Tropical Garden #12

Looking toward the yard

Along the far edge of the pool, tall lilies (done), palms, red-variegated bananas, croton, and somemiiniature pineapple, with some mixed pots

Oh man, your patio and pool are amazing! Good job!

JPlunket, what a pleasant surprise. Those are amazing pictures, everything is so neatly placed and healthy looking. I like your idea in the first picture of the placement of pots on the lattice work.
Now I am going back through all the pictures again, so as to not miss anything.
It's nice that your DW enjoys your hobby as well, I wish my DH did.

Thanks for sharing your garden, I enjoy seeing other gardeners' work and ideas.

JPlunkett, very nice containder garden. Do you have to take all those plants in when it's cold in DC?

Rita, What is that pretty flower? Is it some kind of Mandevilla? I don't think I've ever seen one like that?

This is growing in one of my lemon tree container. Does anyone know what this is?

Plunket -I like that lattice arangement in the first pic - unique. How do you water the plants?

Your garden is beautiful - love all the potted plants - again - how do you water them all?

LiliM,

That is arachis pintoi, in the peanut family --I use it as a ground cover.

Snow,

Drip irrigation now, after several seasons by hand. I have tiny 90 degree fan sprinkler heads at the end of 1/4" tubing, as part of my irrigation system (dripworksusa-dot-com is my favorite store lately). They are clipped at the top center of each lattice area, wired into place to spray straight down the face of the lattice. Works pretty well, but someof the higher, edgeward plants dry out sometimes.

RIta,

Two methods: one is to twist two pieces of that fiber-wrapped wire into a shape that fits snugly around a pot, right under the collar, with enough on both sides to then twist into shape to hold onto vertical sections of the trellis, to hold the pot inside a trellis frame. The other method is to buy some little 39 cent clips at HD --they are usually in the clamps section of Tools, in a bucket. About 2" and powered by a nice steel spring, they come with each handle "dipped" to form an end grip. I take the grip covering off one side and cut the metal back about 1/4", using a hacksaw. Then I put a 3/4" screw through the other, uncut handle (there's already a hole, covered by the dip-grip) and fasten it to the lattice, clampopening pointed downward (Cutting off the one side allows you to reach a screwdriver onto the screw to do this.) The things are plenty strong for the pots shown.

I'll post pics when I get a chance.

JPlunket, I meant to ask - cool setup with the flower pot on the lattice. How is it attached to the lattice?

see my response to Rita above

can we see a close up of it?

I'll shoot a couple pics.

Please do! We all love it!

Here's the pot hanger --definitely the more aesthetic of the two.

Two pieces of fiber-wrapped wire, shaped to the pot under its collar, twisted at both sides to hold the pot firmly, both sides twisted again another inch or two away from the pot, then shaped to fit around the trellis vertical, and twisted again on the outside of the trellis piece.

The two trellis-holds tighten onto the trellis as the weight of the pot pulls the wire inward and down --highly adjustable.

I think it's a cool look, even before any vine growth.

This message was edited Jul 5, 2008 6:26 PM

More dependent on the ultimate obscurative power of the vine for a full appreciation is the HD clip method shown here. Benefit is mainly that you can put a pot anywhere along the trellis itself, also easier to put in place, if you have the right tools.

As I said, cheap at HD, with clamps in Tools section. wach handle alsready has a hole through it. This makes removing the dipgrip more of a challenge, but I just slid a razor knife in and loosened the material from around the hole --then the piece slides off pretty easily.

Put the thing in a vise or larger clamp or a vise-grip, and hack off the end of one handle with a cheap "pull" hacksaw.

Put a 3/4" woodscrew through the hole on the uncut side and you are ready to attach the gizmo to your trellis --a power screwdriver helps. Then put the dipgrip
back on, for looks and to protect your finger when pushing on it to open the clip. (For the photo, I pulled the dip-grip back off the hacksawed end to show that detail.)

This message was edited Jul 6, 2008 8:29 AM

Very cool! Thank you for the information. Will have to put the DH to work. :)

LiliMerci, The mandevilla is Moonlight parfait.

JPlunket, thank you for showing us how to hang those pots, I will try useing the clamps first. Your attention to detail will be very useful to us.

thanks for the ideas i am gong to repot alot of orchids on coconuts that fiber wrapped wire looks like it will work well.

my voodoo lily is finally coming up.

wow rita what a mandevilla. you always have things i have never seen before.

a new purchase hilo beauty

another new baby. i can't remember the name but it reminds me of a begonia.

my first praying hands naners

my cashew babies,

i have quite a few of these guys.

Cassandra, your new baby is a Ligularia! It's my favorite plant in my garden. It's not called gigantea without a reason, mine is probably 4x4 now! : )

Rita, you might want to use a small block of wood behind the pot to level it out. This makes hand watering easier, since there's less chance the water will first run downhill and out over the lower lip.

Candela, I am so jealous of your new Hilo beauty. If we are lucky enough to find those here in Dallas, it is one little plant for $ 20, nothing as impressive as your full pot.

I Love your praying hands bananas and your cashew trees and am looking forward to seeing cashew fruit soon.

JPlunket, thanks, I will try growing bromeliads and orchids in them.

New bloom on bromeliad

rita i guess i won't tell you i paid 15$ for that 3 gallon. the nursery is called living color in ft.lauderdale

candela, rub it in,will you? Your jungle is looking so good , you must have gotten quite a lot of rain. I am having to let my grass go and part of my perennial flower beds. My water bill is already in the hundreds
Here are a few shots from my tropical oasis today.

back of garden

back of new garden

My new tropical garden.

Rita, what is the pretty yellow flower? I'm sure I've seen it in one of your other pictures but so many plants, can't remember them all.

Rita, I'm with you! We don't get any rain at all over here....the water bill is nuts! lol! And yes, please let us know what the pretty yellow flower is!

We've gotten rain the last 2 or 3 nights and due for some more tonight.

LiliMerci, I am glad that it is raining at your home, It came pretty close to me yesterday, I even felt a few drops.

robcorreia, the yellow flower is Crossandra, firecracker plant (tropical yellow splash) it has been blooming since spring.
This one is Crossandra infundibuliformis orange firecracker plant.

morning glory tree

This one is always blooming
Thunbergia battiscombei (clock vine)

Thanks Rita, it's so pretty, kinda looks like a wallflower!
On your Thumbergia: I have been nursing a T. Mysorensis since last fall....it has barely grown at all....I'm miserable, I had these images of it climbing my patio trellis....I don't know what I'm doing wrong! Here's a pic I took in Brazil (not my plant unfortunately!). Have you ever seen one in your area?

rita all of your pictures are loaded with so many plants it truly looks like a jungle

it is raining so much here i have mushrooms growing

this is my second try at a potatoe tree. it doesn't look like much now but it will soon enough hopefully