'Phoenix' bird or paradise

LOL, all Dale's plants look extra healthy.

Here is another photo. The above photos was of the light yellow, trailing type.

These are the standard, small clump type>

Here is a mix of colors, but, not many other plants to give you a sense of scale>

I might not need to worry about it, all this sun and late November record warmth seem to be taking a toll on the little guys.

Hoping that some make it and get to bloom, they look beautiful from everyone's pics :)

Phil, They do like warm weather, but seedlings can be sensitive. Give them some extra water on the warm days if you have time. They are just getting their little roots down there right now, and our sandy soil doesn't hold much water.

By next spring they'll be blooming like crazy in 90deg. heat. (but they'll have nice roots by then) Don't feel bad if you lose some - I planted a whole packet of seeds two weeks ago and have zero seedlings coming up yet. =-(

Elaine...

seems that although the 1st leaves are drying up and falling off, the 2nd and 3rd sets coming up are much stronger looking and going for the gusto and the main stems are thickening up. Plus, we had some rain the other day so that probably helped too. I wonder why your seeds are being reluctant to pop?

That's great, Phil. At this point I usually give them an occasional drink of 1/2 strength Miracle-Gro just to keep them going strong.

My own fault on the seeds, I used a packet I had from last year, so probably stale. We've been away off and on, so they could have dried out once or twice as well . . . going away again next week, so will plant more seeds when I get back.

question for my 'pro' DG friends Elaine and Dale...

My pink POB has 6 flower stems right now, and the buds are turning dark pink looking like they are ready to open. However, the buds that have gotten to where they should have opened instead turned brown and fell off. I didn't notice that when the orange/red ones went into bloom so I'm curious as to whats up. I don't notice any insects when I look up close, and the plant has had a decent amount of water from the light rains we've had once a week or so the last month. This is also its first bloom, so is this something that happens in first-timers? Pic attached, and as you can see there are still many more buds to come.

thanks, you too have both been great sources of info and encouragement for me!

Phil, unless we have a wonderful spell of warm weather, I'd guess it's just too cool for the plant to open flowers. The buds are 'blasting' which means they are aborting themselves, maybe because of the cool nights. You might have some luck getting them to hang on if you cover the plant on any nights that get colder than about 55. All the home improvement stores have frost cloth on sale very reasonably right now. Just drape it over the plant on the cool nights. It's curious that your plant hasn't gone dormant, but possibly that pink variety is more hardy than the others and needs colder weather before it will stop making flowers and go to sleep. The foliage in your picture above is quite different - more coarse and sturdy looking - than the others. Buds can also abort from too much fertilizer, so you should not fertilize the plants at all until it starts to warm up, late Feb. or so.

We just got back from a week's dive vacation in the Caymans, and I saw lots of C.Pulch shrubs there. Every color from all red to red-orange, golden yellow and a lovely one that was quite pale yellow as well. No pink, though. (or maybe I did not recognize it) Did not get any pictures, though, as we were driving by whenever I spotted the plants. One garden had several colors together, like what you are doing and it sure looked pretty!

Cheers Elaine

Yep, they need very warm conditions. All the Caesalpinia around here have stopped or slowed down. I still have one yellow blooming and it always seems to be the first to start in Spring and the last to go dormant in Fall.

Phil, your plant looks very healthy.

I always enjoy the return of the Impatiens>

Well someone needs to tell it that its December and its not supposed to be doing this lol. All i know is it came in july looking like a little charlie brown xmas tree...and now its 4 ft tall and wanting to bloom.

Its yellow mexicana cousin next to it is also blooming like crazy.

It really hasn't gotten 'cold' yet, so maybe the poor thing is just confused.

Yeah, I think we're just teetering on the edge of 'winter' now. There will undoubtedly be some nights this month or next that get cold enough to slow that little guy down. Meantime, throw a towel or an old sheet over the blooms at night and they might open.

Don't forget to post a picture for us if they do!

Cheers Elaine

thank you both again for your insight. I did p/u some frost cloth, and will try that if 55 or lower is forecast. for the rest of the next 7 days looks like the lowest will only be 58.

Elaine, you KNOW i'll be showing off a pic if the blooms open up. Passed thru your area today on a there-and-back trip to Pt Charlotte. I waved :)

So how was the Caymans? If you put your pics up on Panoramio or Flickr i'd love to see them...I've never been there and am curious to see if its similar to St Martin.

Hoping everyone has a nice holiday season, and it's been nice to make some new friends here on DG

Phil, this balmy weather should let your flowers open all right. I'm going out to check on my little tree, too!

Caymans are fun for us as we are divers, and there's truly nowhere better to dive that we've been. The fact that it's a 90min. flight fromTPA is another plus for us as my husband travels a lot for work so a long plane trip for vacation is just not fun for him. You can see a bunch of my pics from the Botanical Gardens on the Tropical Plants forum - thread is #114. Other than those, all my pics are underwater.

We were in the BVIs last spring and Grand Cayman has warmer water but not as much going on with history and night life ashore. jmho, most of the Caribbean islands are pretty similar as far as beaches, golf, etc.

Elaine

She did it :)

What a surprise to see in person finally. I wasn't expecting such an orange/pink/yellow mix. worth the wait, for sure!

Ooo, it's really pretty! Way to go getting it to open in December!

Elaine, I give all the credit to MN. all i did was plunk it in its spot :)

Another surprise today, the sundown orange boug is also beginning to bloom despite getting maybe 2 hours of direct sun daily right now. Sure was sunny there in April when I planted it. It spent the summer getting pelted by neighbor's crepe myrtle debris, and lots of black moldy looking leaves. Its much happier now too because its dry. It's been a good plant day

I think i'm an orangeaholic. (shrugs)

Fear not, Phil. You are not alone - I have 7 "Easy Does It" rose bushes I am planting out in front of our house today - coral-orange flowers! Also the groundcover out there is a Barleria with the same color flowers.

You'll be able to see my house from space if they all get blooming at once! Elaine

hahaha...thanks for the reassurance!

if i were a rose person, i'd probably get sucked right into those too

Well .. I grew gorgeous roses in Utah for years, but once we moved to Florida I swore off them because they're really a bit of a headache being attractive to bugs, fungal diseases and nematodes, to name just a few woes. Besides there were so many other fabulous new plants to try.

But these new disease resistant roses like the Knockouts, and this line of "Easy' roses are proving much more successful here. So when I scored these for less than $4 each I thought I'd give them a try. My 'Sunny Knockouts' have been pretty good until just this summer the weevils attacked them. So you could say it's a cheap experiment in an area where there was nothing but weeds, and needs a thorny groundcover to help keep the squirrels away from my lychee tree.

If it works, it will be pretty and if not, well I'm only out $28 and a little sweat.

that's why roses kinda leave me with a 'ehhh' feeling. I grew up in Ohio and we had them there...and they were pretty, but after being in FL for 20 years I like the more exotic stuff! As i said tho, those colors of yours are right on the money!! Hope they do well for you

So, little POB update. I almost swore I had been bamboozled by mail order again as the more flowers that opened looked like the red/orange variety. But, this color pink is literally a notch away from either orange or red...very subtle difference. I had to wait until some of the blooms without yellow on them opened to really be sure

Hoping everyone has a happy Christmahanukwanzicuh! And happy new year as well, here's to an exciting new gardening year. The hunt is on for a blue bougainvillea!

Thanks, Phil and the season's wishes right back at ya! Blue bougie, huh? That sounds like it might be similar to the quest for a blue rose - they turn out in insipid shades of grey/mauve from what I've seen. I'd stick to the warm color palette if I were you.

Your POB is really pretty! Once they're all blooming together, I'll bet you'll be able to see the subtle differences and it will be a gorgeous show. A real 'pinky' pink might have clashed with the red/orange/ yellow. It's not out of the realm of possibility that it will be pinker once the weather warms up, too. Mine is sitting sadly with just leaves and seed pods (up until this morning when I snipped them all off). Better than last year, when all the leaves dropped, too. Isn't this weather just outstanding?

Here's one of my landscape roses, very similar color.

Elaine, you're probably right, something more of a hot pink might not have blended well! and, maybe summer will bring out another shade yet!

That rose, and the bloom visible behind it almost look like some colors of plumeria i've seen. really, really beautiful!

And...this blue boug i'm stalking is like a caribbean/turquoise kind of color. Very bright and warm...if I can find it will be another story.

Wow, that really is Bluuee! Not to throw cold water on you, but beware here. There are a lot of plants around these days that have been treated with some sort of dye to make the flowers blue. (you might have seen the shocking blue orchids at Home Depot?) When they re-bloom they revert to white or a pale color. Used to be they only did this with cut flowers, but now, it seems anything goes. IF you find one online, check if it says "re-blooms white" or something like that.

I really thought I'd seen every color there was in bougies - all in the parking lot of the condo we stay at in the Caymans. Here's the one beside our driveway here, where I have to drive my car under the hanging branches because I can't bring myself to cut off the flowers.

Phil, I am positive that blue bougainvillea does not exist, except in that photo. I have seen 'blue' orchids at HD & Lowe's that use that same dye trick. Florists use it too.

I did a web search, both general and images. Only one reference came up, the one photo you posted. I decided to check out the source of the photo. When I went to the blue bougie, the page that holds the photo and the web page grabbed control of my computer, told me I was infected with virus' and started checking all my files.

I turned my computer off, just in case....

But if you really want bougainvillea, they do come in the full range of warm colors, plus pink, mauve and purple as well as the traditional magenta like mine.

The orange-y one is sort of a nice soft orange sherbet color, and there's a yellow that is a lovely soft pale gold. There's also a white one with beautiful variegated leaves. There's really every warm shade from dark red to pale pink, plus white, too.

Finally found the two shots of the bougies in the parking lot in Gr. Cayman. Colors don't really show up well, as it was very rainy when I took these.

This message was edited Dec 25, 2011 12:35 AM

And the other half of the hedge

One more warning, though - bougies are horrendously thorny!! You gotta really want one bad, and want it to get big or hire somebody with body armor to prune it for you. (you can see how big mine is - the wall under it is 6ft. tall)

If you stay on top of the pruning, and keep them shaped down to what you want, they're excellent shrubs, though. Great for keeping the neighbors' dogs out of your yard . . .

Here's the white variegated one I almost bought at our local Master Gardener plant sale in October. Could not for the life of me figure out where I'd plant it . .

Here is a shot at Fairchild in Miami. A bougie and a Poinsettia relative, just after Xmas, a few years ago.

Thank you both for again guiding me down the straight and narrow, before I set off on a wild goose chase looking for something that doesn't exist!

Elaine...I do have 1 already, a Sundown Orange...its still a baby. The one in your driveway is WOW! I was thinking of another for a hot, sunny place in the front of the house that is a bed of rocks and when I saw that blue...well, you know the rest. That hedge in Cayman is great!

Dale, I'm so sorry that website tried to give you a virus. I didn't have that experience, but I sure would not reference that pic knowing there were dark forces involved.

Seems our little Indian Summer is up for now....booo...was sure getting used to swimming in December!

Happy New Year to you all...and thanks again! :)

So, how's everyone's tent cities coming along? lol

I even have some big ol' xmas lights under this one. And, for the life of me I can't find the package of frost cloth i bought...am hoping it didn't accidentally make its way to the garbage after the post-xmas garage cleaning and reorganization. Hrmph..

Looks fabulous, Phil. Good job.

My hands and feet are freezing - just came in from pitching tents out back, and have done all I can.

Let's hope this is the first and last time we have to do this, for this winter.

Cheers Elaine

Everyone here is tucked in for a long winters nap.....

Wish I could garden in this kind of 'shed'>

Elaine, from your lips to God's ear!

I use weather underground as my source for more concentrated local readings, and the station about a mile from our home reported a low of 33 this am. Even the things that I couldn't cover don't have immediately noticeable signs of any damage. Does frost burn show right away, or does it sometimes take a few days to present?

I uncovered everything about an hour ago when the temp passed 47, and aside from a few 'wonky' leaves, appears I didn't harm anything with the covers. I tried to be as gentle as possible, but some are still so small they bent a little under the weight. I used a few bamboo sticks where I could as a tent pole.

Tonight they are forecasting a low of 40...Do you think It's safe to not cover at that temp?

LOL, to pay for my 'tuition' from both of your tutoring i'm going to have to take you both to dinner and drinks someday! :)

Dale, forgot to ask...where is that picture from?

Hey, this is what DG is all about. Fun for us to share our experience with you, too. Yes, your frost damage would have shown up right away. Leaves look sort of burnt, curled, hanging down or falling off. Flowers look kind of crushed. (the cell walls break when the water in them freezes so the plant tissue just collapses)

No way the temps went quite as low as predicted, for various reasons. Gulf water is still in the 60's so that keeps the temp up, ground is still quite warm from all the nice weather we've had, and very few cold nights until now. Also we still had a little bit of wind last night, so that also helps to mix the air and not let the cold air settle down to the ground as much.

Good job on the covering! I'm going to cover tonight again, just because if it does go down to 40 it will slow down a bunch of my veggies and stuff that I have producing. I just rolled up the frost cloth and left it in place so it's easy now to re-deploy the tent camp again.

Most likely your C.pulch plants are darn good and dormant already, so very likely no harm. But if you have time it wouldn't hurt. IF you can keep them warm enough to not drop their leaves, that will give them a head start in spring. Only another 6 or 7 weeks - yay!

Here's a pic of my angel's trumpet in full bloom as I was covering everything on Monday night. Most of the flowers are still on there now, so that's a good indicator that the temp didn't fall too far! These things are very tropical/tender. btw, I completely forgot to cover my C.pulch - once again the poor thing is out of sight, out of mind. Just checked and it still has all its leaves!