I should never go to plant shows on weekends.....
New Family Photo
dale_a_gardener,
I think I came home with the same purple one you have. Does your's have a name marker in it? If so, can you help me out?
:)
MerryMary
I pick up bromeliads all the time at the garden faris and such :) I get some GREAT bargains :)
We were just in Miami the other day and I picked up a bunch for 3.00 a piece!
I have never been a big Brom person until I inherited a Queen's Tears. Although they're fairly common, I love the colors on it ( I have a yard full of fingernail Brom's)
So after I saw some with the colored leaf varieties, like the purple one above, I started to perk up a bit, knowing I could put color in my yard, even with no bloom, and it would be drought tolerant! Normal stores usually don't have the nicer colors, but I grabbed one at the Home and Garden show at the convention center last week.
Mary
I love the garden shows and sales. We got to the one at Fairchild gardens (which even has a bromeliad sale and a succulent sale along with their regular sale) We also go to the ones at Leiu gradens in Miami each year.
It is truly amazing how cheap you can get them.
I am a cryptanthus junkie myself! I bought a bunch of them for like 7.00 a piece. I bought a bunch of dyckias for 5.00 a piece and cuttings from running bromeliads which were rooted for 3 to 5 a piece :)
I am not a HUGE bromeliad junkie but you are right..they are colorful and drought tolerant and I have found some I simply adore :)
MerryMary,
I lost the tag on that one. I will try and find out it's name when I pick up plants for my next brom job...end of the month.
I love going to the festival of plants. I would spend every weekend at it if I had the time. The new babies came from the Pinellas County Brom Club. I always spend as much as I can with the people doing fund raising, they need my support. That whole bunch cost $22. I may not keep them all, but will use them on jobs over the summer.
Chris, I went to ITPE in Feb(?) in Ft. Lauderdale, but, I sure wish I had gone down to Fairchild. I haven't been there since '90. They have the best plant shows and other events. Ahh, big city life has it's advantages.
This time of year I am busy, dawn to dusk. Can't you hear them.."Were is my sod??" "Have you finished the pavers, it is almost Passover!!" But in a couple of months it will look like.......
I stopped by a botanical garden in St Petersburg, right on the water (I'll remember the woman's name at 3:00am) and they had varieties for sale in their gift shop for only 6 or 7 dollars. They were beautiful! Some I have never seen before, some were HUGE and gorgeous.
Mary,
I would like to know where that garden is so I could go visit it. St Pete and most of Pinellas County is undiscovered country for me. We don't get their phone book and the really small specialty growers are hard to find. It is a different world over there compared to Tampa, more relaxed. I am surprised that so many events and garden related activities go unadvertised here. Gardening is a huge business and it is mostly ignored in the news and local press.
Have you been to the state garden in Largo? It is very nice, but with few unusual plants. They have a nice museum of art and a pioneer village. Right in front of the museum they have a huge area of broms. It is very impressive to see. Broms are not widely grown. I have one place I am working on, getting ready for next years garden tour (we hope). Marilyn has over 100 different varieties. I have one bed, about 100 feet long, where I took out everything and planted broms. No two the same. Has to be at least 70 of them. With good care and no hurricanes it should be very impressive by next year. I have not been able to get a good picture of it, my digital camera just doesn't take good long shots.
It is after 5:30 and time to get ready for work, it will be light in an hour. What photo, unrelated to broms, should I post today....
I apologize, the garden is in Sarasota, not St Petersburg. You can see the sign for it on 1-75. It's called Marie Selby Botanical Gardens.
www.selby.org
:)
Mary
MM,
I went to the small annual plant sale they had there last month. I got 3 caladium species that I have never seen before. All have arrow shaped leaves and plant tags. They are small statured, green leaves splashed with white, one with pink and just so interesting. So much more interesting than C. humboldii or the gaudy modern hybrids. I am going to try and give them the best of care and hope they are fruitful and multiply. They still only have 2-3 leaves each so they are a little camera shy right now. I love to show off these rare gems and hope by the end of summer to have a bunch (to trade next year). Caladiums grow very well here as you know.
I went to Leu gardens plant sale this year for the 1st time. I was impressed with the gardens there. The best I have seen in Florida. I am going to have to go back and see it without all the distractions. Orlando has so many beautiful areas, especially around the lakes. Tampa has some nice places, but the near north side of Orlando is much more chaming. I grew up in a northern city and that area is similar, but, without the snow.
Time to get going. Todays photo, hmmm.....
This message was edited Apr 8, 2006 5:16 AM
We have actually talked about doing a DG Roundup at Leu gardens in a month or so, it's such a great place! I went a few weeks ago, just to wander around.
:)
MerryMary
MM,
Count me in for the Roundup. I heard on the radio that Epcot flower fest is supposed to be good, ever been to that one? Orlando is bigger and more interesting than Tampa. The theme parks really drive the landscape industry in your area, with benefits. I have to drive over 80 miles to get some of the plants that I need sometimes. Apopka and Kiss are my usual destinations.
And todays photo contest entry is.....
That's funny you asked about EPCOT! That is one of the RoundUps we have talked about as well. They have beautiful plantings all over the park while it's going on, some classes, and "Flower Power" music,lol....
We are also talking about going to Lukas Nursery, it's very very big.....all here in Orlando...
:)
MM,
Sounds like a two day trip for me. I like to photo diary my trips, and I know there will be some planting schemes at Epcot that can be purloined. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. I will have to bring ear plugs for the Flower Power music. If it is anything like Anaheim and 'It's a small world' music they have there in CA.
When is the best time to see Epcot? Soon I would think, before the real heat and humidity of summer set in. I have to rearrange my schedule at least two weeks in advance. Right now I am working 7 days/60 hrs a week (or more) trying to get ready for summer.
When the heat hits I am home by 1:30 and won't leave the house until the next morning. I am not gonna suffer heatstroke to keep these gardens going. And my income really drops. 7 hrs a day is all I can handle and that includes travel time, all are not billable hours.
Lets see what oldies but goodies we have in the photo pile...
Funny you should end your post with "oldies but goodies" because that's the kind of music they have at EPCOT for the Flower and Garden month......the Monkees (or Davey Jones solo) the Turtles, Paul Revere and the Raiders, etc....
What kind of plants do you grow in your gardens?
MM,
I plant a lot of flowerbeds, color is the service I want to develop more and get more clients for. There is only one company in the bay area that does this and they use the same plants year after year. They have all the malls and big business parks as clients and I intend to get some of them as my clients. I am always trying new (to this area) plants or plants that are not widely grown. I have had good success with delphiniums and next I want to try columbine for winter annuals. Summer is more of a challenge, as you know. I have been expanding my collection of coleus, they are popular and very easy to grow. The wholesalers do not carry alot of different types and they change them often so that creates its own problems. I have only been in business here for 3 years. I come from the SF Bay area, lots of different plants and many great suppliers. With the population boom (many folks from out of the area) and greater interest in gardening that should change.
I try to grow any and all the plants I see available. I order a lot by mail. My garden is just a holding area or experiment planting to see what is possible. My plant selections are based on ease of care mostly. I stick with the 'classic' plantings schemes or ones that I see around town that catch my eye.
I buy a lot of books too. I try and get them used, online and out of print. Many good ideas have been lost over the years.
Time to get busy on the paperwork. Todays photo.....it is small but it looks good.
This message was edited Apr 9, 2006 7:34 AM
I've been experimenting with trying to find an easy to care for plant system for my yard that is colorful, but not necc blooming plants. I've been trying to find some of the tried and true "Floridian(ish) plants" that can take the heat and still look good.
I have never been a huge ornamental Kale person, the the display at EPCOT always lures me back to considering it. I've also been dabbling a bit more with the color leaved Broms, simply because you do not have to wait for them to bloom to have a display. Colored leaved tropicals, such as pink or red stemmed Colocasias, as well as the purple leaved, stuck in a cluster planting, add some color definition as well. I also have a variegated crinum, as well as a red leaved crinum that can handle all weather situations. I'm experimenting with the colored leaved bananas and cannas, to see if I can put a splash of color in somewhere, even though they might not be in bloom.
Coleus are great, as you stated. I have a large order in with GlasshouseWorks to hopefully have varieties of a zillion different color combos. Once they arrive, I will start cuttings from each, so I have more of the colors I really think pop. The caladiums can't be beat, for extra color. I know they're fairly common, but some of the newer varieties are heat tolerant, and can get fairly tall. There's an Ebay-er and DG-er, caladiums_for_less who is an excellent source! Healthy bulbs for a very reasonable price.
If you find a good source of colored leaf Broms, please share the info, I'm always looking to pick another one up....
:)
Nice photoes. What is the little scalloped leaf green plant in the back in the first picture?
MM, before I get side tracked by my gardening opinions....The Brom guy I recently did some business with is Jungle Gems, Marty, in St Pete by appt only. Another is Chula also by appt only, out in Lutz. They have huge collections, in the hundreds, and usually expect you to spend a lot if you are not a regular. As for a more modest spender I will have to ask around. If you have a wish list or a general description (Like-purple leaves w/spots or golden giant that I saw growing in full sun) I maybe able to help. I have one garden I take care of that has over 100 different named varieties and sometimes we have to thin them. The owner of the garden recommends that you go to the Brom Society meetings. You don't have to be a member if they are friendly. They give away plants as raffle prizes or just give them away because they have so many. But that is here in Tampa. Orlando may be different.
I agree with you on easy, colorful, florida weather tolerant plants. I try to use high contrast in plantings. There is nothing more boring than a green hedge, with a green groundcover flanked by two green shrubs pruned into cones.
In a backyard garden I am planting now I am using green banana (tall 12-15') and giant bird of paradise as the background/screen plant. In clumps in the mid bed area randomly placed varigaeted ginger and pink Ty plants in varying numbers (3 & 2 or 1 & 3), 42 plants total, those are what I call the bones of the garden or the main theme plants. It is the mid height that people notice most. As a groundcover I am using a deep purple wandering jew and green one too. After the ginger and ty are in place I will go through and place the accent plants. 6 bright red croton, 3 red corkscrew croton, 7 more croton of diferent types, some colorful dracena. Then the green plants-5 Xanadu, some 40 smallish green colocasia, couple tree ferns for the shady corners, green ginger, some raphis clumps here and there. And viola - a fruit salad jungle landscape, just what the client asked for. Lots of colorful foilage with some green to seperate and contrast the brightness. Lots of warm colors, red, yellow, pink & orange. And a few annuals in the front border, because I can. It is only about half planted and she likes it already.
And here is one of the beds that inspired it....
Georgia Red,
I almost forgot to answer your question, sorry. And the answer is I don't know. I am not a good soul when it comes to keeping track of plant names. I picked up a stressed out hanging basket of it at KMart last fall. It was in rough condition then, but I am glad I rescued it. It didn't have a tag or much of a chance at life if left in their care. I planted it as a groundcover, it looks like a plant I knew as creeping charlie, but it is tropical, I think. The plant in the picture is a three week old cutting I took to regrow the hanging basket. It grows fast here in Tampa and is a great ground hugger. Very little attention and I like the fact that it only grows 1" tall. It shurgs off leaves very well so shouldn't get buried. I am using it as a groundcover around a brom planting that I take care of. Not more information than you needed I hope.
and another pic from the files... last week at April's
Love the pics, keep them coming! I have the pink Ty's, I think they're a great color boost! The variegated ginger I have often looked at and passed by, so finally Lowes on day tempted me (after a frost) and had large 3 gallon pots on sale for $2.00, so I grabbed a couple and now I'm hooked. I saw someone in the next subdivision with 3 trash cans full, getting ready for trash day....I went back with my van, and the trash man had already come. I was MOST frustrated,lol!
They look great together....
MM,
If you like recycling plants you should see the area behind my tool shed. A goldmine of used bare root plant material. I have lots of Guzmania (when they are not in bloom out they go), Hawaii tree ferns, sanseveria, banana trees, lots and lots of liriope mostly pulled out of gardens where I work. Too bad about the trash man beating you out of a good score.
I couldn't help but notice that you post after I have gone to bed :-}
Hmm...photo....keep it simple
Hey there,
I thought I'd share a picture of my yard with bromeliads.
I belong to the local bromeliad club...lots of plants and fun to be had.
If you want to see some more pics, let me know.
I have all types and many beautiful ones that you'll never see at Home Depot.
Bob
neobob, those are great! Post a few pics up close (with names if you have them!) and give us a little more information about the tampa brom club.
:)
MerryMary
Dale,
I love your bromliads . The purple one is gorgeous. If you ever want to trade it look me up.
Patti
More of the family (not mine, but, Marilyn's)
The family is growing...
And here is my favorite, hope that when it pups out it will have more than one, then I can get one.
does anyone know of a good source for broms here in south florida?? thanks,cliff
If you can get to Miami and you want more Bromeliads (and you can wait a few months), check out...
2006 Bromeliad Extravaganza
Presented by Florida Council of Bromeliad Societies
Hosted by the Bromeliad Society of South Florida
Saturday, September 30, 2006 at Miccosukee Resort and Convention Center
500 S.W. 177 Avenue
Miami, FL 33194
These shows usually allow non-members into the plant sales area but it would be better to inquire first sinceI am not a member either and don't really know.
More details at http://fcbs.org/
Dave
I bought some from here !
http://www.bromeliadworld.com/index.asp
I haven't been here in awhile. I bought a new beauty today at Selby Bot Garden in Sarasota. I also got some nice shots, so here we go.
A hybrid Guzvrierea (or so the label says), too bad the flash takes away the subtle colors....
This message was edited Aug 7, 2006 7:40 PM
This message was edited Aug 7, 2006 7:42 PM
And some shots of the grounds...
They have many different kinds of bromileads...
I like to wander around the place.....
This message was edited Aug 6, 2006 9:09 PM
And as long as I live I will never be able to spell bromeliad, even when it is on the same screen as I am typing.....
They have nice containers too!
The Selby is on the very northern edge of solid zone 10, right on the bay, with miles of ocean to the north, to keep them warm in the winter. This ficus is the most northerly I have seen here in Florida.....
This was my first full day off in months. It was just too hot to work in anyone's garden. So I spent the day enjoying myself....
Spent the day enjoying the summer flowers....
Collecting seeds....
