Ever since I got hooked on gardening I learned a few lessons on what will grow in my garden and what will require less care under the hot Florida sun. So early to late spring is the time I experiment on some new plants, If they won't survive the heat, at least I can enjoy them even for a short period of time.

So here's what is growing or blooming in my Florida garden:

Catts do well for me


Amaryllis




Plumeria



Succulents






Epidendrum & daisies






Desert Rose





If you found this thread feel free to add photos of what is growing in your Florida Garden.

Gigi, when you start a new 'general' thread like this, it's a good idea to put a link to it from the former thread we were all watching. Then the rest of the group comes over and doesn't get lost. Most people don't go to the Florida Gardening menu very often, just respond to replies on the old threads that they were watching.

I'm putting a link to your wonderful pictures here so the others will find this new one.

I have some interesting surprise daylilies coming along. My passiflora quadrangularis is blooming in the mango tree and the pink brug is putting on a show again.

Gigi, beautiful blooms! My Epidendrum didn't bloom at all last year but I've since moved it to a sunnier spot so I hope to see some flowers this year. I was visiting my sister in Sebastian, Fl a few days ago and she has a gorgeous one in full bloom; wish I'd thought to take a picture! My one and only Plumeria tree is just leafing out, I always love to see those flowers and smell the heavenly fragrance!

Elaine, you always have some interesting and beautiful things blooming at your house! Love the colors in that Daylily in your last photo, that is one gorgeous flower!

I'll start a new post shortly with a few of my garden blooms.

Ok, it's been real windy here yesterday and today but I did manage to get some pictures. Currently blooming in my garden:

I purchased a few Daylilies on the ATP Classified Forum last year from member Casshigh and a few are in bud and bloom:

'Bella Dancer' ...................................... 'Bubble Yummin Mama' ............................ 'Key Lime Ice'


Desert Rose (Adenium obesum) ........ Buddleja 'Petite Tutti Frutti Pink' ...... Ixora coccinea 'Maui Red'


Hoya pubicalyx .................................. Tropical Milkweed ............................... Plumbago


Thunbergia battiscombei ................................................................................ Egyptian Star Flower (Pentas lanceolata)


'Little Gem' Magnolia .......................... a fat bud-Ric Rac Orchid Cactus ......... Beach Sunflowers & Easter Lily


Clerodendron bungei .......................... Weeping Bottle Brush ......................... Callisia fragrans 'Melnkoff'


Last ones ... promise! I planted @ 48 Caladium bulbs this spring and they are all sprouting.

Caladium 'White Queen'


Two more. I haven't yet had a chance to check these against the list of what I planted:


I have a few more Caladiums growing behind the deck that I planted @ four years ago and will get photos of those later.

Elaine thanks for posting this link. I am not yet familiar with the linking thread process. Beautiful blooms you have!

Lin you must be enjoying your garden a lot. If I have as many blooms and beautiful plants like you have I will not go anywhere keep posting all your treasures they are lovely

Such lovelies, Lin. I planted a whole bunch of 'White Queen' caladiums too.

I have a Ric Rac plant too, so how long does it take before it might bloom?

Thanks Gigi. My yard doesn't look all that great .... Too many weeds and I can't seem to keep up with them anymore! I grow a lot of stuff in containers; next year we will be moving farther south to Sebastian and I look forward to getting all of my plants down there and situated. My sister and her husband relocated there in January (from the Fort Lauderdale area) and we found a house right down the street from them ... I can't wait to live closer to my sister!!

Caladiums (can't remember the name) .......... Monstera deliciosa


Hoya carnosa ....................................... Salvia and Caladiums .......................... Caladium 'White Christmas'


My Zig-Zag Cactus (Selenicereus anthonyanus) was hanging real high in the Magnolia tree but I had my husband get the ladder and get it down this afternoon because it really needs to be repotted, there's no soil left in the pot at all, only roots and leaves. Much of the plant has died off the past couple of years and it has some dry, dead stems but I'm going to try to get it into some fresh soil and trim it up in the next couple of days. I noticed late this afternoon that the flowers were just starting to open so I just went out to check progress, I had to use the flash:

They are all gorgeous Lin! I don,t think I've seen one like that in person an orchid yet a cactus.

Better bring some of your beauties with you. Hope your sister likes plants too.

Gee, I don't know why there's so much space at the end of my last post ... must have done something when I was uploading the pictures. Lots of blank space there.

Elaine, Thank you for the compliments on my pictures! I'm not sure how long it takes for the Ric Rac to start blooming. I got mine as a small plant at an Albertson's grocery store many years ago, it wasn't labeled and I had no idea what it was. One year when I was re-arranging and moving plants around, I moved it into the pool enclosure where it hung for a number of years. One day I happened to notice a raggedy looking growth hanging from a stem ... didn't have a clue what it was, I thought maybe something was wrong with the plant so I posted a photo to DG and someone informed me that it was a spent bloom! That's where I learned the identity and that it was a night bloomer! My Ric Rac has always bloomed in mid to late April or mid to late May with a sporadic bloom or two in late March one year. I'm really bad about remembering to fertilize plants but I used to use orchid food on it ... don't know if it helped but it didn't seem to hurt.

The term "orchid cactus" is sort of a nickname, Gigi. It's a cactus, but not actually an orchid.

Gigi, oh yeah ... I'm taking lots of plants with me when we move. Our house in Sebastian is on .65 acre with lots of trees; there's an enclosed atrium in front of the house and a huge screened pool enclosure in back so I'll have plenty of room for my plants! My sister enjoys working in the garden and loves plants but she's not really into them like I am.

Elaine, thanks for clarifying that ... yep, "orchid cactus" is just a nick-name but I don't know where it came from because the blooms don't resemble any orchid I've ever seen.

Interesting! Thanks for the info Elaine.

I just came back from our Publix and it took a lot of my willpower not to give in to buying those huge beautiful vandas in bloom. The colors are yellow, hot pink, reddish maroon and violet. They are displayed in hurricane vases.

Well, I'm following your footsteps then because mine is hanging in the pool cage and I've been spraying it with the orchid fert for a while now. I got it as a cutting from Mj maybe 2 years ago, so I guess I've got a while to wait. But it sure is growing nicely!

Elaine, your Ric Rac cactus looks great! Does it get much sun? When mine was hanging in the backyard tree it received bright light but no sun at all; once in the pool cage on the SW side of the house it got a lot more sun although it was filtered a bit from the screen. I always wondered if that's why it began blooming. For the past four years it's been hanging in a Magnolia tree with filtered, late afternoon sun.

It does get some sun in the early morning, but then is under the overhang, so none for the rest of the day.

There's probably a better spot for it out at the corner of the house, and it will get a little bit of rain there, too.

Everyones pictures are really wonderful, and so fun to look at Thanks

My Ric Rac is budding up also. I moved mine to more Sun, but honestly don't know if that's it's one of those plants that thrives on benign neglect. I haven't fertilized it. But I do water it if we aren't getting rain.

Lin I'm with ya on the weeds. Been a bad spring for us with unplanned repairs to the house among other things. I'm still working on repotting and getting things into their proper place in the yard.

Florida gardens and weeds not a good combo. Some blooms of those weeds are pretty though, hubby is afraid to pull them in case they are new plants.

Gigi, my dad can't tell weeds from plants so I have to "supervise" him in the garden. But then again, I have weeds, I have plants, and then I have weeds that I want as plants. Since I'm a butterfly gardener a lot of those weeds are host plants for the caterpillars so I don't pull them. Many of them are seasonal and go away when it heats up. I think some look pretty nice, too. Virginia Pepper Grass can look quite good and it feeds the Checkered White and Great Southern White butterflies. And Spanish Needles are one of the best nectar sources there are. They are also a host plant for the Dainty Sulphur. Of course, you have to keep Spanish Needles under control because they will take over every sunny spot you have! But I let them go during the winter so the butterflies have enough to eat.

Right now I have a lot of Tassel Flower in the backyard. Both the reddish and lilac varieties, neither of which are native. And I have all these great nectar plants in my yard and I keep finding the butterflies on the Tassel Flower. Don't they know I planted all that yummy stuff just for them? And they ignore me for weeds! Non-native weeds!