We got some heavy rain today at 7:30 (pm). Here's a few shots as the rain cleared up and the sun just began to set.
A few weeks ago, I got the chance to eat the first miracle fruit from my young bush. I planted the seed in a pot on the countertop and noticed today that it sprouted. These are very slow growing plants, so it will take years to produce fruit.
Below is the third berry. I gave the second to a friend and it totally messed up her happy hour. She made a limeade-rum drink and could not drink it because it was so sugary. I think I'll give this one to my Mom. She has been wanting to try it for a while.
Something I noticed...people are often leary about trying the fruit. The general perception is that MF is some type of new genetically engineered fruit that people should not be eating. This is not the case
I don't fertilize my palms like I should. Even with my neglect, they still manage to bloom a couple times each year. Right now, the queens, Christmas, and Areca are in bloom.
The ground orchids are performing soooo nicely. I just want to document how beautiful they look right now because in another 6 months, they will look pitiful. I guess they are worth it.
I got a Miracle Fruit (Synsepalum dulcificum) in feb 2008. It has been blooming like crazy for the past few months, but the blooms are tiny and look and feel/look like brown paper bags.
I did not think I had any fruit, but one day a few weeks ago I found one and it was ripe! I ate it, spit out the pit, then ate an entire lemon. It tasted like lemonade.......almost too sweet. It tasted like there was a cup of sugar that had been injected into the lemon.
I bought the plant for this reason, but for some reason, I didn't believe all the claims. The claims are spot on. This is now my favorite plant in the garden!
Here's the Mother's Day arrangement that I made the other day. The elephant ear and caladium did not hold up at all. Everything else did ok.
I tied up an orchid to an old piece of driftwood today. I also stuck two air plants from the yard on the driftwood. Then, I hung the wood from a screw on the front porch.
I think the only challenge will be to keep it misted with water. It won't receive direct sunlight, and the roots can flow anywhere.
Here's an affordable way to have an upside down tomato planter that doubles as a regular hanging planter.
I cut a strawberry-sized hole in the bottom of this hanging planter. Then I stuck a tomato plant seedling in the hole. It will always turn up to grow toward the sun. Here's the posting from a few years ago that shows the hole.
I got this little lily with the bulb still attached. Some people would throw away the bulb and put the flower in a vase to enjoy for a few days. Instead of cutting off the stem, I decided to pull up the stalk, bulb and all, and plunk the whole thing into the vase. I didn't know how it would work.
After the bloom died, I planted the bulb, which already had new growth emerging from the top of the bulb.
Now that it's in the ground, I think I will cut off the stalk so that the new foliage on the top of the bulb is forced to grow. It should also stimulate the roots to grow, which will make the plant stronger.
By the way, how about those new garden gloves?! I ordered them at the same time as my gardening shoes from gardenshoesonline.com. I still can't say enough good things about that place.
The amaryllis blooms each year at this time. It's been in bloom now for a week. It's so beautiful!
I had some rodents knock over a cilantro seedling in my incubator area of the garden. I was too lazy to move it, so it's been growing where it fell. In front of the cilantro seedling is a little royal poinciana seedling that just popped up. I wasn't even trying to grow it.
What's so cool with the (above) RP seedling is that I planted these seeds 10 months ago. Only a few seeds germinated and I have baby RP trees (shown below).
So, the little seed this seedling sprouted from was planted 10 months ago and it has just now decided to germinate. Pretty cool.
The good news for the day is that I got an awesome pair of Garden Grips. They are from GardenShoesOnline, and they are the most comfortable pair of garden shoes I've ever had. Normal crocs have holes so my feet get wet. But these are awesome and have all kinds of support inside. The big plus is that they're not 6 inches wide like most crocs. Plus, if I wanted to, I could wear them to the gator games because I was able to get orange.
Next on my list is the problematic peach tree. Yesterday I had to cut out a rubber tree stake that I left on the trunk for too long. It grew right into the tree trunk. Stupid mistake.
Today, I took a better look at that one lonely peach and noticed some kind of brown gummy goo on the peach itself. I spent a few hours today on the internet and still I don't know if I've got borers or something else. At any rate, I yanked off the golf ball size fruit and then doused the tree with Bears fruit tree powder. Argh. Worst case scenario, all the leaves fall off...it's not like I'd be killing all the fruit.
Duranta Gold Mound is very popular around south Florida right now. It's popularity exploded a few years ago. Nearly all of our street medians have Mamey Croton, Gold Mound, and Society Garlic. The combination of red, lime green, and purple is unbeatable. If the society garlic (crinum) wasn't so stinky, I would have it all over my yard.
Here (above) is my tiny rose bed, I have a large patchoulli in the back, two roses on the right, an asparagus ferm in the middle and a row of gold mound in the front. There's a trick to growing pretty gold mound...
Trick...only the new growth is this fluourescent lime green. So, you need to keep it trimmed not only to maintain size, but also to maintain that showy bright color. If you were to let the plant go for a year, it would still be pretty, but also a tyipical medium dark green color. The whole reason (in my opinion) to use duranta is so that you can achive that big contrast in color and texture. That's why it's so striking when used in combination with a red or dark green plant.
So, this brings me to the second point of this posting... I blogged about Duranta Gold Mound last year. Last week, I was looking on eBay for some duranta seeds and found a seller using my picture from last year (seen below). You can see my car mirror and the link to my original posting.
 |
| From danielle's garden blog |
Here's something I did not know. A pineapple will bloom on it way to maturity. The fruit itself will send out little purple flowers which then become the dreaded seeds that you can never cut out all the way. This small pineapple is about 3-4 inches and the plant extends out from the center about 2.5-3 ft on all sides. The ends of the spikey leaves are damaged because the dog plays with them and the lawnmower clips them.
This is the fist pineapple I've had set fruit, so I'm still new at it. This one has been in the ground for about 2 years I think. It was the top from a grocery store pineapple.
A few weeks ago I planted two petunias in the front left planter. The aloe is from the large plant in the backyard. It puts out pups each year. The morning glory vines are from the seeds that dropped from December's blooms.
The bougainvillea that I cut down to 48 inches has grown 2 feet in the past month.
I think these plants are just one of the most beautiful plants that South Florida has to offer. It just doesn't stop blooming. The scent smells just like hand soap and fills the backyard each night.
Angel’s Trumpets are in the Solanaceae family, therefore it’s in the same family that petunias, tomatoes and potatoes. But it's deadly if ingested, so don't try it.
All these new leaves will be maturing to 1-2 feet in length.
Here are some brugmansia (angel trumpet) that I planted from cuttings. When they started out, they were just little twigs that broke off the main plant.
Here is some orlange mint that I broke off the main mint plant and stuck in this hanging pot. Mint is one of the easiest things to grow because it travels underground and pops up new growth along it's underground roots. It can be invasive, so that's why I always keep it in pots.
I had no idea that young peaches can drop from the tree because it gets too windy. Apparently this is common. I let it go unwatched for a few days and I was down to one peach. Today, I went to the nursery to ask what happened and I was told that it was probably too windy.
The tree is doing really, really good. No bugs, no deficiencies, no watering/sun problems. For some reason, this one little peach has hung on for a few weeks while all the others dropped.
I got out into the garden today for the first time in weeks. I was super excited because I just received three cuttings in the mail. You probably thought that you need seeds to grow plants...not so.
Above: the top cutting is from a sharp blueberry. The lower cutting with the orange berry is an ohelo (Vaccinium reticulatum Sm. ERICACEAE) from the Big Island, Hawaiian Volcano Observatory. It was originally from the Kilauea Caldera. Here's what the plant will look like if I can get it to grow here in South Florida....
http://www.hear.org/starr/images/600/starr-060929-0623.jpg This is so cool that I got this!!!
Bougainvillea Cutting
(Below)
I took this cutting off the top of the plant. It's new growth and the stem is green and bendy as opposed to hard and brown like the older stems on the plant. It has 2 thorns and several nodes. The bottom 1/2 inch of the cutting was wounded then dipped in rooting hormone and planted. I also took a few lower leaves off.
The bottom two photos are of my blueberry bushes. I took cuttings of the sharp and misty, dipped in rooting hormone, and planted right next to the main plant.
I am very excited to see how these cuttings do. Our day temps are in the 80s and evenings are in the mid 70s still.
I shouldn't claim to be an expert on Song of India plants, but I am doing something right that I'd like to share. This is one of the plants that you just stick in the ground and it forms new roots.
The Song of India is the small yellow and green variegated plant in front of the rubber plant shown below. In my zone 9b garden, it receives a short, light sprinkle of water twice weekly. It is mulched once per year and it has black weed block fabric between the sandy soil and the mulch.
It is on the north side of the house, so it gets filtered sun during mid-day.
After the first 6 months, it had 4-5 windey shoots, no main stem. I trimmed off 5 inches of 3 of the stalks. After another 6 months, it had 10 windey stalks. So, each time you trim one branch, two new branches grow back...this is very common in many plants. Check out how my dracaena does the same thing. And check out how my avocado puts out new shoots wherever you pinch it back.
Last year, I had pruned the plant back. Instead of throwing away the pruned branches, I stuck of them in the ground and watered it daily for a few months. After a few months, I dig it up and dusted off the dirt so I could see how the roots formed. They look great!
So, I have planted this new baby plant in a sunny spot in the front yard and I'm happy with it. The price was sure right...free!
I am really excited about today's garden finds! Peaches, miracle fruit, and pineapple.
Above: I planted the peach tree in April 2008. Our winter began 4-5 months ago. The leaves had all dropped before Christmas. Now, nearly all of the branches have hundreds of tiny leaves emerging and dozens of little fruits.
Above: I ordered miracle fruit (Synsepalum dulcificum) from an online company last February. It's a very slow growing plant. In August 08, when everyone else's miracle fruit was producing, mine was not. So, I moved it to a full sun spot and changed the irrigation system to drip twice daily for 2 minutes. I just noticed these tiny buds forming and I am bursting with excitement. These berries will make for an awesome party trick.
Above: Here's the pineapple I planted back in 2007. We bought the pineapple from the grocery store and planted the top after eating the fruit. In the very center of the plant, you can see the tiny pineapple top forming what looks like a red sea urchin. I'd guess the plant is now 3 ft wide.
The aloe vera just recently shot up a flower that will bloom in the next month. Here is the aloe plant last March.
So, these are my first blooms on the blueberry bushes. I've collected a few different varieties over the last two years. I've got sharp, misty, and Sunshine and they are all southern highbush that should thrive here in South Florida. They don't look like they're thriving though.
Above: blueberry blossoms. The southern highbush needs 150 chill hours to set fruit.
Here's the one tomato plant that's done well in the garden. Usually, my tomatoes get leaf curl or the fruit cracks when we get a lot of rain. these still looks perfect though...we'll see.
Our Walmart has a whole aisle of bulbs because it's spring time. Last year, I planted their elephant ear which have done great. I also planted the tigridia and the dutch iris. They didn't do as good.
This year, they were selling northern bulbs and I somehow thought that for only $5 I can try to grow lily of the valley down here. The packaging clearly states "Gauranteed to Grow." It's got a picture of Florida on the back of the package and I followed all planting instructions.
So, I am already assuming these plants will fail, but then what? How will I collect on the guarantee? I think this is just a very good marketing tool because no one will ever try to collect on the guarantee. I do the same thing with gardening clippers. They last a year, then they break. I took a pair back to Walmart last year and they said I need to contact the manufacturer. The manufacturer's website did not provide any info that was useful. Oh well. :)
We had a freeze here earlier this week. Temps here in Palm City dipped into the 20s last year, but this year, we were in the 30s.
I haven't yet surveyed the front yard, but the side yard was hit hard by the freeze.
Photos above: Coleus. It did not survive temps in the 30s. This shot was taken 2 days after the freeze.
I don't remember the aloe getting frost bitten last year. This year, the older foliage was affected the most. As you can see, the top, younger foliage looks great still.
Today's post has nothing to do with gardening. Click away now if you need to.
Photo: taken by Danielle beneath the Palm City Bridge looking toward that bird island.
I was so excited last year at this time when I was learning about my new digital SLR camera and I happened to capture that Hawk. I have been without the camera since August. The short version of the story is that upon purchase, my husband paid the extra $250 for the extended service plan. It's been sent away 3 times for service. All three times, my complaint was the same, and was replicated by the Geek Squad, the second party that ships repair items to the third party. Mind you, I purchased the camera from Best Buy, the first party, I guess.
Upon issue replication all three times, the GS techs told me that after the 3rd or 4th time, the Florida lemon law kicks in and the vendor will advise Best Buy to replace the item with a store shelf item.
That explains alot. During the first repair, they cleaned the camera. During the second repair, they did nothing. During the third repair, they replaced the CCD.
When I picked up the camera the third time, I received attention from three employees, no doubt aware that I would be asking for a replacement under the lemon law. Thankfully, the camera seems to be working fine.
The only other thing I wanted to mention is that I had the MOST pleasant attitude each time I was at the store. Imagine if I had been a typical angry consumer...probably would have gotten nowhere.
I have half a mind to return the camera one last time to service just to get the new one. What if this happens again because it really is a lemon? I guess there is no diagnostic test I can perform to identify a lemon...that's the problem. Oh well. I feel better.
Here's a shot of the library at FAU, my university. I was happy recently to learn that I am a member of Generation X, not Y as previously thought.
Two years ago I scoured in the internet and found that I was GenY. So, I slapped that moniker on all my blog profiles. Yesterday, I was reading my Essentials of Entrepreneurship text book and learned that I am indeed GenX. What!..........could wikipedia have been incorrect?
I have a feeling these generation designators are not as hard and fast as is, say a president's term in office. That is, I don't know if there is a clear beginning/end date for each generation.
In fact, I was just about to hit the publish button on this post and be done with the subject. I decided to quickly check wikipedia one more time. According to the wizzards of wikipedia, I am in both Gen X and Gen Y simultaneously. All 29 year-olds rejoice!
My Dad always told me I was special, but I had no idea I was this big of a deal.
We do this Christmas thing each year, so I don't get much gardening done from October through January. The garage is finally almost done which will signify the time at which I can garden guilt-free and not worry about how I need to be doing other things.
I didn't think this tomato plant would produce any fruit. It flowered for months before setting fruit. I guess now that it's finally below 70 at night, it'll begin setting lots of fruit. I should probably fertilize it.
I also just got my camera back from the repair shop for the third time. I think it's working now. Here are a few shots of the neglected veggie garden. Below, this poor pepper plant is laden with peppers that need to be picked.
Below is one of the young blueberry bushes from last year. I think it may have buds on it. Either that, or it has new leaves forming. Everyone else's blueberries have been blooming for weeks now. Here's a posting on gardenweb in the Florida room where people are talking about their blues.
Here is our ladybug bathroom. We bought the house like this, but love it as if was our own creation. This door opens up right onto the porch that leads to the pool.
I hated the window treatment on the tiny door window. So, I got online to research DIY window treatments. That's when I found my new favorite blog, The Nesting Place. She has hundreds of photos of "window mis-treatments". Ah ha!...that's just what I need given my sewing skills. I printed a few photos to use as inspiration, but I'm glad to say my new mistreatment is totally my own.
I had a few goals: let in lots of light, give total privacy, and the ceiling appear taller and the window larger. I wanted add a bit of seriousness to the bathroom given the whimsey of the mural.
I think I'll sinch up a few inches on either side where the green meets the white. This might give it more of a roman shade feel. By hanging the rod very close to the top and very close to the sides, I was able to use more fabric length-wise, which makes the room appear taller. Goal achieved!
The neighbor kids tested the privacy issue. Goal achieved!
Here are my supplies. I spent $19. (I'll return the ribbon). I had to paint the curtain rod because all they had was brass. Here's my sketching...I had to change my measurements several times because I only had 54 inches of fringe.
I've had success with Grapette Ground Orchid (Spathoglottis Grapette), but never before with any other common orchids. Here is good size Dendrobium Ban Yen. I don't doubt it's a dendrobium, but what is "ban yen"? I've never heard of this and nothing is coming up on the internet.
Back in August, I plunked the young clearance orchid in this toby mug I had recently purchased for $10 from a thrift store. It's more than doubled in size since August and I've totally ignored it. I bought fertilizer, but haven't used it. To my surprise it has bloomed!
The UF Sun Peach will bloom in January sown here in South Florida. At least, that's what mine is doing without any help from me.
I've had this young tree since last April, so this is the first January I've seen it through. I had been waiting until January to prune it in accordance with this good IFAS article. So, yesterday, as soon as I noticed these little blooms, I ran out to prune it.
I performed "heading-back pruning cuts". I took 6-12 inches off the tips of the branches. a few branches were very weak and had no buds, so I completely removed them. I always snipped about a quarter inch above a bud, just like I do with the nodes on my rose bushes. I have a cold, so I didn't get the chance to smell the blooms. I have a feeling the blooms will cover the tree in the next few weeks.
The UF Sun Peach, by the way, began dropping leaves back in Sep-Oct. By mid-December, it had just the last few ramaining dead leaves hanging from the tips of the branches. It looked dreadful. It's growth rate has been unbelievable. In April when I planted it, the tree was slightly larger than me. Now, 9 months later, it's 3 times larger than me. It's on a drip irrigation system that feeds it water only (no fertilizer) twice daily for 3 minutes.
This patchouli was one of the first things I started growing in my garden. It is a wonderful, bushy, no-maintenancce, fragrant plant that shows off beautiful purple flowers in February. I see buds bursting all over it already, so I know in another month, it will at its peak.
I use it as filler all the time in my arrangements and it always outlasts its vase-mates. It's terribly easy to propagate too. I love it. Here are some other posts about this wonderful plant.
http://www.daniellecopeland.com/2007/03/patchouli.html
Aloe plants are easy to propagate. Several times a year, baby aloe plants (pups) shoot up from the side of the plant. If you pick them like you'd pick a weed, you can easily pot them up with even the worst of the soil from anywhere in your yard.
I should mention, I live in zone 9b, South Florida. So, no complaining if you live in Michigan and can't get your aloe to grow pups. The aloe pups usually have white spots on them. They lose the spots within a year.
One of my NYs resolutions is to use my garden indoors more frequently. So, I've researched the aloe vera plant to determine how I can make better use of it. I'll continue using it for burns and on my face every once in a while. I used it when I got that mystery infection on my arm last month. It's a constipation remedy, so I won't be ingesting it. It's supposed to reduce inflamation, so I'll keep that in mind.
So, here are my completed myer lemon bars. I think they are ok...definitely bakery quality, but not something I'd order twice. I'm just not a fan of custardy lemon stuff.
When life gives you lemons....no, I'm not doing that.
I have a beautiful crop of myer lemons and was just dying to make something with them. I used Ina Gartens recipe. I have to admit, I would definitely try another recipe next time. It's good, but I don't like how the topping adheres to the crust.
'
The skin is nice and thin, and the flesh smells so ripe and fresh. I juiced a dozen and got three cups of juice. I susually get much more juice, but these were small lemons.
Here's the final lemon bar. I'll now dust powdered sugar on top and cut ito small triangles. I think my mom's office is going to have to deal with this one. I made an extra one to keep here.
Martha (Stewart, that is) is all in a tizzy about being in a recession. So, this week, she's giving us ideas for homemade Christmas gifts. I just happen to love her infused vodka idea AND..................ready?............. I one-uped Martha......
I'm using fruit from my own garden. She was not using her own garden harvest.
Above, cranberry-tangerine infused vodka (photo shown prior to the vodka pour)
Above: lemon mint infused vodka. I grew my own myer lemons which I peel and eat like an orange. The mint is from a two-year old Orange Mint plant tha grows like a weed in my garden.
Above: lemongrass ginger infused vodka. I have been growing the lemongrass for about a year now. The ginger is fresh from the grocery store. 
So, they were put together on Dec 8th. Tomorrow is the 12th and I'm going to try one. I made smaller sample sizes for myself of each of the flavors. I even made a pomegranite-tangerine. Yum.
The only word of caution...when canning, you have to make sure your working environment is sterilized. I worked very clean while doing these. I'm sure the alcohol would kill germs, but I didn't want to take any chances. If you're a friend, and are reading this, look what's in your future!
The side vegetable garden is dreadful right now. I guess I should feel lucky that I can even grow veggies during December.
The jalapeno plants (above) produced a bunch of japs that I harvested, seeded, and prepped for jalapeno poppers. While cutting and seeding them, I stuck my fingers in my eyes, then inhaled the seed fumes. Bad news. So, I put the japs in the fridge. Later, John "helped" by cleaning out the fridge and, thinking they were old, threw them away. All for naught. :)
So, the japs in the first photo are droopy and yellow. The brown clump in the second photo is an old marigold that will hopefully drop seeds and produce new plants. The rosemary (next to the brown clump is tall and twiggy because I didn't pinch it enough this winter. The tomato to the far right probably has one of those tomato diseases I cannot identify. Another year with diseased tomatoes. Oh, and the sand at the base of the tomato is actually one giant fire ant pile.
So, my five stages of veggie garden grief are coming to an end...
I'm past denial, anger, and bargaining. I'm just getting over depression, and am moving into acceptance.
Perhaps the next step for me will be to get rid of the fire ants, yank out the dead plants, and make a spring planting list.
The mystery moss from WMart has gotten into the Chtistmas spirit.
I decorated the moss with a few ornaments and I'm diggin' it. I also hung ornaments on the pineapple in the fornt yard, but it's not hardly as cute as the moss.
Are they supposed to look like this during winter? I kow they cannot tolerate temps below freezing. They prefer temps above 40 according to gardenweb.com.
We did dip down to the 40s this winter already. I have two neighbors who have plumeria that looks like this also. I guess I'll just wait it out.
I knew the UF Sun Peach would go dormant this winter, but I didn't know it would look like this. Yuk.
The fallen over Christmas decorations don't make it look any better either. The tips of the tree almost looked diseased. Almost all of the leaves have dropped now and I'm just waiting another month or two to do some pruning. It seems like only yesterday, it had been blown over by Tropical Storm Fay. Here's how it looked back in April when I planted it.
I'm going to follow the advice of a fellow blogger when it comes to pruning the tree
Kim said...
Indeed, low-chill peaches are the way to go here in Florida. Here's a link to the UF/IFAS publication on this topic. And here's one on pruning, Based on the recommendations, you should probably wait until late winter to prune.
So, back in Auguest, I noticed the first blooms on the brugmansia (Angel's trumpet) I planted from seed a few years ago.
It put on a spectacular show this winter and I think it's starting to die down now. I haven't trimmed any branches, which I know I am supposed to do. Problem is, every time I go outside to choose branches to cut, they have flower buds on them. I am supposed to be trimming the older branches so that the tree will grow bushier. A few months ago, it was very busy. In February of this year, it was the most pathetic little bush you'd ever seen.
I've been neglecting the garden this winter because I've been focused on our Christmas Display.
Shown here are some rose bushes that I need to dead head. I planted dwarf gold mound (duranta) a few months back and if I keep them trimmed up, they are always this electric green/yellow color. The asparagus ferm is doing well. and I pinched the patchouli cutting (shown next to the flamingo) two months ago, and it sprouted two stalks. I pinched these two stalks last week and can already see two more stalks coming from each of the existing two stalks. Search my blog for "pinching" to see what other plants you can make double their bushiness just by pinching.
I just got around to checking in on the plants. Argh, they don't look that good. 
The patchouli shown below is still a winner. This is one plant for S. Florida that never looks bad. It gets water via drip irrigation every day for just a few minutes. I hack it in half twice a year. I also pick 3 ft branches to put in fresh slower arrangements. I can do no wrong to it and it always looks beautiful.
The marigold to the right of the patchouli looks miserable.
The meyer and eureka lemons have produced nicely this winter. Here's what will likely become lemon bars. The brown stuff on the outside of the lemons is only cosmetic. The inside of the fruit looks and tastes ten times better than what you'd get a the store. And they're organic! YOu can see two of the eurekas to the left. They look more like traditional lemons. The myers were smaller this year and look like oranges but taste like a sweet lemon.
A few months ago, we got together with neighbors and had Spanish night. We try to do a different theme each week. This was a fun one.
The arrangement had ginger foliage and lemongrass with sliced lemons and limes. The lemongrass is so long, I folded it over and poked the tips back into the vase.
I white and red sangria, flan, and a pretty arrangement with garden stuff.
I used patchouli leaves, areca palm fronds, heleconia foliage, and three purple heirloom roses for this vase. The roses didn't last that long, but the patchouli and palm greenery lasts for a month!
I've been kind of slacking with this blog because school midterms are in full swing. Also, I've been spending a lot of time updating my other Christmas Blog and my travel blog.
Posts
All Comments
