NF Garden Brigade #11

Good morning time for a new thread
we came from here http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1124648/#top

There it is!! Thanks Sandy! I have alot of yard work to do once the rains let up. I have been having tenant issues and the lady is moving out but things have been stressful! She gave no notice and was trying to move things in the evening after I was in bed. She also did not keep the filter changed for the AC and it has quit working as well as other damage that has been done. She owes the light bill as well and I doubt I will see a dime for anything. Have not had much sleep the last few nights--will be glad when she is gone so I can get it cleaned, repaired and ready to rent again.

Have had some blooms recently but they are scarce!

That is beautiful

Sandy, thanks for the new thread- # 10 was getting long. Contributing to our good morning flowers and in keeping with my "wild" flower interest is a morning glory on the creek bank this morning.
Had just a passing shower this AM (Hyde Grove) but not even enough to measure.

john

Colocasia esculenta - wild taro - Giant Elephant Ear
They spread quickly in aquatic environment and are difficult to eradicate!

CATEGORY ONE Invasive exotics that are altering native plant communities by displacing native species. Noxious weed listed by Florida Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services.

You can read about other invasive plants in Florida:

http://www.fnps.org/chapters/seminole/pdfs/invasive_species_2009.pdf

Common folks (like me) are unaware and ambivilant (don't care) about the invasion problem, and will often use invasives to beautify the landscape, plus the garden centers keep selling them.

I thought Apopka was 9b.

Dear Biv, Yes Orlando is 9b. Normal lowest temp at my house is 27 but this last winter was down to 24 and the north wind was blowing cold underneath the frost coverings I had spread out. First time in 10 years that the orange tree leaves got nipped. I remember several years that the only things frozen were the bananas and papayas. Actually one year the banana did not get any frost and we actually got fruit the second year. I have a friend in south orlando who actually has an avacado tree with fruit. This year my bouganvilla planted on the south side of the house froze to the ground, but came back and now is 6 feet tall and starting to bloom. I'm not south of a big lake like winter garden is, so we can be as-cold-as Ocala here. So its a law of averages, most years are like zone 10.

The Jacksonville group seems to have formed a functioning plant-loving family. Hopefully our I-4 area group can get more acquainted some day.

target officially in its last days... everything including plants are now 75% off... its a good thing i hit the regency one up before it rained. bananas...ixoras.. variegated hibiscus... cacti ... oh my ... lol ... i bought 13 differnt plants for $20 which i still hve a little bit in my plant allowance th stu gave me to be able to hit up another target. if it evr stops raining for 45 minutes...lol
I just got done washing the van... yes in the rain.. som people say it always rains right after u was ur car. well i made the rain work for me i suds up the van & the rain washd it all off for me. 1/2 the time & saves a dime... lol... my van is white again...lol

Sandy - what is this creature ... i'm not sure if its a male or a baby on its back... sorry this is the best pic i have of it.

well its dinner time ...have a great night everyone.
brandy

Brandy I think it is a Two-striped Walkingstick - Anisomorpha buprestoides
http://bugguide.net/node/view/242812

WAKE UP!!!!!!!

Good morning everyone!

Lovely rain yesterday

Sandy

Our bougainvillea froze the last two years and came back with a vengeance...bigger than ever. Unfortunately, it only bloomed once in 2007 and a couple of times had just a few blooms. Since it became totally unwieldy and needed constant trimming so it wouldn't reach out and attack us with its thorns, I finally asked my husband to dig it up. Had it given us masses of color to enjoy, the constant pruning would have been worth it; but it had become more like a weed.

Does anyone have any suggestions of what might thrive on this now bare arbor? I'd like something with flowers, hardy, and that's a real climber, unlike the bougainvillea which needed to be tucked into the trellis on the sides because, on its own, it just grew everywhere except twining on the trellis.

Passionflower vines but it might be best if you plant them in very large pots.

Sandy

Good morning ... very late start this am. Woke up @ 9:30am!!

Thank you Sandy for the ID on the bug/insect ... That's definitly it ... I enjoyed the rain. My neighbors shed got hit by lightning & caught on fire & blew out 2 of the windows & cracked one @ the end of the house. He lost everything in the shed... & his Computer & tv inside the house... but its a good thing he has insurance...

Darla ... thank you for all your help with the mess spot in the side yard... I'll be over & help you in your yard this week =D

I love bouganvillias ... I have mine purched up next to my privacy fence... but they are in the garden this year. so, they aren't too big. I'm going to let it hang over the privacy fence into my neighbors yard ... (my spot in her yard). I agree with Sandy with the Passion vine.

How large should the pots be? Could they be buried in the ground? I don't want a big pot sitting on each side of the arbor. WH would have to do the digging, so he'd probably prefer something requiring a smaller hole. :)

Well if you can keep up with the runners popping out of the ground everywhere they you can plant them in the ground. Just stay away from Passiflora Incense this one will try to take over the world.
Sandy

Well, Sandy, I have enough trouble with runners from our one-tree forest and the Virginia creeper, so I think I'll stay away from the passion flower in any form. Thanks for the heads up on that one. Any other suggestions?

Ah... something that envisions to take over the world: my kind of plant! A passionvine that can grow faster than the caterpillars can eat them, or better yet, something that the caterpillars leave alone. One can dream.

Sylvain.

Hi, Sylvain. I haven't run into you for a long time. Did you know cyberageous has a thread?

Sylvain I have a red passie that the cat will not touch. Plus with the Passiflora Incense once it gets growing for a season of two you can let cats feed on it and even if they strip it it will come back. Talk to Jeremy about it's aggressiveness

Here is a warning for all of us on the southside
We have Coyotes hunting on this side of town, keep your small animals in side at night and do not leave out food.

Sandy

Vines for trellis in sunshine:
Mandevilla = Dipladenia, in pink or red
Allamanda, usually in yellow
both will freeze back to the ground, but re-grow.
Easier to grow:
Coral Vine

I have the coral vine, bees love it.

Sandy

I have a 4X8 feet trellis that was installed 2 years ago. It's like the thing is cursed. As soon as I try to get a vine to grow on it, it gets eaten and dies. I must have planted and replanted 7 or 8 times since I put it up. I have vine envy when I hear that some of you have to fight their vines back.

I'll survive.
Sylvain.

Try the Coral vine, as far as I know nothing eats it. It does die back in the winter but it grows fast. This winter I will check and see if I have any pups.

sandy

You might also consider bleeding heart (Clerodendrum speciosum ) . Will cover the trellis quickly, has great blooms and while it can spread, it is not as agressive as the Passion Flower. You can keep it in check; has no thorns like the bougainvillea. They will freeze back up here (Jax) some winters, but generally comes back.

John

This message was edited Sep 28, 2010 8:50 PM

Two votes for Clerodendron

Thanks for the suggestions. I fondly remember a clerodendrum from my first garden in Lauderhill. Now, there was a plant to be proud of. It grew and grew on this old wooden trellis, which eventually collapsed under the weight but the vine was unaffected. I replaced the trellis, spread the vine on it and secured it with zip ties and we were back in business. When we moved from Lauderhill, it was ripped out of the ground and stuffed into a trash dumpster. A sad end for a plant that tried really hard. Sic transit gloria mundi.

Could anyone spare a cutting or two?

Take care, everyone.
Sylvain.

I think I'm leaning toward the clerodendron. I think too many bees around the coral plant could be a problem in that location. I think that's what we have in one spot in our yard, and all those bees scare me; it's a real magnet for them.

Thanks for the suggestions!

Bivbiv, the reason your Bougainvillea might not bloom is you cut the growing tips which make flowers.
Sidney

No, we let it grow and grow for just that reason. And all we ended up with was an out-of-control booby trap. It was only after it hadn't bloomed and had gotten so in the way that it was cut.

Bougainvillae... those bushes love to thumb their noses at me. I have two (both yellow) that were planted 18 months ago. Of course, when I got them, they were in "bloom". Gail, who loves yellow flowers, was delighted.

Since then, they haven't done a thing except grow and grow, but no blooms. And I see bougies in fields and at abandoned homes that get no attention. except rain, and they're in bloom. AAARRRGGGHH!

So, I decided to stop pampering mine 6 months ago, putting them on a rain only regimen. They still refuse to bloom. They are scheduled to be dug up and discarded soon. One day, I'll have had it with them and out they'll go. They'll probably bloom at the dump but then, they won't be not my problem anymore, are they? The rules are simple here: perform or be replaced.

Take care, all.
Sylvain.

Actually, they like it a little dryer. And I feel as you do: No show; you go!

Sylvain....I think I have some clerodendron cuttings (unrooted) to share. Let me take a look tomorrow when it's light outside and dmail me your address.
:)

good morning everyone...
i like the clerodendrons... i take it ur looking for a clinger... for in ground...

these are not clingers bu ...
wisteria - i have a love hate relationship with...
climbing rose
clematis
honeysuckle-smells like heaven
just a thought... have u thought abt caging the plant w chicken wire to train a non clinger? making it follow the line of the trellis & let it fill in? no matter what u may have to trim the vine/climber back once they take off for most of them.
have a great day everyone.
Brandy

Good morning everyone

Sandy

I think, like biv, that Bougainvillae bloom best when they are dry and not fed too much. The beautiful ones in the islands are growing in poor conditions- on coral sand and get water only when it rains. My guess is that when they get too much water and food they grow big vines and few flowers. Some of our S FL folks might confirm if this is correct. I have a beautiful double white that blooms only when I totally ignore it!??!

Hi, all. Our household was without Internet access for a few days because the bill was past due. I got one of those quick payday loans from a nearby loan shark for the first time. The interest is high (10% for a few days loan period = $42 on $400) but it was better than doing without auto insurance which was also past due. The life of a starving artist is greatly romanticized. In reality, it truly bites! LOL

Coral Vine (Antigonon leptorus) is a Class II invasive plant in Florida (has the potential for harm but hasn't yet displaced native plants). I grow it and love it and feel guilty every time I look at its beautiful flowers with swarms of bumblebees.

A couple of native plants would do nicely to replace the bouganvillea:

Coral Honeysuckle - (Lonicera sempervirens) - in your area, biv, it would probably bloom year round, is a great hummingbird attractor, and evergreen (as the species name implies in translation)

Yellow Jessamine (Gelsemium sempervirens) - only flowers in early spring, but is evergreen

Cross Vine (Bignonia caprelota) - blooms profusely in early spring and may have additional flowering in the fall and in cool weather, also a hummingbird attractor

All of those will cover a fence or trellis fairly quickly and don't tend to spread past the original plant roots, other than occasionally by seeds.

Sugarweed - sorry I missed your calls last night about the group dinner. I got home from the swimming pool deconstruction project about 6 PM, covered just about head to toe in slimy muck water and mud, so I quickly showered and left without checking messages.

The wonderful news is that the humongous swimming pool is now totally in parts and most of those removed from the site. The biggest challenge was taking down the aluminum side panel that was one VERY LONG stretch of metal. The aluminum got a kink in it due to the curvature of the pool walls when I tried to pull the flat metal to stretch across the current pool owner's backyard. I finally had to jump into the rain and pool water that remained at about 8 inches deep. Getting the aluminum panel to lay flat and pull in the same direction was something like 'rassling an alligator and I was upside down and sideways and cursing often in the process of trying to get it to cooperate. The worried wife at the house called her husband to describe the horrific scene of splashing mud and mayhem that was occurring in the backyard slosh pit. She had him rush home to throw a net over me or otherwise get the situation under control. Fortunately, by the time he arrived, I had conquered the unwieldy length of aluminum and had it, with great effort of tugging and lifting of what must be a few hundred pounds, wrapped up neatly into a very large jelly roll.

The remaining challenge is to remove the four principle anchors of the swimming pool which have about a 2 ft flange of steel set back under the dirt embankment at about 4 ft deep and slathered with a layer of concrete to hold them definitely in place. I have a plan today to build a temporary dam that involves a sheet of plywood and my wet/dry shop vacuum to keep the water out of the area where I need to work on the pilings. I also want to remove the solid floor that was beneath the pool liner that is made of rigid plastic about 1/4 inch thick. I am certain that the plastic panel must have been put down in segments and pieced together, and I am hoping the segments are manageable sizes.

Some of the buried galvanized metal parts of the pool construction are rusted beyond reuse, but I should be able to find replacements if I can figure out who manufactured the pool.

The adventure continues!

Jeremy

Jeremy LOL

I get to visit with 4paws yesterday, she is interested in having a a RU, let me know if y'all are interested and I will let her know.

waving at everyone

Sandy

Thanks for the suggestions, Jeremy!

And what is your latest project??? Are you relocating a swimming pool or salvaging parts of it.

came across a climber today.. i was good.. it was a bit expnsive ... A sky vine... it has a flower that looks like a mandevillea but a purplish blue... it was like $24 to $26 monrovia... boy it was gorgeous...

wow jeremy ... sounds like a true adventure... lol... i'm glad that your getting it ... if u get any info on the pool... i'd be glad to help you track down info & part places & sales on pool stuff down the road... when i was looking for pond liners i had inadvertingly signed up for a subscription to a pool company ... so i get the emails & catalogs in the mail from time to time... i just hven't gotten around to callin or unsubscribing. so if i still have a catalog would u like one? it may help in researching ur new adventure.

today .. i had to replace the brake mster cylinder. the neighborhood men took over they were suppose to help not take over! lol

where does 4paws live & when? i know linda would like to hve one also.
have a great night evryone
brandy