The Hot, the Loud, and the Proud! April

Last month I didn't have too much to offer in the way of garden color, but now things are really heating up!

I would have to say that my bottlebrushes embody total hotness!  My run of the mill lemon bottlebrushes did really well this winter, and not only did the plant out in the sun (pictured above) bloom, but so did my tree in the swampy and shady back corner of the yard!
I have another variety of bottlebrush with larger and stiffer leaves that got hit very hard by the cold for some reason, but its still going to bloom soon.  It has fuzzy, pink tinged new growth and its flowers are more mauve colored.  Does anyone know what the bottlebrush in the photo to the left is?

My firecracker plant is also very hot, and barely took a hit this winter!  I've seen many photos of this in the resorts of Bali, so I think I've found a good and dependable plant for my Balinese courtyard garden out front!  In the background are some weeping yaupon holly trees, which really work nicely with the weeping form of the firecracker shrub.

My Neoregelia "Red Band" specimens are definitely loud, especially now that the chartreuse banding has started to appear!

For some reason "proud" brings to mind big and bold leaves, taking center stage!  You can see that my Alocasia "California" has really taken off in the warmth of spring, and soon the whole island bed will be filled by its big and glossy leaves.  As soon as the rainy season starts, I'll find about 30 to 50 tree frogs taking shelter in the water filled leaf axils.

My other "proud" leaves belong to my ice cream banana. I really like the powdery pink leaf stalks and lime green leaves, but hopefully by next year I'll be gushing about the custard flavored ice blue bananas!

Visit Noel's A Plant Fanatic in Hawaii blog for other posts that are Hot, Loud and also Proud!
http://aplantfanatic.blogspot.com/2010/04/hot-loud-and-proud-2.html