Clerodendrum thompsoniae

I've wanted to try bleeding heart (Clerodendrum thompsoniae)  on the handrail for a while. Not sure if it will take the hot southern sun- it will be going in a spot that will have about 1/2 day sun. Leonard dug up and pruned heart a nice plant. It's been mulched and put up against the handrail.

Begonia Erythrophylla Helix / Red Fred and surprise Art Hodes joining the family

Everyone's potted. Looking good. See Fred. The plants again came from Glasshouse.com nursery. i am really pleased. Large, healthy plants. They were  not over-potted, ready to be transplanted.

The east end - splayed bougainvillea

The bougainvillea on the east end has it's branches splayed and tightly wired to the wall, when it's in bloom it looks like a rose bush covered in gaudy roses. I'm not sure if it will ever fill out with foliage as much as if it were left alone to form the climbing bush it wants to be. We'll see. I think, as soon as I can get 2 more hooks in the walls for the base branches I can remove the wooden trellis and it'll look a lot better.

I've also posted a picture of b 'Gryphon' which I bought at Home Depot for $3.98. Some buyer at HD is partial to begonias, from time to time they have begonias worth buying. Earlier in the year, every week there would be a different hanging begonia, some were quite nice.

Red Fred, Art Hodes and Ethroyphylla Helix arrived today from Glasshouse Nursery in Ohio. The plants were large nice looking plants. The Art Hodes was a bonus- a nice big boy. Now, of course is the challenge-- begonias on the 4th floor terrace, in zone 10b.

I'm sorry to say that Little Fred bit the dust today. You gotta know went to mulch 'em.

Stretching Time

Palm Hammock Orchid Estate's "Cloe" aka PHOE's CLOE

Sunny days. I have to use some discretion watering as I've caused little "Cloe" to have a few limp leaves.

Otherwise the smaller pots of heraciefolia and Selph are looking good. It's going to take time. E. Perenyi spoke in seasons, where I've been writing in terms of days and weeks.

Posted some new pics of the east end and the euphorbia's new home.

A thousand dancing angels on the head of a pin

My begonia seeds arrived today; B. carrieae Ziesenhenne and B. kenworthyae Ziesenhenne. I prepared the little plastic seed starter kit with warm water etc. 

The seeds were so small that it was pretty much impossible to pick them up and drop onto damp peat starter tablet.

I have no idea whether I was successful or not. I tried. I put on the top to the little greenhouse and stored on top of a high cabinet near the window, safely out of direct light.

Who would have known.

b. Gryphon was quite dry and wilted when I got home. A nice "gro bath" seemed to perk it right up. Transplanted euphorbia shrub (black leaves small white pom pom flowers) into square pot that the banana was in. Looks good there. It had to come out of the terracota pot which was sucking the moisture out of the soil. I'm going to have to do something with the flame vine pot as well.

Sun, bougainvillea, miracle gro-- she's finally puttin' out

The magenta bougainvillea began putting out some new growth and some bracts started appearing. It's been hot and sunny for the past few days. I've been watering the bougie though i'm warned not to. I should say I have been watering with miracle-gro. a few bracts has turned into large corsages of magenta bracts and flowers. I'm not holding back on the water in the hopes of more foliage. there is significant new growth.

Gone bananas

Last banana seemed to rot away. It was cut up and hauled away like Mr. Peabody's coal. Maybe I'll put in the heliconia . Maybe another bird of paradise. There was a bunch of creeping fig growing in with the banana, it looked crazy. I'll find a spot close to a wall for it to climb.

Gotta go to Leonard's tomorrow for clerodendron.

Giving time time

The love of gardening is gently but firmly tempering my impatience. I have to live and let them live-- at their own pace.

Momentum building behind the growth, we are rolling into summer.

The gardenia vine, a great grower has a good many buds on it.

Jasmine still in bloom, so sweet. 

happy plants, happy gardener

The pots begin to overflow. order and health are returning. The duranta is as high as my head and spreading out nicely gently shading the heracleifolia. Selph's Mahogany is beginning to fill it's bowl, a miracle after my rather complete cleaning of it's rhizomes (see 'Selph Stew' pic). Even the bougainvillea on the east wall has begun a new flush of new growth and magenta bracts. There are 6 blood oranges on the tree- five of which are on one branch, i'm going to have to figure out some way to prop it up. The passion fruit are starting to have a slight blush on the bottom, hopefully on their way to edible ripeness.

B. heracleifolia var. nigricans and ricinifolia -- pots 'o rhizomes

I've had very good results growing Rhizomes in large 24"-30" Mexican bowls the are sold at home depot. They often have the legs on them so they drain very  well. Two in particular that have grown into beautiful specimens are  B. heracleifolia var. nigricans and ricinifolia. Mature, they will grow into near perfect round mounds of tight leaves. Both prolific bloomers- quite a site in Feb-Apr bloom period. They are particularly happy when they get a miracle-gro shower once a week or so- diluted.

Dopey, such a fine begonia, is doing so well, I'm going to try him in a bowl as well, after he's outgrown the plastic bowl he came in. 

New culm appearing in bamboo pot! yeah. It's growing a little near the edge which curves into a inward lip,  so it may grow a little diagonally, but that'll be fine, i hope the bulbs in the stalks will be nicely pronounced like the main culms are. although there are some browning of leaves (tips) the pot as a whole has a thick head of hair, as buddha belly bamboo will have if happy.

Bought a pot of star burst clarodendron from Leonard yesterday.  It is a mature plant though only 4' or so with a 5" trunk. It has almost been turned into a topiary. For behind bamboo.

Thom has some bird of paradise up for grabs, I think I'll grab and scatter a few around, their verticle habit really lends it's to limited space.

Giant shrimp

I planted the 2 shrimp plants (Justicia brandegeana) in a butt ugly pot. May have to move it. Ideally, it will grow high and full enough for the back row and the pot will be hidden.

Very windy tonight. The sky clouded over fairly quickly coming from the west, though the beautiful breeze earlier in the day was coming from  the east off the ocean. 

Must utilize plants as windscreens. I've found some good spots I think for the rhizome pots. In potting the shrimps, there were a number of heracleifolia, with strong, hairy little leaves coming up, planted 3 6" pots with them--tightly. I have a 3 tier'd cake stand which holds them nicely and situated for morning sun bath. Maybe I'll specialize in growing only a handful of rhizomatous begonias.

Put Irene Nuss in the background next (sheltered by) the bird of paradise and the bamboo. She has big glossy leaves, but no blooming. Sophie Cecile is going to need some attention soon. There are too many dead canes that were cut down to the level of the soil.
 

B. heracleifolia var. nigricans

Several people in the Yahoo Begonia group have helped me identify a begonia, i've had for about 5 years that i didn't know the name of: B. heracleifolia var. nigricans. It is a vigorous medium sized leaf rhimotous. Here is a description from the 'Plants Delights' nursery, who also call the plant 'the perennial hog-weed leaf begonia'. The plant in and out of bloom is a lot prettier than that name would suggest.

"This wonderful begonia was first discovered in Mexico in the 1830s, with the specific epithet referring to the leaves resembling the genus heracleum. Each 2' tall x 4' wide tightly rhizomatous clump is composed of 15" wide x 1' long maple-shaped leaves of medium green surrounded by a contrasting wide black-green border and held at the end of red-speckled leaf petioles. The common variety name "nigricans" should be used instead as a cultivar, since this represents a single clone and not a distinct natural variety.

It's always satisfying to be able to know a plants name and in this case some of it's provenance.

Went to Jesse Durko's, a nursery in Davie,  I wanted to buy a 'Joe Hayden' but they weren't looking too good. This is were I bought my fine Selph.  He does have some great specimen begonias tucked in some shade that are impressive. Bought 2 pots of giant red shrimp plants.  They are great shrubs and  can handle part of the day in full sun.

Bamboo isn't looking so great. The leaf (?) tips are brown, don't know if it's because i'm not watering enough (the top of the soil under mulch is damp) or if it has some fungus or pest bothering it.

Euryops pectinatus

The african bush daisy is a little workhorse. It brightens up the garden with a bright primary color and it has a lovely wild habit that lends itself to the container cottage bed.

Sunny, hot weather for the next few days. Skipped watering yesterday, watered in today.

Dumped the Aralia elegantissima. Reading a little more about it's culture, it may have had too much sun. But there was still something eating away, fungus or pest, stunting new growth.

I'm calling Leonard today to try to get him to dig me up some clerodendrum quadriloculare, I love the dark, almost black, green leaves. Not sure if it would fill nicely behind bamboo.

The everglades are burning

A blanket of smoke from the burning glades drops visibility to about a mile. It's like breathing second hand smoke.

Maybe once everyone is recovered somewhat from my over zealous fertilizing,  i can list here, briefly, my fertilizatioin routine.

I think there may have to be some major changes in the structure of the garden. Instead of waiting for the virginia creeper to rappel the masonry, I should cover the walls in discreet trellises and just let some twining vines take over. There are a lot more varieties of tropical flowering vines without aerial roots that I could grow. That would take some planning, and work (a lot of work).

Gulf high

High in the Gulf bringing in hot dry air. I'm not sad about that. I love watering, i love rinsing, spritzing, watering in.  Part of me goes in with the water into the soil.

Here are some painful lessons, that perhaps you've avoided simply by reading and following directions.

Please, for me, my imaginary readers:

Don't over fertilize. Even if your using a mild organic fertilizer. It will cause irregular, unhealthy growth, it will discolor your leaves.

My massive application of Espoma created a hard, crust on the top soil in the bamboo pot. It will break up with time and the soil will be rich.

Something very troubling; brown spots on the edges of the ricinifolia leaves. This may simply be sun burn on a wet leaf- better this than a fungus or rot.

This is a challening time for the terrace. Perhaps it's simply the changes going into summer.

4" 's of selph and dopey

The potting mix was dry on top today and still damp down below. I'll just have to wait and see if it works won't I?  The clay pot will also have a lot to do with the moisture level.

I've put the newly potted selph's and a 4" of  Dopey in the gardenia pot, underneath the the umbral of the leaves. It hasn't grown in enough to block all the sun- but enough to keep the babies from burning.

I have to say that b. " PHOE's Dopey" is my hero. What a beautiful little workhorse. and the leaves are just getting more beautiful as are PHOE's Cloe-- The new leaves coming out are really georgeous-- bright lime, a delicious color.

Getting rid of the aurelia, horrible plant. Working on getting a Clerodendrum Quadriloculare (from a generous friend) which will hopefully appreciate hot sun and will be a little more insect resistant than the aurelia-- which reminded me of the maple leaf copper  plants which are very prone to pests.

F is for

Throw everything off of the fucking terrace. Nothings right, everythings dying. I am a horrible gardner. The begonias are all dying, the false aurelia looks like a bad hairdo. I cut the purslane back too far, poor little fred is looking limp, ugh Maybe I'll feel better in the morning.

The potting mix i made up yesterday-- seems to hold a little too much water.

I cut the rhizome of Selph in two, the one i plucked out of the big pot yesterday to plant in the 6" pot. I kept one half in the 6" pot and the other piece in a 4" pot. They're both in the new mix. It seemed a little wet after watering in. We'll see how it goes after a day or two of drying out.

Benign neglect

To my bored, imaginary readers:

Bougainvillea are supposed to be cared for with 'benign neglect'. I haven't found that to be the case.  The magenta on the east wall-- i'm not really sure how many hours of sun now that the sun is almost overhead. The portico may have started to block much needed mid-day sun.  It looks like a mangy old possum. Hardly any foliage, though the branches do look somewhat covered when in bloom.

I just read on wiki that a bougainvillea thrives on a somewhat dry, fertile soil. Little water needed once established. Something is missing on my terrace.

Need to get a used book on them on Amazon. There may be some tricks to growing in containers that i'm missing.

I started writing about benign neglect because i have an orchid that someone gave me from IKEA, just a common, pretty orchid that has been holding it's blooms for over a month. Tucked away by the duranta and blue daze, almost forgotten, it is a beautiful addition to the mass of flowers.

Made a mix of potting soil -- 2 litre perlite, 2 litre Miracle Gro Moisture  control, 1 litre Jiffy Mix. I took a piece of a rhizome of Selph and planted in 6" point. I wet the material, which drained fine after clearing the whole in the bottom. Rubbing my finger in it right after watering, it did not seemed to holed a lot of water. Good.

A mugging

Very humid out this morning. just around 95% and the temparature around 80, it is a warm steamy morning. Just what my tropical rhizomes adore-- with a soil that drains immediately when watered of course.

The virginia creeper has not take foot on the masonry, i might get some super glue and lend it a hand.

Humidity just hit 100% -- a summer morning shower. i hope this isn't going to be a busy storm season.

Re-reading the ingredients of jiffy-mix. 50/50 peat / vermiculite. Maybe i'll try one cup of this with 1/2 of miracle grow potting soil, in a 6" pot with a plucking from b. Dopey and see how it goes. It's always about even moisture, just drier than damp.

Ricinifolia id'd at last

I saw what was tagged as b.ricinifolia at Fairchild that looked like what I've been calling 'Carribean King'. I'm sending pic to yahoo begonia group for ID. (7PM: so far verdict at Yahoo begonias is ricinifolia)

Rinse and water for everyone, prepping for a hot sunny day though it has cooled from the heat of the weekend.

Little Fred's not looking so well. The smaller rhizomes get blown around by the wind, even though he's way below the lip of the pot. There are still stiff little leaves coming out of him so we'll cross our fingers.

Gardenia and orange are putting out big, glossy leaves.

Hoping  bamboo is going to put up another culm -- nothing yet, though a side shoot from a culm that had been cut is starting to grow.

Palm Sunday

Spent the afternoon at Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden. Agog at the diversity of arecaceae. A different specie of palm at every turn.The vista of palms stretching into the distance seen from the lowlands is haunting.


A number of begonias too. The first one we met was none other than Selph's Mahogany. Looking a little beaten up by the sun-- as did some of the hot-house plants. Have they not been getting our rain? There is a huge bed of b. peleata by the greenhouse. Always a delight to see a large bed of begonias--cane or rhizome.


http://www.fairchildgarden.org/

Source of photo: Florida Center for Instructional Technology, Exploring Florida: Social Studies Resources for Students and Teachers (Tampa, FL: University of South Florida, 2009)