For places up north, August may mark the end of the summer, but here in South Florida, we still have several months more of hot and humid summer weather agead.
Agapanthus africanus, or Lily of the Nile is almost coming to the end of the season. Bees love buzzing around its beautiful blue flower cluster.
Just like this skipper can not have enough of the blue Porterweed...
My rose corner has been looking sad under the south Florida's summer heat. Occasionally they also bloom, but the buds are smaller than what they are in cooler weather, and quickly wilted even before fulling opening. I am very happy to see some of flowers actually open to a good size, and stay there for a couple of days recently. Thanks for the recent rainy days that brought the heat down a little bit.
Three different colors of Siam Tulip or Summer Tulip (Curcuma alismatifolia) were purchased right after I came back from China. How delighted I was when I saw they were sold at the big box store since I have been looking for this for a while! I currently put them in an almost full sun area. I just read on the Internet that if they are planted in a partial shaded area, the flower could hold up to three months! Sounds like I should move them soon!
This Datura metel (Devil's trumpet) has been flowering one after another in my newly opened side flower bed.
This Variegated Canna Lily 'Pretoria' has grown taller than me, and the new flower spike keeps shooting from the center of green/cream stripped leaves.
This milkweed still blooms beautifully even its leaves are the constant Monarch caterpillars' favorite food.
More flowers are thriving under Florida Sun... This dwarf Allamanda is almost growing like weed that I have to keep trimming all those branches that go over the boundary.
Vincas (or periwinkle) is another plant that don't mind Florida Heat.
So are these zinnias... Zinnia is such an easy summer plant. Even it is considered as annual plant, but it self sows easily and the seedlings come back every year. Except the first one that was given by my younger son this year, all others are coming from last year's volunteers.
Oh, take a look at this! Looks like we will have some papayas ready to harvest soon! This tree's leaves all became crispy brown after our January freeze, now it not only bounces back, and also bears the fruit. How wonderful the nature is!
Summer is a wonderful season for the plants. even this gardener may prefer the cool weather. I still enjoy what summer has to offer to bring the different colors to my garden.
Nice and that does look like Narrow Leaf Zinnia to me.
ReplyDeleteami,
ReplyDeleteI love the canna lilies also. I put in a few plants just 2 weeks ago and I'm eagerly waiting for some blooms.
Rhonda
Your roses are so beautiful! I wish I still had agapanthus blooms. Mine finished blooming weeks ago. I love summer and fall best of all because the garden is so lush.
ReplyDeleteAmi,
ReplyDeleteWe do still have quite a while for growing in our Florida gardens. This year and last it seems like it took until this month for everything to look normal again after such hard frosts in winter. Love your blooms today... the Agapanthus my favorite... the zinnias really brighten up any spot and your roses of course are always beautiful.
Meems
I'm glad your papaya did well, and the siam tulips will look reallynice in your garden. Aren't those butterfly weed flowers wonderful? I have some self seeded plants blooming in the swamp behind the garden.
ReplyDeleteYou really have a lot of flowers that hold up to the heat well. Love the Curcumas. That soft pink is my favorite. Your roses look beautiful. When the weather cools down you'll be loving them again. All the vincas and zinnias are giving your garden a lot of color. Very nice.
ReplyDeleteDarla: Actually I always call them "Zinnia" in general, I only learn "narrow leaf zinnia" from your post :) Got to love Zinnias!
ReplyDeleteRhonda: This is my first time to grow canna lilies. I think I will buy some dwarf ones as well, this type is quite big. I love them, but I can not grow much this size of plants in my garden since my space is limited.
FG: My agapanthus blooms are not very prolific this year. I seem have two kinds, one is light blue, and bloomed earlier. The other one is more bright blue, blooms a little late.
ReplyDeleteMeems: Now you mention the winter, I am kind of avoiding thinking about it. Last winter was bad, but I did not have much plants at that time. If this winter also becomes very freezing, I don't know how to handle the hit yet :(
RFG: I was pretty much giving up the papaya tree after the Winter freeze, needless to say to expect any fruit, but they bounce back so strongly! I actually grew them for some quick shading, and they are now!
ReplyDeleteNanaK: I had my eyes on those Curcumas before I went back to China when they were sold at HD. But I did not have much time before the trip, so I waited coming back. I was real happy that they were still there waiting for me at HD :)
hummingbirds love our red cannas.All of your flowers are beautiful.Love the roses!
ReplyDeleteAmi,
ReplyDeleteYour Papaya photo has motivated me to get out in the heat and start some more Papaya seeds.My last attempt with Papaya seeds never sprouted but hope runs eternal. You have done really well with your Roses which don't really prefer our South Florida conditions here.
Chris: I have not seen any hummingbirds visiting my canna yet, hope someday I will though!
ReplyDeleteSanddune: Good luck with your papaya experiement. Mine came from the seedlings that my friend started late last year. The rose growing is not easy in our environment, hope I can see they got better when the weather cools down.
what a beautiful collection you have! The papaya looks great. I love those summer tulips - wonder if they'd do well in my zone?
ReplyDeleteWendy: From what I have seen over the internet, I think Siam Tulip is only hardy up to zone 8. If you never seen this one in your area, the chance is that this plant won't grow well in your zone. Well, you have a lot more plants that we can not grow south here :)
ReplyDelete