Elaine,What is the name of the caladium above? I'm thinking next year under the big boys they could go!
Tropical Garden #115
Would love to have a farm again and have lots of turned out ponies and horses! But at the risk of sounding know-it-all, the shows are FAR from suffering! The HITS circuit last year was the biggest ever in Saugerties NY, Ocala was big and the same is expected for this year! And don't forget the Wellington circuit -- generally 3-4 thousand there as well in all the disciplines. We did a show last week in Ocala that last year (Dec 2010) had 146 horses and this year had around 275! HITS has around 2200 stalls (permanent and tent stalls) for this year, plus we have the ship-ins. It will be no rest for the weary AGAIN---- and I love it! I do miss gardening though, so this year am planning to replant around the office and will take more orchids with us. Also need to do a little planting around the condo there. If I could figure out a way to have a pony in my back yard here in Marco, life would be quite grand!
Debi
Aw MJ, you brought back many memories. When I was child, and that was a long time ago, some folks moved to our rural area from the city. They had a young son, maybe 12 yrs. old, and they bought him a horse. They knew nothing about horses, they just wanted a gentle ride for their son. They were smart and learned how to care for the horse who was as sweet as they come, everyone in the neighborhood rode him whenever we wanted to. Fast forward a few years and I was off in college when my mom called to tell me the boy and his horse had made the US Olympics team. Sadly the horse came up lame shortly before his event but no one was too sad, that nondescript horse, with no breeding, had done pretty well for himself.
You guys are killing me with these stories...
I know - right?! These stories are priceless and the horses sound wonderful - keep the stories coming - we could all use some heart-rendering stories this time of year!
Peace Love and Goodwill toward you all! Whatever your Faith; enjoy the season of Love!
Gifts arrived in the nick of time this afternoon, my wonderful kids sent me two starts of Phaius (nun's orchids) 'Rabin's Raven' and 'Wild Thing' and a beautiful begonia 'Bubbles'. I feel so blessed to have great kids who send me fabulous plants as gifts! (they're not really kids either, daughter is 28, son turned 32 today!)
Lucky to have all of you to show them off to, as well. Not everybody would appreciate what great gifts these are!
Cheers Elaine
Wishing you all a Happy Holday from all of us. Hope for peace & happy ness for the up a coming New Year. Jake
Hey gang, hope your Christmas day was lovely. I had bells in the garden here.
Silver ones on 'Monster White'
One huge gold one on 'Charles Grimaldi'
Very nice Elaine!
I hope everyone had a great time with Christmas, and I pray we all have a Happy New Year..
My Blue clero has bloomed again, makes me so happy to see it... even if it is a light hog..
Hi, Deb!
Elaine those are great pressies from your children... and your bells are loverly..
*hugs KayJones! * Do you like this one?
I hope Rita can move to where ever she wants to, as long as she is Happy I am Happy..
I have two more maters on this vine
Can you tell what this is? Gee I AM glad it is wayyyy up there cuz it looks like I can see spider mites or baby spiders one of the two.. thank goodness for zoom lenses
Deb, that Brom. bloom is going to be beautiful!
Tell us what your mystery picture is.
Looks like an onion flower of some kind? - there's definitely a little spider mite web up there, Deb. Break out the soapy Windex spray!
How da heck did you get those red hibs to put on green leaves?? Must be that Ken's Mix you use.
The scent from 'Monster White' is wafting in through the window by my desk. What a treat! It's getting a little bit leggy so I've been pruning its long branches back after the buds stop forming, but they just keep on, and on! Weather's due to cool off later this week, so that will probably slow things up.
Big ol' bougie is putting on a show - I can't bring myself to cut off it's hanging flowers so I gingerly drive the car under there to get it into the garage.
This message was edited Dec 26, 2011 10:30 PM
A little touch of frost here this morning...coolest night we've had yet. But it's supposed to warm a bit at night now. Days have been really nice tho !
Taper vine... Ceropegia ampliata
Stictocardia from Deb is celebrating ! about 10 more at least coming...
Beautiful, Martha!
What incredible colors in that strictocardia. Great photo too.
Looks like fireworks for New Year's, Mj! Gorgeous. I must find some more room for flowering vines around here . . . yeah, right! Maybe if I let them twine through the forest of Brugmansias that my garden will be by next summer . . . it will look really tropical anyway, like Sleeping Beauty's castle in the sub-tropics.
I got yet another beautiful begonia from my kids today. Will get a pic of it as soon as the camera battery charges up.
Meantime, this silly yellow canna is continuing to bloom in the shade . .
very pretty sticto, Martha. I am glad it bloomed for you. your photo skills are awesome.
I love the yellow canna, Elaine. It was up to almost 60 today. where is our winter? Who knows..
You guys in Florida ready for the blast of cold air coming your way by Tuesday?
It's down here Debra, we are supposed to have some mean weather by the middle of next week.
The camellias do not mind the weather though.
Yes - I'm as 'ready' as I'll ever be! Everything's in the greenhouse or Florida room, with heat - we made it through last year, so probably will do so, this year, too.
Thanks Deb, I'm really enjoying this plant and it's been pretty easy care. Elaine you could grow this easily in a pot. One can never have enough vines..LOL....
Alice thanks for the compliment on the pic...Santa brought a new camera for Christmas to fuel my photography habit.
We've already had a touch of frost...mostly out in the open areas. Gonna warm up a bit and then probably will be chilly temps middle of next week. But NOTHING like last year....Thank Goodness,
My camera skills are not so good this cold morning, but the vine is blooming its heart out!OUr neighbors to the back took out a lot of the plant material that gave us privacy, so we shall now direct the beanstalk vine to their yard. There are clusters of buds as large as my fist! I'll try to get the picture of it into the fishtail palm next.
Very nice Debi....what is is?
I hacked this vine back all summer long, and I do mean hacked! Sorry for the picture quality. Cold here this morning AGAIN!
Sorry-- Hawaiian Sunset vine. The Garden Club here on the island was visiting my neighbors home several weeks ago and did not know what it was!
Looks like a big stricto to me.
Martha, what kind of camera did Santa bring you? I got a new little Panasonic but we have already decided to return it, I have not been pleased with it so far. It was one of those things - Santa just thought I needed a box under the tree and knowing I wanted a new camera one appeared, now I have to figure out which one I really want. LOL Silly Santa.
We (and all the neighbors) have been picking the fruit off the bottom of this tree for a month now but yesterday I finally decided to was time to get it all off the top and wound up with several huge buckets full. I keep pruning this tree to keep it short but it has its own mind. Still plenty of fruit on the lower branches.
Our fruit is almost ready-- this last cold snap should make the honey-bells nice and sweet! I have 2+ tons of shell in the driveway and the men are coming this AM to spread it and do some clean-up! Happy days are here again!
Alice it's an Olympus Sp610uz...has a lot of great features, tho not a "pocket type" still small enough for me to pack in a tote and have outside so I can grab and shoot. No interchangeable lens but I really didn't need/want that right now.
Debi, looks like a Stictocardia to me also. I posted a pic of one a few posts up. I'm keeping mine in the pot !! LOL....don't need anymore giants around here.
Close up of the ponkan tangerines, they are really sweet. I am thinking of looking for a Honey Bell tree this year, they grow well here and it would be nice to have a later ripening citrus. I just bought a cute little one called a Kishu, it has golf ball sized fruit that peel just like the Cuties they advertise on TV. No seeds either, a perfect tree for the grandkids who hate seeds in their citrus, they have been spoiled by the grocery store clementines .
This message was edited Dec 30, 2011 11:44 AM
This message was edited Dec 30, 2011 11:45 AM
Yum, oranges from the tree. Wish I had room for more fruit trees, but unless I plant them outside the fence (where the fruit will disappear) there just isn't room in the irrigated area.
Yeah, we're ready for the cold snap next week, Drew. Speaking of fruit, it will be just in time to zap the early blooms on the mango tree. I bought a whole bunch more frost cloth and have been experimenting with supports for it. Plus two little 'pop-ups' that fit nicely right over my Earth Boxes. Now I'm going to have to cover the 10ft. clerodendron hedge because it's covered with flower buds that it would break my heart to lose now!
Here's my new begonia baby, and a cute little Tillandsia ball ornament that Logee's sent as a bonus.
Elaine, my trees are on a vacant lot we own and there is no irrigation there. I do water them well the first year then they are on their own.
I have been checking the weather and most of FL will be as cold as we are supposed to be here. Brrrrr
Wow, you get great crops for no irrigation, Alice! In fall and winter we usually get very little rain so in order for the citrus to size up and be juicy we need to irrigate. Plus our soil is all sand, so very porous. (no matter how much compost we add it doesn't hold much water) Guess some of the cool fronts that pass to the north of us still give you some rain through fall.
We've had one very light spritz of rain here in the last month.