Florida-style winter wonderland

Last night it was supposed to drop into the 20s for anywhere between eight and twelve hours. Needless to say, I didn't bother to cover my plants. If you've been reading this blog you know I ascribe to the "tough love" gardening philosophy. Plus I'd gotten a bit complacent -- the previous freezes that were forecast hadn't hurt anything in the yard. Not so this time. Here's the body count:

Crinum in front yard



Backyard bed



This hibiscus doesn't look too bad in the photo, but it has that distinct droopy look in person. It was definitely zapped.



I meant to pull in my white bird of paradise but forgot. Thankfully it looks unharmed.



And finally, here are some shots of the orchard that I drive by every day on my way to the office. Isn't it magical? This is the first time I've seen them ice it down. I guess they were worried about the blooms and new growth that had started to appear on the peach and plum trees. The icicles remind me of a winter wonderland! (Click on the photos to see them bigger.)

Morning jewels

The last several days have been cold, at least by Florida standards. But a warm front pushed in last night and triggered some rain showers. When I woke up my yard was shrouded in fog and the plants looked like they were covered in diamond dust as the morning sunlight danced through the residual water droplets. I had to snap a few photos before heading in to work. As much as I'm a night person, I really do love morning moments like this.

Safe garden voyeurism

Gardeners like to enjoy their own gardens, but they also love a chance to peek at what their neighbors are doing. Occasionally, this lands a gardener in a sticky situation. At the recent Garden Writers Association conference, I learned of a safe way to get glimpse what's blooming in other garden bloggers' yards through Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day (thanks, Dee).

Initiated by May Dreams Gardens, countless bloggers now participate in Garden Bloggers Bloom Day. They simply create a post on their blog to showcase what's blooming in their gardens and then post in the comment box of the GBBD post at May Dreams Gardens. No rules. No requirements. Just good garden fun.

So here's my first go, albeit a day late.

I'm happy to announce that the crinum in the backyard is blooming. You may remember that this is the one that was affected by spider mites. You can still see a bit of the damaged foliage in the picture. The mites have reappeared, but I treated promptly so all seems fine.

Crinum procerum var. splendens 'Queen Emma'

The Camellia sasanqua by my carport also popped open its first two blooms of the season. It always surprises me. Most of the year it's a stately evergreen shrub and them boom! Once fall arrives it's covered in pink blossoms.

Camellia sasanqua (unknown variety)

The Phillippine violet is also in bloom. This one was given to me by Dr. Bob, one of the other Master Gardeners who trained with me last fall. Thanks, Bob! It really is a great plant.

Barleria cristata

The clerodendrum at the front of the carport has been blooming all summer and continues to do so. Here's an interesting point about this plant. I had heard that it could be overly aggressive, though I'd never had any problems with it. No problems, that is, until I dug around in that bed to remove the invasive sword fern that was growing there and to add a few crinum bulbs I bought at Home Depot. Now the clerodendrum is putting up shoots as if its life depended on it!

Clerodendrum thomsoniae

And finally, the pinecone ginger flower stalks have turned a fabulous red. I cut a few of them so that I could enjoy them in the house.

Zingiber zerumbet

Final Fay update

Injured crinum
Originally uploaded by sassycrafter

The south winds from Tropical Storm Fay snapped a few leaves on the 'Queen Emma' crinum in the front yard. It should be fine, but it doesn't look quite as pretty now. I'm hoping this one will bloom again soon.

And before Fay left Florida, it dumped some additional rain on us. Some of the final feeder bands were more intense than the main storm was. Emily blogged about the flooding in her yard. I also got a bit of flooding, but it cleared up within a day.

Low spot in backyard:



Outside my front door:

Sick crinum update -- mites!

Sick crinum update (normal photo)
Originally uploaded by sassycrafter

Here's what my crinum is looking like these days. A few of the leaves have fallen off since the last shot. I talked with a few people about the office about its decline and Tom suggested it could be spider mites.

Bingo! I had seen some webs on the plant but had assumed they were from beneficial spiders. When I looked more closely, sure enough, there were spider mites on the undersides of the leaves. Apparently they were sucking the plant dry.

It was too late that night to take chemical measures, so I blasted the plant with the hose, which is often a good first line of defense against insects. Then later I treated the plant with a pyrethrin-based insecticide. I would have preferred an oil-soap spray, but I happened to have the other product handy.

I'll reinspect in a few days and see if the mites have disappeared. If not, I'll need to treat them again.

Sick crinum?

Sick crinum?
Originally uploaded by sassycrafter

I think one of my 'Queen Emma' crinums is sick. (Note: I'm not entirely sure they're 'Queen Emma' crinums--it's just my best guess based on the foliage and flowers.)

The first thing I noticed is that all the little pups around its base turned ghostly pale and shriveled up. You can see the papery remains of some of the pups, plus a few that are hanging on in their current pallid state.

Don't be confused by the bright green leaves you see at the base--those are actually two bromeliads and aren't baby crinums.

Now the foliage on the main plant is discoloring. Some of the older leaves have severe yellowing along the margins, along with some rust coloration.

The youngest leaves in the center of the plant look like someone sucked the color out of them. They're looking rather pinkish. I guess if they're losing chlorophyll, then the red pigments that naturally appear in this variety would be more visible.


I'm going to do some research online to see if I can get to the bottom of this. Anyone else out there reading this post have any clues?
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NOTE: It seems that spider mites might be the culprit. I posted an update here.

Canna!

Canna peeking through the soil
Originally uploaded by sassycrafter

My first canna of the season is popping its little head above the surface of the soil. I planted this 'Wyoming' canna on February 17, if memory serves me correctly. We've had two cold snaps since then, but they don't seem to have hindered this little guy's debut into the world.

The 'Wyoming' cannas have striking bronze/burgundy foliage and produce bright orange flowers -- a perfect look for a bold garden!

I also planted some 'Bengal Tiger' canna rhizomes (variegated yellow-green leaves and red flowers, also called 'Pretoria'), three Scadoxus multiflora corms (fabulous red globular flowers), three crinum bulbs (classic pale pink flowers), and some white/green caladiums.

All are in the ground, and so far the cannas and the scadoxus are the only ones popping up. I bought them all at my local Home Depot, but you can also get them through online retailers like Brent and Becky's Bulbs.

By the way, the purple rod you see to the right of the canna is a knitting needle. Since I'm planning to add more plants to the bed, I wanted to make sure that I'd know where I had planted the rhizomes so that I could avoid disturbing them if they were slow to pop up. I have a bunch of old knitting needles on hand, so I figured they'd work great. I was even able to color-code them -- the 'Wyoming' got a purplish-colored needle since it has somewhat purple foliage. If you don't have extra knitting needles at your house, you could also use skewers used for making shish kebabs. They're cheap and readily available at the supermarket.

Sad plants

Well, it finally happened. We got a freeze--the thing that tropical gardeners fear. Needless to say, many of my plants are looking pretty crispy right about now, including my coveted crinum lilies. I had read that they're cold hardy into the 20s, but that doesn't mean that their foliage can't get burned back. Chances are the plant itself is fine and will put out new growth in spring.

I'm guessing the crinums will recover, since this is what typically happens with my Dwarf Cavendish bananas. Each time we have a hard freeze--this time my indoor/outdoor thermometer registered a 29.8 degrees as a low--the leaves get fried. But time after time, the bananas put out new leaves and are back to their perky tropical selves by mid-summer.

Check back for updates on the crinum recovery process!

Tip: Always wait until after the last freeze before pruning back any freeze-damaged plants. If you prune earlier, you might encourage additional damage if another hard freeze comes along.

Sweet blooms

One of my new crinums is blooming! I wish I could somehow capture the wonderful fragrance so that the photo could be scratch and sniff. It reminds me a bit of a cross between and orange blossom and jasmine. Absolutely wonderful.