We came here from here: http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1242077/
These poor Bletillas got stepped on and almost drowned this winter but they are ready to go again. They were ready to go to sleep when I took this picture, I did not realize they close up in the evening.
Second pic is a dish garden of succulents I made for a hypertufa demonstration the other day.
This message was edited Mar 2, 2012 6:28 AM
Eye candy>
Dale,
The third picture is just beautiful..they all are...but that is so impressive! Wouldn't we all love to be able to grow things like that? I guess if we had the perfect place and conditions we could.
Thanks for the new thread Alice!
My pleasure but what happened to the bletillas? They were there when I previewed the post. I'll try again.
Well shoot, now they are back in the first post, this is wierd.
This message was edited Mar 2, 2012 7:08 AM
Dale. what is the name of the yellow one! It looks fantastic!
Rita, I have that Cercestes mirabilis on my wish list, it's pretty cool !!
Debra - LOL...I bet that is an eyecatching sight seeing that Pipevine blooming in your basement ! LOL
That last orchid that Dale posted is Dendrobium aggregatum, I have a little one blooming right now can't wait for it to
grow up like that one !
ohhhh awwww LOL what a wonderful thing to view on a cold cloudy day.
Gee, I bought a dish just like that with not as much in it at the womans fair for my office for 15.9, Alice.
I LOVE the long white trailing stuff.
Debra, you owe me a PHONE CALL!!!!
My pleasure but what happened to the bletillas? They were there when I previewed the post. I'll try again.
Well shoot, now they are back in the first post, this is wierd.
This message was edited Mar 2, 2012 7:08 AM
Thanks Martha!
Hello All!!
ardesia, thanks for starting the new thread! You know that I will copy your cute little dish garden of succulants.
Dale, thanks for the eye candy! You are a very good photographer.
mjsponies, I bought the Cercestes mirabilis from Miller's Tropicals.
I bet with your care, that sweet little orchid will look like the one in Dale's picture in no time at all.
Rita,
I bought a Pinecone Brom like the one you posted earlier....Your a bad influence ! Gonna have to put it up high tho..
stickery..
I guess there's another reason for me to call Todd...see if he has another Cercestes mirabilis.
Very nice Episcia there !!
We have another cold spell coming...have to drag in some things and cover others..again..for one night..
Wish it would make up it's mind what season it's going to be.
I'll be going through that in a month Martha!
Drew it really does get frustrating some times...Especially since everything here thinks it's spring...lots of new growth going on...as long as we don't get a frost again, which has happened a couple times, killing back the new growth. I don't know how many times some things will take that before giving up.
And I really really want to get the plants back out of the house, out of the greenhouse LOL..
Amen, Martha - my plants are SO ready to get out of the house and greenhouse!
Rita, your amazing collection of plants always blows my mind, you seem to find the most unusual material, I have never even heard of so many of your specimens. I love seeing and learning about them.
Not having a GH, it was getting to be a mess in here, there were more leaves than dog hair on the floor so everything is out and hopefully will fend for itself. Supposed to drop to the mid 40's for 2 nights but the way it works here is it only drops for an hour or two so unless it goes into the low 30's everything should be fine. I will cover the crotons because they tend to lose their leaves easily.
First is the view from my desk, everything is covered with a dusty layer of pollen.
Second is the purple odontonema - FINALLY - those buds set in November, this had been a long wait.
This message was edited Mar 3, 2012 7:53 AM
Because I seem to be saving my photos at a too high resolution it takes too long to load more than two at a time but that is still 100% better than it was before.
Camellia japonica 'Miss Charleston'.
Yellow asclepias, this one has been blooming non stop all winter.
Very nice Alice!
your deck is beautiful, and I love your plants and the flowers, Alice.
That's something on my wish list....a deck....
your deck looks like the floor of my greenhouse and plant room...leaves everywhere LOL...
I spent some time in the plant room yesterday dragging stuff out to the porch so I could clean trays, get leaves up etc,
then back inside for a while...won't be long tho till they can all go back outside.
Today clean in the greenhouse again...stuff it full again...for 1 cold night...again....ROFLMOL
Gorgeous flowers, Alice. That purple firespike will keep on opening, and opening. Mine's been 'in bloom' for 2 months now and the flowers just keep coming on. Camellia is lovely, too.
I found a pretty little surprise in the "begonia nursery" today - a cutting of Gryphon with one ratty leaf has a pretty panicle of delicate apple-blossom flowers, sort of greenish with pink stems and pink wash on the flowers. Nice bonus on something I've really just bought for the foliage.
Gazanias I planted in a bowl sulked for weeks after the last cold, but are coming on strong now. Just in time for another cold night tomorrow!
My white Squirrel's Tail from Rita has its first bloom.
Lovely!
yes indeed! I have never heard of squirrel tail..
sigh...yet again I won't see the Purple Firespike...it's fried from the last frost...I think I'll give up and just look at Alice's pictures of it...........
I had forgotten the botanical name of the Squirrel Tail so looked it up (again) - Justicia betonica. Here's the link to the Plant File
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/82112/
This message was edited Mar 3, 2012 7:31 PM
thanks everyone for wishing me a happy birthday. the first picture is one of my presents. a gorgeous orchid bromeliad arrangement. i had a great day just relaxing in the garden. it has been hot here. lots of orchids flowering. i just planted my uf sun peach and the barbados cherry hope they take off.
gorgeous pictures as always everyone.
I had one of those white shrimp plants for years but it fell victim to some home remodeling two years ago. It was quite hardy for me but it couldn't withstand getting stepped on repeatedly.
Martha, the purple firespike is just not that showy. It is a large plant and there are not more than 6 or 8 flower spikes on it. I did cover mine back in early January but did not bother the past few times. However, I did spray it with Freeze Pruf and maybe that did the trick because it was not harmed the past two times we had cold nights. .
This message was edited Mar 3, 2012 6:44 PM
I think this is the same as my Squirrel's Tail shrimp plant ? Not hardly invasive tho...........but the blooms up close, do look like someone smiling at you...........
ardesia you will have to show us how to make that hypertufa pot.
the pink in that is amazing rita!
these are begonia flowers they have a nice soft fragrance.
Alice, at this point if it won't take the mild winter as we have had, I'm not so sure I want to mess with it anymore.
I've got bigger fish to fry so to speak. It's been for at least 4 yr's now a PIA....LOL.....so if it's going to be that picky I don't think I will really worry about it too much any more. I've got much more rewarding, and better producing plants to concentrate on.
Kinda a "Tough Love" thing going on here. I'm tooooooo tired, and have too many other obligations to deal with. AND, my Hoya's and Orchids are not that fussy !!! Holy Cow !!!
It is an amazing difference between Central and South Fl. Granted I am on the "North End" of Central Fl...but the difference of what you can do down there and what I can do here is amazing.
Cassie, I haven't forgotten getting a trade for you done, just been, for a change busy busy with the ponies. That's a GOOD thing !!!
Just keeps me from doing as much with the plants as I thought I would.
Cassie, if you can make a jello mold you can make a hypertufa trough. Seriously!
I love your begonias. I have the B. Odorata alba but it does not seem to have any fragrance.
ardesia i can make jello shots! can you send me the recipe?
all of my begonias are in the ground and seem to do fine even with the cold. there is almost a 10 degree difference in temperature sometimes between miami and orlando it seems, especially in the winter. it has been in the mid 80's and 70's at night it feels like summer here already.
the last one is the hedychiums coming up.
Hypertufa and Concrete: "Hypertufa 101"
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/537393/?hl=hyper+tufa
Palms
Alice you must have sent me the fragrant part of your B. Odorata Alba - the one you sent me has a lovely light fragrance. I had snapped off a flower panicle last week, and put it in a little vase on my desk, and I could smell it from almost 3ft. away. Very soft, as Cassie said. But definitely there!
Now I just went outside (in the dark!) and plucked another one - can't smell a thing! Maybe it's one of those flowers that release its fragrance as it warms up in the daytime?
Here's my purple firespike with two huge bloom stems going. Don't despair of it yet, it gets better and better. If it keeps going this way, it will be a very showy plant by the summer.
LOL Cassie, you will need those jello shots when you find out Portland cement only comes in 94 lb. bags. I get the guys at Lowe's to put it in the car then I have 4 buckets at home and I empty the bag directly from the car into the buckets. That way they are light enough so I can move them. It is important to have buckets with lids as the dry cement will attract moisture and become unusable.
There are some good ideas on the hypertufa forum, especially the papercrete, but bear in mind this is like baking, everyone has their own recipe. I will dmail you my directions.
Alice, would you mind sending it to me also??
No problem Paula, BTW, are you building an arc yet? My rain gauge runneth over. Two days of steady hard rain is so rare here lately but we have been fortunate that is it only rain and nothing worse.
We have really been getting it...over 4 inches yesterday. My yard is a bog, hope it doesn't kill my new grass! Sun is already out today and the wind is supposed to blow pretty hard, so hopefully it will dry it out. The pond is looking good though.
I went to the Flower show yesterday and boy was I 'bad'.! I literally could not fit another plant in my car. I actually had two at my feet. I will try to take pictures of all my bargains and beauties later today. A lot was for the landscape.
