I say "tamed" because I grow a lot of my tropicals in Containers. This is a photo of some gorgeous Bougainvillia a couple of months ago. Before this weekend it was totally out of control but has been pruned back and we've been weaving into the arbor and could probably stand by itself right now. It's one of those "OUCH" plants as it's very thorny!
A mix of tropical plants - some potted, some planted. Beautiful Plumeria Pudica, iresine, elephant ears, crown of thorns, persian shield, Caladiums, a norfolk island pine left over from Christmas decor, just all kinds of things in my "Lizard Lounge"
Gorgeous Iresine (chicken gizzards) growing up the trunk of the Plumeria...
Gorgeous foliage plants - Caladiums, Coleus, Black and Lime green sweet potato vine...
Pots full of Galaxy and Florida Beauty Caladiums, Red Star Cordyline/Sunpatience, Devils Backbone and Persian Shield
Pool planter full of Artillery fern, croton, sweet potato vine and some potted Bottle Palms
Giant Crinum lily blooming at the dock! Plus an added little bonus of a gorgeous Heron just standing there!
I love these black Elephant ears...
The second year I've had these firecracker plants and they've really done well this year...
First year I've ever seen or grown "Cat Whiskers" and they're adorable!
Colorful shade loving ty plants
I think this had to be my favorite plant this year - Pagoda flower
A group of tropical containers and a tiny dog. Giant white bird of paradise, yucca, oxalis, cat whiskers and some succulents.
Incredible Stephanotis - Not only does it look beautiful, the scent is amazing!
Yes, your plants are certainly beautiful. You have a lovely garden. The Stephanotis certainly looks beautiful.
Lovely!
Fantastic pictures!!! Your plants are lovely!
Katg, your plants looks happy & healthy!
Thank-you all so much for the compliments.
If I had my way, I would love to be out in my garden every day. If I get a weekend day I'm lucky. That really is the beauty of Container Gardening. It's fairly low maintenance. I do water a lot though - by hose. I was in Home Depot the other day looking at tubing and watering systems - I'm afraid to do it right now as there has been too many Grow-house busts in this area lately! hahaha,
I do cheat with the weeds and pull some but spray a lot too. My Dear man (grew up on a farm in Immokalee) loves to prune and knows what he's doing. On a Sunday, I'm on the inside container gardening, and he's on the outside, bleeding from Bougainvillia trimming. Works out well. I don't cut my own lawn but we do fertilize it! hahaha. To anybody living nearby, it's probably the funniest site!
Last year, my wonderful staff bought me a Golf cart! It's a three-wheeler right out of Caddy-shack but I love it! I guess it was pretty beat-up when they bought it, but they repainted it and trimmed it all out to match my house (hehe) and even outfitted it with Leopard seats! It really is the cutest thing! Not only that...I use it to haul dirt, plants...take rides around the neighborhood (LOL)
I found this fertilizer spreader on-line and we just hook it up to the back and in 25 minutes my lawn is fertilized! Yeah... it looks hysterical, but it works!
The other thing...
I started building this house just before Hurricane Charley. It took a long time to complete because of the shortage of trades at the time and took me almost 2 years to build (should have been a year). I moved in nearly 2 years ago and there is nothing like a good Landscape company to get you going on the right foot. I had a great Landscape gal who had previously worked for Disney. We worked very close together but I can see now that she had so much vision as to what would evolve in the future. You just don't get the impact when things are first planted...but over a couple of years, things are growing and maturing so beautifully. I didn't want a lot of maintenance on Palms and most of the ones they put in are self cleaning. There's a lot of plants and beds, but for a 1.5 acre of groomed area, it's pretty easy to look after.
KatG, why didn't you mention you had such a wonderful place and so very tidy!! I loved looking at your photos and now dieing for a golf cart. I have a sore hip that keeps me from doing a lot more than I do. You've given me a new outlook on those beautiful homes I drive by with the unbelievable landscaping... I usually thing some landscaper put it in for them and they probably don't appreciate or know the plants they have. Boy! Have you changed that way of thinking!! Thank you for sharing a piece of your Heaven here on earth!
KatG, all your plants are beautiful, especially your bouganvillea.
Edited to say - love your "Cat Whiskers" too. Never seen one like it, what kind of plant is that?
This message was edited Sep 16, 2008 3:13 PM
Dutchlady...No pouting! Looks to me that you do amazing things with your property when I see your outrageous Plumeria's. They are so beautiful.
I do love my little Golf Cart though. It really is a little work-horse!
Ohhhh Eclecticuno...I've got some big work ahead of me. I really haven't added a lot in since the original landscaping, but really need to. Right now, I'm just keeping the weeds down.
The Golf cart is so handy for crating big plants around and fertilizing. Unless I short-cut and crate bags of potting soil through the house (which I've been known to do) it's a big distance to crate them to the back of the house. Golf Cart makes it easy and eliminates the fear of the bag breaking in the middle of my living room! hehe
I looked at some of my beds today and they are sorely in need of some new plants and attention...
Thank-you Lili...Those Cat Whiskers are so cool. I never seen them before around here until this year. I was looking at some of them today that I added into the containers with my Giant White Bird of Paradise - They're 4' tall and just full of blooms! They grow amazingly fast.
Here's the Plantfile info on them...
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/2085/
I clip my cat whiskers when they're done for the season and stick them in a vase of water all winter. By next spring I plant them. Most of the others come back and lots of seeds grow too but we've been having mild winters.
wormfood...I was just looking at those blooms today and thinking they would be so cool in a vase with other flowers! Do they last long?
I don't remember, I think they wilt fast. Like a hybiscus does. But I keep the greens over winter and they root in the water. Normally outside they're pretty drought tolerant.
KatG - I was wondering what kind of potting mix you use for your containters. My potted plants are not flourishing as they should.
Thanks,
Charmaine
Kat, you need to add lemon or lime tree to your collection. You can trim them down and keep them small in a container. Their flowers have wonderful fragrance and you have the perfect climate for them.
