Tropical Garden #110

JB I'm with the others, our four legged companions are the world to us, just a shame that the rest of the folks don't care for them like we do.

beautiful plants.

Jan

New garden art....big ole root...I'm thinking of mounting a hoya on it.

Hello Everyone!
We had a little excitement last night, lots of thunder and lightening. But very little rain.

JBerger, I am glad to hear that you are on the mend, and are back to enjoying your plants. I am truly sorry for your loss.
Those are very healthy looking plants, the first one is new to me and will have to do a little research on it.

It doesn't look like I will be getting any blooms this year from my variegated Plumerias but I can always enjoy the foliage.

GAgirl1066, I love the shape of your Brug. tree, you did a good job pruning!
Now that you are an experienced gardener, it should be fun landscaping your new home.
For starters, you can have Variegated ST. Augestine grass.

dizzy, can you please save a few cuttings of your Red Hibiscus for me?

This little spot caught my eye this morning. The Crotons and Ti plants have put out new foliage.

mjsponies, a hoya would look good on your big ole' root. I scored two new hoya plants from Thialand for my birthday. I will have to send you a few cuttings for Hoya insurance. lol. You are so good at growing them.

Copper leaf plant.

Joeswife, I have a few diehard Texas native plants for you. I do not know their names, only that they have survived the last two winters and this horrid summer.
I have the pink and white Mexican Petunias for you.
My loquat tree survived the last two winters without any problems. They are listed hardy to zone 7, take a chance and leave it where it is. If it should perish, I promise to send you a bigger plant.

The Colocasia Miranda survived, but needs a little fertilizer, there is a snake living in there.

Rita, just toss some pelleted fertilizer in there for the Colocasia...maybe it will scare the snake away.
LOL..one can never have enough Hoya's .!! I' would love to have some cuttings.

Variegated Vitex is one of those plants you want to "pet"...soft foliage and pretty blue flowers.

it's been so nice out today I spent the better part of it cleaning the greenhouse. Now it's done and if we get a cool spell unexpectedly then I won't be in a panic to get it done to get the plants in.
I hung this wire shelving so I could hang smaller mounted plants from it.

Lucky for my budget, I only had about an hour to shop at Tropiflora this morning. Still managed to bring home two new little orchids and a gorgeous bromeliad. The prices were very good! I meant to take pictures, but got caught up in the moment and forgot.

I'm rooting some red hib cuttings. They root very easily and will travel better with some roots. Plus they make a really pretty decoration on my patio table while they are making roots! Deb, I haven't had any success with growing them from seed, either. But they seed themselves all over my yard. Go figger. Possibly the seeds need high heat and humidity to germinate?

My pretty new brom - no clue what the flower will be but the leaves looked like they had lights shining through them in the filtered sun.

Rita, I am giving up on anything that can't survive on it's own. We also had the lightning and thunder but not a drop of rain (I am about 7-8 miles from Rita as the crow flies). Terrible forecast going around that the drought could possibly continue for another 9 years. They (who is that?) have studied the tree rings and this is not as unusual as we would like to think.

Rita, your elephant head amarantuf looks gorgeous, mine must be some other kinds.

would love to leave the loquat out, but will it survive our winter here? I guess I can mulch it and cover it.. does it need cold?

the asters are blooming ( again)

Son came over after work and went to work re-arranging the basement and packing up college girls stuff and stacked it out of the way, new plan in the big room, I like his ideas alot. missed taking a picture of the kings mantle, but there is another bloom forming ..

new datura..it is a pretty big bloom, too.
Sister said her triple purple and triple yellow I took up to her place are both blooming,,, she is hoping for seed pods, I told her the yellow one had a big ole pod already, she said:" OH! Is that what that is?"

I started on the arch yesterday after work, and found the passion vine pot, the black eyed susan pot and the stictocardias going everywhere..
I picked 5 nice sized cucumbers, yippee! LOL
like the idea of the wire shelfing for hanging.. I am still trying to figure out how to create a climbing environment for my vines.

Ae Ae's new diggs.

Wow, Drew, it fits right in there! That room was made for that plant.

Think of all the O2 it will be making for you all winter, too. Plus its beautiful leaves will stay intact.

All the plants here will even get a little dose of cool air tonight . . . it will slow them down some, but speed up the gardeners!

dyzzy, that is why I played in the greenhouse today, it's clean done and ready, cause I know how these cold fronts can come thru this time of year.
I didn't really move to many things in, I just wanted it clean in case................ No pic at the moment, but I'll come up with something later on.

Oh my gosh Drew, how did you get that thing in there? I looks like it is 20 ft tall. Definately taller than the doors.
Its beautiful! I would protect that too!!

It's about 17' in the 35 gallon pot(ceiling is 20')! With this being my first year with the Musa AeAe, I am taking no chances. I do have the 4 pups (about 4''tall for the biggest) that will allow me to experiment with digging and placing in the garage in winter of 2012. I am fairly sure, but not CERTAIN that it could go in the garage right now.

Couldn't live without plants (Large) in the house!(Think I should bring one of the Borneos in for upstairs?) Yea... Why not!

It took 3 of us to move it into the LR. The base of the trunk is about 12'' in Dia. It's every bit of 200 lbs.

D.W. came home from work this afternoon and there it was! She loves it! How cool is that!!!

Until then I would appreciate from time to time someone telling me NOT TO OVERWATER IT!

You guys have a great weekend.


Everyone have a great weekend!

Gorgeous, Drew. I am so happy your plant is inside. I won't let you over water it.

don't let me over water this. LOL

I can just see it now............DREW, Back away from the AeAe, and drop the watering can, and no one get's hurt. LOL...
or we could put it on Goggle Calender to send weekly emails....Drew remember DO NOT over water the AeAe.

I wish I had big windows like that....except I wouldn't want to have to clean them.

100 degrees on Wednesday,52 this morning. I know the plant growth is governed by the length of the day but......everything went doormant in order to survive the 71 days of over 100 and now they are SUDDENLY shocked with temps of 50 degrees lower.heavy snow and 16 degrees for days on end in February, March, 2011. This is definitely going to be the survival of the fittest. Never mind that we are in a record drought.

Christy, what ever does survive, that is what you can depend on to perform the best for you, right?

I had no clue you endured our kind of winter up here, down there.

Zone changes?

Christy, you sure have had the weather extremes! It's the greatest challenge for a gardener, except Debra, of course, who makes her own little tropical world in her basement. Deb, do those compact fluorescent (spiral) light bulbs work for plant lights? I see one in your picture.

Drew, let us know when you have the plans for the 3rd story on the house! A conservatory roof? Just so AeAe can get indoors next fall, too . .. let's hope for a more normal summer next year so it blooms and fruits for you, huh? Glad to hear dw likes her new housemate, er houseplant.

I spoke to the owner at Tropiflora, and he says they are propagating AeAe from the little one I saw, and should have some for sale next spring. I'm excited!

AeAe is a Banana, right?

I brought in the one Rita gave me three years ago, wow it has been three years? no way! LOL
I know I know, let them go to sleep.. just playing around with stuff today, as I bring in the sheaves a few at a time..

Hello Everyone!
LouC, I hope that they are wrong about the prediceted 9 year drought. I hope that we will be back to normal temps.

This Texas native is doing well, I love the silvery look to the foliage

close-up

dyzzy, that is a very nice bromeliad from Tropicflora, it could be "Billbergia Casablanca''.

I found these little beautys last week.

joeswife, I love your new Datura, I have not seen that one before. I think that your Amaranth is "loves lies bleeding". The Elephant head came back from seeds.
That is a nice size Ponytail Palm you have there. I know that you will not overwater.

Texas native

homer1958, I love your big windows as well, you have a very nice home.
So far, you are the only one that has successfully grown and shown an AeAe. Mine was the first to go this spring, that makes 4 total. I don't think that I will try again.


This is a replacement Anthurium Superbum.

mjsponies, That is my first variegated Vitex, it does not look like the Vitex plants I have in my yard. I love learning about new plants, thanks for showing it.

Philo Evansii

ok need to know if this is a seed pod and if so, what to do with it???? like do I have to wait till it is brown and splitting open then I can plant them???? I don't like this plant especially where it is planted right next to the lani, so I'm going to be taking it out, but will wait on this thing that I think is a seed pod.

the plant/tree

Jan

here is the pod. I hope you can see it there is so much in the back ground that takes away.

Jan

Jan, that's a really pretty plumeria. Doesn't look like a seed pod to me, though. Anybody else seen a plumeria seed pod?

The easy way to propagate plumerias is by cuttings. The only trick is you need to let the cut end of the cutting dry and form a 'callus' before you can stick it in a pot and start a new plant. The cutting I got that I started my plant from was about 9in. long and from the thick end of a stem, about an inch in diameter. In the picture, it is about 5ft. tall and wide in 3 years. The flowers were right at nose level - mm.

Being as we're going into fall, you might need to protect the new plant (in the lanai would be fine, I'd think) but it will take off and do great next spring. If you're going to remove the whole original plant anyway, you'll have lots of cuttings to start. Just think, a whole hedge of plumeria at your new house? Let me know if you need pots.

btw. Sarasota County's Master Gardener Plant Sale is next Saturday from 8am - 2pm. Let me know if you want to meet, or go with me. It's just up the street from my house.

okay now what should I do with my plumie?

i believe that is a seed pod on that plummie but I also believe it takes forever for them to ripen. It is always fastest to root a cutting but I have grown plummies from seeds and while they do grow quickly, it takes some time for them to bloom. You can get flowers from a cutting the first year.

Why don't you post that picture on the plumeria forum and get the real dirt on them.

Drew, you have given that AeAe a beautiful winter home. :-)