Beauties and the Beast
Posted by Jake on 23 July, 2009
Today I would like to show you two plants that just love. The two plants are an Unknown Elephant Ear and a Texas Palmetto. I won’t tell you bout the beast, you will see it in a minute.
This unknown Colocasia or Elephant Ear is the best speciemen of this type out of 6 of them.
Unknown Elephant Ear
The Texas Palmetto is of course a Palmetto native to the state of Texas. The main difference between the Palmetto and the Texas Palmetto is that the Texas Palmetto has a bigger crown of fronds and it is more cold hardy. The source I got my Texas Palmetto from stated they were hardy to zone 7.
My Texas Palmetto survived a freeze after rain outside in Kentucky after a warm February day I left it out in a container and forgot about it. It didn’t lose any fronds, but it did seem to set it back and hardly grew once I planted it here in Florida. This year it seems to have recovered and settled in and has really set off in growth. It is one beautiful palm.
Before I show you the picture please be sure to take notice that I have just written “Texas Palmetto” four times underneath each other and it was not on purpose.
Texas Palmetto
Okay, so are your eady to see the beast. It is a Lizard and I just wnated to show you how nasty they look. I am not a fan of reptiles like Lizards or Snakes, I do like Turtles. That little red thing is one of the things that creep me out. I didn;t get to close to take this picture, zoom works great. This particular Lizard was hanging out on my front Banana Tree.
Nasty Lizard
Jake
Northeast Florida Paradise 
GreenJeans said
Jake, I love that ele ear. Those lizards… I feel the same way. Snakes don’t bother me as long as I don’t have to touch them. Frogs freak me out, I don’t like all that jumping.
By the way, when the lizards stick out that red thing and bounce up & down, they are usually trying to attract a female. Next time you see one doing this, look around and you’ll probably see a smaller lizard nearby ‘ignoring’ him. lol
Pam/Digging said
GreenJeans is right. Male lizards like anoles (I’m not sure if that’s what you have) use a dewlap to attract females and in territorial displays. I think they’re cool critters, and they’re great for eating lots of bugs. I much prefer them to spiders. 😉
I’m growing the Texas dwarf palmetto (Sabal minor) and love it too. It gives a tropical look, but it’s pretty tough once established. I find them growing wild along the Barton Creek Greenbelt in Austin.
Jake said
The main thing with the Lizards I have a problem with is you can’t leave your doors without screens open.
Sabal minor is very hardy, plus that is not a problem for us. It is a nice shrub type plant.
Jake