Desert Rose in full bloom

 After a week of heat, the Desert Rose is living it's BEST life! 

Same pic, just a little better because I'm not in it!

Love the double flowers

We also have to talk about the Easter Cactus blooming this week (Rhipsalidopsis gaertneri)

Such a cutie - can plants be cute?

Musa Sikkimensis is living its best life too. I love the upright leaves

Thanks for looking!

Moving hundreds of plants from South Carolina to New York!

Start spreading the news - I'm back in New York full-time! When I started this blog 10 years ago, I was just finishing high school and entering college. I went away to school (less than an hour away), so it was easy to keep up with my quirky garden hobby at my parents' house and share my ramblings on this page. You all have helped inspire me to keep gardening even when I moved south after college to start my career in Meteorology in Florida and later, South Carolina. I had a ton of fun gardening down there for 6 years (pics below!)

Florida 2019

Florida 2019

Florida 2019

South Carolina 2021

It was tough to go back and forth to New York to bring the tropical plants inside the house over the winter and cover up the outdoor palms. I still managed as you can see with all the blog posts after 2017. But now things are going to get a lot busier in the NY garden! This summer I started a new job as a meteorologist on Long Island. Now you'll be able to see two of my tropical yards, one on Long Island and one on Staten Island!

How to move with your plants

This was the trailer that carried all my plants. It was 10 feet wide and 20 feet long and PACKED with plants

Before I show you what I've been up to this summer in the garden, let me give you a little look back at the move. In South Carolina, I had a 4th-floor apartment and a balcony filled with hundreds of tropical plants. You can imagine it was tough bringing those plants down the stairs, in a trailer, and halfway across the east coast. Here are a few photos of what it looked like! 

Also, a heads up: certain plants cannot be moved between certain state lines to reduce the spread of diseases (like citrus for Florida). When I left Florida, I had a certificate from the Florida Department of Agriculture to go with my plants to prove they were pest free and that I wasn't carrying any plants illegally. 

A few years ago, I was able to get a moving company to bring my plants to my new place, but this go around none of the moving companies were willing to move plants on their trucks. This means the best option right now is to rent a truck and drive it yourself. Most truck rentals are not climate-controlled in the storage section, so you'll ideally want to drive your plants at night during the summer months and through above-freezing temperatures in the wintertime.

The plumeria were beginning to bloom so I had to protect them with paper towels and tape.

All the plants survived the move! And as you can see below they were a lot of plants! They made a mess though because nearly every single glass pot broke along the way. A leaf blower was a good investment!

My Agave Collection: AGAVE BLOOMS ON THE WAY!

I've been patiently waiting to update everyone on this exciting news - one of my potted agave plants is flowering! I have never seen an agave flowering in a pot, but always hoped I would see mine bloom one day. When I got this plant at the age of 15 years old, I remember envisioning what it would look like in bloom. Now I'm 22 years old and that day is finally here!

For those of you who are not familiar with Agaves, Agave plants are "succulents" loving dry weather and sandy soil. They are desert plants that thrive in places few other plants will - but most are not very cold hardy in the wet Northeastern US. I like to grow agaves in my yard because they remind me of California, southern Europe, and the beaches in the Caribbean, in other words... vacation! I keep mine as potted plants and while my Agave americana and Agave parryi spend much of the year outdoors in their pots (only going inside when temperatures drop below 20F), my Agave desmettiana is more tender and go inside before the first frost of the season. At the end of an Agave's life (which can be anywhere from 10 to 100 years long) they use ALL their energy to make a massive blooming stalk. So the sad news is that I am about to lose my largest Agave, but it will be going out with a big BANG (and I'm sure I'll have lots of baby plants underneath it to carry on its mothers legacy.

I got this Agave desmettiana 6 years ago as a nice sized 3 gallon plant at a local nursery. This past year was actually the first year I repotted it. It's a sharp and heavy plant so I was not excited to repot it, but I got it done and just 2 months after giving it a large pot it decided to start blooming! So now I am the proud owner of a blooming agave plant here in my zone 7 yard in New York City. Yes I cheated a little because it does go inside every year, but I think it is still well deserved after poking myself for 6 years dragging the 100 pound beast inside my house every winter!

Summer 2012

Spring 2016 (repotting)

There is not a lot of detailed information about what to expect when a potted agave is about to bloom so here is my experience! Before the plant bloomed, the leaves got smaller. Once the stalk starts to appear things start to happen very quickly. For my Agave desmettiana, it took about 6 weeks for the stalk to reach its maximum height (about 6 feet tall). Agave desmettiana are small growing compared to many other species which is why they are perfect for growing in pots. The flower stalks on many of the larger agaves easily reach 20 feet tall or more (sometimes 5 or 10 times taller than the rest of the plant) so A. desmettiana is much more manageable in comparison. Oh yeah and if the blooms don't sound cool enough, when the plants mature little new plants called bulbis develop ON THE STALK. Not only does it look cool but it sure beats having to grow plants from seed. I don't think mine will stay healthy enough to mature to its fullest because winter is almost here, but it did get this far!

Agave blooms are VERY attractive to hummingbirds so if you get lucky enough to have yours bloom during hummingbird season you'll see lots of those birds enjoying some lunch!

I'll post an update when these buds open up. We have some cold weather coming this week so I'll be storing it inside my unheated garage during the overnight hours to keep the buds from getting damage.

I hope you enjoyed. Thank you for looking!

Happy First Full Day of Summer!

Today's the longest day of the year and the first day of summer. While the days will slowly be getting shorter form here on out, the days will only be getting warmer and warmer for the next few weeks and the tropicals will really start to explode with growth! 

Here's a few palmy shots. Livistona and bottle palms make a good pair.

This view never seems to change and that's ok with me!

My largest plumeria goes through a lot of trouble to go outside every spring. It's recovering nicely and should look great in a few weeks. I am thinking of mounting bromeliads and orchids over all the branches so stay tuned!

Southern Magnolia flowers are a sure sign of Summer! 

My Magnolia has lots of buds but unfortunately it's a bit bare in terms of foliage. It has been transplanted so many times which it did not respond well to. 

Eastern Prickly Pears are native and yet so exotic looking. They require no care and are so rewarding. My front steps are filled with yellow blooms for the whole month of June.

The plant has a bit of a creeping habit which makes it a perfect addition to my large brick planter bed by my stairs. 

Speaking of blooms my Plumeria "Jenny" is blooming really well right now. 

My Plumeria "Crazy" will have a ton of flowers in a few more weeks.

 I've noticed my plumerias seem to all bloom at the same time. Last year they were all blooming and this year only a few are. It will probably be a quiet year for plumerias but I'll sill have some blooms all summer long which is perfect for me!

It's been years since I have seen blooms on my "Color Guard" yucca. It's a nice addition to the yard!

My oleander is getting ready to bloom.

Hibiscus "Mandarin Wind"

Hyacinth Bean

Salvia "Black and Blue". It survived its first winter with flying colors and is spreading beautifully.

Cucuzza is the easiest edible I've ever grown. The vines are beautiful and the gourds are very tasty especially in sauce. This section of the yard is dedicated to Cucuzza and Basil both for tomato sauce!

Remember when I said these vines were beautiful? They are also VERY FAST growing! These were in 4 inch pots earlier this month. Now they are pushing 14 feet long and are setting fruit This one is growing in an "Earth Box" which - although expensive - really do keep plants healthy and happy. 

I also have some zucchini growing in an earth box and it's about 3 times the size of the same zucchini in the ground. Now all I need is some fruit. I also highly recommend stuffing zucchini flowers with basil and cheese, it tastes great!

My sabals are looking a bit better now that they've had some heat. They finished pushing out their first damaged leaf of the season and are working on their second fronds.

My Trachys are growing much faster already on their 3rd frond of the season and the fronds are pretty big!

In a shadier spot of the yard I get to mess around with different tropical foliage textures. There is still a lot more growing to do here!

You can see my needle palm in this shot!

My blood banana needs to pick up the pace. It's put out about 3 or 4 leaves this season which is pretty good but it hasn't gotten a lot of height yet. It should pick up in speed soon!

Passiflora Incarnata taking a break from blooming and setting fruit. I'll definitely be trying out these seeds.

Can't wait for my cannas to grow large enough to block the ugly machine in this part of the yard. Hopefully this will be looking much nicer in a month!

My Ensete is looking a little beat up from the wind this past spring but once the old leaves are cut off it's going to look AWESOME. Patience is key! 

I love these fuzzy blooms and the butterflies do too!

I'll end with this AWESOME home depot purchase from last week - a Frostproof Gardenia. I already have 1 frostproof gardenia but it died back severely during our bitter cold winter 2 years ago. I was in shock to see Home Depot selling hardy Gardenias. They also had Kleims Hardy Gardenia for sale but they only bloom in early summer so I figured Frostproof was a better purchase!

That's all I have for now but summer has just begun! Thanks for looking!