Tropical Garden #59

Plantladylin, that is amazing info.How neat.
3jsmom31, I found the black one again in your post up there post# 7408089 click the link and scroll down to the Black one. Vanuatu- Got to have it!!!!! Now just finding someone with these to sell or trade me one baby. OH MAN!!!!!!!

Sorry, you posted while I was typing. I'm slow.

One for 3jsmom31, another of our Sundews.

A small interesting flower, have no idea of its ID.

A Goodenia sp. We have lots of different ones and they're quite common this time of year.

Xyris complanata, looking like it spent a short time on a grasshopper's dinner table.

A small yellow NOID.

I just realised I put these on the wrong thread. Oh well ...............

Hey Tropic: They look good to me! I love the little interesting purple flower with no ID, very pretty ... and that last one, the yellow noid is lovely as well. I have no idea what they are but they are very pretty, so I'd say they are fitting for this tropical thread!

Gee, it is amazingly COLD here in central Florida. It got down to 35ºF last night and it's still only 37º outside! The next four or five nights we are expected to have the coldest weather we've seen in ten years, with night time temperatures in the 20's and low 30's! Brrrr!

Yesterday I moved a lot of plants into the unheated Florida room (enclosed porch). Even though that room is not heated, it gives some protection from cold weather. I had my husband move the large plants that were around the pool over to the covered deck and I put blankets over everything. He hung a heavy tarp on the north side and also one at the other end, which will help keep some warmth in and the cold winds out.

We covered a few things in the yard too but I went out about 7:30 this morning to fill the bird feeders and found I had forgotten to cover the large potted Epiphyllum oxypetalum that is sitting on the north side of the house! It will be moved onto the deck today where I will throw a blanket over it in hopes of saving it from the freezing temperatures.

This is a picture I just took of plants crammed into one end of the Florida room:

This photo shows part of the covered deck that is next to the screened pool area.

Thank you, I love all your pics. Great shot of the sundew. That one I have seen in my searches, but I am afraid to look again for fear that I'll start to drool again. It is snowing here and seeing the blossoms just warms it up :).

Lin, I hope your plants do okay. It's hard to combat the cold when it's more than a couple hours. We used to use a light bulb in our pump house to keep the water pump from freezing.

3jsmom: It sure is hard to combat the cold when it lasts for quite a few hours ... and it's going to be really hard when we have so many nights in a row with very low temperatures. I know when the weather warms up again the plants will look pitiful and a few may not survive at all .... but, that's life in this part of Florida when you don't have room inside for them. I moved the orchids and hoyas and a couple of other things inside a month ago but our house is small and there's not enough room inside for many plants. I have a few that are just too large to bring inside, so I will just hope for the best. I have a variegated ficus benjamina that I bought as a really tiny plant from a friend many years ago and I would hate to lose that one but it's just too large to bring inside. I have two old, large Orchid Cactus also that I wish could come inside but all of these plants have survived many years just covered in blankets so I think they will be okay.

Outside just now I'm getting torrential rain and thunder crashing. There was a severe weather warning out but the storm front is collapsing, although the rain is still coming through. We've had a tropical depression drifting around for several days building up and just about ready to move out to sea to form into a cyclone. It's similar to a few weeks ago when there was a depression centred about 50 kms north of me which developed into TC Laurence. This one tonight is about 50 kms south. Oh well, it is the wet season. I won't have to worry about watering my plants. Another 100mm of rain today should keep them damp. Hope your plants survive your cold. I doubt I'd be able to cope.

Wow Tropic ... it sounds like your summer months are like what we have to contend with here in Florida in the summer season! Our Hurricane (Tropical Cyclone) season extends from 1 June through 30 November. I read about TC Laurence, a catagory 4 storm system ... very dangerous! Looks like you received a lot of rain and will be receiving even more but I hope the brunt of the storm is far away. Stay safe!

We had 2 1/2 inches (63.5mm) of much needed rain yesterday. It's been extremely dry here for awhile. I had not taken the time to water my plants thoroughly for a couple of weeks so they enjoyed the rain and it was a big help since the extended cold spell will really dry them out.

We must have opposite growing seasons Tropic. When yours starts to bloom ours have ended and gone dormant outside. How hot does it get for you in your hottest season?
Plantladylin, I never knew Florida got cold. We always get it but never thought you guys did.
Wow, I'm learning all kinds of stuff.

Wow, my Amorphophallus Sumawonkii (hope I spelled that right) just arrived from Thailand. It was suppose to arrive in November but just got here. I had given up on it coming. Ye-Ha. I ordered 3 they sent 4. How cool is that?

Mekos: It's summer now in Australia and I don't know a lot about the country but have learned from another Aussie on a different thread that some area's of their country have summer temp's way over 100ºF! Their seasons are just the opposite of ours here in North America.

I live in Daytona Beach Florida (the east central coast of Fla) and we do get cold nights occasionally but having four or five nights in a row of temps in the low 30's is very unusual! Andm weather reports predict we will have upper 20's a couple of nights! Yikes, that is COLD! I spoke to my sister who lives in Fort Lauderdale (South Fla) today and they are predicted to be in the upper 30's on Monday night! We usually only have a few days of cold weather during winter and it is usually late January/early February. I hope this isn't a sign of what the entire month is going to be like!

Congrats. on your new plants. Amorph's are pretty neat looking plants but I don't think I'd want the stinky blooms, LOL. At least I've heard the flowers are stinky, maybe there are some varieties that are not odorous? Wow, yours came all the way from Thailand?! That's a long way, glad they arrived in good shape and wasn't it nice they sent you an extra!

I know, I got burned twice ordering plants far off that never came and they never would answer any e-mails after getting my money but these did come and with extra so I was delighted. I did mispell the name, it is Sumawongii. It blooms white. Yes they do stink but mine will be outside for the summer and when in bloom so no problem for me. The bloom is worth it when you see how beautiful it is. I have several different ones now.

Some of the Amorph's do have pretty blooms that resemble the spath's of Peace Lily and Philodendron's. I just realized they are all in the same plant family! I spend a lot of time outside in my yard almost year round and I prefer sweeter smells. ^_^

There are 40 Amorph's in Plant Files but I don't see sumawongii listed: http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/adv_search.php?searcher%5Bcommon%5D=&searcher%5Bfamily%5D=&searcher%5Bgenus%5D=amorphophallus&searcher%5Bspecies%5D=&searcher%5Bcultivar%5D=&searcher%5Bhybridizer%5D=&searcher%5Bgrex%5D=&search_prefs%5Bblank_cultivar%5D=&search_prefs%5Bsort_by%5D=rating&images_prefs=both&Search=Search&offset=0

Here is my baby

That is the picture they sent me of my bulbs parent plant. I can't wait for mine to grow and bloom for me. probably next year. These are pretty nice size bulbs so might bloom this year, they said they would be blooming size but you never know. Anyway I'm gonna get them planted and hopeing for blooms soon.

Very pretty! It reminds me of the bloom on one of my Tree Philodendron's last summer.

Oh wow. I didn't know that bloomed. I just got a baby in trade a few weeks ago. It's in my greenhouse. NICE!

We are preparing for cold too- We are suppose to get 3 nights in a row below freezing, and I've not had to deal with that since I've started gardening, so it's going to be an experience. In the meantime, the green house is crowded...some plants will go in the garage and some are in the house. Ya don't realize how many little obssesions ya have until one has to move them around!
It's that time of year where I'm sick of being inside, and will go put a chair in the green house and sit for a while! lol

I know what you mean. The weather people just announced that we're having temperatures lower than we've had in more than 10 years. They said the whole month of January will be colder than we've seen in more than 10 years.

and I bet it keeps cold well into March...yuck...count down to warmer weather!

You mean APRIL. We get frosts and late freezes into middle of April. Can't plant anything outside till end of April then you chancing it.We get cold in may sometimes, always have our peach trees ruined with a late frost. I have to go running out with sheets to toss over the trees to try and save a few. Had 1 tree of peaches this year and it was FULL . The day I was gonna pick, I decided to go to town and get jars so I could make preserves and when I got home not a peach to be found anywhere, not even one on the ground. Squirrels????

I normally have stuff out in Feb here, but since this isn't a normal year, who knows.
Boy...the peaches being gone sounds like a human to me. Squirrels are the most wasteful buggers I've seen. I can always tell when they eat the pears, because there is one bite out of it and it's tossed.

Yea, that is why I figured 2 legged squirrels. Not any to be found on the ground with a tree of 70 or more ripe and beautiful. All disappeared in 2-3 hours time. All my plums disappeared too about the same time and it had so many the limbs were breaking. Didn't get but 4-5 from that tree. I got 1 pear from that tree. I got my rasberries and thornless black berries but that was one bad year for fruit here. Hopeing this year will be better, those neighbors have moved for now.
This weather is rough and who knows what we might be in store for yet.

Wow, that would dissapoint me - having the trees stripped like that. How rude!
I know -re the weather...I'm already getting cabin fever...bears have it right..wake me when it's spring!

Haha Yea, that would be nice. Hibernate till it's nice again. I wish I was rich and could go to a tropical island till spring and of course take my orchids with me. I keep thinking the stork dropped me at the wrong address- wrong country- I'm suppose to be in a tropical paradise somewhere. I love all the flowers they grow and I love that warm climate and water and beaches and I think I would just be totally happy there. I am in my dreams anyway.

Brrr ... it's cold even in Florida! We didn't even make it to 50º the past two days. Tonight will be our coldest yet, predicted to be mid 20's and frost/freeze. The low temp's are supposed to last for quite a few hours. Lots of citrus and other crops as well as tropical landscape plants will be affected for sure. I'm hoping my Tree Philo's survive this unusual extended period of such extreme cold. They've been in the ground for 35+ years and it would be sad to lose them now. There is a mass of those huge things so maybe a couple will survive ... will just have to wait and see. I'm more worried about all of my container plants.

I'm so sorry for you guys. I'm use to it but wasn't ready as it usually waits for February before it gets this bad and I wasn't prepared yet. I wanted to get a propane heater to help out in there and put it off for now and just my luck, we need it now. We don't usually get frost till end of Nov. and I waited till middle of Oct. to cover my greenhouse and we got 2 frosts in Oct. just as I finished, that should have been my clue this was going to be an unusual winter but here I am still unprepared. Lost an orchid for it.

I have new respect for Tropicman- How he does that tropical garden and packs it all in every winter is a lot of work.

I must admit, I wasn't ready either. I just finished filling up the green house.

My sister and brother in law are hating this cold. They live in south Florida, the Fort Lauderdale area and they are going to have a couple of nights of upper 30's down there! Very unusual!

I wish for 30 s again, try teens and single digits. Brrrr some more.

Here in Naples too - we may JUST escape frost (and I fervently hope we do) but to have a week of weather not getting above 60 is very strange; and not what I came to Florida for LOL.

It's 38º here in Daytona Beach right now! If it's going to be cold, we should at least get a little snow! LOL. I do remember one year we had flurries here ... kinda neat but the flakes melted before hitting the ground!