Tropical Garden #91 - February 2011

Hello y'all, it is good to see everyone!!

dyzzypyxxy, that plant is a Arum italicum 'Lords and Ladies', it's my first time for growing those. I planted 3 bulbs, with only one coming up so far.
We would love to see your Amaryllis Bogota in bloom.

ardesia, A rain forest in Tennessee, I sure would like to visit. I always wanted to visit the Exotic rain forest in Arkansas. I hope that someone will take good care of it for Steve.
The fish in the pond were eating the roots of my pink lotus. It will be a good excuse if it does not come back to buy a blue flowering plant.(no seeds). All the other plants in my pond are pink flowering. That blue tropical lily will be a welcome sight in the pond if I can find a blooming size plant this spring.
I found the Ti Wileys Gold on e-bay and bought 2 rooted plants, I hope that they make it this time around. thanks!!

HollyAnnS, I will have to agree with everyone else, that is a very beautiful orchid and a great picture!

GAGirl1066, I am right there with you and joeswife, I tried the Lotus seeds as well without any luck, I kept them in a clear liter bottle with water, changing it every week. Great find at Lowe's, I like the firesticks as well.
My find is a Hoya carnosa. It might be the same plant that Rachel posted earlier.

RachelLF, this is a new Anthurium Superbum.

plantladylin, I forgot to thank you for starting this thread. I love your welcome planter, It sure is nice to have friends like that!!
Please take your Laptop on the trip, you might have a picture that you can't wait to share. lol

Joeswife, my seeds are sprouting already!!

mjsponies, That is a gorgeous vine, I did bid on some seeds but lost. I am sure that they will offer them again soon.
I have had a Tecomanthe dendrophila vine for over 3 years now without any blooms. Hopefully the very cold winter will shock it into blooming this summer.
This is my Flame Vine, only one flower head so far, but I am grateful.

pensacolagarden, that is good news!! This is a new plant, Protea. I will have to do a little research on it.

Rita, I am so sorry that you lost plants during this wild weather we had. I lost some that I had protected for over 20 years. Would still love to see your gorgeous plants in person. Let me know if you ever have a free minute.

Christi

Someone probably should start a new thread in the morning ... this one is getting pretty long.

Rita: Love those colorful Ti plants and the bloom on that Flame Vine too! The Protea sure is an interesting looking plant. I've never seen the plant before but many years ago my husband bought me a bouquet of flowers that had three large Protea's in the bunch and I thought they were the ugliest flowers I'd ever seen, LOL. Of course I never told him that ... and I've grown to like those flowers. ^_^

I think Spring is in the air! The Cherry Laurel trees are beginning to bloom ...

Cape Honeysuckle is blooming ...

One of my noid Rhipsalis ...

Another noid Rhipsalis ...

Zamia in the backyard ...

Australian Tree Fern ...

Now, I do love the color orange ... just not these creepy crawlies that I found on a Hoya leaf yesterday! I sprayed the plant hard with the garden hose and when I get back from my trip everything on the deck is getting a dose of BATS!

Ewww, Aphids!

Tommorrow it is supposed to get a record 76 here. I told dh I would love to roll some of the plants out on a cart for the day, but by the time I get home it would be dark. *sigh* I do have a metal rolling cart with a bottom shelf from the service shop the guys brought down to me here, but it is in the garage and all these plants are down stairs. I planted alot of arums and other native seeds and they are being winter sowed out on the back table outside. I hope to see at least one of each pop up. My hibiscus are still blooming and budding , incredible.
Rita, that SuperBum is awesome, and I am going to see what I can get at the Widhita lawn and Garden show I am working at again in March.
Lin, your plants are awsome and I thank all of you for the lovely photos.
This was small when it was given to me last fall, should I leave it be or re-pot it?

So, a mystery solved, the fish ate my lotus tubers, huh! I had a lovely little "Baby Doll" lotus in my little pond, and it bloomed beautifully the first year, then sort of petered out the second and disappeared entirely by the 3rd year. Guess I should put more rocks on top of the tubers, or maybe pea gravel so it doesn't break those tender shoots?

Here's a shot of "Baby Doll" a couple of years ago.

Oops, I hit "send" instead of Browse.

I love Ariums they are hardy here. Here is one growing with Diamond Frost Euphorbia and some impatiens.

Holly those are beautiful.. I am glad to see the cedar house behind, as that is what I have.. I have the Diamond Frost Euphorbia and some impatiens growing down in my basement garden already. Thanks for the photos.

Debra: Nice Sans! I'd remove it from it's current pot and check the root system ... I've had them grow fast and fill pots quickly to the point of being extremely root-bound. Yours looks to me like it could use a bigger pot.

Dyzzy: Great shot, that is one beautiful pond!!

HollyAnn: I love that Arum, I noticed one in someone's (Rita's?) photo earlier and meant to comment. I've never grown Arum italicum but loved it the first time I saw a picture someone posted when I first joined DG. I immediately went to the PF listing: http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/1759/ to check it out, LOL. I've never seen one here in my area so don't know how they'd fare here, but I adore the variegated foliage!

Not really tropical, but this Gerbera Daisy popped up a few weeks ago and I noticed a bloom this morning ...

Also not tropical, but I thought I'd share anyway. :)

Red-bellied Woodpeckers are very common down here in Florida, we have them visiting the feeders on a daily basis. I got this shot yesterday afternoon. This is a male Red-bellied at one of the suet feeders.

Ok ... I'm off to the dentist. Have a great day everyone!

I've got that Diamond Frost Euphorbia blooming in a pot on my patio right now. I sheared it back to keep it tidy, brought some of the cuttings in to use in a little vase on the kitchen counter, and they took root in about a week just in water! Since it's so eager to grow, I'm going to try it in the ground this spring - here's hoping!

That's a lovely combo with the Arums, Holly Ann. I'll go search mine out, and plant some Diamond Frost starts near them. Do yours bloom?

Yes and when the leaves die back the red berries stick up though the Diamond Frost and make such a nice display. I had a pic of that but can't find it right now.

In the GH today..
Isn't this beautiful...don't ask me the name...I posted it on the orchid forum to see if Laurel can ID it.

nematanthus corticola (?)- my favorite plant

lipstick blooming

look at it up close

dancing bones is beginning to bloom

bought this about a month ago...can't wait until it blooms

one of my faborite begonias beginning to bloom

white geranium...had this about 3 years..I just keep taking cutting of it. It is hard to find a white one.

beef steak beginning to bloom

I have found that I have to divide my lotus every year or they produce fewer flowers and more but smaller leaves. I was actually doing that this morning, what a smelly job. All the mud has to be washed off and the dead tubers cut off and the good tubers repotted. It is a good thing these are beautiful flowers and this only has to be done once a year.

Beautiful photos everyone.

Rita, that is a super nice Superbum and you'll have to show us your new Hoya carnosa. The Hoya I showed last is now my favorite of the few I have. I'm going to miss visiting Steve's place but his plants will be well taken care of. His wife chose to donate them to a Botanical Garden and I know that is what Steve wanted as well. This is one of last plants he gave me, Anthurium pedatoradiatum.

mjs, good luck with your Bomarea hirtella. I just started some seeds for Beaumonita grandiflora. Have you grown that one?

Debra, beautiful morning glories and Paula, all those plants are so pretty and I think the little lithops are so cute. I tried one and lost it.

dyzzypyzzy, nice water feature scene and HollyAnn, I agree, those Arums look real nice with the Euphorbia and impatiens.

Lin, great shot of Red-bellied woodpecker and don't leave without taking your camera;-)

Rita, I am glad you found the Willii's Gold Ti, my cuttings have not sprouted even one leaf yet. I hope the warmer weather will wake them up.

Yuck, divide every year, huh? I was hoping my little 'Baby Doll' would go at least a couple of years but obviously it didn't.

I ordered a new one, and will try again with your helpful advice, thanks! Do you put rocks over the tuber to keep fish from eating them? Or maybe mesh netting over the pot would work, what do you think? Like bird netting with about 1/2" holes that the shoots could go through but the fish couldn't. The shoots are so very brittle when they first emerge I'm worried about rocks.

Nice photos everyone. Glad to see warm weather coming back!

Thanks for the Anthurium from Steve, Rachel! Glad that you have several plants from his collection. Many of them are quite rare, and disappearing from their natural habitat.

Hey Debra, if you do want some weed seeds from here, please D-mail me. I can collect a few seeds, what's ripe at the time.

Here's a Pohutukawa Sunset!

GAgirl: You really have some beauties in your GH right now. I especially like the Achynanthus and the flower of that white Geranium is really pretty! Your Hatiora ("Dancing Bones" is very nice. I have a small one that I've had for years ... used to have a large plant too but lost it in our freezing winter of 2009. Is that Exotic Angel plant in the hanging basket an Epiphyllum oxypetalum? If so, you will enjoy those blooms!


Rachel: That's an Anthurium? Love the shape of that foliage! I'm not real familiar with Anthuriums and have only tried a few of the small ones found at local garden centers over the years ... I've not done well with them as they don't seem to thrive on my neglect, LOL.

I'm so glad to hear that Steve's wife has decided to donate all of their plants to a botanical garden. It must be an overwhelming time for her, with her husband's passing and the work required to keep that rain forest garden healthy and thriving. You are very fortunate to have been able to visit the ExoticRainforest in person. I remember when I found Steve's website @ six years ago ... I was googling for a specific plant and stumbled upon that wonderful site and always hoped that some day I'd get to visit in person. He put a lot of work into his website and it showed in the photo's posted ... I can only imagine how wonderful the garden was in person.

This is a Noid Neoregelia that just happened to jump into my cart at Wal-Mart recently. ^_^

Nice sunset through that bloom Dave! I'd love to live on a Pacific Island and have a grove of those beautiful trees surrounding my house.

Aloha oi!

I'm very late in catching up with all of this thread. "Steve" is the person with the unbelievable tropical garden in Arkansas? I don't know where or when I happened upon his website but I was amazed. What a terrible loss.