Hydrangeas?

Does anyone grow Hydrangeas here i FLA? I've been discussing it with growers in other parts of the country, and they think it may be too hot for them here. Anybody?

I'm north of you and have 4 different varieties of hydrangeas planted in shade that are doing great! How much farther south are you from Columbia County?

Juja - I don't know where Columbia County is (I haven't been here that long). I'd have to look it up.

Can your hydrangeas grow in the sun? Or is it stricly shade? I read about varieties that are sun tolerant, but maybe not Florida sun.

Steve

Steve,

I have 2 in pots that grow fairly well, and bloom. I keep them on the moist side, in full sun, but I can't remember what variety they are.

MerryMary

Mary,

That's good to know. I'm looking for plants that will provide some shade. I've been collecting tropicals for a while now, and I'm going to plant them all in the Spring. Surprisingly (at least to me) most of them want to be in the shade, and I don't have much in my yard. That's what got me interested in hydrangeas.

Thanks for the info, and Merry Christmas.

Juja - Merry Christmas to you too.

Steve

Steve - I'm in north central FL right about where I-75 & I-10 cross over. The ones I have prefer filtered sun - not direct summer afternoon sun.

Juja

Maybe it depends on the cultivar? Just guessing - Mary is fairly close to me, and hers do fine in direct sunlight.

Steve

Hi
I am in Orlando fl and I grow them. I got my starts from my sister in Miss and yes they grow well here but mine is in the sun and I think they would do better in shade. They grow fast and bloom well, the the sun seem to do the blooms in pretty fast. Mary

Steve, your probably right about the different cultivars and also it probably depends upong the irrigation systems and how much people take care of their plants. I don't have any irrigation system and I have gotten to the point that when I plant something, it's on it's own because it is just me and my hundreds feet of hose and manual watering - so I tend to keep things in filtered shade so they don't burn up in the summer. I'm also terrible with keeping track of names and cultivars - This year (or for the moment) my "favorite" plant is hydrangeas which means that I am on the lookout for every different color and variety I can find :-)

Uh-oh - we now have 2 Mary's here.

I don't want to plant them in the sun, but shade is at a premium in my garden. That's why I first started looking at hydrangeas - I was hoping they would provide some shade for some of the more sensitive tropicals that I have.

Maybe I should start looking someplace else for a source of shade. I was thinking palms, but they're expensive. I might just bring this up in the Tropicals forum, and see what other people do to shade their tropicals.

Steve

I'm confused: which tropicals are you trying to shade? In my experience, most of my tropicals prefer direct, full-on blazing sun.

I have a couple types of hydrangea here in the Panhandle/Big Bend area: an oak leaf hydrangea, which prefers dappled shade to mostly shade. Then (I think it's a Nikko Blue) another regular hydrangea -- sorry I don't know exactly which species because it was rescued from the compost pile at a local nursery -- which I have in mostly sun. I make sure the hydrangeas get a little shade late in the afternoon, when many plants cook. Otherwise, I can't get 'em to bloom without some sun.

Some palms are very cheap. Which did you have in mind? You can probably trade for what you want at a roundup. You may also be able to find bananas for cheap, which would provide good shade. I picked up a red banana at Target for about $5 (in a half-gallon pot, it was about 2' high) which is now about 5' high...

I need to shade Coleus, Brugmansias, the red banana you bought (it's a Musa Coccinea, and it needs shade where I am), Peacock Gingers, Root Beer Plants, Philodendron Solloum, Bromeliads, several others.

Many of the tropicals I've collected need shade.

Steve

My brugmansia is in full sun, and all bananas do better in full sun.

The other things you mention, indeed, require some shade.

How 'bout a bottle brush tree or maybe a big Spirea to add some shade?

I'll keep thinking it over.

Dog -

I always read that Brugs needed shade, although I've never grown one. I have some Manzano bananas that I'm going to plant, and they take full sun, but I've read that the Coccinea needs filtered sun.

I'll look into the bottle brush and Spirea - thanks for the advice.

Steve

I rely on this site: www.floridata.com. It says brugies need full sun. Mine loved it, but you have to water daily June through September. They are water hogs! (mine is anyway).

I thought of another one that looks cool: cassia trees. Sometimes they call it a golden shower tree. However, when I looked it up on Floridata, it says this is an exotic pest that spreads around South Florida. North of Orlando, it'll probably get nipped by colder weather, although there are cold-hardy varieties we grow up here as well. It's something to look into, but I don't recommend introducing more exotic invasives if you can help it. I didn't realize these were "bad" trees for So FL.

Note: I have no clue where Wesley Chapel is.

I got one of those Manzano bananas, Steve, after you said it could take full sun. I am waiting until February to put it outside in case of freeze. It's already growing fast. I have a Frosty Pink in full sun. So far it's doing fine. I also have a Black Magic EE which is able to take sun. Those plants were from DGers. Wesley Chapel is not too far from Tampa, as far as I know. The sun is unrelenting in the summer, even with rains, so plants have to take full sun or at least have something filter it.

Wesley Chapel is right next tro Tampa. I have 4 Manzanos I'm going to plant (one has 2 pups), as soon as the danger of frost passes, in Feb.

I also have a lot of EEs - Giant Upright, Black Magic, Black Stem, others. Can't wait to get them in the ground.

I have a small greenhouse, and it's bursting with tropicals ready to be planted. Can't wait.

Steve

I live on borderline zone 9a/9b (based on a Florida zone map artcons posted on an early thread). The area where I work is zone 9a, and some mornings when I step out of the car, I am amazed by the difference in the coldness of the air. It usually warms right up, but the frost on the ground as I drive to work could almost pass for a light snowfall. It makes tender tropical plants vulnerable.

Uhg.....and a freeeze this weekend! Blah!!

Mary,

A freeze? Here in sunny vacationland? I did sign up for that!!

I didnt sign up for it either! Saturday and Sunday are supposed to have nights in the low 30s here in zone 9b, so you'll most likely have it even colder. I keep looking out my $liding gla$$ door$ at what all I'll lo$e in the back yard. I'll bring as many potted tropicals as I can indoors, but I have TONS of them....Protect those bananas Skaz! Mine are in the ground, so I can't move them. I have papayas on my trees that I'll lose, and daylilies that just started blooming.
Fireant, watch your fish, they should be ok because they aren't koi (which are not tolerant to temperature extremes) I'm going to most likely run a small fountain pump for the night.
Grrrrr about the Brrrrr....

Hopefully, it won't go below 30. I have tropicals that are still young, just when I thought I was doing okay gardening. I guess I'll cover up them up. Cold is okay, but freezes are not.

Tomorrow I'll spend the day looking for all of my spare sheets and comforters, and begin covering things...uhg..my tomatoes are about a foot tall, and my purple basils are about 8 inches. I have to get my tangerines picked, luckily theyre on a small potted tree.

Mother Nature giving us a fit this weekend, I'm afraid. I'm way north of you all.
If you have small plants in ground you want to protect, use big empty pots to cover - I found that to work real well. If it is windy I may put a small brick or heavy stone on top so it doesn't blow over.

Funny, all you northern transplants, I am now a transplant from the south. Gainesville is predicting in the 20's this weekend and being out 20 miles in the sand hills, it usually gets to be 5-8 degrees colder here.

When I moved up here I brought plants with me that could live in zone 9 anything, or so I thought. In sorting potted plants yesterday for planting, I found a few that should not have come this far north. They are already history I think. We should have a warm day today. After we get the new pump house felted in, I hope to get a lot more plants put in the ground and mulched with pine straw.

I'll know more about some plants survival when I look at their roots.

We bought a couple tomatoes, 1 bell pepper and a lemon balm which are now enjoying my big bath tub. I already have 4 succulent dish gardens in there keeping warm. By this time next year, we should have a green house area built to protect the tropicals and young veggie plants.

Oh yes, Steve, if you haven't already got a Pink Frosty Brug, you should get one. They grow fast, will provide some shade within a summer season and they love full sun. Mine in Ft Lauderdale performed excellent in those conditions. And they produce 40-50 blooms when they are only 4-5 feet tall.

Molly
:^)))

Thanks for the tip of putting pots over small plants, juja. That'll help. A greenhouse would be handy now. That Pink Frosty is almost three times the size now, Molly. I am looking forward to the blooms. The Red Castor Bean is the real surprise. The leaves are huge and full of color. The Devil's Backbone has no leaves right now, but the plant is still green. I am glad I decided to wait on putting the banana and the rest of the EEs outside.

If you are not paying attention to weather reports, the weather can surprise you here. Once when my daughter was in elementary school, she dressed in the usual shorts and t-shirt for school. A lot of her friends dressed the same way. That day the temperature dropped drastically in just a couple of hours. All of us felt like bad parents with our skimpily clad children. Since then, I've learned to watch the weather.

Thanks, Molly, I'll look for one. Anybody have one they want to trade?

Molly, how did the NP make out?

I have a book on growing tropicals, and it more or less raves about the Red Castor Bean - it can't say enough about it. I'd like to try and find one.

Fireant, I propagated a lot of plants this winter in the GH, so I have some Devil's Backbone, if you need some. Let me know, I'd be glad to send some.

Steve

Steve,
You probably wont want to pay for a Castor Bean, they have big seeds, in abundance, and most likely someone will be willing to share just to unload some.
Mary

Thank you, Steve. I like the Devil's Backbone, but don't know if it's going to make it. I checked plantfiles about propagating Red Castor Beans. It says from seed direct sow. They grow very fast, so it shouldn't take long to get one from seed. When mine produces seeds, I'll save them, but probably someone else already has seeds or started plants.
Nancy

Chuck, The NP is doing pretty good, a little transplant shock, but will recover.

I wish I could offer you some Pink Frosty, but at the present time, although I took numerous cuttings from Lauderdale, I am not sure which is in what pot, or if they have even rooted yet.

As for Castor Bean seeds, I have a 1# coffee can full of them. The same as Fireant has.

Molly
:^)))

Molly, is the Red Castor bean that plant you gave me that looks like pot? (Ahem, not that I would know from first hand experience, wink wink.) Just trying to put names to plants I've acquired in roundups.

Does nobody want my Giant Daisy Tree? I'm going to donate it to a botanical garden, if I can't find a home for it.

How big is giant?

I'm not sure exactly how big it gets. There's not a lot of info on it. Check it out:

http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/76034/index.html

The one I have is in a pot, and it's 3-4 feet tall. I found a pic of what it looks like close up.

Steve, that's a good picture. The name makes sense when you see the flowers. It gets up to 15 feet, which is a nice size, but it is also zone 11. Do you have it in your greenhouse or outside? I'd like to have it. I will keep it in a pot so that I can bring it in when it's cold.

Dogzilla, when the leaves are small, they almost remind me of a maple leaf. As they get larger, they definitely have a more tropical look.

No Diane, I think the one you are referring to is the Jatropha Multifida aka Coral Bush. The Castor Bean I had, had redish colored maple like leaves, like Fireants.

I didn't bring either of these trees with me, but I brought plenty of seeds.

Molly
:^)))

Good morning all - The pot idea I used last year when I ran out of freezecloth and sheets to cover plants - I was desperate and in looking around just decided to give it a try with covering plants with the big extra pots I have. I also have used one of those big plastic kiddie pools (I use for my dogs in the summer :-) to cover an entire flower bed.

Molly - so you finally made it to the northern climate!!! I'm sorry we are having one heck of a year here with cold weather. It's really going to be a change for you and you are just going to have to watch your yard and even the different areas you plant in, because depending on the little microclimates that are set up - it could be different from your neighbors right next door. I've been tracking mine now for two years. Be careful planting stuff in the ground now especially tropicals and things you are not too sure of, because the roots havent' had time to really take - if you can it may be better to keep those plants in pots and in a protected area till the late February/March timeframe and keep them on the dry side. The ground really never freezes - the temperature about 6 inches down remains about 55 to 60 degrees and therefore if you get a good root system going and heavily mulch - most of your plants should come back in the spring. One of the other things I have found is to not trim the dead growth too early and leave the new growth exposed, I've lost many plants by not being patient. I've been experimenting this year and have trimmed the dead growth from certain plants but I have been covering them with leaves and pine straw and now with the freeze coming, I will cover the entire plant with a large pot. Hopefully I didn't goof again.

Tha's right! Thanks, Molly!

The coral bush is overwintering in my spare bedroom at the moment and doing well, btw.

Dzilla - I'm curious if you used the common name "Golden Shower Tree" in your search? If so, the results stating the the tree is an invasive alien may have been because the search results came up with the nuisance tree Koelreuteria paniculata instead of Cassia fistula (both are called "Golden Rain" or "Golden Shower" tree). The K. paniculatas do want to take over the world -- every seed seems to sprout and I pull up hundreds of them from my yard. However, I've not heard any reports that C. fistula is invasive.

Jeremy

I believe I used "cassia" in my search. A friend of mine wanted a golden shower tree, so when his birthday rolled around, I went on this quest at my local nurseries for it. Turns out, there's like 7,000 cassias. (Okay, maybe just 3 or 4. I like hyperbole, you know that.) I had no idea which one he wanted -- his mom has one that he loves, but I didn't know which that one was. I wound up getting him one that blooms a little differently than he expected, but is a tad more cold-hardy for this area. I'm still not sure what I got him because the tag on the nursery said, "Cassia." Stupid nurseries... ;)