Tropical Plants and Gardens #119

Those are lovely - so frothy and lacy-looking! I planted Irises I brought from Missouri, almost 5 years ago - they bloomed the first year and haven't bloomed since - don't think our winters are cold enough to send them in to dormancy.

They are gorgeous. I'm lucky to have a northern garden to plant them in. I planted all those 4 years ago and this is the first year I've been there when they've been blooming. Great looking foliage, too.

But . . . y'know, even if they did bloom for you in Florida, they're so very fleeting. In our warm weather they'd likely be in bloom for about a week, then done for the year. Cannas are a lot better plant for bloom value. Or begonias that bloom and bloom, or orchids with flowers that last 2 months . . . it's nuts to want daffodils when you can have amaryllis, just my opinion.

Here's to shifting shade... Nostrovia!

I'm back to only gardening in the shade now. It's too dam hot in the sun.

Here's my P. Gloriosums - the rear one is in the ground, and so happy, forward one in a sunken pot, smaller but still fine.

Lots more fun foliage. Caladiums have gone nutso this year. Begonia 'Looking Glass' is big and sassy, err glassy . .

They all look like they belong in a magazine, Elaine!

Thanks, Drew. How's it coming in the Land of the Giants?

Bet the cats miss having all those gorgeous plants in the house, huh?

Did any of your AeAe pups survive?

Everything is getting stupid big and it's only May. I will probably take some more pictures after the newest Philodendron maximum unfurls it's latest leaf in about 7-10 days!

Those darn cats; I grow Chinese bamboo for them to munch on. Richard, the gray one with the white "socks" doesn't touch any of the tropicals I place in the garage or the upstairs bath. He loves to just hang out and watch me play in the dirt.

AeAe pups are growing painfully slow. New leaf should be totally unfurled tomorrow on the "mutha". Will get a picture tomorrow of it. The pups have yet to throw a leaf.


Alocasia Robudora 'SuperMax'.

This message was edited May 25, 2012 10:01 PM

Those pups will take off with all the rain you're going to get from these crazy early trop. storms. All they need is water and warmth.

Amongst all those huge plants of yours "Super Max" is a bit of a joke right now. New baby, huh?

I have one called 'Blue Hawaii' that is just starting to put on some of it's much-touted colors. I'll try for a decent photo of it tomorrow.

I also got two 'Stingray's thinking they'd be a reasonable size, and such pretty foliage. Ha! Of course they're now going for the record to be huge. Manta rays, more like.

Alberto hit Charleston and Savannah, skirting us leaving the area high and dry. I am actually hoping Beryl does come in a bit and give us some much needed rain.

The growing season is going to be so long this year, it will be interesting to see how things develop. I am wondering if any plants will poop out early, sort of growing themselves to death. Hope not.

Some of my water liliies. Offshore storms cause the neatest sunsets, sorry about the haze, it was hot here.

Beautiful, Alice!

I am hoping for some of that rain too. Supposed to hit Jacksonville tonight, sooo since I am only an hour away, hope we get some rain!

OK ladies, been plant shopping at my two favorite nurseries on the coast and low and behold one of them had what I am pretty sure is Philo Pink princess. They are in 4 in. pots and are about 8 in.+ . I bought 5 extra....thinking of my DG friends. These things are so hard to come by. I would post a pic, but not at home. If you would like one, they are $8.00 PLUS shipping. I looked on Almost eden (4in. - $17.95) and Logees (4in. - $24.95). That's why I went back and bought 5 more. If anyone is interested...first 5 to email , if not, I don't mind keeping them....LOL!

It is a little finicky with the watering and likes the temperatures in the mid to high 80's, Elaine. I am hoping for a couple of more leaves and then, I think it will be ok. the last leaf is 8''. It had 3 other leaves besides the ones in the picture... the first leaf... was less than the size of my pinky fingernail. These leaves get exponentially larger!

They are calling for rain Tues. Wed. and Thurs. here, with a 50% chance. We don't need any... we had 6'' last week in a little over 2 days.

Looka that pretty striped stem!

My C. Blue Hawaii finally has a leaf worth posting. Green with feathering between the veins, purple veins and a thin purple edge around the leaves plus purple stems, too.

The Stingrays are just fun. And Gloriosa Lilies having a party - again!

Elaine, are you saying your Gloriosas re-bloom? Mine don't.

Yes, these come back from underground each year, and bloom 4 or 5 times through the season. Even after the two cold winters we had, they came back. They're spreading slowly, too! I get a few new shoots each year.

Here's a funny little fragrant day lily that has come back now for the 3rd year, too.

Still don't think I could watch the sunset over the pine lined salt water inlet.

Not trying to sell for these people. Botanical growers.com has higher priced, excellent, very large plants in sweeeeeet packaging. Just in case someone is interested!

Yikes Paula, Beryl, has you in her scopes. Hope it brings you lots of rain - and that's all.

Lookin that way, we are still at Brunswick right now, hubbys going back home but my son and I have decided to stay until tomorrow. So far a little rain and windy.

wish we had a "like" button..
Candella, your making me miss my place, but am sure enjoying the photos.
Someone finally turned the warm switch on here 97F, (is there a happy medium here?)
Just unpacked a box of fun things from Zone9tropicals that Wayne sent...
rj

Randy, good to hear you are OK and getting your trop fix.

Paula, stay safe, they have upped the wind numbers.

I have forgotten the name of this one, I think it was two long names both starting with "s".

ardesia

you have the name of the plant in the tag in the pot. Since it is a plant that is unfamilar to me I can't begin to guess.

Nice looking plant.

Jan

OMG, that is usually the last place I would think of to look. Going out to get it and put the name in my inventory RIGHT NOW.
:-((((



Synandrospadix vermitoxicus, whew, nowonder Elaine calls it worm killer.

This message was edited May 27, 2012 7:33 PM

LOL, Alice - you are just like the rest of us - CRS is a horrid disease, and MOST of us have it!!!

LoL, looking good, Alice. Sounds like you'll be getting some rain from Beryl, too.

Maybe, we sure could use the rain, if we don't get any tonight, we'll probably get some when it heads back this way on Tuesday. We had outer bands all day but just wind gusts, no rain. Paula should be getting walloped about now in Brunswick.

Love, love love that Thai caladium.

That's another rescue from Lowe's last year. No name on it, but on the Aroid forum, LariAnn says she has one similar that she calls "Black Thai". It's in that pot with the other one, which has a name with a Pearl in it. It has a flower now so if it make seeds and they germinate, I may have babies to trade next fall! She calls this one in the pic "Jungle Rain". I think you got one of these last year too, didn't you?

Hope Mj is weathering this storm ok, too. Last year this time they had fires. Now they'll be getting flooded. The biggest rain band just going over her area. We're just hoping for a few little downpours from the outer bands.

Hi everyone! I thought I would share some pictures of my tropical plants blooming in Ohio now. I always peek in and look at all of your wonderful pictures and thought I would finally contribute :)

Beautiful pictures Hollysmamma, what is the plant int he 3rd pic?

The right side of the storm is hitting the NE coast of FL right now, they must have had quite a night. We haven't heard from our son in JAX yet but weatherunderground has him in the middle of the fray. Hoping Paula and Martha are OK.

Alice, it is this:

Lotus berthelotii

http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/1250/#b

Aroids looking good Elaine!

Thank you Alice for worrying about me. Just a little rain and wind right now. The worst for us will be tonight and tomorrow when it turns and heads this way. They are saying we could get 3-4 inches of rain. Jax is looking pretty bad at the moment...a lot of streets under water. I get the local stations...some trees down and power outages. So far they have showed two cars that have been crushed by trees. Right at the moment...sun is shining..funny!

Glad to hear you are OK, just spoke with my son in Julington Creek and he said the damage was minimal there. The trees that are down around there were either newly planted or old and sick. He says the downtown areas of JAX always flood.

We are getting some 25mph gusts now, I suspect it will be that way for a few days. Her's hoping we get some rain too, this wind dries everything out.

Map shows the storm has moved across the peninsula. Looks like KayJones might be getting a bucket load of rain about now. All that area needed rain, but it sure would be nice if it didn't all come along in one day!

Here it's partly cloudy, a little breezy and very warm, a sauna outside in fact. I think we got one little shower last night, and a couple of rumbles of thunder. C'mon rain!!

Elaine, we haven't gotten a drop of rain - just 10 m.p.h. winds and 90 degrees. Boy, we sure could use some rain around here!

OO, isn't it frustrating to see it so close, and get nothing? We've had big rain bands across Ft.Myers and Tampa all morning - 50mi. north and south of us. All we've seen are a few clouds and a nice breeze, too.

Nice day to be out in the garden, though.

I've been looking everywhere for the white Begonia - haven't found it yet, but I WILL!

Just watch your mail box.

Mine will be big enough by fall to send you a start. Oops, sounds like Alice has one for you already.


This message was edited May 28, 2012 3:21 PM

Alice,
You and I have twins....mine is really growing