A spring jaunt through

[MattyB]

Well I didn't have to travel anywhere except my own backyard, but here's some spring pics.

First off, thanks to Pogobob (Bob deJong) for this nice new bromeliad.  It'll turn bright orange in the summer sun! I can't wait.

[MattyB]

...and a young Ficus dammeropsis courtesy of El blanco (Jeff white).  He did a really good job of getting these guys to root out strongly.  As soon as it warmed up it started putting out leaves.

[MattyB]

Capoxylon macrospermum opening up it's new spring leaf inside of my greenhouse.  

"I wanna go out and play, Matty"

"No Carpoxy, you're much to young, maybe next year" ???

[MattyB]

A little Burretiokentia dumasii just for fun.  This is a good little grower for such a small plant. I've been pleasantly surprised.

[MattyB]

One of my favorites, Geonoma undata.

[MattyB]

G. undata again.  I love the irregular leaflets and the ribbing.  It's quite delicate too.

[MattyB]

A community pot of Zamia variegata.  These are palmsforpleasure's (Colin Wilson) plants awaiting shipping to Australia.  I'm starting to take a liking to them though, what if one just happened to hop into my planter box.....oops!

[MattyB]

Zamia variegata again showing a particularly splotchy leaf.  Colin says that the ones that they have in OZ aren't nearly as colorful as these.

[Kim]

Is it a jardin or a conservatory? (Beaucoup de gravier.)

My Carpoxylon envies your Carpoxylon.  Nice to see little green palms growing.  Oh, and you need more bromeliads.

[MattyB]

Kind of a lame picture but I'm very happy about this.  It's my "Piper" coming back from freezing to the ground!  Now I'll have something to wrap my betel nut in this summer....whew!

[MattyB]

Bananas!  No leaves left after winter but I got bananas! :laugh:

[MattyB]

Hydrangea making a comeback!  I've got a bunch of pennies burried around the roots and I add sulfur stuff to the soil.  Supposedly this sulfur makes the soil acidic which allows the hydrangea to pick up aluminum in the soil which in turn gives you blue flowers instead of pink.  It worked last year! ???

[MattyB]

Cute little Strawberry flower.  I use strawberries as a ground cover.  Tastey too!

[MattyB]

From left to right:  Anemone, bromeliad don't know which one, and cilantro yummmmmmm!

[MattyB]

A foxglove (digitalis purpurea) whose flower got too heavy and fell over only to start growing upright again.  This plant flowered all spring, summer and fall last year and never burned a single leaf in winter.  It's really cool.  The foliage looks like a big green lettuce patch.

[MattyB]

This is one of my very favorite spring flowers: Sparaxis

[MattyB]

more Sparaxis

[MattyB]

and more Sparaxis.  Just let these go to seed before mowing off and next year you'll have more.

[MattyB]

Variegated Cast Iron Plant that Pohonkelapa (Paul Denton) gave me last fall.  It hasn't grown at all but I'm hoping it flushes this spring/summer.  I love the white stripe.  Colocasia in the background trying to come back from a winter melt down.  It literally melted, it wasn't pretty.

[MattyB]

Dead nettle (Lamium sp.).  I use this as a slow growing ground cover.  It dosen't get out of control and puts out a soft carpet of fuzzy leaves.  Tiny flowers are purple.

[MattyB]

Pohonkelapa gave me a runner from his Tetrapanix papyriferus this winter.  It quickly rooted out in the greenhouse and now it's acclimating to sun in it's new spot where my Archontophoenix myolensis died!

[MattyB]

Delonix regia, Royal Poinciana Tree.  I grew this from seed last year and I just potted it in this ornamental metal pot.  It's sheding it's greenhouse grown leaves and the new ones are gearing up for full, hot sun.

[MattyB]

My biggest New Caledonia palm, Kentiopsis oliviformis.  Full sun for at least 6 hours and looks good.

[MattyB]

This is becoming a very popular plant around here.  I've seen it called Cordyline australis or Cordyline hybrid or Fireball.  This is a .99 cent store find and it's got the green leaves w/ red petioles.

[MattyB]

Here's the Cordyline australis popular red form.  I got this one at the .99 cent store last year and put it into full all day sun and it took off.  Love this plant against the green of my grass.

[MattyB]

Ranunculunculunculunculucnulas!

[MattyB]

Aloe variegata in flower and quickly outgrowing it's little pot and sending out suckers.  I'm gonna get you suckers!

[MattyB]

Euphorbia cotinifolia....need I say more

[MattyB]

Well this is just out of hand.  Wandering Jew and Gladiolus just going crazy having a party.

[paulgila]

(MattyB @ Mar. 20 2007,14:01)

QUOTE

Variegated Cast Iron Plant that Pohonkelapa (Paul Denton) gave me last fall.  It hasn't grown at all but I'm hoping it flushes this spring/summer.  I love the white stripe.  Colocasia in the background trying to come back from a winter melt down.  It literally melted, it wasn't pretty.

what would you do without me,matt?

[MattyB]

New Schizolobium planting.  From seed this winter.

[MattyB]

By next spring it should look like this.  Stand back!

[MattyB]

Plumeria, it's about time.

[MattyB]

Dypsis baronii new spike.

[MattyB]

Flowering plum, Prunus sp.

[MattyB]

Pritchardia beccariana in full all day sun.  I'm glad I covered this with a blanket on the coldest nights this winter because it looks perfect and dosen't need to recover like some of my other palms.  This thing just continuously pushes leaf after leaf, it's great!

[MattyB]

Dypsis lutescens showing golden rachis underside.  I think these look the best in as much sun as they can handle without burning.  It brings out so many cool colors in them.  And I've said it before but bloodmeal is a must with this one to keep the leaflets green while everything else turns a nice glaucuous white and golden color.

[MattyB]

Oxalis purpurea

[MattyB]

This is a tree that puts out 2 different kinds of peaches and a type of plum.  It's grafted.  A good space saver for those of us who don't have a room for an orchard.

[MattyB]

Brahea armata throwing a new leaf.  It's for sale if anyone wants a 15 gallon PM me.