Late September Plumerias

 The plumerias are still going strong! 

This is a cutting of my oldest Plumeria "Salsa". The color holds up great during cooler weather!

Plumeria Jenny! 

My Hedychium "Butterfly Ginger" is starting to bloom

A few front yard photos here on Long Island

Fall is nearly here, which means the weather is changing! We had our first "chilly" rainy day with high temperatures in the 70s and nighttime lows are dropping into the 50s. As of September 21, the coldest night of the season in my garden here on Long Island was 52F. So far the tropical plants aren't noticing the cooler and shorter days ... so let's keep that our secret! 

Check out the Chamadorea microspadix. Cold tolerant to 20F - and it survived several snow storms over the years without damage. It's even reseeded! 

Ensete is so easy! Love the Colocasia Mojito companion plant below.

I had so much fun growing Dahlia this year. It hasn't stopped since May. Just amazing!

Thanks for looking!

Chamaerops humilis var. cerifera

I just purchased the blue form of the popular European Fan Palm! This form is slower growing and more cold-tolerant, too! 

I had a seedling in the ground for many years that survived each winter but grew very little. Unfortunately, it died when I tried to move it, so I am excited to try it again! I am going to keep it in a pot for now, but one day I plan to put it in the ground. This photo below from January 2014 is the best one I found of the palm. It's at the very bottom between the left Trachycarpus and livistonia in the center.

Flamethrower Palm photo DUMP!

It’s the last weekend of summer. Who would have thought a PALM TREE would be the first thing to show off some fall color

This is a flamethrower palm. The new leaves open up a deep red. It’s a total coincidence that it happens to always send up a new frond in September. So festive! I purchased this palm tree in 2018 at the Spring Plant Sale at Leu Gardens in Orlando. It grew two fronds a year when I lived in Florida and South Carolina but has slowed down to 1 a year here in New York. It still performs very well though!

A lot of people ask me what I do with my plants in the winter … I’m happy to report this palm makes a great houseplant! It prefers a shady spot and can handle low humidity. (See the last photo)

Check out the new rings! 

And a view from above

𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝗱𝗼𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗽𝗮𝗹𝗺 𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗻 𝗿𝗲𝗱?

Scientists don’t actually know exactly the reason why this palm is adapted to make red leaves. It’s possibly an adaptation to protect the new fronds from intense sun and from animals looking to eat tender green leaves.

In a few weeks, chlorophyll will turn the frond green to maximize the energy the plant gets from the sun.

This palm prefers a shady spot and can handle low humidity. It’s a surprisingly easy houseplant, which is lucky for me because it sits in my kitchen 5 months out of the year.

September with the Bananas (and the plants I love to plant around them).

 My New York banana plant is reaching for the sky!

Let's start off with my most promising for fruit production, Viente Cohol. 

This is a tropical variety that produces edible fruit, which means I have to dig up the entire plant and store it inside over the winter. It’s a lot of work, but seeing the progress this plant has made in a year really makes me feel like it was all worthwhile!

Nearly all the tropical plants in my backyard are brought inside in the wintertime, but fortunately, most of them go dormant! The Angel Trumpets (Brugmansia) are another really easy plant to overwinter. I toss them into the garage and they come right back. The plants are bigger and bloom better with each passing year!

Musa Sikkimensis is looking lovely, and big!

Out of the variegated bananas, Sikkimensis is one of the easiest, but Siam Ruby is the most interesting!

Brugmansia smells incredible this time of the year

The easiest of the colorful bananas is definitely Ensete. Very frost tolerant and cool tolerant! 

Check out the Tibouchina!

And Colocasia Mojito with Alocasia Stingray

Datura has gorgeous blooms

The seed pods are pretty cool too.

My Queen of the Night (Epiphyllum oxypetalum)

This plant smells so incredible that I literally sat out in the rain last night to watch it bloom. (That’s really saying something because I consider myself a morning person!)

This is Epiphyllum oxypetalum, commonly called Queen of the Night. It is by FAR the most fragrant flower in my tropical-style garden. It has tough competition with my plumeria, gardenias, ginger, Brugmansia, and jasmine, but the scent is so strong and smells so clean.

Unfortunately, the flowers only open up for one night and they produce just a handful of flowers each year. It’s worth the wait because I’ve noticed the plant will send out a “flush” of blooms. That means when the plant is in bloom it is often COVERED in them. These plants naturally grow on trees which makes them incredibly well-behaved container plants.

Epiphyllum oxypetalum is not commonly available for sale at local garden centers, but is very easy to share with friends! My plant grew from a cutting my neighbor gave me from her plant when I lived in Florida 5 years ago. All I had to do was stick it in some soil. It’s that easy!

June 2023

I'm training this plant to grow in a tomato cage. Check out this photo from June when I first put it in the cage.

A few tropical plants that are LOVING the shade on my patio

Most of my favorite tropical plants (like my bananas) love getting as much heat and sunshine as possible, but these have been thriving with just a bit of afternoon sunshine. They really seem to thrive indoors as houseplants over the winter too.

Here are how they look in September! 

My flamethrower palm, Chambeyronia macrocarpa only produces a single frond a year, but the leaf is huge and red. It's such an exciting plant!

An orchid flower peeking out between Coleus and Variegated Alocasia wentii “vintage silver”

Dicksonia antarctica

I've had my Medinilla myriantha since 2017 and it's bloomed every single year. A fantastic houseplant and an even better patio plant!

I mean check out those blooms! I'm in love.

Classic Anthurium that i've also had since 2017. It bloom all summer long. 

My Panama Hat Palm, Carludovica palmata, looked completely dead after it suffered transplant shock. It's not a real palm tree though (It's more closely related to elephant ears!) It looks like it'd make a promising houseplant so I'm excited to see how it performs inside during it's first winter.