That's a really nice looking plant. It's going to be nice having our own yard to put these plants in too, even if only during the warmer months for most of them.
I am strongly looking to get a 2' Traveler's Palm and a new 1' White BOP as well. There's so much new space to fill ;)
Maybe I can sneak one more of those in without my wife noticing, LOL. I'm going to get in trouble if I keep this up. I was given a "plant room" which is already close to capacity.
Tropicals with large foliage
You need cannas for outside--lots of them! Windmill palms are hardy here, and SC, you can probably have Sagos outside year round. Split-leaf philodendron is rumored to be a die-back perennial in zone 7. I'm going to leave part of mine out next year.
Do you think the Philo (monstera) would survive our winters here? We've been in the 20's lately (at night) - usually 40ish at worst during the day. I'd love to keep one outside year round, let it grow up one of the trees, but I'm worried it'll die each winter.
I definitely plan to make good use of Cannas. I just hope I can keep them under control. They've gone bonkers at other places around here, like bamboo.
This message was edited Jan 30, 2007 5:45 PM
In general I don't think that would work in Columbia but if you had the right microclimate - who knows. There is a fellow in Spartanburg that grows all sorts of tropicals and another guy in Augusta who successfully grows all sorts of tender palms outdoors.
You might want to look into the Southeastern Palm Society: http://www.sepalms.org/
Their April meeting will be right here in Beaufort.
Oops I meant, Philo. selluom, not monstera. I am not sure, but I plan to try it here and will let you know how it does
Thanks. Maybe the lake will have some strange effect on us - like warming, LOL. People around here swear the lake causes weird weather (more rain in one spot than another). I'll be curious to see if your philos survive outside Tropicanna.
ardesia, I'll take a look at the society. Might be something we'd be interested in, especially now that we have space for some palms.
Good, maybe I'll see you in April then; the two guys I spoke of who grow tropicals in nontropical climates will probably be at that meeting also. The journal alone is worth your membership price; I always learn something from it.
Learning about your weather on the lake should be interesting. About 30 years ago we lived on a river and it rarely rained along a narrow riverfront corridor. The edge of our property that was several hundred yards off the water got rained on regularly, just not the part on the water.
OK, finally got time to snap a shot of the new pothos. The photo doesn't do justice for the leaves, but the leaves are seriously 3 times the size of my other pothos indoors. I put the three new wooden rods in last night so it'll keep growing.
Here's the new plant room also. Shame I can't fit the larger plants (monstera, White BOP, etc) in here, but we like them spread throughout the house.
Nice plant room! You DO have a wonderful spouse for letting you have a whole room to play with plants. You had better buy her a special Valentine's gift this year!
p.s. is that carpeting on the floor?????
Thanks.
LOL, yeah it's carpet. I have to put down cardboard to replant this time of year and often find myself vacuuming. I plan to get some protective mats for under the metal shelves this weekend. I use water collection trays, but I'd still rather be safe with the new carpet. If anyone else has suggestions, by all means please share. I definitely don't want to mess up the carpet.
Her 'animal' room is across the hall, so we traded off. I have my plants, she has the animals. It's like a zoo, 20 something houseplants on one side + 6 birds, 2 chinchillas, and a cat on the other side of the hall.
I just need a water fountain and some pictures in the room now and it'll be complete... kind of our own indoor plant greenhouse.
Tropicana: You were talking about the Philodendron Selloum .... here's a link that tells about that one and the Monstera as well as another. Great info:
http://www.floridata.com/ref/P/phil_bip.cfm
I have the Selloum growing in my side yard and when we have real hard freezes which we do ocassionally they will be mush, but come right back in Spring! We've been in this house since 1975 and these plants have been in the ground since then. They get huge and I think you should give it a try. Do y'all get a lot of snow/ice every winter in your area? We have temps as low as the low 30's here for a very short time in winter and once in a great while it's gone down to 24! The real low temp's don't last long though and luckily they are few and far between. Here's a photo of my side yard and these monsters:
Keonikale: GREAT Plant Room! I have mentioned my "wish" about this on a couple of other threads .... I want a room in the house to be a Garden Room .... full of plants! I've dreamed of that for years! I have tons of plants .... and if I ever win the lottery I might just have to build a house with a HUGE central Atrium type room, right smack dab in the middle of the house with a brick or stone floor, French Doors surrounding, so you could see in from some other parts of the house! I would fill it with tropicals and blooming plants .... my very own "Garden Of Lin" .....
Be careful with your new carpet! You may get condensation buildup from the water trays and get stains under them on the carpet. You should have the carpet removed and the floor tiled with a nice stone tile!
Love your Pothos .... those are the kinds that grow up the trees down here in Florida .... HUGE leaves! I need to take my camera with me when I'm out and about and get some photo's to post!
Ceramic tile is very easy to install; I have done it many times myself (gardeners always love having muddy hands).
I hate to burst your beautiful new home bubble but - ditch the carpeting now. You can save it to use as patches in your wife's pet room as she will surely need patches to cover up stains soon.
LOL, I'll pitch the idea and see what she says. This should be interesting.
plantladylin, I completely share a dream like that. I'd love to have a huge greenhouse either to the side of my house in the future or in the backyard. Something I could put a plant wall in, let things vine up to the ceiling, have a small waterall, etc. Like you said, maybe if one of us win's the lottery. Not sure I even want to know how much that costs at the moment. Probably as much as a small house.
Nice room-Have you thought of chinese fan palm?
I had heard Plant Delights could not ship to FL?
Is this no longer true?!
I don't believe PD has ever been limited in where they could ship plants. I've heard Tony say he ships all over the world.
We received the new Travler's (or is it Traveller's) Palm today, it's incredible - I'll have to take some shots. We also received another 2' baby White Bird of Paradise.
So far the most surprising thing about these new plants I've started gathering (thanks again for so many suggestions) is how FAST the Basjoo grows.
How about variegated tapioca( mannihot) and also ,hibiscus red shield? Both of them can get big and have beautiful large foilage .
I think I am definitely going to start experimenting with the hibiscus. My folks brought some red one's back home from Texas last year and I might swipe one from the greenhouse this Spring.
I did find out quickly not to let the blooms fall on any leaves of another plant... it will kit it (the leaf if lands on) as the bloom rots away. I lost several leaves on one of my Ti plants and a Philodendron that way.
Since I'm also now expanding my collection outside... I started this thread. So if anyone has outdoor suggestions, I'd love to hear them over in that thread too.
http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/691768/
Heliconias are great and large foliage.
I've noticed several varieties of Heliconias on eBay, but none are shipped as a plant, only as Rhizome (which i guess is like a bulb or root?) or seeds.
You can get some nice Heliconias plants here ! Along with great prices and excellent customer service.
Loresco Tropical Plants
San Juan,Puerto Rico
http://www.lorescotropicalplants.com/Heliconias.html
You email Esteban McGrath and he will help you with these and any other beautiful large foliage plants you may like !
E-Mail : loresco@prtc.net
Just purchased two Heliconias, so I'll see how these guys turn out. I also purchased two additional Traveller's Palms. Not sure where I'm going to put all these just yet, but I'll find space.
The two Heliconias were: Strict Iris (which looks incredible), and the Mexican Gold. I'd really like to get a hold of a Heliconia rostrata (false bird of paradise).
And to thank my wife for being kind enough to give me my own room for plants, I got her two new orchids. She was thrilled. Now I just have to make sure she doesn't kill them, LOL. Her thumb isn't quite green yet.
This message was edited Feb 14, 2007 1:39 PM
Sounds like you and your Wife got some really nice plants ! I am going to get some Heliconias and some other Tropicals too !
Happy Growing !