Replanted the Front Planters

I planted a few things I've never tried before.

Above: Caladium, purslane (portulaca oleracea), vinca periwinkle (catharanthus roseus), begonia, spike dracaena (dracaena indivisa). The large twiggy vine is a recovering bougainvillea. I've also planted some peas, morning glory, and marigold seeds.

Above: petunia, caladium, periwinkle, bougainvillea, and assorted seeds (not yet germinated).

Leaf Spots on Palm Tree

I have leaf spots on my Christmas Palms. I noticed them last year when I planted the palms, but I thought it was normal. Over the past year, they've gotten worse though, and now I need to do something about it. Here's the photo.

I've scoured the internet for the name of this disease, but can't find it. I've tried an organic fungicide/pesticide, but it didn't work. So, now unfortunately I'm resorting to sevin, the bad stuff. Argh.

In Honor of Earth Day

Here's a shot of one of the small things I'm doing to help reduce my footprint. I use a drip irrigation system.

This photo is the top of my upside down tomato planter. I decided to plant pees that will vine up the hangers. The tomato probably won't make it becaues it's so hot these days. To set fruit most tomatoes need 75 degree nights.

A Blackberry is Not Really a Berry - Green Thumb Sunday

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A raspberry (and blackberry) is not a true berry. Instead one blackberry is actually comprised of many drupelets, and is technically an aggregate fruit.

Each incipient drupelet has its own stigma and good pollination requires the delivery of many grains of pollen to the flower so that all drupelets develop. Here's a well-pollinated blackberry photo from answers.com.



Here is a blossom from my blackberry bush.

Here's the above blossom again. Photo taken last week.

A drupelet is a botanical term for a fleshy fruit with a single stone enclosing the seed that does not split along defined lines to liberate the seed.

How To Propagate African Violets

I learned this from my mother in law. I pinches two leaves off another plan and dipped the tips in rooting hormone. Then I planted.


You don't water them the normal way, you instead fill up the saucer.

Planted the UF Sun Peach in Zone 9b

I planted the UF Sun Peach Tree this passed weekend. I could have planted tansy below it, but all I had on hand was some grocery store garlic. Both of tansy and garlic ward off pests and are recommended to use as companion plants to peach trees. I hope this little peach tree does well...it should, I'm doing everything right.

Orchid Tree Seed Pods Explode in April

Bauhinia variegata (Orchid Tree) seed pods literally explode. I was in the garage yesterday for 8 hours getting work done, and I kept hearing little exlosions come from the two trees nearby.

I'm talking "explode"!!! They didn't just fall to the ground, they have been bursting sideways, straight up, and straight down. A few of them even put a little nick in my car (which I'm not upset about cause it's cool). Some of them have burst into my garage from across the street. I'm so serious.

Dehisce (v. "burst open") is the term used to describe bauhinia variegata seed pods exploding behavior. The seeds are very hard, brown, and flat.

I'm going to plant a few of the seeds to see if they grow. This tree is considered invasive to Florida, so I will not actually keep the seedlings. I really don't like the dropped leaves that are persistently blowing around the neighborhood, so I wouldn't grow this tree even it weren't invasive. It's beautiful when in bloom though and I like to admire it from a short distance.

Palm Tree Progagation

I am always weeding little palm tree sprouts from underneath the queen palm. The seeds fall all over and kill the grass because they mound up. This week I decided to save a few of the sprouts.

I thought I was done with palm sprouts for the day...
Then, I decided to clean out the jungle under my potting table. That's when I found this little guy growing in the sand under a 20 lb 12" concrete stepping stone.

He was getting no sun and no water. But he did have a tiny red rat snake roommate. I can only pray this is a baby lipstick palm (aka sealing wax palm). It's probably just another queen palm seedling.

The story is that I ordered a lipstick palm seed over a year ago, planted it, and waited..........and waited...........and waited. Then I finally used the pot and soil for something else. Lipstick palm seeds can take up to 3 years to germinate. I just got impatient and consequently lost track of the seed. Maybe someday I'll find it...maybe this is it!

Here's a lipstick palm seedling photo from Top Tropicals, the company from which I ordered the lipstick palm seed. It looks the same.

Blueberries for South Florida Zone 9b - Green Thumb Sunday

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There is a class of blueberries (southern highbush) that thrive in warm cilmates. I have three of these varieties: a gulf coast, sharp, and misty. Northern highbushes require over 1,000 chill hours. Southern highbush varities require as little as 150 chill hours. I don't know that we'll get 150 chill hours this year, but I'll go for it.

I bought the 3 gallon bushes at a garden show and was told I need more than one variety so they pollinate. Now I realize this was the vendor's way of getting $20 as opposed to $10.

Today, nearly all of the blueberries harvested in April and early May in the northern hemisphere and during October and early November in the southern hemisphere trace their ancestry back to a Florida lowbush blueberry found in Winter Haven in the 40's.

I would love to be a purist and not support nor grow anything genetically engineered or cross bred, but I'd be fooling myself if I thought this was feasible. Oh well. The small misty cuttings still don't have roots, but have begun to burst with foliage. I sat on a waiting list for a year before I received them from the national germplasm repository.

Gardeners, Plant and Nature lovers can join in every Sunday, visit As the Garden Grows for more information.

How to Use Moss in Your Garden

I love this moss. I planted it last year, but not in the right place. This year, it's in a bright spot, but will never get direct sun.
It was $12 (kinda expensive), but it's totally different than all the tropical stuff I have. I hope it doesn well next to the sprinkler. Our water restrictions are getting extended to twice-a-week! Whoo Hoo!

How to Make a Bee House

So, if bees go extinct, all humans will die within 4 years. Well, that's what Einstein said.

Theoretically, if we have no bees, we have no plants. Then, we'll have no animals, and eventually no humans. Do an internet search on "bees extinct" to see what I mean...it's kinda scary, maybe.

I need extra bees because I just planted some blueberry, raspberry, and blackberry plants. I also just hacked down their current home, the old swingset. So, with the leftover wood, I made a couple little bee houses. I used some old cut up roof shingles, a cedar 4x4, my drill, and some nails.


So, near my new bee house, I noticed this lizard (anole) trying desperately to get her to care. I guess they're all the same, whether it's peackock feather, a corvette (yuck), or a giant red dewlap (lizard throat).

My Plants Have Googly Eyes

The Christopher Walken skit on SNL a few weeks ago inspired me to analyze "where I stand with my plants." He says the only way to do this is to look them in the eyes. It started innocently enough, now I'm going to be the weird cat plant lady of the neighborhood.

Here they are: the plants I was kind of unsure about. Now I know where I stand with them.
The rule of thumb with cacti is that you don't turn your back on them.


I'm making an effort with this one (aloe vera).


Here's the fern. I got the idea for googly eyes from my cacti. What would your last thought be if something happened to you...my last thought would be, "I always knew it was going to be the ferns."

I don't feel comfortable around this plant whatsoever. I made an effort with this one.

My drip irrigation system

I have an average size lot and use three drip irrigation systems to water the vegetables, citrus, and front walkway. I frequent an excellent gardening forum and responded to a recent general question about a drip system. I figured others might like to know about this type of system, so here's some info.

I use the dig system. I can't say enough good things about this system, and I don't get free stuff for saying this. I highly recommend the Adjustable Micro Sprayer Kit, plug $40 in extra fittings. Here's my young tomato with a 360 micro sprayer attached to quarter-inch poly tubing. The quarter-inch poly is connected to half inch tubing which leads back to the faucet. I also attached a battery operated timer to the system.

The kit contains a few 360° micro sprayers. You'll want more. They cost $2.50 for a bag of two. It also has an adequate amount of 1/2" poly tubing and 1/4" micro tubing. You need a back-flow device, pressure regulator, and punch, which all come with the kit.

You can get a cheap timer for $20 from Wmart which will save you $10-20. HD has a 20 page booklet on how to set up the dig system. I carefully read it 4 times before installing everything.

My hints and tips...

• Use the micro sprayers instead of the drip emitters. Reason: emitters don't dispers water.
• You want the water to spread over the root ball which is NOT always at the base of the stem. Think citrus.
• Always make the 1/4" runs 6-10 inches longer than you think you'll need. Reason: You want flexibililty. Plant stems grow, so you want to be able to move the water source. Plus, from year to year, you'll have different plants in different places.
• I tend to favor the accessories that are adjustable.
• The $10 trigger punch rusts, but the $2 does not rust.
• Don't burry the emitters, they will get clogged if they are under the dirt.
• Get extra 1/4" Barbed Tees and goof plugs.
• Let the hose sit in the hot sun for 30 mins so it's more pliable. Your fingers WILL hurt putting together all those little barbed connectors.

Clearance Plant Sale

I scored this $22 Easter Planter for $5 yesterday at one of the home improvment stores. The two lilies have buds all over. It has ferns, marigolds, lilies, petunia, and ornamental sweet potato. The pot is nice too.

Know Where You Stand With Your Plants

This Saturday Night Live Skit about gardening is hillahious. I can't wait to put googly eyes on my cactus tomorrow.

Tigridia – Mexican Shellflower Bloomed

I planted these Tigridia bulbs (Mexican Shellflower) about 65 days ago. Here's the original post and the 1-month update.

Today, the first flower bloomed and then wilted in the florida heat by 2pm. The foliage was very suceptible to some kind of pest. Nothing else was affected though.

Sweet Potato Flower

Sweet potatoes get flowers. Who knew!?

I showed the flower to a friend today, and she said it looks like a morning glory. Sure enough, sweet potatoes are in the same family as morning glories. I did a google image search for "sweet potato flower" and the first search result was a posting by a fellow garden blogger at MrBrownThumb.com. Last year, he went through the same thing when he saw a vine bloom in Chicago.

Lula Avocado Tree

I planted my new lula avocado tree today. I let it sit in this slightly shady area for a few weeks prior to planting; I wanted to see how it would do. I may have planted it in the wrong area. We'll see. This very knowledgeable local gardener told me that nothing down here in south florida truely loves full sun.


Today, a friend told me she heard it takes 8 years for an avocado tree to bear fruit. I had heard this before, but I've also heard they bear fruit within two years. Below is what my internet research indicates...by the way, everything you read on the internet is always true.

3 years to fruiting - link here (gardener Q&A)
4-5 years to fruiting - link here (purdue university)
10-15 years to fruiting - link here (some extension office)
3-6 years to fruiting - link here (avocadofruit.com)
30 years to fruiting - link here (gomestic.com)