I like to “window shop”. I enjoy walking through stores and seeing what’s new. Today we’re reviewing some plants for sale by a couple of home gardeners. I no longer have a yard and bought nothing. I just enjoyed seeing them. I hope you do too. These gardeners had listed plants on FaceBook Marketplace in central Florida.
Read MoreTag: tropical plants

September Yard In Central Florida
September is the height of hurricane season. It’s been hot, and we’ve had rain which means everything is growing. After years of getting up with an alarm clock, I wake up early most mornings. Sometimes I see a beautiful pink sky.
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End Of A Season Is Coming Early
The white frangipani (Plumeria alba) is a deciduous plumeria tree that is native to tropical areas. (Plumeria plants (Plumeria sp), which are also known as Lei flowers and Frangipani, are actually small trees that are native to tropical regions (zone 10 and 11) . It is one of the plants used for leis in Hawaii.
Nature has a clock that doesn’t always correspond to the calendar. When it comes to tropical plant plumeria, also called frangipani, they are deciduous and bloom from spring to fall. That usually means all the leaves and flowers end, and you’re left with just the stick-like tree. Here in central Florida my plant usually starts to bloom by early April. The leaves start to drop in September and the plant goes dormant by the end of October. It is September 5th and I only have a few flowers. I noticed in August that I had fewer flowers and several leaves dried up and fell. It seems fall started early for my frangipani.
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A Ride in Tropical Central Florida
Today I’d like to take you on a drive. I want to get out and enjoy a beautiful day. I like to see the landscaping around residential communities. Palm trees, bushes, and flowers are usually there. Most of today’s photos are from a condo neighborhood.
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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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Neighbor’s Garden 2021
In June 2018, I visited a garden in my neighborhood several blocks from my home. It had a pretty front yard with lots of flowers.

Rain Brings Flowers
Late fall through late spring is the dry season here in central Florida. Some years we still have a decent amount of rain, but most years it is not often enough. My yard has some tropical plants, like tropical hibiscus, that with rain will burst into blooms year round. One such hibiscus is my peach double hibiscus. Most hibiscus are single hibiscus with 5 leaves. 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. They grow in semi-tropical and tropical growing zones here in the U. S. (zones 9 to 11)

My Favorite Flower & Nature Photos of 2020
Last week we looked at the top posts of 2020 in terms of visitors and link party features. At the end of the first year of my little blog, I did a post of my favorite flowers from the year before. Traditionally I have only included flowers in the garden or in a bouquet. If you’ve visited me before you probably know flowers are one of my great loves. Last year I also included a few nature shots, another great love. Today’s post is some of my favorites photos of flowers and nature from 2020. I hope I included some of yours too.