Six on Saturday – Life Cycles

Spring in South Florida brings changes to the garden. It took me a while to figure out what was going on and I am still observing the action.This Saturday morning I noted my fruit trees growing and changing and the ever fascinating (to me) Bromeliads. To see more spring (and maybe fall!) garden pictures, visit Jim at GardenRuminations

O’ Rourke bromeliad flower. These start out very pale pink and are now gaining a deeper color. The flower stalks came up at the end of January. I am not sure how long they last.

Pickering Mangoes starting to color up. These flowered prolifically and set a lot of fruit. I am left wondering what happened to it. There are maybe 10 or 12 left on the tree. Did the evil Agama Lizards eat it?? A garden mystery.

Gallardia pulchella, once considered native but its status was rescinded. For some reason, these only grow in the shell walkway.

The life cycle of the Jill Neoregelia bromeliad. These are stoloniferous. The top picture is the mother plant at the end of the cycle, turning deep red and flowering. This plant will soon die and I will twist its dried up remains off the stolons. The bottom photo is what Jill looks like most of its life.

Blushing Bromeliads (Neoregelia carolinae) doing the same dance. New pups are visible on the right side of the picture replacing the mother plant and spreading. These are considered ground cover bromeliads.

The first ‘Miss Alice’ Bougainvillea flower of the year. Miss Alice was knocked off her trellis by one of the hurricanes last year and remained naked until just now. I was beginning to wonder if she would come back, but here she is! It is hard to keep a Bougainvillea down.

That is all from my garden this beautiful Saturday morning.. Happy Spring!