Early July 2013 pics of the yard!

10 years ago

The summer weather is officially here, although with more clouds and rain than usual. The plants had a very slow start this spring because of the cool weather but they are really starting to catch up to where they should be.
Here are some pics. Check out my blog, I update that with a lot more pics.
http://tropicalsinzone7.blogspot.com
Dragon wing begnonia with ti plant

Cool shot from a few weeks ago during the "super moon"

Some pics of my biggest plumeria, it was just a foot tall in March 2009! It goes well with some Spanish Moss!

My Calypso Oleander. I think this is it's 4th summer in the ground now.

Sabal Minor is blooming for the first time since 2011 (not visible in this pic). Also a shot of my ti plant and caladiums

One of my hardy gardenias (newly planted). I forgot the cultivator. The fragrance is incredible!

My oldest hibiscus plant had no leaf drop going outside this year for the first time ever. It has lots of blooms on it now!

Some night shots. To the left is my recovering spindle palms and in the middle is my new bottle palm

Without the flash on....

Different view of the Bottle palm

My new Thailand Giant. A little disappointed that I couldn't find a spot for it in the ground. It probably won't reach it's full potential in a pot, but I can't wait to see what it does next year when I do get it in the ground!

Monsteras are underrated plants. They do very well indoors and out and are ridiculously fast growers! This was a tiny 1 gallon plant last spring!

This area is starting to come along well. My Solitare palm had a lot of frond damage coming outside in the spring, but it's making a decent recovery.

My favorite ti plant

I also really like this ti plant

A day pic of the spindle and bottle palm

The coleus are loving the rain this summer

Schefflera fruit. The plant is 7 feet tall now!

Philodendron

Spiral ginger coming back from the dead

Cromansia survived the winter and should make some awesome blooms soon!

My new project this spring was a new planting bed and I decided to get a Southern Magnolia. I underplanted with some caladiums and coleus. Next year I'll come up with something more permanent.

Front yard plantings. My brugmansia is about to open it's first flush of blooms.

Closeup on the brug

Alocasia

Begonias

Kopper King Hibiscus is about to put on a show

Mandevillas still looking good

Pool area plants. Lots of Butterfly ginger coming up. My Saba Banana is to the right and next to it is my Solandra Maxima which is still leafing out for the season.

I'll make a separate post soon of more of the subtropicals and less of the potted tropicals. Hope you enjoyed. Thanks for looking!

-Alex

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (14)

tropicbreezent
10 years ago
That's looking really great. Obviously a lot of work in it.

I can't get that Spanish Moss, Tillandsia usneoides growing here. It just wastes away slowly. Got a few tall Scheffleras but none have flowered yet. And also have a Mandevilla similar to yours, except possibly a bit darker, "Cherry Ripe".
tropicalzone7
Original Author
10 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Thanks Tropicalbreeze! I'm surprised Spanish moss doesn't grow by you considering how nice your climate is for other tropical air plants. I'm sure mandevillas reach incredible heights by you. My record is 20 feet. It looked really beautiful covering one of my shrubs.
-Alex
Related Discussions
Some pics from my zone 3 garden in early July 2014
Q
Comments (27)
Hi marcia, thanks for the tip! I will watch out for that lychnis!!! I saw that in my parents' yard in BC and it was in a shaded and moist area, so it was tiny. Therefore, I dug it up and flew it back with me LOL. A year later, it's now this huge clump! My parents could not believe it LOL!!! I guess I may not believe it later either.... ROTFLOL! As for the Black Lace, please try it. It's so worth it! Even though we had such a rough winter this past year, it still came back from the base and is now over 3 feet tall. It's just a lovely thing. Donna, thank you! I actually have a Bugbane Chocoholic and is doing quite well. However, it has been "eaten alive" by that 3 feet tall Geranium Rozanne!!!!!!!!! LOL! That Geranium acts like it's on steroid or something and so I probably will need to move that poor Bugbane elsewhere next year so it will be more visible.... As for the Rodgersia, I am so happy to hear that it's hardy here! I actually saw that for the very first time just recently in the Botanical Garden in Newfoundland and I was very impressed by it. However, when I looked it up online, it was listed as a zone 5 plant. So I was disappointed. However, I am pleased to hear that it's really a hardy plant! Donna, do you have a photo of that please? I would love to see yours! Thanks so much.
...See More
What's Blooming in your garden - photo thread - PART 2 July 2013
Q
Comments (75)
Pixie Lou, you have a lot of nice lilies. I only have a few because of the RLLB. I just couldnÃ¢ÂÂt keep them clean if I had too many. As it is, the Ã¢ÂÂOraniaÃ¢ÂÂ this year looked fine until after it bloomed I noticed the foliage has a fair amount of holes in it. You canÃ¢ÂÂt cut the stalks back to the ground after blooming, right? I would like to have enough to smell them in the house, but nope. The Ã¢ÂÂOraniaÃ¢ÂÂ does make the whole front walkway a very pleasant trip when they are blooming. And thanks, glad the comparison of peppers was interesting. I think growing hot peppers does make a difference, they seem to be a more vigorous and shapely shrub that produces more and smaller peppers. The large sweet peppers seem to be more difficult to get more than a few per plant. Thyme2dig, what a pretty daylily border! IÃ¢ÂÂm not always pulled to purchase a daylily and some of that is the way I see them being used. The way you have planted them all together that way without competition from other plants and with that great shrub border behind it, I really like it a lot. What is that dark shrub in photo #3? And is that Nasturtium at the base of your purple tripod? Jane, I donÃ¢ÂÂt blame you about the FarmerÃ¢ÂÂs Market next year. I took a couple of yearÃ¢ÂÂs off from the vegetable garden and I missed it and here I am still doing it. :-) But is this year an exception? I think some years are not the greatest and this year just wasnÃ¢ÂÂt. IÃ¢ÂÂm going to try to salvage some of the season and go for some fall crops of Broccoli and Lettuces and Kale and other greens. This weekend IÃ¢ÂÂm probably going to start. I have three squash plants without a squash between them. *sigh* Spedigrees, thatÃ¢ÂÂs a good looking lily and the foliage is a lot cleaner than mine. :-)
...See More
Early May 2011 Pics of the Yard
Q
Comments (36)
Hey Alex, Your palms look like they didn't miss a beat from last year.I'm glad you showed that vinca.I have that vine taking over my back yard.I never knew what it was,it has pretty little purple flowers on it,but LORD is it invasive.The only difference between yours and mine is mine has solid green leaves,yours looks variegated.Keep your eye on it,there's places where it's three feet thick in the very back of my property.I don't know where it came from,but I want it gone.I've sprayed it with roundup,burned it,poured bleach and ammonia on it,and it still comes back every year.I like the look of all your other plants,but that one.The same goes for crape myrtles,they pop up everywhere,dont get me wrong.I have two big ones,a white one and one I call watermelon color.I wish palms would pop up like them,I wouldn't mind some fortuneis or some palmetto volunteers.Maybe in ten years or so they will start popping up since it seems like everyone is growing them now.Talking about heat it's been 90* plus for the last three days.I wish I had a pool,I'd have it opened up days ago.Love the Spindle palm.Well I hope your Banana starts doing better. Randy
...See More
Late July 2011 pics of my yard
Q
Comments (23)
Hunter, No problem! Its really great to start growing plants at a young age because you have your whole life to learn about them and you have plenty of years to have a really amazing garden! Im still young so I also have a lot of time to make my yard better too! I looked at my pics back from 3 years ago and I cant believe how much more I have now! Im kind of excited to see what things will look like 10 years from now in my yard (or whatever yard I have by that time!) Im glad to hear that they are prediciting a warm fall Jim! My Cannas were blooming into the second week of november and they didnt actually die down until early december (they had a bit of frost damage in the last days of November). The longer I can keep my plants growing the better! I have about 2 full months left before the plants start winding down. Last year we had almost a week of 70s and even an 80 in october though so if that could happen again this fall, I think my plants would love it! Andy, I actually picked up the spindle palm because of the swollen trunk it had. It was definitely an impulse buy because I love the look of the swollen trunk on palms. I have a bottle palm also, but its far from getting that trunk and its my slowest growing palm in height (I think my parlor palm is faster and they are suppose to be slow growers!). Thanks Jacklord! Unfortunately I've had a big grasshopper problem this year on my plants. My Plumeria leaves have been shredded. I caught 3 baby grasshoppers and I just got an adult. I felt bad about killing it though so I drove it down somewhere far from my yard! Other than that, its been a great year for the plants and everything has been growing really healthy! I should probably feed them more often though! Thanks everyone for all the nice comments and for looking! -Alex
...See More
mimalf
10 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Such a beautiful garden!
Thanks for sharing the amazing pictures.

Mima
us_marine
10 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
One of these days I hope to have a garden like yours! Everything looks great.
tropicbreezent
10 years ago
Alex, my Mandevillas are heavily pruned so they remain like large shrubs. I was surprised myself at some of the things that either won't grow, or else grow extremely slowly here. Monstera, for example, I have one over 10 years old smaller than yours (even though thicker stemmed). On the other hand I grow things like Amorphophallus titanum and Cyrtostachys renda outdoors all year. "Win some, lose some".
jimhardy
10 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Beautiful color Alex..well done.
tropicalzone7
Original Author
10 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Thanks a lot Mima!

Thanks Us_marine! You have an awesome climate there. Hope your plants are liking the recent heat!

Tropicbreezent, wow I'm surprised that Monsteras won't grow well but Cyrtostachys renda will! Definitely a win some and lose some situation. I wouldn't even dream about growing a Amorphophallus titanum or Cyrtostachys renda. I bought a breadfruit once of the internet in April. It died after 2 weeks because we had 2 nights in the upper 40s!

Thanks Jim! I try to bring as much color with as few flowers as possible so I don't get disappointed if the annuals stop blooming.

Thanks everyone for looking!
-Alex
jimhardy
10 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Great idea....I went out looking for a Coleus for the garden after looking at your pics.(-:
chadec
10 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Very nice Alex, definitely cant tell you had a slow start. This colder and wet spring has stuck around here. I have only had 2 days in the 90s. Yard got flooded again today, which my bananas are loving.
chicago_palm
10 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Very nice tropical look to your yard. Always wanted to grow Oleander but I have three dogs that roam my back yard and like to nibble on my plants from time to time. Can't wait to see more of the in ground tropical.
tropicalzone7
Original Author
10 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Thanks Chadec! Glad that some of your plants are enjoying the wet weather by you. The past few days has been very muggy and warm by me. Days in the low 90s, nights in the mid 70s, and dew points maxing out at 79F for the past 3 days. The plants are loving it though, especially since it's coming with some pretty decent showers.

Thanks Chicago palm! My dog is good with the plants and the oleander is in a part of the yard she can't reach, otherwise I can definitely see why you would want to avoid oleanders, definitely not worth the risk even though the flowers are great!

Thanks for looking!
-Alex
statenislandpalm7a
10 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Everything looks great. Where did you get that southern magnolia?
jacklord
10 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Another summer of ogling Alexs garden. Looking good.
tropicalzone7
Original Author
10 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Thanks Dennis! I got it at sweetbrook. They have a few locations on the island and they all seemed to have decent sized mags.

Haha, thanks a lot Jacklord! Appreciate it.

-Alex

Early July 2013 pics of the yard!

Comments (14)

tropicbreezent

tropicalzone7
Original Author

Related Discussions

mimalf

us_marine

tropicbreezent

jimhardy

tropicalzone7
Original Author

jimhardy

chadec

chicago_palm

tropicalzone7
Original Author

statenislandpalm7a

jacklord

tropicalzone7
Original Author

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

Early July 2013 pics of the yard!

Comments (14)

tropicalzone7Original Author

Related Discussions

tropicalzone7Original Author

tropicalzone7Original Author

tropicalzone7Original Author

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

tropicalzone7
Original Author

tropicalzone7
Original Author

tropicalzone7
Original Author

tropicalzone7
Original Author