frozen December. It's been below freezing most of the month. The Robert Young bamboo seems to glow in the winter time.

I always vacuum up and shred my leaves and then put  them back on the beds with a bit of fertilizer to help break it down to black humus by spring.

angry tropical tiki gods

the flamingo and frog are still happy

frozen queen palms (don't worry they are throw aways: $6 from Home Depot in May). The temp at the time this was taken was about 21F at 3PM on Dec 15.

huge winter bloom on my epiphyllum cactus opened today.

 

 

 

 

 

 

my orchid cactus in June (notice  the red blooms not orange)

The Last Tropical Fall Photos - November 24, 2010

Alocasia macrorhizza still going strong!

the last mandevilla

 fall colors of yellow and gold

Sabal minor 'Cape Hatteras Blue'

Sabal minor 'giant blue'

Phyllostachys viridis 'Robert Young'

Bamboo "Robert Young" and hot pink irisene

It's Sugar Cane Harvest at Boca Cay !

Just harvested my sugar cane yesterday (November 20) and boy is it good. I have a variety from Brian Williams- forgot the name.

I cut the canes yesterday and cut them up to chew on. Boy is it good!

Who else in Maryland can say they grew and harvested  their own sugar cane crop?

After I cut off the biggest canes, I dug and potted the plant to overwinter inside for a good crop next year.

My plant got over 6' high this summer with 3 stalks.

This is the last remnant of my tropicals in my garden for this year.

Will Giles top that one! hahaha

Boca Joe

Fall is Here But Summer Lingers - The Colors of Tropical Fall Here in Maryland near Washington DC

Alocasia portora

blue impatiens Impatiens Namchabarwensis from Nepal

white butterfly ginger - gardenia honeysuckle fragrance!

Colocasia Diamond Head and Mojito (speckled green and black)

back side of Colocasia Diamond Head

Begonia Orange rubra

Begonia Dragon Wing RED

Ficus elastica 'Belize'

Philodendron monstera and dracena Lemon Lime

Impatiens Jungle Tangerine

Clerodendron ugandense

More Summer Blooms!

a drunken buttterfly dancing away the summer day. The heat has let up a bit and the rains have helped tremendously to create jungle growth. I forgot how simple zinnias are,  and how much they attract butterflies, I have never seen so many of them.  The bright colors of the flowers define the essence of summer.

Bright lemon yellow impatiens "Fusion Yellow". I have not seen too many yellow impatiens, especially of this depth of color. They make a great underplanting to many tropicals and summer plants.

The beautiful fragrant blooms of  'X amarcrinum' , a cross between an amaryllis and a crinum lily, hardy to zone 6 or so.
I 1st saw  these a few years ago in a friends garden and was surprised how hardy and prolific they are. He had them in bloom in June and to my surprise I went back n early November and they still had bloom stalks with flowers opening!

As the days begin to shorten a bit, the tropicals seem to grow even faster and bigger. I love this time of year.

The Jungle Heat Continues

It continues to be extremely hot and humid, "Equatorial growth conditions" are prevailing here in Boca Cay. We have had a lot of rain recently and it looks about as lush as it can get. Jack's giant is approaching 8' tall with a plant spread of about 9' right now.


The plants are getting enormous and many plants have come through the summer undaunted. The growth has been phenomenal this year.

The hummingbirds have a field day with the canna flowers, the allamanda is almost ready to bloom as is the Juanoella aurantica, and the 3rd flush of bloom succession on my brunsfelsia magnifica.


The new vinca variety "Titan" dark red has been one of the best performers with HUGE 2" dark red flowers and completely unaffected by the high heat this summer.

The new Patio and Garden orchids have not stopped flowering since May with bright 2" flowers of lemon yellow and purple and white star patterns.

Well that is it for now...

Boca Joe