Flora Journal in Northeast Central Florida

A jalapeno blossom Hibiscus buds. Chaste Vitex Blossoms Our first gardenia blossom.

We moved to the suburbs in a neighboring town in 2019. I drove past the old place, and wow! The road is paved, and all our trees and shrubs are gone. So, all the old blog posts are irrelevant. Starting again from scratch. Seems an appropriate endeavor for Spring.  I love Spring.  It's Spring again, and were in our new place.  I'm coming back to document my off-the-cuff attempt at greenery.   Vitex Chaste I'll start with a Palm Coast Arbor Day tree we got in 2021: A Vitex Chaste Put this one in the ground as a little stub about two years ago. Loquat I've been hoping to get a loquat in the ground forever, and I got one from Fast-Growing-Trees.com. My grandmother had a loquat in her yard in Palm Coast when I was a little pork chop, and we'd sit in her Florida room while she played Solitaire, and she'd suggest I go out front a pick some Japanese plums. I LOVED them.   :)   Chicago Hardy Fig Also got a little fig tree from Fast Growing Trees.  I dusted it with sulfur

We've had two hurricanes, Irma and Matthew since I last posted.  Some of the trees have gotten bigger, impressively so, but they may be at a slight angle due to the unforgiving force of heat transportation.  As of right now, I am at home.  I'm not working today.  I have lost my voice with some sort of viral madness, but I am meandering around my yard trying to soak some vitamin Florida into my bones and realize I'll be getting the itch to mingle with leaves and sun and soil all too soon.  I need a shovel, stat!  Where the Red Bay Grows Look at this tree!  This tree was a little shrub just two years ago.  When we first moved into the house, we had a water oak that was growing in this spot but it resigned its life to wood burrowing insects, and we had to have it removed.  This red bay will be assuming the new floral leadership role in our front yard.  It's doing well. Banana Plants I don't even know which ones are the originals or if the ori

I found a little tree about two years ago growing near the tall pines in the uncleared section of my back yard.  It didn't look like any other tree I had, so I transplanted it in the front of my house.  I need to know what it is.  It smells like bay.  It looks like bay.  I do think it is a Red Bay tree, and I'll be happy if it is, but I don't have the low-down on all the science-y aspects of tree identification.  The Red Bay is in the Lauraceae family, genus Persea, and species Borbonia. That's what I Googled- up anyway.  The Red Bay is in the same family as the avocado, and I love avocados, but I don't think I can grow some good ones 'round these parts.  If you've stumbled on this blog (or my personal-yet obviously public garden diary), then please feel free to school me on what type of tree this is (also, could I grow a fruit bearing avocado in zone 9?  I'd love to do that!  I have this red bay or whatever it is in the front yard by the winged

Some Sort of Citrus I looked up citrus identification and "winged leaves" and found that what I have growing (from random seed) is probably a grapefruit tree.  As you can see, it's it the house, because it has been getting chilly outside.  It hasn't been too bad since our one cold day, but the night will drop to about 37 Fahrenheit on Wednesday.  I could probably put it back on the porch.   Pineapples My pineapple plants are in the house right now.  They're still truckin', I suppose.  The one in the blue container is at least 18 months old if not older, and I just learned that pineapples should flower around that age.  I also learned that I could have had a use for an unused apple that my kids always really want but can never finish...  Old apples release a gas called acetylene which can force a bloom.  Also if you're interested in the chemistry of ripening fruits, check out, " Fruit Ripening:  How Does it Work?" Pepper i

Right now it is supposedly about 65 degrees Fahrenheit where I live.  Tonight we are expecting the temperature to get as low as 26 degrees Fahrenheit.  So, I wrapped the stalk of the banana plant in plastic bags.  The plant had one very healthy pup, so I wrapped that up pretty well too, because I'm thinking that that's the one that's supposed to eventually grow fruit. I took in my three pineapple plants and my mother-in-law's ponytail palm.  Last year I almost killed the ponytail palm, because I left it on the front porch when it froze outside.  I didn't even know what the plant was, so when I looked up a description, I was kind of shocked to see that it is a very tropical plant that has very little tolerance for freezes.  I suppose if it gets big one day, I'll have to hand it off to someone who lives in a warmer area.  I think they grow well in southern Florida, so if it gets big enough to warrant an earthly planting, I will see about finding a home for it do