TROPICAL GARDEN # 82

prita, WHAT is that blue flower? That doesn't even look real. That is beautiful!!!

GAgirl1066, it is a blue pea vine
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/55445/

Is it planted in the ground?

James congrats on your brug blooms they are so beautiful!
Love that blue pea vine.
GAgirl what is that plant you posted? I love the dark leaves.
Hap, so beautiful and I would never come inside if I were there..
Rachel, were those chocolate chips I saw in that cup Dave posted?

This message was edited Sep 13, 2010 7:48 PM

I am going to have ALOT of seeds for this one, if anyone wants any..

Debra,
I would love some seeds please.

Tina

Tina, No problem.. dmail me the seeds you want and we can get ya going..
I have to show ya all the little sago palm I started from seed in FEBRUARY. awwww isn't it so cute! I had forgotten I planted it.. I had also planted a white butterfly ginger and a Chinese bean hyacinth seed in the same pot, hoping to see something grow.. they are all three sharing this same little pot, I am afraid to touch it ..

That tells me somewhere my lotus seeds must be up by now,, I am gonna start looking in every nook and cranny to see what has finally popped up.. these are from seed, aren't they so cute?

prita,
My String of Hearts say's Thank You ! I don't baby it. It hangs under a Big Oak in the Summer, get's just a touch of full sun early, then dappled sun/shade throughout the day. I give it a good drink every once in a while if we haven't had rain, but I do wave the hose over the foliage every few days, and I don't bring it in till unless we are having consistently cool weather. If it's just a cool snap, like over night, I wrap a light weight horse blanket around it. ( horse blanket's are great for covering an assortment of plants. ! ) It really needs to be repotted, which is at minimum a 2 person job, actually easier with 3 as it is at least now 4 1/2 feet long. Probably ought to divide it out a little too. Last time I divided it it took off like crazy. Don't you just love those Blue Pea vines, watch it tho, mine comes up from seeds that drotp on the ground every year. Do you have the white one ? Very pretty !
Knee is still "misbehavin", which is normal life for me. I've had surgery on both of them for various torn ACL's and completely removed the Meniscus in the right knee.

Gagirl, I have ton's of seed for the Blue Pea vine ..............

This is a better pic of the Passion Flower edulis McCain than the one I took the other "night" lol....got out there when I had decent light.




This message was edited Sep 14, 2010 5:06 AM

Debra,
I'd love a few seeds of that MG too !
What is that little blue flower ?

Your candlebush cassia looks much better than mine ! The Sulphurs have been having a field day on it. But........that's what happens when you plant a "flutterbly host plant ! " The caterpillars that are munching on the leaves are green, the one's that get up on the flowers turn yellow. I have been picking them off and putting them on a little native cassia that grows wild around here, but that's kinda like moving them to the "Hotel Six" when they were just at the "Ritz"......
This is a "Cloudless Sulphur" BF caterpillar........quite the camouflage.

Joeswife,
Its a philodendron, the closest I have come to ID is the 'Red Empress". Believe it or not, I lost it this past winter, I almost cried. It was beautiful!! It was about 5 ft. across. Fortunately, I had taken a cutting off of it and it is doing fine. It did not like that cold weather we had last winter. I had it protected,but it just wasn't enough. My baby will definately come in the house this winter.

MJ, I would love some seed, we may need to compare notes on everything we have. LOL

Here is another that is my favorite!!

Well here it is double pink ofr double salmon whichever it has finally started to bloom horray no more guessing which one it is.

MJs I would love to trade some butterfly pea for some mgs.. let me know.. Love your passion vine, I wish mine would bloom.
GA girl I really am glad you are bringing in your baby.. it is gorgeous.
James, I am so happy for you, I still have never grown a double to bloom..
My brugs are blooming everywhere.. Soon they will have to come inside..
Rita you need to add Kaitlyn to your list, she blooms continually and has a lovely bloom with long tendrils.

Here is Cherub

Debra and GAgirl,
I'll pop them in the mail to you.
mj

forgot Cherubs picture..
MJs, thanks! Will send you some JMG seeds.

Thanks MJ

GAgirl, lol...yeah, we might need to at this rate !!LOL......
Flowering Maple......

GAgirl1066, you have been holding out on us, those are Superb Specimens!! I love them both.
Where did you find them?

I have the Pea vine in a pot that I have to take in for the winter.

mjsponies, you really seem to be having a very good passion vine season, that one is a beaut!!
Maybe you can re-pot your chain of hearts instead of deviding it. It might be a world record size and will look nice hanging beside your big staghorn fern. Happy_1 made the Guiness world record for the biggest coleus ever grown!!
I plan to refer to your tips on growing the COH. thanks!
I hope that after the surgery your knees are doing a lot better.
I do like the pea vines and lost the white plant last year. My Chinese Lantern is blooming as well. I planted a little variegated Abutilon earlier this spring, I hope that it does well.

Joeswife, I have a tiny blue MG that came from you.
I planted it in a hanging basket hoping it will trail down, instead, it is growing up the cable, holding the basket. It's a beautiful sight every morning, but very hard to photograph. love it.

I will add Kaitlyn to my list and Super Nova, this is the third time blooming this year. I have a double pink that is four years old and 9ft tall that has never bloomed. It will be history if it does not do anything this fall. I need the room for the performers. lol
That is a great picture of Cherubs. Do you have a picture of Kaitlyn?

pensacolagarden, I can't wait to see that double bloom!! My daydreams have a few buds showing. I wish that the weather would stay this nice for a very long time. The Encore Azaleas are blooming already.

I have showed every plant in my garden. This is the back view of my island bed.

That's beautiful, Rita.

Hap

Happy_1, thanks, You are "Simply the Best"

I got both of them in Jacksonville, FL. I recently cut the second one back because it has a vining habit and was getting out of control. So now I have several little babies, I just hope they do OK.

The picture below I bought as Philodendron 'Cheesecake', but a few DGers thought it was the varg mostera. I don't know, I haven't found much if any info on 'cheesecake'. All I know is it is beautiful and I love it. It has lots of varigation.

prita,
that is gorgeous. One day I'll get my garden's all filled in like that...........but it will take a while !!!! It show's how much work you put into them !
I noticed you say you take your Blue butterfly Pea vine in. I grow mine in the ground, and just it either reseeds or (lol, IF, it didn't come back from seed they are easy to grow).
It's the only one I grew up the side of the house this year, and the south side to boot, as it takes full sun/heat so well. We're planning on painting this fall, (lol we were planning on painting this summer actually, but it hasn't quite gotten done). So I removed all the vines, and dug up a lot from the bed's around the house ( good excuse to redo them right !).Actually the soil really needs a good boosting, and some of the plants need to be replaced so another big project.
Anyhow, here's the Pea vine....it's been cut back several times this year, or it would have been clear across the driveway on the phone line ! uggg, terrible picture

That is really beautiful! I also love the varigated monster philo? you have. Hap and Rita are my heros and inspire me alot, however, tonie when I was whining about having to bring things in .. ( I don't want to.. I want everything to keep growing BIG) he stated I need to either move to southern California or Florida. I replied, Okay then, make it so... ( I won't hold my breath) Having lived in both those locations for long periods of time, I know I would end up missing the snow at some point.

Kaitlyn is a brand new brug by JT Sessions and I adore her.. She has grown over 5 ft in one season, and flushed about 4 maybe five times for me.. She is a very colorful and heavily scented Brug.

Debra,
Thanks on the BF Pea vine. I put it in the ground in May, once the weather warms up they take off. I'll have tons' of seed from it again too. This one ( the one I'm sending you and GAgirl, blooms single and double on the same vine.
No varigated monster philo, but if you are referring to the plant in the lower left hand corner, that is fronds from a PonyTail Palm. We used to have it in a pedestal planter, but it was getting too big, so we put it in the ground. We set it somewhat forward in that bed which I plan to widen after we paint, to add some depth to the bed. To the left of it which is still small will be a Pink Flowering Maple, and I haven't decided yet what for sure I will put on the right for "tall", but in between set along side/back/and forward will be taller tropical sages, of course my milkweed ( got another 20 or so monarch cat's out there again ;-)...) I've got Duranta "Lemon Drop" ( I think), thing is I got it as a cutting locally and I know for a fact that it get's much bigger than any info I've found on it. The gentleman took out his pocket knife and cut several pieces for me when I commented on it. He also gave me cuttings of Duranta which we said was Lemon Lime, but I can't match it up with my photo's, it also get's fairly tall. In any case I'm not convinced they can take that summer heat in that bed. Maybe someone here can help me with these...
this is Duranta 'lemon lime ?

Duranta lemon drop ?

Good morning MJ, love both of the plants. I have one similiar, but mine has varigation in it. I will have to see if it is labeled when it gets light out.

Hey Girl !
I think your's might be "Golden Edge"
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/123799/

Oh, and Debra ! I'm about ready to go out and stomp on my Brug's....not one bloom this year at all.........grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Hello here is first bells giving me one last flush

mjsponies,
Don't stomp the brugs yet. So far this year I have had buds on 2 out of 11. The first one got one bud on it and promptly dropped it. Now I have another one that I'm watching very closely. My 1 dutara is at the end of its 3rd flush. Hopefully the other ones will get a clue and do something this year. Tina

MJ, that is probably it, I know it was Golen something.

I haven't had much luck with my brugs either, but I have to say it is probably my fault, I have neglected them.

joeswife.

Go visit the snow. Gardening is way more important!!!


BTW, there is a house at the end of my street for sale.....

Hap

Hap,
If we have another cold winter like last one, I'LL be moving farther south !

MJ's and...that's what I want to know.. just how far south is far enough.. Panama
My babies and me... we don't do cold real well..

Up until this year Gordon, it has been heaven. (Except for a couple of 'wind' storms.LOL) November and April are my favorite months, for it's around 70 and sunny. Jan is usually the coldest, but nothing like last year. It's just about perfect here.

I know, I know, I should join the tourist bureau.....

Hap

Really, Hap is right, winter's "normally" are wonderful here, we've had winter's where we did not even have a frost, much less a freeze. Summer's is usually the time I complain cause it's quite hot and humid. Which it has been this year too especially so ! I'm hoping things level back out, and no big ole wind storms either ! I have too many plants to be dragging in and out now.

August in the southeast is like February in Wisconsin.

In some ways you are right, ardesia....it is really are not comfortable outside, no shoveling here!! But I will have to say, this is the first summer in the 25 years that I have lived here that it has been uncomfortable and gardening a chore. But, as a blessing, I do not have to tar roofs or pave roads and God help those who have had to.

Today was the first day of fall. Sat outside about 4 and there was a beautiful breeze and temp didn't seem that bad. YIPPEEE!!

Hap