Dutch Iris Flowered in 60 days: South Florida

I planted dutch iris bulbs (Miss Saigon variety) from a box store 60 days ago. This morning I noticed the first bloom.

Over the past 60 days, the weather has gone from 50-90 and we've had less than 10 days of rain. It receives 55 mins of irrigation once per week. They get filtered morning and afternoon sun. They look very much like young garlic (before they bloom).

Since I can't even grow a pansy, I'd give these dutch iris bulbs 5 Green Thumbs (scale of 0-5). By the way, I'm copyrighting, trademarking, and patenting the green thumb rating system...it's mine. :)

The Square Grouper in Jupiter, FL

John and I went to Castaways aka Square Grouper last night. This is the place we take out-of-towners to show off our beautiful waterways: it's that pretty. We caught the sunset on the dock at 5:15 and got some fantastic photos with the new camera.


I almost left it at home because I didn't want to carry it around. The pelican and Jupiter Lighthouse photos we took are wonderful too.

A Fern Grows in Cement

This is a shot of our pool patio. We have these 2 inch holes for the child fence (it's a requirement). I don't grow these ferns...I wonder how this got here.

Brambles Require a pH of 6.0-6.8

The new brambles I planted are thriving despite the pH level of the soil being too alkaline. The soil is supposed to be between 6.0 and 6.8, so I need to add sulfur, which will make the soil more acidic. If I wanted to make it even more alkaline, I'd add lime.

pH is a measure of the soil acidity or alkalinity

How do I make the soil more acidic? Here are 6 ways:

1. sphagnum peat
2. elemental sulfur
3. aluminum sulfate
4. iron sulfate
5. acidifying nitrogen
6. organic mulch

I don't know what I'll do yet, but I'll make sure to post about it.

How To Plant a Staghorn Fern (Platycerium)

Here are instructions for planting a young staghorn fern using spaghum moss and fishing line. I planted three young staghorns: one on a lattice bolted to the side of the house, one on a palm tree, and one on an old palm frond.

I purchased these young staghorn ferns for $2 on clearance from Lowes. The bag of spaghum moss was under $5 and was the size of a big dictionary. I used half of it.

I soaked the moss in a bucket for a few minutes. Then, I tied up the young plant to the lattice...I kept winding & winding the fishing line around the fern-maybe 10 wraps. Then I tied off the line. It reminded me of wrapping up an old ball of yarn...pretty sloppy, but who cares!

I grabbed a handful of sopping wet moss and shoved it on the dirt plart of the fern. Then I wrapped it with more fishing line. I probably shoved 5 handfuls of moss and wrapped 1-2 times after each handful. Some of the moss fell, but that's fine. That's it!

Pretty soon, the brown leaves will grow over the moss and will form a little pot for the plant. There are official names for the green leaves, brown leaves, and roots...take a look at what wikipedia says about staghorns or Platycerium.


My walking buddy and I have noticed about a third of all homes with 5 miles of our neighborhood here in South Florida seem to have two-ft. bronze cranes, a staghorn fern, and a pineapple plant. No exaggeration!!!!!!!!!

Strawberry Plans Second Season

I've heard that strawberry plants don't produce well beyond the first year. I planted these last year. They spread tremendously, but the fruit never turn completely red. They are very small also. I will rip them out when I get time...it's cheap enough to rebuy new plants each year, so that's what I'll do.

Upside-Down Tomato - Season Two

Since my tomatoes always seem to get wilt disease or leaf curl, I figured I'd elevate and invert them. Here is the upside-down tomato planter I made last year. This year, the planter is home to one of the well-travelled tomato seedlings. I transplanted it today and will track its progress. It will get full sun for part of the day as soon as it begins to grow up the side of the pot...upside-down plants always try to grow up---toward the sun.

The Well-Travelled Tomato - Part 2

I transplanted the three well-travelled tomato seedlings today.

Two are in the ground inside 33" tomato cages. The third is in the upside-down tomato planter I used last year. The drip irrigation system will water them every other day. The seedlings were about 5 inches tall. To promote root growth, I planted them deep...only 2 inches remains above ground now.

The very small seedling at the very front of the photo is a jalapeno seedling I transplanted (probably too soon). Oh well.

Beans Took 50-60 days

I will pick the first few pole beans tomorrow. I sowed them into the ground 50-60 days ago. I'll post next about the basil and tomato that's also seen in this photo.

The beans get watered every other day for 15 minutes via the drip irrigations system. They get full sun part of the day and filtered light the rest of the day. I just mulched today...they've been baking in the sun and seem a bit stressed...I hope the mulch helps.

Hazel Nut Scionwood

Scionwood is cuttings from a tree of the desired variety that is grafted onto another tree or rootstock.

I was on a waiting list for 12 months for these scionwood. I dipped them in rooting hormone, then put them in a large pot. They'll get watered every other day for 15 minutes. They get full sun for a few hours per day. I hope they thrive.

Orange Mint Spreads Rapidly

This is orange mint. It spreads rapidly, much like a weed. I figured it would do well in the front planter because it doesn't require much water and will fill the pot in a few months. The top photo was taken two months ago. The bottom photo is from today.

I got the orange mint in March 2007. It was part of the 6 tier Dr. Seuss planter. In two months, it's doubled in size. It grows (what I call) runners under the surface. Up pops a little green flower...this was three very small plugs I propagated from the main plant. You can see how the runners pop up all over the pot, making it weed-like.

The mint is DELICIOUS in mojitos and grapfruit-vodka cocktails. We also use it in a Men's Health chicken recipe.

Air Layering Propagation Made Easy

Now, I finally understand it! I'll try it tomorrow. Here's where I found the easy instructions.

Propagation fo Angel Wing Begonia

I'm on such a propagation kick lately. Here's the begonia from my inlaws...what a nice surprise this was last week!

I just came across a great set of tutorials for propagating begonia plants from both leaves and stem cuttings. I get a lot of ideas and advice from gardenweb (not affiliated with them) and came across this great tutorial today.

Mystery Plant - Song of India

I bought a plant from Home Depot last year which was labelled "tropical foliage." I just found out what it's true identity is...Song of India. The other green plant in this mess is a Dracaena Massangeana. My myesteries are now solved!!!

Croton Propagation Success

Another quick update on the croton and rubber plant cuttings I stuck in a pot back on Jan 31. The other day, there were two new leaves emerging from the rubber plant and roots on the crotons. Here's what they looked like the day I took the cuttings.

Plant Dormancy in South Florida

I recieved and planted the brambles (both blackberries and raspberries) on march 1. When they arrived from the Massachusetts nursery, they were dormant and bare root. They looked like sticks with scraggly dry roots and there was absolutely no green nor any signs of life.

I guess our humid, warm climate instantly broke the dormancy (is that how you say it?). Within one week, there were green nubbies, which soon errupted into this foliage. Think about what a feat it is to go from a stick to this lush (kinda) juvenile plant in less than 2 weeks!!! Hopefully, they will put this much energy into producing fruit next year!

Heavenly Blue Morning Glory Growing in the Wild

On a recent walk, I came across this morning glory growing wild on a fence. I've tried to grow morning glory here in Florida and it dried up after a few weeks. I guess this is proof it can and does thrive down here. I have a friend who is growing it too. It must just need partial shade and a vertical surface on which to climb. Oh well.

Unknown Florida tree

I just might have to knock on a strager's door to ask what the heck kind of tree this is. It has weird pine-cone looking fruit and the large roots are above ground (like mangroves). I've never seen it on the water. The few "flowers" it has look more like lufa sponges than flowers. The foliage looks like palm fronds, but the trunk is clearly not from the palm family. How odd!

Update: it's a screwpine! Thanks Nicole!

South Florida Hedges (my plans are revised)

I found another great website that is helping me decide on plants for the new hedge. Turns out that the allamanda bush doesn't bloom unless it's in full sun. The crotons should do fine. The gold mound will want full sun also.
By the way, I found out exactly what the yellow flower bush is called:

allamanda bush (allamanda neriifolia) also called bush trumpet
croton (either the exotica or rex variety) (Updated! This is a Mamey Croton!)
gold mound (duranta erecta)

Christmas Palm Photos (Manila Palm).

We have two Christmas Palms around the house. These palms are very commonly sold in clusters of two to three per pot and are also called Manila Palms. We have one of each, so I guess we have 5 Christmas Palms. I always get these mixed up with areca palms. Hopefully, now I'll remember.

From some online research, I've found that they are very susceptible to "lethal yellowing diease" and "should not be planted." That's a bit harsh, as our are doing better than many other plants in our gardens.

This was installment #3 of my quest to document each plant in my garden.

Every Plant in My Garden

Installment #2 in my quest to document and name each plant in my garden. Here is the Areca Palm. It's been hard to identify the palms...there is so much misinformation on the internet. These are commonly kept indoors as houseplants.

Palm Fact: palms are called monocots and trees are called dicots. When you cut a palm's trunk, there are NO rings inside...they're actually more related to grass.

All the new growth at the bottom of this cluster of palms was just pruned. These palms get out of control if not pruned. They are all over south Florida where I live. All kinds of critters live in the base if not pruned...I especially don't care for the black racers (snakes) that make their homes here. I don't care if racers are good for the yard! :)

Nautical Curb Appeal: Pilings

Here's a nautical themed landscape that is just perfectly executed. It's not too "themey" and not "under-themed." I can't say enough good things about this landscape. The plant choice is perfect for our climate and watering restrictions too.

Here's the neat part...I took this photo several days ago. Yesterday, I'm at our town's small Home & Garden Show and I see this very house in our small local magazine called Home and Design!

My walking buddy and I love collecting ideas for gardening and curb appeal. I took this photo because we thought the pilings would be an adorable addition to her house (or mine!). I take my little digital camera with me on our walks these days. We always talk about implementing ideas we see on our walks, but then never remember them.

I hope I don't get in trouble for having taken and posted this photo. I cropped a lot of it out to be (more) safe.

I need to price out something like this. I know a 40 ft 10-14" pole is $400 and has a delivery fee of $200. My parent's neighborhood just had to purchase one. I assume that smalled lenths (say 4 ft pole w/ diameter of 8") are much less expensive. I guess I could visit with local dock installers for pricing info.

Patio Tomato from Bonnie Farms

I can't believe I am actually growing a tomato. They aren't diseased or bug ridden like usual! This variety called Patio or Container is on my front porch and is watered every other day by a drip irrigation system. It's doing well and is growing from the top of my favorite gardening pot, the strawberry pot.

Head up to the blue search bar at the top of the page and type (strawberry) to see all my other posts about the wonderful stuff I've had growing in this pot.

This is not an advertisement for the grower...I have no afflilation with them.

African Violet is not blooming

My Mother in Law has given me a few african violets over the years and I cannot get them to bloom let alone stay alive. This one, however is flourishing and is finally blooming! Here's what I did right and used to do wrong:

I had it on the window sill in the kitchen and it got plenty of sun and the leaves were strong, but it didn't bloom. Then, I moved it to the porch where it must slightly more sun and the leaves have begun to point down (as shown), but it's bloomed. I think it's happier this way. I water it 1-2 times per week by just putting a small pool of water in the saucer. The water I use to water the plant is kept in an old 16 Oz. plastic water bottle with several drops of liquid african violet fertilizer. I labelled the water bottle of course, so no one accidentally drinks from it.

I learned all this from my mother in law who has probably 6 dozen of these plants throughout her house....all in bloom. She pinches a leaf off a large plant and sticks it in a new pot to propagate a new plant!!!!


"Violet! You're turning violet, Violet!" (from one of my favorite movies)

Eureka Lemon Blooms in March

My young Eureka Lemon bush is blooming and setting fruit. I'm getting so very excited. I do however have a dingy brown fungus on the leaves that I think is called copperleaf (???) I really need to look this up and treat the bush. I do not want to loose all these tiny fruits!

Propagation of a Staghorn Fern

My inlaws have pretty green thumbs and a dozen or so huge staghorns growing under their pines. They are hung from large chains and have survived frosts, hurricanes, and lightning. They are nearly neglected, except for the occasional bananna peel that they eat up. Yes, you heard me correctly. They absorb nutrients from bananna peels.

We were lucky enough to be given a young pup that grew from one of their ferns. John's mother attached it to a piece of our driftwood with spaghum moss and fishing line. Over the past two months, nearly all the green (you see in this photo) had emerged. We do need to retwine it, but it's doing pretty good. I''m excited to finally have one of these beautiful ferns.

Here you can read up on it.

Miracle Fruit Plant - One Month Update

So, I've had this miracle fruit plant (Synsepalum dulcificum) for just over one month. I'd say it's flourishing. It's grown at 4-5 inches sinces I potted it, but there are no signs of blooms yet. It's been getting sprinkles of water every other day and has been getting very filtered sun.

I know fruiting plants need sun to bloom, and now that I'm sure it is adjusted to its new home here in my garden, I'll transition it to a sunnier spot.

Here's the original photo from the day it arrived by mail. If you don't know anything about this miraculous plant, read up on it.

Aloe Vera Blooms Yearly

Exactly one year ago, I blogged about this aloe vera plant's blooms. Here, this year, it's blooming ince again despite having been relocated and abused.

The aloe came with the house. The previous owners inherited it when they moved in. The plant won't die, no matter what anyone does to it. I recently planted it in the shade and give it minmal water only once per week. Additionally, it toppled over after I replanted it, and despite the broken, yellow leaves and topsy turvy stature, it still bloomed.

Fried Green Tomatoes from the Garden

I recently spoke with a neighbor who happens to be a master gardener. She has about 10 tomato plants and offered me a green tomato along with a great recipe. So, today was dedicated to 6 new recipes...5 for hummus and one for fried green tomatoes.

The tomato was very firm and bright green. I discarded the top and bottom, then cut 4 slices, each a quarter inch thick. Here's the ingredients for both the hummus and tomatoes. Check out Martha Stewart's website for the tomato recipe...the secret ingredient is cornmeal.





The hummus recipes were from all over the internet. We made:
feta-spinach hummus
lemon-garlic hummus
three-pepper hummus (black, jalapeno, cyenne)
onion-parsley hummus
olive-garlic hummus

Our favorite (by far) was the three pepper hummus!

Sand Hill Crane Nest in Palm City, FL

The library was supposed to close for renovations and an addition several months ago. Because there is a nest of a protected species on the construction site, the project has been delayed until the eggs hatch. I've been taking long walks down to watch and photograph the nest. This story has been all over the newspaper for weeks and has attracted a ton of press from around the world.

Above: a photo I took as I walked away from the spot where people can easily see the nest. This was yesterday morning. Those camera lenses are the real deal. I chatted with the guy and looked at some of his photos. The eye of the crane fills the entire frame...wow!

I hung out with a couple from Washington DC who came down here specifically for this event. They are filming a documentary on bird mating. Pretty cool. The couple shown above in the photo are photographers as well. The other people have just come to see what's going on.


Above: Here is one of my shots. I just love how one is always building up the nest with grass and the other is looking for food and warding off other curious birds.

Above: Here's a favorite shot of mine. Their eyes are nearly red...just a bit of orange.

I can't wait to take a walk today to see if there are any hatchinglings. The eggs are overdue.

Florida Friendly Landscaping

I thought I was doing really good when it comes to lessening the negative impact my landscape has on our ecosystem. That was before I stumbled upon the requirements to be invited into the Florida-Friendly Yard Recognition Program.

This checklist gives me a whole new set of gardening goals. My new intrinsic motivation comes not from the need to have a congratulatory sign in my yard, but from the satisfaction of knowing I did my small part to help.

Speaking of "my small part," I bought two canvas grocery bags at the grocery store yesterday. I plan to get a couple more next time I'm there. I am going to try to use these instead of those horrible plastic bags. I hate using paper bags. I'll get up on my soapbox and preach about recycling some other day.

The house photo above was stiched together with Canon's photo stitch software. It took 7-9 photos to get this one.

Bougainvillea Survives S. Florida Freeze!

We had a bad frreze the first week of January. It got down to 29. The bougainvillea dropped all it's leaves with two weeks and I didn't know if it would come back. Neighbors covered their bougs and didn't suffer any damage. I've learned my lesson.

I took the first photo just after I severely trimmed it back. I learned that now, a month and a half later, all the blooms are on the branches that I had hacked off.

Below: Jan 12 (a week after 30 temps)


Below: Mar 1 (2 months after freeze)

By the way, these planters will be one year old in a few weeks. I planted them in March of 2007. I've replanted the small ornamentals many times since then, and I've swapped out the old short trellises for these tall ones.

Planting Raspberries in South Florida

Yesterday, I received my order of raspberries and blackberries! They were in the ground within 2 hours from when the UPS guy delivered them. After all, the spot has been ready for a year.

There are very few brambles rated for my zone (9b or 10A). Anne rasp. and triple crown blackberry are two of them.

Last March, I planted 5 blackberries and 5 raspberries and they died with a few months. I think the roots dried out during shipping. I'm going to spread pine bark mulch over the area today to prevent the roots from drying out. The roots are only supposed to be planted 2 inches from the surface, so the mulch will help. Here's how I planted them last year. Here's another post about planting them. This year was pretty much the same routine.

Croton Propagation Update (One Month)

It's been one month since I dipped cuttings of crotons into rooting hormone and set out to propagate new plants. I think this photo proves a tiny bit of success. See the little green nubby on the top right of the stick? That's new growth. There are weeds all around the sandy soil, but never mind that. I've been yanking this cutting out of the ground each week for the last month to see if roots are forming. I haven't seen any roots, so I assumed the propagation was not working. I still have hope now!

One-Month Update on new Bulbs

I planted a couple dozen bulbs on Feb 1st. Since, it's been one month, I figured I'd give an update on their progress. Nearly all of them have broken the surface. A few of the tallest ones have a couple long leaves and are close to 12 inches. They are watered once per week for abut 55 minutes with our residential sprinkler system and get full sun for 5 hours per day, then filtered sun the rest of the day. Our temps have fluctuated between 88 and 40, and they have been just fine.