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Tropical Plants #109 Show your Bloomers !! ;-)
Dischidia pectinoides....
these are "Ant Plants" ...very cool !!
Martha, please start me one of the ant plants - I had one and over-watered it.
Thanks MJ!
LouC, I feel for you. That is such a terrible thing to go through. I really hope they get control of the fire there soon.
We have someone around here who is starting fires on purpose, (they must be bored with their lives, I just call them losers). They started about 7 separate fires so far (burning down houses, etc).
Mj, that is a really cool plant. If only it would actually eat the ants instead of sheltering them, I would plant a whole garden full of them.
Anybody else had especially terrible ant problems this year? I've had every size and shape of ant around here, and the latest ones won't take any of the baits I've been offering them.
Btw, thanks for the new thread. I tried to find out how to start one, but couldn't figure it out. Is there a secret?
Dyzzy, yes, ants are thriving like crazy this month! Opened my mailbox tonight and they were running around by the thousands in there and with eggs! Even outside around the house, they are every where. I guess they love frequent rains and high temps.
I use an insecticide called "Raid Max - Bug Barrier", and I spray it around the foundation of the house and the mailbox.
D. pectinoides seedlings, so should have some to share later on....
haven't really had that much of an ant problem here, at least not up around the house. We do get fire ants, but use a "pro strength" fire ant bait that we spread with a small fertilizer spreader.
Guess I should have been paying for attention to my Vanilla Orchid vine....it's attached itself to the tree, but I think I can wiggle it free.
Hoya bella foliage......one of my favorite Hoyas
Those are beautiful plants, Mj!
Thanks Kay,
A few more...
Cissus amazonicus , Red Velvet philo...trying to climb the tree, various Orchids, Hoya's in the Background, Variegated Vanilla Orchid in basket above.
We always have gazillions of huge carpenter ants around here. Thankfully they do not destroy houses here like they do in some parts of the country. However, they do bite and it hurts!
I have been told this is Lavender Lady.
JB,
During the warm month and 1/2, the tropicals would be outside. During the other 10 1/2 months they would be in my upstairs bedroom that had southern and western facing windows with a couple of warm mist humidifiers going.
So far we've been very blessed about the fires. We had one about 10 miles form us but it was contained quickly. Please pray for rain.
Have been told by a resident of Bastrop that they are looking for 4 teenage boys that they believe started this horrendous fire. Wouldn't take much to start. Lay a glass on my yard in the sun and in no time at all we would have fire.
How horrible to think the fire might have been intentially started.
Wicked people are rampant in this land.
PLEASE PRAY FOR RAIN IN TEXAS.
Love that vanilla orchid vine, Mj. How about a picture of the variegated one?
I was SO tempted to buy one at Selby the day I shopped there. They had some nice ones, but I can't recall that they had any variegated ones. D'you think it would survive winter outdoors if I covered it carefully on the cold nights? My back yard is very protected.
dzzy,
I grow mine in baskets, the one that got stuck to the tree just grew up out of the basket. I wouldn't trust to keep it outside where it could not be moved during cold weather. I take them inside as soon as it starts dropping down into the low 60's. Although plant files says hardy from zone 10 (30's) I wouldn't even think of leaving it out even covered that cold.
I'll get pics of the other two variegated ones. But if you have a nice bright window, away from direct heating vents where you can keep the humidity high it should be fine over the winter.
Here's my first attempt at mounting an Orchid....I had this extra white Phal...get's big white butterfly looking blooms. We've got a couple of them ( I seemed to inherit them from somewhere) so I used it for my guinea pig.
Martha, you did a WONDERFUL job - I swear, I'm coming to your yard!!!!
LOL...Kay it's not a yard, it a flippin JUNGLE.. ! But you are welcome anytime !
I agree with Kay, you do wonders with what you have.
the amaranthus is going nutz around here, I have three kinds going..
Deb, that is the coolest 4 o'clock bloom. Don't they smell great? They were seeding and going wild around here so last fall I rousted them, and don't have any left. Surprising considering how many seeds they make, huh?
Kay, as Mj says, it's a jungle out there! In summer everything just grows so fast here with both heat and lots of rain going on. It's impossible to stay ahead of the weeds and landscape plants gone wild! I can't even walk through my veggie area in the back yard right now, and it's still too hot to attack it. I need to find my Earth Boxes and weed out my raised bed pretty soon as it's nearly planting time for fall crops now.
The only civilized area - my east walkway is getting so much more interesting with the cool foliage plants adding color and texture. Few flowers, but lots of jazzy leaves going on in there! Check out the last little 'Lady of the Night' orchid in the top left corner of the shot.
Well this was one of my projects this morning. S.O. made me some cedar plaque mounts. I love these cause you can hang them vertically , horizontally or flat.
No ID Dischidia...one of the Shingle types.
dyzzy, I love your side garden there !!
That is so cute, Mj. Speaking of vertical or horizontal, I've been hanging out on the Orchid forum a bit lately to try to learn about taking care of my few orchids. Asked if, and how to mount my phals so that I could grow them along that fence in the pic above, and the concensus was to mount them on bark like you did and fasten the mounts to the fence some way so I could easily remove them if need arose - cold weather or a hurricane.
Note, though - they were agreed to mount the plant so that water doesn't ever collect in the crown of the plant. Apparently that's an invitation to some rot disease that kills phals quite quickly! You might want to turn that bark mount you showed above sideways a bit so the crown drains?
Cheers Elaine
ps. here's the Mothership, my big Looking Glass begonia of which I now have several babies started - yay!
The Mothership!!! Ha Ha! That is what a friend of mine calls his first restaurant!
The little Monstera Deliciosa I saved from the compost pile! That little 3'' leaf is kinda hiding behind the bottom leaf on the left! It's come a long way in almost 9-months!
mjs, your Cissus amazonica is loving it's home. Great growing.
Debra, that is such a cute Mirablils you showed.
Dyzzy, I grew Phals. for 3 years in my house and they pretty much stayed in constant bloom through out the years. I can recommend them as an easy Orchid to grow. I gave the ones I had away to a friend who appreciates Orchids more than I.
Drew, your Monstera Deliciosa is looking real good and has come along way from your compost pile.
Hoya lacunosa 'Royal Flush', stays in bloom all year and the fragrance is nice as well.
wowzers. ;D
my monstera has a new leaf.. LOL
not as big as yours tho, drew..
found purple cloak, the tuber had a little shoot coming up as I was cleaning the flower beds.. glad I tagged it.
now, it is in a pot with other EE type things, inside and under lights.
now to find nancyanna and frydek.. geesh!
arbor this am..
bouganvilla blooming
I think this is called the tapeworm plant (eww)....but I love it, unusual
Plumies are happy, but the tall one (3-4 years old) will not bloom.
Caladiums are still doing good....I am definately going to invest in more of these next year.
The leave on this one is about 12 inches long
one more...
'cheescake' doing really good...
vanda..
