Tropicals & Tender Perennials: Buddha's Hand - Fruit and Flower, 0 by digital_dave

digital_dave wrote:
Bought it at Blodgett Gardens & Nursery - 3821 Edgewater Drive Orlando. Another great nursery nearby (east Orlando) is Lukas Nursery & Garden Shop - Corner of Aloma (426) & Slavia Rd. Oddly enough though, my best finds in Orlando were at the Target Garden Center (true!). We picked up one-gallon bananas (many varieties) on-sale for $1.50 last fall! I would bet that they all came originally from Agri-Starts, a tissue-culture factory in Apopka. Banana growers should look here for interest (wholesale only unfortunately) http://www.agristarts.com/musa_main.htm Our Orlando mambers will attest that Apopka (just NW of Orlando) is end-to-end nurseries and the source of many tropicals for the entire country.

My daughter lives in Orlando and we drove down in April to ride the MS-150 Bike Tour (and do tropicals of course). Leu Gardens is a must see in Orlando and Bromeliad lovers must go to Selby Gardens in Sarasota (home of the Bromeliad and Orchid Identification Centers). Also got a nice variegated Tapioca and Osmanthus fragrans (for my DW). BTW, the Tapioca (Manihot esculenta) is extremely easy to propagate and I'll take many stem cuttings before frost kills back the plant in the ground this fall.

Winters will find the tropicals in the greenhouse or (if totally dormant like the potted bananas) in the inheated but non-freezing garage. Here's a picture of the greenhouse. It's about 20x30, double layer, and has foil-faced insulation on the north wall. We grow mostly Bromeliads, some succulents and tropicals. Here's a link to our home page (plant stuff) http://geocities.com/ne0b/Plants.htm