Passalong Bromeliads

Bromeliads make great landscape plants because they offer bold foliage and hot colors, and are easy to take care of. They can be a bit sensitive to cold, though, so be sure to cover them if cold temperatures are in the forecast.

A little while ago, I did some routine maintenance in my yard and removed some of the extra bromeliad pups that had popped up. The Bromeliad Society International offers tips on how to separate pups from parents.

It's normal for bromeliads to produce youngsters at the base of the mother plants, and they make great passalong plants.

I took the extra pups to the office and shared them with the gals that I work with. The picture on the right is one that Kim took of the bromeliads she transplanted into her yard. She tells me that she's now caught the bromeliad bug and can't wait to plant more!

Cycads

Last week the girls from the office traveled to South Florida to attend the Tropical Plant Industry Exhibition. While they were down there, they also went to Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden--a favorite garden of mine because it has a sizeable cycad collection. Cycads are a group of plants that have been around since the age of the dinosaurs.

The girls took a picture of an Encephalartos ferox in the gardens. I'm still waiting for my own E. ferox to get this big. I started it from seed about a year ago and it's slowly but surely getting bigger.


I have a few other cycads in the mini-nursery on my windowsill and desk, including Zamia skinneri (the wider-leafed cycad toward the right of the frame) and Macrozamia riedlei (the feathery looking cycad near the center of the frame). The Macrozamia can be planted outdoors in the freeze-free areas of Florida. They'll eventually grow to be 4 to 6 feet tall and wide.

Fall (and winter) color in Florida

Many residents of Florida long for the beautiful fall foliage that they experienced in other parts of the country. Contrary to popular belief, we have plenty of plants with great fall color--you just have to know what to look for.

Here are some plants that can offer Florida gardeners some fall (or winter) color

Crape Myrtle (top picture, taken 11/25/07)
'Bradford Pear' (bottom picture, taken 1/9/08)
Sweet Gum
Red Maple
Sourwood
Oak-leaf Hydrangea
Japanese Maple
Dogwood
Shumard Oak
Chestnut Oak
Bottlebrush Buckeye
'Okame' Cherry
Chinese Pistache

Berkeley Botanic Garden

Here's a shot of a great succulent we saw at the Berkeley Botanic Garden.

More San Francisco Trip Pictures

We're having a great time in California. Learning a lot and visiting some amazing gardens. We'd love to have you join us on a future MG Garden Tour. Check out the Garden Tour site for upcoming trips to Holland and France.
Downtown Flower Market


Filoli Botanical Garden


Golden Gate Bridge


Muir Woods

California MG Trip

Greetings from California! Our Master Gardener group is having a great time out here on the West Coast. Here are just a few photos of the amazing things we've seen so far.

Elderberry House



Half Dome -- Yosemite National Park



Giant Sequoia

Surprise!!!

With September comes football, tailgating and some really cool plants. As I was walking around my landscape last week there was one of my favorite bulbs in flower, the Lycoris radiata also known as surprise lilies or hurricane lilies. These bulbs grow best in U.S. hardiness zones 6-10 and send up 18-inch flower spikes with red spider-like flowers prior to the foliage. Following the flowers, the 6-inch grass-like foliage provides a nice green cover through the winter. In spring, the foliage dies back and the bulbs rest until the September flower show begins again. This is a great old-time plant that is often shared between gardeners but can also be found in garden centers and from online nurseries. They do not like to be disturbed, so it may take a year or two before your bulbs are established and begin to flower. Plant some soon and be ready for the surprise!!!