Jan, I don't know what you're saying - either I'm dense or just missed something - what are 'Clems'?
Tropical Garden #126
you are dense, they are clematis plants, these are just some cuttings I took last year. clems are short for clematis.
LoL, Jan nobody grows clematis here. They need a good winter dormancy. No wonder Kay didn't know what a "clem" was. Try mandevilla or a passionvine if you want a pretty flowering vine. You will have much more success.
The cute little owl might be an Eastern Screech Owl. They're about that size, have "ears" and can be grey or brown. I'm assuming he flew into your porch? Be sure to keep the door open, and see if he flies out tonight. They hunt at night. Good birds to have around - they eat mice and other rodents that you really don't want around.
Last flower umbel finishing up on the Brazilian Red Cloak. It's really been a winner this year, blooming non-stop for nearly 4 months!
Elaine - you lucky duck! Mine still hasn't grown a lot or bloomed, but I'm a patient person (not) - if I put it in the greenhouse for the cold weeks, will it continue to grow? I don't know if I should dig it up or not - can anyone enlighten me?
I concur on the Eastern screech.
A few Anthurium seedlings.
awww love that owl.. how lucky you are, Jan.
beautiful Brazilian Cloak, Elaine.
Lovely seedlings, Drew.. were they from seeds? gee!
I still have room for plants in here.. LOL
these are all blooming inside now..
Wow, Deb - they are beautiful!
Kay, I did send you a blue ginger but you said it had died. When I went to replace it you told me Cassie had already sent you one so I sent the one I had for you to Elaine. There - clear as mud. :-)
OK - Cassie, there's something wonderful happening in that 'empty' pot that I almost emptied - I have TWO teeny-tiny leaves emerging!!! I am so excited to see if it will live in the greenhouse and eventually bloom for me - THANK YOU!
well our little screech stayed until 9:45 tonight and then I went out to help him find his way to the door, he had already flew over to the chair backs and then to a camp chair close to the open screen door. Now he is gone and it is a little sad, as it was such a treat to see him looking in at my kitchen sink. It wouldn't bother me if he flew back in tomorrow again, at which time I think I would make a perch for him. I would so love it if he moved in...LOL
Thanks all.
Elaine the clems have been amazing as they keep on going, they die back and I trim they are a 3 and I wait for a few months and out comes the new growth.... So this time they will be repotted up again for the next growth.
Jan
I feel like that with my frogs, Jan!
I really like frogs but the darn snakes around here keep eating them, and that eat them right in front of me... I hate snakes, I don't care how good they are for the yard!
Jan
Here is a one of the sliders, it really was an amazing day to have him hang around like he did.
Went on a garden tour yesterday and saw something I had never seen before. Confederate jasmine with seed pods! They look just like string beans hanging down. This is not a great photo, the sun was so bright I could not see what I was taking. There is a picture of them in PF, but this was a first for me.
The garden had been cleaned up for the tour but I did manage to find a fallen seed pod in a shrub underneath the vine. The seeds are like milkweed seeds, they have a little fluff on them.
Jan he is so cute!
Jo, glad to see the blue ginger growing, mine is putting up babies from the bottom.
Ardesia I have never seen seed pods either, nice.
My neighborhood CJ vines have seed pods on them, but they never seem to ripen.
KayJones, I wouldn't dig up your established Braz. Red Cloak to bring it into the greenhouse. If it is well established and looks healthy, leave it be, maybe throw a sheet over it when the nights are cold, and take a few cuttings as insurance. That's what I'm doing with mine. I start all my cuttings in water, then pot up in potting soil when they have roots.
IF you do lose it to the cold this winter, I'll send you another start and you can maybe plant it in a different place where it will bloom better?
I think the Con. Jasmine never goes dormant down here, so it never needs to make seeds. I've never seen a vine with seeds here.
It doesn't go dormant here either, it was most unusual and I verified with both the homeowner and a horticulturist that it was indeed a CJ. I should mention that the hort. had never seen one seed either. I am hoping the few seeds I found are viable just on the chance that it might be a diffferent cultivar.
OK - I won't dig it up - I'll make a tent for it on cold nights - thanks!
cool! gee what is a CJ ? LOL ( confederate jasmine.. is it yellow)
purple firespike is really big and full now, it is supposed to turn back cold this weekend, should I dig it up? Just when I think I have all the tropicals in
I find another one outside *sigh*
My purple firespike bloomed right through winter last year, Deb. For what it's worth, we did have lots of nights in the 40's and a couple in the 30's. If it's a short cold front there's the possibility of the weather warming up again = I'd just cover it up out there.
Somebody else on another thread is in St. Louis and said they were predicted to have 3 weeks of warm weather. Are they further south than you?
Btw, another 'for what it's worth' I used to sew a lot when we lived in Utah, and we were into winter sports of course. I came to Florida with boxes full of fabric scraps of polar fleece. It makes the absolute BEST frost covers for plants - it's very light but insulates beautifully and even if it gets wet it still keeps the plants warm. Watch your local fabric stores for sales! It's great stuff and can be cheap, too.
truly a great advice! I have big burlap bags from my local feed and seed sore and a huge bag of old comforters I use every year....
the oleander is huge, it is in a tub, Joe loves it, we wil likely leave it out until havy freeze warning. the leaves on it are tuff, the leaves on the firespike are very light compared to the oleander.. was just scared. I still have the ones KayJones And Rita have sent me, hope maybe next year to see them bloom.
basement garden labled "Charlies room".. the north east end.. still room in here for plants.. will prolly move a bunch from the south east main room to here.. the sticto, calico pipe vine, passion flowers, catsclaw vine and others are already vining everywhere..
pic 2... my peter pepper plant
all my peppers and tomatoes are going crazy in here..
my one and only plummie
new bloom on anthruium from a dear friend here..
shrimp plant from same dear friend
bored stoopid debate.. back to gardening at night in the comfort of my basement.. LOL
Nice Debra...is the shrimp plant 'fruit cocktail'? Never seen one that color.
I have lots of plants you can add to the empty spots. Interested?
Ditto in the polar fleece. I use it also, we briefly lived in Boston, not too far from Mauldin Mills where is was made and they had a great outlet store. I have a couple of blanket sized pieces that are great for throwing over large plants.
That's a great idea!! FYI...walmart has fleece blankets (approx 5 x 5) for $2.88. Its not the real thick fleece, but I have looked at fleece at the fabric store and its $5-12 a yard, so that's a lot cheaper, not to mention should be the perfect size to wrap up a shrub.
good morning! It looks like it is snowing yellow leaves from the neighbors tree to the south of me here.. We still havn't figured out what kind of tree this is, but we do love it so..
I have a collection of "throws" that have a fleece feel. Right now, Joe isn't letting me spend much money while he is on strike, but as soon as he is back to work, I will be hiing the DAV and Goodwills for more supplies LOL
I need to report two things that are supposed to be tropical as coming back from last winter. tropical milkweed and mexican petunia both came back here.. is that a normal thing?
Deb, I don't know if it's 'normal' for those to come back or not, but that's great news!
The red Baleria is coming back, after I was sure I had killed it - I LOVE living in Florida!
I would love to visit georgia, don't think I have everf been there, and thanks Paula for the offer, but I am only interested in prennials right now, however, I think I have at least one plant from all of this group here except you,to keep going in the basement garden and show off every summer.
Maybe this spring a special something from Georgia girl would complete my tropical forum family plants.?
from elaine
Happy Halloween!
LOve the jack-o-lantern, Deb. Aren't the velvety leaves on that P. Gloriosum nice?
That Mexican petunia never stops here - it is an invasive weed, and I have bushels of it I'm always yanking out if you want some! It barely slows down blooming even in cold weather.
White plumes
B. Sophie Cecile made spotted leaves in the spring, plain dark leaves through summer, and now spotted ones again.
oops, hit Send too soon. Here's Sophie and a couple of Heliconias
Hazards of living here - I was up all night chasing raccoons out of the pool cage. Gang of 4 young-ish ones, not in the least afraid. I had to growl and bark like a big fierce dog to get their attention. My plants are all a mess and several floating were around in the pool. Of course they show up right when we are waiting to head out of town.
Grrrrr, I feel your pain Elaine. I wish I knew why raccoons were on this earth to begin with. Even snakes have a purpose but around here all the raccoons do is creat havoc and spread rabies. (can you tell they are not my favs?)
Bouvardia ternifolia always looks so twiggy but it blooms non stop.
A Zebra Longwing has been visiting the jatropha. We haven't seen one of these in at least 5 years.
This message was edited Oct 23, 2012 11:05 AM
Love those Zebra longwings! I've been lucky to have several around this summer. They are Florida's state butterfly.
On the raccoon front, they are not even indigenous to this area! Migrated here like everyone else for the good weather, no doubt. Anyway nothing bad but something good comes of it, we needed to replace the old cat door anyway, and this incident last night inspired DH to search for a good alternative. The cat won't wear a collar, she goes out with it on, comes back without it and can't get back into the house. So the ones with the magnets or other collar key tags wouldn't work, but he found one that is programmed to allow her microchip to open the door. I hope SO much that it works. She is determined to be an outdoor cat, as she was born to a feral mother. I'm worried that either she will get mauled by 4 raccoons or that they will get into the house. I have a trap, but it only traps one at a time and last time I used it I kept trapping a possum. Animal Control comes to take away the trapped animal and charges $20 each time.
My head aches, I need a nap! And I have to serve at the MG help desk this afternoon.
love the flutterby.. never saw one b4..
feel better Elaine.. Hugs!
Sorry to hear of your coon problems Elaine, and that is really incredible to have a door that the chip will open, just incredible... I have one dog that will use the doggie door but my girl doesn't like anything on her face so she will not push on the flap to come in to save my life.... I've tried with her favorite food and nope, nothing doing... But really I think the only reason the boy learn the use of the door was cause his sister was in heat and he wanted to be next to her...LOL
Hope you fee better and hope your MG afternoon went well.
Jan
I apologize, and thank everybody for letting me rant/vent above. *&^%#$%#@ raccoons!!
Hoping for a quiet night tonight so I can get some sleep.
Don't apologise Elaine, they might have cute faces but they are evil IMO. :-)
In addition to the rabies, their droppings can contain a unique roundworm that can do some significant damage, even fatalities, to our pets and more importantly, to humans. Worst part is these organisms are so small they can become airborne so just cleaning up the crap when they poop on your deck is risky. Our vets warn us to keep the animals away from the droppings so we shout like maniacs whenever the dog stops to sniff something and how pitiful is that, dogs love to sniff.
And eat whatever disgusting thing they come across!
LOL, how true.
Have a question about my Sago Palm. The large one I have has something "happening" in the center. The fuzzy ball that happens when new fronds are forming is there and looking through the gaps I see bright orange globes - look like tangerines.
Anyone have any idea what this is???
Pics might be helpful
Those are seeds - the beginning of new plants - they sprout too easily, imho!