What's bloomin in your yard?

Here's a collage of some bloomers I have right now. Not sure how many will still be blooming after this little wind,chill,rain spell we're having here right now.
Jan...

Jan - really nice collage and beautiful bloomers - I'm hoping it doesn't get as chilly as they predict - I've been enjoying this good weather we have still been having.

Judy

Jan, didn't you get ANY of Wilma?

Hi Hap,
Just the outer bands, rain and gusts around 35-50. Nothing major.
Very little plant damage other than some leaning castors.

Boy are you lucky....

Hi Jan, those are beautiful plants you have. What's the name of the orange flower (pic. 9 from the top)? I can't make it out.

Val

Some of the pictures duplicated but the orange is Tithonia (mexican sunflower) one of my favorites and another butterfly magnet.

Jan, is that Tithonia rotundifolia? I've been looking for that one to add to my butterfly garden. There aren't many places around here that sell it. Were did you get yours?

Also, is the second one Snail vine? Another one that's hard to find around here.

Val

Hi Val,
Yes it is tithonia rotundufikua (Torch), I grow mine from seeds. I have extra if you want some. Yes the other is snail vine. I gave Art a nice one at the swap but I can root more if you'd like one.

Jan, thank you so much for your offer. I didn't mean it this way LOL. How about when we see each other the next time you save me some seeds. I don't want to trouble you. Plus, I'm sure that we'll see each other soon. We'll have to plan a surprise get together at Molly's place once she gets settled in. The excuse is to bring her some house warming presents aka plants. I think it would be nice, but not until she's totally settled.

Right now I'm in the planning stages of a complete backyard redo (Wilma's fault). I have many plants that I have accumulated that need to go in the ground, so my patio area looks like a nursery LOL. All the plants that survived have to be transplanted to other locations, so once I'm done I'll have a better idea of what else I'll need.
Val

Ha! Ha! Ha!, you can't surprise me now Val, I found ya. :^)))

Jan, those bloomers are lovely. Can't wait to get north to get my garden in the ground and give them some water. This weekend back in the cooler area, then permanently on Wed.

Molly
:^)))

They'll be here whenever y'all are ready. I just relieved my neighbor down the street of some jatropha multifida volunteers if you need any of those too.
I know about collecting, Val. I have about 150 pots of stuff I have been collecting. Now if I can just get finished painting this house and replacing the fencing, I'll have someplace to put everything. LOL

Arghh Molly, you found out. You sneaky girl, you are worse than my kid LOL. I couldn't ever surprise him either. I thought you wouldn't read this thread. Oh well, it will still be a surprise because you'll never know when we'll be knocking at your door (just don't get the shotgun yet) LOL hehehe

Thanks Jan, I appreciate it. If there's anything that you may like from my yard, just let me know. I'm waiting for the pods of the Hibiscus sabdariffa to ripen so I can collect the seeds. I'll have a whole bunch of them once they'll ripen. I also have some orange cosmos that pretty soon will go to seed. I'll collect those too. And I have a whole bunch of Necklace Pod seeds too. I can also make cuttings of most of my stuff. Let me know.

Val

Jan beautiful ! It seems a lot of my plants like to bloom crazy in Flrodia when it get's coolers.
Two of my favorite blooming now just in time for the Holidays are
one of my favorites that we planted in the ground last Jan have given us hugh bushes of Gorgeous Poinsettias .
And another favorite Holdiay Cactus . I must call them Holiday Cactus as they always bloom Halloween, Thanksgivng, Christmas threw New Years and even Easter :))
Allison

Val, I had a Tithonia rotundifolia last year from seeds. Someone on a visit to Naples gave me seedlings in January. They died back by July. Here's a picture of a group of them next to hibiscus bushes. It will give you an idea of their height. I believe I had a couple of them when I put them into the ground. They turned into this group.

They got their share of butterfly and bee action.

Art

Hi Art,
If you plant the seeds a bit later in the summer, you can get a nice fall bloom. Mine is just coming into full bloom now and is about 4 1/2 ft tall.
Jan...

Thanks Art. Keep it on reserve. Right now, I can't get any more plants because I have too many to contend. It's going to be hard to group all these seemingly disparate plants together.

I have a white plumbago (native) reserved for you.

Wishing you all a really happy Thanksgiving! I'm going away for a mini vacation.

Val

Happy Thanksgiving to all.....

Hap

Hi all, Jan I didn't plant mine it was given to me as a gift by a snowbird from Naples. You know how they are, only here for the winter so he had to plant them when he did. Nice bright colored flowers well worth having them.

Thanks Val. I'll make a cutting of the snail vine for you.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I will be gone for about a week. I'll be visiting with my DD and DS in Connecticut.

Art

Art,
I'll have to send you a picture of all the 2 liter cutting greenhouses I made since the get together. I'm even trying some passiflora cuttings that I have never been able to root before as well as a few other harder to root plants. They look so cute all lined up on their shelves. I need more plant lights to put on top of each shelf.
Jan...

This message was edited Nov 23, 2005 1:50 PM

Don't mean to break into the conversation, but I have just moved to Lady Lake (The Villages) from Massachusetts and am lost in terms of gardening.

I have been planting a butterfly and hummingbird garden but now am concerned because it is getting so cold at night.

Could one of you kind souls educate me as to when we stop planting in zone 9b? And when it is safe to plant? Thanks so much, Karen

Karen, that's a very good question. I am coming up from the south where planting is done any time I feel like it to 9b, next week. So I'm watching for your answer.

Molly

P.S. I already planted some bulbs at my new place last weekend. I wanted to get that done before it gets too cold.

Or maybe I am in 9A. Don't even know that



Karen

Well, I'm in 9b and pretty much go by the theory that if it survives, it survives. LOL
Actually, I plant mostly year round, including annuals from seeds. I will start them inside in small pots and transplant them outside as seedlings. During the winter, the soil doesn't always stay warm consistently for the seeds to germinate but once transplanted, they do well for me. I like to have color year round. On the rare occasions that we get a frost or freeze warning, I will pull out my bin of old sheets and blankets and cover the plants most likely to be damaged and not come back. I have to say that I have lost very few to the cold.

Thanks Jan, you gave lots of useful information, for me.

Molly
:^)))

Thanks so much!! That is so exciting because after a million years of gardening in Massachusetts (digging rocks, fighting clay soil, etc.) I am just dying to get going with a REAL garden. Karen

Karen,
What city are you near?
Jan...

I am in Lady Lake 9 miles from Leesburg. Karen

Currently blooming, despite winter's best efforts:

the purple double datura that sugarweed gave me! (Thanks, Sidney! It's beautiful!)
the salvia forsythia (yellow salvia) that I got from MS Jen before she migrated north
The red pentas (never stop)
The red passionflower is suddenly, miraculously, covered in buds.
My "hummingbird" plant that I think MS Jen gave me -- not sure, but I got it at the Florala roundup. Red tubey things that the hummers love.
My pineapple sage.
The Jalepeno peppers. The crop continues. (Won't stop.)
Firecracker plant -- still going strong.
Firespikes -- still going strong, as is the blue porterweed.

That's a lot for zone 8B, right? Anxiously watching for first frost.

That is so inspirational Dogzilla, I have been nervously planting stuff here in 9b and expecting it all to die (my brain is still in Massachusetts). Karen

You'll get used to it NT.....it's a whole new world....wonderful too...

Hap

One quick word of advice for you Karen: Just because something gets nipped by frost in Florida does not mean it's gone forever. I have continued to water pots of dirt for long periods of time and have been rewarded with the resurrection of a plant that I thought for sure was a goner. Example: I once stuck a sago palm seed in a pot of dirt (4 of 'em actually). It took about a year and a half, but eventually they germinated and I now have four tiny sagos... Same with my passionflowers. They get nipped, sometimes die back to the ground if it stays really cold for more than a couple days... but the one I have now that's survived at least 3-4 winters here... now loaded with blooms and approx 20 feet tall (It's up to my roof and I have a 2-story house).

Remember The Princess Bride: your plants could be only mostly dead. Keep watering! ;>)

(P.S. I can't wait until you start discovering tropicals and palms! You're going to love gardening down here! There's no "off season". You can get blooms year-round if you plan carefully and know what to plant.)

Oh, winter things that are about to bloom or which you may have never heard of: camellias and tea olives. Both are trees. Tea Olives are VERY aromatic.

One last thing: forget about tulips, french lavender, lilacs, forsythia, and rhododendrons. Just put 'em out of your mind. There are Southern substitutions, which we will teach you about, in time.

Dozilla, you are sure right about the dead coming back. I was amazed when I first moved down with cities planting dead trees in our medians....well, they weren't DEAD!!! I joke with my friends in NY about FL being the only place in the world where you can plant dead plants and they come back!!! LOL

how about when something naturally dies off and goes dormant and you forget about over the winter just to find it coming up in the spring.
That happened the first year I had curcumas in pots. They died back all nice and brown and assuming they died, I tossed some coleus seeds on top without putting in new soil. Well come spring, I had curcumas coming up through the coleus. It was quite puzzling until I remembered what was in there before and researched to find they do go dormant. LOL. Good thing I didn't toss them.

I honestly feel like I am in heaven with being able to REALLY garden.

I have already signed up for the Sumter County Master Gardener Program which starts Feb. 1. I figured it would be the quickest way to learn about Florida gardening.

By the way, I just finished reading "Passalong Plants" which is a great gardening book. I would like to start passing it along to you wonderful and generous folks on this thread. Would someone like to read it first? Karen

I think I've seen that book, Karen.

(Wait until we tell you about Hurricane Lilies! http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/2109/index.html)

A great book for you would be
Florida Gardening: A Newcomer's Survivor Manual (http://davesgarden.com/gbw/c/749/), and if you can get it,
Florida, My Eden (http://davesgarden.com/gbw/c/1727/)

Hurricane Lilies are amazing! How did they get their name, do you know?

I took the Florida Gardening: Survivor manual out of the library and am reading it now. Thanks!!

I am going to be visiting Leslie in Maitland next week and will bring her the Passalong Plants book. Karen

My wild guess: The flowers tend to pop up only after a BUNCH of rain in a very short period of time, like right after a hurricane. For example, this year, Tallahassee saw virtually nothing in terms of hurricane rains. Only one of my lilies came up, but now (I have about a dozen all clumped together) the foilage has come up for all the bulbs. Go figure.

So interesting and so different than Massachusetts. Karen