Pale Tropical Hibiscus

Pale Tropical Hibiscus
Hibiscus rosa-sinensis cv.
(hi-BIS-kus) (RO-sa-sy-NEN-sis)
Wordless Wednesday

Showy Medinilla

Showy Medinilla

Medinilla magnifica

(med-in-NIL-uh) (mag-NIH-fee-kuh)

This is a tender tropical plant native to the Philippines. It has slowly become available here in the Northeastern United States. It is usually in flower when offered. It can be used as a big container plant or a greenhouse plant. It doesn’t do great as a houseplant since it craves high humidity. The foliage is a great dark green with veins. It can be a little coarse looking but definitely adds a tropical flair.

Wordless Wednesday - Bougainvillea

Bougainvillea

(boo-gan-VIL-lee-uh)

Lobster Claw Flowers

Lobster Claw

Heliconia sp.

(hel-ih-KOH-nee-uh)

Wordless Wednesday

Money Tree Flower

Money Tree

Pachira aquatica

(pak-EYE-ruh) (a-KWA-tee-kuh)

Synonyms: Malabar Chestnut, French Peanut, Bombax glabrum

Dreaming about Florida so here is the beautiful flower of Pachira aquatica. This is the tree that is often subject to braiding and being sold in a 4-inch pot. It actually turns into a fine looking big tree. Now I have never seen a captured specimen flower but am going to try and get mine to bloom in the greenhouse.

This shot of the Parrots is just for fun. I wasn’t sure if the blue and gold was going to peck my eyes out or give me a kiss. 

 

Blue-and-Yellow Macaw

Ara ararauna

Star Of Siam Waterlily

Waterlily

Nymphaea 'Star Of Siam'

(NIM-fee-uh)

I thought I would share this really nice blue waterlily flower picture. It is a tropical day-blooming type. The flower does resemble a sapphire star but also has the additional beauty of chocolate splashed leaves. The mottled foliage spreads out to a medium sized plant.

Christmas preparations are getting in full swing here now. Despite our agreement that we wouldn’t do too much this year it seems like the same amount s previous years.

Since it is Sunday here is a bonus snapshot of a waterlily and Koi fish. He just seemed to swim in and out of the frame as I was lining the shot up.

Waterlily

Nymphaea cv.

(NIM-fee-uh)

Garden Croton

Garden Croton

Codiaeum variegatum var. pictum ‘Norma’

(koh-dih-EE-um) (var-ee-GAY-tum)

This blog is always teaching me new things. Today’s flower is surely not the prettiest or most glamorous. You could probably even call them insignificant but I photographed it because even after growing various Crotons at work and home for many years I had never seen the flowers before. Codiaeum for me provides year round interest in its crinkly, leather like colorful leaves. It all hit home when I visited a garden in Fort Lauderdale and they had an enormous collection of many different cultivars planted in a woodland setting. It left an impression on that clear, bright winter afternoon.

These types of Crotons should not be confused with the genus Croton, which is a large group of species (700) in the spurge family (Euphorbiaceae). Codiaeum is native to Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Malaysia, Southern India and some western Pacific Ocean Islands. It grows in open forests and scrublands. It can grow into a tall shrub/small tree in the wild. My experience growing them in containers has been good. Keeping them moist seems to be the key to having a nice plant. They can be slow growing in containers but are valued for the color and texture they can bring to the greenhouse in the winter.

October is here. Here is a quote that sums up a little bit of what has to be done this time of year.

"Fall is not the end of the gardening year; it is the start of next year's growing season. 

The mulch you lay down will protect your perennial plants during the winter and feed the soil as it decays,

while the cleaned up flower bed will give you a huge head start on either planting seeds or setting out small plants."
Thalassa Cruso

I would just like to say goodbye to my friend David who was removed from life support this weekend. Mercifully it was just a short time until he was finally at rest after the machines were stopped. I know he wouldn’t have wanted to live like that.

“All that live must die, passing through nature to eternity.”

William Shakespeare

Tropical Hydrangea

Tropical Hydrangea

Dombeya wallichii

(DOM-bee-yuh) (wall-IK-ee-eye)

Synonyms: Pink-Ball Tree, Astrapaea wallichii

A rare native of Madagascar and East Africa.

Orchid Tree

 

Orchid Tree

Bauhinia purpurea

(baw-HIN-ee-uh) (pur-PUR-ee-uh)

Synonyms: Butterfly Tree, Mountain Ebony, Geranium Tree

This tree seems to be a little controversial with its habits but I think everyone can agree that it is beautiful when flowering. This specimen is an especially dark colored variety and was growing in a pot. It was nice that it was only 8 feet tall as this tree can get up to 20 feet tall in nature. To me the specimens I have personally seen growing in Hawaii, California and Florida have been good looking trees that reminded me faintly of our own beloved native, Flowering Dogwood.

Orchid Tree is native to South China and Southeast Asia. There are several traditional medicinal uses for Bauhinia purpurea including as an anti-inflammatory medication.

Since this is a tropical type of post here is a Southern California sunset picture that has been hanging around.

Cavendishia allenii

Cavendishia allenii

This photo is from a spring visit to the NYBG in the Bronx. It has always been a dream of mine to take a good photograph inside the ‘forest’ part of the Conservatory and finally I did it. There are numerous challenges to taking pictures inside that part of the building including having your camera fogged up from coming into the moist humid air from being cold outside and of course the lack of light. When looking up information on this plant there is not very much. Mostly just listings of its name. One site was calling it a tropical blueberry but there was nothing blue about it. I did find out it is an epiphyte, which means it grows non-parasitically on a host plant and without soil. Cavendishia allenii is also a native Central America (Panama) like the rest of the 100 species in the genus (a few are native to South America).

Since it is Sunday here is the Digital Flower Pictures.com Sunday bonus shot. It is a garden gate that we saw down in Key West, Florida. You can see the photo is slightly tilted, which is the best way to leave a bar in Key West. What happens to me down there typically is we go in order 2 drinks and Karen decides that it is too strong for her and I end up downing both drinks. I really loved the ironwork on his gate and the careful painting of each rose made it outstanding.

Well I can tell a new month has started, as I had to make all new folders for September. That is how I file all the photos and words from this site. That seems the most manageable way to handle things.

"The morrow was a bright September morn;

The earth was beautiful as if newborn;

There was nameless splendor everywhere,

That wild exhilaration in the air,

Which makes the passers in the city street

Congratulate each other as they meet."

-   Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Lobster Claw

Lobster Claw

Heliconia sp.

(hel-ih-KOH-nee-uh)

Wordless Wednesday

Coelogyne Orchid

Coelogyne
Coelogyne flaccida
(koh-el-LAW-jin-ee) (FLA-sih-duh)

Very rushed morning here today. Over nothing really but we are trying to get out the local fair. This picture is from one of the two flash cards that are now found. This one has been missing since spring and was presumed lost a long time ago. Among the photos are the 2012 New York Orchid Show so there will be some Orchid pictures coming up this week.

Today's Orchid didn't have much information about it on the Internet but it was remarkable in the long, pendulous spikes that were just loaded with flowers. I don't remember it but these flowers are fragrant. What I do remember thinking was the petals kind of looked fleshy and alive. Coelogyne flaccida is native to mountain forests in northern India through south China. It enjoys cool to cold growing conditions.

Since it is Sunday here is another tropical flower. This flower seems more truncated then the outdoor growing types. This particular vine is a year round resident in the NYBG Conservatory.

Red Jade Vine
Mucuna bennetti
(myoo-KOO-nuh)

Golden Lotus Banana

Golden Lotus Banana

Musella lasiocarpa

(mew-SEL-uh) (las-ee-oh-KAR-puh)

Wordless Wednesday

Lobster Claws

Lobster Claws

Heliconia x pabstii

(hel-ih-KOH-nee-uh)

These are such cool flowers. The bright orange/red parts are bracts (modified leaves) and the actual flowers come out of the white bits. There really wasn’t a lot of information about this species of Heliconia available. I would love to be able to grow some of these. It is such a broad genus that really brings some spectacular flowers to the world. Since I read that they do pretty well in containers it would be nice to score one for the estate.

Sunday again so bonus snapshot. This is picture of an Acacia tree in bloom.

Sweet Acacia

Acacia minuta

(a-KAY-see-uh) (min-YOO-tuh)

Synonyms: Mimosa Bush, Sweet Wattle, Huisache, Acacia farnesiana

One thing I learned about this tree is that it is native to parts of the Southern United States. Watch out for those thorns!

Thailand Orchid

Vandachostylis ‘Thailand’

Vandachostylis

 This Orchid picture was processed a long time ago but never posted. My hard drive needed some cleaning today and it popped up again. After looking for some information I realized why it hadn’t been posted. Information on this particular Orchid is hard to find. So we will just enjoy at as a festive, kind of jaunty spike of flowers.

Since it is Sunday here is the bonus shot. A group of Coconuts that were ripening on the vine. Shot in Coral Gables, Florida on a brilliant winter afternoon. 105mm/2.8 Nikon micro lens.

Red Ginger

Red Ginger

Alpinia purpurata

(al-PIN-ee-uh) (pur-pur-AH-tuh)

Synonyms: Opuhi Uteute, Gengibre Rojo, Tahitian Ginger, Ostrich Plume

While wistfully rummaging around in my archive of Hawaii photos this picture from the Hawaii TropicalBotanical Garden on the Big Island. The garden was one of my favorite botanical places I have visited on earth, so far. The Island of Hawaiʻi was amazing to in general. It is the largest island in the United States and almost the size of Connecticut and Rhode Island combined. Eight days was not nearly enough time to fully investigate its beauty but what we did see was impressive. We especially enjoyed the city of Hilo. It is quite funky in places (in a good way) and gave bit of a feeling of a tropical Greenwich Village without the vague hint of sophistication that neighborhood in Manhattan seems to retain amongst even the worst chaos.

This flower is identified correctly I think and was quite beautiful. Blooming under a shady and humid canopy of Palms and other large trees it did stand out. I don’t know much about Gingers but they seem to come in a variety of shapes and sizes. I am also sure I would find them of use if gardening in a tropical area. They have struggled in the greenhouse.

Since it is Sunday again here is a bonus snapshot also from the Hawaii “roll”. The HTBG had an amazing display of Orchids growing outside and most were in full bloom.

Phalaenopsis Orchid

Phalaenopsis

(fay-lay-NOP-sis)

Mandevilla Vine

Mandevilla Vine

Mandevilla x amabilis 'Moonlight Parfait'

(man-de-VILL-uh)

Synonyms: ‘Monite’, Mandevilla x amoena

For the first time in many years we are not growing any Mandevilla. The spring stock just didn’t look good and I am slightly happy to be free of the maintenance that this vine takes. From my experience this pink one is not as easy to grow as the red flowering one with glossy leaves, which is actually a different species of plant. You can see the fungus already setting in on this one and it hadn’t even left the nursery yet. To be fair to Mandevilla I have never grown one in the ground just in containers.

Aloe

Aloe

Aloe sp.

(AL-oh)

There are over 400 species of Aloe ranging from miniatures to 40 foot tall trees. They are popular for both landscaping and pot cultivation. All species are native to Africa but have spread around the world now. These are actually Aloe buds and they open up and little yellow flowers protrude from the ends. I was wondering why I have so many Aloe photos and then realized that they bloom in the winter, which is the only time I get to go to their tropical habitat.

We are in the process of installing a big vegetable garden for someone right now. There are lot of angles in the beds so they miters are tricky but I am happy to be doing it. The owner has wanted one for many years and this is the year it finally gets built. Too bad about the heat wave we are having but we are muddling through. Building something is always fun and exciting and this project is no different.

Purple Paraguay Nightshade

Royal Robe Paraguay Nightshade

Solanum rantonnetii 'Royal Robe'

(so-LAY-num) (ran-ton-NET-tee)

Synonym: Lycianthes rantonnetii 'Royal Robe'

Purple flower lovers will go crazy over this shrub. It has some of the richest purple coloring I have seen. It’s funny because I always thought this plant was classified as a vine but it is considered a tropical shrub. We have grown the white flowered version of this and while it looked a little ummmm unkempt during the season and grew like wildfire it was nice to have. There is also a variegated version with white flowers.

Tomorrow is the gig and I am a little on edge about it. Everything will be fine but that doesn’t stop my worrying about it. I am bringing three guitars including this one. “Gomez” is a personal favorite and a heck of a guitar. 

For Christmas 2001 Karen kept asking me what I wanted for Christmas. I was in a good place and didn’t really want anything but she kept asking. Finally I barked, kind of kidding, “ I want a Fender Telecaster, a sunburst one (my favorite finish)” and forgot about it. Well she went down and saw my friend at the local Sam Ash (huge music store) and had him pick this one out for me. There it was under the tree on Christmas morning and I didn’t have a clue. Ever since then we havng been having a love affair. All of the electronics have been upgraded to high output so it really screams now. It also plays nicely on softer stuff. A classic in the making.

2001 Fender American Standard Telecaster

Sunburst finish

Seymour Duncan Pickups

Hot rails mini humbucker in the neck position and Quarter Pounder single coil in the bridge slot

Upgraded wiring, jack and control plate

More info on the Telecaster(truly a design for the ages!)

Lutea Tropical Hibiscus

Tropical Hibiscus

Hibiscus rosa-sinensis 'Lutea'

(hi-BIS-kus) (RO-sa-sy-NEN-sis)

There seems to be a little discrepancy with the naming of this plant. It’s funny that I am so used to be able to zero in on a plant’s identity from its binomial name that it confuses me when a plant doesn’t fit in. This picture was taken in the parking lot of a local nursery. Fresh off the truck from California and still blooming! The flower colors were really outstanding and very eye catching.

I tend to feel guilty about taking a day off from this blog but it sometimes necessary. It is part of life now and I always try and make time for it. Today I hope to go out and take some new flower pictures. I call it “feeding the blog”. The light around here hasn’t been great but hopefully today will be a little better. Bonus flower snapshot for Sunday. This picture could have been awesome if I took a little more time with the set up. Even after some Photoshop work it is still under exposed.