Spring 2011 - Share your pictures and scents

thanks for that linke astcgirl.

So now tell me about USF plant sale????? has it already happened for this year?????

Jan

Ok Luciee I will be waiting for a pretty pic in July :)

Jan USF has 3 sales a year, one in spring, summer and then fall. I went to the one in spring (April I think) and it was as always amazing. This year there must have been over a couple thousand visitors, the most I've ever seen there. We went 10am on a Saturday morning (opens at 9am) and it was jam packed full of about 300-400 people already.

It is my favorite place to go each year (hehe or 3 times a year). My neighbor and I always go with our little yellow cart and usually buy way too many plants that we don't know where to stick when we get home but cannot pass them up. Every tropical fruit/flower, orchids, palm you could imagine. Prices are usually pretty good because you get a good size compared to mail order and you can pick the ones you want. I know the next one is around July 9 and 10 weekend, but you may want to check their website closer to the date to double check http://calendars.usf.edu/cgi-bin/webevent.cgi?userid=guest;cmd=listmonth;token=guest.69e518b11745c6afe5dc568eb51fbc4b;y=2011;m=7
They are usually held over Sat and Sun and it's about 5 dollars to get in. Getting in early is the best so you can pick the cream of the crop, although sometimes if you go near the end on Sunday you can pick up pretty good deals for left overs....oh well I need to calm down, talking about the plant sale gets me all excited :)

astcgirl

you are my new best plant buddie here in FL.... I'm already salavating over the fact that July isn't that far away..... OMGoodness look out USF, I'm a coming...... Maybe we could meet up. Thanks for the tip to bring a wagon...LOL You are such a good enabler....

Well I'm off to a plantsale from a homeowner in Sarasota. Found it on Craigslist....so of course I'm off to go see, their pictures show LOTS of plants.... I'm excited my first plant outing...since arriving.

Jan

astcgirl that is a great backyard. you have a plant that smells like warm hot chocolate? that has gone to the top of my want lists.

heaven scent gardenia

very faint spicey smell. cane begonia.

cattelayas

michelia smells the whole yard up.

candela, very nice shots there.

Well my plant sale trip was a success, I came upon a guy who had the most wonderful mature bamboo garden, alone with a hugh variety of other plants. Since I'm now down were I could try my hand at bamboo, I came home with a very nice black, clumping, container bamboo for just 10.00 bucks. Can't beat that. He must of had at least 20 varieties of bamboo. I've only ever seen pictures of bamboo, never seen a mature grove of them. All colors, leaf structure, sizes.... just incredible. And his prices I thought were excellent. Most of his were 15.00, I think he gave me a break since it was my first bamboo and I wanted one that would do in a container so when we leave this house I can easily take it with me.

Jan

Candela beautiful pics....don't you just love Michelia...Mine is about to bloom again. Your's looks pretty big, is it a tree in the ground?

That Cattelya is so pretty, I have lots of catts but always forget to fertilize them so they don't bloom much or me. I have them inside my lanai so when I fertilize the garden I always miss the inside ones.

Jan...glad you plant trip went great, those are pretty good prices for bamboo.

Most amazing fragrance and don't have to be near it.
Dianthus Itsaul White

ohhhhh that looks delicious flowAjen....I love Dianthus but they haven't fared to well here in Florida. They do have amazing fragrances as I remember.

That dianthus is beautiful!!

The brugs are out in full force tonight....it's so intoxicating to water the garden on these hot balmy nights...the scent just wafts everywhere.

This one doesn't have a scent (although....) but it's our new addition and I just had to share

meet "shadow"

too cute!

great name as your shadow will follow you through the garden... I love our garden companions.... makes it more complete...

Jan

astcgirl shadow is adorable. That brug is magnificant!

Mine is loaded with buds. They should be opening any day now. Can't wait!

Just love dianthus, does that one bloom all season or just spring? Have you ever tried growing X Loveliness yet, is sooooo fragrant, very frilly and blooms all summer if deadheaded, mine just beginning to bloom along with d. grationopolitanous and d. g. Fire Witch ( both d. g.s smell like cloves, yummmm!) Can't grow the chabbauds (regular carnations), not hardy here in colo. outside, tho grown extensively in greenhouses for the flower trade, they just love being so close to the sun at 5200 ft.. ........ Speaking of bruggs., one of these days I should pot on, starting to get to the 5ft range, sure hope I get blooms this year. Here a pix of one of my favs. Peony "Duchess de Nemours", very fragrant...yummmmm! Love all the pix, thanks. Good Luck, Kathy.

Heres a pid of X. Loveliness, enjoy. Kathy

asctgirl / island girl
my michelia is in the ground. last year the leaves were light yellow didn t look good and didn t flower much. i put bags of oaks leaves as mulch everywhere and this year it is doing great. it must be 15 ft.! there is a nursery in ft. lauderdale, living color that has the orange one would love that one but not sure where i would fit it.

brunfelsia (my favorites)

this orchid just opened it smells like citrus in the morning.

frangipani's (so much more fun to say).

hedychiums are just starting

Kathy....Lovely pictures...Wish I could grow Peony down here but I'll leave that and Lilacs for my "next home" :)

Candela that Orchid sounds yummy....I had one open but sadly no fragrance. Beautiful ginger, I'm hoping mine start flowering soon. Funny thing is that I thew a couple of bulbs in a pot and forgot to put soil in there, they have been "surviving" for 2+ years in that pot with no soil, I really should put them down in the ground LOL

astcgirl

if you put them in the grown it might kill them..... they aren't use to dirt.

Jan

Love that Peony!! Wish we cold grow them here!! That orchid is lovely. I had no idea they even had fragrance.

15', NICE!! You must be doing something right. I have the orange one(Michelia champaca. It's a young tree and probably won't bloom for another 2-3 years. I might get a larger one also. I got my Alba and Milky Way at Tree World Wholesale in Homestead. Their trees are amazing.... BIG, healthy, reasonably priced. My Alba was about 8' tall and 3-4' wide when I bought it from them. Not a mark on any leaves and loaded with blooms. It's been blooming non stop this summer. The blooms weigh the limbs down. I put mine in the ground too and one thing for sure, they like a lot of water when the temps reach 88-89 and above, especially until they are better established. They like acid soil so I use lots of Pine Bark Mulch and feed it with Fish Emulsion fertilizer.

I have never smelled the champaca but supposedly it is nothing like the alba. Some like the alba better, others say the champaca is way more fragrant but one thing everyone seems to agree on is that they do not smell the same. Alba has that juicy fruit scent, apparently the champaca doesn't smell fruity. I have 2 Ylang Ylang trees also. One was 30' and I cut it off to 8'. It took it a month but it's sprouting new growth all over the place. There was nothing left but a stump 8' tall, no limbs or anything. My other one is a 3 foot 3 year old that has been trained to stay compact. I got it just in case my big one didn't come back after we cut if off. We had another one that was about 30' and it got a vertical split on the trunk during Hurricane Georges. We cut it down and removed the stump. I didn't know at the time that we could simply have cut it below the split and it would have come back. Apparently you can cut them right to the ground and they will come back.

Here is the link to TWW where I got mine:

http://treeworldwholesale.com/main/inventory/plantDesc.php?sku=3524540

Islandgirl37 please please please show some pics of your beautiful trees....I keep pretty much all my tree's/flowering plants in pots due to no room and the freezes so I can never get them to go to their full potential....I love looking (drooling) over those that can unleash them.

I also have the Champaca (in a pot nonetheless) it's not grafted so I'm not sure I'll ever see flowers but I'm hopeful, it's about 5ft tall and seems happy in it's pot. I had a ylang ylang in a pot 2 years ago and it bloomed for me but the frost killed it, I did like the fragrance but not as much as my Alba so it never got replaced. Plus I have the dwarf ylang ylang hidden in a corner and that blooms non-stop.

I have a milky way tree in a pot, I tried it in the ground, a pot, in the ground again and now in a pot shared with tropical wisteria. It kept getting some weird stuff on the undersides of it's leaves, it sits in its pot and doesn't grow, I"ve had it for over 3 years, I really need to put more effort into it, maybe put it back into the ground and add compost to it/treat with fish emulsion....it has kind of gotten left alone since it is so finicky....would love to see it's flowers someday.

astcgirl what is tropical wisteria? I did not realize you got cold enough to worry about freezes

The tropical wisteria I'm referring to is Millettia taiwanensis http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/126206/

As I said it hasn't bloomed for me yet but has a cluster of buds forming. Will post a pic as soon as it does.

Desertdenial5 we don't get many freezes down here (Tampa area) however there are some brief freezes down into the high twenties....I lost quite a few plants this year because it was a really cold winter. Everytime there is a warning on the TV about a freeze for the night I herd in all the plants I have in pots that I can into my Lanai and garage, then bring them all back out again when the freeze is over, this past winter I think they were in and out about 6-8 times which is not normal.

I do have another type of wisteria I got when we traveled to Williamsburg, VA and it does quite well in a pot and blooms every spring, lovely smell also.

astcgirl

you need to create a temp greenhouse for protection. Some pvc pipe and plastic (make sure none of the plastic touches the plants, which I'm sure you knew anyway). You could even create the frame work, have your plastic rolled up to the center line support, with plants spread out all along the sides of the greenhouse and when threats are reported, just lower the sides and the plants will have protection.

Since this will be my first this is what I'm planning on doing. When I get it constructed (won't be till end of this year) I'll try to remember to come back and post pictures.

This tropical wisteria is very interesting.

Jan

Git it also know as chinese wisteria. I grow that one in my willow tree.

Meadowyck I may try to rig something up this year but I'm pretty lucky to have the lanai, although it's all the dragging in/out that is hard work. I'm not sure what our association rules are for constructing mini green houses all over my yard LOL then again they have never said anything about the spongebob/dora/princess comforters all over my plants in the winter!

Looking at the link I posted for the tropical wisteria, one other Daves Garden member who posted their picture is in 8b in Texas and it bloomed for them so it may do pretty well for you up there in Bradenton.

My favorite plumeria is blooming right now...it's not as showy as my other ones but the fragrance more than makes up for it, if you could own just a few Plumeria (and EVERYONE should! LOL) then this is a must. It's called Champoo Paan and the fragrance is to die for, it's hard to describe but in between perfume and candy and very strong. Don't get me wrong I love my Aztec Gold Plumeria and it's strong peach fragrance plus it's a little/big bloomaholic but Champoo is just unique and I love it.

Here's a pic, sorry there's not a lot of blooms...I picked about 5 off for my birthday to bring into the house to sniff repeatedly LOL

This message was edited Jul 17, 2011 11:42 AM

Had to post this plumeria I got from Thailand years ago, it blooms without fail in the shade of an oak tree and even though it has only a mild fragrance, it is so pretty.

Sorry it's almost past it's prime, should have taken the pic before the rain the other day.

I will take some pictures tomorrow if it is sunny. My yard is so densely planted it's not easy to take photos of each individual tree. I cut my big Ylang Ylang down to about 7'. I didn't believe it would resprout, even thouth Botanic and Fairchild Tropical Gardens assured me with would. Well it did and at first I thought they were coming out of nodes, not the top where FTG thought they would. They are just coming out anywhere they can on the bare trunk. Really weird.

I'm very familiar with Brandon. I lived in Tampa for many years and both of my sons live in Brandon so I know how frustrating it can be to want to grow tropicals there. You can easily grow Plumerias. Put them in the ground in April, lift them out and store them bare root in the winter. You can do it in pots too but they never get as big or bloom as much as when they are in the ground. I think they like their roots cooler and their heads in the sun. You can sink the pot in the ground and get decent results too but I always found it easier to just stick them back in the holes they were in before.

Let me know which trees you particularly want photos of. I wish we could post more than one photo per post on here. I will upload them to an online album and post the link. I have so many, that would be easier. I found a photo of my 2 Lignum Vitaes when I got them in 2005. Amazing how much they have grown and I have pruned them several times over the years. I want to post that to show how fast they can grow down here in South Florida.

Islandgirl37 I had no idea you can cut back an ylang ylang like that mine is close to 20 ft tall and the lowest branches 10 ft so I can t reach them. I can smell them still but would love to cut it back so I could get some flowers. I would love to see a picture of how you cut it.

My lowest branches were way up there, around 15-20' and not many of them. I just cut it off. I have another one that is 3 years old and this one was so tall, with only a few branches at the top. I called Botanica and Fairchild Tropical Gardens, they both assured me I could cut it down to 1 foot if I wanted to and it would come back.

It took about a month or a little longer, I had my doubts until I saw a picture on the internet where someone had lopped it off and it had grown back. You will always be able to tell it was cut off, but the blooms will be lower. If I don't like the way it eventually looks, I have a replacement that will bloom next year. It's 3 years old now and it has been pruned to keep it lower and bushier. I lost my other big one after Hurricane Georges. It got a vertical split. At the time I didn't know I could have just cut it off below the split so we removed it. The one I just cut off is a seedling from the one that cracked during the hurricane. It is too close to my Bismark but I just couldn't being myself to remove it and I heard once in the ground, they don't take too well to being transplanted. It has given us several summers of incredible fragrance but it got too tall and leggy and reached the point where it had only a few branches at the top and it was impossible to reach the flowers without an extension ladder.

I wish you could post more than one picture per post here. I put them in an online album, here is the link to photos before, after and the new growth emerging:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/64872314@N06/sets/72157627298392466/

Here is a photo of a new limb emerging:

ButterflyChaser, are the members of the mint family invasive ?