Name: Elaine Sarasota, Fl The one constant in life is change
I selfishly started this thread, I will admit. Wanted to show off this crazy purple cauliflower I grew. It's so pretty I don't want to pick it!
I also have a pretty white Brugmansia blooming away in the back corner, where I would not have even noticed it if it hadn't wafted its prefume all the way across the garden.
Elaine
"Success is stumbling from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm." –Winston Churchill
Pretty stuff, Elaine, but I think we should change the name from "Elaine's Selfish Thread" to "Ode to Spring". That being said, here are some other Florida contributions.
Yellow tabebuia:
Name: Elaine Sarasota, Fl The one constant in life is change
I did propose your picture of the Jaboticaba blooms for the Database, Jim. Did you know it's botanical name is Plinia cauliflora and common name is Brazilian grape tree? There's no mention of the name Jaboticaba in the database and I'm going to find out how to add it. Is that possibly a Spanish word or name do you think?
Anyway, wonderful show and I have a few more to add, having chased butterflies around the garden with my camera for a while this afternoon . . . didn't get a single good shot of a butterfly, but:
I amputated the end of my huge Philo Pastazanum plant to send a start to Mj last fall. it pouted a bit then sent up two flowers! I think they will be white when they finally get around to opening.
Louisiana Iris 'Black Gamecock' always catches me by surprise. It's much darker than the pictures show.
Pretty little Coral Barleria is a fairly civilized groundcover, but this spring, I'm finding it popping up Everywhere! My begonias kept going all winter, until we got the one night in the 30's just a couple of weeks ago. Now I have interesting seed pods on some of them and new growth coming on others.
Elaine
"Success is stumbling from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm." –Winston Churchill
Nice looking Louisiana Iris, Elaine. Yes, I received a note that you had added a photo of mine to the data base. I have never heard it called a Brazilian grape tree before but have looked it up and see that it is a common name. It is hard to believe they are using that name over Jaboticaba, which is used in all of the fruit books. The database at Dave's Garden lists it under Jaboticaba and shows Brazilian Grape tree as a common name. I think ATP should make a change.
Jim
"Advertising may be described as the science of arresting the human intelligence long enough to get money from it." -- Steven Leacock
Name: Elaine Sarasota, Fl The one constant in life is change
I'll bet you'll have crocus and snowdrops to show us next week, Ursula. Weather map looks more like it should for March - the snow's up there in Canada where it belongs.
Elaine
"Success is stumbling from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm." –Winston Churchill
Name: Carol Santa Ana, ca Sunset zone 22, USDA zone 10 A.
Great show ,Jim!
Elaine, the hummer photos are much easier said than done. I don't have the right camera equipment , and they don't pose for pictures. I'll give it a try when I have some time on my hands.
Name: Elaine Sarasota, Fl The one constant in life is change
Tell me about it! I spent a while today flitting (more like blundering) around the garden after butterflies with my camera. Not one shot was in focus . .. cool, cloudy days work better, they land and stay still longer.
I also had a camera set up on a tripod to try for pictures of birds on my feeders. Amazing how seldom I caught a decent shot! Finally figured out how to make the camera take a series of 3 or 4 shots quickly with one push. Then I'd usually get one that was in focus.
Elaine
"Success is stumbling from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm." –Winston Churchill
Very cute, Elaine.
And yes, the snow is melting rapidly, we are supposed to hit 60 degr here today! Woohooo!! I see the tips of my yellow crocus in front of the house wall!!
Talking about those Hummer pictures, I sat in front of the Hummer feeders when we were in Ecuador in 2013, and shot pictures after pictures after pictures with my telephoto lens to capture some moments. Not that easy I think.
Name: Carol Santa Ana, ca Sunset zone 22, USDA zone 10 A.
It does take a good telephoto lens, and a lot of patience. To get their colors, it also takes sun light. When they congregate around the feeders the most is at dawn and dusk. They do perch a few feet away from me on the porch, but I would be looking into the sun from the shade, so all I would have is a silhouette.
I just finished putting down 150lbs of 8-2-12 fertilizer and it was hot out there. We must have gone from winter straight to summer in about 20 minutes. I'm off now to give my orchid presentation at a library. I hope we get a good crowd.
Jim
"Advertising may be described as the science of arresting the human intelligence long enough to get money from it." -- Steven Leacock
Name: Elaine Sarasota, Fl The one constant in life is change
Ooo, nice shot Melissa. Aren't blueberries just the prettiest little shrubs? I have one with flowers and one with a few berries already! Luckily it seems that all my many birdies have not yet figured out what they are. Won't take long once they start to ripen, I'd imagine.
This huge begonia is fragrant in the mornings. With all these new flowers just coming along you can figure how perfumy it is out there!
Elaine
"Success is stumbling from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm." –Winston Churchill
You asked what else we are growing.... a little bit too much perhaps, but I have a handle on things.....
My Adeniums are busting out and this one started blooming. I see buds on my Pachypodium horombense, will see if they make it, since they are notorious for me for aborting.
Here is the first Adenium (obesum) with blooms, Summer blooms are not as lightly colored.
The Rhipsalis look fine after the Winter inside, the tag on this one is somewhere buried in the pot.
My pot with Caribbean Reds/ a super hot Habanero, over-wintered very well over one of the heater outlets and I see seeds germinating next to older plants.
This Begonia sits in water dripping off the Vandas while watering.
and this Poinsettia keeps on producing red leaves under the natural light conditions in the greenhouse.
I should mention that I had several large seed horns busting out in late Fall/ early Winter on two of my Adeniums. I had three plants in bloom last Summer - my small Adenium multiflorum 'Mombassa', my regular Adenium obesum and my third plant which I regrew from cuttings. Now the latter was a very tall plant which I used to lop off at eye-height, and looking then at the trunk shape, I always thought it was probably a hybrid of somalense and obesum.
I am mentioning this, because you will most likely have some hybrids here, I would expect short to tall growing future plants.
I am thinking of @Drdawg and others, are you interested in growing a flat from seeds?
I assume they can be shipped in a regular envelope wrapped in some soft paper towels?
If so, a self addressed envelope might get you plenty of future plants.....
Ken, I grow them in Summer like a warm growing tropical plant, lots of water and fertilizer, but excellent drainage, best in full sun.
Comes Fall, I like to give them still a warm sunny/bright spot and since they start dropping leaves, indicating that they want a rest, I water very very sparingly during the indoor season, or you might rot the roots. Right now I gently increase watering as they want to start growing and blooming.
If you stop watering completely during the Winter inside, you will surely lose too many functional roots.
Once you have a young plant growing happily and they start to show a nice fat caudex when repotting, people usually raise the caudex above the soil line for interest.