Bromeliads, the gift that keeps on giving

I have become some kind of a bromeliad whisper to my family, friends, and neighbors.  I am constantly getting requests for bromeliads from my garden.  I don’t mind, I have so many that it makes me happy to see them find new homes.  The word is out if you need a plant in your garden, I am the person to call.  Broms are the perfect plants for non-gardeners, they are low maintenance and can survive most extreme weather conditions.  It is very difficult to kill these plants, they thrive without any attention.  I give my bromeliads away with a short tutorial on how to care for them, the most important thing to keep them healthy and reproducing, is to once a year take out the old plant and replant the new pops.     

 My favorite Bromeliad

New flowers in the garden this week

This week at the DragonFly Garden

I refresh this corner of the garden with new plants and fresh mulch 

New umbrella for the outside table

Orchids among the garden

Today my wife and I visited Fairchild Tropical Garden, for their annual International Orchid Festival.  A perfect day to be outdoors in South Florida.  The garden had many orchid sellers from all over the world, beautiful displays of orchids throughout the garden and great food.  As far as festivals go this is one the best put on by Fairchild every year.

 

These are two of Fairchild's permanent Chihuly glass art on displays throughout the garden. 

 A visit to Fairchild garden is not complete without a stop at The Wings of the Tropics exhibit.  The only place in Miami where you can see thousands of butterflies from all over the world in an enclosed building.

Impressive Fern tree in the butterfly house.  Where can I get one???

How do you tell Spring arrived at the tip of the Florida peninsula?

In a place where the weather does not change much year-around, sometimes is difficult noticing the changing of the seasons.   One way we can tell that Spring has arrived is when all the mango trees are full of flowers.  This year the trees flowered a little late, but they now full of blooms.  Mango trees are not the only trees flowering this time of the year, avocado trees are also in bloom and many other flowering trees like plumerias and the powderpuff.

This is my avocado tree, the one on death row.  It has many flowers, we will see if we get any fruits.

Powderpuff tree

Brasilian Red

The Plumeria tree is beginning to flower

This week at the DragonFly Garden

I did a hard cut back to the Brunfelsia bush. Last year I neglected to do the yearly cut back after the flowering season was over and I paid for it this year.

I found these bromeliads pop in my neighbor's trash and I had to save them. 

Soon this male Painted bunting and all his female harem will be heading north for the summer.

Mourning doves are a common year-round resident in my bird feeder.   They can be a little territorial by keeping other birds away from the feeder.   This particular one did not care how close I was standing.

Sometimes we are in the right place at the right time.

My Angel's Trumpet bloomed for the first time this year.  Some gardeners believe that when this plant flowers, rain is coming soon.

Year around gardening can be exhausting

I am taking a few days off from the garden, as much as I love been outdoors playing in the dirt, sometimes a little time off is called for.  My zone 10b garden requires a constant oversight of plants and weeds and that constant oversight can be a little exhausting.  I am taking the rest of February off, this is the best month weather-wise in South Florida, a perfect time to explore what my town has to offer.  

This week at the DragonFly Garden

The Oxalis weeds are a little difficult to control, so I decided to let them be.

The starburst trees are full of flowers all over my neighborhood.  I like these flowers but the tree can be a bit of a nuisance. 

Mango season is not looking very good this year, must of the trees are not showing many flowers.  This time last year my trees already had small fruits and were full of flowers.

It is difficult to kill a bougainvillea plant.  This is my oldest bougainvillea, it has been in a container for over ten years.  Last month, while all my other plants were blooming this one looked like it was dying.  After much TLC, look at her now. 

 This is one of many Sticks on Fire plants around the garden.  This succulent is so easy to grow and is not bothered by our extreme weather conditions.

If you look closely you can see our local hummingbird looking for food.

Last week I filled two trash cans of old bromeliads, it was time for my least favorite job in the garden.  Taking out the old bromeliads and making room for the new pops for next summer flowering season.

This is what this area looked like last summer.