Viewing comments posted by dyzzypyxxy

Heliconias need to be pruned to continue spreading and blooming. After each stalk finishes blooming, cut the stalk off at the ground to encourage new shoots and blooms. They make terrific cut flowers that last a very long time indoors, as well.

Self-sows, but not aggressively. Cuttings will root if taken in late summer and kept in the shade. The plant can be shaped by pinching to make it bushier and less sprawling.

Delicious fruit, yellow when ripe, that seems to take forever to ripen on the tree. It's necessary to keep the tree watered enough when the fruit is due to ripen as the figs plump up nearly double in size just a few days before ripening. All figs here in FL are prone to rust fungus that can cause all the leaves to drop, usually in late summer. If fruit is on the tree when this happens, it will not ripen.

This Lotus is perfect for growing in a half-barrel or very small pond or water garden. It stays about 2ft tall, and has lovely delicate fragrant flowers. Blooms well with full sun, but the bloom on mine petered out by August when some shade intruded. Feed generously with a tablet fertilizer meant for water plants. As with all Lotus, be extremely careful with the fragile tubers when planting or transplanting. If they break, they will rot and die.

I love the color and scent of 'Charles Grimaldi,' but I must say that it is the least vigorous of all the brugs I've grown. All brugs are insect magnets and especially attractive to spider mites, but this one seems to decline the most quickly of all, and takes longest to rebound as well.

A very nice size plumeria for a smaller garden. Mine has topped out at about 5ft. high and wide. This variety is identified by a distinctive "hook" at the ends of the leaves. Fragrance is somewhat muted for a plumeria, a mild almond scent.

Fairly slow-growing small palms for a smaller garden. They do grow in clumps of 2 to 5 stems, however, and if they are happy they will put up new "pups," so when you are planting them, allow for more spread than a single crown would take. Use caution when trimming the dead fronds. There are long, very sharp thorns on the fronds near the trunk!

In general, there can't be a better perennial for tropical and sub-tropical gardens. Hedychiums are pest and disease resistant, and they bloom in my garden for at least 6 months, May through November. 'Dr Moy' has nice variegated leaves splashed with "paint streaks" of white. So, even when not in bloom, it is very attractive. The flowers are fragrant, and the blooms last nearly two weeks. Once the bloom is finished and the leaves start to turn yellow, the whole stalk should be removed to encourage new stalks and continued growth and bloom. Likes lots of water and blooms well in partial shade.

A tiny native orchid here in central Florida. Flowers are amazingly fragrant and bloom through summer. The plants grow on the branches of Live Oaks, and are also found on the ground on rotting logs, in company with the native Resurrection Fern.

The flowers are less than 1/2 in. across but they announce themselves when they are open by the lovely perfume.

A favorite for flavor here. Beautiful smooth pink fruits from 4 to 9oz. The best for a sandwich. Bears in 70 days or less here, from transplants.

Flowers open daily in the mornings and are done by mid-day. Plant has a nice, sprawling habit and works well with groundcovers.

Love this salvia. The relaxed habit means it covers a lot of ground and smothers out weeds pretty well.

The plant made two flowers this year. Last year it seeded itself and many seeds germinated.

I tried this particular cultivar of Agastache last spring here in Florida, planting in February. It grew beautifully and bloomed nicely through the spring, but petered out and was gone by July. This is true here of many dry-loving perennials, even with sandy, well drained soil.

I also planted it in my daughter's garden in Salt Lake City last May. Very dry air and high temperatures there in the summer, but she does have heavy clay soil. They were magnificent all summer. It remains to be seen if they come back again this spring. They have had a very cold winter.

This is one of my favorite begonias. I can't get a picture of how metallic silver the leaves are, they just look white or grey in photos. Very vigorous, small pink flowers in spring, just a wonderful accent plant.