Tropical garden #4

What were your top two favorite tropical plant from last year?
What are your "must have" tropicals for this year?
Show us your favorite garden pictures from 2007. Spring is only a couple months away.
Favorite plumeria. Pudica

favorite alocasia

This is one of my favorite garden scene.

This message was edited Jan 31, 2008 12:52 PM

another

Looks like an island - love the views - one of these days...

I have two lists. My Fantasy list is Musa AeAe, and Anthurium Regale.
My reality list; Alocasia Robusta and Plumeria Princess Victoria.


Mitch, those two flower beds are not as big as they appear in the pictures.

Beautiful views into your gardens Rita.!!

stunning all the same..

I love the walk...it's given me idea for the new landscaping I'm putting in place of the former brug forrest.. Are the bricks just laying on one another or are they cemented together. love that...

You are so right..spring is around the corner...the anticipation is in the air..and soon scenes of Butterflies dancing around bright blues and reds will fill our visions.

I would love to have a row of Vitex Trees, but reality is that I'll probably have to be happy with one because of space.

to finish the tropical look I am planning on planting palm trees around the garden. One is planted in the back already thanks to Jeanne Texasgal77 who's given me a beautiful Majesty palm.
this is before it was planted. My impatient gardener self wouldn't wait till spring..and I planted it during our very warm November...it is still doing rather well.
This particular palm loves water, which seems un palm tree like as far as most go. I have a friend who has one growing -in- his pond. I planted it near my lamp post, where it seems to retain moisture more than other areas of the garden.
I have a flame tree near by that needs to be re-located for the same reason as it is not fond of moisture retaining areas..I wonder how it survived last summer with all of the rain!


This message was edited Feb 1, 2008 6:51 PM

Picture of the Deck..during last spring.

What is that yellow flower in the pot? We had that in Mexico but never have been able to find it here - or even knew the name to look!

You have the tropical touch - I am in love with the jungle look . . .

I think your reffering to the shrimp plant.

this is what the lower garden starts out like in the spring.. I whack it down, even have the brug trimmed up..and it's all jungle in a month.

Shrimp plant - yep looking it up that is it. It was a hedge row in VeraCruz.

Here is a close up of the shrimp plant

Rita,
Is this the same kind of plumeria you have. This was given to me by a friend who move to Portland Ore, but I never knew what the name of it is.

RJ everything is amazing..sigh....I have never seen a deck like yours so lush and tropical.

Thanks...the deck is huge, it wraps around the house and also was built around an oak tree..so a tree is growing right up through the deck.
I kind of over do it..but then Jungles are all about over done I think. I want it to be a seemless look from the deck into the lower garden.

It can be high maintenance in the summer..

How kewl is that!!!...I love it a oak tree in the center :) ...no way you could over do it for me.

Rj, I always enjoy your pictures , thanks
The border is made from windsor rocks bought at Home Depot and set one on top of the other without any cement.
The Plumeria in the picture is also known as Bridal Bouquet. If you look closer you might see that the leaves are different from the ones in your picture. They are always in bloom, with no scent.

Kimarj, do you have any pictures of your favorite tropical plant, or garden to share?

Thank you that is it - and knowning the name already found one and ordered - thanks!

wow great pictures as always.
i would have to say my favorite plants are my brunfelsias lady of the night and princess of the night. this is a picture of them. (not a great picture but if you have ever smelled them at night you would know why they are my favorites). the other favorites would be michelia alba, and the good old begonia odorata.
must have for this year double rangoon creeper, and a vigna vine (not sure how to spell the last part of that vine)

oh and the most dependable bloomer red cloak.

Rita this was my first attemp at tropical gardening Brugmansia and EE"s
So I guess they were my two favs. :)

Hi candela, I am familiar with the brunfelsias, and the rangoon creeper. I have to agree with you they are very fragrant at night. I will have to look up the others.
I thought that I saw a red cloak blooming in one of Rj 's previous pictures. They are beautiful.

Hi everyone, Hi Mitch, good to see you here. I am so happy to see tropicals in zone 8 and 9. I love the tropicals. I am in zone 8b.

First question.
rj, do you have to take all of the tropicals in during the winter? Or do they survive the frosts and then the higher temps and back and forth, like we have been experiencing.

rj and rita, can you give me the names of some of the tropicals that are in your pictures. Both of your gardens are so pretty. Thanks for sharing the pics.

candela, what is the plant behind the vine in your first pic. I love it.

Mitch, will I be able to incorporate tropicals in with my roses?

Kimarj, very impressive, you can not go wrong with those two. They are so big and healthy, I hope that you brought them in for the winter. Next summer will be bigger and better. thanks

Mitch, don't be so hasty next time..I would have sent you a shrimp plant.

Yes I have the red cloaks...I found out they need to be in an area by themselves..the leaves are huge. Rita, I'll save you one and bring it with Christis stuff in April.


This is the Brug forrest. I just cut it down...it was nothing but solid brugs of white, cream and pink for 20 X 20 feet.. it was nice...but ..I am just going to have very select brugs now...as you can see they just get too big here.

rj - thank you but I have been searching for that one for a while... trying to build that garden in my head in real life ... not easy. That is why I am over here - I grow a lot of things but tropicals I grew up with are deep in my heart and just am chomping at the bit to get these going.

drape - everthing goes together right?

Well Mitch, I'll stuff some goodies in the truck when I come up...

Thanks Rita, I did bring them in ...can't wait til Spring to try new things!!

Thank you so much... really.

Rj when you say too big I just can't imagine abrug being too big... hahaha!!

Thanks drapelady, the backbone plants in my garden are the musa and alocasias that were bought from Home Depot or Lowes'. Alocasia Odora, Plumbea and Wentii are very easy to grow. One of my favorites from last year is Xanthosoma lime zinger purchased from the Dallas Farmers Market.
lime zinger and odora

candela, is your orchid blooming yet? Remember to take some pictures of it. It was covered with buds in your last picture.
It is 26 degrees this morning I am not going out there today.

This is the back of a alocasia wentii leaf.

backside view of alocasia plumbea.

Cannas are easy and very colorful, even without blooms.

This is the last of my backside views. Alocasia portadora.

Rj , It will be like Christmas, whenever you get here in the spring except you will have a pickup truck instead of a bag.

drapelady that plant i a bromeliad it has not flowered for about 2 years so i can't remember which one.
rj that is truly a brug forest
rita,
no that orchid has not opened yet but soon, i also noticed one of the vandas about to open as well. those ee's are HUGE. have you ever make concrete ee's from them?
i went to a nursery today and bought a hawaiian sunset vine (strictocardia).it has alot of buds all over it. i also got a double rangoon creeper, a brug with the biggest white flower that i have ever seen. i came home and just hid them in the back so when my husband comes home i will say 'those old plants i've had them for a couple years now i just moved them'..lol
i will take some new pictures tomorrow.
cassandra