"Gardening is about enjoying the smell of things growing in the soil, getting dirty without feeling guilty, and generally taking the time to soak up a little peace and serenity. " ~Lindley Karstens

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Garden Bloggers Blooming Day - December 2010

Talking about the cold weather and its impacts to the garden seems a trend on Florida blogs these days, thanks to our unusual December freeze or near freeze days these two weeks.

Last week, I was on a business trip in Phoenix when the first cold front hit the Florida.  Since I lived in south Florida, and the forecast showed the lowest would only go around 37 Fahrenheit, I did not worry too much.  I did bring all my orchids indoors though, and dug one clump for each color of my ground orchids from ground, and potted them up so that they can stay in the the garage.  The rest of the ground orchids were left in the ground.  I just could not take any chance on those beautiful ground orchids since they are supposed to be frost tender.   Parents also watered the plants during those coldest days for me to keep the overall health of the plants.

When I came home last Friday, I was happy that my garden looked fine, except for some cold tender plants, such as coleus, sweet potato leaves, and pentas had leave damage.  That was fine with me, coleus was about finished anyway, and sweet potato leaves will bounce back in no time once the weather warms up.  I also found that my Tropical Lilac's (Cornutia grandifolia) leaves were fried to crispy and fell off even with only two near freeze days.  I guess it was called "Tropical" for reasons.

Early this week, the temperature went down around 32 degree Fahrenheit, I covered the Agaves, tender bromeliads, ground orchids that are still in the ground, and the Tropical Lilac with old sheets.  I am happy that they seem have pulled through just fine, and the weather will warm up the rest of the week.

As a token of small celebration, I decided to join Garden Bloggers Blooming Day, hosted by May Dreams Gardens, for the very first time.

This coleus is planted under an Angel's Trumpet tree and next to the house wall.  Seems the protection of the tree and the warmth reflected from the wall did help this one survive.  The leave has more red than it had in the warm weather.

This Cigar Plant (Cuphea melvillea) also shows more red color in the cold weather.

My all time favorite in the garden, dragon wing begonias.  It is tougher than it looks, and the cold weather did not do any damages to it.

Another Dragon Wing Begonia...  Even when it is not flowering, I love its foliage.

This hawaii Ti is supposed to be cold-tender plant, but since it is planted against the house wall, and behind the Plumeria pudica bush, the leaves were untouched, and is still showing beautiful bright pink foliage.

The red salvia is perfect Christmas color, don't you think?

I noticed this pentas showing different shade of pink on the flower pentals, not sure if it is because of the cold weather, or the age of the flowers. 

This is my newest ground orchid, purchased two weeks before the last week's cold front.  I left it in its container, so that it can be brought indoor easily for protection.  Now I have four colors of ground orchids.  I can foresee this collection will grow more in the future.

Indian Blanket flowers don't seem mind the cold weather at all.  They brighten my Agave garden corner so beautifully.


Kalanchoe is the cold weather bloomer.  I had three colors last year, deep pink, light pink double, and golden yellow double.  This year, I couldn't find the pink double anywhere.  I wonder if the pink double turned to yellow double somehow.




The geranium is another cold weather bloomer returned from last year.

This is my first year to grow Dianthus, and they are quite happy to grow in the ground.  I did not do any covering for them in the cold weather, and they proved themselves as such little tough plants.

The red-orange flowers from Bolivian Sunset Gloxinia (Gloxinia sylvatica) are giving the welcome warmth to the winter garden and this gardener too.

My roses are obviously enjoying this cold weather.  They hardly bloomed during the summer, and now they came back to life, with bigger flowers.


Snapdragon loves the cold weather too!

Impatiens looked quite comfortable tucked in the container.   I love to have some bright color in the container, especially in the winter.

Hope you enjoyed my first GBBD post.  For me, it is nice to have a record for the plants survived our first two rounds of cold weather.  Although I hope the rest of the winter (or should I say the up-coming winter?) will be mild, I know I have to be prepared, and enjoy what I have now.

28 comments:

  1. Hi Amy i have not been here for quite a while. Your flowers dont look like they are affected by cold at all. They still seem healthy and happy. Just looked at your map and see that Miami is near you. My relatives and friends are there.

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  2. Great flowers and your pictures are so vibrant. Looks like you've made it past the first freezes ok.

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  3. Wow Ami ~ Your flowers and plants look wonderful in spite of the cold weather we've had. My big coleus didn't fare to well. I took some cuttings and hope they will root for me.

    I also brought orchids and a couple of other plants indoors.

    I just love all the beautiful colors, shapes and forms growing in your gardens.

    FlowerLady

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  4. It was nice to see your roses came back and look great. I'm loving your new ground orchid just as much as the others. I have "grapette" and a Nun's orchid that I'm trying to keep warm.

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  5. Gorgeous flowers. I am amazed at what you are able to grow.

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  6. Hi Ami ~ You have so many pretty blooms. My coleus was the first to go. I think I need to look for a ground orchid...yours is beautiful!

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  7. Hi, Ami, congratulations on your first GBBD post! You do have a lot of colorful blooms right now. Your roses are looking great! One thing good about dry, cool winters...no blackspot!

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  8. You've got lots of beautiful blooms in your December garden. I'm surprised that it got that cold in your area--wow---but glad to hear your plants made it okay.

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  9. My coleus did fine through the cold as well as my pentas. I heard pentas can take low 20s. However my tropical lilac and peace lilies were first to take damage. I also got some damage on a variety of my bananas. I have only been here four years so I have to ask, how often does it get this cold? The first two years I was here we didn't get cold. The last two years have been insane though. Should I expect to have to pull my plants inside every couple of years due to the cold?

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  10. Great first GBBD post. It's amazing to me that Dragonwing Begonias and Cordylines do so well in your part of the world and mine. They don't seem to mind heat and humidity all the time or the occasional freeze!

    There's lots of beautiful blooms in your garden right now ... so many that are familiar to me. Your roses are just lovely ... that's something I don't grow.

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  11. Andrea: Thanks for stopping by! I was lucky that the cold did not affect us too much. Yes, Miami is south of my place, about 40 minutes driving.

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  12. Houston Garden Girl: Thanks for visiting my garden. One good thing to live in south florida is we can see vibrant colors all year long. Although some killer freezes could damage lots of tender tropicals.

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  13. FlowerLady: My coleus are looking really sad now except few with protection. Your cuttings should root for you. Mine was flowering before the cold, so I don't think it would last long anyway even without the cold weather. I will miss those colorful foliage in the garden.

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  14. Nanak: Ground orchids 'grapette' is the one that I don't have. They look beautiful when grow in mass. I will include 'grapette' in my collection. I also just bought a young Nun's orchid not long ago, and they all came indoors during the cold.

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  15. Mac_fromAustralia: Welcome to my garden! Living in Florida means we can garden all year long, and also lots of "houseplants" can grow outdoor in the ground.

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  16. Amy: It is shame that Coleus is so cold-tender, but they do so well in the summer. I miss their vibrant colors in the garden. hope some of them can reseed for me. Ground orchids are very common here, and we often can see them in the big box store. Good luck to find one in your area. I would think they should also do beautifully in your area. just need to bring them indoor when it is cold.

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  17. FG: Thanks! I am glad that at least my double delight is still doing fine. I lost quite a few roses over the summer :(

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  18. Susan:
    Yes, it was that cold early this week. Luckily it did not last as long as January. Othereise I don't know if I can do teh covering and uncovering everyday.

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  19. Joseph Alves: I am surprised that your coleus did fine. Did you have some protection for them? Pentas only got some leaf damages, but will come back nicely once the weather warms up. I have been living in South Florida for 16 years, and no, it did not get cold that often, or early like this year. I only started garden for about one and half year, still learning how different plants react to the weather. I just learned that Tropical Lilac could be that cold sensitive. But I think its root system is fine.

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  20. Bernie: Yes, we share lots of common plants in our two areas, except our seasons are always opposite :) I am still experimenting growing roses here. It is not very easy, but I learned there are some species are more suit for our hot humid weather. You may want to research it if you really want to try growing roses :)

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  21. These are stunning. I can't believe this is your first bloom day - with all your year-round blooms??! People in the other climates will love seeing what you're enjoying while they're under snow cover. That ground orchid is so so lovely. Love that color.

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  22. Wendy: Yes, it is indeed my first GBBD post :) With my busy schedule, I want to be casual to write my post whenever I can, not feeling I need to meet any duedate :) Yes, that ground orchid color is what made me bring it home even I felt a little guilty since I have been plants shopping a lot recently. Glad to know my flowers are being enjoyed by people who has snow covering their garden.

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  23. No protection for my coleus. But some of them were close to my house and under a 12' bush palm tree so that probably kept them warmer. The others were on a small island by my circular drive way and they may have been just high enough that they didn't get as cold as the rest of the ground. My pentas were just planted this last weekend. I mulched 5 out of 8 of them but none of them took any damage, and I'm 15 miles west of you almost in the Everglades so it was colder here. Weird, huh?
    My yellow dwarf mussaenda took a real beating though. If anything doesn't bounce back my first guess would be this one. And of course my only bananas without damage are the ones next to the house. Lesson learned, keep most sensative plants against the house. Of course next time it gets that cold I'm buying painters plastic and creating tents over my plants.

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  24. I wish I could grow that plumeria! I don't think it would like my weather (or the fact that I have no blooms at all right now in contrast to your thriving Eden)!

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  25. Lots of lovely blooms in your garden.

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  26. Your flowers look so lovely and bright. I would like to wish you Merry Christmas and Happy New Year 2011!

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  27. Gorgeous blooms!

    Hope you're having a wonderful WW.

    My entries:
    Moms... Check Nyo
    Yummy-as-can-be

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  28. Wow, did this brighten my snowstormy day!

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