Hey Elaine, how are those water chestnuts doing???

My butterfly garden in full, fertile swing!

Looking good too!

Where is Melanie when I need her







all three living in this fake plant, I saw their eyes when clearing off the table, got a stick and flunk the plant in the pool, and out they emerged. Didnt get them to the freezer tho, I know where to find them when I get some help.

Catch those Cubans, Pam!! I have a veritable chorus of frogs in my fish pond at night, but happily I went out with the flashlight a few nights ago and at least some of them are Leopard frogs, a good, native variety - with a very deep barking croak.

Pretty butterfly plants, Kate. That white Beach Buttercup is one of my favorites!

The water chestnuts are doing too well. I am still trying to figure out how to pot them so they will sit nicely in the water, but the roots can grow outwards where they will make more chestnuts. So, they sit and grow on my patio table at the moment.

5 day forecast.....99..100...98...96...97. No rain in sight. No wonder all my daylilies have gone gosh darn summer dormant on me. Heck...Im about summer dormant myself . Got to go to Melbourne this weekend. praying the car doesnt fail me in this heat!!!!

Happily, we had a really intense little storm come by yesterday afternoon that dropped the temp fro 93 to 77 in about 10 minutes. It felt distinctly cool after that, very nice for my pruning work that needed to get done for pickup this morning.

We have a 40% chance of rain all this week, but it sure is spotty, hit or miss.

I wondered what the heck was going on with the FL thread so silent! I have been busier than the proverbial beaver so didn't even have a chance to check the forum in oh, forever! I see you've all been busily chatting away. Well I'm still busy but now I know you're all here it was just me who was awol.
At least now I can follow you guys until I get a chance to post.

Waving at everyone!

Melanie is enjoying the air conditioning! Went to the movies yesterday where it was nice and dark and cool. I have my own Cuban tree frog problems. I've had one that lives up in the higher reaches of our entryway. I called Dad to try and whack it a few weeks ago because he's taller than me. He missed. That seemed to scare it for a while because I didn't spot it for about a week and then it was on the front of the house and I couldn't get at it due to my plants. Then, the other day it was back near the front door and I missed it, too! It's because I hesitate. I'm afraid I just don't have the killer instinct in me.

What I have been doing is acting as caterpillar slave. I feed them, I clean up after them, I make special trips to Publix to buy them organic herbs to dine on. I've got a huge amount of Black Swallowtails and they're all starting to gut purge and pupate so I did some serious cleaning today when I woke up. I just have to keep reminding myself they'll be beautiful butterflies soon. Also, this is National Pollinator Week so I guess I have to be extra nice to the little guys.

You can make a trap of sorts for the Cubans, Melanie. The UF site tells how to do it - just get about a 2ft. piece of 2in. PVC (plastic pipe). Cut it at an angle at one end so you can easily stick it in the ground, then just leave it there and the Cubans will hide inside there in the daytime because it's cool and shady. I have 5 or 6 of them around the yard, and I can trap a Cuban just by putting a ziploc bag over the end of a pipe with an elastic band, and sticking or spraying something in the other end. (I use Benadryl antihistamine spray, it also puts them to sleep in about a minute so if they do escape they are very slow) They hop out into the bag, and then you can just put the bag into your freezer to euthanize them. No whacking involved.


I usually hide them away in the foliage so they don't show up but I moved this one so I could get a picture of it.

Hmm...I wonder if I have too many bromeliads for them to fall into a trap. That's where I tend to find them - living in my bromeliads. I usually shake the bromeliads upside-down while Dad does the whacking. Or sometimes I jam bamboo poles into the bromeliads and that either forces them to jump out or I impale them (that gets a little gross). I'm trying really hard to make sure I identify my quarry before I kill it because last month I killed a frog that wasn't a Cuban. I'm still not sure what it was because it wasn't a Green Tree Frog. I looked on some Florida frog and toad websites but didn't quite find a match. I still feel guilty over it.

That's the beauty of catching them in a plastic bag - you can see what you've got.

I usually don't see alot around here except for the Green Tree frogs. And at night Toads. Not a whole lot of them either with the Owl population we have. This little guy was lounging on a Philo leaf.



Not much rain for us lately either. Brown patches showing up in the yard. Thurs/Friday looks promising tho. Well 58% promising. We'll see, we sure could use it.
Yellow Gloriosa's climbing all over the Red Penta. Hummer's love them both so they have a little mini buffet there.



I won a box of mixed Caladium bulbs from the ATP raffle time before last.
Since I didn't know who was who I stuck about a 1/3 of them in this pot.
Biggest dang Caladium leaf I've ever seen ! That's a 14 in pot.



I still had some left over and they sat in the box for awhile so to experiment I stuck them in a Strawberry Jar.

So far so good, I'll post another pic when they fill out.

MJ, that is a HUGE Caladium! You should be the spokesperson for the Caladium place and for the Not-a-Raffles! Those are awesome! I like the native Green Tree Frog, too!

MJ, that is the cutest little green tree frog! I miss seeing them around, we used to have a few at our old house ... along with a couple of the cuban tree frogs which we quickly euthanized! Oh my, the Gloriosa's and Pentas together are a pretty sight and I bet the hummers love that buffet! I have (had) Gloriosa's planted in a container for six or seven years but they didn't show their pretty faces this year and I don't remember which pot they were in, probably one in a location of little sunlight. Your beautiful large leaf Caladium looks like Fancy-leaf Caladium (Caladium 'White Queen') one I got from Caladiumbulbs4less. Sometimes they open with a lot of pink color while other times they are white. The others growing in with it look like Dwarf Caladium (Caladium 'Gingerland') and Fancy-Leaf Caladium (Caladium 'Carolyn Wharton') both of which I have that I got from Bill's website.

What a great idea with that strawberry jar ... that should look spectacular once those bulbs start really sprouting! I look forward to seeing a future photo.

Enjoying everyone's post of plants, flowers and chat thread. It sure is getting too hot to garden that I feel like not getting out to do any gardening.

Ann to this thread, glad you found us! I was wondering where you've been. We are still here and post away when you can. Like you, I go silent sometimes but I do enjoy all the friendly-plant-weather chatter here.

I'll post more pics when my 50% off glads from HD blooms. I thought they will not grow anymore but am pleasantly surprised they are all growing nicely. Not sure if the intense hot summer will fry the buds before they open though. I still have more plumeria blooms...this time of year they love the hot summer. I how to be able to post pics his week end.

I'm glad to see the little Green Tree Frogs are thriving elsewhere. When we first moved into this house 20+ years ago, we were overrun with them. And they were quite noisy at night (which I didn't mind at all).

But then the Cuban Tree Frogs came in and eventually ate all the green ones. I haven't seen a Green Tree Frog around here in many years. The Cuban frogs are not only ugly, they get much too big to eat mosquitoes.

When we had a freeze a few years back it really knocked back the population of the Cuban Tree Frogs, and knocked back the Brown Anoles as well. As a result, the native Green Anoles started showing up in numbers once more. Apparently there were no Green Tree Frogs in the area to fuel a comeback.

Now, however, both the Cuban Tree Frogs and the Brown Anoles are bouncing back, and once more I seldom see a Green Anole.

The only positive I see are with the millipedes. Never a problem before, after the freeze there was a huge population bloom with millipedes. They were everywhere in large numbers. At night, the sidewalks and stoops were literally infested. The were a constant problem, somehow finding their way into the house. Now that the Cuban Tree Frog and the Brown Anole population is coming back, there are not nearly so many millipedes around.

I'm certainly not wanting another freeze, but I sure wish instead of the exotics we had large populations of the Green Tree Frog and the Green Anole again. The millipedes were never an issue then, either.

Goodness, our thread has been really neglected this last few days. I guess everyone's been indoors because of the heat, but no more excuses! I know just about everybody except us got some good rain yesterday. We got not a single drop, although only blocks away from us there was at least one shower. C'mon Rain!!

Passi quadrangularis is blooming its heart out all over my mango tree. Got a new Nepenthes to help with the mosquitoes inside the cage, and it's working!


Gloriosa Lily blooming away, my favorite Hedychium 'Dr. Moy' smells heavenly, and Gaillardia "Punch Bowl" was supposed to be softer colors, but looks like the regular ones to me.


Spiral ginger with white flowers just starting to bloom. It opens new flowers every day for about a month. My favorite foliage plant, Zingiber collinsii and the jazzy begonia 'Don Millar'.

Elaine, I always enjoy seeing your beautiful plants and flowers ... you have such a variety growing at your place! I really like the soft colors of your Gaillardia 'Punch Bowl' ... to my eyes, the petals look paler in color than the regular Blanket Flower (Gaillardia pulchella) I truly love the varigated foliage of that Zingiber and that Begonia! I've never tried Hedychium ... wonder if there are any that stay under 5 feet in height? I love the blooms and hear that many are very fragrant ... might have to try one when we move south next summer.

I managed to get the lawn mowed this morning and then went outside and took a few pictures of stuff blooming in my yard. This heat is so atrocious that many things seem to be suffering ... including me!

I can't imagine living anywhere other than Florida but I really hate the mid to upper 90's and high humidity!

Crepe Myrtles around here are busting into bloom. This dark pink and light pink are on the same tree (firs time I've seen this happen in the four years we've lived here) and the white 'Natchez' is in my next door neighbor's yard:


Crossandra 'Sundance' .................. Daylily 'Sweet Alpha' ............................. Ixora


Nile Lily (Agapanthus) ............................ Plumbago ..................................... Princess Flower (Tibouchina)


Desert Rose & close up of this morning's blooms ............................... Butterfly Bush Petite 'Tutti Fruitti Pink'


Ground Orchid (Spathoglottis 'Berry Banana'), French Marigold (Tagetes erecta), Lipstick Plant (Aeschynanthes)


Sporadic blooms on Dwarf Yellow Allamanda and Chocolate Cream Allamanda


Spanish Needles (Bidens) - so pretty but Grr taking over the yard!


Pentas, Blue Daze and Marigolds

Lin, I can't imagine being without the Hedychiums. Their scent is so wonderful and they're such easy plants (as long as you plant them somewhere they'll get water). The white Hedychium coronarium stays around 3ft. tall for me and it is available everywhere.

Does your butterfly bush go dormant in the winter? I've had my hands hovering over pots of the white one at Lowe's the last two times I've been there, and talked myself out of buying one. They smell so great, I'm drawn to them just like the butterflies.

I'm very puzzled by my 'Celeste' fig tree. It set a nice crop of figs at least a couple of months ago, they were sizing up nicely, and now they have just stopped. Not plumping up and not ripening either. It's frustrating because I just love fresh figs and the birds and squirrels haven't figured out yet that they are good to eat.

Elaine, I love the looks of Butterfly Ginger (Hedychium coronarium) and thought about getting one to try over the years but everything I've read shows they can get 6 to 8 feet tall which is why I decided against it.

Yes, the Butterfly bush goes dormant. I have Butterfly Bush (Buddleja Flutterby Petite™ Tutti Fruitti Pink) and a larger Butterfly Bush (Buddleja 'Honeycomb') (that I got as a cutting from someone a couple of years ago) ... both are in containers. I was told that some Buddleja can be invasive so I've never planted one in ground. It's weird, but I've never detected scent on either of my B'fly Bushes ... but then again my nose is weird. I've always had a rather sensitive nose ... when it comes to yucky odors I can detect them from a good distance but I've had a few fragrant plants that I've never detected much scent and my husband tells me they are extremely fragrant ... go figure!

I've never grown a fig so not sure why the fruit would start to grow and then just stop, I'll be curious if anyone has the answer to that question ... maybe (like me) the tree is not happy with the heat we've had so early this year.


Pagoda flowers (Clerodendrum) ......... Beach Sunflower (Helianthus debilis) ... Tropical Sage Salvia coccinea


Butterfly Pea ....................................... Lantana ............................................ Butterfly Bush (Buddleja 'Honeycomb')