Spring in Northwest Florida 2017

[Matthew92]

On spring break this week. Was in the mood to take some shots in the yard and share 'em with you all! Kind of a gloomy, very cool, rainy day- but still, things are popping. Unfortunately it looks like we'll get in the 30's later this week. Just hope it doesn't get to freezing. We usually have one last cold spell like this here in March.

Scored this great find at a local nursery about a month ago! So excited. The lady there said they really do have a bold, pink color when they bloom. All research I've done shows this variety is at least zone 8b hardy. I was going to plant them in the ground, but they looked so good in these planters against the house (I had them moved out on the patio to get the rain), I'll leave 'em in in the pots until they outgrow them.

[Matthew92]

My cactus collection. Some of these I've grown from seed. The tall spindly ones are a purple type of dragonfruit I got from S. Florida. Opuntia on left was some kind of miniature type with hardly any thorns, forget species name but the variety was called "Joseph's coat" and has colorful flowers. Little golden one on right I forget what it is. All my cactus love some good water in the spring, and really respond with good growth when the hot temps come in late spring into summer.

Far left: Golden Barrell cactus (Echinocactus grusonii), little one immediately to the right is a fishhook barrell cactus (Ferocactus wislizeni) which I grew from seed 10 years ago, to the right of that is a Opuntia microdasys "angel wings," big one to the right of that is Opuntia engelmannii (cutting from a larger plant I also grew from seed 10 yrs ago), the golden one in front was advertised as "Easter lily cactus" from one of the big box stores, little one in the orange pot on the right I forget what it is (not doing very well). All the rest are seedlings of a large, robust Opuntia I came across in Lake City Florida almost a year ago.  

Here's the mother plant of the aforementioned Opuntia from Lake City, FL.

[Matthew92]

Native trumpet honeysuckle blooms very early (Lonicera sempervirens).

Pomegranates leafing out (unfortunately this area has become more shaded over the years, we're thinking of trying to move them, although I'm not sure how easy that will be)

Shade garden. These ferns have done very well. One of them is Japanese holly fern, and another is Autumn fern (Dryopteris erythrosora). Nice plants, they stay evergreen through winter. We had 22 degrees this year.

[Matthew92]

Citrus trees have basically fully leaved out already. From right: ponkan tangerine (planted spring 2009), ruby red grapefruit (spring 2010), glen navel orange (spring 2009), parson brown orange (spring 2011 I think), and meyer lemon (spring 2009).

Meyer lemon bloom

Bananas coming back

[Matthew92]

Although hard to tell in the picture, the blueberry actually has a good little bit of fruit on it this year. Nice dependable plant for this area.

Dioon edule. Very slow growing. I think it's a little over 5 years old now. Although it has had a complex history. Seemingly mortality injured by mechanical damage at one point, only to have it sprout right back, and numerous transplants. Unfortunately I'm worried this is a little too wet of a spot for it. Almost a slight depression in the soil where it is, and the rain runs heavily off the roof behind it. When it rains a lot, the trunk gets a bunch of mold or fungus on it. Still, it seems to be doing okay.

Edited March 13, 2017 by Opal92

[Matthew92]

Red cordyline australis I planted last year. It wasn't labeled as to what variety at the nursery: although I think it is red star. Curious to see how it handled being in ground here. I had another one in a little more exposed area that croaked. I think it was the high heat and more sun there: it would dry out more too. This one had some more plants growing up around it providing more shade and it did very well putting out a good amount of leaves last year. Did okay with lighter freezes, but the one cold spell in the low 20's (22 max low) gave it a good bronzing and the newest leaves coming out were pretty zapped. Still waiting for it to do something.

Red bottlebrush with some nice blooms. It was probably less than waist high when planted there in 2009 or 2010. It sure grew fast in its early years. But lately it seems to be suffering from nutritional deficiency, and I just noticed that one of the several stems coming from the bottom has died. Will try to fertilize it more. A little worried it might be succumbing to something worse though.

[Matthew92]

Azaleas blooming in the neighborhood.

Our sagos. Unfazed by 22 degrees. Also, so far we've been successful at keeping the asian cycad scale at bay. Heavy applications of horticultural oil seems to do the trick.

 

Yucca filamentosa already putting out healthy growth. These replaced a very nice (but unfortunately not completely cold hardy) Agave angustifolia that had been growing like gangbusters until upper teens in 2014.

[Matthew92]

Locquat putting out good growth. Dug this up as a sucker from a larger tree back in 2007. It was maybe 3 feet high when I dug it up then.

Longleaf pine that sprouted on it's own here about 7 years ago. They are very slow growing when in this "grass" stage. During this time they put a very large taproot down in the ground. They are fire resistant at this stage. They can remain like this for over 10 years. But eventually they will suddenly gain height very fast. They try to grow out of this next stage quickly to get tall enough to avoid fire damage. It has been fun watching this little guy grow over the years: it's putting out a new flush of needles now. Maybe it will start growing more vertically this year.This tree is important to me. It represents the will for this species to make a comeback. 97 percent of the longleaf pine forest that covered much of the American Southeast was logged out around the 1800's. The longleaf pine ecosystem is one of the most ecologically diverse in the United States. Here's a good site describing the longleaf pine and it's ecosystem.

[Matthew92]

A South Florida Slash pine (Pinus elliottii var. densa). I bought this at a nursery in Redland, Florida back in 2013. Their native habitat is to grow on limestone rock in extreme South Florida. The habitat where they come from is one of the most endangered in the world. This one seems to be tolerating the extremely sandy soil here and N. Florida conditions just fine. Here's a link where you can learn more about the South Florida Pine Rockland habitat.

Amaryllis about to bloom.

[Matthew92]

Philodendron selloum coming back after winter defoliation. One of my favorite plants.

Red shrimp plant. Very hardy. All the growth you see here if from last year. It survived 22 degrees, defoliated, but growth is resuming from the same stems! Also you can see a little bit of a bloom on the far right.

Ginger garden. Mostly white butterfly ginger in here. The sand pine we keep bonsai-ed: fits nicely into that spot.

[Matthew92]

Strelizia nicolai coming back fast after defoliation this winter. I find damage starts at around 27 degrees. But it is stem/root hardy to at least 8b temps though.

Laurus nobilis (bay laurel). Slower but steady grower- starting to bud out at the top for new growth. Nice evergreen. Hope to find a good spot for it in the ground when it gets bigger. 

These weird mushrooms are sprouting up around the yard with the rain. Looks like some sort of alien creature. When it gets to a certain maturity and you tap on the top of it, a little cloud of brown spore dust comes out of that little hole.

 

[Matthew92]

Here's the Strelizia nicolai this past late October. Sad to see the leaves go, but it comes back really fast.

[Matthew92]

The big clump of bananas are resuming growth at the top. Gives more of a chance for it to flower earlier in the year. I've come close to getting ripe fruit before, we'll see what it does this year. It is a Thai finger banana.

 

[NorCalKing]

On 3/13/2017, 4:09:20, Opal92 said:

Strelizia nicolai coming back fast after defoliation this winter. I find damage starts at around 27 degrees. But it is stem/root hardy to at least 8b temps though.

Laurus nobilis (bay laurel). Slower but steady grower- starting to bud out at the top for new growth. Nice evergreen. Hope to find a good spot for it in the ground when it gets bigger. 

These weird mushrooms are sprouting up around the yard with the rain. Looks like some sort of alien creature. When it gets to a certain maturity and you tap on the top of it, a little cloud of brown spore dust comes out of that little hole.

 

 

On 3/13/2017, 4:03:56, Opal92 said:

Philodendron selloum coming back after winter defoliation. One of my favorite plants.

Red shrimp plant. Very hardy. All the growth you see here if from last year. It survived 22 degrees, defoliated, but growth is resuming from the same stems! Also you can see a little bit of a bloom on the far right.

Ginger garden. Mostly white butterfly ginger in here. The sand pine we keep bonsai-ed: fits nicely into that spot.

 Wow, I'm really surprised so many of these defoliate in your climate. I'm also in 9B here on the west coast, and grow both the Philodendron selloum and giant bird of paradise and did not lose any leaves over the winter. And I'm sure I hit 27f

[annafl]

Nice documentation of cold hardiness of some plants.  Is a low of 22 typical for you?  You are in 8b or 8a?

[Sandy Loam]

Nice collection of plants for your zone 8b location.

Opal92, your streilitzia looks more like streilitzia Reginae than streilitzia Nicolai to me.

I have often wondered why the panhandle is so much colder than the rest of Florida, apart from its northern location (Jacksonville is just as far north but doesn't get as cold).

[nitsua0895]

On 3/13/2017, 5:11:38, Opal92 said:

Citrus trees have basically fully leaved out already. From right: ponkan tangerine (planted spring 2009), ruby red grapefruit (spring 2010), glen navel orange (spring 2009), parson brown orange (spring 2011 I think), and meyer lemon (spring 2009).

Meyer lemon bloom

Bananas coming back

This is an excellent garden! How do your citrus trees fair once temps go below 30F? I bought a Moro Blood Orange tree recently and I'm going to plant it in full sun very soon. The tag says it's cold hardy to 27F and if that's the case I will certainly be using a greenhouse during cold snaps. The past two winters have been zone 9 for us but I know a harsh 8a could happen any year so I need to be prepared.

And that Red Bottlebrush is very interesting. I might have to give it a try here sometime.

[Sandy Loam]

Opal92, is your bottlebrush tree the weeping type? (I think it's Callistemon Viminalis, but I'm not sure)  Whatever that type is, it also remains evergreen in my region too and it might do the same where you are, Nitsua, in Alabama.  Another type of bottlebrush tree which his supposed to be evergreen and quite cold hardy is Callistemon Rigida.  It does not have the weeping look, but it does have the red blooms at this time of year. 

I recall other types of bottlebrush tree which are not at all cold-hardy. I used to have two of them:  one that could not withstand any cold and another (Callestemon Rigida) which was very cold-hardy.   You really have to know what you're buying, Nitsua.

[Matthew92]

On 3/14/2017, 6:50:46, NorCalKing said:

 

 Wow, I'm really surprised so many of these defoliate in your climate. I'm also in 9B here on the west coast, and grow both the Philodendron selloum and giant bird of paradise and did not lose any leaves over the winter. And I'm sure I hit 27f

Yeah, 27 is just enough for it to not cause appreciable damage. Will be very little or maybe even none.

On 3/15/2017, 6:43:27, annafl said:

Nice documentation of cold hardiness of some plants.  Is a low of 22 typical for you?  You are in 8b or 8a?

I am 8b, but several winters in the last 9 years have been 9a. This was one of them.

On 3/21/2017, 10:19:55, Sandy Loam said:

Nice collection of plants for your zone 8b location.

Opal92, your streilitzia looks more like streilitzia Reginae than streilitzia Nicolai to me.

I have often wondered why the panhandle is so much colder than the rest of Florida, apart from its northern location (Jacksonville is just as far north but doesn't get as cold).

It is S. nicolai. It still has not got an appreciable trunk which maybe makes it look a little different. I have a streilitzia, and the leaves are less than half as big as this nicolai. 

Also, I think we are that much colder here because the intrusions of cold air are still more robust before petering out farther East.

On 3/22/2017, 3:56:30, nitsua0895 said:

This is an excellent garden! How do your citrus trees fair once temps go below 30F? I bought a Moro Blood Orange tree recently and I'm going to plant it in full sun very soon. The tag says it's cold hardy to 27F and if that's the case I will certainly be using a greenhouse during cold snaps. The past two winters have been zone 9 for us but I know a harsh 8a could happen any year so I need to be prepared.

And that Red Bottlebrush is very interesting. I might have to give it a try here sometime.

I think blood oranges are more zone 9 hardy, so you will probably have to cover it quite a bit up there. I try to cover mine when the forecast temp is at 26 or below. Although this year I didn't get around to covering them when the temp got to 22- my more tender ones defoliated with this but come back fine. It's the upper teens that really do serious damage. Of mine, the Meyer lemon is the most cold tender (even though it is one of the more cold hardy lemons)- it defoliated this winter, followed by the glen navel orange- defoliated this winter, then the ruby red grapefruit- partial defoliation, then the ponkan tangerine, and then the parson brown orange- basically no defoliation.  There are some good citrus varieties that are good for 8b or even 8a. Satsuma tangerine is one of the best. There's a nursery south of Tallahassee, FL that specializes in cold hardy citrus- it's called Just Fruits and Exotics. There's a good listing and description of the more cold hardy varieties for zone 8. Just Fruits and Exotics.

On 3/23/2017, 1:45:00, Sandy Loam said:

Opal92, is your bottlebrush tree the weeping type? (I think it's Callistemon Viminalis, but I'm not sure)  Whatever that type is, it also remains evergreen in my region too and it might do the same where you are, Nitsua, in Alabama.  Another type of bottlebrush tree which his supposed to be evergreen and quite cold hardy is Callistemon Rigida.  It does not have the weeping look, but it does have the red blooms at this time of year. 

I recall other types of bottlebrush tree which are not at all cold-hardy. I used to have two of them:  one that could not withstand any cold and another (Callestemon Rigida) which was very cold-hardy.   You really have to know what you're buying, Nitsua.

My red one isn't the weeping type- I think it is Callistemon citrinus. But yes, it does appear the three pink ones I got are rigida which it sounds like are more cold hardy.

Edited March 25, 2017 by Opal92

[Matthew92]

Well, it is still spring! Here are some pictures showing much more growth close to 2 months after the previous pictures I took.

[Matthew92]

Bananas coming back even more.

 

[Matthew92]

Gardenia blooming on the West side of the house. I think this variety compared to others is my favorite smell. It's called "Klein's Hardy Gardenia."

 

Other blueberry bush. This one is a different variety than the one I posted above. Fruit seems to mature later.

[Matthew92]

Meyer lemon having a second bloom. Always enjoy the smell.

[Matthew92]

Recently planted some cordyline into our "ginger garden." Good eastern spot that gets shifting shade. Not as blazing hot as on the west side of the house where I had been trying some (posted above). Recently got 2 robust looking red ones at Lowe's. They weren't labeled, but I'm pretty sure they are "Red star." (which apparently tolerate SE US conditions better). 

 

Edited May 11, 2017 by Opal92

[Matthew92]

Strelitzia nicolai coming back quickly.

 

 

[Matthew92]

Recently got a Ponderosa lemon. (also called the 3 pound lemon)- it's actually a hybrid between a citron and a lemon. This one is too cold tender to grow in ground here, so it will be a potted plant as long as I can keep it. Ponderosa blooms almost constantly: and I've found that to be true with this one as almost every stem has developed flowers.

I think I will cut this lemon off since the plant is so small and it would put all it's energy into this fruit.

Edited May 24, 2017 by Opal92