Good Morning Gardeners,
I live in S. Florida (Zone 10B) and gardening is a year round activity for me. I have a lot of specimen plants, mainly palm trees and a couple of flowering trees, one of which blooms year round. As a result, I have a canopy that is tropical in appearance, but creating an interesting and colorful understory is a challenge due to our 2 season weather of dry or rainy and also locating the right lighting conditions.
In the dry season I prefer to not water much, just some spot watering on occasion. So any annuals and perennials that require moisture frequently, due to our dry conditions combined with beach sand, the plants always want to drink. My solution to my watering predicament has been to use bromeliads in my landscaping and lot’s of them. They are native to Central and South America and many are epiphytic and grow in the canopy of rainforests. They require water as well, being rainforest plants but just a small amount to fill a cup or a well in the center of the plant that holds water for awhile. Debris that falls into these reservoirs consist of dust, insect bodies, and leaves. This is how they fertilize themselves.
The leaves of a bromeliad are stiff, and can be serrated and sharp. The plants themselves are gorgeous, but when they bloom they can be spectacular. The flower itself, is quite small and usually insignificant, but it is the bract that makes them pop in any setting. The bract can last for months on end before fading, some fade in a day or two. Once the bract is spent the mother plant will die, a pup or multiple pups (new plants) emerge, and after a couple years they too will bloom. It is a never ending supply of plants for me and I often separate them and give as gifts to neighbors and friends.
Here are a few images of the plants that I landscape with. I do not know the names of most of them. I never need to buy them (they can be quite expensive) and I have mats of them that I can use for various gardening projects.
The bract on this species does not last long. Just a day or two. The leaves are like stained glass when elevated and the sun hits it just right.
This plant was a gift from stix. I have a sizable clump of them now, but I still keep this near my small goldfish pond. The bract lasts for months and gets more gorgeous as time goes on.
This is called Queen’s Tear. One of the few bromeliads I actually purchased. It prefers shade and I have a difficult time finding some with our relentless tropical sunshine. The bract does not last long, maybe a week.
Another gift from stix. This bract lasts for months. The plant can tolerate full sun. If you notice the purple tips, those are the flowers. The flowers are always the first to brown and wither away.
I love this one. I’ve had to move it a few times because it doesn’t appear to enjoy much sunshine and I have been unable so far to find a great location for them.
I don’t grow much of my food. The conditions require so much effort on my part that I just don’t want to extend. I do grow lemon, papaya, bananas and pineapple. I think I will try once again to see if I can get a tomato plant to grow. I will need to get it in the ground soon.
That’s what is happening in my garden. What is happening in your neck of the woods?