Tag Archives: South Florida plants

Six on Saturday – Jungly July

I am joining the SOS garden tour again this Saturday. In South Florida, July has settled around us with a wet blanket of humidity, regular temperatures over 90 F (32C) and nearly daily downpours. The garden is turning into a jungle, overrun by happy plants, weeds and everything green. To see less jungly gardens, visit Jim at http://gardenruminations.co.uk and take a virtual tour via posts from gardeners from less sodden climes.

This is about as tropical as it gets. A Lobsterclaw Heliconia (Heliconia rostrata) in full bloom. They turn black if cut and don’t stretch the smaller yellow petals(?) out.

The fruit of Seagrapes (Coccolobo uvifera). These grow on shorelines and are a very hardy native tree. Native Floridians will eat the fruit as have some of my greyhounds. The flavor is somewhere between a fig and a grape but mostly seed that requires gnawing to get a taste. I am told it makes a good jam. I find it makes a big mess.

The fruit from my garden I do like. This is the end of the mangoes. These are Nam Doc Mai. There were too many for us to eat so I have been freezing them. They actually freeze quite well. I found fresh local swordfish at the market this morning – we are looking forward to grilled fish with mango salsa for dinner. The little pineapple was grown from the top of a grocery store fruit. I think I got to it just in time, before the critters caught the fragrance.

Welcome to the jungle. The Transcandentia zebrina is draping over a lot of things with all the rain. I am not regretting this yet as I planted it so I wouldn’t have to mulch. Now I have to pull out the T. zebrina. The red flower pops up like clockwork in July. It is Aechmea miniata bromeliad, a great garden flower.

An interesting Gallardia pulchella from plants crossing in the back garden. I like the seedling varieties better than the named cultivars.

Firebush (Hamelia patens var patens) in full flower. Another favorite, this shrub sneaks up on you by growing a few feet a year if conditions suit. The conditions are evidently perfect and they need a trim.

That is all from the heat zone.

Happy Gardening

In a Vase on Monday – Parrots and Poinsettias

Here’s another set of strange bedfellows from my garden. I would consider this an unlikely combination anywhere but South Florida. The parrots are Parrotflowers (Heliconia psittacorum) and the poinsettias are a native Floridian Euphorbia called Florida Poinsettia (Euphorbia cyathophora). I like the little bits of red on the foliage accenting the colors of the flowers.

I have tried growing the usual Christmas poinsettia in the garden and failed. The Florida version is a wildflower that appears from time to time. Having read up on it a bit I should probably pull them out. It seems they are one of those perverse plants that is hard to grow from seed if you want it – but a prolific reseeder if you don’t. If I don’t act soon the next thing could be a mowed poinsettia lawn for the holidays. Not a festive look.

A closer view:

The Parrotflowers are orange and red and yellow. The orange ones are Heliconia psittacorum “Choconiana”; the reds H. psittacorum “Lady Di”. These are very tropical and did not appreciate the 30 degree temperatures in January and are just recovering. The flowers are smaller than usual for some reason. Yellow spikes are from the Thyrallis (Galphimia gracilis) shrub.

The Florida Poinsettia foliage. Another common name for this is Fire on the Mountain. Where they found the mountains in Florida we will never know.

That is all from sweltering South Florida.

Many thanks to Cathy at http://ramblinginthegarden.wordpress.com for hosting this weekly meme. Follow the link to see more vases from gardens around the world.

Happy Gardening!!

In a Vase on Monday – No Salad Here

This is a spring mix of flowers from my garden. Spring mix is a kind of packaged salad greens I am not particularly fond of. Too bitter, I think it is the tatsoi I don’t like, or it is my husband referring to it as yard clippings? Anyway, there is no salad here and one of the cast members in this arrangement is poisonous, so we won’t be eating any of it.

I am pleased to have grown this poisonous Ranunculus, with the innocent sounding common name Persian Buttercup. This one looks like a tiny red rose and there is one more bud outside. This was a total experiment. I am supposed to be too far south to grow these and bought the bulbs at an end of summer sale. The bulbs arrived fried and I put them aside and completely forgot about them until they were desiccated shells. An old pot with soil in it appeared in the back yard and I had a ‘hate to throw things away’ moment and dumped the shells into the pot. An odd rainy, cold snap arrived, chilled and rehydrated the bulbs. Serendipity intervened and this is the first of probably two Ranunculus my garden will ever produce.

The rest of the mix..in blue, ‘Black and Bloom’ Salvia; white spikes, ‘White Flame’ Salvia; pink and white fringed flowers, Giant Dianthus; a little Pink Snapdragon; green Envy and pink Zinnias; the red Ranunculus; yellow ‘Golf Beauty’ Craspedia, and a few bits of Asparagus Fern. The vase was a gift from my older brother.

Thanks to Cathy at http://ramblinginthegarden.wordpress.com for hosting this weekly garden meme. To see more vases, follow the link.

Happy Gardening!!

In a Vase on Monday – Boing!

This time of year one of the things I appreciate most about blogging is the documentation of garden awakenings from their winter slumber. The images of spring bulbs and flowers bursting forth from bloggers living further north are a joy for me. South Florida is sadly lacking in spring color, many of the trees are evergreen or choose not to be deciduous some years. The season seems more like temperatures bouncing between spring and summer; eschewing the glory of throwing off the yoke of freezing cold and celebrating with flowers. Boing rather than spring.

We went from summer to late fall this weekend. It is overcast, cool and windy. I think this vase may be the last of my cool season annuals. The snapdragon flowers are about a tenth the size they were a couple of weeks ago and the dianthus is really slowing down. This is the end of Boing celebration vase and a wonderful tonic for a dreary day.

The silver goblet is an old silver plate treasure my mother came up with in her thrift shop trolling days. I like it as it has a wonderful patina and it makes me wonder and laugh about why my mother would buy such a thing? It certainly doesn’t hold water. I found this out the hard way and now use a small plastic cup inside the vase.

The flowers:

Another element adding a bit of boing to this vase – the Golf Beauty Craspedia in yellow. The selection in the vase represents half bloom to full bloom, as I was not sure when to cut these. The younger ones have been hanging around for a couple of weeks and participated in a couple of different vases. The other yellow is a tiny Snapdragon flower; in pink fringes, the Giant Dianthus; blue spikes, Mystic Blue Salvia; white spikes, White Flame Salvia; crimson flowers are the rest of the tiny Snapdragons. The foliage is Asian Sword Fern and a few sprigs of Giant Parsley.

I am hoping for the return of blue skies this week and possibly discovering some spring flowers.

Thank you to Cathy at http://ramblinginthegarden.wordpress.com for hosting this meme. Follow the link to see more vases.

Happy Gardening!!

In a Vase on Monday – Brown Eyed Girl

One of the new plants I am trialing may be a new favorite, the Brown Eyed Girl Helianthus. I have had this plant for a little over a week and have already cut enough flowers for 3 vases. Officially called the SunBelievable Brown Eyed Girl Helianthus, the marketing spiel states it will produce a thousand flowers over the summer, it is a warm season annual everywhere. It will be interesting how long it will last in South Florida. August triumphs over many things in the garden. Though I can believe it will produce a thousand flowers.

The weather is wobbling between spring and summer already, but fortunately the humidity is still lurking in the Atlantic Ocean. I have finally figured out what to do with all the new plants and will hopefully get them settled in before the inevitable summer heat.

A closer view:

Brown Eyed Girl is stealing the show. The three new Salvias are the back up singers. I am hoping they will all be garden stars. The Salvias are: in white, ‘White Flame’; in red, ‘Roman Red’; in blue, Black in Bloom. The foliage is ‘Lagoon’ Rosemary and Varigated Flax Lily (Dianella tasmanica ‘Varigata’).

That is all from South Florida this Monday. Thanks to Cathy at http://www.ramblinginthegarden.wordpress.com, to see more vases follow the link.

Happy Gardening!!

In a Vase on Monday – American Posy

I think of this as a posy, my (I think) American take on the definition of posy or posey – a small flower arrangement. I looked up the definition and came up with two spellings and several definitions. One that surprised me – posey, an informal adjective describing someone who is pretentious and trying to impress others. And I thought it was either a hand tied bouquet or a small flower arrangement!

The weather in South Florida has returned to warm winter and my cutting flowers are starting to bloom. Exactly 3 Zinnias and the everpresent blue Salvia. Enough for a posy, posey or tequila shot glass full of flowers. The vase is from my niece’s wedding. I am surprised to see in writing she has been married for almost eight years.

A closer view:

The Zinnias are: in pink, Cactus mix; in green, Envy; and in peach, Apricot Profusion. Blue spikes are my favorite Salvia, ‘Mystic Blue, and the ferns are Asian Sword Ferns, a garden weed here that is great for vases.

Thanks to Cathy at http://www.ramblinginthegarden.wordpress.cpm for hosting. Follow the link to see more vases.

Happy Monday and Happy Gardening!!

Six on Saturday – January Teasers

I am joining the SOS gang this morning with Six items of interest from my garden; focusing on the unusual for January and things I am looking forward to seeing again. Or for the first time. To see more SOS posts visit Jim at https://gardenruminations.co.uk

January can be a wonderful gardening month in South Florida. Like everywhere in the world, we have our trials. This year it has been cold weather. I believe it is possible to grow Zinnias year round here, but haven’t worked out the seed planting schedule. Above is my first bud, on an ‘Envy’ Zinnia.

Ranunculus sprouting. I have never lived anywhere these would grow. Somewhere I read they can be grown as cut flowers in the winter here – then I ran across a really cheap bag of bulbs at an end of summer sale. Then the bulbs sat in my living room for months along with an end of season bag of Dahlias. Then I forgot about them. Upon discovering the extraordinarily desiccated bulbs; I debated throwing them away or just throwing them in a pot. Two out of three of the Dahlias had turned to dust. The bulbs were thrown into a pot and watered – a lot. And here they are. I am hoping to see some Ranunculus flowers. The Dahlia that hadn’t turned to dust remains incognito.

Alcanterea odorata Bromeliad grown from grass pups. These are big (3 feet across), very showy, grey bromeliads that are grown in full sun. A friend sent me five grass pups a couple of years ago. Four were lost to squirrels and this one took and is just starting to show grey coloration.

Florida Gardenias (Tabernaemontana divericata) in January? This is strange, even in South Florida. This is usually a deciduous, winter dormant Gardenia that blooms all summer.

Dragonfruit cactus is finally making its presence known. This has been in the garden for years. Probably 7. I planted a lot of fruit in 2016. These tend to grow up for a while and then horizontal like this to produce fruit. I would be happy to see a flower. And happier to eat a Pitaya.

More cruel Zinnias teasing me. These are Apricot Profusion. Very happy in the heat and very unhappy in the cold. I am hoping to plant these out next week and coax them into happiness.

That is all from my garden this week.

Happy Gardening!!!

In a Vase on Monday – Sage Salvias

It may seem odd, but I think some plants are smarter than others. Is botanical wisdom gained because they are native and used to the vagaries of weather, or something more Darwinian? Currently, the most sage plants in my garden are really a Sage. The Tropical Red Salvia (Salvia coccinea). Less than two weeks after the coldest weather in a decade, they were fully greened up and flowering madly. I had to cut some.

Tropical Red Salvia or Sage flowers in four colors in my garden. The brilliant red ones are the most prolific currently and the tallest plant of the bunch. I cut a handful and looked for some companionable colors to cool down the palette. Whites, corals and even a little sage seemed to fit the bill for a warming January vase.

A closer look:

Tropical Red Salvia (Salvia coccinea) in red and white spikes; Sweet Almond Bush (Aloysia virgata) is the other white spike; Soap Aloe (Aloe saponaria) in sage tipped coral flowers; chartreuse and reddish flowers are from China Hat shrub (Holmskioldia sanguinea); yellow striped foliage is Martin Bromeliad (Neoregelia martin); grey foliage is from Barometer Bush (Leucophyllum frutescens)

Another view:

The white flowers in the center are from the White Geiger tree (Cordia boissieri). I thought this tree wouldn’t like the cold weather, but it seems fine; it has a few yellow leaves and started flowering. The fern trailing over the side is an Asparagus Fern, an invasive weed that tends to pop up under shrubs. I cut these and use them in vases occasionally. They are surprisingly sharp, woe is the gardener who tries to strip the leaves off the stem for a vase.

The garden is bouncing back from the extreme cold. (I know y’all are laughing, not even freezing here, except me, I was freezing) I am finding blackened edges on a lot of shrub foliage and the trees I have that are at their northern limits are showing signs of unhappiness. I have to tap into my gardening wisdom and wait and see what happens. Not feeling particularly sage here yet.

Thanks to Cathy at http://www.ramblinginthegarden.wordpress.com for hosting this weekly meme. So much fun. Follow the link to see more vases.

Until next week – Happy Gardening!

In a Vase on Monday – Ring in the New Year

I am issuing a hearty welcome to 2023 by ringing in the New Year with a vase on Monday. A bit of a poem by Tennyson, written in 1850, celebrating the church bells ringing at midnight.

Ring out the old, ring in the new,
Ring, happy bells, across the snow;
The year is going, let him go;
Ring out the false, ring in the true.

This is a high concept floral creation. The pen holding up the bell is for writing New Year’s resolutions. It has not been used – yet! The silver bell is for ringing in (and out). The flowers are fireworks and the shells are grounding it all. Design school rearing its ugly head again.

A closer view:

The pen is a freebie I picked up at a lecture about controlled burns in the nearby state park. It is from the Florida Forestry Service and looks like a stick. The bell is one of many collected by my husband. It is an annual silver bell engraved with the year. After about 30 years you really don’t need any more bells. The grey plant in the background is an Air Plant; known around here as Ball Moss (Tillandsia recurvata). These can grow almost anywhere and are sometimes seen on power lines. This one is flowering and I think it looks like fireworks.

The red fireworks are actually buds from ‘Maui Red’ Ixora. The Ixora is a shrub that is very intolerant of cold – being a perverse plant it has started flowering after being exposed to the coldest temperatures it has ever experienced last week. Shells are from our local beach and the moss and the vase are from recent floral gifts from friends.

Happy New Year to all and a big Thank YOU to Cathy at http://www.ramblinginthegarden.wordpress.com for her years of hosting In a Vase on Monday. Follow the link to see more vases.

In a Vase on Monday – The Holiday Bus Returns..again.

It’s that time of year. Time for greens with red accents and a little, um, tropical color from the garden tucked into a festive biscuit (or cookie in US speak) tin. A friend from the UK gifted us with this tin of biscuits several years ago. I love tins and pull this out every December to make a holiday arrangement for my foyer. My husband and I devoured the shortbread in the tin, leaving me wondering if packaged cookies (biscuits) from the UK are better than US cookies? I think they might be, Hobnobs are my favorite cookie to buy, chocolate and made in the UK. As a native of the Southeastern US I think biscuits are for dogs or a simple quick bread/roll served as a side dish. Biscuits are a very important vehicle for gravy in the South.

Back to the vase, now that I am hungry… An overhead view, the ferny foliage is from the Asparagus Fern that pops up in the garden; purple foliage with white flowers is ‘Purple Prince’ Alternanthera; white flowers are from a volunteer Vinca rosea, another garden pop up; bigger red flowers spilling over the tin are Nodding Hibiscus (Malvaviscus arboreus).

Another view: on each side I have ‘Miss Alice’ Bougainvillea in white; a few sprigs of Tropical Red Salvia (Salvia coccinea); and a dash of China Hat (Holmskioldia sanguinea)

The colored foliage at the back of the arrangement looking a bit like flames is from two Crotons in my garden. Crotons are medium sized, extremely colorful shrubs from the South Pacific. They are very common in South Florida. There are a few leaves from ‘Pie Crust’ Croton at the edges and some leaves from ‘Mammey’ Croton mixed in the background. Pie Crust has the rolling leaf margins, you guessed it, like a pie crust. There are a lot of food references in this post; I need to think about what to have for dinner…

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

Happy Holidays from South Florida !!