Tropical Garden #89 - January 2011

Well I think it is time for a new thread.......

OOOhhhh, pretty!!!

Thanks Kay I love this one also I took a chance in rooting it and it did work it is still in water but doing fine.

Isn't it self-seeding for you? I even have some coming back from the original plant I had this past summer. I'm near you - do you have plants coming up and leafing out? I have many things leafing out - hope they know what they're doing! LOL

Yes I know and no it is not self seeding as of yet it has not formed a bloom. I also moved back to NY for health reasons wish I was still in Pensacola. I totally miss the warm weather that I was having there. it was pure delight.

What is that flower?

Here's more Winter flowers.

Clerodendrum

Hello Dave,

It is a Morning Glory that did not re-seed and it did not bloom until the end of August so I took a cutting and it actually keep blooming.

Hello all!!

pensacolagarden, thanks for the new thread! Good job on getting MG to bloom this time of the year.
I have a plant just hanging in there, showing a few green vines. You can see it in this picture of my new e-bay Bromeliad Del Mar.

This message was edited Jan 11, 2011 5:31 AM

Metrosideros, that is a very nice shot of the Clerodendrum bloom.

Plantladylin, I hope that you enjoyed your weekend, did you have any brownies left over?

LiliMerci, let's hope that this week is the last of the the bad weather. How are your Begonias doing? Mine are scragly and need repoting. That will be a job for sunnier days.

This is also a new variegated COT from e-bay

GAgirl1066, You Chalice vine should be fine at 50 degrees. I was refering to my own experience with exposing them to below freezing weather like we are having now. Do you have a name or picture of your powderpuff plant that was left out for the winter?


Joeswife, The plant I sent you is a red powderpuff plant. I too, have been trying to root the Stictocardia without any luck. I will try again in the summer. I am also trying to root a new Pakalana vine from e-bay.

I have been playing with my new Philo Painted Lady today. I think that they will look good planted with this Ti plant.

These plants would normally be very happy outdoors but with this freaky weather they are trapped indoors like I am. There are plenty of windows but they are covered with the 3 M film or are Low E glass which cuts a lot of the sun's rays.

We managed to escape the worst of the ice storm but it came very close and our roads will be treacherous with black ice tonight.

Everybody stay safe in this nasty weather. We southerners are not used to driving on ice and our homes are not insulated as well as they would be in colder climates.

Gee, I thought I had posted on this thread this morning ... must have had a blonde moment and forgot to hit send?

Pensacolagarden: Lovely color on that Morning Glory!

Dave: Really pretty Clerodendrum!

Rita: Great color on that Brom and really nice Euphorbia milii! Love that variegated foliage and pretty blooms ... but not the thorns, LOL. Philo Painted Lady is gorgeous!!

ardesia: That is a lovely photo! I'd really love to have windows like that!

Duh, I meant to comment also. I ditto Lin's comments. :-)

That is a beautiful brom Rita and the phil is beautiful also. I am going to have to pay more attention to eBay plants.

I've never bought anything on e-bay, I bid on something years ago and was so disappointed when I thought I'd won the bid but at the very last minute, I lost. I'm not very patient with stuff like that so I just don't even look anymore, LOL.

This isn't the greatest picture but thought I'd share. I bought this Cyclamen at the grocery store before Thanksgiving, it had a few buds that seemed to take forever to open. We only find Cyclamen plants for sale down here during the holiday season and I can never resist buying one. The blooms are pretty but I really love the foliage!

mjs, thanks for letting me know that the vines I sent you are growing great. My syngo. from you is still growing strong and It's good to read you are back.

Dave, very nice Clerodendrum and the spot you chose to lay Ku to rest sounds perfect.

Pensacolagarden, you and Debra have such a green thumb with growing those M.G. vines both indoor and out. Nice color on the one you posted.

First blooms on this cane Begonia after being indoors.

Rita, all of those plants are nice ebay finds but of course, I love that Philo. and I had to look up the Pakalana vine. Very nice! The last Philodendron I got from ebay was only a cutting and they did not send the one I purchased. I will post a picture of it soon as I do not recognize this Philodendron at all. Hopefully you will;-)

ardesia, gorgeous setup for your indoor plants. Someone gave me an amaryllis but it's yet to show any signs of a bloom. Is there a trick to them? Stay safe, even us Northerners do not drive on ice.

Lin, nice Cyclamen and like you, I admire the foliage on those the best. I want to try a cold hardy variety here but have yet to buy one.

Newest peperomia that appears to be 'Silver Goddess'.

Rachel: Pretty begonia blooms, so soft looking. I like the looks of the foliage on that Peperomia.

Angel Wing Begonia 'My Special Angel' (I think) has been blooming sporadically all year:

James you made my end of day, after driving home at 13 miles an hour on ice and snow packed roads, only to have to take a detour every time there were a couple cars collided ahead of us. What usually takes me 18 minutes to get home took an hour tonight. The morning glory bloom really makes up for that. Thank You.

Rita, you always find great things on ebay. I love that variegated COT it is way cool. I ALMOT bought a brom at lowes the other day, but held off. They were in blooms of yellow, red and a fuschia colour. I felt sad for the hanging baskets of wilted tropicals.. prolly frost bitten or under watered. Kay Jones gave me an idea about rooting the stictocardia, nicking it at the base and covering it to form a new root system off one of the "woody" arms.

Dave, I think it is a great idea to have your best friend under the branches of a beautiful tree.
The Clero bloom is beautiful. I hope to see some on mine this summer. I saw some on a blue butterflys one I gave to a friend, she had it the size of a good sized shrub this year.

Rachel you know I love the Angel wing begonias and the cane begonias are my favorite. I almost got a pepperomia, but decided to wait a bit. That one is one I have never seen before.
Lin, I love that one! It is such an Angel, isn't it?

ardesia, I also love your plant haven. I am glad they are inside. Not fair to you southerners to be subjected to the cold temps that we have .. This is Blackie, waking up.

My snowberry bush on Sunday, is now covered with snow. I took two large cuttings off of it before I covered it with more leaves.

In the winter, I get stir crazy and become experimental.. so here is another attempt at a terrarium, and the Goji berry cuttings seem very happy in there..

This is an I. Nil cross I planted in December, I want to see it bloom before Valentines Day.. It looks like it might do that sooner..

I liked seeing those roots, James.. it tells you it is happy. I wish you could still be in Florida, but if it is so cold there, you might be better off where ya at.. ;D


Is this thing supposed to do anything? It is alot of different cuttings in the same basket, and they just keep making new growth.. not that I mind, But I am afraid it is going to pull the wall down it is so big and heavy right now..

Debra, I don't know the exact name of the last one you posted, but I have one about twice that size and have never had a bloom - is there anything I can do to make this plant BLOOM?!

Good Morning ladies, that's an epiphyllum. They have gorgeous blooms, and some of them get pretty big. I've had mine for a few years and no blooms. I just got some Super Thrive and all my plants are getting a shot today, I hope I get a few blooms on my epies this spring, I have about 15 varieties.

Debra: That photo in your last post looks like Epiphyllum oxypetalum: http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/2443/ They get really huge ... you could probably pot that one up in the spring and give it a tall trellis to climb. Night bloomers and the fragrance is said to be awesome. Mine has bloomed a few times the past couple of years but the one time I remembered to take a whiff my sinuses weren't cooperating and I couldn't smell a thing ... but my husband said it smelled really nice!

This picture was taken the last time mine bloomed, 10:30 p.m. on August 26th:

My Epi's didn't bloom for years ... one plant I've had since 1976 but a few years ago I began feeding them with bloom booster fertilizer once in awhile when I fed the orchids and when I think of it I cut up banana peels and bury them in the soil (or I must admit, at times I've just thrown a few banana peels on the top of the soil) and let them rot. They seem to love the potassium as the peels break down. Of course, my plants all stay outside year round ... I'd worry about the peels attracting bugs if they were in the house. If you have a food processor you can also chop up the banana peels mixed in water to feed the plants.

I have trouble taking pictures of white flowers but this is a close up of an E. oxypetalum bloom from last August:

This is my Epiphyllum oxypetalum plant ... it suffered some cold damage this winter and it seems we are not done with the cold just yet. I've moved most of the plants back to the porch and deck and I need to get outside later today and cover them with blankets for a bit of protection. We are predicted to have a couple of cold nights again, 27º tonight and low 30's the next few after that. I can't complain though, after seeing on the news all of the snow and ice that some of y'all are dealing with! I can't imagine having to drive in weather like that. Be careful and stay safe on those treacherous roads.

Good Evening All!!

ardesa, that is a very nice view you have there, love the varanda as well.
I can see my favorite Ti plant in there, Wiley's gold. I purchased two plants last year and lost them both.
Tonight is going to be our coldest night for the week. I probably will not get much sleep for checking on heaters etc.

This is one of the variegated bananas I got last fall. It has grown almost 2' the other is shrinking and is not quite 3' tall.

plantladylin, Great pictures, the closeup shot of your white Epiphyllum is very good. I had to wait over two years for my cuttings to bloom. I did get a yellow flowering plant from a DG that has not flowered. I have a red one that flowered twice last year, that was a big bloom.

This is a Lowe's Croton several years old. What makes it a cool plant are the spoon shaped extensions on the leaves.

RachelLF, Beautiful pictures! You got me hooked on those peperomia. I did buy a few more after I did so well with the plant you sent me. The Silver Godess will be on my list.
I hope that I can help to ID your Philo.

New Croton, just perking up after being transplanted.

roxxanne, thanks for the name and the fertilizing tip. Maybe that is what I am doing wrong. I usually will wait until the spring to start fertilizing my plants.

Joeswife, it is always a joy to see what's going on in your basement garden.
I am getting hooked on e-bay, you can find a few cool plants at reasonable prices sometimes.
I have never tried a terrarium, I like yours! You know that I am a copycat.

KayJones, Hopefully they will bloom for you this year, age might be the answer.

I have to show my pencil cactus again, I ran out of pictures!

Hi all, well we are joining the "getting cold" club again. A Yo-Yo cycle of moving plants in/out, covering/uncovering. Light freeze tonight and a hard one tomorrow night.
I have a couple of Epi's also. I'm a bad mommy mine need to be repotted badly. They haven't bloomed for me either, but they are just two years old this coming spring, so maybe they will. I'll start giving them more fertilizer too.
Not much new to show, got a bunch of Orchids putting out spikes, but here is a JMG growing under the lights and a variegated Shrimp plant behind it. Rooted some cuttings just in case the momma plant didn't make it.

Nice pencil cactus, Rita. I had some cuttings from one at work, I sent them off to some other dgr's, since I can always get more. They are easy to root, I have found. Drove college girl back up north and we made the trip safely, there are so many cars and suvs still in the ditches. Supposed to have a record low temp tonight. brrr! DH and I are hoping it will kill all the bug eggs. I bet the pear tree has a bounty this spring.
Lin, if my plant produces a bloom like that I will be in 7th heaven, however, I think I planted a ric-rac epi in that bunch. I fed banana peels to the passi's this summer they went crazy over it. So now I have already been making banana peel tea for all the plants, they get a drink once a month. I think I will give them all a little more. I have a plastic tub I dump my coffee grounds, potatoe peels and other compost type things into, add some soil and shake it up, keep it under the sink. So Far, no one has discovered it, as I am sure it would be tossed if they did. Now I need to get some worms in there LOL.
wanted to show the PV I was sent, it is happy in this broken pot so far. It will get a nice big ceramic pot this spring, with my gift cards to everywhere that DH got me. The other thing there is a dainty white euphorbia thing, that I had behind the outside small bathtub planter.
Those cuttings took really well..The containers aren't pretty, but they work.

My hibiscus are all still blooming away. I don't think they realize they are inside yet.

I love that banana with the varigated leaf, it is beautiful.
Mine are trying to start over, since they went dormant..
Gee, those crotons are so interesting.. tropicman seems to have a knack at those too..
I have already planted seeds, and this little canary vine is growing for a DG'r here. Some nice lady sent me that pretty bower vine behind it.. ;)

Mj, I am sorry you and Rita and all of you southerners are having to worry about things, you are not supposed to be, right? I mean, the weather is just plain weird this year. If it is just a night or two, maybe everything will be okay. This is Maya, watching over Kaitlyn's seed pods. I feel like a worried grandma over these pods.

I had three large Pencil Tree's, two in the ground, one in a pot and all were lost to the freezes last year.