Gary, that lobelia is really pretty! I love the color.

Silvia

Beautiful color. I was up in Orlando last week and saw lots of these in the neighborhood where I was staying. Great accent plant.

My sister was able to summer over a small pot. It was right near her door so that she saw it often and kept damp, but not sodden. And it was in bright morning light only. Good luck! (I am still trying this, too. I begin to lust for Crystal Palace about every August... It is a MUST HAVE in my garden.)

I like blue flowers. There aren't a ton of plants that have that pretty color. I grow black and blue salvia so I can have blue flowers throughout the summer. They spread around a little but die back in the winter here so not too invasive. I've seen hummingbirds and butterflies dining on the blooms.

I like blue flowers too. I have one blue salvia, and I'm looking for a black and blue for this year.

Gary, your pond and the Blue Goddess are beautiful!

Here is my pea vine from years past....

Silvia

Gary, your lobelia is incredible! You must be doing something right for it to keep coming back. Definitely something to baby. And your Blue Goddess! Wow! Your blues are amazing! Bert and I just divided the one surviving Blue Goddess in the pond, after the snappers did the other ones in. We got four divisions out of it, so the pond should be replenished this year. We are so happy and grateful to you for the start! Thanks again.

Silvia, that pea vine is just lovely!!!

Thank you Anna!

Hi

Well it's certainly different this year. Usually I plant winter annuals out in Nov

but didn't this year due to the incredibly warm fall.. Apparently they came up in late Jan but were warshed out . They popped up again but since I've never had them return thought they were weeds they are starting to flower again and are definitely Crystal Palace. Maybe it pays to be a lazy gardener ?lol

Another surprise this year were the holiday cactus while they did flower in Dec very weakly and few nos. With the cold spell in Jan they reflowered very impressive show this time..

??? for everybody Has anyone ever planted Christmas,Thanksgiving, and Easter cactus in the same pot?? In theory it would be almost ever flowering??

May try that this year though I'll have to track down some Easter type as I lost it a couple of years ago.

whgille The pea vine can certainly be spectacular . My remaining one is being over run by several other vines . Want to move it out but have no place to put it . That is a great way to display it!!! Now if I can just borrow some land?? lol gary

I have the single pea vine. They are pretty and prolific with their flowering. I really like yours, Silvia. Is it the single or the double?

Gary I love the coloring on your Blue Goddess. I would get that one if I thought it would work out in the water tubs that I grow lilies in. I currently have the King of Siam and have grown the Panama Pacific in the past. King of Siam is dark blue/purple and the Panama is lighter blue. I am thinking of getting Tina or another Panama Pacific. I liked the Panama because it made the little vivipaps and formed new little lilies that grew roots on the pads.

Panama Pacific...grown in a small water tub

Here is one of my Japanese feathered morning glory hybrids. Its is fairly blue.

I used to grow this blue hibiscus/Alyogyne huegelii . I left it with my mom in AZ. I still have some seeds from it that I need to plant. Kinda miss it! It was light blue...this pic makes it look more purple. The leaves reminded me of geraniums lol.

Sultry

The main problem with Goddess is growth. It grows so rapidly during summer it will fill every square inch of the 5x10 pool. Then the pads start to stack up so requires a lot of pruning. Now if I had a large pool like Anna would be great

except you wouldn't be able to close enough to appreciate the aroma.. Of course if I had Annas pool I'd be growing Victoria lilies . Even bigger problem

Two years ago I finally found a"False agave" Cochliostema jacobiana finally flowered in Dec. Very impressive flowers though the cold spell did them in but plant seems okay . Even more impressive than the flowers was the aroma,reminded me of lilac except MUCH stronger. Would love to post a pic but computer won't accept new files and my expert (wife) hasn't been able to fix it . The flowers opened deep purple with lavender sepals on bright pink stems in clusters a foot wide.

Have never been able to locate a blue hibiscus .Would think they would do well in florida??

Since the neighbors took out the hedge while putting in a fence I just might have a square foot out there ?? lol gary

Hi Sultry, your pictures are beautiful! you have for sure a nice collection of rare and pretty plants.

I only grown the single pea vine, maybe next I will grow the double.

Your blue hibiscus is gorgeous! and I also thought that the leaves look like geranium, I kind of forgotten the look, when landscaping our new house when we lived in Arizona, we bought a lot of different hibiscus including the blue, they were the first to go and we were left only with the red colored and pink varieties...

Gary, the blue hibiscus do well on the islands, probably if you give them shade and keep them in a pot to move them in case of cold temperatures might do well here. It is going to be on the list for future things to do for me,:)

Silvia

They sell the 'blue hibiscus' all over in Arizona for some reason. I've never seen it for sale here. It's weird.

I forgot I have this other tropical blue hibiscus. Its kinda grey blue. The plant behind it with the blue flowers is phillippine violet. I lost the phil. violet plant and have been looking for one to replace it. I had a few seeds but they didn't sprout :/ You would think it would be easy to find here. It makes a nice 'backdrop' plant.

Just found my King of Siam pic lol. Excuse the chicken wire around the water container. I was having trouble with one of our female muscovy ducks wanting to get into the container to take her baths last spring. The King of Siam is a great bloomer in containters. Has blooms most days. It made a few offsets and I planted one in another container last year. I hope they have some more offsets when I divide them again this spring.

Gorgeous plants!

Silvia

Sultry

king of siam is certainly bluer that BG and not nearly as aggressive lol I finally quit fighting and let BG take the entire pool. It even crowded out the Hyacinth!!!Last year got an asian lotus for the right corner pot where the black alocasia is in the pic. Came up then faltered during winter ,when I went to transplant in the spring there was no tuber . Have no idea what happened

My shallow pool that I built to hold bog plants has moved into deep shade due to the canopy so most of the plants are failing. Trying some ,spathiphyllum they not only accept the shade are flowering well had to move out the bog lilies and orchids sundews while they do grow they need sun to flower

Know of any water plants that like shade?? gary