New Planting beds

I have finally decided, after spending all afternoon in the yard, what my new planting bed will look like.

As I have said before, my current beds are 3 feet wide and all around the outskirts of the yard, as well as up close to the house. They are full of hibiscus bushes, plumerias, gingers, heliconias and passifloras. I wanted the new bed to contain some of the same elements, but also introduce new shrubby bushes that I have acquired at the raffles. Still, I don't want them to overpower the back.

Since the back yard isn't all that huge - 75 feet wide by 20 feet deep, anything extra I put in will monopolize the space. I have decided to put in a new bed that will be centered in the back, about 6 feet wide, and running about 50 feet long, divided in the middle for a fountain.

I started by thinning out the newly-blooming shell ginger, planting that along the left hand edge of the new bed, as though continuing the walkway from the back gate. I planted ten rhyzomes of the ginger into a small cluster.

Next I placed the garden ornaments that will have to stay - the bird bath, the birdfeeder, a concrete japanese lantern, garden stools. They are in small groupings -- the stools around the fountain, the bird bath in the center of one half of the bed and the feeder on the other.

Then I started spacing out all of the potted plants that I have been nurturing for the past few months from the raffles -- a miniature variegated chiflera, clerodendron, painted ti, a bright orange hibiscus and a deep yellow hibiscus, gardenia, and a hybrid brugmansia (pink/apricot cross). These plants make up one half of the planting bed, and the ginger rhyzomes I got over the weekend will fill in the center spaces allowing them plenty of room to spread.

I still have to fill in the other half, which will have more of the rhyzomes, a mock-orange jasmine, the dwarf shell ginger (thinned from my other bush), and I am looking for a yellow brugmansia since I don't have one yet. Either that, or I will transplant my white one there. I will try to make the two halves mirror images of each other, if only in size of plants. I will get a couple of hybrid hybiscus, a cherry red ti, and I am open to suggestion for anything else. I still have lots of plumeria cuttings that will be filling in.

Please let me know if I am wrong in my planning. I am unsure if all of these are sun tolerant. My yard will be mostly full sun, and I am pretty sure everything is okay with that. I will be extending the drip system through this area in the next week, so it will be low care once I put in the mulch. I'll be taking photos of the progress.

I am very optimistic that I can pull all of this off. The next project will be the front of the house. I want to get in there with a chain saw and remove all of the old shrubs - ixoras, portocarpus, sea grape, aloevera - all with 40 years growth. They are tired and I am tired of looking at them. I want the front to be much more tropical looking. And I want to finally plant the small half moon in the center of my circular driveway. I didn't think I would ever get that nasty city mulch out of the driveway, so I know I can get the front relandscaped too! Bryan

Green Thumb Festival

Today was a mad-house! I made my way to Walter Fuller Park for the St. Petersburg Green Thumb Festival. The line for parking on the park grounds was horrendous! I arrived at the location at 8:45am, and waited in line for the cars to enter the parking area for more than 35 minutes, moving up one car at a time. When I finally got in, it was just a short walk to the event, which is nice - sure beats Winter Pride!

I was looking for friends among the crowds of people there. I had my site plan for the vendors, and knew where certain vendors set up year after year. I met up with Brian right away, and we stopped at most of the booths, asking questions about plants that we already have - why doesn't my hybrid hibiscus produce more than just 3 flowers a year? - what's the surest way to get plumeria cuttings to take root? - what's the best fertilzer for tropicals? Of course Brian was on the lookout for future guest speakers for the club meetings - always networking!

We ran into Bill Ryland who introduced us to cracker roses, and Richard Fried was shopping around as well. Then we walked over to the crafts area and visited with George and Scott - the Ren Men - and their shop "The Spathose". How clever they are with their blending of natural items and machine parts into garden art.

I ended up with a bunch of rhizomes and some fertilizer. When I got home I took a quick overlook of my garden, imagining all of the items I saw in it. I will be going back tomorrow afternoon to see what's left and make some final purchases. I saw many things I want, but am more careful to be selective. I will probably end up with some plumeria cuttings, to go with all of the gingers. I then took a nap in the air conditioning!

shell gingers

So, I often buy rhisomes when I see them for sale cheaply. There is a guy who sells gingers and other rhisomes at the plant sales for only $1.00 or 2.00 depending on the kind. Island Stylin Nursery is the name of the company, and he does a whale of a business, 1 or 2 dollars at a time. He also has lots of potted plants of the same types for sale for the lowest prices. Do I sound like a satisfied customer? I have been buying from him for years, at USF and at GreenThumb. I never know what I am buying - by choice - so it is a surprise when the plants grow and flower.

Why am I mentioning this now? Well, I was very surprised to see one of my ginger clusters finally starting to bloom after a 3 year wait! It's a shell ginger, which is no surprise as the leaves give that away, but I was beginning to think it was a non-flowering variety. What a nice surprise to smell this sweet frangrance coming from the cluster that normally smells like cardamon. I wouldn't have been upset if it didn't flower since the cluster is very well shaped and stays neat, and of course has that very herbal smell when ruffled through. The flowers are a very pleasant addition. This is my second shell ginger and I now know that it is alpinia zerumbet. Knowing what type of ginger this is is quite an advantage. I will have to move it since they can grow into a very big clump which will need to be thinned out often if I keep it as is.

My other shell ginger is a dwarf shell. It also started as a rhisome from Island Stylin, and was a fast grower and bloomer, but without the herbal and sweet smell from the plant. It is very pretty to look at as foliage, and the flowers clusters are very attractive. I am anxious to see what else they have to offer this year so I can enlarge my knowledge of these wonderful gingers.

Monthly Meeting

We met yesterday at Barry and Barry's home in Tampa. What a nice day for a meeting, getting together with old friends and meeting new ones. The Barry's are still working on their home, but it was very nice with lots of old world charm. The artwork on the walls really sets the tone for the house, and "the creation of adam", a personal favorite, was a welcome surprise coming in the front door!

The food was terrific as we have come to expect, although this month we had the luxury of a huge tray of sushi - hand made by a pair of our newest members. Ronald and Shiga really outdid everyone by providing such a splendid variety of food. I had never been courageous enough to sample sushi before, but I did try it and was pleasantly surprised! I don't know what I ate, but wouldn't hesitate to try it again!! It was delicious! Thank-you both, for the hard work and great addition to our potluck!

I got two plants in the raffle - a hybrid brugmansia and an unnamed heliconia. The brugmansia says it is a cross between pink and apricot varieties, so the flower should be interesting. I am anxious to have all of my trumpets bloom this year as they are coming back nicely after the freeze. The heliconia looks like it is a small variety, probably a psittacorum like Andromeda or Lady Di. Brian has a lot of different heliconias, so it could be something totally different from what I am thinking it is. Again, I'll have to wait and see.

I have finally decided to put in a new planting bed. I was unsure of what to do with the extra plants that I still have in pots on the patio, but I realized that they do need to be put in the ground. Rather than trying to squeeze them into the existing beds, I am going to create a new bed in the center of the yard, and incorporate the bird feeder and bath into it. My purchases at Green Thumb will solidify the design. So many plants shouldn't be planted in the middle of the yard because of wind damage and the like, but I think if I go for 3 foot tall plants I should be okay. The brugmansia should be okay on its own, and if it is a problem, I can always put up a false wall or screen to protect it. Again, a lot will depend on what I find at Green Thumb!

So much for now...Bryan

A new leaf

When you see me next, please congratulate me. For the first time in over a year, my driveway is clear of mulch! I did it! I moved all the mulch - all 22 loads of it - to my planting beds that have been growing weedy. It was such a wonderful day today, slightly overcast, cool breezes, not all that humid, that I needed to do something. My choices were either to paint my bedroom or clear the mulch. I figured the mulch was the correct option with the water shortage since it will help keep the ground moist and my plants healthy. Besides, my mother's friend Pat came to visit and said she never stops when she passes the house because of the lack of parking space. That's pretty bad since we have only one car and have a three car circular drive. Well, it'd done now, and no more excuses!!

The rain this week was very welcome. I have a 55 gallon rainbarrel on the patio, right under the gutter and have been using the water from it to water all my potted plants. It was down to less than a third full before the rain, and it was soon overflowing! The weather reports say that we got only about an inch of water, but the barrel collected all of the water from the back end of the house. It gives me another resource for watering on those restricted days.

I was out digging in the garden this week to get something to bring to the meeting this Sunday. I decided on gingers since they have become prolific in the past two weeks. I will have different ones to choose from, so if you are looking for gingers, bring something good to the raffle! So far, I have potted up some white butterfly ginger (hedychium coronarium), yellow butterfly ginger (hedychium flavium), and some shell ginger - okay I don't know the latin name for this variety.

What's blooming this week? My confederate jasmine is fully engulfed in its star shaped flowers, and the night-blooming jasmine is ready to burst in another night or so. I also see lots of buds on the big trumpet, so photos will be coming in the next week or so to share all these gifts of nature. - Bryan

USF Botanical Gardens Sale

This is the weekend of the USF sale. I usually go, but have decided to fore go the sale in favor of the GreenThumb Festival in 2 weeks. I hope you all got to go and found treasures for your gardens. Let me know if you found something special!

I am digging up a lot of my hedychium this weekend to prepare for the Rakes and Blades meeting next week. I have lots of shoots coming up, so while they aren't blooming yet, they will be in a matter of a few weeks.

I was out there today to check on the drip system and found lots of new things popping up. I have a Thai Beauty caladium that just popped through the mulch with its first leaf, which I almost forgot I had. It is on the pink side of the house. I say that because I have mostly pink flowers on that side of the house. There's the hot pink hibiscus, the morning glory tree, a couple of plumeria, a fuchsia bougainvillea, an apricot brugmansia, and the red schizopetalus hibiscus. Most of these are very leafy, so there is always a fairly lush look about that side. Oh, and there is also my white bird and some heliconia that has yet to bloom - very tropical looking!

I have a few plants that I won recently that are still in pots waiting for a permanent home. I was hoping to find places today that would welcome the clerodendron and the variegated chiflera, but I haven't found any spot screaming out to me. I have decided to wait until I get a few more and will put in a new bed in the middle of the yard, around the birdbath and bird feeder. I am also trying to find places for water features. I have an idea for a small fountain, based on a 18" fiberglass ball, that I want to put together. I also got three big fish from Pier 1 that are screaming to be made into a fountain. I guess I need to get a big base pond somewhere and go from there. I want to have a fountain that you can sit and watch for a few minutes of rest and solitude in the garden, maybe with a couple of small benches. I picked up a pair of bronze ceramic seats at Target a few months back that were on 75% clearance. They weren't exactly what I was looking for, but the price was right! I want to incorporate them into the scene.

I'm back! Didja miss me?

So I took a week off for no other reason than I was kind of burned out. I will try to keep going on this blog since I have been seeing so many more hits on it. I guess I have a f0llowing!



I was outside checking up on my plants all week. The rain this week has sure been helpful. I see so much more growth on things that seemed to be hibernating. My hawaiian ginger has sent up a few new shoots, so I am anxious to see how it will bloom later this summer. Likewise, Elizabeth and Fluvium have both been sending up new stalks. I am very familiar on those flowers, so in late summer/early fall I will start to see the raspberry and yellow blooms that fill my screenroom with sweet-smelling goodness. And my white butterflies are more prolific this year than they have ever been. I intend to get more gingers at Greenthumb in a few weeks, so I have been saving my pennies.



The small heliconias have been starting to sprout, a little later than usual, but welcome just the same. I have andromeda, guadeloupe and lady di varieties, which are all colorful parrot-style heliconia. I also am happy to report that most of the plumeria have started to foliate. Hopefully all will bloom this year as they become established. Of the ill-fated cuttings I got on Ebay, one is sending off a flower stalk, while 3 others have started to show growth. I have been using mega-grow on them to help spur them on.



I have some questions to ask anyone out there about a few of my other plants. First, I planted a small brugmansia in the back end of my yard, in the semi shade of the bitter tangerine tree. It has almost tripled its size since I planted it last month, and the leaves are growing so big, but I have noticed something eating the leaves! I was told that brugmansia have no natural pests, and I have never noted any leaf damage on my large plant, but this one has had some kind of a leaf miner going to town on it. Maybe because it is still so close to the ground. Any ideas on what could be doing the damage? Better still, how do I
get rid of something I haven't seen??



Now on to something I have seen. I have some beautiful passiflora that Jim Nevers shared with me. I am really enamored of the variety of the flowers, with their SPUTNIK looking filiments and curled back petals. I have had about 8 different varieties, primarily the purple passionfruit and the yellow passionfruit. I did loose most of them to nematoads that killed them before they had a chance to take hold in the yard. Sadly, I had to remove the purple one since it was choking off some of the nearby plants, as clinging vines are apt to do. I will miss the hundreds of flowers that it produced during its season. The yellow one just brought it to mind since it started blooming this week. The softly scented flowers are so welcome, yet I am going to be more watchful to ensure that it doesn't get too invasive on my other plants. It should be easier since all of my passion vines are on the back fence now, not on the side, so I can see them from the kitchen table.

The exotic passifloras - the tetraploids - have yet to bloom this year. Last year was my first with them and they were pretty stingy with the flowers. I couldn't get either of them to fruit. Jim has shown me how to manually pollenate them, but I have been nearly unsuccessful. I had one fruit start, only to be stolen by squirrels! Still, they are growing and have several buds started. Blue-eyed susan and the no-name hibrid are side by side inbetween the yellow passionvine and the confederate jasmine vine, so it will be a very colorful fence once everything starts blooming.


Today I noticed a big caterpillar on one of the passiflora leaves - on one of the hybrids! I know that these plants are rife with possible pests, and caterpillars are very common on them. I haven't seen any damage yet, but it will probably start showing up now that I have spotted a predator. I hate to kill any caterpillars - it's like crushing a butterfly. Does anyone know what kind of butterfly this will become? I am interested in seeing what is being attracted to my meager garden.

Okay, enough fun for now. I have to work on getting Brad's newsletter converted for the website. More later - Bryan