And finally the Knockout Rose (ID'd by someone who knows roses more than me. Which doesn't take much.)

Apparently there is a limit on how many photos you can add per post and I reached it with the first one.

We spent more time in the shallows than we did in the surf. Something was spawning/schooling in the area and it had the sharks (only saw two) and dolphins (at least three pods) worked up. The water was pretty clear and mostly calm, so I didn't worry too much about any accidental encounters, but we stayed on the beach side of the surf zone just to be safe.

Silvia

The first looks like Tecomanthe (New Guinea trumpet vine)?? Is it dendrophila or hillii?? They certainly are spectacular!! gary

Michael, that is a very colorful planting bed. You must have a lot of happy bees.

Silvia, I have the same vine and it sure looks lovely now.

Gary, I knew it by another name, but when I searched New Guinea trumpet vine I saw that was it. Thanks for the id. :o)

Thank you Gary! I found another person that like it as much as I do.:) I know is the New Guinea trumpet vine but don't know the variety, I saw it for the first time in the Conservatory in the Longwood gardens, I thought my area was too cold for that but it is blooming this spring better than when I saw it. It is a shade plant, I found a little shade around the avocado but gets some sun in the afternoon.

Thank you Kathy, can you propagate the vine? have you tried it?

Silvia

The colors in your garden are very pretty. The rose looks especially vibrant- where did you find it?

Silvia my vine is in full sun on the arbor going to the veggie garden. So I guess it will grow well in either. :o)

BTW, no I haven't tried to propagate it.

It was a House-Warming gift from my father and his wife. It was purchased somewhere in South Carolina, but I have no clue where (so it's kind of amazing it thrives so much here). I also had no clue what type it was(is) and had to get someone on the Roses forum to ID it for me. They said it was a Double Knockout of some sort. It has a nice soft scent to it that the breeze catches from time to time. I'm not a roses person myself, but when I deadhead it and it springs back with a new burst of color, I understand why some people are.

so very pretty... love all the colors!!!

Michael

how do you handle the weeds?? I've tried that type of planting but find after a couple of years i have to rip it out and start over because of the weeds.. I grow mostly in pots with secondary plantings in the ground that way the main structure is there and I can alternate the secondary. Of course even the weeds won't live in my soil with out some care particularly water lol This also allows me to have a winter and summer garden i love Violas and Lobelia and I can have a rather good display until summer sets in then I go back to the tropicals . so far none have taken over the planting spaces but look pretty sad by winter time I've really complicated the scheme my insisting that all flowers be blue purple or white

Silvia the first NGTV I saw was at the Butterfly house in Coconut Creek growing up a palm was spectacular. They identified it as Tecomanthe venustra but find it's a synonym for dendrophylla The pics they show on the Austarila forum always identify it as Hillii . I got interested in Jade vines at the time and had to kill a couple of those but now am ready for the Tecomanthe lol There is a white variety BUT have been unable to find a source .Apparently it's a closely related subspecies . Does yours change flower color as they age?? With or without a yellow throat?? Thanks gary

The number 1 thing against weeds in my beds is newspaper and mulch. Still, there are some weeds that come up and I hand pull them when they're young, before they have had a chance to really establish. While I walk past the bed every morning on the way to my Jimmy, I really look it over about once a week and rip out any of the goose grass or other creeping weeds from the edges. The bed is still waking up right now, once everything is to their proper size, it will be harder to see the weeds and they will have more of a chance to escape me. Then I have to wait until the first frost of next year to look through the bed see if anything, usually oxalis, has managed to eek out a living in the shade.

Edit: There's another type of running grass that has been a pain to get rid of in this bed. It spreads by long, tough underground stems that invariably snap when trying to pull them up. Every time I think I have it completely pulled up, I find more of it growing. And it's not a turf-type grass, just something weedy that tends to come up in the toughest places to access and pull, like along the sides of and under the driveway.

I mulch and lay down old sheets, towels, and rugs along the paths, it really does not look so nice but it saves dump space and it's natural

Cardboard works too, under the mulch to control weeds. I use it especially in areas like around my potting bench or path ways that doesn't have plants, just the mulch.

For me, the best way to get rid of some weeds is to put ground covers, eventually they grow and choke the weeds, and I do what Michael does walk around the garden every day and pull anything that I don't want. In the second picture I have a guava, justicia, ground orchids and as a ground cover a chenille plant that I got it from Dawn (morningloree).

Gary, you know so much about plants! I bet my vine would look good growing up on a palm. I went to see the colors this morning and it is still pink, they only change to a lighter pink when the flowers fully opened and are ready to fall, I look inside and I think I saw white. If I find the white variety before you do, I will let you know. It seems to me that they are difficult to propagate, otherwise a lot of more people would have them...

Silvia

I use cardboard as well when I don't expect to do any digging anytime soon, since it takes longer to break down. But in the bed above, I believe I only used newspaper, three sheets thick, and it worked well enough except for the most persistant running roots. Most of my beds need a new layer of mulch, I am just waiting for the tree trimmers to come my way for the free mulch.

Hi

here is a pic of last years scheme The white flower is a Caldwell lily while to the rightt are Blue eyed african daisy The red is blood lily The dark leaves are "Black magic " alocasia In the gackground is princess flower (purple). Looks entirely different this year I paved the area to the right between with stone and my trees and palms have matured so the entire area is in deep shade Pay no attention to the unfinished lily pool it's still unfinished but the milk jug is gone lol This year I'm experimenting with gesneriads but moved the gloxinias to the other side where I'm starting a tree fern area. Will try to get a pic of the area in June but it already looks nothing like this pic .

I've been concentrating on epiphytes since the trees have matured enough to support them . Entire canopy was destroed by Frnces and Wilma so I used the opportunity to replace it but made a couple or errors . The Schizolobium is too big has some weird habits and STILL has not produced any flowers !! On a positive note the broms and ferns love it and I've a good start on my "groomed " mosss garden lol besides that a Woodpecker has decided it's a good place to raise a family lol can't wait for a hurricane to prune it ?? lol gary

Gary, it looks great!!! Nice blend of colors and foliage. :o)

That is a beautiful setting Gary! I like the red blood lily. I do the same like you always planning new things.:) looking forward to your future settings....

This morning gesneriads, I have different varieties in a pot.

hi

here is a pic looking the opposite direction at around the same time . The area with the red coleus is now dominated by the Crocodial fern had no idea they got so big!! barely visible as the light green above the red coleus It is pushing 5 feet and still growing even though in a pot

The blood lily is nice but lasts a short time and is winter dormant another are gingers love them but are asleep for long periods i located some of the "metallic" coleus a gorgeous copper color ,new leaves are edged in soft lavender . Still looking for the blacks, silvers ,whites . i love the coleus as they come in endless colors , love the heat and are very easy to propagate.

Silvia Is that a Hosta in the forground?? I've tried those but no luck during summer I recently got a marked down Heuchera a purplish,gray color. so far it's holding up. even growing. Wife has a habit of bringing home "Holiday" plants Poinsettia ,Easter lily and her latest Primrose noted on cuklture that they prefer temps in the 60's lol Think a week per year will be enough ?? lol gary

Gary, the Easter lilies grow in the ground for me. They die back after blooming but come back every year and multiply. They are ready to blooming now and I'll have lot's of white color all around the garden.

Gary, I first saw the blood lily in a spot where they don't change the look in Epcot, I usually sit there because is shady, they have the orchids and the gingers with a nice tree canopy. Last week that I went for the Flower show there were not there, now I know why, they were dormant.
I like the colors on the coleus, so many different shades and they are easy care. I like to buy the plugs from the nursery, what a mistake for me to grow them from seed because they are so tiny like powder, I gave up trying to separate them and put them all in a bunch in a pot.
Yes, the picture is of a hosta, they have now in the market a sun hosta, mine is about 2 years old and I put it in a pot in the porch, gets some pretty flowers.
I saw an article about gesneriads in this months Florida gardening magazine, one of the varieties mentioned was the lipstick plant, I got it this year at the Leu and I am trying to find a happy spot for that, for now is indoors.

Silvia

Katkin

For me the easter lily grows well but does not flower have several plants that do that Daylily, florist amaryllis. ground orchids severasl types of Iris had a similar problem with Agapanthus but gave it a very dry rest and iis growing well but no flowers so far..

Some what of the problem with Caldewell lily it often resprouts during warm spells or it fails to go dormant if that happens it will not flower at all lol

Silvia have found several Gessies that do very well during summer and react to cold spells by going dormant. not really a test as the last two years the low has been 37 and only for a couple of hours

Most surprising have been florist Gloxinias they will go dormant at around 45 BUT resprout almost immediately . The big problem has been squirrels they snip them off!! Streptocarpella sailed through winter but is not flowering as yet Chrisothemis does very well it is budding up at the moment but completely disappears during winter..Only about 500 more species to try lol

Ah Coleus !!lol Who needs flowers when they have such spectaular leaves?? lol Evergreen the smallest clip will root so have never tried seeds.

There are over 800 named cultivars but you seldom see more than a dozen. Guess I'll have to revert to mailorder. Odd that they almost become trees for me while the relatives Plectranthus tend to waste away

My goal has always been evergreen and everblooming but I'm a LONG way from that lol gary

Gary, my Easter lilies don't flower at Easter but several weeks later, the buds are forming now. Do you fertilize them? Mine get fertilizer with the rest of the plants. I love coleus too because of their colorful leaves along with crotons, which are easy to root as well. And I see seedlings of them under the mother plant all the time. My blue agapanthus is opening the buds now. I have a white one too, some where.

I have been growing Coleus from seed for three years now. I start them in Dec in flats and keep the foliage as close to the grow lights as I can without burning them until they form their second or third set of true leaves and then I move them to my lanai. The juggle act I have with them is keeping them adequately watered without over watering. I seems too easy to go from wilted to rotted. Once I pot them up from flats to 4" pots, it is easier to keep up with them. I tend to get my Coleus seeds from Swallowtail Garden Seeds. Many of the seeds they offer have been 'pelletized' making them far easier to handle. But even the non-pelleted ones are fairly easy to sow, I just use the small waxed envelope they come in. I crease the flap side and then gently tap the edge of the envelope. This tends to cause the seeds to come to the edge in an orderly single-file manner. Sometimes I will get 2 or 3 seeds in a cell, but they usually handle being separated during potting up fairly well. It is rare that I lose one from seperating them. But I have lost entire flats from lack of or over watering!

Wow Gary! so much to learn...and your goal sounds great, evergreen and ever blooming.:) I found a picture of my lipstick plant from the Longwood gardens, I wonder if I can re create the look some day...

I went to look at my lipstick plant and it does look a little different.:)

Silvia

Silvia

Difficult to tell but the pink in the longwood pic looks like Fuchsia to me??

What the heck are they growing them in and how is it suspended??

Do you know the name of the Coleus cultivar . Trying to dig up some pix of my "Metallic" cultivar which is a very lustrous copper color if grown in deep shade has a lime green edge but new leaves have soft lavender

Those public gardens are such evil places ?? They show you all kinds of plants that you didn't even know existed and then can't live without lol

Fairchild has led me astray many times lol gary

Gary, you are absolutely right! it is a fuchsia. Just like you I had an aunt who had the most gorgeous garden, so many flowers and she showed me as a child how she grew them, of course there and with her rich soil, she called them ballerinas. The lipstick that I have the flowers are down instead of up and they are red. But I also like the methods of hanging them, how they do that? lol

I saw so many different varieties of coleus there but I only took this pic, it said Kong Jr Rose.

Love the Fairchild gardens, usually go for the mango festival in July.

This weekend is the spring garden fever in my area, a lot of plant vendors, hope to find something.

Silvia