TROPICAL PLANTS AND GARDENS #131

I put on my boots...so here we are....

false agave
2 - impatiens
3 - caladiums
4 - jap maple with coleus
5 - another jap maple with coleus

My EEs are really growing...

coneflowers are still doing well
spider lily
kamaepheria
stromathe
vanda

forgive the spelling

another begonia with orange blooms
philodendron
lots more begonias
ee - anyone know which one??
curcuma - 5 ft tall - anyone know which one it may be??

Philodendron - my most fav
more begonias and other plants
hoya kerrii varg.
persian shield
caladiums

container with perilla
two varg. abutilon
close up of bloom
monstera cheesecake
bear paw fern

Another freak cold front has moved in...we went from a feels like of 100F two days ago and are now heading to 48F overnight. My tropicals were quickly hauled back into my greenhouse.

Love the Blue Butterfly (one of my absolute faves)

The first time I have seen a Plumeria bloom (and it is mine :o)

Waterlily (not sure which one...didn't trace it back to its' pot).

Hawaii'an Sunset Vine is pumping the blooms out now. :o)

Will have to capture a few more in the next few days.

This message was edited Jul 13, 2013 9:21 PM

Very nice lilypon! I love the sunset vine...I have got to get one of those. If you can grow it up there ...surely I can grow one here. Now to find one....

You have some lovelies blooming there, Lily. I have the blue butterfly, and a plumeria that looks just like that.

Paula, whew! What a fantastic show. I want to comment on every picture but when you post 28 at once . .

Big catt blooming away, cool weather sure makes the flowers last better!

Okay I'm all in
New pink Hibiscus (hybrid) Lowes Paid full price--damn!
Water lily that is blooming like mad(3 blooms at one time last week) in the pool cage
Some rescue Hibiscus from a Demo sale
Another hybrid Hibiscus
A brom about to bloom--can't remember where it was filched from

More photos:
Black Stem Lobster Claw
Don't know the name of this heliconia
Side garden
Cactus bloom from last month
Rangoon Creeper from last month

And on a side note as I must(:)) brag--our horse was champion in her division in a show in NC this past week! YAY!
Debi

Very nice pictures Debi...love the rangoon creeper! Congrats on the championship....what was the category?
Do you travel alot? That's a long way to go, pulling a horse trailer.

Thank you GAgirl and DyzzyPyxxy. I've been admiring (drooling over ;o) for years the pics that DG members put up here of tropical (or semi-tropical) plants, including those beauties above (most of which weren't available to Canadians and especially Canadians on the Northern prairies). I've bugged local greenhouses for years (mentioned that people in the Dakotas are growing them so why can't we???). Now some are showing up here (and Canadian mail order also takes care of a few other wants of mine).

GAgirl given the heat and humidity your State is capable of I really don't think you will have a problem with that Sunset vine. Now mine did have most of its buds turn brown when we had another cool snap a month ago but it didn't hurt the vine itself. New buds formed really, really, really fast (and compared to other vines I've grown here this one makes me think of Kudzu due to how quickly it is growing for me).

By chance I found another Sunset vine (its trellis and vines had been broken) but the vines were still a couple of feet long. My daughter wanted a cutting from mine (didn't think I'd have much luck there since Floridians are reporting failure or that it takes months to root) so I was tickled pink (and it was very cheap and I expect it will send up new growth very quickly).

Everyone's posies look great, especially those from the southeast where we have had such epic amounts of rain. The SC Botanical Gardens up in Clemson were essentially destroyed by a foot of rain within a short period of time the other day, whole areas are just gone. I am seeing a lot of wet wilt down here, there is so little O2 in the soil. I am telling people to poke pitchforks into the soil around plants in the ground and just sticks into containers to make holes where oxygen can get near the roots.

Lily, I am in awe of your Canadian grown flowers, you have done a fantastic job up there.

Pink Bottle Brush
Begonia - forget name
Crapes have been amazing this year - near dark when I took that pic
Sweet little native clematis
Second bud on Musa Sweetheart is forming fruit

Debi, beautiful flowers all, and I'm envious of the Rangoon Creeper, too. Never thought to make it 'creep' up a trellis like that but it displays it perfectly.

Alice, more gorgeous flowers, and I especially like the little clematis. Lucky you, to be growing bananas! They will slurp up all the rain, I'm sure.

We're lucky down here to have such porous soil, the rain just drains away so fast. What a shame about the Botanical Gardens.
- Gloriosas going strong
- Hedychium 'Dr Moy' my favorite, sorry for the repeat but I can't walk by it with the camera . .
- white Canna 'Ermine' is a bit more elegant and restrained than the blazing colors of the others.

Does anyone want to trade me some Plumeria? You guys are making me so Jelly lol... Can't believe I used that word.

I only have two Plumerias, Jokenna. One has no fragrance at all so you wouldn't want it. The other is a dwarf type that I'm trying to keep going. It has a light, almond scent - must admit I'm rather disappointed in it, too. I can't take cuttings from either of them until winter.
- Plumeria pudica - nice crisp white flowers, cool lobed foliage, no scent +-(
- Plumeria 'Penang Peach' - slight almond scent, small bush, nice flowers
- my Musical Notes plant loves all the rain!

This message was edited Jul 20, 2013 10:26 PM

Elaine, my musical notes Clero. from you is starting to bloom - I LOVE it - thank you SO MUCH!!!!

Oh; that's nice Kay!

Yes, Drew - it really is. I have so many beautiful plants from these wonderful folks and I appreciate each and every one of them so much!

dyzzypyxxy you have beautiful plants,and thanks for the thought.

Hm, Kay the one I sent you is Clero. quadriloculaire, the 'Shooting Star' one with the big dark leaves, purple on the reverse. It will bloom in January, if you can keep it warm enough.

I scored two starts of the Musical Notes at Selby's member day plant sale, and they have sulked all winter and spring, but are taking off now.

This message was edited Jul 20, 2013 10:40 PM

Oh, no - I don't know which of you wonderful gals sent it to me, then. It could have been Rita or Paula - everyone has been so generous!

I did have one and may have sent it, but I can't remember either. Mine unfortunately died. Do you think Debra might have sent it to you? Has anyone heard from her?

Does the Musical Notes clerodendrum come from seed?

Deb emailed me a week ago and said she just isn't ready to talk to anyone right now. Losing Sherry hit her very hard and I know she's love it if folks on this thread would drop her a line and let her know she's missed.

Did a few weeks ago Kay.

Lily, I don't know if the Musical Notes makes seed, but it is dropping flowers so I might know more in a few days.

We sure do miss Deb! I'd be inclined to respect her space. Everybody grieves in different ways.

Here's an update on my in-ground experiment with P.Gloriosum. They are right next to each other, and both have had the same water and fert.
- the one that is in a sunken pot has 3 good looking leaves
- the one directly in the ground has two small pathetic looking leaves

Around here the advantitious tree roots grow right into the pots and rob the plants of any nutrition. It is almost like they can smell where the good soil is. LOL
I have tried surrounding the pots with landscape fabic before sinking them but it does not help for more than a month or two at best. I can raise the pots off the ground and that prevents the invading roots but it also creates a watering nightmare not to mention what happens when we have a big blow.

Bouvardia ternifolia (is there a common name for that one?)

A piece of Don Miller dropped into the Picasso's Paintbrush pot and look what happened.

Oh, Alice - they are beautiful!

Elaine,
my gloriosum are struggling also. I just can't figure them out.

Alice, the pot with the Don Miller volunteer is gorgeous. Sometimes the accidents turn out the best!

Paula, I'm going to carefully lift the one P. Gloriosum that's in the ground, and put it in a pot. See if it just needs root space of its own, and regular TLC. I think it's just a wimpy hybrid, and doesn't play well with others.

- Brazilian Red Cloak is starting its summer bloom
- closeup of Red Cloak flower bract
- a mystery, NOID spiral ginger, I think it came from Rita a couple of years ago, and I just stuck it in a pot, and forgot it. Here it is blooming with such pretty red buds and stems.

Wow, that spiral ginger flower is amazing Elaine. What a nice surprise. I hope Rita is OK, she has been quiet for a while.

I heard from Rita a couple of weeks ago and she is doing well but staying very busy. Hopefully she will be back to posting again.

Dyzzy and Paula, P. gloriosum will grow best if it's not planted too deeply in a pot or in the ground and only watered when it has dried out a little bit. I grow mine in a hanging basket and when it crawls out, I make the cut and start a new plant. It is a crawler and not a climber. It prefers bright light (no direct) and also attracts spider mites.

Ah ha! Thanks Rachel. I will put the sickly Gloriosum in a hanging basket and see if it recovers. We've had too much rain for 6 weeks, but things are drying out now.

Nothing in my garden has spider mites, they are all on the Brugmansias. Sacrificial hosts?

Treasures from friends:
- the lovely Rainbow Costus from Rita
- begonias, Don Miller from Alice, Maurice Amy from Mj.

good evening everyone, your plants and flowers are beautiful. I am glad the musical notes took off for you KayJones. My don miller from alice is growing big out in the shade garden now. we have had florida weather this month. rain at least once a week sometimes twice. most of my tropicals are on the front porch or in the afternoon shade areas.. I am glad to have lots of color in my yard right now.
I have had to cut down a lot around the house because of all the big fotted painters and gutter guys, but they will grow back.. some thiings never made it upstairs, the tropical area downstairs is small right now, but cozy with the fish and the turtles and garter snakes.. we dodged another bullet of baseball size hail tonight.. people to the north us us got pounded..

It has been a month now, I celebrated my sisters 55th birthday last night by going to applebys and ordering two appetizer trays with a little of everything, since she would have loved it.. sitting on the patio at night seems to help me a bit..these are a few of the things around me out on the patio..

I planted at least three seeds of every seed anyone has sent me, so now I have tons of NOIDs thanks to faded tags, this will be fun..

It is hard to see things here with the ghost column down the middle of everything when I log on. oh well.. I am waiting for all my cleros to bloom..and my passis, well, a lot of stuff is late late late// u can see where i whacked the plants down on this side of the house, the painter is working on it now in between the rainy days..
the umbrelllas are crooked, but do help with the shade loving plants on the patio..
the arches are just now starting to show some signs of things climbing..all the milkweeds are bloming and podding.. I have 6 kinds show up so far..
thank you for loving me, I love you all too..