TROPICAL PLANTS AND GARDENS #131

Please join us for tropical plants and gardens full of wondrous color.
We came from here ; http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1310372/




This message was edited Jun 4, 2013 2:52 PM

Colocasia Illustris with Mosaic Virus above. (wish it was a sport)

Drew, that is the prettiest results of disease I've ever seen!

Thanks Kay!

Nah! He's been out there with the magic markers - we've told you about drawing on the leaves, Drew!

I'm with Kay, very pretty even if it is sick.

I've got Rita's lovely Rainbow Costus getting ready to bloom, speaking of colored leaves . . .

What's become of Rita, anybody know?? She went to Belize and never returned?

I dmailed Rita about a week ago, but she didn't respond, so I hope someone knows if all is o.k. with her.

Everything is growing visibly after nearly 4in. of rain here yesterday. Despite numerous tornadoes, we're still thankful for all that wonderful rain.
- dwarf poinciana aka Pride of Barbados, I guess it needs a little pruning huh? Wonder if I can root those sticks??
- closeup of the flowers, the stamens usually sweep upwards gracefully, but they took a beating from the rain
- double hib on a big old scraggly bush outside the fence, never gets any tlc, poor thing.
- Passiflora coccinea rambles around all over the back 40
- white Brazilian plume looking for a home, it doesn't like my high pH well water, gets all fussy and chlorotic . .

Elaine,
You can send it to me or maybe just a cutting! I love it! I have the purple one but have never seen the white one.

Beautiful blooms and foilage.. I took some pictures before I left for AR, now I am back, does anyone know what this is?
carribia is really putting on a show this year.

Orchid Vine, Butterfly Vine, Fairy Vine, Camels Foot

Botanically: Bauhinia corymbosa

Read more: http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/75024/#ixzz2VcxjviK0

That is beautiful, Deb - now, I want one!!!! Did you start this from seeds?

I've got that plume where it gets watered with the cistern water (in the veggie garden) right now. The leaves have gone back to nice dark green. Once it's big enough, I'll send you a cutting, Paula. Probably in the fall. Maybe you'll have more of your private nursery planted out by then . . .. (just razzin ya)

Deb, that is a kick-a$$ rose! I can't get over how the other flower looks so much like my C.pulch in shape. But it's on a vine, right?
- Achimenes starting to bloom, the red ones have been dug up by the squirrels, so are somewhat behind but I have a thousand purple ones.
- Alocasia 'Stingray' shading Begonia 'Don Miller'. I'm kind of disappointed that the leaves of the Stingray are so scrunched, but apparently that's what it does.
- red re-blooming daylilies are already on their second go round.
- Colocasia 'Blue Hawaii' is loving all this rain. It's been pouring again this afternoon. I plunked its pot under a downspout, and it took off!

Elaine, how are you getting rain?!!! We are in a sucking drought up here!!!

Those are some lovely plants, ladies. I really like that Poinciana... Looks like a crazy red version of the pink mimosas you see growing around here.

Well, I've just about got all the plants situated and planted at my house, and I know I've been saying about posting pics when I get it done, and this time I mean it. I'll be taking some pics tomorrow and posting them here.

Anyways, that mystery arum that I mentioned last fall when I got this house has returned, and it looks like there is another one near it. The leaves are not completely unfurled, but I'd SWEAR that they were Zantedeschias of some kind.... The leaf proportions and shapes (on the few that have unfurled thus far) and markings look exactly like a typical Zantedeschia (Calla Lily)... The catch is that Zantedeschia SHOULD NOT BE HARDY in Zone 6b, yet these have survived at least 2 winters outside here with no protection.

One theory I have is that these are Zantedeschia aethiopica 'White Giant' or one of the other Zantedeschias that are hardy to zone 7a and either (a) this one is in a favorable microclimate (they are on the southwest corner of the house, but fairly close to the foundation), or (b) some mutant variety that is actually hardy to Zone 6b.... I don't know if any of you are Zantedeschia (or other Calla lily) experts, but I'll be posting pics once the leaves are fully unfurled.

evening ya all, that flower ( there are about 8 plants different colors of blooms) are mnore a small bushy plant with upright stems with the flowers, and the leaves are more pointy..
our state bird..meadowlark, a young one..
climbing mauve rose Angel Face or my angel face, something like that
houtunia
caladiums
yes KayJones, those cute plants were started from seeds.. just can't find them in my stash, wonder if they from you?
I planted some dwarf poinciana aka Pride of Barbados
from you elaine, and some sesbaunia from KayJOnes and a ton of other seeds got started.

I've got a big clump of Callas, so let's see your pictures! We don't care if it's "done", a garden is never done! This thread is dying for lack of pictures, folks!

Kay, we got thrown under the train of a huge rain band from TS Andrea on Thursday morning. My 4in. rain gauge overflowed, so we got more than 4 inches just in about 3 hours plus about 8 tornadoes. Then there were a few more spritzes since then, and another inch or so today. How could it all have missed you??

Did I show off my gorgeous begonia that Mj gave me last fall? It's been languishing in a little pot until just over a month ago, when I put it in a nice big pot, and it has exploded to 4x the size it was, plus blooms!

Begonia 'Maurice Amy'

those begonias are awsome, Don Miller from Alice is really growing, He is in ground out back facing east, under the vine canopy.

here is a few shots of the mystery plant..
elaines caladium she sent me
my konjac voodoo

Lovely rose, Deb!

That reminds me, I do have a few pics to share, courtesy of my wife. I don't know if I mentioned this, but there are two HUGE old-fashioned rose bushes on my property at the edge of the wooded section, and they have started blooming, with beautiful peach-colored roses of the classic rose shape and with heavy, sweet perfume. The first pic is of the bush itself, but that doesn't really do it justice: The bush is at least 10' high and some of the 'canes' are about 3" in diameter. Second pic is of some of the fully open roses my wife picked and placed in a "vase" (actually a small Coca-Cola glass) inside our house.

Final pic is of our two cats, Samwise and Watson enjoying the new cat tree we got them at Petco last week (Sam's the one on top and Watson is in the tube).

beautiful! I love roses.

Everyone's plants look wonderful. Isn't it nice to find such a lovely old rose. I hope you find lots more treasures.

Andrea, the practice hurricane, was kind enough to leave us with 5" of rain in two days. Perfect, we needed it badly.

Interesting phil in a hanging basket seen on a garden tour recently.

We just received 2" of rain this morning - THANK GOD!

Deb, when time permits, please try to start a cutting of that beautiful mystery plant for me.

Looks like a Monstera obliqua Alice. Everyones plants are going crazy!

That is a beautiful hole-y leaf philo, there Alice. Speaking of monsteras, how are the giants coming along, Drew?

I can't thank TS Andrea quite so much, we got over 4in. of rain in about 3 hours on Thursday as she went by. The various showers and spritzes since then have been nice to keep it cool, though.

- Philo. Gloriosum experiment is showing results, the one in the pot looks beautiful, and the one beside it but in the ground is really struggling. Guess I'll rescue it and give it a pot to protect it from marauding oak tree roots . ..
- start of Clerodendron 'Pagoda' from floridabunnie is growing like gangbusters and putting up its first little 'pagoda'.
- Deb, your Caladium 'Scarlet O'Hara' is a lot prettier than mine. I've got mint green leaves and shocking pink middles, looks like a cartoon plant to me.Hope they tone down a bit, and look more like yours.

Looks good to me Elaine? Maybe a little more Fertilzer for the ground one? Everything is coming along here. Finally 3 weeks of warmth... But if this rain 5.5'' + (in 4 days) continues like it has, I will have a bunch of drowned Tropical Plants. I'll get some photos out soon. Promise!

Thanks for the ID on the philodendron Drew, I'll pass the info on to the homeowner.

If you would like to be Technical about it (or not), it's a Monstera in lieu of a Philodendron.

LOL

I'm getting a headache from the Tech-speak!

Variegated spiral ginger is blooming. Oops, a few crawlies on that second one, got to get out there with the soapy water.

Lovely looking ginger you got there, Elaine! I really like gingers, particularly varigated ones. (one of the reasons I got Z. mioga 'Dancing Crane' and 'Silver Arrow' instead of just plain old Z. mioga). Do the flowers have a kind of sweet gingery scent like most gingers I've seen blooming before?

Anyways, I know I'm a bit late on this, but it was pouring rain two days solid around here, and the sun finally came out, so I now have my promised pics.

First pic is one of the Musa xishongbananensis "Mekong Giant" hardy bananas that I got from Plant Delights about two weeks ago. It's been loving the rain.

Second pic is some of my hardy trunk-forming yuccas. The closest one in the foreground is some unknown hybrid that I bought from Brian Williams (or his dad, more specifically) in 2009 that he got from some guy in Italy. It appears to be a cross between Y. filamentosa and Y. aloifolia, but it's dead hardy and will get a cluster of trunks up to about 6' high. The middle one is Yucca recurvifolia (or Y. gloriosa var. recurvifolia, depending on who you ask) and is the one I got in Chincoteauge last summer. It was doing pretty bad after spending all winter in its root-bound nursery pot in my garage for most of the winter, but since I planted it outside in late March it's been doing fairly well. The furthest one away is Y. gloriosa "Lone Star" which I got at a different nursery near Chincoteague last year, and it spent the winter and all of last summer in the same conditions that the Y. recurvifolia did and was planted out at the same time. As you can see, it seems to be hardier (or at least more robust) than the Y. recurvifolia.

Third pic is my one WIndmill palm that has survived outside with no protection since I planted it in September of 2007 (after purchasing it from Brian Williams, the guy who introduced the "Mekong Giant" hardy banana to the US). The reason it is so small is because where it was planted had almost full shade all day long, yet it survived and perservered where all my other windmill palms died off. Not that I've moved it to a spot with more sun, it's already starting to grow noticeably faster (it's already pushed out as many leaves since I moved it at the end of April as it did in an entire year when I had it planted under horrible growing conditions).

Second to last pic is one of my Poncirus Trifoliata (Hardy Orange), one of my three Sabal Minor (I've had FAR more success with S. minor than other hardy palms, only losing one of the original 4 in the past 6 years I've been growing them outside here without protection). Again it's kinda stunted due to the fact that where I planted it, while initially an open clearing, had the tree canopy close over it during the past 6 years, resulting in it being stuck in almost full shade. The plant on the farthest right is one of my earliest experiments in unusual plants for this area, a Fargesia nitida (Blue Fountain Bamboo) clump that I bought in 2005 from a local nursery. It has about doubled in size since then, but again, where I had it planted before was a bit shadier than it would have liked (now it gets part shade, which is ideal rather than light/full shade it got before).

Final picture has one of my Rhodea Japonica plants that is blooming, as well as the mystery arum. From what I can see of the leaves, I'd SWEAR it was a Calla Lily, but as I said before, they SHOULDN'T be hardy in this area.... Maybe I have some extra-hardy sport, or possibly it's planted close enough to the foundation for the soil temp to be high enough for it to survive, but in any case it's survived two winters outside with no protection.... I'd like to see about dividing it at some point and planting the divisions at different places around my property and see if they survive next winter... If they do, then I might see if any of the local nurseries would be interested in propogating it....

Of course I could be wrong in my identification, so perhaps some of you experts could help me out?

Very nice, you're going to have a really interesting garden pretty soon! Sounds like an oxymoron, but you're growing a garden of "hardy tropicals" there, I'd swear.

On the Arum/Calla in the last pic, I'd wait until it blooms. Could be Arum Italicum, or another but you're right those leaves sure do look like Callas. (although maybe the spots are a bit too big?)

Those spiral gingers of mine don't seem to have any fragrance. I've got hedychiums galore coming along that will make up for it, though. Another few weeks for those to bloom.

Well, that's the general idea. ;-) I also want to get some of the more interesting native plants growing as well, including Arundinaria gigantea, Pawpaw (have one of each) and such. I'd also like to get a hold of some native roses (Rosa carolina and Rosa virginia). The Carolina, or Meadow Rose used to grow all over the place around here, along just about any road out in the country, but between the State spraying and mowing everything within 6 ft of the road side and the farmers spraying and plowing everything further out than that, they have all but disappeared.... I also knew were there were quite a few Virgina Roses growing in an abandoned rock quarry, but high demand for road construction gravel caused the owner to reopen it, and the place where the roses were growing has been strip mined for limestone. }:-( If I'd have known they were going to do that, I'd have snuck in and dug them up and at least TRIED to get them to grow at my parents' house. There are still some Meadow roses growing in the corner of my grandma's property, but I don't want to dig them up, so I'm going to see if Plant Scout has any mail order outfit selling bushes of either R. carolina or R. virgina....

Anyways, here's one more pic that I took today of my largest Dwarf Palmetto (those who live in Florida are probably wondering why I'm planting "weeds") and another Yucca recurvifolia. This particular plant was purchased and planted in 2006, and has survived outside every winter since then. It was going into a decline due to where it was planted getting overgrown by the tree canopies, so I dug it up (along with the mystery hybrid yucca) in 2011, since I was hoping to move that year. That didn't happen, and both these yuccas spent the entire winter of 2011 outside in 3 gallon nursery pots with absolutely no protection whatsoever and suffered no leaf damage (the previous three years they all but died back to the ground and/or were eaten by rabbits, which was part of the reason they were going into decline), which would indicate that insufficient sunlight was weakening them against the cold winter temperatures as opposed to a lack of innate hardiness. Again, when I planted this thing in the ground, it has been steadily growing and has a 3" trunk already....

Very nice everyone, I could almost smell the beautiful roses

You'll be dizzy when you mow around all those individuals, Ben. I'd have cleared one big bed for all of them, but then, I'm notoriously lazy and I have no grass.

They'll be nicely displayed specimen plants, for sure. Pretty lake - are you allowed to use lake water for irrigation?

Elaine, I believe that is a road. Yellow lines across the top.

Yeah, it's the road in front of the house, but with all the rain we've been getting lately, it's well on its way into BECOMMING a lake....

Oh yeah. I just saw the "waves" and the foamy line at the edge . . .
- one more agapanthus
- the pool corner, variegated ginger in the big urn, Achimenes in there, too, Spathoglottis in front of that.
- a little tillandsia ball, blooming

LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I can appreciate someone who can laugh at themselves. Lord knows I do it all the time Elaine!

This message was edited Jun 12, 2013 11:29 AM

Standard practice around here, too Drew. It's a life skill everyone needs, right?
- Ric rac cactus from a cutting Mj traded me last fall is rambling all over now!
- Tiny Jewel alocasia doing great, too. It has a wierd little bud-like thing on the top of the soil, any ideas what this is? It's not a flower, we've already done that.

Sorry, lousy pictures, the light was really low with a nearby thunderstorm.

Looks like a little Cormel Elaine. Very nice!

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/137729/cormel




Sustained some damage through here today...Trees down w/ leaves and branches everywhere! Went from 94 to 70 in 30 minutes!

This message was edited Jun 13, 2013 9:17 PM

Yay, I do love it when my plants propagate themselves.

That was a dramatic lineup of storms that went through there, Drew. Hope all your giants are ok. 70 sounds like a delicious temperature to me, nice if you have to be outside cleaning up. After Andrea left a mess here last week, my garden helper - a nice fellow and hard worker but with a little drinking problem . . did not show up and I was putzing around sweating myself into a puddle trying to just clear the walkways.