Winter Surprises

There are a few plants that really shocked me by surviving the winter!
First up are these Alocasias. I never even planted them in this spot so I am amazed they are coming up!
This picture is from last Fall, you can see at the very bottom of the picture several alocasias that are potted in small pots. This is the same area where about 4 tiny ones have started popping up within the past few weeks. I am not sure what species they are (or if they are even definitely Alocasias), but they are Here you can see many potted alocasias below last summer in the location these are popping up in. I don't know the species of Alocasia (they were sold as Alocasias but they may be Xanthosama). Either way after a crazy winter low of 1F this year, safe to say they are hardy in zone 7!

Here they are sprouting up!

I dug up my Frostproof Gardenia in the front to make room for other plants not realizing it was still alive! I kept it in a pot just in case and am pleasantly surprised to see it starting to sprout again from the ground. My Frostproof in the backyard is also sprouting from the roots. 

My Crown Jewel Gardenia was protected and came out of the winter amazingly healthy, but unfortunately was stepped on while work was being done in the yard, destroying about 80% of the plant. The part that remains is still growing strong and I hope it fills out this season.

My Camellias were the bad kind of surprise unfortunately. My oldest one in the most exposed spot of the yard suffered about 50% dieback. The remaining branches look healthy enough to bloom next year. I will protect it this winter since I have by doubts this winter will be mild.

My camellias in deep shade look much better. Kramers Supreme is supposed to be a zone 8 camellia but I have had a lot of success with it in my zone 7 even after last winters 1F low. No significant damage, but unfortunately it's in too deep of shade to develop proper buds. 

My Long Island Pink Camellia is not very hardy unfortunately despite what it is sold as. It survives normal winters without a problem, but a few degrees is the difference between completely healthy and significant dieback. I'm going to let the ostrich ferns do their work on that area.

I have never had Caladiums survive inside, but these dwarf caladiums did great. They were dormant late Fall until about the new year and have been growing well ever since.

Not a surprise to see my lilies survive their 6th winter since they are very hardy. I always forget about them though and enjoy seeing them.

My Passion vine did receive protection and unfortunately suffered dieback regardless. 

Finally sprouting

Heres a post of things that are ... FINALLY sprouting! 

I never lost faith that my desert rose would impress me. Lots of leaves and buds on the way, it will be back in action in no time.

Old pic, but here My Basjoo was pushing up it's 3rd leaf in this pic (it's not fully opened with a 4th buried among them somewhere). The Alocasia is on it's second leaf of the outdoor season. Both still a bit small

Also my cannas from about a week ago but they aren't that much more impressive now either. I hope these get large soon.

The cannas I overwintered in the garage look much better.

Despite protecting this passion vine it died all the way back to the ground. This is a long shot from it staying green all winter long back in 2011-2012, but I'm happy it's alive and I am hoping for some blooms!

Not a very flattering shot of my Washy but it is very quickly growing this season. I'm very happy with it! 

I should make this a separate post for these other pics but I wanna enjoy this beautiful Fathers Day/ First Day of Summer/ Sunday out in the yard so heres some randoms. Some flattering others not. Thanks for looking!

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!

A quick look at the backyard

Here's the pool area. My brugmansia still has at least one more nice flush of blooms left in it! The ginger is definitely going to try and steal the show while all the foliage plants like my Colocasia, Alocasias, and Cannas are also looking there best now. 

My plumeria is looking nice and full. I love the curves on it's trunk, definitely not a look that most plumerias can achieve in my climate. 

Nothing like the late afternoon sun to highlight the spanish moss on the tree. 

I saw this moon flower open up right before my eyes. It was so incredible, it made a noise like when you are turning the page of a book. You can also get a peek of my Philodendron Xandu in this pic. 

An attempt to take a picture of my buried palms. 

A cool looking bloom head on my Butterfly Hedychium Ginger. 

Wide angle pool view

A different perspective on the Plumeria

The pool area plants from the gazebo 

My favorite palm tree of all time. It's definitely a commonly sold one here so it's not too special in that sense, but this is the 3rd year I've had it and while most of my tropicals start to look a little tired after being potted up for that long, this palm tree looks better than it did when I got it!

Another beautiful palm and one I like just as much as my Adondila is my Bottle palm. It's been around for 2 summers now and it's definitely a favorite of mine. It's doing well despite the change in seasons becoming more noticeable now! 

I really like this area also. Much better than it's been in past years. I finally found a nice combination of plants to bring color to one of the shadier spots in my yard (but it still gets intense late afternoon sun during the summertime)

Here's what you see when you first walk into the backyard! That path you see eventually leads into the front yard. 

Thanks for looking! I hope you enjoyed!