Very nice. Your tropical plants are looking great! I learn alot from everyone daily. I now know what a desert rose is...

Here is a link that might be useful: okcpalms

Nicely done, your plants look healthy and vibrant. How often do you fertilize?

Thanks for the complements!
wsg89, I really like your album. You have a beautiful yard! Do you know the name of that red flowering groundcover in the last pics (I think it was 22 or 23). Really nice! A desert rose would look great in your yard. They love sun but I dont give mine full afternoon sun because I hear they can get burned from really intense heat.
Protempsfish, Thanks! I fertilize about once a month with fish emultion or miracle gro. My pindo palm wasnt growing at all until I gave it some fish emultion and now its slowly getting there. I think Ill feed them all some miracle gro liquid feed tomorrow since its been about a month since they have been fertilized.
Thanks for looking!
-Alex

Great pics. I love your yard. Hope all your plants make it through the upcoming winter!

Nice yard, everything looks healthy and happy!

I think hte bottle palm looks just fine as does everything. Keep it up. It appears that just about everyone is having a much more tropical friendly summer than last year.

Alex,great pictures as always.Glad to hear your pindo has started growing.I wish I could take that good of pictures.How old is your Phoenix Roebelenii?Did you buy it that big?As you probably saw I have one in a 15 gallon pot,it's not as tall as yours,and the roots are already tyring to come out of the holes at the bottom of the pot.Where do you put all your potted plants in winter time?I have 25 potted plants myself,and I'm running out of space to put all of them.I like how you mix leave color,size,and texture together.You have a good eye for mixing them.Everyone cant do that well.Good Job!!!

HI Alex,

You are skilled and like many plants. I have the same double peach hibiscus flowers and my pygmy date palm is doing well too. So your pindo palm started growing - that's good news. I saw a citris in there.. what type is it? It looks like you water everyday when its dry.

Thanks! We are definitely having a very warm summer which is helping these plants out so much!
Butiaman, All the potted plants go inside during the winter. Many of them are just put into corners where they fit okay and the most picky go into the best windows where they will get enough light. There are so many (and growing every year), so it gets harder and harder to find places for them. I try to keep them outside as long as possible and take them outside as early as possible so I dont have to keep them inside the house for as long. The pygmy palm was bought at that size. I got it for a really good price at a nursury and I saw yours in one of your pics and it looks really healthy! I definitely have over 50 potted plants and at least 15 that are of a pretty large size.
Greg, The citrus thats next to the banana was grown from a store bought orange about 5 or 6 years ago so Im not sure if it will ever make good fruit. Its more of a foliage plant to me. You can see the leaves of my washingtion navel orange in one of the pics (the one where you also see the fronds of my cat palm). I got that last year and it was almost dead before it slowly grew more leaves. Its flowered 2 or 3 times in the year I have had it but no fruit! I dont think its established enough to make fruit but its getting there.
I hope I have time to post pics of my other palms in the ground so Ill try to do that. And is anyone noticing more butterflies in their yard this year? I definitely am. Im wondering if I just planted butterfly attracting annuals (like lantana which they seem to love), or if its the warmer weather?
Anyway, thanks a lot for looking!
Good luck!!
-Alex

Hi Alex,

I had a similar citrus tree for years that only bloomed well once and it did make a few oranges but after 5 more years of fruitlessness, I dumped it into compost and bought new fruiting types from a catalog. It was worth it and rewarding. The tress took up less room and could hardly wait to bloom and fruit. The poderosa lemon and meyer lemons have done well for many years making 12-20 lemons each and do not get too large.

PS. Alex, perhaps consider a green house for winter storage of plants:)

I will be keeping a close eye on my orange. Im starting to see the leaf joints get a little big larger so Im thinking its either getting more new growth or some buds. Im hoping its buds since oranges need a lot of heat to become sweet and we are getting tons of heat this year!
I wish I could get a nice greenhouse. Ive definitely thought of it before, but the main problem is that most of my yard is all deck and It would be difficult to anchor it to the ground well, and there isnt anywhere I can put it that it wouldnt be in someones way. But someday I will definitely get a greenhouse! Until then I may make a plant room for them all where they will get lots of light and care. But I would have to constantly keep the pests off of them (biggest winter problems for me are whiteflies, aphids, and spider mites).
Im really looking forward for some fruit from my orange and I hope it happens soon!

How old is the orange tree? Like most fruit trees you plant from seed, it can take them 6+ years to fruit. It looks like its about the age to start flowering.

Good luck!

My grandmother would have swooned. Very nice garden.

3 of my 4 Trachys were originally planted at my parents house. When I acquired L'Estate Lord, I dug them up and transplanted them out here. Each one looked sick and then fully recovered. Seems Trachys need around a year to get over any traumas.

Likewise my Pindo did not like the leaf cage I built. Probably because I did not put a roof on it and it was too moist. Like yours, it is just now starting to return to its former self.

I am seeding all kinds of fruit from the grocery. Cheaper than blowing my cash at the online nurseries.

Thanks!
Usmarine, My orange tree from seed is about 6 years old now so Im hoping for fruit soon. My washingtion navel orange is grafted (since they are seedless they dont produce seeds to start from). It has the ability to fruit, but I dont think its established enough yet. Hopefully soon!

Thanks jacklord. Seeds from grocery store fruit is a really good idea. Only thing to be careful of is a lot fo them dont come true to there parents so they may not taste as good, but there are lots of exceptions.
Now that I think about it, I think I had the opposite problem with my pindo palm. I kept it from getting precipitation from October all the way until march and I didnt give it any additional water until a few weeks ago. Im going to continue to give it plant food, water, and care and I would like to get maybe 2 fronds before winter and many more next summer.
Thanks for looking everyone!
-Alex

The red flowering ground cover plant I think, is a type of portulaca. It is a heat resistant full sun spreader related to moss rose. This is our first year trying annuals. I know nothing about flowers...I don't see a sago in any of your pictures!

Thanks for the Id on that! It looks great. Speaking of great, the reason why you dont see my sago is because it isnt looking so great :( It all started in february when it wanted to grow a new flush. Little did it know that it was still indoors so the flush grew and got too long (way too long). It went outside in march and 75 mph wind gusts from a noreaster pretty much threw it halfway across the yard because the fronds were big but the pot was small. I had to cut the flush off and then when the oldest leaves were burned from the hot april sun, I had to cut those off too. It was leafless until it made a small flush this June and that time it must have been in too much sun because now the leaves are all curled up. Ill post a pic of it tomorrow. Its healthy, but not the greatest looking. If the next flush comes out bad then its going in the ground next spring! Ill protect it to see how it does though!
Sorry for the long story, lol...cycads, I cant make a nice garden with them, and I cant make a nice garden without them :)

Hey Alex,

Although Cycads are very beautiful...your garden doesn't need them to be one of the prettiest yards I have seen in the Northeast!!!

Don't Kid yourself...Everyone would do backflips to have a place like yours!!!

I love everything about your backyard, you can tell how much time you spend in the care of all your plants!!!

Bravo...for the great pictures!!!

Laura in VB

I find some seeds from the store need to grow in full size trees and buying by catalog keeps the tree smaller and fruiting.

Alex: I think every one of us has a plant hospital of some kind. 2 of my cycads flushed last fall just before the first serious freeze. The little tilted one just got out of isolation. You can still see some frost damage on the lower leaves. I am getting ready to bring my old bismarkia out after recovering from being blown over by the wind last year. It has 2 big new fronds with great blue color and a spear on the way...This gardening stuff can be frustrating (yellowing sagos) but also lots of fun!

Here is a link that might be useful: okcpalms

Thanks for the comments. Here are a few more pics!

My sago palm is in a corner. I guess thats my plant hospital-no one can see it-but I can easily care for it.

Windmill palm planted this year is looking good in shade. I think its on its 3rd frond
.

Next is a pic of my sabal domingensis, also newly planted this spring. Its pushed 1 and a half fronds this year. Not bad considering its in a pretty good amount of shade and still a pretty young palm.

Also new for this year is my european fan palm. It has a pup on the side of it which is about to open its first frond.

Sabal minor in its second year and growing very fast considering its a sabal minor! Its already pushed out a full frond and the second frond is unfolding. I wouldnt be surprised to get 3 fronds by the end of the summer.

My sabal minors 'trunk'. It looks like it is actually growing above the ground, but maybe its planted too shallow. I think Ill have to add a little mulch in the fall since the roots are pretty exposed, but I think they have always been exposed. Do you think it should have some more soil on the top?

NEW VOCAB WORD FOR ME! This is the 'hastula' of my Sabal domingensis. Apparently its where the petiole meets the base of the leaflets. On palmetto shaped fans its more spearlike. Im pretty sure sabal domingensis is a palmetto shaped leaf and heres a pic of the 'hastula' on it.

So Im going to guess the longer the hastula is, the more coastapalmate (that palmetto shaped leaf) the frond is. I guess its a pretty good way to determine if a sabal minor is a minor or a palmetto at a young age. You learn a new thing every day!

My new and first crape myrtle which is a crape myrtle zuni. They are starting to become pretty common in the area (maybe almost as common as southern magnolias). They are all in bloom now, but mine looks like it has about a week before the first blooms open.

Heres my parlor palm and stromanthe in the shade doing well. They made it through 4 days of 100 degree weather in the shade with no leaf burn. I was very impressed. I have a peace lily in even more shade further to the back and it also had no leaf burn from the recent heat.

Heres my tree fern which is growing at a pretty good speed.

wsg89, Gardening can be very frustrating at times, and relaxing at others, but in the end its a great hobby. I think we have all lost a few plants. This year (from spring to now) I lost a bismarkia (I guess it didnt like the indoor atmosphere), musella (it just didnt like being shipped), one hibiscus, and definitely a few other plants also. Its disappointing to see plants die, but we learn from our mistakes and I definitely buy more than I lose!

Greg, Thats definitely one of the reasons to by at a nursury. And you know the quality of fruit will be good on a grafted plant since it will fruit just like its mother. You just have to know which plants you have to buy grafted and which can be easily grown from seed.

Laura, Thanks for the compliment. You have a beautiful yard also! I love those huge sabal palmettos and healthy pindo palms!

Thanks for looking!
Enjoy!
-Alex