Last month I mentioned that the tree down the street had bloom and I didn’t get the chance to take photos. I first photographed it 2 years ago and asked for help identifying the tree. The owner did not know what kind of tree it is. In February it has pink blossoms for a short while. Some people suggested a fruit tree or almond tree, but the tree makes no fruit or nut. Most people suggested a Redbud tree. I looked it up and found this description:
Read MoreTag: Florida garden
Beverly’s January of Orchids & Sky
Today’s photos were taken by my friend, Beverly, who lives in tropical Plantation, Florida in South Florida. She’s shared her beautiful orchids before. I love orchids, but I can’t grow them!
I’ve shared Beverly’s orchids several times before. She has plants hanging around the outside of her home in Broward County which is a tropical growing zone. (Ft. Lauderdale, FL is in Broward.) This last month has been a wonderful time for orchid blooms. The light purple with a dark center started blooming at the end of December and has continued right up to this week.
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My Favorite Flower Photos for 2022
Last week we looked at the top posts of 2022 in terms of visitors. It was a chance for me to know what are your favorite posts. 2 days later I shared My Favorite Nature Photos for 2022. In the past I shared a mix of nature and flowers posts in one post, but there were too many photos this year. Today’s review includes both flowers in the garden and bouquets in the house from the last year.
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Christmas Decorations Down The Street
I went down the street yesterday, Wednesday, 12/14/22. It was a beautiful central Florida winter day. The lows have been in the 50’s F most days for the last month with highs usually in the 70’s F. Occasionally the high may go to low 80s like Wednesday. A breeze feels good and the high thin clouds are beautiful.
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Tropical Parking Lot Landscape
The other day I drove to my favorite Publix Supermarket here in central Florida. I noticed how nice the parking lot looked with great tropical foliage. Public landscaped areas are a great way to find easy to grow plants for your area. Owners of strip malls want to provide a pleasant environment for the customers, but they don’t want to spend big money on maintaining plants. Each row of parking spaces has a nice flower bed at the end with variegated leaf bushes, colorful crotons, and a plant with small blue flowers. The two types of bushes are tropical and easy to grow in our climate. Add a tree and a large light post and it’s perfect for the public location. (Government buildings and community buildings are also good places to note landscape plants. In more northern environments there is often a few evergreen bushes that provide a frame year round.)
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Early October Garden
A hibiscus flower usually has five petals (a single hibiscus). Thanks to modern cultivation techniques, some varieties can produce flowers with more than five petals – called “double hibiscus” – in a dazzling array of colors, sizes, and shapes
This last week hasn’t been one with drives or walks to enjoy nature. These photos are from the archives of my garden in a past October. In the present, there is still debris in the yard and several plants are looking tired from all the flapping in the wind from Hurricane Ian. Within a few weeks, it will be back to normal and I’ll share newer photos. Let’s take a look at the tropical double red hibiscus with its multi-layered ruffles.
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Colorful Crotons in The Fall
Croton is a tropical plant known for its variegated foliage covered in green, scarlet, orange, and yellow splotches. Crotons are native to the tropical forests of southeast Asia and Oceania. In the wild, they grow as large shrubs, reaching up to 10 feet tall. It is not hardy and frost will kill it. It was introduced in Europe and the USA as a colorful houseplant loved for its bright, colorful foliage. It can be grown outside in tropical climates like Florida.
Years ago I moved from Tennessee to greater Miami. It was like a dream with the ocean and warm climate. One of the first things I discovered were neighborhoods filled with crotons. I didn’t know what they were, but I loved them.
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Periwinkle in the Fall
Vinca is a genus of flowering plants in the family Apocynaceae, native to Europe, northwest Africa and southwest Asia. The English name periwinkle is shared with the related genus Catharanthus.
September in central Florida is still bright, sunny, and hot. The high temperatures are a little lower than August, but it still gets in the 90’s. We continue to have almost daily showers in the evening as fronts filled with moisture come ashore from the Gulf of Mexico.
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