This is one of my brugmansia cuttings that was just a few inches high when we left last May and it was rather skimpy on leaves when we arrived.
Some blooms from my Fla. gardens.......
Lots of new growth on this Painted Lady hibiscus plant following some pruning when we arrived...
our Cavendish banana......
a wild bromeliad in our privacy tree line.......
Great shots, Louise. Thanks for the continuing encouragement! Are you aware of this citrus problem?
http://www.saveourcitrus.org/understand.php
Yes, Victor...it is the latest threat and there's not much we can do about it. Before this one, we had the citrus canker problem. The State came in and cut down almost every citrus tree in our area. The cutting line literally came right to our yard and then they halted the program before cutting ours down, because after cutting it all down, they learned that it wasn't doing a bit of good anyway. Ours is the only grove left in the neighborhood, and it is so sad for the older people who will not have a chance to have their own citrus again. We are just enjoying it while we can. It seems that the industry in Fla is not likely to survive much longer with these pests.
Louise, I love your hibiscus!
Thanks, Carrie! It is one of my favorites.
Here are a few of my hibiscus blooms.........
Talk about eye candy!
your brug is looking good... can't wait to see it bloom... love all the hibiscus too!
Oh how I love Hibiscus!! I have one of those. lol
What a beautiful collection you have Louise!!
Donnie Brook, What a treat for us to see. I have a red one in the GH that we have had since the 70's. Not my favorite color, but I adore the years it has given us. DH uses its leafs for the form for the chocolate leaves he makes for the Busch Noel.
I bought another this summer which is that third one in your top row (double sherbet orange color) and it is thriving in the GH now. Years ago I killed my favorite one which I brought back from a tiny nursery near Islamorada in the Keys that was a grayish purple, almost a steel gray with a touch of orange in the anther. Never have seen another like it. We had it for a few years. I keep looking for another. I adore your yellow ones. I bought a fancy one at Logee a few years ago, but have yet to see a bloom. I am very jealous of your lot. Sorry about the citrus troubles. Patti
Umm, Patti.... Have you looked here?
http://www.hiddenvalleynaturearts.com/acatalog/index.htm
or here
http://www.atouchofthetropics.net/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?
This message was edited Dec 15, 2008 8:56 AM
Pixie, not there, but, oh, am I drooling. I saw one called 'Blue Bayou' which is close on Plant files. It was a small single flower, with this eerie grayish color. Our GH has pardged gray walls, so it just sung in there until I killed it. Now you have me searching. I need to go outside and finish my bulb planting while we have a warm spell. Then I will look again. Thanks and I hope your ice is gone. DonnieBrook doesn't have to worry about that today. Patti
Patti check out 'Daddy's Girl' on this page it is described as gray.
http://www.fancyhibiscus.com/
Thanks everyone! I love the hibiscus too! Patti - now I'm also wanting to join the hunt for your silver/gray one. I went to the plant show/sale at the Edison home last month and there was a hybridizer there who had some of the most unusual crosses I've ever seen. They were all his own crosses. He was selling entire trays of his cuttings for $10.00 (!!!), and I was sorely tempted, but I've run out of hibiscus locations in our yard, so I spent my money on other things.
Allison.....I think my brugs should be blooming soon now that it is about to warm up again (drat!). I love the cool temps, but the brugs and powder puffs definitely don't. I just planted another little brug cutting and that thing is really taking off in a hurry. They are the easiest plants I know to grow from cuttings.
Here's a shot of some of my tomato plants to show you how much they've grown.
This is the Cape Honeysuckle (not a true honeysuckle plant) that Hank bought last winter at Bok Tower gardens in Lake Wales. The color of the blooms is really striking.
This is a shot of my little mini-veggie garden in our back yard. The main reason I'm posting this is to show you the HUGE tree in the yard directly behind us. That's their ugly fence, by the way, not ours! LOL In this shot you can also see my Meyer Lemon and Cavendish banana. Hank's sunflowers are allowed to share the veggie garden, of course.
Supertunias in a basket on the cabbage palm just outside our breakfast room/sunroom. The squirrels come down the tree for water in the bird bath at the bottom of the tree, and they have to maneuver the obstacle course of the petunias and the thermometer just above it.
This is the patio garden where we eat breakfast every morning. Note how the cold temps affected my desert rose. It now has lots of tiny new growth thankfully.
What a nice patio garden!
Check out this advice I received for my desert rose. I was told I am letting it get too lanky between trimmings. It seems trimming it properly promotes a more busy and luscious plant form. I haven't a bit of a clue as to what is right.
Now might be a good time to trim it ..... but, maybe it is too late in the season to trim and should wait until spring, I have no idea, but I bet Chris (BuriedTreasures) would know, he is in FL, too.
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/876490/
I am no expert, but I think Chris might be ..... :-)
Nice tomatoes, Louise! (Only a gardener can say that and not get slapped.^_^)
I don't get it.
Beautiful pictures, Louise. I have tomato envy.
Thanks, Willie. I appreciate that link. I am no expert on desert roses at all. One of our neighbors is the guru here and hers are always beautiful. She gave me this one as a gift right before we left last May and she babysat it for me at her house. When we got back it was just gorgeous and filled with blooms. It came to live at our house and I think I made the mistake of tucking it up under our roof overhang where it could not get any of the morning dew. Then the cold snap came and it had lots of leaves turn yellow. My neighbor came down and we decided to move it to a different location in the patio garden where it can get its dew. Now it has a lot of new growth coming and it has been loaded with flowers throughout all of this. The interesting thing is that I don't think she ever prunes hers. I will have to ask her about that, as I found that discussion very interesting. I will probably wait until March to do it with the temps getting pretty chilly so often now.
Victor - you're confusing Jan, and you are a naughty boy!! Jan, substitute melons for tomatoes and see if it rings any bells. LOL And Victor......."They're real, and they're spectacular!!!" LOL
We had my niece over for dinner tonight and then took her out to see some cool Christmas lights we saw on Sat. night. I don't know if you can see it clearly enough in this shot, but these are alligators pulling the sleigh way up in the air at one house........
These huge angels at one mansion were really pretty too.....
Nice shots, Louise.
Are they heirloom??
that's it I am getting in the car and driving down there!!!... I have FL envy!
Very jealous of all that green, things growing and veg in the back yard. Cute gators and pretty angels. We are having another round of sleet now, it is tapping at the windows. Your weather is a bit nicer I bet. Three more months or so and things will be growing here again. Until then we can enjoy your pics and dream of sunny days, thanks. :)
Victor - some are heirloom and some are not. Some are strange varieties from my next door neighbor who likes to try the oddest of varieties from seed. She isn't sure which ones some of mine are, so we'll see. She does the zebra stripe, azoychka, etc. Some are the old standbys from Lowes, including a patio tomato on the far left of the planter box.
Pat - Thanks.....I hope your weather improves soon. In the meantime, I'll try to find some uplifting images for you!! LOL
OOHHH! I get it now - heirloom melons. LOL
Sometimes my computer is crazy--sorry for triple messages! Oh, Louise, I love all the plants---so lucky to have tomato plants that are so healthy. My DH is trying to stay at home, & not travel to FL on the 28th, but I have to go---- mucho work on the house, & I can't leave him at home alone! I'm in a tizzy! Pixie--those hibiscus photos were gorgeous! If we weren't selling in FL, I'd order one--however, with the problems selling anything in FL----!
You are most welcome, Louise! I think March sounds like the perfect plan.
I am sorry to hear of the citrus problem hitting so "close to home" for you.
Here is a vector illustration I drew in Illustrator of a grapefruit using an online tutorial.
I am trying to teach myself how to create shading using what they call "wire mesh screens" to make things more realistic and 3D.
A lot of this form of Illustration tend to look very 2 dimensional .... and cartoony .... but some of them look EXACTLY real.
Any how, reading your citrus story made this tutorial seem not only fun, but meaningful, as well.
I tend to like melons more than tomatoes. Maybe next summer I can grow me some.
Very cool, Willie!! Do you have software that allows you to do that? I'm impressed!
By all means try growing some melons next summer. They just need some room for the vines to spread, along with good, fertile soil and lots of sun.
Here's a taste of Florida Christmas lighting at our house this year.........
My red geraniums came inside to decorate the table with the Christmas china......
Louise, I've been traveling and hosting so I'm just now catching up with this thread. You and Hank appear to be very settled in to your Winter digs. Don't know how you make the transfer so smoothly. Send me your secrets.
L
Spode?