Late July Banana Plant Updates

The banana plants have really filled out over the past few months.

My Musa Sikkimensis "Bengal Tiger" had a lot more color earlier in the season, but has since reverted to a greener look. It was a potted plant last year and died down to the soil. I'm pretty happy with its growth rate. It's taller than me now! Check out the difference a month made!

July 29

June 27

The markings are still there, but faded

Siam Ruby is an interesting banana plant. I love it for it's color, but I wouldn't call it easy. I can see why it's not common to find this one.  It's grown a lot since May though and is loving our warm summer nights. 

Musa Viente Cohol (at least that's what it was sold as) took a long time to grow new leaves because it had absolutely no roots this past spring. I dug it up last Autumn and had it bare root in my kitchen through the winter. From November to February it grew one leaf and the second new leaf came up sometime in May about 6 weeks after it was brought outside. It's made up for lost time clearly! 

June 27

First Plumeria Blooms of the season - better late than never!

Plumerias are one of my favorite tropical plants that no one is growing up north (or at least very few!). These flowers are well known for being the flower of choice for Hawaiian lei's. Their fragrance is delicious, but what I really adore is how easy they are to overwinter! 

Plumeria "California Sunset"- July 24 on Long Island

These tropical trees naturally go dormant during the dry season in the tropics. They lose all their leaves and don't require high light or water in the cooler months. All they need is a cool, bright room in the house for a winter nap and you'll be able to grow these trees for years to come. Sounds too good to be true? WELL there is a catch - see below....

May 18, 2023 - Long Island

July 24, 2023

Plumerias will look completely bare through early summer because they take time to leaf out. You'll definitely want to spend the extra money on a Plumeria variety that is known to be an early bloomer and a "compact grower". Plumeria blooms come from a structure called an inflorescence (literally looks like broccoli). It's a head of flower buds that house all the blooms you'll get for the season. 

You can see one of those flower inflorescences on the top left of my Plumeria "Jackie" in the photo above. 

These bloom heads take about 2 to 3 months to mature and will last the entire season once they start blooming. Next year you'll notice new branches growing where the flower head was and you won't get blooms on that part of the plant. It's really important to spend the extra money on "compact" and "early blooming" plumeria varieties if you're growing these in containers. That way you get lots of branches (lots of flower opportunities) and the flowers mature early enough in the summer to enjoy them! 

My tallest plumeria is just one year older than my "Divine" but look at the difference in height!

Plumeria Divine - July 13, 2023

I've had Plumeria vine since 2010 and it's still below eye level and blooms every year. I have two plants (cuttings I took from my original tree) and combined they have about 20 branches. That's 20 opportunities to make flower heads - and each flower head can produce hundreds of flowers. 



Plumeira Jackie is "semi-compact" and is also a reliable bloomer for me. These blooms are larger. 

California Sunset is another favorite for me. The flowers are larger than Divine, but it's almost as compact! 

That's not to say I don't love my tall plumerias. I've had this Plumeria (probably "Salsa") since 2009. It's my first plumeria ever. It overwinters in the foyer in front of my parent's house. It actually blooms pretty reliably inside over the winter and never fully goes dormant. 

Plumeria Inca Gold is a really nice early bloomer. I unfortunately had some issues with rot this year so it's looking a little messy. Despite the rot issues, it STILL is trying to produce a flower head. Pretty impressive. See below!

Plumeria Maya is a very slow growing variegated plumeria that I've had since 2010. Although it is capable of blooming, mine never has. 

A July update on my cold hardy palm trees

If you're seeing this blog, you're probably pretty well versed on the idea of cold tolerant palm trees. If you're not, I am so honored that my yard is introducing you to some of these gorgeous palm species.

There are thousands of palm tree species. Most palm trees are not tolerant of prolonged freezes, but there are a few that can brush off a whole lot more. Our low temperature this winter was 3F,  the coldest in several years - but it was also one of the warmest winters on record with many days in the 60s and even in the 70s for the first time ever. Palm trees can handle much colder temperatures when the duration is brief. That's why you'll see more gardeners with success in zone 7 in a southern latitude than you will up here. 

This is my oldest windmill palm, growing at my parent's house on Staten Island. It was planted as a seedling in 2009. The oleander peeking through is in a planter and goes in the garage during the wintertime. 

This is a new Windmill Palm I planted in May 2022 (last year) in my front yard on Long Island. 

Here's mid-August 2022

And mid-July 2023

My smaller Long Island Windmill Palm, was also planted in 2022. The protection blew off on the coldest night of the year, but it managed to survive with very little damage. The Hedychium Daniel Weeks on the left survived the cold too! 

My newest windmill palm ... a bargain from a local nursery. Definitely worth $19! It had damage to the growing point which makes me think it's seen some cold. Greenhouse-grown palms may look pretty, but they're a lot weaker and take time to adapt to the real world. Id rather have an ugly ducking that can handle it all! 

I actually really like having windmill palms in planters. It's easy to throw them in the garage when nights get cold in the winter & I can move them to more visible parts of the yard during the winter. 

Sabal minor is BY far my most cold tolerant palm. No protection and no damage. This is my Sabal minor (one year in the ground) on Long Island. 

This one in my parent's yard on Staten Island has been in the ground since 2010! 

Needle palms are advertised as the most cold-tolerant palm, but I have had more luck with Sabal minor. I had no damage on my minors this past winter, but my needle palm was pretty tattered. The good thing about needle palms is that they're a clumping species and can resprout from total dieback.

Arenga engleri is cold tolerant down to 15F for brief durations. Mine has struggled the past few years from root issues. This winter I kept it outside in temperatures down to 20F. I thought it was a goner,  but it's sprouting back!

Chamadorea microspadix is known as the "bamboo palm". It easily survives 20F. A fantastic palm! 

Hardy Gardenia "Summer Snow" in Zone 7

I've had a lot of fun growing Hardy Gardenias over the year. I've tried Crown Jewel. Frostproof, and Summer Snow. Out of the three, Summer Snow is my favorite.

It has huge, gorgeous leaves you'd expect with a gardenia and flowers that are identical to their more subtropical and more common varieties. I believe I planted it in 2016, 7 years ago.

These plants don't bloom after cold winters, but they do come back - sometimes from the ground. This year Summer Snow had minor leaf burn which isn't too bad considering it had only a few frost cloths on it during our 6F low temperature this winter. It's bloomed twice so far this summer, but I'm hoping for a few more! 

Tropical Hibiscus Appreciation Posts

Hibiscus are one of the most easy to identify flowers in the world and instantly transport me to the tropics. So it's a little weird they've actually been growing fewer and fewer tropical hibiscus in favor over the years. I've given my attention instead to the beautiful perennial hibiscus that comes back every year without any special care. 

You can't blame me, right? It takes a lot of work to grow hundreds of tropical plants up north. Hardy Hibiscus have bigger flowers and more unusual leaves BUT I do have 6 tropical hibiscus this year that I am now sure I can garden without

Variegated Mahoe Hibiscus

This one proves that hibiscus isn't always about the flowers! This plant has amazing variegated foliage and is a must for any gardener who is looking for really interesting foliage. I fell in love with this plant when I went to Hawaii last January. 

In Hawaii

Mine was a super cheap $9 plant on sale when I got it from Logees in January 2023. 

The Variegated hibiscus tiliaceus is on the far right (March 2023) 

It did okay in the house until April. It seems to have higher heat and humidity requirements than other hibiscus and didn't really start growing outside a few weeks ago when our night temperatures regularly stayed in the 70s. Here are some photos from early July! 

Variegated ....

I got this one from a college plant sale. The foliage is very impressive, but I haven't had a single bloom yet. Honestly I am not too impressed, but it does look lovely in front of my Croton plant. 

I had a lot more fun with Snow Queen. I recommend that cultivar if you're looking for a prolific blooming hibiscus with variegated leaves. 

Colors & Flower Textures

Hardy Hibiscus flowers are big, but if you're looking for flowers that literally look handpainted, you need a tropical hibiscus in your life. I mean look at THIS! 

And look at THIS! It's like a peony. 

I unfortuantely was not given a cultivar name, but an Instagram friend with an incredible hibiscus collection says the first one looks like "Cajun Cocktail". Both of these were purchased from Bloomin Haus in Holtsville, NY. 

Classic Red Hibiscus 

This plant is special because it was given to me by a friend's mom in 2008 before she passed away. The red hibiscus is planted with a common pink hibiscus known as "Painted Lady". I haven't repotted it in about 10 years and it's starting to get VERY tired looking. You can look back at some of my earlier posts to see it in its prime. 

I decided to do some light root pruning. I used a scissor to loosen the entire rootball and I cut off the bottom inch of the rootball and added about 3 inches of fresh soil to the bottom and fresh soil throughout the sides. I pruned about 6 inches off all the shoots. It probably won't flower until late August, but it will be much better for it!