Plumeria update!

The plumerias are coming into bud and bloom in my garden on Long Island. Here's a look at what's hot and what's not this year! 

My very reliable Plumeria Jenny! I used to have this in my dorm room at rutgers! 

Plumeria Inca Gold didn't bloom last year - this year it has 6 inflos!!Also check out those dwarf sunflowers! 

Plumeria California Sunset is taking a break from blooming this year

Plumeria Maya

Plumeria Jackie. Definitely a reliable and small sized plumeria. This might be one of my favorites. Great form and a reliable bloomer. This year I have 2 inflos

What in the world is this Hibiscus? I got it from the Farmingdale State College Plant Sale as "Peppermint"

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A few September Photos

This weekend has featured absolutely perfect weather! Lots of heat and humidity which is perfect for the tropicals and for a person like me who refuses to believe that fall weather is knocking on our door.
Here are some photos of everything near their prime.

Took my heliconia out of its shady spot to give it some time to breath in the sun now that the sun angle isn't quite as strong as it was during the summer. Love the foliage and the blooms!

Speaking of foliage does not get much better than this! If I lived in the south all of my trees would have plantings under them like this. Up here these are potted plants.

I am in love with my Mekong Giant Banana! Unlike my Basjoos which has sat around all season, this started off as nothing in June after such a rough winter and is now about 8 feet tall. Beautiful leaves and incredible growth rate. A great little corner in my yard. 

Pool area looking nice. Would have liked the bananas on the right side of the planting to have gotten bigger though!

Cordyline anchoring the left part of the scene. 

A different angle

View from above! 

Here are a few closeups. 

Livistona

Queen palm

Ensete leaf

Pink Canna bloom

Cucuzza bloom

Mexican Sunflower bloom

Hope you enjoyed. Thanks for looking! 

Flowers around the yard

Some pics of what has been in bloom! 

Digiplexis

The cannas have been blooming like CRAZY! 

 Not sure of the name of the annual to the left, but the lantanas in the planter to the right is growing quickly and blooming reliably! 

Rosa Rugosa is supposed to be a spring bloomer and although I'm sure that's when the main show is, it has been sporadically blooming all summer.

 Portulacas 

Begonias and Ornamental Potato Vine

 

Begonias and lantana. Lantana is growing in full sun and the begonias just next to it is growing in filtered shade all day.

I really look forward to brugmansia blooms every summer. My Ember Yellow in the back has made a few blooms and has LOTS of buds, but my double pink in the front is still all leaves for now. We'll see what daily soakings and lots of fertilizer does for it over the next month.

Last year I grew Verbanas in this spot (it seems like a few may have survived the winter!) but overall, Lantanas are much more consistent performers for me. They haven't slowed down since the day I bought them and the Colocasias and Caladiums are filling up nicely behind them. 

Mexican Sunflower

I had red ones last year, this is the first year I am also growing yellow ones. The red seem a bit more vigorous  in terms of growth but that may just be coincidental. Both are equally as vigorous in terms of blooms.

Roses are great and even better when there palm trees involved!

 First year growing Salvias and I really like them. This one is called Black and Blue and it's so amazing. I love the color combination! Crossing my fingers it is truly zone 7 hardy. 

Mandevilla is always a reliable bloomer in the yard.

The Ugly (post 1)

So I figured this season I'm gonna try something new and dedicate a post to the ugliest plants in yard right now and update monthly on their progress as the season progresses.

One of the ugliest plants at the moment is my Brugmansia in the front yard. I gave it a lot of space so hopefully it grows as nicely as my "Ember Glow" in the backyard has. Right now it is just a glorified twig/ tasty home for spidermites. This weekend I'll be picking up some fertilizer for it and hopefully that be all it needs.

Colocasia Mojito were easy to overwinter indoors but slow to come back!

Another ugly plant is my Crown Jewel Gardenia. It was really beautiful just 2 weeks ago but it got stomped on and now is pretty bare. I think it will still look great in bloom (even if fewer branches means fewer blooms) and maybe it will surprise me with good growth.

Right next to it is my fig tree. This time 2 years ago it was taller than me but 2 rough winters have left their mark. Believe it or not it's not completely dead although it was killed back to the roots. It will definitely need some fertilizer but it might be a nice looking bush by the end of summer.

Some potted plants are far from perfect as well. I really lucked out when i saw a nice sized philodendron xanadu at a local nursery a few years ago. They are more compact than P. Selloum and much better at recovering from indoor winter damage. Right now they look awful. I cut off a branch from the main plant because it was getting too tall and lanky and I also planted it facing the opposite direction of the sun in order to keep promote growth on all sides of the plant. If all goes well this planter will be beautiful. Right now though it's really ugly.
The Xanadu in to the right planter is a cutting and still unrooted (just a small aerial root) and it's a bit wilted from the hot weather we had last week. Fortunately this week was cloudy/rainy/cold. Good weather for rooting cuttings!

This planter isn't ugly bit it is a bit weird looking. The coleus and begonias are still really young (and they arent planted yet!) so the rubber tree look really out of place. In a few months it will hopefully be an impressive planter.

(pic still to come)

My Dwarf Cavendish bananas had really weird new growth so I just cut off all the leaves hoping that will allow them to focus on root development and that all new growth will be much healthier now. I would not mind if this also promoted some nice pup growth. These plants are probably less ugly now than they were with leaves.

The ti plants have not been as nice as in the past but they are slowly bouncing back.

This hibiscus also looks pretty ugly. I recently pruned it back very hard and I am considering pruning the roots back hard as well and filling the planter with fresh soil. We will see but for now it is a pretty ugly plant although a quickly recovering one.

(pic still to come)

These hibiscus also look ugly but wont be for long hopefully. They lost every leaf when I brought them inside and lost every leaf when I brought them back outside. They will be full again by July and should be blooming normally by August

These cannas have a long way to go...

The ones in the front yard are mixed with sunflowers. Also still a long way from looking nice!

Thats all for now, but more than enough ugly plants. Will update again on these soon and more updates on the nicer looking stuff is on the way soon!