'Phoenix' bird or paradise

If it gets down near 40 tonight, it will certainly slow things up, but won't kill anything. Not a bad idea to give things a bit of a drink of water, too. Don't wet the leaves, or use ice-cold water if you can help it. Just a little water round the roots. It's been dry for several days now, and low humidity, too. I left the watering can in the sun for a while, then went around and watered things lightly.

Yeah, most people who used datura to get high are probably dead now. The seeds are highly toxic if you eat too many. It's one way to end a craze like that?? Datura is a close relative of Brugmansia, but Datura is sort of a hardy desert plant, (we used to see them in southern Utah, blooming by the roadsides!) and the blooms face upwards while Brugs are tropical and the blooms hang down. None of mine make any seeds, for some reason. Possibly they don't get pollinated or something. Still every part of the plants is poisonous, so it's not something you want in your yard if there are small children, or even pets who might try a taste.Mine are inside the fence, and the cat is not interested.

They do smell wonderful in the evenings. I have a white, several pinks and the gold/orange one above.

Phil, Golden Gate Park Conservatory.

Elaine, ever try hand pollination? I have done some with my plants with success.

SF - Pacific Heights>

Dale, brugs are so easy to start from cuttings I don't mind not having seeds. Three of mine were started from cuttings and one from a little rooted plant last spring. All are well over 5ft tall now and bloomed all summer.

I was sent some Datura seeds - Black Currant Swirl - along with some cuttings on a trade with another DG member. They have gorgeous flowers, but I'm not sure they'll do well here. Going to get some going this week.

Actually saw some damage this morning, even tho the night before last was colder. Just a couple leaves here and there, nothing severe. I re-thought my decision not to cover again as I was leaving class and the temp had already dropped to 39 in St Pete by 10 pm. Raced home and covered like a madman. Interesting how some things just didn't even seem to be bothered...jasmine, gardenia, hibiscus, ixora...just another day, nothing to see here. lol

It was kind of weird. It got colder here last night than it did the night before! I was really glad I covered everything again.

Weatherman admitted they were wrong about last night - the high pressure didn't move off to the east as fast as they thought it would so the cold air stayed around and there was less wind. Go figure. Anyway, it's quite nice out there tonight. I might just cover up the veggies again to keep the tomato flowers from dropping.

Again, the plants on the south side of our house are just fine, thanks to the nice little heat-gathering micro-climate out there. I did lose most of my coleus that I had planted cuttings of all around the shady beds. There were just too many plants to go around and cover up. I'll start them again from cuttings and they'll be going strong by spring. Lasted a lot longer than expected in any case.

Hey friends,

Just a quick little note...finally saw the first nasturtium bloom today! Planted the seeds Nov 1st, almost 3 months. Thanks again for the suggestion Elaine, worth the wait :)

That's great Phil. They should bloom like crazy right through spring now. Then the C.pulch's will start again in May.

You did better than me - second batch of seedlings got eaten by some bird or critter, so I think maybe I'm not meant to have nasties this year. Can't complain really, I've had my Angel's Trumpets blooming right through the cold.

This has really been an exceptionally mild winter, and I for one am grateful that the predictions have come true. Some trees are already starting to leaf out/drop pollen...and all the plants around my yard are really starting to burst forth with growth. I love, love, love spring...and am so excited to see everything we planted last year really come into its own now that they have had almost a full year/growing season to acclimate.

Anddddd....If the c. pulchs are in bloom in May when I turn 41 that would be the best bday present ever :)

I cut a few of them down to about a foot from the ground about 2 weeks ago, and already there are new little leaf buds forming. Going to run to home depot later today and see if there are any gladioli bulbs in...last year we put some in @ the end of April but they didn't bloom....got too hot for them by then I guess. 6

This week's forecast shows 78-80 every day for the next 7, happiness!!

Too hot, too soon for a transplanted NorCal gardener.....

Ahhhh Dale, it could be 90 every day for the rest of my life and I'd be ok with that!

Is that picture taken from Twin Peaks? I went to SF once...brrrrrrrrrrr!

Phil, try the gladioli in big pots instead of in the ground, or really amend wherever you plant them with compost and potting mix. Bulbs like that need a lot of water when they're putting up flower spikes and blooming. The native soil just doesn't hold enough water unless you water them like 3 times a day. Also thrips really like gladioli, and they're tough to prevent.

I had better luck with Acidanthera - common name Peacock Orchid or Peacock Gladiolus. They are NOT orchids or glads, but the flowers are gorgeous and they last longer than glads. Beautiful white flowers with burgundy throats, and they're fragrant. You're also more likely to find the bulbs available around here. They still need lots of water while they're growing and making buds.

To be honest, most of those bulbs bloom for such a short time here I've given up on them. For all the work of growing them, you get about 2 or 3 weeks blooms then all you've got is the ripening foliage to deal with. Buying cut flowers is less work.

My favorite for this climate are cannas. They keep putting up new stems and blooming all summer and have gorgeous tropical-looking foliage. This year they've bloomed a little bit right through winter, too. But they really love the heat. They also come in all the hot colors that you like.

Cheers Elaine

Hi there Ms Elaine,

Glads are one of those must-haves for me, even knowing the difficulties of growing them here.They were the favorite flower of my grandmother, who passed away in 1979 at 54, when I was 8. She had them *everywhere* in her yard, plus cut and in vases in her house. They're just one of those undying memories of her for me, and are the 1st 'gardening' experience/knowledge I gained as a child.

We did amend the bed I planted them in last year with what seemed like enough cubic feet of topsoil to fill in a sinkhole! The same area was also heavily mulched...I really think we were just wayyy behind the curve on planting them when we did-as we were putting our bulbs in at the same time a neighbor had theirs blooming already.

We moved in here last Feb 7th, and were so busy doing things on the inside of the house that we neglected the yard until @ April/May---which I will never, EVER do again! Aside from nearly sweating to death lugging all that stuff around in 90 degree heat, we didn't do our newly purchased plants many favors by introducing them to the world then; our irrigation system wasn't in good shape (bad heads/clogged holes/pressure problem) and rain was pretty scarce til July. Luckily...everything we bought was pretty forgiving and is growing well now.

Anyway...(sorry for the long intro) I grabbed another bag of glad bulbs the other day, and they went in yesterday. Also, upon your suggestion, I decided to try some Cannas. We had the Chinese elm in front trimmed nearly in half (if it wasn't so cost-prohibitive I'd yank the thing out...what. a. mess.)--But, now that its smaller, I suddenly had @ 7 feet of exposed wall that was now in full sun. Cannas seemed to fit the bill after I did some research, and since your other suggestions have all been of the A+ variety I figured WTH :) They had the indica variety at HD, a bag of 7 bulbs. I read about this canna virus, and supposedly its prolific...but I'm not real worried since I only invested 9.99. Looking forward to seeing how they dress the area up.

We also grabbed 3 viburnum suspensum shrubs, wow do those smell amazing! We wanted to sort of try and achieve a layered look in the corner of the bordered bed in the front, under the elm. In front of the vib. we put some alternating green and maroon coleuses. (colei?) for some contrast, and i also plunked a few portulaca that came in one of those 'mishmosh' pots from HD last year that were overgrowing the pot.

To avoid paying 12.99+ for aforementioned mishmosh pots, I grabbed some seed packets to start pots of my own. Lobelia, cupid's dart, sweet peas, zinnia 'envy', texas bluebonnet, and red hot poker.

Here's to a more productive year via starting on time and continued good weather. If all goes well, my home, like yours, may be visible from space! lol

What are you into for this spring?

Well, I must admit to a new addiction lately - orchids. I have a lot of filtered shade due to 3 huge oak trees around the house. I was pretty happy growing bromeliads and a few begonias in big pots for leaf interest and contrast. But my daughter has started sending me orchids as gifts, and I must admit to being pretty fascinated with the darn things even though they're sort of cold tender, and some are fussy. A local 'hobby' grower just along the street from me recently retired to a nursing home and his son is selling off his collection, so I've picked up some wonderful ones for $7 each, which is good for orchids, because they run in the $15 to $35 range often. One of the oaks has a big, low branch so I'm going to adorn it with a few 'chids and see what happens over the summer . . . stay tuned!

Anyway, apart from my usual veggies - the tomatoes and peppers came through winter this year and are still bearing - I've also got a bunch of new types of begonias to try. Got them as cuttings from DG members, so no big investment, and I also got a couple more from the kids for Christmas. So that should be fun to try.

As to your seeds, most of what you bought will probably do pretty well, except the sweet peas. They're something that you really need to start in the fall, so I'd just save those seeds until next October. They need cool temps to grow big enough to bloom. (I just love them, too, but have had marginal success with them) Also the lobelia is a slow starter with extremely fine seed, so I'm kind of doubtful that you'll get it to blooming size before the heat sets in. But if you watch the big box stores, they'll have lobelia transplants pretty soon, or probably in March. There are some types that stand the heat pretty well, I forget the names, but you'll recognize them. Something like "Heat Wave" I think. Plant them in the shade of your C.pulch's? They'll take the sun through maybe March, but after that will need shade to last. I kept some going in a pot last summer through part of July, they were right up against the patio door where the cool from the house leaking through the glass kept them cooler. (it's known as a 'micro-climate') If you're looking for a low-growing flowering plant like lobelia for edging there's a perennial called "Blue Daze" that is a much better bet.

I think you'll be blown away by how great the cannas do. They're a plant that make you look like a real pro. Just try to give them LOTS of water (they'll even grow IN water) and be generous with the slow-release fertilizer around the end of May to keep them blooming through the summer. After each stem finishes blooming you have to cut it off near the ground to make the plant put up the next bloom stem. It's tough at first to cut off the beautiful leaves, but after you see how fast they shoot up again, you won't mind. (this is about a monthly cycle, not too burdensome).

I'm lucky I have my daughter's garden in Salt Lake to grow the things my mother (from Canada) and grandmother (English) liked. I still do try to grow lavender every darn year, and most years it poops out on me.

I have a whole bunch of different cannas - lots of red combos trimmed with yellow like the one above. A yellow one with white streaks and beautiful variegated foliage, and two colors, white and yellow, of dwarf ones that are only about 2ft. tall and the flowers have pink or reddish 'freckles' on them. I'm about to order some more this weekend as my favorite mail-order (well, online) nursery is offering free shipping! (it's my Scottish heritage, from my dad . . )

Here's a shot of that heat-tolerant lobelia I had last summer, in a pot with some coleus. (still can't recall the name, sorry)

Btw, coleus is the easiest thing to propagate from cuttings so if you really like the ones you've got, just pick some stems (strip off a few lower leaves) and put them in a jar of water for a few days until you see roots forming, then stick them in the ground, or a pot. I had one start last spring, and have a dozen big clumps all around the yard that lived through the cold weather!

Last one, you really got me going, and it's sure past my bedtime. This coleus I have changes color depending on the amount of sun or shade it gets, water, and also temperature. Through the summer it was just green and purple, but as the weather cooled, it regained its pink and cream accents. I think it's so pretty. It gets a nice blue flower sometimes, too.

Cheers Elaine

Elaine!! Between creating my journal here, and chatting with you I feel like i'm writing a thesis for a master's degree! lol
But I love every minute of it, and so appreciate your feedback.

I'm going to try and reply to all your topics in order here:

Orchids: I've only ever really had one, and it was a part of a basket given to me when I broke my hip 3 years ago. Try as I did to make it happy, it always looked more dead than alive...but it did flower 1 time, and it was beautiful. After it flowered, it pretty much shriveled up and was never heard from again. I wish you well in your new obsession, and yes, I will stay tuned! :)

Oak trees: AKA leaf litter factories. We have a live oak in the back yard, its technically on the golf course's property but it dumps all its goodies on us. Surprises me how many leaves there are from an evergreen tree...not to mention the MOUNDS of pollen that will be coming soon. For as much good as trees do, they sure are messy buggers. The pool takes on a lovely shade of golden yellow, and the filter system constantly needs washing out.

Tomatoes: I also managed to hang onto 2 tomato plants over the winter, put them in in Nov and they are just now really starting to take off and flower/fruit. They're on the NW side of the yard, so sun was pretty limited there for a bit, and they were kinda just 'there' for most of Dec/Jan. These 2 plants are also the most resistant to any kind of tying/binding/staking i've tried. Ive used old cut panty hose, soft ties..etc. Every time I try, the tied part dies off and the plant makes a beeline in another direction. Instead of tall plants I have these wide, creeping monsters. i've let them do what they want...they aren't infringing on anything else....yet.

seeds: I gave a little mis-info here, the cupid dart and Lobelia i put in sometime back in early January. Haven't seen anything of the cupid, but the Lobelia is right up against the house on a north-east facing wall. the packet had me mix the 'seeds' with sand, and then sow them .I keep thinking they are weeds because they are sooo small, and look like a clover kind of. But i know its them, because there was nothing in that spot before, and I can still see the remnants of sand on the surface. This area only gets sun til at most 12 pm even during summer (it gets -0- right now) so i'm hoping I chose well putting them there, These stemmed from my blue bougainvillea fascination...had to have something blue!
As for the sweet peas...well, they're already in the pot...booooo! But, maybe they'll hold off til fall. If not, I'll shell out another $1.25 for a packet. I'm really hoping the rest of the pots do well!

Cannas: I can tell these things are ANXIOUS to get going! I put them in on Sat., and already 3 of the 7 bulbs have growth peaking out from the mulch. I am very much looking forward to this experience, both from what you've told me and the pictures i've found online. I need all the help 'looking like a pro' that I can get! Anddd...ain't nothing wrong with some good ol' thrifty Scottish blood! I am 1/4 Scotch myself, and love a good bargain! :) We joke with my grandfather that Geo Washington's eyes blink from the light whenever he opens his wallet.

Coleus: Thanks for the tip on easy propagation, which I'm sure I will do. We got the last 8 of these varieties from the local nursery, and the guy working there said they can barely keep them in stock. I saw many of the type you have at HD, but we were on a mission for solid green, and solid maroon. How tall/wide can I expect coleus to grow? I planted them in front of the viburnum so I'm hoping they stay under @ 2 feet.

Whewww...I think I covered it all! Oh! one more thing, I did finally buy another boug, got the 'dwarf' one on sale at HD for just $5. It's been in the ground since a few days after Xmas, and is already doing its thing. Supposedly only going to get 3 feet high...(fingers crossed)

Phil, You're right, gardening is just like a Master's thesis, except the learning never ends. Once you get the basics of Florida gardening down, if you have an urge to try orchids I'd be glad to help you. I'm doing my Masters in orchids right now, too. My collection has gone from 12 to 38 in the last month! (local grower selling out, great bargains, don't know WHAT I'm going to do with them all . . . )

The dwarf boug is really great! If it spreads its foliage over all that rock mulch before the weather really heats up, that will help, but it's going to need quite a bit of water out there in it's little desert. Rock mulch doesn't insulate the soil like an organic mulch does, it absorbs the heat and bakes the roots. So if it's in full sun, the plants need a lot of help. I assume there's irrigation there?

Great growing on starting the tiny Lobelias! Your challenge, should you choose to accept it, is to now thin those little delicate guys out to clumps at least 3in. apart so they can grow big enough to bloom. OR, I did see the Techno-heat Lobelia in gallon pots at Lowe's for $3.98 last weekend. They had both light and dark blue.

Nice going on the tomatoes! Yes, they do need full sun to produce any fruit through winter. Mine are doing the same sprawling act. You have to buy a "bush" variety to get one that will stand up, or look on the label for one that says 'Determinate' which also means it only gets about 3ft. tall then bushes out. In Florida it's really more important to look for disease resistant varieties, and also heat tolerant varieties. Disease resistance is marked as a bunch of letters and numbers on the label like it will say 'VFN123' or something like that. Heirloom varieties don't usually have a lot of disease resistance, it's modern hybrids that have been bred to resist the fungal and bacterial wilts that we get here with our humidity. I probably told you this already, but be prepared for them to just suddenly die in May or June. It's not anything you did wrong, it's that the nights get so hot they can't suck up enough water and they just expire. Once the night temps get into the 70's they stop setting fruit anyway. Plant again in Sept. or Oct. with an eye to a spot that will stay sunny. If you want to start from seed, start them indoors in August in a sunny window.

My coleus tops out at about 2ft. tall, but it did a similar sprawling act as the tomatoes. Trying to tie it to stakes will have the same result, too. Very brittle stems. Just break it off (and root the cuttings) to keep it the size you want. Those puppies are so vigorous!

I planted the Cupid's Dart from seed in my garden in Salt Lake, and every time I visit that house in summer, it's there blooming. It's got beautiful blue flowers and nice foliage. But I haven't tried it here, so don't know how you'll do keeping it going. Often things that thrive in a low humidity place can't take the constant wet of our greenhouse summers.

The really good blues for this climate are Plumbago (see pic), a nice easy shrub that blooms at least 9 months of the year, and the 'Blue Daze' evolvoulus - a low groundcover-like plant I mentioned earlier. Both are available everywhere.

Oak trees, yes I have 3 huge ones and get buried in leaves and pollen, same as you. Small price to pay for how wonderful they are the rest of the year. Plus they're wind-resistant trees known to protect your house in the event of a hurricane. Best plant by far for color under oaks are bromeliads. Talk about your gorgeous, easy care plants! You throw them on the ground and walk away. Go over to the Bromeliad forum to see the thread I did just recently called "Some Beauties just for fun". You may develop a new obsession. Here's the link http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1241055/

Lesson over for today! I've got to get the trash taken out and piles of prunings picked up for collection tomorrow!

Cheers Elaine



This message was edited Feb 6, 2012 3:20 PM

Elaine...I will keep that offer in my back pocket if/when the orchid bug strikes :)

Yes, the boug is irrigated. And, that area in the summer actually gets a little more shade than it does now, so prob just at 6 hours of sun all day...a 9ish ft robellini palm is about 3 ft in front of it, and the front overhang of the house starts shading @ 4-5 pm in summer.

the lobelia are so incredibly tiny i'm afraid to touch them! there really arent clumps...more like an open moss over 2 ft of bed. if they are even 1/8 of an inch tall thats giving them credit. maybe this last day and a half of rain will give em a boost. ...speaking of that, we had a thunderstorm on Monday...not summer-severe, but still..peculiar in Feb.

thanks for the warning to prep for the tomatoes to drop...there always seems to be inexpensive starter plants at all the stores, I wouldn't waste the anxiety of seeds for toms :)

I'm going to let the coleus establish for a few weeks before I start cuttings, although you make them sound pretty tough.

cupid's dart...never saw anything come up, and its been a month. Ah well...the zinneas are practically jumping out of the ground...whats up with that??? Love it, but surprising...also, some of the cannas are already up. both went in last Sat, attached a couple pics of the canna.

Question about nasties...in the 3rd pic (love this multi-pic upload capability now, btw) you see nasties in the same little border with the orange boug. One of them has actually looped stems around one of the boug branches and seems to be climbing it...is it pretty much harmless for the boug? I realize they'll die down as it gets hotter, so I kinda want to see what its capable of, but not at the expense of this boug i've babied along.

Ah, yes, the nasties you planted are a vining/sprawling variety. Some do that and some stay in neat little clumps. To protect the bougie, just re-direct the long stems away, or under it's branches. Or snip them off and they'll branch. OR just pinch off any leaves that shade the bougie. The leaves will last a week in a flower vase, and the nasturtium flowers are nice as cut flowers, too. They're also edible, btw. A sort of a sweet, spicy flavor that's nice in salads.The nasties will not twine or climb, but they may get big leaves that will hog all the sunlight, which would set the little bougie back.

A handful of slow-release fert should keep everybody happy in there until you're ready to remove the nasties (most likely May or June) and you can give the bougie another bit of fert then to carry it over the summer. It will most likely take off through the summer weather. They like the heat and humidity.

I am surrendering and admitting it is spring already. Hauled out my bag of Osmocote and am touring the yard this week giving everybody a light dose. I'll do the same again at the end of May and that's all my garden gets (except the veggies, of course). When you're spreading granular fert, don't forget that the plant's roots go out a little further than the spread of the branches, as a rule. So don't put all the fert in by the stem of the plant.

With the oak trees dropping leaves and putting out blooms this week, it really feels like mid-March! That's when we usually have to clean out the gutters after the oaks finish dropping all the leaves, and blossoms. To be honest, if we did get one more cold night while the oaks have flowers going, it wouldn't break my heart. Actually might cut the annual agony short by zapping the flowers so they didn't make pollen. Wouldn't that be worth the little headache of covering the tender plants! (I can dream . . )

Yeah, HD and Lowe's continue to sell tomato starts right into summer, only because I'm sure their suppliers up north send them - not realizing that in Florida tomatoes just do not survive the summer heat. They really should send them back, come May or so. Some peppers will struggle through, and eggplants don't mind the heat.

Basil is a great herb that goes through summer, and there sure are some pretty ones available - have you seen 'Pesto Perpetuo'? It has dark stems and lovely variegated leaves - white, light green and dark green. Tastes wonderful, and I get it at HD. Last year I grew one called 'Cardinal' that had huge red flower heads well into summer, although I had to order seeds for that one. Thai basil has little purple & white flowers all the time.

Keep in mind the idea that you will succeed if you can get "The Right Plant in the Right Place" most of the time. For example, rolling back to our original discussion about your C.Pulch plants, you know you're pushing the climate envelope a bit on those, but to be honest, it's MUCH easier to succeed with a tropical plant that loves the heat, and you have to protect from the cold than trying to grow temperate plants that will struggle with the heat. The cold weather is usually spotty and transient, but you can depend upon months of hot, humid weather every year. It's discouraging to a novice gardener to nurture plants and then have them fail. What you have to tell yourself when something dies is "well, that plant sure wasn't in the right place" and don't try that plant there next time. Give it more shade, or more sun, or less water or . . . like the lobelias and sweet peas, start the seeds in October not January.

I'm hoping to steer your sights more towards things that are likely to succeed, to make a basis for your garden. You have a lot better chance of keeping the C.pulch's going for years than you have of making those baby lobelias survive through June, let alone bloom and be beautiful. Go get some already in bloom at Lowe's, and enjoy them until they poop out. Get some plumbagos if you want a nice blue background shrub. They're dirt dependable and bloom 9 or 10 months of the year. Pentas are a lovely, dependable summer flower that comes in some nice reds that would accent your C.pulch shrubs, and both large 3ft. and dwarf 1ft. varieties.

Back to the gladiola discussion, trust me, I love them too. My mother grew them faithfully up in Canada, and I grew them for sentimental reasons every year in Salt Lake City. Luckily for me, I still have a garden in SLC at my daughter's place. But honestly, now that you live here let somebody else grow them for you! Although I almost never buy cut flowers I do buy glads at Publix for $4.99 for a bouquet that lasts in the house for a week or 10 days. Yes, the cut flowers just coming into bloom cost less than buying bulbs! If you plant them as bulbs, you'll nurture them for 3 months, and I'd be willing to bet the flowers wouldn't last 4 days outside in late April to May heat. Then the foliage gets attacked by thrips and looks awful for the rest of the summer, standing there taunting you every time you see them. If the bugs get to the foliage before they're ready to flower, then they won't flower at all. Don't set yourself up for failure, there!

Speaking from long, hard experience at murdering thousands of plants that I couldn't find the right place for, here. That's the real reason they call us Master Gardeners - we persist even though we kill so many plants . . . LoL. On the up side, every failure is a learning experience.

Cheers Elaine

I have had good luck with tomato plants lasting until early July by growing them in areas that get sun in winter and shade in summer.

Clerodendrum in flower>

Hm, I just put a couple in an Earth Box in a spot that's pretty shady by May or so. Will have to take note of how long they last. Don't you sacrifice some flavor in the fruit if they're not getting full sun, though?

Dale I just scrolled all the way back to Nov. 9th to find the picture of that lovely cyclamen you posted. I saw them at Lowe's in a 6-pack last evening, and was getting ready to bring them home, but thought better of it and want to ask you about them.

I'm thinking most likely they'll stop blooming once it warms up, right? Then they'll be dormant over the summer and maybe . . maybe come back in the fall when it cools off? If I keep them in a relatively dry shady bed?

Or do you just treat them as annuals?

thx Elaine

They are best as annuals. I have never tried them as perennials here. I did have luck in TX (near Austin) under the shade of a Live Oak, it lived for years and bloomed every winter. Their summer temps are the same as ours, but, they are much drier and a lot less humid.

1st photo is a job I did years ago here in Tampa, this is in early Feb.
2nd photo is at the Mouse House in Orlando in early Jan-they have buckets of money for plants.

I kept a couple of small ones going for several years once. I have not tried it since. The would die down in the summer and return as the weather cooled. One year they just did not come back.

Hi Elaine, (& Dale & Ardesia)

Sorry i'm a bit tardy on replying...was out of town a few days for a funeral, and then between work and the 'no fun' kind of yard work (leaves, gutters, sprinklers, etc Vs. 'fun' = seeds, plants, etc) I haven't been on here much.

That sprawling nasty has hoisted itself up to almost 2 ft above the rest of the plant! lol i'm just enjoying watching what it can do...I checked to make sure the boug branch it has attached itself to isn't showing signs of suffocation, and its not. As long as the nasty seems to have a gentle, non-threatening grip its all good. I believe you said nasties will kind of die off when it gets hot, right? They are a definite do-again this fall...and I feed one of my dogs the flowers as 'treats'...he loves them. I tried a leaf and a flower...meh, too much like mixed greens! Give me romaine, or nothing :)

For fertilizer, last year we bought those bottles you attach to a hose. Do you think its safe time for me to give everything a drink, like you are the slow-release? I was going to wait til March, but as you said, it pretty much already feels like it's here. I'm hoping that boug does some vertical growing this summer. Its only now coming into slow bloom, as opposed to its dwarf cousin on the other side of the yard that is just going insane. (pic #1, gets more sun)

Ya..the oaks need to get it over with already. Or the good rains in the forecast this weekend could help out. Ah-chooo!

My edible gardening experience has been pretty limited. Have the tomatoes, a few pepper plants from last summer are waking up from a nap, and we had a cucumber vine that flowered and grew like a maniac, but never produced so much as a gherkin. The dog I told you I feed the nasty flowers to, well hes kind of a terror to small plants...but in a sweet, curious way. He just likes to eat roughage...thats why I'm handing him nasties to hopefully curb his appetite. He loves ixora leaves, impatien blooms, and sago palm fronds...has never gotten sick from a thing...and the bitter/pepper/etc sprays we've used dont deter him. He's a year old...he's fun, even tho I want to punch his lights out when he takes a big bite out of something, lol. The lesson to us? only plant outside the patio enclosure, and hope he grows out of it. That's the "Beast" in the 2nd pic

Definitely subscribe to the right plant/place theory. And luckily, I don't have many favorites from the North that I'd have to have here...(although a lilac tree sure would be cool) ---aside from the glads. I promise myself, and you!, that if they fail again this year I will just buy a bunch like you suggest, and never get sucked into planting them again. The variable is that I got them in 2 months earlier this year, and those things are already 5-6 inches out of the ground and counting! lol...I'm hoping to have pretty pics to show you in April :)

really like the plumbago, and may get that down the road. Also, I planted some pentas from a combo pot from last year...they are kind of lite purple-ish. But, they flowered all winter, and that in my book is a winner. I am in 'watch and see' mode with the yard for the rest of the year. Most things have a lot of growing/filling in to do, and I want to be wise and let them do that before I get out of control and crowd them all. Its time to test my abilities as an amateur landscaper and see how well/poor I did. Updates to follow :)

I'm happy to report all 7 of the canna bulbs have sprouted, and I can already see how cool the leaves are going to look! (pic #3, can you spot all 7?) And, out of nowhere my MIL came out with an old amaryllis bulb she's had stashed away since 05-06. She doesn't remember what color it was, just that it was pretty. Well, I researched and saw that Jan/early Feb is better for planting them here...but stuck it in anyway. After 6 years dormant, maybe it can't still grow anyway..or can it?

MVP of my yard this month: Confederate Jasmine. going BONKERS with growth, i can't wait for that sweet aroma. Who's your MVP?

Insomnia is winning tonight, so thought I'd use the time to ask you Masters another question.

Going back to the C. pulchs... I successfully managed to grow 3 from seed last spring/summer, and 2 of the 3 are doing quite well.

However, I've got one thats in the charlie brown xmas tree category. It germinated in May in a glass jar, and in my haste/excitement (pre DG membership) I plunked it into the ground--in full sun, 90+ weather-- a week later. Its alive, surprisingly, but it behaves very differently from the other 2. All summer long, it would no sooner put out a new leaf stem, and the leaves would yellow and fall off. It managed to get @ 11-12 in. tall, but as a bare twig with yellowed, sparse leaves.

Fast forward to January...the bottom of the stem started leafing out with new growth, slowly making its way up. I covered it with a pillow case for the frosts, and the new leaves all look green and healthy. Can I become confident that this little guy is getting ready to shoot up when real warmth gets here? Or, ...? I realize you may not have grown these particular plants from seed, but from the viewpoint of seedling behavior in general, what are your thoughts?

1st pic is 'charlie.' other 2 are the other seedlings from last year, all germinated within 2 weeks of each other.

I did not look back to see if I have mentioned this before but the Gladiolus Byzantinus does very well in the hot and sticky parts of the south. It blooms much earlier than the regular ones. The ones you find in bags in the box stores and the nurseries are rarely the real thing, they are even a different color. You need to spend the big bucks at places like Old House Gardens to get the true Byzantines but they are worth it and they do multiply like crazy.

Phil, you're sounding more like an addicted gardener each time you post! Glad you're having fun with this. I've got so many favorites it's hard to put my finger on an MVP, but maybe my variegated 'Dr. Moy' gingers, for nice foliage, beautiful fragrant flowers and a very vigorous plant all told. (see pic) I'll send you a start if you'd like to try them. I have lots! They like a spot with about 1/2 day of sun, maybe an east side of the house spot?

I'd strongly advise against using the fertilizer in a bottle that you attach to the hose. Those are generally highly soluble fertilizers that will last only a few weeks, or even less if we get a heavy rain. It's ok for use on pots, but for the general garden it just doesn't feed constantly which is what your perennial plants and shrubs need. A good pelleted fert like Osmocote will last at least 3 months, and then if you repeat the application about the end of May that will carry everything through with strong growth until fall. It also doesn't send a lot of your expensive fertilizer washing away down the gutters and out into the Bay when it rains.

I had my prayers answered this week, as I was seriously thinking about putting an ad on Craig's List or somewhere for someone to help me with my spring cleanup around the yard. Last Monday a young fellow came by offering to "weed the garden for $20".. hhoo, Boy! I walked him around the whole yard, and told him I'd pay him a lot more than that because it has now taken the two of us 3 stints of 4 hours each to clean up my jungle. So I have space in a lot of beds that I didn't have a couple of weeks ago, and a ton of stuff I'm ready to plant. Long story short, I've held off the fertilizing just because I want to do it after I've planted everything. But yes, right now is a great time to put down fertilizer and give everything a kick-off!

Sprinkle the pelleted fert all the way out as far as the branches reach on your shrubs. That's generally how far out the plant's roots are, too. Scuffle it into the mulch so that it's not lying on top exposed to the sun and rain, too. The pellets release best if they're covered and in contact with the soil.

Your little bougies look great - yes, the one in more sun is definitely happier. Not much you can do about that. Keep a close eye on your jasmine!! It is just lovely but it will consume whole buildings over the course of a summer if you don't keep it in check. btw, when you're pruning it, wear clothes you don't care about because it leaks a white sap that stains your clothes brown. (no idea . . ) Wear gloves, too, the sap can be irritating!

The cannas look great. Don't forget they really like lots and lots of water, and are heavy feeders, too. Be generous with your fert there. Lowe's had some fabulous cannas in pots when I was there on the weekend, with beautifully striped and colored leaves. The flowers are great, but the leaves on some can be magnificent! (see pic 2 - burgundy brushed leaves and red flowers)

As for your Charlie Brown it looks like it's probably developed some good roots over the winter, so just give it TLC and I'll bet it will catch up. That's the hazard of starting things like those C.pulch's from seeds (did you collect the seeds down in the Caribbean? I forget) Anyway, if the bush that the seeds came from was a cross, (or hybrid type bred for a certain color or flower form) the seedlings can have variable forms and traits. It also may depend upon if the bush the seeds came from was cross-pollinated by another color or a 'wild' sport of the same plant. This is why seedlings vary in their traits unless you buy guaranteed seed from a reputable grower.

I'm saying that the seedlings might grow up wonderfully, or they might be something you don't really like. Be brutal and yank the plant out if you don't like it. (wait 'til it blooms) You can possibly start cuttings from the ones you do like to replace it. Some of those shrubby plants will start just from sticking a cutting in the ground and keeping it watered for a few weeks. A cutting will generally grow true to the parent plant.

Your gourmet salad-eating pup is so cute. My cat is not interested in the garden except as her private preserve.

Cheers Elaine

LOL...finally, an addiction worth having! It is fun, and I'm very excited to see how everything we've planted (@ 40 plants) over the last year go thru a full spring/summer and do some maturing. We cleaned up the area around the water softener/ac unit on the side of the house and made a little bordered bed. And...it faces east! So yes, I'd love to try those gingers. The bed is probably @ 2 ft wide and 6 ft long. Enough room for a plant there?

Ardesia, those glads are beautiful! Never heard of them before, and the color is amazing! Not sure if there's 'old house gardens' around here tho...? I promised in my last post to abandon planting them if they dont do well this year...but maybe if the byzantines are designed for the hot south....hmmm

I will convert to pellet fert. when I finish the 2 little bottles I have. I gave most things a good drink on saturday, and will again next month to get it gone. (back to that scottish 'thriftyness' thing) luckily, its a bit before rainy season so hopefully some of the goods get a chance to soak in. That stuff sure seems to dilute slowly in the water...after doing the whole yard the bottle barely seemed less than a qtr. emptier.

Lol to your unsuspecting weeding helper...bet he wishes he picked a different street! Also why I want to sit back and see what I've done to myself in the maintenance dept before going further crazy with planting! You know my taste pretty well by suggesting that ginger :)

The jasmine has a whole fence it can claim. Its a less than attractive white thing that previous owners put up to deter golf balls (we are forever in a hail storm of golf balls. I'd think real hard before living on a course again, a public one at that!) The flower buds are everywhere...cant wait for that scent drifting in the bedroom window...ahh. Will remember about pruning when the time comes, they're still pretty small. (pics 1/2)

I've been giving the cannas lots of water, and they are really on the move. Cant wait til they really get tall! (pic 3) This week of 80-85 degree temps should really get everybody rock and rollin' I think!

The seeds for those 3 c. pulch plants were ordered as a 10 pack from J Hudson (?) in CA last year. I collected some off the larger plants too, and am starting a few for some friends and one of the grounds guys on the golf course. He cuts our lawn and noticed how well the larger ones did last summer. He wants to put a few out there on the course in full sun places where other things have fried.

Sam, the nasturtium-loving pup, will be 1 next month. When he sees me pick a flower he gets all excited like most dogs do if you are getting them a cookie.

Revisits:
Lobelia- Finally 'big' enough that I could take a picture. Still ridiculously small. (pic 4)

Sweet Peas- These little guys, along with the zinnia seeds, are just growing like mad! Seed packet said 60 days to bloom...which would be @ April 1st. I'm hoping they win the race before its too hot! (Pic 5 - will def re-do these in the fall)

hit send too fast...meant to ask, is your cat a manx Elaine? that stub for a tail makes him/her look like one!

Phil, Mia's tail is actually quite long, that's just an anomaly of the picture. She was a kitten of a feral cat, and was given to us before we left Salt Lake to move here. No idea of her parentage, but friends have said she looks like she has some Russian Blue in her. Pretty white shirt front, little white slippers and a snowy belly.

If you'd like to send me a private D-mail with your address I'll be glad to mail you some starts of the 'Dr. Moy' ginger. To do a D-mail just click on my handle at the left of the post and it will offer you the option. I have a big pot of them that desperately needs to be divided and spread around.

Or if you're down this way any time soon, you can come and get the plants.

You really need to thin those little lobelia seedlings a bit more. Also I'd water them with half-strength soluble fertilizer every time you water, to keep them growing strong. Again, I really don't think they'll be worth your trouble in the long run, when you can buy a pot of heat-tolerant Lobelia in bloom at Lowe's. Here's mine, lower part of the pic with a little orchid that just opened.

Second pic gives a better view of the variegated foliage on the gingers. And a couple of better shots of the cat.

Cheers Elaine

Your kitty is a beautiful color Elaine. Love that charcoal/slate gray. We had a rag doll cat that died last spring. He was only 3 and feline diabetes set in hard and took him in less than a month. He was the coolest cat ever. Aside from the 1 yr old pup, the 'ruler of the roost' is our 6 yr old dachshund 'Weenie.' She, like your cat has no interest in the plants, just the occasional half-serious chase of geckos, and going insane when a squirrel comes by.

I will Dmail you my address, don't know when I'll be down south again anytime soon. (But would definitely love to meet you in person some time!) If you have paypal I can pay you for the postage that way if you'd like. Am also attaching a picture of the area where I'd like to put the gingers, hopefully the area is large enough for them. We're also thinking of putting in some cuttings ('bitings') of the white ixora in there after the roots get going. Last time Sam yanked a good chunk off we plunked 2 in some water. Since the poor thing won't be left alone where it is, at least we can start new ones that will be allowed to live and grow without threat of daily destruction.

I'll thin the lobelia some, and if i ever want to try them again I will def look for starts instead of seeds. They are going on being in the ground for 2 months now, i can't believe how slow they are. This must be what its like to grow cactus..grrrr

Aw, Weenie is so cute, Phil. Love those daschunds! They think they are big dogs.

Hm, I've got reservations about the area in your pictures, on several points. The white marble-chip rock mulch will make the soil increasingly alkaline, which is not conducive to good growth of most plants. It makes a good weed-deterrent for this reason. Don't plant a thing in that border, it's great just as it is.

These gingers are similar in growth habit to the cannas, in that they love LOTS of water. It's never advisable to plant water-loving plants (or anything that needs regular irrigation) against the wall of your house in this climate.

Moisture attracts termites, and can cause mold/mildew issues even on cinder block construction. So it's actually recommended that you keep a perimeter of unplanted area next to the walls of the house all the way around. If you wanted to make a bed of the gingers maybe 3 or 4 feet away from the wall, that might be fine, though. Or put them in a big pot so you can move them around?

Also, you might want to keep them as far away from the a/c unit as you can. These are beautiful tall flowers with neat foliage, but their best trait is their fragrance. It is just heavenly. In summer when your a/c is running, you're not going to want to be out there to enjoy the scent of your gingers with the fan blasting hot air and making noise. My garden shed is next to the a/c here, and I can't stand to be in there when the a/c is on.

Cheers Elaine

Well I am def glad I showed you where I was thinking of going with them before I made a(nother) mistake!

Do they bloom nonstop all summer? I have another part sun place in mind on the NW corner of the yard, and it would be right outside the pool area so they would be both highly visible, and their fragrance would waft onto the patio where it could be enjoyed. I'd rather have them in the ground where they can really be at their best, instead of in pots where they'd be at the mercy of me remembering to water them enough!


"They're bbAAAAAccckk!" lot of regrowth in the last week on 'big daddy' and most of the other c.pulch. Quite quick considering i chopped him down a good 2/3 of his size from last summer.

Wow, they look beautiful!

Yes, the gingers bloom off and on through the summer and fall. Mine do a big flush of bloom, then rest for a few weeks, then put up more flowers. They are somewhat like the cannas - each big stem only blooms once, but they last for a couple of weeks each. Then you cut them back to stimulate the next batch of stems.

I didn't get to the post office today, sorry. My husband is taking off for Japan tomorrow, and I was sent on a bunch of errands for him this afternoon. His flight leaves SRQ at 6am tomorrow so I will have to be up at 4-ish to deliver him to the airport. arg.

Will have to send them out on Monday. Sorry to make you wait.

Elaine, it truly is no problem. I'm sure they'll get here in a day from Sarasota. Gives me more time to decide on a final location. :)

What exactly is the scent like? Jasmine/honeysuckle-ish? Looking forward!

Got a pic of Sam about to enjoy a nasty today. Thankfully all of them are blooming enough to keep him happy

Hm, favoring honeysuckle over jasmine, I'd have to say. Jasmine is more of a soft, sweet fragrance and the gingers is more fresh than that. Did you ever smell a perfume they used to sell called "Hawaiian White Ginger"? It's actually a fairly close scent to these flowers.

Sam is so cute, just hope he doesn't figure out that he could eat the flowers right offf the plant! You could see all your flowers disappear suddenly, and have a pup with a tummy ache.

Off to my 4 hours of sleep . . . oh well, I can sleep in after I get home.

Sam looks a lot like my Boo, how old is he?