Do you remember walking down the street and a stranger would just come up and hand you a flower...with a lovely smile.Are you sure we weren't separated at birth?....*blushing*yeh that child is me....just wanted to show the flower (just sniffed) in my hand......I loved the 60's sad to say a little way into the 60's some folk decided to eat some of their plants/smoke/snort etc....and it was never the same again. "In the desert you can't remember your name and there ain't no one gonna give you no pain la la la ....."
It's beginning to look a lot like the Tropics!
Gosh sorry wandered off the track! (see what happens without the coffee)....I wanted to ask about the "elephants ears" I see lots of very beautiful ones there....what ones are your favourites and what are their requirements ...anything very difficult ? and do any of them have a fragrant flower ?
Count the flowers on the wall,that don't bother me at all!!!!!
Ah the 50's,we did the hokey pokey.with your left in and left out,do the hokey pokey and turn yourself around!!!!
Wait long enough things will come back in style,the coffee houses like starbuck,except our coffee house was called the green onion,and there was cappicianio ,and smoke filled rooms,and some one reading a poem,on a stage,or playing a folk song!!!
It was man this,man that,cool dude,a visit with maryjane,sideburns and a goatee!!!LOL
It was this time in my life,my grandfather ask me to plant a old rose for him,he had over a 100 old garden roses,and oh the fragrance!!!I think I smelled every rose that day!!!!
But to be honest,when they sent my grandmother to a nursing home at the ripe age of 94,she gave me all her houseplants,and some where over 60 yrs old,it was that then and there I was hooked on tropicals.
Your grandparents gave you such a wonderful gift.....I think if we can pass on such a gift then we have given something very precious.Thankyou for sharing that with us .....I think .....Holding my forehead and snapping my fingers...like you are soooo cool daddio... was doing the beatnik thing at 10 lol...(wanted to be Audry Hepburn).......wanted to be in Westside story.....oops there I go again ...
Now about the Elephant ears **lol**
don't know what to tell ya bout those ee's....but what if the Hokey Pokey really is what its all about?
The Xanth. and the colcasias,alocasias,are very easy to grow,morning sun,afternoon shade works best for me,feed them on a regular bi-monthly feeding,I've been using peters
20-20-20.and lots of water very thirsty plants.
Funny,I wanted to be Howard Keel,singing Mariaha.
Hey Howard loved you in Carousel! Lol but really thanks for the info on the EE they seem to have gone out of fashion here in ozz I don't know why; I remember every garden having them when I was growing up ......oh but the beautiful pictures coming in from the tropical gardens over in the US -make me want to go out and find some and re aquaint myself with them ....I won't find that great range of variety here though ....might be able to track some down in the QLD nurserys.
Thanks again.....for sharing your great thread and your beautiful garden .....
and Mariah! :) chrissy
Thanks Cobber!!!
Gotta love that bush talk!!!!
Crissy, look up ginger749. He has lots of ees and lives in oz.
Tropicman, I really love your garden! You have done fantastic!
We were with my Dad who was in the Marine Corps at Kaneohe Bay Oahu Hawaii in the 60's so I have an extreme fondness for the islands and would like to recreate that in my backyard. Those of you who live there are so fortunate!
I bought some seeds from Kenni Koala Aussie's store on ebay. They came thru pretty fast. He has quite a variety at fairly good prices. Some could be obtained here on the mainland. I kinda got carried away.
I love your thread here, your love for the tropicals and your sense of humor.
I have fibromyalgia so will only be able to greet yall occasionally.
One of my attempts at recreating the islands is my pineapple growing...finally after three years! I hope it doesn't float away with all of the rain we've had!
Texasgal77
Chrissy,you know down under,shrimp on the barbie,crocodile Dundee!!!
That was a big hit movie here.
Just like how I love to hear the women from the deep south talk,my aunt always says
how you doin surgarrrr!!!!
Even the way of life is different from the south and north united states.
Northern,every body seems to be in a rush or hurry.
Southern,everyones laid back,no hurry,it will be there when we get there,if it ain't nothing lost.it will come around again!!!
Theres a slang of words that mean different things,one place means something another place something else.
I hope I explained that correctly,If not I apologize,if I offended you or anyone else ,that was not my intention.
Texas gal,
Thanks for all the nice words!!!
I have 3 pineapples going,and none have fruit or look as good as yours!
Can't wait to see some of the Aussie plants growing in Texas!!
I tried to germinate some Kangaroo paws,but had no luck,I needed some of that smoke starters,not sure what it even was,but it takes it to get them started I heard!!!
Don
Hi no insult- I just was not sure what you mean't......Yeh OK chuck a prawn on the Barby etc ....ozzy slang...."in the bush" means in the country (as in the the places Crocodile Dundee came from ) hence my confusion.
I love those Southern drawls too like Madge in the Golden Girls.......can't understand why anyone would be interested in our accent.....but I am glad you like it. I would be very pleased to talk about anything Australian (botanical) if any one has any questions....but on the whole I think you should know that our gardens are as diverse as the population.....most of us have a bit of everything.
The Kangaroo paws are a hard call.Don't worry about smoke water...crumble up a bit of newspaper and light it- drop the seed into it and leave overnight....ready to go. Next is treat it like a cactus! perfect sandy drainage no fertilizer....perhaps a pinch of blood and bone thats all. I would not grow it myself because it is a bit too touchy re humidity etc . To me I prefer the rainforest trees like the Black bean ...and umberella trees (you may know them as houseplants)....more later .
chrissy :) Hoo Roo (means see you later )
Thanks for the newspaper tip!!!
I love saying Howdy Mam!!!!
Well off to work!
Hoo Roo
Tropicman, How old are your pineapple plants? I've heard some do not flower without help, some as old as 4-6 years old. They say to enclose part of an apple in a bag over the plant to get it to flower in Feb or March. ww.plantea.com/pineapple-houseplant.htm tells how to do it. The plant has to be at least 2 yrs old.
I can't wait to see my Aussie plants growing in Texas either! I got the pink peacock flower, and malay rose ginger. Hope you get your Kangaroo paws to germinate!
Texasgal
Thanks,all my pineapples are just a year old,maybe a little older not much though.
Goodluck with your seeds too!
Don
I didn't realize that it flowered first either. Learned all of this while helping my 8 yr old granddaughter do a science project this past spring. Go to the website below. It shows the flower. Then it is pollenated, and then the pineapple starts to grow.
www.kriyayoga.com/photography/photo_gallery/d/77-4/1_pinapple_flower-dsc02203.jpg
As it grows more flowers come out of the sides, and then it becomes the fruit!
Very interesting....by the way my granddaughter took 1st place for her grade at her school science fair. We did it on "How to root a plant". We showed the pineapple (crown), airplane plant (runner), and Begonia (stem). She did a great job!
Huh? Weird! It lets me click on it. Oh well. It's a neat picture if you can find it!
Sorry! I'm sure there are others as well. Good luck....
I just tried and got the "ACCESS FORBIDDEN!" error as well. Guess you are much more special than those of us on the other side of the date line! I would have liked to see it in flower as well. Mine are all under a year old, so I can't really try the apple trick yet.
I also got the message.
Well then! It must just be that Texasgal77 is more special than all of us! What's your secret girl, come on now, give! Enquiring minds want to know!
I dunno, but will pictures of blooming yucca's do? I went over with my camera and got a few shots of it. Rang the doorbell and talked to the home owner for awhile. The reason it has no leaves toward the bottom, is that he has children, and the leaves are sharp, so he pulls the lower leaves off!
I will post his then mine. I still think they may be different types. Interested to know what yall think. The other plant I have actually had the tag on it..it is a dragon tree, not a yucca. I think I have the yucca tags somewhere....where is the question.
Let me know.....I'll try to find another link with a pineapple picture!
Mine is a Spanish Bayonet. I don't know if it will ever flower - I have been told that they don't when in containers. DH has it in his "prickly" garden ...."keeps the rifraf out".
OK let's try this again........picture of a pineapple flower from:
http://www.gardening-guides.com/novelties/pineapple.php
They also have a really good article about it.
I posted the other yucca pictures on the other thread. Sorry for the confusion....I have fibromyalgia and today is one of my days to be in a fog.....
Let me know if you can see the pix I posted.
Here is a close up of the "bayonets"...you do NOT want to get near these!
Tropicman - got any Yucca's?
I really like yours....that is really neat!
My large yucca.
They really do look like "bayonets"... The neighbor's were like that too. Now you know why he pulled the lower ones off of the plant.
Anybody else out there with yucca's?
Anybody raised the orange bird of paradise from seed? They say they don't bloom for 4 years....any tricks to get them to bloom sooner?
It's a great picture. The site came up for me, but the articles don't. Probably cuz I'm having itermitent pooter connectivity problems....that is, the island is having these problems. Oh well.
See....my posts are always "behind" the subject....I'm late....story of my life, keep missing the boat! Great Yucca Texas! My friend grows BoP...lots of fertilizer, and lots of patience....they will bloom eventually.
Islandshari, you're not late....right on time!
While I was out taking pictures a lady gave me two starts to a firecracker plant that she had in front of her mailbox. She dug up a small peice roots and all! I thanked her alot!
It is beautiful! She says it grows fast. It is now in good potting soil. I hope it will be happy.
This message was edited Aug 1, 2007 8:17 PM
That is GORGEOUS! But it is different than the one I have...there are several different plants called firecracker. Mine is a crossandra infundilbiformis, whereas the one you sent is a coral plant or russelia equisetiformis. I think that is latin for "gorgeous plant". ha ha! You are lucky to have such a nice neighbor!
Yes people here are very friendly... You know that ole Southern Hospitality thing!
From what I've read on the firecracker plant, there are about 10 different plants with that name. Thanks for the info. It is sincerely appreciated!
How long will you be in the islands, Shari?
When Dad was in the Marine Corps we were on Oahu for 3 years. It was great! Sure hated to leave. It is so beautiful. And you sure can't beat the weather!
I think they'll be carrying me off in a box this time. I was here for 4 years once before, and it took me 15 years to get back. Other than trips from here - back home, other islands, parts unknown...I don't intend to leave!
Oh thankyou for the pineapple flowers...that is amazing...I guess I must not have been looking down the "funnel". The yukkas do flower in containers....but keep them on the dry side...almost like a cactus.Don't feed....or very little.When I was first starting out gardening I inherited a cement courtyard full of yukkas in cement pots.At the time I did not like these sharp things but just left them to their own devices. So the conditions were neglect- super heat ...on cement and in cement
then one day all at once they all shot up the flower spikes......which was interesting...and after a while I had this amazing show of those wonderful creamy white bells....I no longer thought they were ugly ...such a contrast the soft gentle
bells atop those "needles".I have not had them in the garden after moving from that beautiful Art Deco home (it seems yukkas were all the go in those days to contrast against the rounded walls) because of the fear of those needles with young ones around...but I am thinking of getting a couple of the new soft tipped ones that are now on the market... I do love those flowers and so do the bees as I recall.....thanks so much for the memories....I had forgotten them. The firecracker plant....over here is called the lipstick plant...I think firecracker is a better name...great tough plant!