7 Months To Bloom

It took 7 months for my single flower Hibiscus to start blooming. It really took a hit from last year’s 23 degree knockdown to the ground. The double flower one has been blooming frequently since June. The single plant is now blooming like crazy, just really wish it was faster to come back.

Single Flowered Hibiscus

Tropical Hibiscus

This year as been a poor year for my tropical Hibiscus plants. I have two tht were planted before I was here, one a singel red flower and another that blooms both double peach and red flower’s. The double flower type has given me blooms since June despite only beinf four feet tall. The single type has given me one bloom back about two weeks ago and is 4 1/2 to 5 feet tall.

I also have two that have yet to bloom this year. One last year started to griw after I moved it to a better location and bloomed out around Thanksgiving and it’s flower got burned. It also ahs unusual leaves that I haven’t seen on other types of tropical Hibiscus. The other has never bloomed, so who know’s what color it will be. I hope they both will start to bloom before the summer is over.

All of the tropical Hibiscus burnt straight to the ground after experiencing temperature’s down to 23 degrees. They did fine through 32f-26f, but 23f just took them out. I guess I should be lucky they are here and came back at all, I would definitely say to keep having bloom from spring to summer and sporadically through the winter they need to be grown in zone 9b,25f-30f.

Summer is Here

If you are in Florida you can walk outside and feel that summer is truly here. I am sure some of you are happy about it, but I’m not.  I already have a ton of Mosquito bites, it has already been in the upper 80’s to low 90’s, the humidity is driving me crazy and it is so dry. I am one who wishes it was over already, I was fine with the 60’s and 70’s of spring and my plants were content to grow in that too. Anyway, enough of my whining and onto the post.

In the past week I have been busy. I have been working on the gate entrance in the front yard that do to putting a gate up the irrigation does not water it. The grass there died last year after the gate went up and now all the sand just gets splattered on the house and fence due to the water falling from the roof. I have a before picture, but it has the stepping stones already in place, I was trying to see how to lay them out. I ended up planting 10 Dwarf Mondo Grass ‘Nana’, they should form a nice mat of low growing grass in the area. I planted another one of my Hibiscus cannabinus, and two Black Mondo Grass. I also planted the seedling of the Lirope I was use to in Kentucky, I got some seeds in TN this past winter and they have been growing really easily from seed.  The last two plants are Daylillies called Ditch Lillies, becasue they grow along roadsides and fields around the country. I’m not sure if Florida has them, I didn’t see any last year. I know Kentucky and Tennessee does, Georgia perhaps. I planted these in various spots and I will show you tht in a later post. Overall, I love the way this project turned out and hope it grows well.

Hemerocallis fulva- Ditch Lily

Hibiscus cannabinus

Black Mondo Grass

Dwarf Mondo Grass ‘Nana’

Before Overview

After Overview

5″ Bloom

Kentucky Daylily

Hibiscus ‘Ft. Meyer’

Frontyard Chinese Fans

Backyard Chinese Fans

 

My other project was planting a group of Chinses Fan Palms that I got at Lowe’s. It was $12.99 for a clump 8 Palms, they are small, but I like this palm as a smaller species. I planted a group of four in a ara in the backyard where it neede some stuff badly, belwo the Live Oak in the frontyard and behind the bushes where you can see it from the front porch, and one in a pot out back on the lanai. The pictures I show the sun has bleached them out a bit, but the new fornds should be okay.

Frontyard Chinese Fans

 

Backyard Chinese Fans

Those of you reading in colder zones this palm can be grown and left in the ground atleast to zone 6. Any temperatures lower than like 15F kills the fronds, but just mulch it and it should grow back, it will probably never get much taller though. I know someone in Cincinatti, Ohio has had luck just muching over the plant in autumn.

Now just to other delights in the yard! I have a new Hibiscus Trained Tree in a container on the lanai called “Ft. Meyers”, it has a beautiful bloom and is doing well. My Daylily from Kentucky opened up with it’s bright yellow and huge bloom. There is a story behind that one and I will tell it tomorrow. I didn’t think the one I had already posted looked like I remembered the blooms looking.

Hibiscus 'Ft. Meyer'

Kentucky Daylily

5" Bloom

 

It is ironic that it opened up the Monday after the Kentucky Derby! I hope you enjoyed this post as I am enjoying all of yours!

Have A Great Day,

Jake

Sunday Results

Yesterday was a nice day to work out in the yard, I of course just doing the area behind the a/c unit. Once I got back there I found that last year I had planted some Mexican Petunia, but I had forgotten them amongst all of the weeds and grass. I replanted those, I remember I planted them there becasue they are suppose to be invasive and I don’t want to be back there weeding because of the lizards. If I could plant something else I would since I have those in the yard elsewhere, any suggestions.

Once I got that area weeded I went and installed edgeing around the new area I made on the side of the lanai. It looks a lot better and the grass won’t creep into the area. Edgeing is something I had never even thought about using until I moved down here. It was already installed around the beds already at the house I moved into, so I like it and will continue to use it. The St. Augustine Grass here makes it a must, that stuff creeps into the areas weekly. If I ever move to back to Kentucky or elsewhere I will use it there. Even in Kentucky the grass would grow into the beds, although it took  whole season to do this, it had to be re-edged every spring.

Other happenings around the yard are very exciting! My Purple Sweet Potato Vine is coming back some parts of the vine have actually sproted new leaves, not just the main root area. Yesterday morning my Castor Bean didn’t have any leaves opening on the top part, but last night I noticed new leaves are opening all over the plant even the top part.

I cut the Spindle Palm fronds that were brown off. There is one green frond that is sticking out, but the tip is frost burnt. I wasn’t sure if it is a self-cleaning palm tree or not.

Two of my Hibiscus were about two feet tall and they both have started to regrow from the bottom, so I have cut off thier top part down to the ground. Then I have two Hibiscus, one is about 9 feet the other is probably close to 12 feet. They both are growing from the bottom, but I’m not sure if the tops are alive. They saw 23 degrees one night, so what do you all think?

No Weeds

It looks a lot better!

The bed is official now!

Spindle Palm

I hope everyone else got thier Saturday plans done or are getting thier Sunday plans on the way to being done. Warm weather here the 80’s for awhile until the end of the week, then not to bad into the upper 70’s.

Have a great day,

Jake

8 days until St. Patrick’s Day!

11 days until Spring Begins!