Turk's-Turban, Sky Rocket, Bowing Lady (Clerodendrum indicum)

Turk's-Turban, Sky Rocket, Bowing Lady
Clerodendrum indicum

The blooms and seeds weigh the thin branches down.

Very cool, Rj!! And one I am not familiar with too!

PS I like all that is showing in this photo. Your yard must be full of color and fun abandon with such things waving high up in the air.

Hi Kell, How are ya? Long time!
It is cool, I tell ya- I feel like I graduated from plant school, and have made friends with some pretty cool local gardeners. I've hardly bought a plant at a nursery the whole year...
Yes the garden is full of color and wavy. I'm still in school for landscaping,
My goal is to be able to put the High, low, and all that combination you do, and have it as lovely as your place is. I have a hard time though, because I reason with myself..ooh..don't pull that one up, it's doing good..blah blah..LOL!
So what's new with you?

Oh gee Rj, do not grow up to be like me. LOL. My yard is a disaster. I have way too many desires for it to make any sense anymore. My latest is bamboo. I keep buying runners and think I can keep them in big pots. I have a big case of fanciful thinking. I have always suffered from that but since retirement it has become a deadly infection! A plant captures my interest and I go bonkers. I also am so in love with South American/ Australian plants but thankfully even in my diseased mental state, realize I have no room so I must admire them from afar. My husband is hoping that this type of reality sticks.

It is always good to hear from you Rj, you know I always admire your garden and your research and your bountiful knowledge that you share so freely. I just love seeing your pictures too. If I lived near you, we would get into trouble together!

oh we sure would. And we'd egg each other on too...ooh..you need that plant..you looooove it..you must have it!! LOL Like our arms needed twisting.
I'm the same way..I have no room left...I just end a phase and give away the plants and start anew.!
Bamboo!..Yes bamboo has found it's way into my life..I'm trying to wheedle some Yellow painted bamboo from my friend Mike. His garden makes me drool in a catotonic state. He has lots of bamboo..Some really interesting stuff.
He's grown palm trees from seed that are giant now..I could camp in his garden and not get tired of it...Hey..I will egg you on...YOU need some painted bamboo...just check the picture of it ....
www.mikenature.com
Ooops he's been busy on his site..changed some stuff today..
Select the Digital photos menu when you get there, and then you'll see that painted bamboo.

You know Kell, I've noticed us hard core plant folks don't do anything small.
I got wind of a bromeliad sale, last weekend. The owner was in a nursing home and his friends were helping him sell his life time collection of thousands of Bromeliads...Well, I tell ya, (besides myself being there early to help out) Those folks were snaching gigantic piles of Bromeliads..Course they were pretty cheap! I did get my pick as well...but we can't resist!!

so I trust you weathered all those fires earlier? I was thinking about you. We have 4, 60 inch Flat screen TV's in a row ..(suppose to keep us up to date on problems) and we just kept watching the whole place burn!

Shoot Rj, you have me panting over the thought of painted bamboo and I can't find it. Is it colorful? Is it splotched with red and pink? LOL!! Years ago I saw a magazine picture of bamboo stalks wrappedd in 24 kt gold sheets. Oh my, what a sight. Also another photo in the article had the stalks all painted in different primary colors. Sure captured my interest.

Is the painted one the yellow with green stripes? I see giant bamboo there with a new culm coming up. New culms so excite me. I want to move in with Mike. I surely do. Think he needs a very cheerful, old, fat lady whom does not cook or clean but does garden and buy plants well? Where is his garden? I may apply for the garden muse position.

Funny you mention bromeliads. I had a serious affair with them over 30 years ago when the brightly colored ones were not around. This last year or so I was at the Strybing Arboretum in the back greenhouses and saw some very PINK/red ones and caught the virus back that fast. I now have tons again. LOL. I surely would have gone nuts over that sale but oh so sad the man who loved them dearly is now no longer able to enjoy them all. I find that so sad. But the thought of that very thing urges me to buy whatever my little heart desires now for tomorrow may not come. I have had this philosophy always but since my Mom died and I realized I am actually going to die, I am out of control. My poor husband deserves a medal. Do you have photos of you new bromeliads posted on your oh so very organized garden journal so I can lust after them?

Thankfully I am in Northern Ca not south where the fires were. God bless them all them! Thanks for thinking of me.

Here is a bamboo I bought the other day.

I'll have to ask the name other than painted.
Were you able to click on
www.mikenature.com
He also has a light brown tan bamboo..that feels like felt...very pretty too. When I do wheedle some starts from him (and I will) I'll keep you in mind.
The bamboo is bright yellow, gorgeous.
That's a beautiful one you have....

My Hawaiin woodrose survived last winter, and had a great growth spurt until last week when it got about 36F. Now it's 81F and humid, so I suspect that it will re-surge.. it's 2 years old now, but no blooms. Did you ever have any luck with them? The vine gets pretty thick..and it climbed the castor bean tree, I thought I was so clever because the vine leaves look just like the castor bean...and even though the castor bean is huge, it lean over. I have to cut some of it because it's out of balance at the top, part of the reason it's leaning too.
Check how big this castor bean is....

Yes, I got into his website and swooned. He obviously has no spouse holding his feet on the ground like I have. LOL He is free to soar. Is the painted bamboo the yellow in the second picture on his home page. Oh so beautiful. I have 2 yellows but not bright yellow like that! YES get the name please! I love reading about the objects of my affection.

No luck, I suck. I want to see yours flower! And is that huge trunk your castor bean?? Gee, that is just so huge. You really need a monkey as a pet to swing thru your vine/tree tops to further set the mood.

Your weather is so much warmer than here. We finally are feeling winter this week. Not bad yet but a reminder that I best move lots into my hoophouse!

Here is a bromeliad I found at the Huntington in their private greenhouse. I wanted it so much! I came home and searched for it to no avail. Isn't it just grand?

Vriesea fosteriana 'Vista'

Oh, that bromeliad tickles my fancy! That is way cool..didn't see one like that out all those thousands...course the folks from the bromeliad society were feverishly nabbing the creme de la creme...(after my selection..buwaaahhahahah evil laugh)

I could have swore you lived in San diego at one point....oh well ...I'm turning 49 next year..so bring on the befuddled memories and reading glasses!

I put some of the bromeliads on the tree trunk in the deck...
Oh and I have been waging war on the nasty little squirrels...I laughed at myself last weekend, as images of Wylie Coyote and the Roadrunner were flashing through my mind as I was constructing the latest concoction of squirrell inhibitors! Actually these bromeliads are serving as a road bump to making their life more difficult. We cuss at each other ..me from my chair and they from the branches...

Whoa...that was a mouthful...I found the name for you....

B. vulgaris cv. 'vittata' = B. vulgaris cv. 'striata'

Bamboosa Vulgaris Vittata

I had a hard time finding this thread again. Things move quickly on this forum! LOL

I am already befuddled. So sad. By the time I get to 60, I do not even want to know what condition my mind will be in.

I just love your bromeliad display. I need to do something like that. How cold does it get where you are? I left out last winter and they fried. But we had weird cold last winter. I would love to put some on my 4X4s on my porch. How did you attach them? I have a huge staghorn attached to one and it has grown to be huge over the last 30 years.

Your chair looks so comfy. Definitely a place to hang out appreciating all your hard work.

OK! You know I am now on the hunt for Bamboosa Vulgaris Vittata. One look at this pic http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/showimage/31128/
and I was had. I have already made plans with a friend to go to a bamboo farm in search of it. What I am going to do when all of mine break open their ceramic pots, I do not know. My husband will do to me what you do to your squirrels from his chair. LOL

LOL,
Yes I'm on the hunt too. I'm trying to get a start from mike, but was thinking about getting some and Caldwells nursery.
That bamboo also will lighten a garden like mine.

Spent a few hours yesterday trimming that castor bean tree. The woodrose vine looks like it's doing fine. I think I may just have to cut that castor bean down all the way. Even though I cut several huge limbs off, I think it's going to have a problem staying up right because it's so tall. I have most of the vine on the garage now.

I thought they died Rj, after a year. Or is just that I was reading htreads from cold areas. I have never gorwn one because I have no room. I love the real red ones.

That bamboo will lighten your heart too. Get some! You need a winter thrill.

I am so excited to see if I can find it. There are a few bamboo nurseries around here to go to. LOL. Such a hard life visiting nurseries in search of beauty.

They do in the Northern Climates, but they keep kicking here. That big one is about 4 years old now...I have red ones too

I will get some bamboo, after the bank is done using my money in my escrow by requiring a minimum balance, the local government refunds my overtaxed house assesment and finally when the federal government gives me back my over taxed (use my money for free interest) wages!

My friend Wayne gave me a Red Jade vine last night. I'm so thrilled!

When you do get the bamboo, you have to show me them so I can be so jealous.

You know I am off to find what a red jade vine is. I think I know what a jade - jade vine is. I think I saw one at the NY Conservatory. If it comes in red too I am so amazed.

I think if you go to Clares all about me...she has a picture I think..she's the plumeria gal there in california.

If I get some of that bamboo, I'll share with ya. Although if your like me, a 3 foot little spring might not do!

Bamboosa Vulgaris Vittata is too die for and now I think I need it too. I need to learn to stay away from any thread you two are on. Evertime I see you all post I think I have to have a new plant!!

Tell me aobut it, Marie. It is so hard being me. I have so many needs. It is harder being my husband. LOL

Hey Rj, it seems that vittata is more tropical, it hates anything under 35 I think I read last night. I may keep it under my house line. How cold does it get where you are?

I found 5 gallon cans for $20. I will try to get there to check them out.

I know Clare. To know her is to love her. She is just great. And Marie, beware, if you go near her, you will be growing plumies all over. She is so wild about them, it is coontagious

So what do you mean a pic is on Clares all about me? Where do you find that?
http://davesgarden.com/members/Clare_CA/

PS I can see your place now with these hanging down all over. Spell I AM SO JEALOUS!
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/showimage/144602/

Hey Rj, how are you in zone 9A and I am in 9B but you get away with more tropical plantings than I do?? Fess up your secrets.

kell I wish I had gardens like you too. We have a plummie King on the SW forum but so far I have only managed to kill them. Although everytime I take a trip to his place I try again!!
That red jade vine is too die for!!

LOL, Kell dear, I meant the red jade vine is pictured there.
Growing any Jade vine to bloom here will be short of a miracle, but like the lottery player, I keep hoping for those odds to play in my favor.

It can get cold here, as a matter of fact we suffered right along with you guys last spring that was unusually cold. It actually froze here right before easter, and in fact was the next day and there after was high 70's and spring weather. It nailed my garden. It looked like heck, the leaves feel off of most things including my Papaya tree. The regular Jade Vine I had in the ground had made all winter....got fried..Fortuneatly that was really the only thing I lost, everything else recovered. Bird of Paradise, Papaya, Rubber trees.
I think I get away with so much for a couple of reasons...I live on the border of 9a/9b. This area has in the last 20 years changed from 8a to 9b. I live not too far from down town in the Heights (Historic Heights)
http://www.houstonheights.org/index.htm
one of the older neighborhoods in Houston. The are use to be an old Pecan grove, so the entire neighborhood is blanketed in huge Pecan and Oak trees which even without leaves provides a canopy protection. This area is usually 2 to 5 degrees warmer than the suburbs of Houston, normally making the difference of just staying above frost and freezing. Last year was the first hard freeze I've seen since I've been gardening at the house, some 10 years. It has frosted, but that's where the canopy protects the back garden where most of the tropicals are.

I'm also one of those dumb people that can bee seen out in the garden at 10pm with a cold front blowing in trying to cover the plants with frost blankets. Now there's a sight! Me freezing my tush of, cussing as the wind rips the cloth off the plant I just spent 5 minutes covering up.

Even though it froze last year my friend Mike's Bamboosa Vulgaris Vittata
did not freeze, even though he lives in the area that get's more frosts. He mulches them very good in the winter.