What's Blooming In Ft Lauderdale, FL On August 30, 2009

Here are a few blooms from today here in South Florida. This is my seedling named "Toucan Tango"

Hibiscus "Funny Voodoo" X 2

Hibiscus "Rocket's Red Glare"

Hibiscus "Eye Of Kali"

Highbiscus "High Voltage"

Hibiscus "Black Voodoo"

Hibiscus "Nightfire"

Hibiscus "My Way" (Day 2 Bloom)

And a couple of potted plants out back by the pool..... Rudbeckia "Tiger Eye Gold", Hosta "Sunhosta", Echinacea "Green Jewel" and Echinacea "Mac N Cheese"

Jon

And this is a photo from my recent trip back to my hometown of Ithaca, NY. This waterfall is right behind the high school there in Ithaca.

Jon

Jon your hibs are anybodies dream, envy!, envy! envy! LOL! Your are killing me with those beauties. Really love that "Nightfire", "Funny Voodoo", "My Way" and "Toucan Tango", o what the heck, love them all. Also like those other plants you got in pots, there beautiful.

I wish I had a waterfall like that behind my house, it's gorgeous.

Wilfred

I want to say that Toucan Tango killing me,but such I am not good danser ,Funny Voodoo struck me till death.haha joke on foreign leguage,I must be mad.haha

Your Toucan Tango is beautiful. Know you are proud of it & rightly so. Just put Funny VooDoo on my 'wish list'. What size is the bloom? That is absolutely beautiful. All are fantastic. The waterfall is so pretty. It must have been great living there. Thanks for sharing with us.

Judy

Thanks Wilfred, Olja and Judy. Yes, "Toucan Tango" is special to me. I want to prune it so it will branch better and use the cuttings to graft a few more. I'm just waiting for it to stop blooming. It's put out 5 blooms so far and there are a few more buds coming.
Funny Voodoo is really a hibiscus I should plant in the ground eventually. It grows rapidly....and I mean rapidly. I would guess its tripled in size just since May. It's blooms are typically 6-7 inches, but I had a 8-9 inch bloom a couple of days ago.
Yes, Ithaca, NY is a unique place. It sits on the south end of Cayuga Lake, is surrounded by hills, gorges and waterfalls. It's mostly known for it's university (Cornell University) and the official Ithaca T-shirt that says "Ithaca Is Gorges".

Jon

Well if you ever decide to send some wood of Funny Voodoo I will offer to chose from all hibiscus I have,but I know that you there could buy just any hibiscus you want.

Is it easy for you to root cuttings Olja, or have you ever done cutting with success where you live. Just wondering.

It would be nice if some of the hib lovers on this forum who are about to trim there hibs back would send you some cutting of hibs your not able to get there. I know I would like to receive some but I rather have you get some Olja, my way of saying, thanks your for kindness and thanking god for all what he has given me. may God bless all on the forum and all who love his creations.

Olja, get ready for whats going your way, ( Law of Karma, one receives 10 fold for what one gives to others )
( Give 10% and receive a 100% back ), I wonder who said that more than 2000 years ago. I will be sending you some cutting as soon as I can Olja.

Wilfred

BTW Jon, have anymore beauties you can show use, love your hibs like always.

I'm really liking that seedling of yours Jon! How nice that it is a prolific bloomer as well :-)

Thanks Wilfred and Dee. I'm assuming it would take quite a few days to mail a cutting from the USA to Montenegro. Would the cutting still be ok by the time it arrives there in the mail? Not a high number of my hibiscus are blooming right now Wilfred. I've pruned so many of them way back in the last month or two so that they will fill in better. I'm hoping they start blooming again real good when the weather starts to cool and you get those vivid cool weather blooms.

Jon

Thank you all :-)

Beautiful photos, as always, Jon. Already making a list for next year from the photos on this forum. I ripped out a bunch of banana trees this year, and several roses that tried to take over my front yard, so it seems I have a lot of space that I really need to plant something in.

Wonder what I should put there??

Thanks much Kathy. You could leave your space empty until all the Florida winter annuals come out in October and plant annuals. This way you wouldn't have to decide on something more permanent until next spring. If you want to add some perennials you could try some gaillardia, echinacea, daylilies, alstroemeria, stokesia, rudbeckia. Some of these perennials, as in gaillardia, echinacea, daylilies and rudbeckia have varieties that you grow yourself from seed. I've grown some varieties of gaillardia, echinacea and rudbeckia from seed and they're not that difficult to grow yourself.

Jon

You know, Jon, thats not a bad idea at all. We have a couple of Walmarts here in Ocala that have some great fall annuals. I love the orange and yellow colors for the fall anyway.

Great idea, thanks!

You're welcome Kathy. I have some empty spaces right now because of annuals that died over the summer. Rather than justing filling the spots in with something I'm not all that wild about I tend to just wait until the fall. The possibilities are endless when it comes to what you can grow from October-April in Florida. I tend to go with petunias, pansies, osteospermums, morning glories and tall "rocket series" snapdragons (excellent as cut flowers). Everyone down here tends to plant impatiens,so I like to go with something a little different and unique.

Jon

"a little different and unique" from what I know that's a perfect description for you Jon, don't ya think :-)

LOL. I'm not sure how to answer that one Dee. I'm generally a pretty quiet person. My gardening style...in terms of what I grow down here is very unique though. I tend to grow Northern plants and flowers that I've always liked even though I'm growing them "out of zone". For some reason I really like the challenge of doing so. I just haven't discovered that many tropicals (other than Hibs) that I like.

Oh Jon, I mean it in the best of ways! You have a wicked sense of humor, one that I 'get' and miss when you aren't around :-). And based on what I know, somehow, 'quiet' doesn't seem to fit my picture of you in your everyday life...you were a model for goodness sake...or have you adopted the stereotypical accountant persona?

You know, I think with a lot of those empty spaces, Im going to plant onions, cabbage, broccoli, tomatoes and peppers. Probably throw in a few flowers for good measure.

Love gardening in Florida!

LOL. I DO have a quick sense of humor....so I'm told. That TV commercial stuff and magazine advertisement stuff was kind of a quirk Dee. I was actually approached while walking around on Las Olas Blvd, in downtown Ft Lauderdale and those opportunities "came out of nowhere".

Veggies are a good idea Kathy. I have an area in the backyard that I grow vegetables in during the winter months and then grow tall zinnias and sunflowers in during the summer months. Typically we can start growing vegetables down here in mid-late October. I'll probably grow the same things this winter from seed (leaf lettuces, swiss chard, radishes, broccoli, cauliflower).