Boca Cay Tropicals It's A Jungle Out There: August 2010

Sunday, August 22, 2010

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.

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

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.