Showing posts with label navel orange. Show all posts
Showing posts with label navel orange. Show all posts

Saturday, April 24, 2010

My Favorites...THIS Month! April 2010

YAY!  I remembered!  Actually I marked my calendar - 


"My Favorites - This Month"

happens every month on the 25th.  I love this theme since faves DO tend to change with the season!  April has been a joy this year as the hard hit plants from this winter's "Big Chill" are really starting to show promise, and spring is in full gear!  This month, I'd like to take you on a tour of some of my garden spaces as I point out my favorites this month.

This is the front entry garden.  The burgandy Ti Plants are still showing the stress of the Big Chill, but lots of new buds are showing up.  There's also some cannas and cacti hiding behind the Giant White Bird of Paradise.  The Gaillardia (Indain Blanket flower) in the front has bloomed all winter...it's been a bright spot!  The agave is still a mystery.


I need help from Noelle of AZPlantlady...I have no idea what is going on with my agave as posted in my What's Next Madonna? post.



The Echinacea bloom right next to the Gaillardia and a Ti in the front entry space.


This is the North, shady side of the house where the pool and house systems are located.  This garden was started last summer to help camoflage the equipment.



This is the south, sunny side of the house.  Some of my favorites are located along this side.



Queen Emma Crinum Lily, milk and wine blooms. These are my absolute faves!!


One of my favorite groupings includes dwarf canna, pentas, mexican heather (it's hiding to the right of the pentas), purple fountain grass and the El Capitolio hibiscus to the left.


The honeysuckle grows on both sides of the fence, creating a fantastic segue into the backyard space...



Next to the honeysuckle in the southeast corner is the gorgeous bouganvillea and navel orange tree.



Yes, those are baby oranges!  Woo Hoo!!


My newly planted bromelaid and plumeria cutting are at the bottom right of this photo.



I have plumeria / frangipani cuttings all over my yard.  This one hasn't even rooted yet, but it's blooming anyway. Freaky, but I like it!! 


The newly planted poolside garden is filling in well...a little too well for my liking. I'll probably relocate some of these as the garden matures...too much going on in one space.  This space is flanked by the recuperating Queen Emma Crinums.  Lots of cannas in here too!


However, my goal of ridding this narrow patch of grass is almost complete.



The bananas are recuperating quite nicely in the rear of my yard, behind the pool.  Soon, my cherished privacy screen will be in full foliage, recreating my tropical escape!!

This shot was taken in the early morning with the dew still on the leaves. I also planted some impatiens under the banans, thinking the shade will give them life during the hot Florida summer.  You can also see a newly saved-from-the-garbage bird of paradise along the fence row. Someone was throwing this guy away!  I couldn't have that, now could I?  The bird will provide privacy during the winter when the chill takes the bananas to the ground.


Other stuff going on in the backyard...

The aloe buds haven't opened yet, but aren't they pretty?!


This is one of the perils of owning dogs that seek out the rabbits and other misc. rodents that may be hiding under the ugly shed...  my ferns have been trampled.


Here's another newly planted bromelaid.



The Presidential Hibiscus was just lifting it's pretty face when I snapped this photo this morning.



And this spider lily crinum is in full bloom



The passion flower vine is quickly becoming one of my absolute favorites.



And the cannas on all sides of the house are in full bloom!





I hope you enjoyed today's tour.  There's additional, smaller spaces throughout my garden, but they're not photo worthy yet.  Soon, I hope!!

Happy Spring!!! 

PS - Lola apologizes for missing out on this tour, but she was still sleeping, and if you know Lola...let's just say that it's not nice to wake a sleeping baby!!! 

Thursday, March 18, 2010

At the Copacabana!

In celebration of my sweet LOLA returning home after being rehomed for 7 months, I am reposting one of my favorite posts featuring LOLA in 2010 and my previous Garden in Paradise.  Enjoy!

Her name was Lola...


She was a show girl!


Yes, thanks to Barry Manilow, we have the perfect intro for my sweet umbrella cockatoo and constant gardening companion, Lola. (Don't you see the resemblance?)

(courtesy of TMZ)
Not into Barry?  How 'bout some Kinks?!?!  They sing about Lola, too!



Ok, well, the point to all of this is 1) I love my bird! and 2) She loves to garden with me.  Any kind of gardening, actually.

For instance, Lola loves to mow!




She enjoys our daily garden inspections.  She makes my job a bit more challenging since I keep a keen eye on what's going on in my garden, but also must be on guard for hawks that may enjoy her for dinner or for the numerous plants that would send her to her grave in the blink of an eye. Of course, as you all know, we no longer fear the dreaded Oleander!  Alas, I digress.

Back to daily garden inspections...

Here's Lola inspecting the citrus crop of the Ponderosa Lemon last year (one of my favorite shots of her - adourns my sidebar).


Today, she wanted to show me all the blooms on the navel orange tree.


She also wanted to demonstrate how the orange is edible, even for birds.



Lola was sad to point out that the bananas will take quite some time to bounce back after the long cold winter.  She misses hiding in the extra large foliage.



But she's happier to show me the plumeria beginning to sprout,


and the fresh buds of the newly saved (from the garbage pile) crinum lily.


Of course, my son felt that he wasn't getting any air time so here he is sporting his "Fun Guy" (fungi) T-shirt!



I really must give credit to Tros "In the Shade of a Nut Tree..." for giving me the inspiration to blog about Lola after reading about garden companion, Charlie.  Check out Tros' blog and post about Charlie titled, "A garden would not be complete..."  (http://goodiefoodie1.blogspot.com/2010/03/playing-catch-up.html )

I'm also participating in Katarina's Blooming Friday.  Please be sure to check out all that's blooming there (http://rosorochris.blogspot.com/ )

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Tuity Fruity

The first fig of the season is on the tree. How exciting! My tree is still small as it’s only 2 years old but it’s a steady producer at its young age, and it’s the first of my fruit crop this year.




The blueberries are next in line. This will be my first harvest, so I’m very excited!



Hopefully this will be “the year” for my navel oranges. It produced a handful of oranges last year for the first time but they weren’t very good. This is its 3rd year in the ground.




The tree is COVERED with buds right now!



And baby oranges!



The mango is also blooming, showing hopeful signs of a first harvest. It produces a few mangoes last year but they fell off the tree prematurely.



The coconuts will be a while before we can count on fruit from them.



The Meyer Lemon is in full bloom and producing sweet baby lemons. This tree has been a reliable and heavy producer of very sweet, juicy fruit!



The Ponderosa lemon is also bearing fruit and blooms at the moment. The Ponderosa is very large, juicy, a bit seedy and ever bearing. It’s actually a cross between a true lemon and a citron. One lemon can produce enough juice to make 2-3 pies!



I did have Muscadine grape vines, but I ripped them out last weekend in favor of a Lady Margaret passion vine. Although some vines produce yummy fruit, I don’t think Miss Maggie does.



Finally, it’ll be quite a while before I enjoy some wonderfully sweet bananas and beautiful tropical foliage again. The cold brought the adult stalks to the ground, including 2 banana bunches.



The good news is that babies are poking their heads out of the ground!



And hopefully they’ll show off their tropical flare by July. This is what they looked like after recovering from last year’s freeze.



This year, I plan on adding some papaya to the mix.



I’m running out of space, but I’m sure I can find a place for more fruit somewhere!

Thursday, January 28, 2010

Making a Comeback!

It's a topic that won't go away...the cold snap that swept across Florida with little regard for the tender tropicals that are unaccustomed to such low temperatures for more than a couple of days at a time.  We don't want to think about the cold air, the frozen moisture covering our precious plants, or the dull shades of brown left behind in our typically colorful landscapes.  We've painstakingly cut back the obvious carnage and kept a hopeful, watchful eye for any sign of new growth. 

I was rewarded today as I strolled through my garden looking for new signs of life!  One of my bottle palms has opened a new green leaf!



















This dwarf canna is sending up new shoots.


The mango tree not only came through the freeze unscathed, it is preparing to bloom!


And my beloved bananas are showing positive signs of recovery!!


In addition to the Orange Jasmine, Star Jasmine, Meyer Lemon, Ponderosa Lemon and Carolina Jasmine displaying full blooms, the navel oranges are almost ripe!


The Brown Turkey Fig is sending out new growth...


Both of the Coconut Palms are sending out new healthy leaves.


I scored with this new addition that I obtained today while out for a walk...it had been left out with the trash!  Lucky Day!!

This frost bitten crinum has two new pups along with a lovely flower bud!


And this other crinum is in full bloom!


I'm still holding out hope for this sad bottle palm...it's still sporting a little bit of green.


And this firebush made my day when I found the new growth!!  I thought it was lost for sure!!!  My friend, Florida Girl (Valley in Paradise) reassured me that it would probably be ok...and she was right!!!  Woo Hoo!!!


To top things off, I recieved my first Territorial Seed Company catalog in the mail today.  They have these fantastic fuschia "Gum Drop" and brilliant "Coral Reef" echinacea plants that I feel must become part of my landscape!  Amazing, aren't they?





Finally, take a moment to check your calendar...February 6th is the Growing Green Festival in Stuart, FL from 12 noon-5pm!  Central Florida Gardener writes, "This free indoor-outdoor event features presentations, activities, resources, living plants, great food, horse manure, live music and even an award-winning Sundance Film Festival movie about dirt (http://www.dirtthemovie.org/).


You can find all the details on Central Florida Gardener's blog: http://centralfloridagardener.blogspot.com/2010/01/growing-green-festival-buffy-at-green.html .

You can also click here for a festival flyer!
www.greenpathsflorida.org/GrowingGreenFestival6February.pdf
I'll definitely attend! Let me know if you're going!!