My indoor plumeria tree

 My first plumeria is still one of my favorite! It's called Plumeria "Salsa" and it blooms virtually all year long!  

Plumeria are tropical trees with incredibly fragrant blooms. They are really easy to overwinter inside the house up north, because they naturally go dormant during cooler & drier weather ... at least they're supposed to. Every year this plumeria one breaks the rules, while all my others drop their leaves and go to sleep.

This was just a little baby off eBay when I bought it in 2009, and it's bloomed for me every single year outside in the summer and inside during the winter, BUT some of my plumerias NEVER bloom.

Here it is (to the left) during the end of its first summer back in 2009. I bought it as a rooted plant off eBay. It's come a long way! 

A visit to Fairchild Tropical Botanic Gardens in Miami

Tropical gardens like Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden are FULL of surprises, but there's so much more than what meets the eye. Botanical gardens are home to incredibly rare plants and provide a lifeline that ensures they aren't wiped out forever. 

Let's go on a tour! 

This giant, historic Staghorn fern was donated to Fairchild in 2014. It's literally larger than my house. It's a common plant but rare to see at this size. WOW. 

Rare plants

Self Destructing Palm discovered in Madagascar in 2007. I genuinely think this is. the most massive baby palm I've ever seen.

A grove of Copernica palms, endemic to Cuba.

The Falla Palm (Copernicia fallaensis) looks like metal! The fronds are so stiff and symmetrical. These palms are endemic to Cuba - which means that’s the only place you’ll find them in the world. There are only 84 adult Falla palms in the wild. It's hard to wrap my head around that!

Considered one of the rarest palms in the world to find in the wild. Hemithrinax ekmaniana is native to just 3 small cliffside in Cuba and there are only a few adults in the wild. They eventually become taller palms, but I love them at this size.

Around the garden is this lovely native population of native Florida airplanes. They are HUGE! Tillandsia utriculata don't pup after blooming - they only reproduce from seed. The plants grow on trees and get their nutrients from leaf debris and rain water.

Also dangling from trees - some gorgeous Orchids! Here are a few. 

How cute are these orchids! Calettya in full bloom and kind of smells like daffodils 

This is such a fun way to display Vanda Orchids

How about this amazing orchid? 

Papilionanthe Miss Joaquim. it's the world's first orchid hybrid and the national flower of Singapore! The thin stems are cute!

Speaking of unusual flowers, how about the Cannonball tree? It produces flowers on the trunk, not on the leaves. It's a really cool look! Redbuds exhibit this behavior to a less extreme degree. The phenomena is called cauliflory. What a pretty name!

Rainbow Eucalyptus has gorgeous exfoliating bark

Unfortunately someone decided to damage this beautiful tree. It should heal at some point. 

Jamaican Poinsettia 

Beautiful Brugmansia and alocasia. What a cool combo! I have to try this in my yard. 

I thought it was really fun to see cold tolerant palms thriving in Miami! It's no surprise they'd do well, but with countless other options for palms, it was really cool to see these. 

Needle Palm

Large Sabal minor

Even the street plantings in Fort Lauderdale had some Sabal minors! 

The White Backed Palm (Kerriodoxa elegant) is so tropical looking and has some surprising cold tolerance. They seem to be manageable down to zone 9!

One of my favorite "winter" blooms. This is Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow plant! (Brunfelsia pauciflora) The blooms change color as they age.

How cool to see tomatoes in January. Love it!

Heliconia living its best life

Breadfruit tree

Probably Ensete glaucum banana

Pachypodium lamerei (Madagascar Palm) for sale

Aechmea "Red Candles" is a newer Bromeliad cultivar. What a cool find at a local plant nursery. 

Hydriastele beguinii obi island is a gorgeous palm that suddenly died for me after doing well for several years. It's a great choice for Florida, probably not a great container plant here in New York unfortunately!

My Orange Bird of Paradise is beginning to bloom!

You may have seen Bird of Paradise at a local garden center, but did you know it has a tiny cousin? The Orange Bird of Paradise might be the perfect winter houseplant, and unfortunately it’s RARE to see them for sale up here. 

Mine spends the summer outside and starts to develop large stems in October that will house colorful flowers all winter long. These plants like to be rootbound, and that’s why unlike many tropical flowers, they can live full, healthy lives in containers! 

Orange Bird of Paradise need to develop a clump of about 30 leaves to be large enough to bloom, but once they start blooming they will bloom reliably every year. 

There is truly no other flower like these in the plant world. The orange parts are called tepals and they can last for weeks. Every couple of days new tepals appear so these blooms look amazing for months.

“White Bird of Paradise” are more common as houseplants because they grow faster and the leaves are beautiful. Unfortunately those plants get too large to stay in containers forever & they are prone to lots of indoor pests.

Here's my White Bird of Paradise in my front yard when I lived in Florida (March 2019)

Mine was purchased from a local plant nursery when I was living in Florida about 7 years ago. It bloomed its second year in Florida in a container and has bloomed every winter since. The photo below is from 2018 in my front yard in Florida. It bloomed later that year