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!

My March Favorites -- 2010

It is always hard for gardeners to pick their favorites... I am no exception!  When I was looking through my photo collection taken this month, I have to say I love each and every one of them!

If I have to choose... 

After a couple of months' rest, this golden shrimp plant (camaron amarillo) started blooming prolifically again.  I love those little white flowers peeking through the yellow bracts.

A big salute to this Jatropha tree for it stood the cold weather for me and producing these cheerful red flowers non-stopping the whole winter!

Oh, this golden yellow double layer Kalanchoe (长寿花) is really my favorite among the favorites!  Its lovely color and bloom reminds me of something that a bride may hold in her wedding, only if it is larger :)  I have purchased this for two weeks, and the blossoms are still looking like new. 

This combination of Diamond Frost and Orange Marmalade Crossandra in a container was toasted in January freeze, and they are recovering quite nicely.

Another one of my favorite among the favorites!  (Am I allowed to say this twice??)  This dipladenia pink (红蝉花/双腺藤/飘香藤) is a reliable non-stopping bloomer in my garden.  I love to see its color changes from deep pink (almost red) on buds to the light pink of fully opened flower.  The foliages are always shiny dark green.

 I took this Petunia pictre in a rainy day.  Aren't they pretty with those dark pink veins and dotted rain drops?

  

I love white bloomings although I don't have too many of them in my garden.  This voila looks so delicate, but they are surprisingly tough and productive.  The plant originally came in a little six inch pot.  After I planted it in the ground, it has spread to one foot acorss, and has been blooming like crazy.  I have been collecting the seeds from it, so that next fall I can have a lot more of these lovely white flowers in my garden. 

This Inca Lily (Alstroemeria) has been blooming its heart out! I should try to take some as cutting flowers to put in a vase so that I can enjoy its beauty even I am not in the garden. Not sure how it will react when Florida's weather heats up though... I may plant it into a shady place after it is done blooming.

Last but certainly not the least, two variety of lettuce that have been filling my tiny veggie garden since the fall.  Don't they look just like flowers?

LECHGA Royal Oakleaf (Heat Resistant)

LECHGA Four Seasons (Beautiful & Delicious)

This post is to join Susan at "Simply Susan" for this month's favorites.  Please visit her at her site for her March favorites.

I will also use this as my entry to the Blooming Friday. For other bloomings all over the world, please check out Katrarina's site at http://rosorochris.blogspot.com/.

Have a nice weekend!