There is always something to do in a South Florida garden

My Fire Dragon bush needed a trim for the summer.  Sometime during the fall I will do a hard cut back.

Before

This corner of the garden is under the mango trees and it gets shade all day.  I am using the white tubes as planters for ferns.   I got a new fern for my collection an Autumn Fern.

I cleaned this shady area and replanted the African Spear plants in the back.  I am not sure what to plant here, I am thinking a combination of Caladium and other shade loving plants.

This week at the DragonFly Garden

The Gardenia bush is full of buds and new flowers

I purchased four Milk Weed plants at Home Depot for my back garden.  They all come with Monarch eggs, this morning all four plants were down to sticks.

I have Blue Porter flowers all over the back garden, they are invasive and spread easily.  The flowers are very popular with pollinators, specially bees and Zebra butterflies. 

Some bromeliad don't flower every year, getting two beautiful bright orange flowers side by side is rare.  

 

Dividing ground orchids

 The front of my garden was full of ground orchids, they were planted several years ago.  Ground orchids do very well in the front of the house, where the afternoon sun can be hard on any plant specially during the summer months.  The last couple of years the orchids were not blooming as much and looked a bit crowded.  I decided to take them all out and divide them,  I am not sure if this orchid can be divided,  we will see soon if it was a mistake. 

Before

Mixing lavender with pentas and a ti plant for the front door

This past year I eliminated several plants that were covering the old back garden fence.  I don't like looking at a 30 year old wooden fence, it needs to be cover with some greenery.  In this corner of the garden I had a very healthy bunch of heliconias but with time they have moved on to my neighbor's garden where he is enjoying them.  I replanted my Engels Trumpet in this area and moved a few potted plants to cover the fence.

This was my mother's favorite plant, she always called it "Malanga".  When she passed away two years ago I inherited twelve of this potted plants.  I could not leave them at the house when it was sold, so I took them all home.  I kept some and gave away the others to family and friends.  It turns out that the real name is Dieffenbachia plants and is also known as "Dumb Cane and "Mother-in-law's tongue.  This plant is also highly toxic.

I love my new Iris

The Orange Gaiger tree is flowering.  The combination of the orange flowers and the bright green leaves makes this flowering tree one of my favorites.

This is why I have so many bromeliads

The Dragonflies and Zebra butterflies are returning for their summer stay in garden.

This is the time of year when we South Florida gardener go to war against the dreaded Oxalis weeds.  This year, I decided to coexist with them in some parts of the garden.  The flowers are not that bad.