides, more detectable at night.

‘Little Harv’ Aechmea Bromeliad flowers. Little Harv is not that little, he is at least three feet tall and probably hangs around for a month.

‘Hallelujah’ Billbergia Bromeliad showing summer color. The whites and greens become more pronounced and then an odd red, white and blue flower that resembles curling ribbon appears. I wonder where these things come from sometimes.

A White Geiger (Cordia boissieri) tree I have been working on. I think about 75% of the top was removed. These grow very oddly with crossing branches galore and produce shoots about every four inches. I have a feeling I am not finished with the pruning.

Florida native Sunshine Mimosa (Mimosa strigillosa). This is a drought tolerant groundcover with interesting flowers.

That’s all from South Florida. The rain dance starts soon.

In a Vase on Monday – Foreign Affairs

All of the plants in the vase this week are, to me, foreign versions of common plants grown further north. The pink and white flowers are Desert Roses, from the deserts of Africa and the Arabian peninsula and a succulent to boot. White and green flowers are from a tropical Begonia that shoots up flowers about three feet tall and then we have the giant Dianthus. Tropical foreigners from my garden.

Desert Roses (Adenium obesum) are a mad thing. This is a red one frying on the pavement and finding its happy place. It doesn’t look much like a typical rose bush.

The Begonia in the arrangement is Lotusleaf. Definitely the biggest Begonia I have ever seen. It is a common roadside plant in Central America and pretty indestructible once established in my garden.

A closer view.

Draping over the edge of the vase, Desert Rose (Adenium obesum); green seed heads and white, frothy flowers are from Lotusleaf Begonia (Begonia nelumbifolia); pink flowers are Giant Dianthus; chartreuse leaves are a coleus of some sort, and the deep green foliage in back is from a Lady Palm (Rhapis excelsa). The vase is a thrift store find.

We are transitioning into warmer weather here with the weather guessers trumpeting dire warnings about a violent hurricane season. After a while I realized they really have no idea.I am still planting a few new things, tempting fate!

Here’s to enjoying spring and seeing a few new vases this Monday. Follow this link to visit Cathy and see the vases in the comments section.

Six on Saturday – Fruits and Flowers

My garden tour this morning revealed some progress in the fruit area and a few late season flowers. It has been a dry and sunny week that left me puzzling over how much to water the mangoes. If they are watered too much it affects the quality of the fruit and vice versa. A dilemma that rain solves. They have shed a few fruits, but this is normal. I went from about 50 fruit down to possibly 20, which is okay. It is a bit difficult to deal with 50!

Glenn Mango coming along. These flowered magnificently and then powdery mildew set in causing much of the fruit to drop. I expect to eat these in about a month, they flowered at the end of January.

Finally! A good crop of Rangpur limes coming along. These won’t be edible until December.

New to the garden – Australian Finger Limes. These won’t be ready for years! I need to read up on these to determine what to do with them. They look a bit like jalapenos when ripe and are relatively rare. The foliage is much smaller than conventional limes.

A surprise Snapdragon in my pot of basil. I did not have any snaps this year, so this is a reseed from last year. I love garden surprises like this.

The Lotusleaf Begonia (B. nelumbifolia) is flowering luxuriantly, despite getting very little water. These form large tubers and I suppose that is what sustains them.

The annual sighting of a Ruddy Daggerwing butterfly. These host on Strangler Figs, I have a huge tree beside my house and it seems odd I only see one every year.

That’s all from South Florida. I will be contemplating butterfly and mango dilemmas later. Until then, follow this link to Jim’s blog for Saturday morning garden tours around the world.

Six on Saturday – Garden Friends

Saturday is upon us once again and I have taken a tour of my garden to see what’s new. I have some new and some old friends. First up, Fiona the greyhound, sitting in the so called dirt in my garden. Fiona likes to keep me company by sunning in the native sand in the garden. It amazes me that anything will grow in this stuff, yet it does.

Mrs. Cardinal’s eggs hatched this week, there are 3 chicks. Mr. Cardinal has been observed helping out by guarding the nest.

I have been observing the smaller lizards in the garden eating bad bugs! This one had a palmetto bug (gigantic Florida cockroach) in its mouth earlier in the day. Now he or she is hanging around on an orchid leaf. This is a brown anole.

The butterflies are coming out in droves. I put together a butterfly feeding plate and put it in the garden area I am reworking. The idea behind this is to put very ripe fruit in the plate and it will attract groups of butterflies to sip the nectar. I tried this with (I think) too ripe fruit and only got fruit flies. Sigh.

A new friend I am hoping hangs around. The ‘Gartenmeister’ Fuchsia is flowering. Wow! I think it needs to be potted up. I am planning on bringing this inside when the summer heat sets in.

People ask me from time to time if I have house plants, since my garden is full of house plants! This is my only one and at this point, an old friend – it has survived for over a year, for me this is amazing. It is a Pink Star Calathea or Prayer Plant and it does pray! The stems go straight up at night.

That is all from South Florida this Saturday. To take more garden tours follow the link to garden ruminations

Happy Spring!!

In a Vase on Monday – Hip, Heirloom Hippeastrum

I found my heirloom ‘Red Lion’ Hippeastrum in flower this week. Given their inevitable association with Christmas, I tried to make a modern, hip arrangement that did not reflect the holidays. These bulbs came from my father in law, Glenn, who had an incredibly intense in and out of the closet scheduling scheme for getting the bulbs to rebloom – after a few years of holiday flowers he would plant them in the garden. These have always lived outside here and are a rare bulb that hangs around in my garden. Glenn has been gone for almost twenty years, so I wonder how old these bulbs are?!

The Hipsters:

I love a little chartreuse and grey in the garden. This is an unnamed coleus in chartreuse and what I think is a Graptosedum succulent. I am hoping the coleus will root. If you look closely the cotton ball I stuffed into the bottom of the Hippeastrum stem is visible. I did this with the flower upside down and it burped when placed in the vase. I have read that filling the stem with water and putting a cotton ball in the end will make the flower last longer. The experiment is on!

Glenn’s Red Lion Amaryllis (Hippeastrum) – I am certain he would not know what a Hippeastrum is. The chartreuse umbels are flowers from culinary dill. I like to eat the foliage, but the seeds don’t really tempt me. The green foliage is a palm seedling of some sort. There is a nice herbal scent surrounding the vase. The container is a heavy crystal vase that was a gift.

I hope everyone is enjoying spring by now and I am looking forward to watching weird shadows with the solar eclipse on Monday afternoon. Thanks to Cathy for hosting IAVOM, to see more vases follow the link ramblinginthegarden and read the comments section.

Six on Saturday – Cardinals and Roses

My garden tour this Saturday included visiting Mrs. Cardinal, who is still sitting in her nest and checking out the flowers on my Desert Roses. Having grown up gardening in the Deep South, a bastion of summer humidity, I have never grown real roses as fungus and I just don’t get along. In South Florida, Desert Roses (Adenium obesum) can be easily grown in containers and thrive on benign neglect. At long last, I have roses.

Mrs. Cardinal in position:

Desert Rose in pink:

Desert Rose in red:

These plants are from the desert of the Arabian peninsula and are considered succulents. The trunks can take unusual forms. They prefer dry conditions and rarely need water. I have enjoyed these plants in containers, they are evergreen, have interesting forms and flower regularly. They are available in many colors and some people collect them. I prune mine occasionally and water and fertilize if it crosses my mind. Mostly they sit in the blazing full sun and bask.

That’s it from South Florida this week. We are enjoying a cool, dry spell of spring weather and it is a beautiful day. I need to get outside!

To see more SOS posts, visit Jim’s blog, Garden Ruminations and follow the links in the comments section.

Six on Saturday – A Bird in Hand

Saturday morning has rolled around again. My garden tour this week features a new experience for me. Spring is in full swing here, the birds are singing, the plants are producing loads of pollen and I am thinking a bird in the bush is better than one in the hand. To view more Saturday garden tours, visit Jim’s blog, Garden Ruminations follow the link and peruse the comments section to complete a world garden tour.

Beaming with good, proactive gardening tendencies, I set out to prune my rambunctious Firebush. After a few whacks, a bird came flying out, fussing as she flew away. I stopped chopping to see what that was all about and found a nest with eggs. It was later revealed to be a cardinal as she returned to warm her eggs. This bird has since put a leaf over the nest so I can’t peek in anymore. The shrub remains semi-pruned and my hopes for a clean tree formed Firebush have been temporarily dashed.

The interior of the Firebush revealed one more secret. Tillandsia bromeliads growing inside the branches.

My recently installed orchids have fully opened. The other orchids are putting out new growth, I am hoping for sprays of yellow onicidiums this spring.

Tiny Rangpur limes have formed. These will not be ripe until December.

The Nam Doc Mai mangoes are growing and the tree produced another round of flowers. Now I am hoping for mangoes all summer.

The Shell Ginger (Alpinia zerumbet) has nearly reached the roof. Officially over six feet tall.

That is all from my garden this week. My loppers are looking for a new place to land! No worries, plenty of vegetation to chop here while Mrs. Cardinal completes her duties.

Happy Gardening!!

Heliconias for South Florida

Looking to add some tropical vibe to your garden? Look no further than one of my favorite tropical plants, Heliconias. Heliconias come in many different varieties, two of the most common and easiest types to grow in South Florida’s Zone 10 are Parrot flowers and Lobster claw Heliconias.

Meet the Lobster claw Heliconia (Heliconia rostrata). Featuring large, shiny banana-like foliage and thick stems that support large hanging bracts of red and yellow flowers it is difficult to picture a more tropical plant. They originated in rainforests of South and Central America as understory plants. It is written that the flowers evolved to this shape to attract tropical hummingbirds to pollinate them. In my garden, the hummingbirds aren’t around at the same time as the flowers, so I am guessing this is a phenomena that happens much further south.

While some Lobster claw Heliconia can grow to 15 feet tall, these are usually more tropical types in an actual rainforest. The plants grown in Zone 10 are usually smaller and can be damaged with an extraordinarily cold snap.

Lobsterclaw Heliconia are easily grown in a partial shade setting with ample moisture. They like rich, well drained soil and benefit from compost in the planting hole and mulch. I grow them in my garden on the north side of the house under the edge of the roof. They are very happy and provide cut flowers in the summer.

This is a smaller Lobsterclaw Heliconia in my garden. I enjoy cutting these for smaller vases.

Here is a parrot for the garden. Heliconia psittacorum AKA the Parrot flower. I would characterize this as a tropical flowering perennial. They are leafy, grow about two feet tall, enjoy a moist, part shade environment and can spread like mad if happy. I have had these produce flowers almost every month of the year. I believe they slow down with extremes in weather (drought, heat, cold). Below is the “Lady Di” Parrot flower.

This is another long lasting cut flower. I have a few in a vase by my front door.

In a Vase on Monday – Sculptural Elements

This week my garden is sporting many different types of flowers, from classic cottage style to over the top tropical weirdness. I decided to simplify and cut a few Heliconias accented with the buds of a succulent. It is a bit calm in the face of the exuberance of spring.

March is proving to be its usual windy, showery self, so a quick garden tour and a few snips was a good thing this Sunday morning. I used one of my mother’s heirloom vases to set off the simple flower selection.

Heliconias are one of my favorite tropical flowers, last a week in a vase and are very easy to grow. These are Heliconia psittacorum “Lady Di” in red, and “Choconiana” in orange. They have a mind of their own and tend to grow and flower under shrubs, which is annoying if you want to see them or cut them.

This is a bit of Senecio barbertonicus, in bud. The flowers look like the promise of an aster that never quite makes it into a yellow daisy, followed by a pseudo dandelion. Pretty weird, but I do love the foliage and the fact these can be left laying around the garden for weeks and are unfazed as long as they are replanted.

That’s all from my garden this Monday, to see more vases visit Cathy’s blog and follow the links in the comments.

Happy Gardening!!

Six on Saturday – New for Spring

Spring plant shopping is irresistible for most gardeners. Buying a few new things for containers, resupplying herbs and shopping around my own garden for new finds was on the SOS agenda for the week. Here is what I found around the garden this Saturday morning.

The updated herb container on my front porch. I have been looking for thyme this winter and finally found some English thyme. I can’t recall having English, but it probably won’t last the summer. The pink Dianthus won’t either, but I will enjoy them while they last and hopefully the rosemary in the back of the container will take over, if we don’t eat it all first.

A new mixed container. This is purple agastache, white calibracoa, silver helichrysum, and chartreuse coleus (or whatever they call it nowadays) I am not sure which is the thriller or filler – the agastache or coleus.

One of the orchids from last week is just opening.

At long last, flowers on the Catalina Avocado! Seven years in the garden.

I haven’t seen these in a while. Flowers on the Aechmea ‘burgundy’ Bromeliad. I can never figure out what inspires bromeliads to flower.

The big Begonia nelumbiifolia in flower. The flower spikes are about three feet tall. This is an impressive Begonia and forms tubers like potatoes.

That is it from my garden this Saturday. For more spring tours or maybe a fall tour from the Southern Hemisphere – visit Jim’s blog, gardenruminations and follow the links in the comments section.

Happy Spring!!