Living in Hawaii I am in a time warp, and most of you are posting during the middle of our night. I am usually behind in all the threads...
I would like to say "Aloha" and welcome to all the new folks who have joined us, so happy to have you here!
Beam me up Scotty....
Jenny
Aloha to all new friends...
I agree Jenny - and I have the same "time warp" problem. Welcome to all of you! Here is a lovely and fragrant White Ginger to show our hospitality!
Hi guys!!
Shari, if I knew I could keep that ginger alive outside I would come down there and sneak that away from you!! I need more fragrant white in my gardens.
Jenny, are you near or on the same island that Ty Pennington was on for Extreme Makeover?
Gingers can be finicky no matter where they are. But I do love this one. Keep it by the patio to scent the air when we are sitting out there, and it is so pretty against all the dark green.
yep, time warp. About the time you are really in the spirit....I am all winding down. During the early morning and afternoon.....very quiet..everybody's at work.
And when I want to pick up a conversation cuz JB's out playing darts or night diving...everyone is asleep! Oh well, that's when I do my best writing, so I guess it works out okay.
Pepper, don't know the show....give me some clues on the location.....I do know of one show that has a rather buff man called Roger and a pretty young girl with long dark hair (can't remember her name) who do over houses in order to sell them., one of the houses they did was my neighbor's...
Love, love, love white ginger! I bought a root last year and it seemed to stand still. I was really dissapointed as we are so used to fast growth here.
Must have been doing it's thing underground because this year it has multiplied into a huge clump and has been blooming for the past two months. Anyone know if you cut off the stalks that have bloomed? Can't get enough of that sweet smell....
Where we have seasons the white ginger dies down in the Winter but ...yours would be always in flower ......if it were mine I would cut the flower stalk right down after the bloom has finished.......looooove white ginger! can certainly relate to talking to sleeping people.......some how it all works out in the end..... I use the quiet time to explore the forums that I haven't visited yet....good night.....getting toward midnight.:)
I have a white butterfly ginger that I bought last year. Over the winter it died back, but I remembered the pot that it was in and just left it out there exposed. This spring, the green started coming back up. It's been getting taller and taller and finally last week, I saw the beginning of the buds on 2 of the stalks. Late last week the bloom opened up. The plant is against my white vinyl siding and I almost missed it. As a matter of fact, I would have missed it had I not walked by and smelled it. Even though it was at the end of it's bloom cycle last year when I bought it, I don't remember it smelling so heavenly. I just remember how pretty the bloom was.
I moved the plant to get some photos last week. Then moved it back where it was when at the end of the day, the bloom looked worse for my actions. My granddaughter loved the smell of it and wanted to pluck off the bloom.
Here's a close up of the Butterfly Ginger
Janet
Jenny, isnt' it funny - you started this thread to welcome all the new-comers to TGF, yet here we are....the die-hard, regular circle! Must be true - great minds think alike!
And as can be depended on....OT. It would be great if we were all face to face in a conversation.....bet we would all talk at once about something different.
Unique - what a little cutie!
Janet, she is a doll! So cute!
Hi everyone! Welcome to all of the newbies out there! Aloha from Texas!
You all make me wish I lived in a tropical area! Especially since it seems tropicals are my favorite! I am running out of room in my teeny tiny house! Guess I can't rush the kids out so I can have their rooms, huh?! Just kidding! Misty
Good morning Tropical Gardeners,
Joined DG a couple of months ago and I am just having a splendid time! Stumbled across this forum and added another to my favorite list! Here's a pic of a few finds at various plants sales about a month back.
Cathy
Yokwe Misty and Cathy! Welcome to our happy TG Forum! So glad to have you come by! Cathy - looks like you have a great start to a tropical garden there! You sure couldn't pick a nicer bunch of folks that the one on this forum to chat -a-day with....we have a lot of fun!
Thanks for the warm welcome Shari!
This is a lovely forum with beautiful pictures of plants, both above and below the water, I never would have guessed.
Looking forward to seeing (and acquiring) more new stuff!
Cathy
Thank you Shari! I just went outside for the first time today and realized that our first frost hit, so I had to cut my Cannas down. :( Burnt the leaves, but stems are good, gave them more protection and hoping I have good luck like my neighbor across the street! I love the tropical plants, and want MORE! LOL Glad to have found all of you nice people! Misty
Welcome, girls. My PC has been down for 3 days and I thought I was dying. This is truly some of the greatest people ever. I'm in the middle of drydock and love, love, love the tropicals.You wouldn't believe the details if I were to tell you. Suffice it to say..this is paradise.
LouC
Thanks, LouC! Thankfully, we have a back-up PC if something happens to this one! I agree, the people on all the forums here at DG are awesome. Maybe you will get some awesome pics and post them for those of us that are no where near the tropics! Misty
Cold weather stinks! We had our first frost last night and I had to cut my Cannas down and protect them from further damage. :( Also, the frost just ate my poor little begonias all to pieces. Although, I do have a MINI greenhouse that I have some of my annuals in, and the begonias in it look just as pretty as ever! I just love the tropical plants and hate it that our weather doesn't allow us to have more! But I do now have MANY house plants to keep me busy. Someday I will have a green house on my back deck and be able to keep more of the tropicals alive! Think of all of us feeling the cold while you are sitting there viewing all of your beautiful tropical plants! :) Misty
Aloha Misty and Cathy, welcome! I am late to the party as usual!
Wondered where you went, Christi! And Chrissy! Lovely to see your sprintime garden!
Been working long hours this week , got to catch up!
Jenny
Thanks for the welcome Jenny, and Shari that white butterfly ginger is gorgeous. I ordered a few gingers from a seller in HI, and my box of rhizomes got pulled over by the plant police! I was wondering why it seemed to be taking so long to get here, it was shipped Priority Mail, and when it finally did arrive, I opened it, worried that the gingers might be unhappy after sitting in a box for 9 days. The gingers were in great shape and so was the paperwork for the warrant to inspect the package! My DH and I had an interesting read over lunch that day. Guess the 8 lbs. of roots was a little suspicious....
We are having a lovely cool morning here in SW Florida, about 62 this morning. Took some pictures, had to put on long pants and shirt because I am such a sissy, to share with you all. Misty, just the thought of a freeze makes me reach for a cup of hot tea! I'm crossing my fingers for your cannas!
Here's a view of the south side of the yard, it's not the best shot, I think I was shivering...
Here's some bananas, two big stalks, though its hard to see the one in back.
A cactus with leaves that I got recently, getting ready to bloom. Must look up its name, poor thing is anonymous.
A black and blue sage that I rescued from the bargain bin at Lowe's 2 weeks ago, showing its first bloom. Next to is the little calamondin that was also rescued, I think 5 bucks for the two. Yay!
Finally, a Lady Di heliconia I got at a MG sale beginning of October. Still working on correcting its yellow leaves, but it wants to bloom.
Have a great gardening weekend!
Cathy
Aloha Jenny and all.
My work schedule fits in to the Hawaiin and Marshall Island time warp, Mon thru Wed I go into work at 3pm which works out good for chat time there.
This morning I'm working overtime though...early..it's 7:30 here..got in at 5:30AM...lets see..7:30 makes it..oh...2:30 in the morning there....Rapid Eye Movement time!
Here is a pict of my Hawaiin wood rose vine. I bought some seeds at the Botanical Gardens in Kauai when I was there a couple of years ago. Now before you think some of the leaves are pretty huge for wood rose, I have it disguised in the Castor bean tree, who's leaves are pretty similar looking. It has not yet bloomed. Some days you can see me on a ladder searching....for a bloom...not yet..
Rj
Rj, that Hawaiian Wood Rose is so neat. I found a picture of its flowers and I can see why you would be searching for them. Another plant for my wishlist.
Cathy
Can hardly wait to see Paradise in Houston.
Christi
Aloha all!
Morning time for me, I was so tired last night I couldn't even read straight!
Enjoyed looking at your pics Cathy, the bananas look great - are you frost free in South Venice? We are suposed to have everything inspected by AG before we mail - do you know that at our airport we have the cutest little beagle pup whose job it is to sniff luggage for fruit and vegetables as people land?
RJ, that woodrose is huge (just like everything else in your beautiful garden!) I am not sure, but I rather think that woodrose is one of those plants that escape rather easily into the wild here. Probably not so much in my area because we are so dry, but on the wetter side of the islands. It sure has a pretty unusual flower, so well named! Haven't see you around for a couple of days, been busy in your paradise?
That's right Christi, only 11 days - Hope this weather holds. I see a cold front coming through on tue/wed 60's 40's.., and then it looks like it bounces back to 80's high 70's, and lows in the high 50's thru the 12th. Make sure theres room in your vehicle to take some plants! :)
Hey Jenny,
boy I did see those wood roses runaway on Kauai! They drapped the trees. I must say that I was surprised that the vines came back after the cold and freezing this last spring. They are definately more vigorous this year, but don't seem to be ready to bloom yet. They seem to be a bit more finicky here than the Islands. They are robbed of the humidity this time of year, and it coincides with their bloom time. Lets see what else do I plant that I don't have snails chance in seeing blooms..oh yes..jade vine...It's just like playing the lottery, those 1 in a million odds some how can be manipulated into a palatable and reasonable goal.
We have been busy! Did you read Jeremys article about plant a holic obsession? I did, and it keeps haunting me as I dance around waist high Papaya trees, erythnias, clerodendrums, powder puff trees, palm trees, hibiscus, banana trees and yes..even a banyan tree looking for any landing place to relocate other plants.
Cathy - I have a couple extra seeds. This vine seems ideal to cover an ugly area like chain link or something, but it is stretching all over the place.
This is a post from Edric, also in Florida 9b - see how much it covers!
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/p.php?pid=2953976
Rj
This message was edited Nov 3, 2007 11:48 AM
Jenny, we have had only a couple of bad freezes since I moved here in 1991. We do get some frost occasionally, but I guess since I'm only about 1 mile from the Gulf of Mexico as the crow flies, that ocean buffer really helps. There's generally a 3-4 degree difference in temp at my work, about 6 miles inland. I've been pretty lax over the years about protecting the really sensitive plants, and luckily everything seems to do pretty well. The one thing that died really quick was the poor little noni I got. We hit the high 40's and it was a goner. Poor little thing.
Jeremy's article was dancing through my head today as I hit 2 nurseries that I haven't been to for a while. To show my incredible willpower, I only came home with 2 plants and some new acid fertilizer for my grumpy miracle fruit bush. It's a miracle!
rj, I would love to try a couple of those woodrose seeds. I'm sending you a d-mail.
