Tropical Garden #98

Ardesia,

That "Nymph" is awesome!

Thanks all, I love plants that take care of themselves.

My little noid orchid is still blooming it's heart out!

Coral Honeysuckle has just a couple of blooms:

I've not had good luck with tomato's for the past few years ... worms have been getting them. I even tried the upside down topsy turvy planter thing and still had those ugly worms eating the tomato's even though I always wash every trace of soil off of plants and use my own mix. I said I was not going to plant anymore tomato's but couldn't resist when I was at Home Depot about a month! I bought two tiny little Bonnie plants and potted them up and they grew quickly. They've had flowers for a week or so now so I knew it wouldn't be long before I saw fruit. Well, I was outside a little while ago checking on things and sure enough .... little maters! And, I found one label and they are Cherry Tomato's. I didn't remember buying the little ones but that's okay, maybe the other plant will be the regular size. I sure hope the bugs stay away so I can get edible fruit this year!!

Cherry Tomato's:

One last picture for me ... heading to the kitchen to finish fixing dinner. This is Japanese Morning Glory, from seeds Joeswife/Debra sent me! A couple of little buds are forming and I can't wait to see the flowers!

those look good Lin, especially the tomatoes ! LOL any one that got a sed bag from me prolly got some tomatoe seeds in them so watch out if one pops up in a tropical pot.. love that Nymph, in fact love all those AMs, have never had one bloom myself until this year, one called Moonlight? I already posted it, now it is forming leaves? I thought they formed leaves first.. oh well, I learn from this thread.. ALOT!
can't wait to see this sight again

Debra: That is a Magnificent photo, really beautiful!!

When I was cleaning my back porch (Florida Room) a month ago I found a pack of tomato seeds with a date of 2008. I sowed them thinking they wouldn't do anything but they did germinate and a couple of little sprouts have popped up. I don't know if they will get very large or have viable fruit, but it's fun watching them!

Hi guys I'm here !!
Terrestorial Orchid, soooo cool, love everyone's pics.
One thing I'm try with mater's this year. Screen on the bottom of the pot before I put in soil, screeen on top of the soil, to keep Spinx Moth from laying her eggs in soil. I'm busy busy, I'll be here, just maybe not posting alot. I haven't taken a pic yet but Black Gamecock iris is blooming now. Soo pretty I don't care if it's a common one. I don't fool the other's I've not had much luck w/ them.

Here are some tomato seeds I sowed - these are Everglades wild tomato plants:

Another shot of the Everglades wild tomato I started from seeds:

Thanks, Lin. It is fun watching them, hope to see the fruit pics of both yours so I can see what they look like..
Is you Tersstial Orchid a Native there?
I love the leaf shape of those tomatoe plants, KayJones.

I like the idea with the mesh wire.. I think I will try it.

MJ: Wow, that's a pretty Orchid! Great idea of using mesh for the bottom of the tomato pots! I don't know why I never thought of that ... for a couple of years I'd been cutting screen from a large roll my husband keeps in the shed when an area of the pool enclosure needs re-screening. I think I quit using it because come time to pot up I was having to rip roots out of the screening at the bottom of the pot. It works so well keeping soil from washing out the drain holes, I bet it would help keeping worms from getting in!

KJ: Great job on those tomato seeds ... I see some flowers so it looks like you will have fruit before long. Ok, now tell me what you mean by Everglades Wild Tomato's ... did you collect seeds from plants growing wild in the Everglades?

Debra: I hope none of those tornado's hit your area yesterday! I heard of damage in one town in Kansas but don't remember the name. There was some wicked weather that passed through Alabama, Arkansas, Mississippi, Missouri and Kansas and was heading east ... one city (I think in OK) was hit with three tornado's that did some major damage.


Hope everyone has a great Saturday. It's kind of cloudy here and I think we are supposed to have showers today which is okay ... it's still dry.

Linda, these tomatoes grow wild in the Everglades - I got the seeds from a fellow gardener - I have never been to the Everglades, personally.

Lin,
I have them also, and they are very small, about the size of a peas or little bigger. They have a really good taste also. I planted a few last summer and one plant is still growing and has produced all winter, of course I kept it protected.

mmmm i love those tiny tomatoes.. well, after work we went and got soil, sand, and railroad timbers, and son had to come over after a day of moving a bank office to move the timbers for me.. jOE AND cHARLIE sure worked hard for me today LOL
got some EE's and brugs into the ground, chalice vine is in its new spot out back, and well, I am tired LOL.

Lin and Gagirl, If you guys are able to get seeds to those Everglades Tomatoes, I would gladly pay for some and the postage!

Homer: I don't have Everglades tomatoes. I'd never heard of them before. I think it's KayJones & GaGirl who are growing them.

welp, we got a few things outside..

OOOPS, Sorry Lin!

from a broken cutting, it has rooted and bloomed

Debra, what is the plant in the last picture?

Hey guys...a quick hello........
A "bottoms up" view of hoya lacunosa - it fills the porch will a wonderful fragrance !
Kay I think the blue bloom is a MG.

Thanks, Martha! My Hoya lucanosa has one bloom - usually, it's loaded, but only one thus far.

Debra: looks like you've been busy! Pretty Morning Glory ... wonder if mine from the seeds you sent will look like that one?

MJ: Gorgeous H. lacunosa, one of my favorite Hoya's for fragrance! My plant isn't doing so well, almost totally died out the past two winters but I managed to save a little of it. Like KayJones, my plant had one measly little flower a week or so ago.

... I used to grow a lot of Gesneriads (African Violets and relatives) but a couple of years ago decided to begin downsizing so took down all the light stands and slowly got rid of all the AV's and most others of that type. I still have couple of Chirita plants left. This is a miniature called Chirita tamiana growing in a glass jar.

This IS definitely tropical ... not a plant, but a pretty male Painted Bunting that was visiting the feeder early this morning:

Great picture Lin, we have Painted Buntings too but I can never get a shot like that. Just perfect! I have been whining a lot for a new camera with a better zoom lens but it hasn't helped yet. LOL

My husband bought me a new camera last year and I like it but just wish I knew more about photography so I could have the kind with interchangeable lenses. Mine is a Canon and it has a fixed lens but lets me zoom in more than my old camera which I really like!

My Florida bird book says that the Painted Bunting is here year round but I only see them in late winter and again in spring. I haven't seen as many this year as last but it's always exciting to see these beautiful little ones. There was another male at the feeder this evening ... I was able to get to within @ 15' and he flew to the fence and perched there so I was able to get a few more pictures.

The female Painted Bunting is a bit drab compared to the colorful male but she's still a cutie!

Lin, can you send that bunting to me, please? LOL oh, AND if anyone has seen my hummers down there, tell them to come back home, their dinner is waiting..
here is AN AREA IN CONSTANT CHANGE. biw there are going to be two huge EE's in front , so can't wait to see the results. been thinning out the cones, monardas and stuff.

Well I want some buntings too ! I only get them once in a while over here Lin...please tell him to send a friend or two...lots of places to play and hide and I keep the feeders full !

Debra,
My hummers are here! I have been a bad mom, I had heard them for a couple of weeks now, but have been so busy, I hadn't put their 'water' out. I finally saw a female a couple of days ago and came right inside and got the feeders out. I now have seen three. Went to my moms over the weekend and she had about 20, but she always does, they just swarm at her house. Its so neat to watch!

The Buntings arrive here in early April and stay until early Fall. I went to a program on them a few years ago and learned that the green birds are not only females but some of them are young males. The stay green until after their second year. I wondered why we had so many "girls" at out feeder. The LOVE milllet.

I have a Canon SD800is camera but it can't come close to yours (or maybe it is my lack of talent, LOL)

Good morning everyone!

Debra: I can't wait to see a pic of that area once you get the big ears planted, It's going to look great! Re: Hummers, I saw two a bout 1 1/2 months ago and ran inside to clean and hang my hummer feeders ... haven't seen them since!

MJ: The Painted Buntings come to the feeders in early morning and late afternoon/early evening, I never see them any other times of the day. My bird book says they breed from Northern Brevard County northward along the St. Johns River and the Atlantic coastal counties. Numerous PB's over-winter in central and south Fla and most leave the state by late October and begin their return in mid April. The book also says that they build their nests at the end of a branch in spanish moss and eggs are laid from May to June.

ardesia: Yep, the first year juvenile/immature males look like the females with that drab greenish color. My camera is a Canon PowerShot SX20 IS. I have no clue what that means LOL. I don't know a thing about cameras or photography, I just want to point and shoot and have pictures come out clear. ^_^ I get real excited when I get a couple of decent shots out of the thousands and thousands I take. I still have a problem sometimes with accidently hitting a button on the camera and screwing up the settings. Then I have to wait for my husband to come home and fix it for me.

Female Northern Cardinal at a feeder this morning ... and since this is the Tropical "Plants" forum it shows Jasmine blooming in the background. ^_^

Lin, I have a Canon Power Shot, too. It is an older model than yours, and is great for birds and sailboats where I really need the image stabilization feature. I don't find it too great for taking flower pictures. I just got a new (really smart) phone, and the camera on it takes better flower pics than my camera!

I've had a mating pair of cardinals 'owning' my feeder for a couple of months. Finally this morning, they brought two baby fledglings to the feeder, with lots of noise and chirping. But the little ones didn't come to the feeders, Mom and Dad took seeds to them. I've got the camera mounted on the tripod ready to catch the family if the little ones get up the nerve to come to the feeder in the next few days.

Never seen any painted buntings. But I have had a few hummers around lately. I have lots of nectar flowers in bloom for them right now.

Wow, Wow, Wow ... dyzzy, that is an awesome shot, really beautiful! I wish I had taken some photography classes and learned about camera's when I was young! I'd love to be able to take such clear, sharp photo's! I use my camera for taking pic's of birds, plants and flowers. I love the Macro feature and always forget to use it.

I decided to go outside and take a couple of Macro shots. I have trouble with lighting but I do love the macro feature for getting close up pictures of flowers.

Lantana:

Dietes bicolor:

Last one before I head outside to play/work.

African Daisy - Osteospermum 'Serenity Lemonade':

I had to run in and post a picture of the buds on the Ric Rac Cactus, they are getting bigger ... I expect to see blooms sometime around mid to late May!

Some 20 years ago I was in a little shop when I heard a "thump". Found nothing so went about my business. When I started to my car there was really beautiful lump of various colors on the sidewalk ahead of me. I stooped to pick it up and "lo and behold", it was a male painted bunting. Evidently, he had knocked himself out on the plate glass window and that was the sound I heard.
I picked it up very carefully and carried it inside where the lady produced a box for him. She knew someone that raised birds and called her to come get the little bird to care for it while he recovered from his hit. I will never forget that experience. A true blessing directly from God The Father.