Tropical Plants #109 Show your Bloomers !! ;-)

Cissus discolor climbing Grape vine , White Bat's ( hope they bloom soon )

This message was edited Sep 22, 2011 7:39 AM

MJ, MNH is beautiful, congrats! Hilo Beauty is looking good to, and love the Croton, wish I could grow one without killling it.
Thanks Paula, hoping for seeds..

Debra,
Here's your pink penta you sent last fall. Will this one be hardy here ?

Mj, keep that Milk 'n Honey alive through the winter and you'll have a bloomin' machine by next spring! It's gorgeous. Those brugs are sneaky! The big fat buds hide under the foliage right until they unfurl, and you suddenly see color! I still think you might try giving them more sun - at least before you kick 'em to the curb! My old noid pink gets full, blazing sun from noon until sunset, and it's about to put on it's show again. Pretty sure it blooms at least once a month!

I have Charles Grimaldi with two more flowers open and three coming. It just shed its first blossom last week! Debra's Monster is full of buds again, Cherub has a dozen. It's gonna smell good around here.

Just wrote a long, windy post and lost it. ugh.

My Hilo Beauties are pretty slow, too. I have one in the ground that looks just about like yours at 3 years old! This winter when it dies back, I'm going to roust it into a pot again, and sink the pot in that spot next spring. That way it won't have to compete with the oak tree roots. We'll see. The others in a big pot have become a lot of small plants. Will separate them into their own pots soon, too.

There's a new sport of Hilo Beauty that is supposed to be more vigorous, can't recall its name.

This pot with about 6 crowns in it makes a nice foliage feature, but of course the leaves aren't nearly as big as the lonely one.

Maybe it's one of those cannibalistic plants that likes to feed off it's brothers? Like my agapanthus, the more crowded it is the better it does.

Debra it is Karoline I got it the begining of July and already has a flower I am amazed!!!! Yeah LouC I have heard from friends of mine that live in Texas it really sucks.

I am so glad ya all have brug blooms. Kaitlyn is all loaded up. She is gonna be ready in a couple weeks. Then she will have to come inside and do her thing all winter. Hibs are a blooming inside already. Going to have to trim them when I get home, I will be experimenting with cuttings again.
Pentas grow in texas in winter, so why wouldn't they grow in Florida, Elaine?
Mine are in already. I always keep the same three going. trim them a little and they take all winter to grow back.

Only things I want to keep growing are the brugs and the EE's , all the rest will get trimmed wayyyy back and then we will have a rest I hope..

I am soooooooo excited. I finally have my first brug blooms. I have tried for years and usually wound up giving the plants away where they bloomed like crazy for others. This time I tried Debra's tried and true method and voila, it worked!!!!!

This is Super Spot on it's 3 day. First day it was a creamy yellow like the left flower, 2nd day it was a pale pink, this was taken on the 3rd day, yesterday. It is still dark outside here and pouring buckets of rain this morning, I can't wait to see what today will bring. This is still a young plant, it will be exciting next year when it is tall enough to see the flowers without having to squat down. LOL

Yellow Butterfly vine, Mascagnia macroptera. Unlike the brug above where the flowers are down near the soil, you have to be on the second story of the house to see this one. This one loves it up around 15'.

Alice, my ybv does the same thing - grows up into the trees if I let it, SOOOOOO, I keep it cut back to head-high, and now I can see blooms! As for the Brugs, mine rarely bloom, either - I have a CG and a yellow one that bloom reliably, albeit not that often. Last winter most of mine froze and didn't return - bummer!

That is a bummer, I am not sure what to do about this one this year. We can't count on mild winters anymore.
I cannot keep this vine cut back because it would be in too much shade. It had been planted among shrubs but then we decided to let the viburnums get big like trees. Most of the rooms in my house overlook the water but the second floor guest bedroom overlooks the driveway and street, it is nice to have something pretty for people to look at from up there. Even after the flowers stop blooming, there are always the dried "butterflies" to look at.

Well, girl - guess you can put a rocking chair by that attractive window and spend some quiet 'me' time enjoying the vine when you don't have guests!!!

Alice, your brug is a gorgeous color! If it's still in a pot, it would probably do fine if you just move it to the south side of the house, close to the wall. My south side micro-climate is often 10deg. warmer on cold nights than the north side. Cannas bloom there all year 'round if winter is mild. If it's in the ground, throw a sheet over it for the cold nights.

My big old pink brug has survived the last two winters, albeit with some damage, but I never covered it, and it is on the north side! I think they are hardier than we give them credit for. Pic is of CG with 3 blooms open. All five opened last night, along with the old pink, and the perfume was fabulous. That crazy plant has 4 more buds on the way, too, after keeping me waiting all summer!

Kay, how 'bout a picture of your pretty yellow butterfly vine? Haven't seen nearly enough pictures of your lovely garden lately.

This message was edited Sep 23, 2011 2:01 PM

My brugs that I've left in the ground have froze right to the ground. They come back, but are not as big as Milk N Honey, which is the only one that's in a pot and gets taken inside.

Thunbergia battiscombi (sp?)

Almost 5'' of rain since yesterday morning! More to come tonight, through the AM. Wishing I could give you Texans some.

Oh gee, I sure wish you could too. That one little hit we had earlier this week just made us long for the real thing. Irrigation system on full blast right now.

Hello Everyone!!
I have been enjoying the past couple of days. It is almost perfect weather except that we did not get any more rain and I have no Brug. blooms to show.

dyzzy, I would appreciate it if you could hold off until next spring to mail the little Daulien lily. I have been enjoying all your pictures but the one with the Hilo Beauty and the Philo. is my favorite. The new variety is Hilo Bold.

James, it is always good to see you and thanks for showing your Karoline!

mjsponies, love the foliage on your croton, it reminds me of a variegated shooting star I had once.
What can I say about your Brug and Thunbergia shot but Awesome?

Joeswife, thanks, I have lots of good memories of my friend, especially the ones of us fighting over the last plant we both wanted at the nursery. She won but I found it at my front door the next morning.
Your last MG picture is a keeper. I hope you are saving seeds!


ardesia, congratulation on your first Brug bloom, you have the most beautiful views!

Rita, Your Mecoda looks awesome !!! That photo could be in a magazine. Better growing with it than I did !!

And What IS that Kool variegated thing in your next to last post !!! YUM !

Yes; I like that one too, Martha!

My Grandson is here for the weekend and I just got control of the computer for a bit. Here is a picture or two for your viewing:

My brain isn't recalling the name of this common Florida perennial, but the hummers love it.

Here's another Florida perennial which I don't have a name for. I know the pic is a bit fuzzy, but I'll try to re-take it tomorrow.

Here's a sad, fuzzy pic of my snail vine in bloom - another re-take for tomorrow.

This little banana, who's name I can't recall at the moment, is trying it's darndest to put on some fruit for me:

Here's the yellow butterfly vine in bloom - I keep this one cut to about 5' tall/long:

Here's on of the blooms on my giant elephant ear:

This is the Hibiscus commonly called 'fireman's cap':

I have two of these cane Begonias and they are huge and blooming non-stop:

The Crepe Myrtles are all in bloom now - I have hot pink ones and a lavender one:

Here's my hanging pitcher plant:

My Azaleas are blooming again:

The yard is aflutter with butterflies thanks to the many Lantanas and Passifloras in bloom. Here's one of my Lantana plants:

This perennial Salvia keeps the hummers busy:

Tecoma capensis is very common here and supposed to encourage hummers, but I haven't seen any around mine:

The wild Poinsettias are showing color in their bracts now:

This yellow shrimp plant has bloomed non-stop since spring:

This is a vining yellow daisy that blooms from spring till it freezes: