Tropical Garden #112

gordon i have had dragonfruit for a couple of years. one was an unknown cutting from someone, the other is a physical graffitti cutting from a guy i work with. i planted them in a huge pot with rolled up fencing as support. as you can see they are sagging down now from lack of support now. they haven t fruited yet. i was told that once they reach 5 or 6 ft. they should fruit. they are at least that height now. the physical graffitti is a self pollinating one. i am not really sure about cold tolerance since i live in miami. if it gets really cold here. (below 50) i put all my potted plants inside a pergola and cover with moving quilts. i think that even though they are a cactus, they seem to be more of a tropical cactus, (if that makes sense). they need quite a bit of sun which is hard to come by in my yard. maybe this is why they haven t fruited yet. i fertilize with osmocote and everyonce in awhile some orchid fertilizer if i remember.

I saw Dragon Fruit growing at the UGA Bamboo Farm in Savannah. They had them growing in what I believe is an unheated hoophouse. They had a main stem then they were pinched so they would branch out at about 4' to 5'. They were growing on very heavy posts, 4" x4", and there was heavy wire between the posts supporting some of the side branches. They were fruiting, it was October of last year, and we got to taste the delicious fruit.

gordonhawk /ardesia
you can get a better idea of how tall it is in this picture. all this talk of the dragonfruit made me move it to the other side of the house today where i have more sun. i guess i could try pinching the tips? the branches aren t really fat but have lots of roots.

i forget the name of this

yellow balleria and clerodendron

i hacked back the supernova brug a few weeks back and just stuck branches in the ground and they already have leaves.

wild coffee

so exciting to see the blue ginger flower starting.

you can tell i didnt have to work to day by all the pictures. at least i got alot of cleaning up done in the garden.

Great job candela!

Well now this is going to drive me crazy cause I almost bought that same orange flowered plant you have up there Cassie...and now I can't remember the name either !

Is it some type of gesneriad? Maybe this one (but yours looks much better Candela.)
http://www.gesneriads.ca/chrysot4.htm

It's the Florida Sunset plant aka Chrysothemis pulchella 'Black Flamingo'

http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/72716/

I have one it love it - so, SO PRETTY!

Kay do you grow yours in sun or shade ?

I have to grow it in shade because it wilts at the drop of a hat.

Thanks for the kind words ardesia and Debra. I also agree with the quote from Tony Avent and like his sense of humor.

Nice pictures candela.

wow Cassie, your day off looks like it was worth it.
after work today, a gardening friends husband came by with two huge plants that I had given his wife three years ago, a small seedling cross of Brenda Delph brug, shooting star x geniveve, and a small stick of oleander, and well, I had to cut the heck out of both of them just to get these monsters into the car.. now I have a tub of oleander branches with seed pods, and a tub of brug Y's of the cross from bdelph. *sigh*


Drew did your plants get there yet?

Got them potted up and seem to be doing fine ! Thanks Deb! I am sorry I have not gotten back to thank you. Been fairly busy digging and potting. I am finally finished and will post some pictures fairly soon. I can't believe some of these plants are sooooo huge! My journal is about to explode to.

Thanks Again for your giving!

People, where does a tropical plant addict put all her tender tropicals for the winter - my sunroom and greenhouse are stuffed FULL!

Rachel, is that a Daphne blooming right now?

Kay, Where ever you can stuff more!

I have an inside corner of my deck that is protected from the wind. I put down those seedling heat mats, put the plants on and throw a blanket over them to keep the heat in on the really cold nights. It does not get any sun so the plants stay alive but they don't grow again until I move them out into the sun in the spring.

You are so fortunate to have GH. My HOA would have a hissy fit if I ever tried to put one up.

Kay...silly girl...don't you know that's what extra bedrooms and extra bathrooms are for ?

I have Adeniums in all those rooms!

Here's a question for all you NW Florida folks:

Since I am running out of room to bring plants in, which Clerodendrums are root-hardy in my zone 8B?

I brought in all of my tropicals the last 2 winters, but am hearing from folks, via the internet, that some of my tropicals will come back from the roots. What tropicals have you left in pots outdoors and have them survive our winters. Our lowest temp. last winter was 25 for a few hours.

Jeremy, where are you?!

Hey all, finally home from planting bulbs in Salt Lake - Phew! We planted almost 300 daffodils in rocky clay soil. I am so tired it was a treat to sit on the plane all day yesterday.

Alice, my synandrospadix vermitoxicus is also going dormant, as we've had a few nights in the low 60's while I was away. btw it does have a shorter name, (I went back to Tropiflora's website to look it up when I got worried about it). "Worm killer"! (yuck) The site says they called it that because the indigenous people used the tuber to cure intestinal parasites. (oh, yuck again!)

Here's a shot of the lovely little 'Don Miller' begonias you sent me. Thanks again they are doing SO well.

Kay, more 'greenhouse space' can be had if you are able to make a frame out of PVC (cheap white plastic pipe from HD) or bamboo and plastic drop sheets. A friend here makes herself a big hoop house on the south side of her house against the wall every winter. The wall acts as a heat sink to collect warmth from the sun all day and release it at night.

Rita, I have another friend who grows tropicals in Salt Lake City. He keeps his greenhouse warm and humidified by using waterbed heaters immersed in tubs (plastic storage tubs from Target) of water. The air there is extremely dry and they get below-zero temps in winter but he figures it only costs him about 10 cents a night to run the heaters. They're very efficient because they heat the water - the larger the tub, the better. Just thought this might be a good way to help keep your Borneo Giant going through the winter - put a tub and waterbed heater beside his pot in your hoop house. Warmth, humidity, good light - what more does an elephant (ear) need?

Kay, I have the 'Shooting Star' clerodendrums in the ground here. They lost all their leaves the last two winters, but came back gangbusters both years. If you sink the pots into the ground they are better insulated and will more likely survive the cold. Let's hope we have a more normal winter this year, huh?

Alice, here's 'Odora alba' you sent me also doing wonderfully.

:-), glad the kids are happy.

I am on the border of 8b/9a and many of the cleros do fine here. I have an enormous C. thomsonaii which stays evergreen for me.. This one rarely blooms, does it need a lot of sun? The Blue Butterfly one, I can't think of the name right now, dies to the ground each year and comes back happily. The Pagoda and th Cashmere Bouquet (I can't remember any names today) are total thugs here, I won't even grow them because they are such weeds. There are many more cleros but these are the ones that I grow. One of these days I am going to try the musical note but not until I get everything else around here planted. Today I boxed up a mess of plants to donate to a church bazaar.
Still have about 70 pots of "stuff" to get in the ground. I teach propagation classes so there are always seeds and cuttings started that I use for demos. It is a huge MESS.

Thanks, folks, but you are in zone 9 - I am in zone 8. I think I'm about 10 degrees colder than you.

This Thai Caladium has been showing off all summer. I suspect I should lift the bulb when it eventually dies back. I have never had good luck doing that though.

Look what I found in the jungle. I had forgotten about this pretty brom and I remember snitching two little cuttings of the epi when I was in Florida in May. One is still little and the other is not. Haven't a clue where I will put that one.

Hello Everyone!!

RachelLF, I have received so many nice anthuriums from you already, and feel guilty for accepting your offer. However, I can't say no. Please LMK if there is any plant in my garden that you would like to have a start of, in trade.
Ditto on what ardesia said.

Homer1958, I had to edit my post regarding the drying bulbs because I posted the wrong picture. These are a few that needed a rest. After drying, they are placed in a dry warm place in the Greenhouse. The survivors are replanted in the spring.
That is my Alocasia Watsoniana next to them, rotting from the top, but sending out new shoots from the bottom.

candela, glad that you shared your day off with us, your garden seems to have one of everything already. The wild coffee you sent me died but the yellow balleria had to be cut back because it got too big.

dyzzy, it is good to have you back,300 bulbs will make a beautiful show, come spring. Thanks for the tip regarding waterbed heater. I have a little pond in each hoop house that I can put them in. I also keep 3-4 5 gal. buckets of water in each hh as well, that I use for watering in the winter.

Kay Jones, do you have any of your Adeniums blooming? They are my Dh favorite plant.

Joeswife, my 4 O'Clocks are at their peak right now, I think of you every time I walk by one. It seems as if the yellows did not survive the summer, they are all pink. Will you save me a few more yellow seeds .

Philo. basket

ardesia, Lovely pictures!
You are so good at creating such pleasing combinations, the caladium with the syngonium is one I will be copying next spring.

Getting prepared for a cold front on Wednesday night.

New Sansevieria masoniana 'Congo'

This message was edited Oct 26, 2011 5:59 AM

Sansevieria

Thanks Rita; Are you going to cut off the top part of that Watsoniana tuber and have another plant? Colocasias in the same manner as the Alocasias right?

No, Rita - they just finished blooming. I dragged them all into my house today - feel good that I got that done. NOW, I'm wondering where to put my Siam Ruby banana. I am wondering if my Florida room, kept at 60 degrees during out short winter, will be warm enough for it. I brought it in today - wish me luck with it!

Good Morning!
homer1958, I was thinking that would be a good solution. Should I cut it now or wait until spring?

KayJones, Drew is our banana expert. He will have a good answer for you. The only banana plants that I have left are planted in the ground in my hoophouse. I usually overwinter the others, barerooted in my GH, but they died over the summer.

Rita, go ahead and cut that rotten part off and then dust real well with the Cinnamon! I believe if you wait till the end of February to get it started you will have a nice plant by the middle of the summer and you won't have to fuss over it this winter!

Kay, You will be fine in the Florida room... just enough water; between moist and dry so leaves aren't drooping bad. and I would place a 100watt light bulb in a mechanics type of hanging light fixture during cold days, but have it facing up toward the leaves instead of shining down on the leaves to keep it warm.

good morning all... Wish I could help you store plants for winter here...

seems like I have enough room to spare.. and Alice, my Don Miller begonia looks just like Elaines and is very pretty!