April

In Bloom

This beautiful jacaranda at 1219 49 St. N. creates a gorgeous picture against the turquoise house, emphasized with a white picket fence.  The owners were very clever to plant a schefflera behind it to give a pleasing bushy green background, like ferns in an arrangement of roses. The jac has been in full bloom all over town for three weeks now, and purple carpets of dropped blooms have already begun to decorate lawns.

2021

Done: Weeding. Bamboo trimmed. Small path laid in backyard. 

Note to self: Don't panic! Sea grapes are shedding their leaves everywhere!

To do: Propagate blue salvia mystic spires and dill? and pink   .. Get more gaura. Plant peanuts 105 days till harvest. 

In bloom: Gerbera daisies-- just divided them, hope they make it; blue salvia, but only in planters; petunias -- didn't get enough this year, they didn't really thrive; yellow lantana; blue daze very gorgeous; angelonia seems to be coming back ok; bush daisies really happy; bougainvillea still going at it.

Back

Looks like I'll have a full bed of gallardia! 

2020 - Month of Coronavirus
Front:

Blue salvia bed was dug up, just as it was in full bloom, when Benjamin Franklin Plumbers repiped the house. It's starting to come back though.

Gerbera Daisies have been super gorgeous, but next year (if they don't survive) don't let them develop root rot! They're hard to water because of their big leaves -- better to plant them.

Mexican heather is such a necessity.  Love it, so easy, so pretty.

Trying to grow milkweed, very hard to start. Three plants out of three dozen attempts.

Begonias planted. Who knows?

Started & planted native porterweed. Makes a nice ground cover near oak tree.

Mini mums bought cheaply last year are still blooming!

PETUNIAS are a big hit. I love them more than pansies now.  So bright, so cheerful, so longlasting.  More petunias, please.  The ones I bought last October are still going strong.

Varieted sansevieria looks great, going strong.

Heather & rosemary both ok.

Yellow lantana in bloom, and spreading.

Fig tree just barely there.

Bougainvillea still blooming

Bush daisies still working it.

Back

Orchids, ground orchids, day lilies, caladiums are doing well.

Gallardia is fantastically beautiful. I only trim it back when all the seeds are off. I've planted celosia on the other side of the path, and it looks like it might take, in which case the path will be really beautiful.

  

2019

Went to a talk given by the Florida Native Plants people and got an earful.  So now I plan on uprooting my invasives and replacing them with Florida Natives and Florida Friendlies.  I knew Mexican petunias were on the bad list, but I didn't know that about sword ferns.  I won't miss them.  And asparagus fern! I love asparagus fern! I've never had any luck with foxtail fern instead. The porterweed has to go; luckily I've located the native on my walks and can sneak some cuttings.

What's in bloom:

bougainvillea started up in Nov. & won't quit.

bush daisy isn't looking very bushy, but great contrast

Staking the ground orchids seems to help

Orchids!  Next time add food in late Feb

Sweet little mimosa

New planting of vinca. Improvement over old scraggly stock

Ganges primrose just won't quit. Started in Nov.

2016

Serena Angelonia
Red Sensation Cordyline, which may well take over the pot completely. Note: a year later, I can't remember it at all.

Add to this beauty the daylilies by the back door and the caladiums, which have just now started to pop up.

Greenthumb 2012 Picks: Peppermint and Alcea

Sucker!  I bought an orchid, a small peppermint, and a giant alcea -- Vietnamese  hollyhock -- at Greenthumb last week!  Sound like the beginning of a bad joke?

The reason why peppermint doesn't grow for me in Fla is because the air temp is too hot for it!  It's like my husband Marty!  It wants to go to North Carolina during the summer.  I'll try putting it in a nice pot and keeping it in my kitchen for the duration. Bethia can grow it in a pot in her backyard, but her backyard has that giant oak tree lowering the air temp by 10 degrees.

And that gorgeous alcea?  I was wary when Robby looked at it sadly and said, "Oh, we killed ours."  Many of the buds have turned brown and dropped off and a few of the leaves. It's supposed to grow in full sun all over the US, but when they say that, they aren't talking about Florida full sun in my experience.  It's supposed to be drought tolerant but it needs to be watered twice a week, which in Florida is not drought tolerant. Update: alcea is dead as a doornail.

The orchid? Unbelievably gorgeous. People look at it and say, "Is that real?"


What have I learned from this?  The orchid came out of a local nursery. I have bought less than healthy plants from local nurseries before, but usually local nurseries don't specialize in bizarre and delicate  foreign refugees.

2011

Day lilies started blooming in the side garden in the backyard.  The ones in front are still just in bud.  What a welcome they give every morning!

June

2021

6/7 Willow Tree, bought Juniperus procumbens 'Nana' or dwarf Japanese juniper and Victoria blue salvia to line front path. Juniper will grow 4 to 6 inches a year and reach 4.5 feet. Salvia will grow to a 1 and 1/2 feet tall and 9 inches wide.  Needs richer soil. 

Fertilize citrus and avocado

plant moss roses and zinnias

2020

6/11 Went to Willow Tree with Bethia, where I picked out a crossandra and some Corsican mint. Not very sensible choices, but it was love at first sight. Now I just have to figure where to put them. 

6/30  Just Fruits and Exotics have shipped an Australian Green Finger Lime  and Sugar Belle Tangerine. They are unboxed and standing in the shade, waiting for their final resting space.  I'll definitely wait for the rains.  Tangerines ripen in November, and Limes are everbearing -- when they turn color and 'feel full'  Tangerines are on trifolate or sour orange rootstock so should like acid soil. ???

On a less cheery note, still working on thinning the bamboo, and yearning for a better backyard plan. But backyard serves no real purpose except as a path from Janie and Claire's cars. Got to plan around that.

2019

Rain lilies went to town after I separated them and planted them along the path!

Update:  Avocado tree is doing okay. It was blighted this spring, so no crops, but it's looking ok.  All the Santa Rosa stuff perished long ago. 

This year's new plantings: a really gorgeous Celosia which I'm trying to propagate. Just took three cuttings, and only three because I hate to denude the plants, they're so full and beautiful.  Looks fantastic with the red-leaved coleus, which I'm also working at propagating. 

I have a lot of purple shield which have graduated to pots on the window sill of the porch.  They're such a beautiful true purple, but they can't take full on heat.  I would put them around the palm tree but I think they'd burn up. They're very effective in pots near the door, but they should have something with them. I'm not sure what.  Maybe some flower.  

2014

Many new plants!!!

Mexicola grande avocado tree, courtesy of my sweet Bethia: If you do get just one tree, here's a tip to increase fertilization: Spray flowers with a weak honey water mixture, like 1:10.  The bees and wasps will be all over it, pollinating away!  Really worked for me.

It is sometimes called the year-round avocado because of its long harvest season. To extend the harvest, store fruit for up to six weeks in cool temperatures. The fruit matures on the tree but ripens after it is picked, so delay picking and store in a cool place to provide avocados almost all year. 

Moringa tree: In front yard, again, courtesy of my sweet Bethia: I'm expecting a bumper load of nuts...in about five years.2011

Home Depot: Broke down and bought a mini pink which I've almost killed already. Bought coleus which I immediately began to snip up and propagate with great satisfaction. Bought luscious begonia which will probably be dead by the next time I read this, bad me.

My order from Santa Rosa Nursery arrived: 

Items Ordered:	Price:	Status:
1 of : Buddleia davidii White Profusion	$4.99	Shipped
3 of : Gaillardia Mesa Yellow	$8.97	Shipped
1 of : Sedum Hot Stuff	$2.99	Shipped
1 of : Sedum Lemon Ball fall	$4.99	Shipped

It's not such a hot idea to order super cheap on sale plants; they arrived very root bound and droopy, the lower leaves burned yellow. I ripped out some whip-and-a-chain beach sunflower and replaced with gaillardia I planted Buddleia by the bougainvillea and hope it will be answer to all my dreams. I'm eager to see my sedums take off -- their leaves look radically different.

Also bought on impulse from Home Depot:  Calarhea. Medium light, moist soil, and warm home temperaures of 70 - 75.  Meant to be just a houseplant? Remarkably beautiful leaves.

My four cubic yards of dirt quality mulch from the city was probably at least one cubic yard too much, but oh well, I'm not through yet. Tired, but not through.

2011

A beautiful red bloom on the hibiscus, amid the beach sunflower.  I fertilized with fish emulsion last week, and this week, the hibiscus do seem to be blooming better. The fish emulsion is stinky, but it's fine stuff.

 I'm thinking a little purple queen near the wall would do well and look good.