Homer, awsome! WOW!
Tropical Plants #105
Good grief, either that cat and snake are minatures or that is one really huge ensete. :-)
It is obvious you take such good care ot your plants, they look very happy and healthy. How are you overwintering the AeAe?
Debra: Love that Brug in your last photo ... gorgeous flower!
Homer: Awesome Indeed! Wow, what a tropical paradise you have there in your NC garden ... Great growing!
Fabulous plants, pretty flowers, nice animals Drew! Doesn't everything grow fast when you go away on a trip! Sorry I didn't take a picture of the huge crinums at Selby, shoulda known you'd be interested to see them. They were indeed almost as tall as me, and spread over 8ft. with lovely white, spidery, scented flowers. That's a lovely red one you've got there.
Deb, I was afraid somebody would ask what that variegated plant was! It was in the orchid greenhouse, and I took the pic because I really loved the pretty foliage, too. But . . . there was no label on it, no expert available, and neither Jan nor I had a clue.
My brugs are all loaded with buds, and for sure will be in bloom next week when I am away . . . c'est la vie! Maybe if I ply them with food and drink and lavish them with attention . . they'll open a flower before I leave ? "Have some Madeira, m'dear"
I thought I had pretty big bamboo until we saw this "Giant Bamboo" with culms about 8in. across!
Thank you Ladies!
Alice, I received the AeAe in December last year, and had it in one of the upstairs bathrooms and a sitting area adjacent to the bathroom this past winter. You can see the pictures on the Tropical forum this year!
I know it will be much to tall for those areas this coming fall. I guess I will have to cut off all but the last couple leaves,dig, and place in the garage. The speed in which it is growing, would probably have the pseudostem at 7-8'. I could place it in the Living Room, but DW would probably have a hissy fit!
I am just thankful when I overwatered it in April, it survived!
Hello Everyone!!
Dyzzy, we are all appreciative to you for sharing your visit with us!! I love every picture you posted. What fun you girls must have had!! That is by far the biggest Madagascar palm I have ever seen!! I sure would like to know what the variegated plant is, as well. Maybe the ID forum could help.
RachelLF, What a magnificent photo of your Philo.Atabaoense!!. I will make a permanent name tag for the Philo. Holtonianum. You are soo good identifying these rare plants!! Thanks.
My mexicanum has not bloomed yet.
homer1958, that is what I want my garden to look like!! You seem to be doing everything correctly. This is not my year for Alocasias and Bananas, insted of growing, mine are withering.
A. Triangularis making an appearance.
plantladylin, your plants seems to be very happy after all that rain. I love a good plant comeback story and would use that corner of the yard for all my sick plants in the future.
You are such a good photographer!! Great pictures.
LouC, thanks, If you notice most of my pictures are closeups. I would be embarassed for anyone to see the dry scorched yard. The tropical area is where I am trying to keep most plants alive.
tommy2006, please feel welcome to show us your collection! I am not familiar with those plants you menioned but will enjoy learning about them. I did not know anything about Hoyas when I joined Dave's garden, now they are at the top of my list.
Joeswife, it seems as if we are experiencing the same hardship with our plants. The Coloasias and bananas did so well over the winter but after putting them out in the Spring they went on a steady decline. Hopefully, we will get a little rain soon.
Anthurium
dyzzy: I too am real curious about that variegated plant at Selby Gardens! It's been driving me crazy so I sent them an e-mail with a link to your post showing that picture but I don't know if they will be able to open the link since the photo is on a forum for paid subscribers only. If I get an answer back I will let y'all know. I keep going back and looking at your photo and at first I thought it was a Calathea of some sort, then I thought it looked like a Bromeliad, then I thought ... if it was in the Orchid house maybe it was a Jewel Orchid Hamaeria, (formerly Ludisia.) I am so curious ... I love variegated foliage!
Rita: What is that beautiful bloom in your photo here: http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/p.php?pid=8688341 I know I've seen it before but for the life of me can't remember what it is! Gee ... y'all are such great growers of tropicals! I think it would be wonderful to tour each and every one of y'alls gardens!
Michelia figo ("Banana Shrub") is budding up again, one bloom open this morning:
Hm, Lin good idea! If Selby respond to you but couldn't see the picture, I'll send it to them as an attachment. Rita's flower is the Lobster Claw Heliconia, I think.
Weather woes - has it been "normal' anywhere? It seems like from Texas all up the east coast it went straight from winter to summer with no pause for spring this year! Can't be great for tropicals that come from steady warm weather all year.
But, the Pacific NW has hardly had any summer weather at all, as yet. I'm going to Salt Lake next week to visit 'my other' garden at my daughter's house. She says they've had an extremely cold, wet spring and everything is late blooming. Can't wait to see.
Sure would like to smell that lovely Michelia!
Drew, your plants look better each time you show them. You are going to have some real monsters by the end of the growing season.
Debra, I would not give up on them just yet. Keep them in the shade and don't let them dry out.
Rita, beautiful Heliconia and Anthurium. You give me too much credit for naming plants. Most of my knowledge I learned from Steve and I still refer back to his website alot. Unfortunately, as of late, I've heard that all the plants in his collection are nearly dead;((( This news made me just sick!
It will be interesting to hear what Selby has to say about the plant Dyzzy showed but I still think it may be this plant.
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/183024/
Elaine
I can not get over how great those pics are coming out and from a phone.... Technology is really something these days....
Love seeing everyones pics as I'm a pic hog and need them to make it through my first year down here with no garden.
Although I do have one tomatoe that is growing so well see if it really does continue to grow and we get something to eat...LOL
Jan
Rachel: Yes, thank you so much ... that looks exactly like the plant in question at Selby Botanical Gardens!! I must have missed your earlier post with the name D. goldieana ... mystery solved!
dyzzy: That orchid is amazing ... does it have a name? Beautiful!
Does anyone here use yahoo? I've been trying to log into my yahoo e-mail and keep getting a weird message saying that Safari can't verify the website and the certificate for the website is invalid, that I might be connecting to a website "pretending" to be yahoo which could put my confidential information at risk! I clicked on cancel instead of continuing. I've had yahoo e-mail for a long time and also have used Safari for years ... never had this message before that I can remember. Guess I will try another browser other than Safari and see what happens.
Interesting...I had the same message come up from McAfee antivirus about my AOL account today.
Y'know Lin, I should have been writing down names, but there were so many . . . so gorgeous. Lost my head in snapping pictures. We "did" the orchid greenhouse last on our trip, and we were both hot and tired by then. That's my excuse and I'm stickin to it!
They had an absolutely fabulous array of blooming Phaels in the plant shop on our way out, too. I was a bit disappointed that there weren't any other kinds, as I'd like to collect a few Cattleyas for the top of my fence. I've heard they're a bit more cold-tolerant than others.
No name on this one either, but I do know it's a Cat.
So Rachel; Steve at Exotic Rainforest, his plants from the greenhouse on the site? Oh Man!!!!
That truly makes me sick also... I have been downloading a lot of his pages lately! I don't think the site will be here that much longer!
What a shame!
Wow ... and a Very Beautiful Cattleya!! Is it fragrant? I love Orchids and have a few ... the past year I've gotten interested in the compact/miniature types. This is in the Cattleya family ... Broughtonia sanguinea (Splash Petal Form):
Drew, back in your series of new photos, you asked "anybody know what Ginger?" Now that I finally got a look at it, it might be Hedychium "Dr.Moy". It has pretty distinctive foliage with thin white 'splatters' on the leaves. You'll know for sure when it puts up a gorgeous orange-sherbet colored, fragrant flower.
It would be a terrible shame for you to have to prune back your gorgeous AeAe and relegate it to the garage for the winter. Are you sure you couldn't introduce it diplomatically to your Dw and let her fall in love with it, so she'd maybe . .. invite . . you to let it overwinter in the living room? Bet it has a nice high ceiling and good light, right?
gorgeous blooms and photos tonight. I love them all. Lin, I use yahoo, no message like that for me, I use regular internet explorer tho..
KayJones, I am going to take a picture, the crocosmia orange is budding and getting ready to bloom, you sent me..and here is a much better shot of the desert rose you sent me..
Rachel, that is so sad about Steves plants, I referred to his site alot last year, learned alot from him, I wish you could go rescue some of his things..
north fence full sun, those two young trees are volunteers, on their side of the fence, and they told me they would get them down, but I am hoping that they stay up a while longer.. too bad they in the middle of our fence!
full shot of patio looking east.. grass on south side is dying, it is for shade, not full sun.. I bought Joe some bermuda to match the north side .. *sigh* ugh.. I hate that stuff!
new south side.. little bit of shade there, have some tropicals in that corner..
Homer I agree, it seems like your DW wold love that AE AE in the winter, I know I would!
last area of shade.. under the pear tree and dog run area..
they did not take down the cottonwood tree yet, it is to the right.. here are my EE's, poor things..
*sigh* maybe between the high temps and no shade, I am a bit depressed? LOL oh well, new beginnings, I have been tossing all inds of stuff on the fence line.. that will teach 'em.. LOL She is just a young girl! ( new neighbor) She has too many bosses in her family telling her what to do.
Anyway, you all have a great night, and thanks again for all the wonderful new tropicals you have shown me..
"We "did" the orchid greenhouse last on our trip, and we were both hot and tired by then. That's my excuse and I'm stickin to it!"
Humidity was high for sure that day... am right there with ya and sticking to it as well....LOL
If we had started writing down names we would have melted before we every reached the greenhouse...
Jan
Yes Alice, that would be the Ginger! Beautiful Orangish Peachy blooms! Sometimes the "variegation" is fairly wide on the green leaves;almost a .5'' thick!
Maybe I can possibly talk her into placing in the "well lit, high ceiling" living room.
Debra, DW looks at the plants, and her reaction is like looking at a sign post! I will definitely work on her though!
Drew, I would love to take credit for that Dr. Moy ID but it was Elaine I believe. :-) I recognised it but could not think of the name for the life of me, that is what happens when you get older than dirt. .
Alice, I always thought "dirt" was fairly new.. ;)
I love to look at orchids, still havn't tried one that was healthy, I rescued one, but it didn't make it.
Rained last night, finally.. only 97 today, so it is a cold front. Rita, I finally planted the canna austrailious in the ground ( in the rain)
Joe came out last night and asked me what I was doing out in the rain, I told him I was having a good time..
On that subject of remembering, I always take two pictures of plants in public gardens like Selby, the first is the plant and the second is the label. This works well for me where things are all ID'd but the new thought among horticulturists is that too many labels takes away from the beauty and ambiance of the garden so we are seeing fewer and fewer labels.
I noticed Selby generally was well labeled but if there were, say three examples of the plant spread around the garden, only one would be labeled.
LOL, thanks Debra but the calendar tells the truth. I take comfort in that the best compost is usually the oldest. :-)
This message was edited Jul 13, 2011 8:30 AM
We've got some great 'compost' on our forum, I think! I tell dh each birthday "I'm not getting older, I'm getting better". Then just try to live up to it. Alice, you're right, there were a lot of plants at Selby without labels, and most that had them only had the botanical name, which doesn't always help when you go to try to buy a plant.
We had a couple of good squirts of rain last night, too. This morning it's so humid, the windows are fogged up on the outside! Don't have to lug the watering can around to water all the pots anyway - Yay! I'm looking at schlepping my plants so they will get watered while I am away, too. There's no rest when we saddle ourselves with potted "dependents" is there?
Drew, be sure to remind dw of the health benefits of having plants in the house in winter. Not to mention the stunning decor value of AeAe! Get a really great-looking pot for it, by all means! Better yet, take dw shopping to pick out a pot she likes?? (hey it's an excuse to go to your favorite nursery)
I asked Jan to put her hand in the picture so we had a size ref for this orchid. Gorgeous, and BIG!
where is everyone? out watching their tropicals I bet...
I'm here...been lurking...not much new to show, but in a day or so I'll have Brug Milk N Honey blooms to show..Yeah ! I've taken some pics but haven't gotten them off the camera yet. Really, between other projects, and the heat, by the time I'm in for the evening I haven't had much energy for posting.
I love the Golden Shrimp plant, mine didn't come back from last winter.
Here's a "little of this and a little of that" in the garden.
Like Martha, I'm here, too - just not much blooming right now - the heat and humidity causes a lot of the buds to abort. I am sure enjoying the pics all of you post!
wow joeswife your yard looks great with all those tropicals and you are in zone 6?
well i finally finished painting the house. i had to do a lot of clearing out of plants just so they could even get to the house. it is really a lime green and java brown.
the front
hubby had to build something around the pool pump to hold all my potted plants
