October Garden and Bromeliads Collections

While I am feeling for the people in Northeast region who are suffering from the mess and the power outage brought by hurricane Sandy, I feel fortunate that we are here having the most enjoyable weather in South Florida.

Around the garden, I added some cool weather annuals to fill in those vacant spots left by summer annuals.  New Guinea Impatiens are becoming my new favorites since they can be put in the wide range of light condition, including the full sun.  Although I think the partial sun is the optimum since they would require more water if put in the full sun. 

Roses are loving this cool weather.

Josephine's Land

Josephine's Land

Queen Elizabeth

The following two are the double knock outs that I started from the cutting s five months ago. Really love the color and the form, and no black spots!

Belinda's Dream had lots of flowers since the weather cooled down.

This Kalanchoe thrysiflora was a small pup from my friend's plant, and look how tall it has grown, and it has lots of pups its own now.

Look down from the top of Kalanchoe thrysiflora.  Don't you think it looks like a green rose?

The small corner in the front yard near the front door entry.  The Rex begonia in the down left corner of the picture was moved from a total shade place.  It lost most of leaves after the move since this spot gets some morning sun. Now it has been fully recovered and showing its fantastic foliage.

It even bloomed!  Although the flowers are almost lost in the colorful leaves.

This Birds' nest fern started from a 4 inch houseplant, and it grows so big and lush after putting it into the ground.  

Bromeliads collection are getting bigger and bigger, and they are all expanding!  For those who just started gardening in Florida, I have to tell you, get some Bromeliads for your garden, you will love them!  You don't need many for each kind since they produce pups quickly. You also can exchange pups with your friends to get more varieties. Here are some pictures of the Bromeliads all around my garden.  

In South Florida climate, Bromeliads are among the easiest plants to grow, and they provide the year around colors to your garden too!  I am glad that I came to know this plant and became addicted to it when I just started my garden three years ago.

Happy Gardening! Be safe for the folks under the  Hurricane Sandy's impact!

February Update on the Leap Day

Today is the leap day, thought it would be great to give an update of my February garden, just make this post a little special :)

There are so many colors and flowers bursting in my February South Florida garden due to the mild winter we had this year.

In the past, I only tried pink snapdragons, and this is my first time to grow yellow and white ones, and I find myself loving them so much in the winter garden, warm and bright.

This is the time for Golden shrimp plant(Pachystachys lutea) to bloom.

Giant Apostle's Iris (Neomarica Caerulea 'Regina') started blooming, much earlier than last year.

This Lobelia plant is one of the rare blue flowers I have ever seen.  They make the great trailing (spiller) plants for the container.

Lobelia 

This Purple Verbenas is also great for container, either as the filler or the spiller.

The following two are the new plants I am trying this year, Cuphea llavea Vienco™.  I love them in a more compacted size, suitable for my small garden.

This year I am trying to grow Mona lavender (Plectranthus) in the ground instead of in the container.  It is in a partial shade area, and they seem quite happy there. Best of all, it doesn't require frequent watering compare to growing in the container.

These two Begonias had their blooming peak this month.

Begonia Odorata Var. Alba

Rex Begonia

Even caladium bulbs are shooting out of the ground here and there much earlier than last year.

Dipladenia pink just started blooming again after a hard trim I did late last year. Now they came back fresh and strong.  I expect they will be on their peak time in March.  

Dipladenia pink

Bulbine plants look the best when they are blooming in a mass. Bees just love them.

This Chorus Line daylily has not finished blooming yet, neither has Pandoras box daylily.

CHORUS LINE 

Wow, I found I am having quite some blues in my garden.  I guess that doesn't happen by accident considering blue if one of my favorite colors in the garden. Could not help snap some pictures of this blue butterfly flower every time I pass it by.

Blue Butterfly
Clerodendrum ugandense

February is also the month when many orchids bloom.  One of most impressive orchids bloomed this month is Epidendrum Orchid, or go with the common names such as Crucifix Orchid, Reed-stem Epidendrum, Sun Orchid,and etc.

 I bought one in April of 2010.  After the initial blooming, it only had a few flowers last year.  After I put them into the ground (this orchid is terrestrial type) in a more sunny location, this year they just bloomed like crazy.  If you are trying to find an easy growing orchid, this is the one that you should try!  They are also so easy to propagate by division of pseudobulbous stems or offsets, or by removing and planting those pups on old stems or flower spikes. From one 5 gallon container, now I have three clumps of this orchid spread in my garden.

You also can spot Epidendrum Orchid in the below flower bed.

Now the rest are different orchids blooming currently in my garden. I put them mostly in my front porch since my back porch has too many suns.  I really need more space for more orchids!

For those of you living in the cold weather area, hope you enjoyed the flowers in my Tropical garden, and remember Spring is coming!

Happy Gardening!