Tag Archives: six on saturday

Six on Saturday – Succulents n’ Stuff

There was some plant shopping this week. I went with a friend to a local nursery. Pinder’s Nursery grows a large selection of succulents. My strawberry pot needed a little rejuvenation, so I bought a few 2 inch containers. The blue grays are Echeverias (I Think); grey is Graptosedum; brownish is a Haworthia. I am not sure what the green one is. Growing out of the side is a Flapjack Kalanchoe.

In the side yard, a Firesticks Pencil Cactus and Soap Aloe (Aloe saponaria) live in an unirrigated bed.

Desert Roses (Adenium obesum) tower above Flapjack Kalanchoes in a planter by the door. These are just leafing out and flowering after a cold snap in January slowed them down.

Tillandsia ionantha producing pups inside another Bromeliad, these are native to Central American and have hot pink and blue flowers. I bought a couple last year and thought they were gone – hopefully I see some flowers and they will create a colony.

Buds on a Billbergia Bromeliad – not sure which one, though I am thinking it is Purple Haze..

My tower of Nasturtiums and Tropical Red Salvia. I am enjoying the Nasturtiums immensely.

That is my Six this Saturday, to join in or see posts from the world over, visit Jon at http://www.thepropagatorblog.wordpress.com

Happy Spring and Happy Gardening..

Six on Saturday – New Things

It’s Saturday again, I am joining the SOS crowd at http://www.thepropagatorblog.wordpress.com. I have some new blooms in my garden this week.

This is a Zinderella Peach Zinnia – these seeds are open pollinated, the flowers are fully double, semi double and single. None of them look like the photo on the seed package.

First ever buds on the Rangpur Lime tree. My neighbor planted the seed five years ago – it is seemingly well known it takes five years from seed to fruit. I have a Cuban Avocado tree the same age, they flower until April. I am watching the Avocado daily, leaf buds so far. I am excited about limes from the garden. The holes in the leaves are from Giant Swallowtail butterflies, citrus are the larval host plant.

The Jurassic Begonia is flowering..it is really a Lotusleaf Begonia (Begonia nelumbiifolia). It is easily four feet tall.

A Ylang Ylang tree (Cananga odorata) acclimating to sun, waiting for determination of its final location. This is the flower that supplies the fragrance for Chanel No. 5 perfume. The directions stated it takes one, two or three years to flower. Waiting some more….

A new spring container planting. This has brightened my day everytime I see it. In purple, Mona Lavendar Plectranthus, the chartruese is another Plectranthus (can’t we just call them Coleus!?) Peach Impatiens, a white Begonia and a bit of Graptosedum for the spiller.

My first Nasturtiums, I kept planting them at the wrong time of year..going to try some poor mans capers from the seeds. Should be another first.

Six on Saturday- Dinner Plans

The produce in my garden is coming along and I am starting to think about eating it. This is meaningful. I have tried to grow salad greens for a couple of years. The rabbits ate the ones in the ground immediately, so I tried them in pots, too much shade. I put up a rabbit fence, something tore it down in the middle of the night, the jury is still out on what varmint to blame that on – whatever it is, they are big enough to knock over 7 gallon containers!

The arugula is the current focus of my fancy. I bought a planter on 24″ legs and placed it in full sun and voila, arugula – enough to make a favorite dish. Homemade pasta with corn and arugula. Fresh corn is usually available in South Florida in the winter, however, this January was so cold the corn was stunted and has finally become available. Here is the pasta:

The mangoes are forming fruit. They are pea-sized now and I should have a lot of fruit in a couple of months. This is a Pickering Mango.

It’s future destination – a Mango Pie. This is a Mango Papaya pie. It has lime and coconut in it. I also like Mango pie with blackberries.

I have been watching these Yellow Pear tomatoes for months. Planted in November, from seed in August. I have had a few tomatoes – they are really setting some fruit now that the weather warmed. It has been in the high 70s (F) for the past week or so.

The plans for these? Tomato jam with fresh herbs for my Tuscan bread experiment from yesterday. I spent a summer in Italy in college and you just can’t get this bread in the U.S. It is made without sugar or salt and I wasn’t convinced the recipe would work. It did, one bite and I was back in the Convent having breakfast with nuns nearby. (It was a Studies Abroad program housed in a Convent, I wasn’t a nun)

That is my Six for this Saturday. To see more posts, visit Jon at http://www.thepropagatorblog.wordpress.com. I will be in the garden dreaming up dinner.

Happy Gardening..

Six on Saturday – Seeds and Bulbs

This Saturday I photographed the new plants I have grown from seeds or bulbs this winter. As usual, my learning curve for Florida gardening extended into trial by fire to find the proper season or temperature for success with germination. It seems all seeds come with some instructions for planting times based on frost – we have no frost here so timing is a wild guess for me most times.

Waltham Broccoli, a cool weather crop everywhere is a winter crop in South Florida. I started seeds in November, the package says these take 50 days to harvest, I think not.

My first Calendulas ever! Planted in early January, the seed collected by my neighbor last year. I am looking forward to the flowers.

Fiona the Greyhound checking out the Nasturtiums. I found these will not come up at all if planted when the temperature is too high. After trying them in August, I forgot about them until January and they came up then. Later I read December 1 is the magical start date. Sigh, these haven’t flowered yet and maybe that is why.

Tropical Milkweed, the larval host plant for Monarch Butterflies. Seedlings started when too cool. These suffered through December and January, developing nice root systems for some reason, so I planted them. I recently found out the seeds should be planted now..since I had a lot of seeds I scattered them all over the butterfly garden. The seeds have a reputation for high germination rates, though the ones I planted earlier in pots 3 out of 12 came up. It will be interesting to see what happens in the garden.

Spinach, Basil and Cilantro seedlings on my front porch. The seeds were planted in January. I gave up growing herbs in the ground, these are my best herb seedlings so far.

Shamrocks were originally collected in Ireland by a friend’s grandmother decades ago. These had been thriving in her South Florida garden for years. I think these will grow almost anywhere.

My Six for this Saturday. For more SOS posts, visit Jon at http://www.thepropagatorblog.wordpress.com.

Happy Gardening!!

Six on Saturday – Different Blooms

I was watching the yeast bloom while making Foccacia this morning (it is currently rising) when it occured to me I have a lot of different blooms. Here are some from the garden.

The buds from last week have opened with the warmer weather. This is a Quesnelia testudo Bromeliad.

Little Harv Aechmea Bromeliad opened as well. This flower gets longer and more yellow as it ages.

The Red Guzmania flowers age to bronze and then form really strange seedheads. I like the bronze and leave them on the plant.

Shell Ginger (Alpinia zerumbet) usually flower in February and a few more times during the year.

The Tropical Hydrangea (Dombeya wallachii) flowers are ending their show. Time for me to figure out how to prune the thing…

That my six different blooms for this Saturday. To see more, and different, blooms follow the link to http://www.thepropagatorblog.wordpress.com.

Happy Gardening…and Valentine’s Day.

Six on Saturday – Winter Fun

One morning this week I read the coldest temperature seen during my tenure in South Florida. 37 degrees Fahrenheit or 2.7 Celsius. Brrr. The best time of year to move Bromeliads is between November and March, I rarely make all the changes during the proper time.

With the cool weather, it was a good time to don a sweatshirt and clear out the thorny Bromeliad beds. Asian Ferns have overrun the beds and require a bit of patience to pull out. I am usually wearing sandals and a tank and apprehensive about what is living in the jungle below, though the scariest thing so far has been a cockroach.

On the other side, the Zebrina groundcover has run amok, tumbling over the Bromeliads.

Things are looking better now and the plants have a bit more breathing room. I am eyeing a few to move to a sunnier place…need more cold weather.

I found some Bromeliad buds and blooms during the course of my clearing. This is a Quesnelia testudo, a tropical tulip substitute. It should flower in a few weeks, usually in February.

This is a Little Harv Aechmea bud. A very sharp (in both ways) plant – this will be a yellow and pink flower resembling a sea creature. I moved Little Harv away from nearby walkways as he has stabbed me more than once.

This is a Hallelujah Billbergia Bromeliad flower. A very funky thing, the foliage is purple spotted with white and green – and then, the flower… Hallelujah!

There! my Six for this Saturday. To see more – visit http://www.thepropagatorblog.wordpress.com

Happy Gardening.

Six on Saturday – Odds and Ends

I had another Papaya for breakfast this morning. Several people commented about the size the Papaya tree attained in six years. Not sure everyone realized what a weird thing it is. It may be 20 feet tall, I am not sure. The tree in the background is a Thai Dessert Mango (Nam Doc Mai) it is about 10 feet tall.

I am told it is okay to chop the trunk of the Papaya off and it will grow another set of leaves and the fruit will be easier to reach. I am going to give this a try after the fruit is gone. The last crop of fruit was pulling the tree over with its weight.

The Mangoes are flowering and setting fruit. This is a Glenn Mango flower.

The fruit setting on the Glenn Mango.

The Bromeliads are making pups. November through March is the optimum time to move them around. This is a Little Harv Aechmea. It is so sharp I am moving them to a place where I won’t walk by and get stabbed.

My first Atala Butterfly sighting this year. These butterflies appear in January and June. He or she was scouting my Coontie Cycads, their favorite host plant. Still looking for the eggs.

Gardening experiment number bazillion. I find the tiny seed starting trays too fiddly and decided to cut water bottles in half for pots. This has worked well, making mini greenhouses. I have Calendula, Basil, Spinach and Cilantro in these. I can cut the bottles to get the seedlings out and then recycle.

That’s my Six for this Saturday. Check out http://www.thepropagatorblog.wordpress.com for more fun from other gardeners.

Happy Gardening.

Six on Saturday – Papayas for Breakfast

It’s Papaya time in South Florida. I usually have two crops, the Summer crop inevitably is eaten by the dreadful Papaya Hornworms and I eat the winter crop. This is an unknown variety grown from seed from a fruit a neighbor gave me. I planted the seed in 2016, the tree is probably 18 feet tall now and I had to use a pole saw to pick the fruit. The first fruit I picked with a leaf rake, poking holes in the side. That one rotted before it ripened – another neighbor took it to plant seeds for tree. Interestingly, Papayas have three sexes, male, female and hermaphodite. You hope for a hermaphrodite tree as the others are not self pollinating. Named cultivars self pollinate, growing them from seed is a gamble. Another neighbor planted a male tree soon after I planted mine, so I am not sure what it is.

My first tomatoes are ripening, this is a San Marzano, I am looking forward to tasting it. Yellow Pears have been good.

The Leonitis are in bud, these are still a bit new to me and I enjoy them for winter color.

Pups on the Flapjack Kalanchoe. I cut these off and put them in pots to root.

Leaves of the Flapjack Kalanchoe:

A Blue Glitter Thistle seedling. I hope this will grow in my sandy garden. The native thistles like moist meadows.

That’s my Six this Saturday. For more posts from other gardens visit http://www.thepropagatorblog.wordpress.com.

Happy Gardening.

Six on Saturday – Promising Signs

Time for Six items of interest from my garden on this first Saturday of 2021. I am seeing signs of good things to come in my garden. First, the Tropical Hydrangea (Dombeya wallachii) is flowering and has many buds.

A closer view of the flowers, they are 6 inches across and have a honey scent.

The native cycad of Florida, Coontie is producing cones, here is a female cone that has been pollinated – Coonties are pollinated by beetles. Wildlife eat the seeds and disperse them, I will be interested to see where they come up.

And the male cone:

The Papayas are ripening.

And I shall have tomatoes from the garden soon. This is a Yellow Pear tomato.

That is my six. To see more interesting items from gardens around the world visit The Propagator at http://www.thepropagatorblog.wordpress.com

Happy New Year and Happy Gardening.

Six on Saturday – Holiday Surprises

I am joining The Propagator’s gang this Saturday after Christmas to share some surprises the garden has granted me. Not all six are from my garden. These are Christmas Palms (Adonidia merrilli) doing their thing by the side of a nearby road.

Next, we have some Spanish Moss, a native Tillandsia Bromeliad. Although common in Florida, I rarely see it in my garden. I pruned it out of a Firebush by accident.

Another stringy surprise, a native Ageratum, Blue Mist Flower (Conoclinum coelestinum). It seems most native wildflowers in Florida like “moist meadows” – I have a desert like sandy soil, so this was a real surprise. Growing by the air conditioning condensor..

Yet another stringy surprise, the once solid leaves on the Traveler’s Palm, shredded by the wind.

I am delighted by this surprise, despite cold weather, we are freezing with temperatures in the 40s – the Tropical Hydrangea (Dombeya wallachii) has started its show.

Another nice surprise from my neighbor, I found a basket of Rangpur Limes on my front porch Christmas morning.

That is my Six this Saturday, to see more posts from gardens around the world visit http://www.thepropagatorblog.wordpress.com.