Category Archives: heliconias

Heliconias for South Florida

Looking to add some tropical vibe to your garden? Look no further than one of my favorite tropical plants, Heliconias. Heliconias come in many different varieties, two of the most common and easiest types to grow in South Florida’s Zone 10 are Parrot flowers and Lobster claw Heliconias.

Meet the Lobster claw Heliconia (Heliconia rostrata). Featuring large, shiny banana-like foliage and thick stems that support large hanging bracts of red and yellow flowers it is difficult to picture a more tropical plant. They originated in rainforests of South and Central America as understory plants. It is written that the flowers evolved to this shape to attract tropical hummingbirds to pollinate them. In my garden, the hummingbirds aren’t around at the same time as the flowers, so I am guessing this is a phenomena that happens much further south.

While some Lobster claw Heliconia can grow to 15 feet tall, these are usually more tropical types in an actual rainforest. The plants grown in Zone 10 are usually smaller and can be damaged with an extraordinarily cold snap.

Lobsterclaw Heliconia are easily grown in a partial shade setting with ample moisture. They like rich, well drained soil and benefit from compost in the planting hole and mulch. I grow them in my garden on the north side of the house under the edge of the roof. They are very happy and provide cut flowers in the summer.

This is a smaller Lobsterclaw Heliconia in my garden. I enjoy cutting these for smaller vases.

Here is a parrot for the garden. Heliconia psittacorum AKA the Parrot flower. I would characterize this as a tropical flowering perennial. They are leafy, grow about two feet tall, enjoy a moist, part shade environment and can spread like mad if happy. I have had these produce flowers almost every month of the year. I believe they slow down with extremes in weather (drought, heat, cold). Below is the “Lady Di” Parrot flower.

This is another long lasting cut flower. I have a few in a vase by my front door.

In a Vase on Monday – Sculptural Elements

This week my garden is sporting many different types of flowers, from classic cottage style to over the top tropical weirdness. I decided to simplify and cut a few Heliconias accented with the buds of a succulent. It is a bit calm in the face of the exuberance of spring.

March is proving to be its usual windy, showery self, so a quick garden tour and a few snips was a good thing this Sunday morning. I used one of my mother’s heirloom vases to set off the simple flower selection.

Heliconias are one of my favorite tropical flowers, last a week in a vase and are very easy to grow. These are Heliconia psittacorum “Lady Di” in red, and “Choconiana” in orange. They have a mind of their own and tend to grow and flower under shrubs, which is annoying if you want to see them or cut them.

This is a bit of Senecio barbertonicus, in bud. The flowers look like the promise of an aster that never quite makes it into a yellow daisy, followed by a pseudo dandelion. Pretty weird, but I do love the foliage and the fact these can be left laying around the garden for weeks and are unfazed as long as they are replanted.

That’s all from my garden this Monday, to see more vases visit Cathy’s blog and follow the links in the comments.

Happy Gardening!!

Six on Saturday – Sun!

It’s a great Saturday morning in South Florida. The drearies have been conquered for the moment and the sun is shining. The flowers perked up and I am finding new blooms in the garden to share this Saturday. Visit Jim’s blog to join Six on Saturday tours of gardens around the world.

Here’s a mad flower from Bromeliadland. This is a Quesnelia testudo. I am not sure of the common name. These do well in my garden and are reliable winter color.

Another mad bromeliad in flower. This is a native Tillandsia, a relative of Spanish Moss, the flowers are brown. This is called Ball Moss (Tillandsia recurvata). It is growing on the trunk of a Bougainvillea.

I finally snagged a Rangpur lime before the vampire rats sucked the juice out. I need a few more for pie.

The mango trees are setting buds. This does not bode well, I think. They usually flower in March and we get fruit in June.

Heliconia psittacorum “Lady Di” expressed her appreciation for all the rain.

Google identified this as Golden Stonecrop (Sedum adolphi Firestorm). This has been in a pot for a few years and has not flowered before.

A question ?? Does anyone know if this is a Dahlia? I planted some tubers of a Dwarf Dahlia in October in this spot and this is coming up. I have found that Dahlias have a mind of their own when deciding to grow.

Thanks for the input and thanks to Jim for hosting.

That’s all from my garden this Saturday. Happy Gardening!!

In a Vase on Monday – Chasing Christmas

Suddenly it is about two weeks until Christmas. How did that happen? Cards have not been sent and I probably have missed the opportunity to buy a live Christmas tree. Sigh. Well, I will check and see if I can get a crunchy, nearly free tree this week. I am still indulging my distaste for fake plants, Christmas trees included. Tree lots are set up in baking South Florida parking lots in December that are not conducive to live plants of any kind. I am seriously considering making a bromeliad cutting Christmas tree.

I have managed to unearth a bit of holiday cheer in the form of a Christmas gift I received long ago from my mother. The holiday chocolate pot. She gave me this the year my husband and I moved to the suburbs of Atlanta. Seemingly (from her perspective) I was going to morph into a 1950s housewife and invite the neighbor ladies in for holiday hot chocolate and cookies (there are matching mugs). This is the first time the chocolate pot has ever been used. I think my mother would have approved its use as a vase.

The plant palette:

Red flowers draping over the side are Nodding Hibiscus (Malvaviscus arboreus); berries are from the native Firebush (Igiveupon properbotanicalname) – these are beginning stage berries, they eventually form juicy black fruit the birds love.

Chartreuse foliage is from Golden Dewdrop (Duranta repens); white spikes are ‘White Flame’ Salvia; red and yellow flowers are ‘Lady Di’ Heliconias (Heliconia psittacorum); foliage is from ‘Mammey’ Croton (Codieum varigatum).

Thanks to Cathy at http://ramblinginthegarden.wordpress.com for hosting this weekly garden meme. Follow the link to see more vases.

Happy Holidays from South Florida.

In a Vase on Monday – Pineapple Perspective

After collecting flowers for my vase, I looked at what I had gathered and thought, “What a nice fall vase”.

Then, it dawned on me that fifteen years ago I would have thought no such thing. Moving to a frost free area changes your perspective on what a fall flower is – and then pineapples easily grow outside here. I have developed a pineapple perspective on gardening.

The flowers in the vase bloom prolifically in the fall and late summer to early fall is the prime pineapple season here. The town I live in, Jensen Beach, was at one time the pineapple capital of the world. Rarely, I run across a wild pineapple plant on the barrier island near my house. These are very sharp, the foliage covered in spines and have small pink pineapples.

The flowers:

The flowers are Parrotflowers (Heliconia psittacorum) “Lady Di” in red, and “Choconiana” in orange. These are hard to beat for a touch of tropical in the garden. The colored foliage is “Mammey” Croton (Codiaeum variegatum “Mammey”), a dwarf Croton that works great if a low shrub is needed. Boston Fern (Nephrolepsis exaltata) provides some green texture. The vase in an olive oil cruet that belonged to my mother.

The pineapple:

This is an overripe miniature pineapple with a twisting top. It is probably really seedy, these can be juiced or used for decoration. Either is a dicey situation as the whole thing is very sharp. That’s why it got left on the plant so long. I did not want to handle it.

That is all this Monday from the land of pineapples. Thanks to Cathy at http://ramblinginthegarden.wordpress.com for hosting. Follow the link to see more vases.

Happy Gardening!!

In a Vase on Monday – Caveman Style

On Sunday morning I got in touch with my inner cave woman and went to the garden to bag my vase. I didn’t use the prop in the photo, instead a pair of clippers was used to hunt and gather some summery flowers from the garden.

The prop. It’s a Native American stone ax head. This is an heirloom from my father, the geologist, who frequently found these near rivers on his field trips in the Southeastern US. I suppose they were using it for bashing fish (or bashing something?!)

The vase is a jar tucked inside a paper bag. It occurred to me the colors would look nice together so, I gave it a try. Lesson learned from this. Put the jar in the bag first. Then add flowers and water.

The flowers: in white, ‘Miss Alice’ Bougainvillea; yellow sunflowers are ‘Brown Eyed Girl’, still flowering at about seven months in the garden; yellow spikes are Thyrallis (Galphimia glauca); bigger red flower is Miniata bromeliad (Aechmea miniata); red bell shaped flowers are Firecracker Plant (Russellia equisetfolium); white daisies are Bidens alba.

The other side:

Even cave women like a little fragrance, the white flowers are ‘Bridal Bouquet’ Frangipani (Plumeria pudica); a few varigated leaves of ‘White Java’ Copperleaf (Acalphya wilkesiana ‘Java White’); and a ‘Lady Di’ Heliconia (Heliconia psittacorum) is in the mix in red and yellow.

My vase is in the bag this Monday. There will be no fish bashing in the garden. Thanks to Cathy at http://ramblinginthegarden.wordpress.com for hosting – follow the link to see more vases.

In a Vase on Monday – Country Challenge

I am holding out hope for cooler weather as the dog days of summer officially end on August 11. I doubt that will bring an end to our daily high temperatures of over 90 F, but one can dream. September brings an average high of 89. October is when the real cool down begins. Rain is still copious and all the more tropical summer flowers are relishing the moisture and flowering with reckless abandon.

I challenged myself this week to create a vase with gardenias that wasn’t all white or seemingly formal. This is the easy, breezy, country casual gardenia vase. Tropical version.

The vase started out in a mason jar. Very casual country. The clear glass showed too much of the weird and thick tropical stems of the bromeliad and palm. Who ever thought stems would be distracting? The vase needed clothes. A basket a friend sent with a gardenia plant (I killed it, G. jasminoides) was pressed into service.

The red and yellow flowers are parrotflowers (Heliconia psittacorum ‘Lady Di’); the red and blue tipped flowers are miniata bromeliads (Aechmea miniata); white flowers are tropical gardenias (Tabernaemontana diviricata); white green stems with berries are adonidia palm (Veitchii merrillii) unripe fruit; striped foliage is martin bromeliad (Neoregelia martinii); ferny accents are asparagus fern.

Another view:

Thanks to Cathy at ramblinginthegarden.wordpress.com for hosting this weekly array of floral abundance. Follow the link to see more vases.

Happy Gardening!!

In a Vase on Monday – Helfire and Romans.

The title sounds downright biblical. But it is not. I have seen Florida’s weather this time of year called Hell’s Front Porch – that seems pretty accurate currently. So I decided to see if I could do an all hot color arrangement. Using Hel – icona, Fire – bush, and Roman – Red Salvia. I think the Heliconia flowers lend a flame shaped touch to the arrangement.

I just found out there are dog day Cicadas in Florida. More unintentional biblical reference. They seem especially loud this year, lending their song to underline the heat and humidity. It is interesting how sounds can emphasize weather. Despite the heat the garden continues to thrive. This is largely due to consistent downpours from afternoon thunderstorms. The Firebush has grown almost three feet since May. They are foundation plants and I need to trim them back so I can see out the window! Expect more orange in vases in the near future.

A ‘Lady Di’ Heliconia (Heliconia psittacorum) bud looking flame like and surrounded by Firebush (Hamelia patens var patens)

A few sprigs of ‘Roman Red’ Salvia joins the crew. This is one of the best Salvias to cut, lasting longer than the the Tropical Reds and Mystic Spires. The greenery is from palms. A bit of Lady Palm (Rhapis excelsa) in the foreground and a trimmed Sabal Palm (Palmetto sabal) providing a grey green backdrop.

The vase is a thrift store find. I may need to revisit that store, I have really enjoyed this vase.

That is all from South Florida. Where I am doing as little gardening as possible. Thanks to Cathy at http://ramblinginthegarden.wordpress.com for hosting. Follow the link for a vase tour of gardens.

Happy Gardening!!

In a Vase on Monday – Parrots and Poinsettias

Here’s another set of strange bedfellows from my garden. I would consider this an unlikely combination anywhere but South Florida. The parrots are Parrotflowers (Heliconia psittacorum) and the poinsettias are a native Floridian Euphorbia called Florida Poinsettia (Euphorbia cyathophora). I like the little bits of red on the foliage accenting the colors of the flowers.

I have tried growing the usual Christmas poinsettia in the garden and failed. The Florida version is a wildflower that appears from time to time. Having read up on it a bit I should probably pull them out. It seems they are one of those perverse plants that is hard to grow from seed if you want it – but a prolific reseeder if you don’t. If I don’t act soon the next thing could be a mowed poinsettia lawn for the holidays. Not a festive look.

A closer view:

The Parrotflowers are orange and red and yellow. The orange ones are Heliconia psittacorum “Choconiana”; the reds H. psittacorum “Lady Di”. These are very tropical and did not appreciate the 30 degree temperatures in January and are just recovering. The flowers are smaller than usual for some reason. Yellow spikes are from the Thyrallis (Galphimia gracilis) shrub.

The Florida Poinsettia foliage. Another common name for this is Fire on the Mountain. Where they found the mountains in Florida we will never know.

That is all from sweltering South Florida.

Many thanks to Cathy at http://ramblinginthegarden.wordpress.com for hosting this weekly meme. Follow the link to see more vases from gardens around the world.

Happy Gardening!!

In a Vase on Monday – Lobster, Asparagus & Rose`

Lobster with a side of asparagus and a glass of rose` sounds like a rocking dinner. A large quantity of melted butter would be necessary for this gastronomic delight and another side dish, roasted potatoes, I think. Hmmm. Well, this vase is not for dinner, though the conceptual components are there and the rock was necessary to hold the plants in place.

I know summer is in full force when the Heliconias start to flower and the solstice was their day. There are flowers still opening and this is really the best Heliconia year to date. I am guessing the vast rain fall helped. These flowers are so dramatic they need little embellishment, kind of like lobster.

The flowers:

The Lobsterclaw Heliconia (Heliconia rostrata). These are planted outside my Living Room windows to give a rainforest vibe to the view. This is sort of a large, leafy plant but very linear and easy to see through so I have enjoyed the view.

The Asparagus Fern accents the Heliconia and is held in place by the rock. The vase is a rose` bottle from a dreadful bottle of rose` I bought from Aldi based on an internet rave review. The last rave review I ever bought wine from, though I have enjoyed the bottle as a vase.

The rock:

The rock. My father was a geology professor who loved crystals and especially tourmaline and quartz. This is black tourmaline and a quartz crystal likely found somewhere in North Georgia where I am from.

It is closing in on dinnertime in South Florida and I am wishing for the above ingredients! No such luck this week

Thanks to Cathy for hosting IAVOM, to see more vases follow this link http://ramblinginthegarden.wordpress.com

Happy Gardening!!