Tonight I'm going to share some of my favorite photos from the first year of The Rainforest Garden! Maybe I'm lazy, or maybe its just because I can't take any photos because the sun is down by the time I'm off from work. Mostly its those two reasons, but I still want to share a mashup of some of my favorite gardening moments this year. Photos with black borders are from the beginning of the year.
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Passiflora alatocaerulea blooming in my garden.
Click here to see more of it.
Moonflower bloom coated with dew
Echeveria bloom spike forming
Everglades (paurotis) palm in my garden, adding a tropical touch.
Aechmea cylindrata "blue cone"
A tropical patch in my garden with alpinia nutans, paurotis palm, and "Willi's Gold" ti plant.
Japanese bird's nest fern unfurling new leaves in my courtyard
Easter cactus growing epiphytically on a chunk of tree fern trunk... on my balcony.
Firespike bloom, backlit by morning sun.
Heliconia 'costa flores' in my backyard. I overwintered it last winter and hope to do the same again!
Gardenia blossom, floated in a bowl of water.
Succulent container at the Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens.
My mini rainforest / vertical garden.
Christmas cactus and tillandsia combo
Shaving brush tree at Deerfield Beach Arboretum
My neoregelia 'Beau Geoff', one of my favorites.
Neoregelia 'tequila' in front of a nandina 'firepower'... in my front garden.
"Sago Palm" (cycas revoluta) in my front yard.
One of the toughest bromeliads in a cold winter, neoregelia spectabilis.
The "rosy predator snail" prowling about my alocasia. Check out
Garden Adventures for more on this awesome snail!
Agapanthus (lily of the nile) on the verge of opening its flowers. I like it more before they open, how about you?
This green anole is a florida native, and I love it so.
The
palm arboretum at Florida State College is a great place to check out if you're in the Jacksonville area!
Another green anole! I'm a sucker for these inquisitive and gentle creatures.
An agapanthus bloom bursting open!
Neoregelia 'red bands' has jaw dropping foliage, so the flowers are just a bonus.
Curcuma (hidden ginger) leaves are pleated and lush, like huge tropical hostas!
My alocasia 'california' is one of my favorite plants, and its so resilient in my zone 9a climate
It makes a great home for treefrogs too!
There were lots of great moments with tropical plants for me this year, but the best time was spent sitting under this pink tabebuia tree, craning our necks up at a Norfolk Island pine while eating French pastries with my fiance in Winter Park. Oh yeah, and we went to Ikea and Anthropologie that day too... best day ever.
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I love the shaving brush tree!
ReplyDeleteAlso the anoles. They're my little buddies. I've only seen a tree frog once. When I first met Chuck and came down for a visit, we were sitting on the back porch and one was crawling up the siding...neat little things.
Great photos, thanks for sharing :)
ReplyDeleteWhat a lovely recap! My fav photo (that I don't remember having seen here) is the Christmas Cactus and Tillandsia combo! That looks absolutely awesome! You can bet I will be moving my tillandsias into my CC, right after they bloom!!! Just so awesome looking!!! Thanks for showing!!!
ReplyDeleteA truly great crop of photos and a wonderful idea. I scares me to think of trying to do a similar post, I could spend way too many hours just going back and looking at pictures...danger!
ReplyDeleteVery enjoyable to see all those views again. I think your "tropical patch" pics may be my favorite. Love all the leaf textures.
ReplyDeleteFun trip down memory lane! Of course, the broms are the best pics. (I'm not prejudiced or anything.) The Lily of the Nile is a close second. I *heart* agapanthus!
ReplyDeleteSo many "great" photos. If I had to choose my favorite it would be the cute little tree frog on the large leaf. Hope you can get out in your garden again soon.
ReplyDeleteKyna:
ReplyDeleteAnoles are my little buddies too! Oh, and I love Kyna and Chuck stories... its nice to hear about other couples consisting of bestest friends. :)
Albin:
Glad you liked them! I loved your cymbidium post and thought the blooms made a perfect holiday decoration. Hope the plants took the freeze alright!
Julie:
Yay! I really loved the tilly and christmas cactus combo too... I even bought the christmas cactus specifically for that purpose! You'll share some pics of yours too, right? :)
Danger Garden:
ReplyDeleteI thought that a photo recap would be a quick and easy post but it took forever to choose the ones I liked most! I guess it was nice to see the pre-freeze plants. :(
NanaK:
That 'tropical patch' isn't looking so great right now I'm sure... but it will all recover! I still haven't seen the damage from the last freeze, I can only assume and go by what my parents told me.
Floridagirl:
ReplyDeleteJust so ya know, my 'tequila has two pups on it now! and the agapanthus didn't do so hot after blooming this year thanks to that drought... even though It was flooded last year. Gotta love florida weather.
Susan:
Thats one of my favorites too! I guess I did post it in a post called "My favorite photos of the year" after all... Such a cute little froggy. :)
They are all so pretty. I especially like the long shots of the textures of the plants in your wonderful tropical garden.
ReplyDeleteI think the Everglades palm is my favorite but the Aechmea is a close second. Thanks for the link to my snail post!
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed every single one of these, Steve! You certainly have an eye for photography. I wish I could grow some of the things you do there, but I'll have to settle for oodles of tulips in the spring. Poor me. LOLOL
ReplyDeleteMy favorite - the blue cone pic. Thanks for sharing these great photos with us. They are worth repeating! I hope your blog/album will have many more of these in the year coming. Happy new year!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful photos! love the blue cone
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