Kay: If they need to remove this entire thread you can begin a new one and we can start posting there.
Tropical Garden #91 - February 2011
Melody has my dmail - I'm sure she will just remove the 'sticky'.
Hey, I was sure enjoying seeing all the lovely pictures of everybody's flowers. Here's one of my agapanthus last summer, with the darned 'Stuttgart' cannas in the background. They spread like a plague, but never got any of the lovely white variegation on the leaves that I was looking for. Anybody else had this happen?
That is a beautiful garden picture. I have always wanted to grow those pretty blue flowers, but non ever came up from the seeds I have planted.
I have a bloom today to share down here in the basement Garden.
I am so excited about that rescue tree, now look at the leaves..
try to ignore the wamart bag of baby tomatoe plants there hanging from that pole..
Ritas Oxalis is about to bloom
Dallas Red Lantana is awake and ready to bloom the rest of this winter.
this one is yellow and pink and white and I have a name, but have to find it.
this is three passion vines and two bright yellow orange black eyed susan vines growing together.
Nancys Revenge is settled down and deciding to take a peek around the new digs. I sure hope she likes in Kansas this summer.
I am looking forward to seeing these this year. they only double for me every other year, 2011 is the double year. These were from summer of 2008.
one more tropical plant picture, this is phillopine violet, finally finished pouting, so now I am going to look for a nice big fancy tub for it. Thank you Kay for letting me try this one. I am ashamed of my broken pots, I ran out of things to hold plants in. Told my hubby I am buying heavy decorated tubs for all my favorites.
Wow here at 91 Loved all the pics that you guys posted.
Rita I love that variegated clivia it is so beutifull.................
James
Debra, Don't feel bad about broken pots, you should see some of the stuff I "re-purpose' to use for pots. The horse supplements come in these nice white plastic buckets, some are round and some are rectangular. Usually can't get the labels off.
Here's one of my favorite "re-purposing" endevors.
It's an old fertilizer spreader with a 3-pt hitch that you can put on a tractor. When the part that you adjust the amount of fertilizer coming out broke, and then part of the bottom rusted thru we sank it in the ground, drilled a few extra holes in the bottom for drainage and voila, Planter.
I ordered some Blue Nile agapanthus last year but they never did grow for me I must try them again.
Joeswife, You certainly have a lot of blooms going on in your basement. I am fighting spider mites and scale in my upstairs plant room right now. I accidentally watered a sleeping pot of tuberose when I was up there the other day and it is sending out shoots so I will need to move it downstairs to a brighter window.
Good morning, everyone! Is there a problem with the sticky - how come no one is posting their list - I am embarrassed that mine is up - come on, post your lists!!!!
Holly,
my tuberose is sending up a spike. When are they supposed to bloom. Wonder if it's cause it's been in the greenhouse.
I usually plant bulbs in the spring and they don't bloom for me until late summer close to fall. I have wondered when they would bloom in Fl. much earlier I would think. I haven't had them in the house before. Last fall instead of digging up the bulbs I just set the pot in the house under my growing table I put dominant plants and large empty pots under there. I moved some things around a couple of weeks ago and it got moved out from under the table and when I watered some plants that are sitting up there I watered it too. Will be interesting to see when it blooms this year if I get it to that point.
dyzzy: I agree, that is a lovely photo of your garden with the Agapanthus and Canna's. Some Canna Lilies are pests here in Florida, wanting to spread everywhere. I only have one clump of the blue Agapanthus left in my yard. I gave some to neighbors and gave a large white one to my next door neighbor last year.
Debra: I'm not real particular about containers for my plants either, if it will hold potting medium it's fair game for a plant!
My husband gets aquarium salt in large five gallon buckets and I confiscate empty ones every so often to use for holding potting soil (because somehow the bags always get torn) and I also use them for filling with water and liquid fertilizer. I fill the bucket with water, measure in the amount of fertilizer/plant food for 5 gals and use an old pitcher to bail out the water for watering plants. I have one bucket that I use for storing birdseed. It has a handle so it makes it easy to carry around the yard when filling the feeders, and with the tight lid it keeps bugs and moisture out to keep the seed dry. Those big buckets also make great containers for larger plants. I drill holes in the bottoms, fill them with potting medium and in goes a plant. When we had five cats we bought kitty litter in the big plastic pails and those were handy containers too! I always said I was going to at least paint the outsides so they'd look prettier but somehow never got around to doing it.
Speaking of unusual planters, I still have a cloth purse (embroidered with my name) that my sister gave me back in the early 1970's. I've used it as a holder for a potted plant many times over the past 20 years! I thought about putting potting soil directly into the cloth interior but figured it would last longer if I just used it as a cache pot and sit the plant pot down into the purse. The handle is used for hanging it. I don't remember what's in the purse right now, I'll have to go out and look when it stops raining ... if it ever stops raining! I can't really complain though because we need the rain, it's just been cloudy and drizzly here for a couple of days making it damp and dreary. We are supposed to have storms this afternoon and tonight with a slight possibility of severe weather. They are telling folks to have their weather radio's on tonight. It's supposed to rain here all week. yuck ... but at least temp's are warm, it's going to be 78º today!
This is a picture of my "purse planter" from a couple of years ago:
Well jeeze Kay that's just about to die for cute ! Next time I'm in town I'm gonna go by Goodwill, they always have a ton of purses in there and I bet I can find something !
I use all the above type buckets you mentioned too, for all the same things. Gotta these days !
Oops, Martha - that's Lin's cute purse display - wish I had thought of it!
Opps - I think I was looking at one of your posts on another thread Kay......and well, you know how that is.
Lin - I'm stealing your purse idea.
mj
Hey, how about we post pictures of OURSELVES on this thread so we will know to whom we are 'talking'!! I'll start:
We did this on the African Violet Forum a couple of years ago and it was fun getting to see our friends here in the garden!
What a pretty lady you are Kay ... great smile!
I am not photogenic at all and this isn't the best picture ... but here I am:
You are LOVELY! Who will be next?
Um . . I am the photographer in the family, so there aren't hardly any photos of me! That's my excuse and I'm stickin to it. I do have lots of pics of flowers and birds, though. My daughter might have a decent shot of me. I'll have to e-mail her. (she's in Salt Lake City)
I just have the one pot of agapanthus on my patio - it's been in that 16" pot for at least 5 years, so they must love to be crowded. It did take a while to get going, but now that it's all wrapped around itself in that pot, it blooms like crazy for 2 months every late spring. I add some soil on top, and some pelleted fert when the weather warms up, but that's all I've done for it. It doesn't like too much water, either.
Mj, I never started them from seed, though. I started with a scraggly plant I got at a garage sale. Tenderly repotted it when it came home, and of course it never bloomed for 2 years, until it got comfortable again. Some plants are cannibals, right? I've tried them in the ground but they just pout and die off. Can't get crowded enough?
Lin, I've been collecting the dwarf cannas since my lousy results with 'Stuttgart'. They only get 2 or 3 feet tall, and don't spread too crazily either. Lots of colors, flowers and neat colored leaves, too. Love the purse hanger idea!
Did you all see the black beaded purse planter I had last year? I posted it on an earlier thread here in early last summer, but the pictures are all gone with the laptop. It is still outside, holding sedum and spurge, the mums I stuck in it may or may not have taken..I buy the little lined straw bags at dollar tree and use them for planters around the patio table. Only bad thing is , the elements have all the beads of the black purse now, and the bottom is disentegrated and the table is holding it all up still.
Here I am from 2009, with contacts on.. Hair is longer now and I can't see with contacts so glasses it is.
Looks to me like we have a bunch of good looking tropical people here..
I like growing the short cannas too, especially the indian shots.
Debra, you are BEAUTIFUL!!!! Can I steal your purse idea? Our Goodwill store sells nice leather tote bags for $3.
Debra, I just heard that your area is going to get another FOOT of snow in the next day or so - please be careful!!!
If you use a fabric or leather bag line it with plastic. Heavy duty trash bag or several ziplock freezer bags I have done that with wicker baskets and it works very well. Eventually the weather will get to them depending on where you place it but they will last a lot longer and look nicer.
I really need new cannas. I dug up a ton of either red or yellow cannas last year. I use to have some other colors and leaf colors but over the years they have died off. They use to run a Co-op for cannas here on DG every year and the prices were wonderful.
I believe this one was Cleopatra.
That's a pretty yellow!
Holly, are you going to post a recent picture? I hope so!
Oh Yes, Who is that masked woman?
Well maybe this one might be better.
A nice tropical garden Bok Tower Fl.
Oh, you are PRETTY! Those plants are gorgeous - what are they and where can we get them?
Ok...this is me and "Bop"
Martha, I have already seen your picture - you and Bop are BEAUTIES! Now, to come and ride that horse!!!!
Dyzzy... yes.. had the same luck with my Stuggart.. it grew out to be all green...
where did you get yours from...
I got back to the nursery where mine came from.. and they sent me one that grew out to be a lovely white/green just like it was suposed to be... I don't think it's easy for them... the way the cannas send out such robust tubers /roots... they invade the next growing area so well... when the Stuttgart area is dug up they get the invaders along with them and as tubers they all loo pretty much the same.. which reminds me I should go and sprinkle a bit of water in the saw dust /tuber bag they are in for the winter..
GAgirl.. great picture of Longwood gardens.. it looks like just the way I'd love the living room to look..
Lin.. yes.. my ideal home also.. maybe the next one..your pool room with some glass/plastic added would be a great indoor living growing space... what's his objection ... aside from the work ofkremoving them for the summer... and no small task replacng them so it doesn't leak every fall... no small task
I did build mother a house some 30-35 years ago.. in north AL.. [ mine wll have to be in a warmer area ]... all 18' cathedral celings through out...with 6... 46" x 76" double pane sylights [8' sliding door replacement glass size ] running the length of the ridge beam.. but after 20 years she had them removed and two small dormer windows put in their place... I'd built them from scratch... and their upkeep was difficult for local roofers.. and ther maintance was more than I could manage on an ongong basis.. now ...so many off the shelf aluminum parts are available for constructing them weather proofing is a much easier project... while they were up for the 20 years they dd bring great light in.. and kept the 16" tall banna real happy.. it flowered all winter long... dropping the sticky flower parts all over ... but it was still much more of a regular house .. than I'l like to have.. I love floor level plantings inside .. rather than in pots.. t's a totally different feel to it... did have a place... mmmmm some 42 years ago... where I built and inset planters in.. level with the floor... inbetween the floor joists.. it gave a great look to the room.. maybe my next house I'll get to build it for myself... but it's got to be in a warmer place...
Ya'll are a great looking bunch ..it's so nice to see who every one is.. but I'll post a picture anyway.. since I get my senior discount on them..
This message was edited Feb 8, 2011 12:09 PM
LOL Kay, Those are Tree Philodendron. That pic was taken in Oct at Bok Tower Gardens in Lake WalesFl. year. The Dive pic was taken in Nov on my last Dive Trip to Utila off the coast of Honduras.
Here is a link to Bok Tower you should visit it if you haven't yet.
Martha what a beautiful horse Bop is. I had one similar for a few years. It belonged to a co-worker, we kept & rode him for a couple of years when the co-worker needed to move him. He was a pretty old horse when he stayed here.
Oh, it's great to see all the smiling faces of our friends here on DG. Y'all look great!
Debra: I searched but couldn't find the thread showing your purse planter. I just threw an old leather purse out a few days ago, I should have kept it for another planter! I might have to make another purse planter in the near future but I will have to poke holes in the bottom of the purse for drainage ... yep, I did something like that once using plastic inside and it was hanging out in the rain and filled with water ... the plant floated right out.
Kay: you might be able to grow the Tree Philo's (P. bipinnatifidum) in your area. http://www.floridata.com/ref/p/phil_bip.cfm I know everything states zone 9a and higher but we have a large stand of them in our side yard that were here when we moved in. They've survived a number of freezes over the past 36 years ... turning completely to mush when we have heavy frosts and hard freezes, but always re-sprout in the spring. If you have an area that has tree cover for a bit of overhead protection and mulch heavily I think they might just surprise you!
Martha: Great photo of you ... and Bop! I've always loved horses from a distance ... I've never ridden one though, I guess they scare me a bit because of their size. My husbands eldest brother (now deceased) raised a few Arabians many years ago.
Gordon: The home you built for your mother sounds amazing, the perfect type home for growing tropical plants indoors with the huge skylights, doors and windows!
HollyAnn: I had forgotten that you were a scuba diver! My husband loves to dive but doesn't get to do it very often. He hopes to be able to go back to the Bahamas for a few weeks in the summer. It's been five years since we were there. I'm not a diver and my husband and our friends who dive keep telling me what I'm missing with all the beauty beneath the sea ... but I prefer to stay on the boat. I would never be able to dive because I panic too easily, and I'd probably have a heart attack if I saw a large shark or barracuda ... no thanks, I will watch from up top, LOL.
I haven't been to Bok Tower Gardens in years, it is a beautiful place to spend a day: http://boktowergardens.org/the-tower
That Canna looks like one growing in my backyard but I can't remember if mine is named Cleopatra. I used to have photo's and names on my computer but when my laptop crashed a year ago I lost thousands of photo's and files. My husband gave me an external hard drive and told me I should do a backup every so often. I think I learned my lesson, but still don't do backups as often as I should.
This is a photo of the Canna last summer:
Gordon, you are a good looker! Thanks to everyone who has shared their photos - it is great to be able to 'see' who we are talking to.