Fickle Tropical Gardeners Grow Fickle Tropical Plants!

I'm not sure but thinking this is a tropical... Epiphyllum ~ night blooming cereus.

It is the ugliest of plants ~ gangley, unwieldy looking foliage.

The blooms are exquisite but fickle! They open when I close and they close when I open. Night blooming and I am not!

Looks like a candle on a birthday cake.

I thought I had natives until I started reading Tropical Gardening.
Shampoo Ginger
Variegated Ginger
Hibiscus
Hoja Santa
Brugs
Datura
4 kinds of Elephant Ear
Banana
Canna
peace lilly
gardenia
bouganvillia
Don't really know how to classify Ferns 3 varieties
difenbachia (spelling again)
variegated cane plant
plumeria

I welcome any corrections.

I've done the tropical Hibiscus for years. They're so easy and return such beauty for so little effort. I've been seduced by Brugs and Daturas this year and mostly for the same reason. I'm all about colorful flowers.

Anne

Hmmmm. Tropicals. Well, I have

a tropical hibiscus that makes a mauve colored flower - sorry no picture:( - winter in gh - awsome flower
a snow queen hibiscus - winters in gh - great variegation, nice flowers
several kolanchoes - gh - hardy in summer, colorful
alovera - gh
duranta saphire showers - gh - gorgeous blue flowers smell like baby oil
plumeria - gh - wonderful scented flowers
night blooming jasmin - wonderful tiny white flowers spring and fall - gh
agapanthus lily - stays outside, but covered if it's below 20 - like it because it's evergreen (for me) and blooms like a trooper
brazilian plume - gh - hot pink flowers, dark green large leaves
cactus orchids - gh - I like oddball plants:)
Ferns - gh - I like the bright airy arching leaves
rabbits foot fern
boston fern
staghorn fern
plumosa fern
foxtail fern
cane brake fern
native maiden hair fern
button fern
2 more I don't know the name of
Kimberly queen sword fern
Male fern - used to put it in the gh for the winter, but I took a chance this last spring and put it in the ground, we'll see.:)

LouC ~ LOL on the birthday candle. It does ~ hadn't thought about it... : )

Impressive lists ALL of you...

Silverfluter ~ I was told the Brazilian plume ~ Justicia should do well in ground here. It is too pretty to chance it though.

This year I am not getting much out of the Brugs and didn't plant any Datura seed. The Brugs were nipped hard last winter and were a slow starter this year.

AuntAnne ~ yes to the tropical Hibiscus. It is an old plant for me and a delight!

I have only planted Brug seed this spring.....new to me.

add me in.....ee's, gingers, hibis, helonica, broms, bougies

This message was edited Sep 19, 2007 8:43 PM

I don't know if the butterfly ginger is a true tropical as it comes back from roots outdoors each year but I love the fragrance and the delightful blooms. They look like floating butterflies after dark.

A new tropical for me is Gloxina ~ sylvatica Bolivian sunset. I kept it in a pot as it should bloom indoors this winter. It hasn't bloomed yet and I am anxious to enjoy them...

http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/53149/

Hedychium coronarium ~ butterfly ginger

pod i like that one:)

and Hello to you Sticks! I have been wondering where you been. Feeling better? I hope!

Amazing in the arid tundra you garden in what a wide range of tropicals... Aren't they wonderful ~ the next best thing to being somewhere exotic!

yup, i am great....and yes, i started a 'tropical area' in my yard; i have alot that is cottage....then tuscan, then vintage cottage.....i am now going for tropical.....may have to have bananas next year

The bfly ginger? It is growing in a 1/2 oak bbl. It sure does drink the water tho. The leaf stalks begin to lay flat each evening before I water heavily. By am, they are standing upright again. Next year I intend (lol) to have it in ground ~ the oak barrel may be too drying.

wax plant ~ Hoya

Sounds like you will be one of those "rooms" gardeners. Not a bad thing ~ variety is fun!

my merchandising background has really warped my brain.....i simply can't mix themes....it makes me nuttier than i am....

Then you would hate my habit of mixing seed and throwing like feeding chickens. Lots of fun when they come up.

nah.....actually that sounds kinda fun....;

Podster, Brazilian plume is really easy to get cuttings off of. I think all of mine took root last spring. I still have 4 or 5 to share, but I can't make it to the Fall RU. I think I might plant one in the ground as an experiment. Couldn't hurt.

I have butterfly ginger in the ground, but it didn't bloom this year and I can't figure out why. It gets am sun.

I've not seen the ginger not bloom here. I don't do more than water either. Mine is in early morning sun and high shade for the balance of the day.

How large has your plume grown? Mine is still puny but lovely! pod

Another tropical ~ Scutellaria longifolia...

edited to say the red looks far better in person ~ lol

This message was edited Sep 19, 2007 11:42 PM

My plumie is about 2 feet tall. It was a really nice cutting I got from Cj at the last RU. It already had a fork in it. It has an inflo, but it's only about 1 1/2 inches long still.

Scutellaria longiolia I forgot about too. It's in a pot and goes in the gh. I took it out before Easter last spring and forgot to put it back in for the Easter freeze. I didn't know if it would come back, but it did. Very slowly though. I'm so glad I have it. It's one of my favorites.

I am liking some of the Scutellarias ~ some of the smaller trailing ones don't seem to like it here ~ heat and humidity. Glad to know it will come back from roots. I also have S. costaricana ~ but no blooms yet. It is supposed to be quite showy.

Scutellaria ~ onrateri flora ~ delicate blooms but delightful foliage and habit.

Too many plants to list here but can do this..I got :
gingers
daturas
EE's
philos
bananas
crinums
brugs
sugarcane
coral bean trees
red wisteria tree
palms
cycads
aroids
mmm..I am gonna stop for now..

I also have tropicals; hibiscus, gingers, bougies, and one plumie. Tell me what I can do with this plumeria of mine. I've had it about 3 yrs. and this year is the first time it has bloomed. It has the Y and is two feet or more tall. The pot it's in is too small and it is very rootbound by now. It looks pretty silly in this little pot. Can I repot it this fall in a larger pot? Do you ever cut the stalks(branches)? I'm wondering if it needs to be rootbound to bloom well since this is the first time it has bloomed?
The blooms are a pretty yellow and of course smell divine.

yoohoo My ears were burning. The rainy summer was absolutely wonderful for my tropicals, not to mention that I didn't have to mess w/ those dang hoses. I hate those!

*I have all kinds of gingers: hedychiums, curcumas, alpinias, globbas, kaempferias, costus
*brugs
*cannas
*hibiscus, tropicals and hardy. I am trying to wean myself off the tropicals because I can't stand the heartbreak of losing them to cold, and my space for overwintering is very limited.
*plumerias
*bananas: ornamental and edibles
*aroids: alocasias, colocasias, xanthosomas. My Mickey Mouse ears are spectacular
*papyrus, dwarf papyrus, variagated papyrus
*6 gal. water garden w/ juncus, a hardy lily. Pets think its a drinking bowl, sigh...
*caladiums, ones I got from Caladiums4Less are truly the best I've ever purchased. I kept hearing about this vendor here on Daves and finally gave him a try. He's got a long time customer in me from now on. I used to think: " a caladium is a caladium is a caladium". Not so, just watch for the coops next spring and join in the fun of buying and growing these wonderful caladiums
*various philodendrums
*sago palm, cardboard palm, ponytail palm (which I transplanted outdoors last fall)
*pinapple from the top of store bought fruit. This summer I think it will have been 1 year inground, 1 more to go before it produces fruit.
*crinum, but I only like the ones w/ the stiff upward growth. The ones with long strappy leaves look messy to me and make me think of bad hair days.

But I will tell you again, I am fickle like a butterfly. come December, Bulbs is all I will have on my brain. Amaryllises, wild tulips, daffs. And Roses, ahhh..that's probably my first love (but not this fickle girl's only love)

Pod, I hope you are around so that you can start the "Fickle Gardeners and their Bulbs" thread, lol.

This message was edited Sep 20, 2007 6:54 PM

Podster, I don't know anything about other scutellarias, but I think I need to investigate them.:) That one looks really nice. I would like to put mine in the ground, but maybe next year. I was very surprised that it came back. It had already started putting on new growth when the freeze came.

Vossner ~ so glad you could join us. Tropicals in your zone I understand...
some of us in this zone are probably treading that fine line...
but some like Sticks have to work entirely too hard for tropicals.

Sounds like your tropicals have created a veritable jungle!

This is my first year with most of the Scutellaria ~ the first one I started with last year (and love it) S. javanica Veranda

who me? work too hard? that is a funny one; ha ha ha ha

Somehow, I know better Sticks~ you earn your keep.

Dancey ~ I know nothing about Plumeria other than they are beautiful. I hope someone can direct you to the needed info.

Silverfluter ~ some of the skullcaps will survive in ground. I started a few different ones from seed this year. I will have some extra seed including a few from S. javanica should you be inclined. I will share the illness... : ))

Vossner ~ I can see it now! Fickle Gardeners ~ the series... LOL

I find I grow many houseplants that are tender, perhaps tropical. A new one is a variegated tropical hibiscus ~ waiting on blooms.

I have had Callisia fragrans for a few years. It bloomed one year and the blooms were so disappointing, I never took a picture. Pretty plant though.

Pod, I hope you are around so that you can start the "Fickle Gardeners and their Bulbs" thread, lol.


I think that would be great.....a Fickle gardeners series.....Pod you are brilliant

Not I ~ that is to Vossners' credit but we can certainly embelish it~ : ))

Ready, set, goooooo.

okay since we have alota ginger people here~~ how do you overwinter your gingers? it is my understanding that some gingers need to go dormant to be strong for the growing season; is that true? what do you do to overwinter them and how the heck do you divide them??

What a job to divide. The roots are a mass all woven together. I do hope you get a response on that one.

Warmer than you Sticks but I leave mine in the better half of an oak barrel. The tops die down and provide a natural mulch as well as any oak leaves that fall. So far, so good.

Looking for more responses... pod

pod...so then they come back every year?

have you divided pod? i am just kinda thinking you cut thru the best you can knowing that some will die....but in the long run it will be better for the separated pair.??

Sticks ~ sorry, I faded out on you last night. My start was a divide and I am intending to put in ground next spring so will give it a try.

I will use what I call a potato fork or maybe a spading fork? Not sure the real name. It has wide flat tines. I will gently try to work the tines in to do the least damage. Then work the handle back and forth and loosen rhizomes as I go. I think this would be easier in ground than in this oak barrel. I think some of the thizomes are loose on the surface and should be able to pick those out first.

I think I will leave them out to air dry for a few days before replanting. That way if I cut into the rhizomes, they will dry without rotting. May dust with sulpher too.

I love these blooms at night and am thinking of planting only white in that bed when I redo them. Then I get to decide what to put in the oak barrel : )) !

I suspect in your area, I would apply extra mulch to protect. Does the ground actually freeze for you? If it does, you might consider moving to the tropical south ~ lol.

This message was edited Sep 21, 2007 6:33 AM

Sticks I'm in warmer zone than you but I leave my Gingers in the ground. They come back every year. The kicker is I have some planted on the north side of my home and they still come back every year. They are pretty hardy evidentally.

I grow all sorts of tropicals; I love all types of plants, but i think tropicals are my favorite... Here is a pic of my topical garden.

I Love color.

This is a favorite!!