Wow, Alex! The musa velutina looks nice and Its very cool that its making bananas! I will defenately keep the velutina in mind if I go back to va. I still love your coconuts very much and I see your little one has changed a bit since fall. I want to put my coconut in full sun so maybe it could look like yours but I dont want it to get burned. Did you start it off in the shade or put it directly in the sun? Do you know if it makes a differance what the color of the coconut is? Because I see yours is white and mine is brown. Heres what I would like to have outside in I go back to va.:
Windmill palm
Sabal minor palm
Needle palm
Sago palm?
Jelly palm?
Musa Velutina banana
Musa basjoo banana
Alex, you have alot of cool plants. I hope they all do well.
-Hunter

Thanks Hunter! Musa Velutina is a great banana to keep in mind! I bought mine last August and its already in bloom! Its my newest banana and its the first of mine to flower!
I had my coconut in full sun right from the start. I figured that it was probably germinated in full sun so it would be happy if it was in full sun again. You could slowly adjust your coconut palm to full sun. It wouldn't look like mine until the fall because it would have to grow new fronds, but it wil definitetly start growing more compact.
Thanks for looking! I'll have some more pics up soon!
-Alex

Alex, have you heard the saying that you can kill plants with rock music? Because I have a wooden balcony right outside my room and I would like to put my plants there at some point but I play guitar and I also play some rock music loud in my room while im playing to it. Could I kill my plants if I put them right outside outside my room or am I being too paranoid?

No, you definitely cant kill plants with rock music, or really any music. I was in Orlando Florida and there were some very nice Bismarkia palms right in the concert area in Universal Studios. They have all different types of bands, but rock is a common one and they play the music very loud. The Hard Rock Hotel in Orlando also plays music loud and they have beautiful plants too! Some people say classical music helps plants, but I have never heard of music hurting plants. I wouldnt worry about that at all!
-Alex

Thank you Alex, I dont like to ask random questions but I didnt know where else to ask. Thank you so much for not getting angry at my random question.

Alex

The pics look great.

My sabals are far from flowering but there is one in someone's yard near me that is flowering.

The pink bannana flower look really tropical

The spiral ginger looks similar to my basket plant.

Did you grow your papaya from seed. I sprouted some last year and they grew but they all died indoors.

Your older pindo should start growing fast this summer and your coconut palm looks great.

No problem Hunter! The best gardeners are curious! Its actually interesting that some people who experiment on plants do notice that certain music effects plant growth. Of course those plants are "listening" to the music all the time and the differences in growth arent too significant, but its still interesting if there is any effect. Some people swear that if you talk to your plants, they will grow faster. I personally think that in a way its true because a person who is talking to their plants is dedicating a lot of time to them, so their plants are getting better care!

Thanks Dennis!
I grew papayas from seed every year with tons of success, but I always started them at the wrong time (last year I started them outdoors in late September and the year before I started them indoors). The ones I started in September actually did germinate despite the days getting cooler, but they died as soon as they went inside! The ones I started inside died as soon as they went outside because no matter what I did, they never were strong enough to adjust to the sun level.
The papaya in my pic is from Ebay. I think it was worth buying it because now I have hopes that it might actually be a nice sized plant by the end of the summer!
I hope my older pindo starts growing soon! The pindo I have in a pot is actually growing faster!
Good luck with your sabal! And it seems like a ton of people are trying tropicals in your neighborhood. Other than several yuccas, figs, a camellia, and southern mags, everything is pretty temperate in my neighborhood!

Thanks for looking!
-Alex

I noticed that tropicals are all over my area.
Sothern magnolias, crape myrtles, yuccas, palms, and cactus are just a few.

I think i will make a thread with everything in my area.

Next time I get a papaya I will plant the seeds.

Nice pics Alex, can't wait for the banana pudding!

Dennis, there really are a ton of hardy subt tropicals in the area! I have seen at least 5 different species of Bamboo and 10 or more different species of yuccas! Then there are southern mags, some (I wish there were more) hardy palms, crape myrtles, camellias, dusty miller, Some Cordylines (usually a few do survive the winter around the area), Figs, and probably lots of other things that I havent noticed or mentioned!

Chadec, Thanks! Apparently Velutina isnt the greatest banana for eating since it has a ton of seeds in it, but I will definitely be tasting it anyway. Its not too often that you have the opportunity to eat a pink banana (especially one thats home grown in New York!)

Thanks for looking!
-Alex

Looking good Alex-

Congrats on the Banana bloom!

Thanks Jim! Im very excited to see it start to make bananas!
-Alex

Oh yes,Alex Please tell me how the bananas taste when they are ripe enough. Ive been wondering how they taste.

I definitely will tell you how they taste! Im going to guess kind of similar to the bananas at the store. Im most excited to try the ice cream bananas, but first I got to get them to flower :)
-Alex

Nice. Would love to walk around there and soak up the vibe.

Question- Did you trim the tips of your Sabals?

Thanks Jacklord! Yes, I do trim the Sabal tips. For some reason, even though I protect it and it stays at least above 20F at all times during the winter, it gets tip damage. I think its possible that it might be too dry during the winter.
-Alex

Alex the samething happens to mine and I put some melting snow in its protection.

I do definitely think that they are more tender since they came from a box store! I guess it will always need its protection. Oh well, at least its happy enough to flower and fast enough of a grower to replace all its fronds every summer!

Oh and the deck is almost done! New thread will be up with the rest of the pics by tuesday or Wednesday!

Thanks for looking!
-Alex

What are those plumerias? They look nice.

Plumerias are tropical trees, but they make great potted plants as well. The leaves alone are beautiful, but they are amazing in flower! A lot of people are intimidated because they think they are hard to care for, but they are definitely one of the easiest plants when they are indoors for the winter. They go dormant during the winter so they basically look like sticks. I water my plumerias about 3 times during the entire winter and they still do fine. They re-spout their leaves when they go outside, or usually a few weeks before that since I put them by a sunny window and give them fertilizer and water in February (to get them out of dormancy).
I got my first Plumeria in 2009 off of ebay and it was a 2 foot tall stick. It bloomed for that same summer and today it is my tallest plumeria (at about 8 feet tall!). My fastest growing plumeria grows about 2 feet of "trunk" a year. They are great plants! I really think you should give them a try!
-Alex

Very nice pics and plants tropicalzone7! :) Your garden always looks nice and healthy. It also looks warmer than zone7 too :)
-US_Marine

What kind is it? I typed in plumera on ebay and lots of flowers came up.

Alex-- My Sabals get the same tip burn. I have trimmed some but will now go ahead and trim the rest.

Where/How do you overwinter all those nice specimens?

Thanks usmarine! Im glad my yard looks warmer than a zone 7, I wish it was!

Hunter, I have lots of different plumerias. Some dont have names. The ones that do have names are my Plumeria Obtusa, Plumeria Pudica, Plumeria "Maya", Plumeria "Califronia sunset", Plumeria "Scott Pratt", and Plumeria "Divine". I have 2 with no name. One of them makes gigantic white flowers and the other makes smaller red flowers. All of them have a great fragrance, except for Pudica which has no scent, but blooms more vigorously than all the others.

Jacklord, I overwinter all my palms with christmas lights, a frost cloth, and a garbage bin. My Med fan palm just had christmas lights and a garbage bin and my frostproof gardenia just had christmas lights and a frostcloth. One of my Trachycarpus just had a garbage bin. All my plants survived with no problems with this protection, except my Sabal Domingensis. S. Donmingensis is definitely a soild zone 9 plant, and it did look good right up until March so I give it credit for that!

Thanks for looking! The deck is just about finished. I just have to move the plants and then some more pics will be up!
-Alex

did the sabal domingensis survive?

No, unfortunately the Sabal Domingensis died. I think it was in way too much shade (thats not what killed it, but it would have been much more robust in full sun). It was a nice 3 gallon size (about 3 feet tall).
-Alex

Alex:

I meant all your other plants like the plumerias. Do you have a sun room?

I overwinter my plants pretty much in every corner I can find! Fortunately my house has a pretty good amount of sun and during the winter every window has a plant below it! It gets a bit crowded and Im running out of room, but its better than buying new plants every year!
The plumerias are the easiest to overwinter because they go dormant for most of their time indoors so I just keep them in a cool and dimly lit place and keep them dry. I did manage to keep one plumeria growing all winter long because I didnt want its flower head to abort (one was just starting to form from the fall). It made a full head of flowers right after christmas which was a great memory from summer!

I actually do have a sun room, but its used for other things so I can only fit a few plants in there.

-Alex

Yea my sun room is actually a "multi-purpose" room.

:)