I know. Mine has been there for about 6 years. I do cut it back ever season after it blooms so it doesn't get too tall; maybe that is why??

The Clero bungei (Cashmere Bouquet) doesn't set seed either but it sure produces hundreds of runners that travel underground and come up anywhere and everywhere! Our deck runs the entire length of the back of the house, is 12 feet wide/deep and those danged things pop up through the wood slats all the way up against the house! It amazes me that they would grow beneath a dark, dark wooden deck like they do ... beautiful, tough plant but a shame it has to be such a pest.

Sounds like the Mexican Petunia for me.

Mexican Petunia (Ruellia simplex) is very pretty but very invasive and it always drives me crazy when I see it for sale at the big box stores everywhere in Florida!

Yep, right with you there Gigi. Mex. Petunia was planted outside our front fence when we bought the house, and I have pulled and pulled it and paid people to pull it out for 7 years now. It still comes back. Unless you get every vestige of roots, it will recover and come back to haunt you, it seems.

@plantladylin, all your flowers look so pretty. I'm really jealous of the caladiums. Mine have started to fade and die down. I'm just hopeful they all come back next year.

Mary, some of my Caladiums have faded out already. If our winters are mild and the bulbs are mulched, they will usually return in spring but if we have really cold nights during the winter they are goners but I don't mind because when warm weather begins, newly planted Caladium bulbs seem to sprout rather quickly. Most of my Caladiums are in containers but I don't bring them indoors because I have no space to over winter them so they either make it or they don't. I always look forward to ATP member Bill - Caladium Bulbs 4 Less posting his sales here on the classified forum. He offers great sized bulbs at great prices to ATP members!

So right, Lin. Bill is a great resource, and last year also sponsored a Photo Contest for pictures of Caladiums. I was lucky enough to win a box of bulbs.

To my surprise they arrived in September, and I e-mailed Bill whether to plant them now or wait until spring. He said if I planted them all right away, they would be gorgeous well into December which they were! Those are the Florida Beauty bulbs that I showed a few posts back, and they are indeed coming back for a fall show this year again. I didn't know you could plant two rounds of Caladiums to enjoy longer into fall, but apparently you can. Then I was really curious in the spring when they didn't appear along with most of my others, so I dug one up, and they were there, plump and healthy as can be, but sleeping.

Isn't it amazing that bulbs know when they've had enough 'rest' and its time to pop up and recharge themselves with leaves?

Now, I just found a couple of bags of Caladiums that I forgot to plant in the spring (it was really hot, busy and I had family visits and trips . . . excuses, excuses). So, I guess I'm planting some more Caladiums this fall for the winter season. Hmmm, I have a couple of hanging baskets with nothing in them right now . .

Lin, I got my bulbs from Bill in the spring as well. They did very well and I was very pleased with what I got. They are also in containers, as I also have no room to put them in the ground. The last 2 winters here, the coldest it has gotten overnight was 36, so I'm hoping for another winter like that. According to most zone maps, I am in zone 10a, so I think they'll be OK.

Many of my Caladiums are starting to lay down now also. Some are still pretty perky. At first I was surprised then it dawned on me. It IS the middle of September and the day's are getting shorter.

Coral Porterweed is putting on a great show for Fall, and flying critters were all taking advantage. Didn't catch the Hummingbird for a pic tho.

That one's a real beauty, Mj. We have one at the school garden that is very tall and rangy looking, and the flowers aren't nearly as intense in color as yours. Never see any butterflies on that guy, either. But maybe we're always there too late in the day.

Elaine that one's on it's 4th summer. I cut it back really low before the first freeze and cover it. We also cut it back again in late June to keep it nice and full.

MJ beautiful show of flower blooms there.

Lin and Elaine, beautiful caladiums, These are ones of my favorite plants but my harsh full sun garden is not Very kind to them. I have 3 varieties that adopted to full sun but only one seems to be still growing good at this time of the year



My Dwarf Jamaican Heliconia is finally settled in her new home and is starting to bloom, great clearance price of $6 for a big plant at Lowe's 3 mos ago. This is supposed to be able to take full sun but I actually have to protect this from the sun because the leaves burned.



My Jungle Jack's California Sunset plumeria



I love Vincas, they are reliable bloomer in my garden, I just have to be diligent in pulling volunteers that are not in the right places but they hide ugly bare spots of this Holly tree.


So this year I added a different color from Lowe's death rack $0.50

MJ, wow I love that Coral Porter Weed .... gorgeous pops of color!

Gigi, I like the color of that Caladium leaf a lot. What a great buy on that pretty Heliconia from Lowes! I have the Vinca (Catharanthus roseus) pop up here and there at times and I too love all the different colors they come in nowadays. That pink planting beneath the tree looks really nice and I really like the deep color of the one in your last photo! There are some nice deep pinks and vibrant reds in our database: http://garden.org/plants/searc...

Those periwinkles sure do come in some great colors. I had a really dark purple periwinkle a couple of years ago, almost navy blue. Sadly it did not survive and I haven't seen it for sale since then, either. But that fuchsia pink one pops up for me all over the place, too.

Oooppss I thought these are vinca. Wow Lin and Elaine, I didn't know that there are these many choices.

I figure is I have these in my yard I will always have flowers.

great buy on this Heliconia, Lowe's death rack is awesome!

Vinca and periwinkle are often confused with each other, Gigi. Lots of people call them one or the other. In fact, I looked up "periwinkle" in the Database and there are Vinca that are periwinkle. Greater Periwinkle (Vinca major)

But these ones that grow here aren't actually Vinca.Here's my 'wild' one:


Was just out taking pictures (boy! it's hot out there, summer has returned) and found some interesting stuff.
Tillandsia, with the biggest flowers its ever had. Going to look for some more of these at Tropiflora in a couple of weeks!


Musical notes plant being "note worthy". It was very late starting this year, but is making up for it now. The flowers are really pretty when they open, too - making a note to self to go out tomorrow and catch them when open!


Nice begonia blooming, rather out of season, as they usually like to bloom when it's cool in the spring and fall.

Wow! Those are pretty. Ellaine, I don't think I've ever seen a musical note.

Now, I see some of what I thought was small bromeliads in Home Depot or Lowe's or Publix with similar come shape bloom as yours. Are tilladansia in the orchid or a bromeliad family?

I went out for 5 minutes to spray
My Vandas and it was super hot!

They're closer to Bromeliads, I think. Definitely not orchids, but they are epiphytes like both orchids and broms.

Tillandsias are bromeliads.