Flora Journal in Northeast Central Florida

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?" ...

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...

So I got my trees from the Arbor Day Foundation.  I think I paid $35 in total, and after I bought them, I read all sorts of Internet smashing on how not great the trees from them are.  The trees really look like little dormant rooted clippings, but I'm not going to complain.  I like the challenge of growing them. So yesterday I planted the two pear trees, a red maple, and two forsythia bushes.  We totally got rid of the garden plot, fence, weeds and all, and in the center of it, I finally planted my red mulberry tree that I "saved" from the plot of mowed down forest across the road.   I have had it in a large pot that I could barely move for the longest time, so now it is finally in the ground. The tree seems to be doing well.  I decided to leave some of the bunches of fennel that just grow around the edges there, and I planted one of the forsythia bushes near the fennel. I forgot what all I got from the Arbor Day Foundation, though, and was kind of sur...

I got my digital camera and there's a lot to see.  My garden is one big hot mess.  You probably won't want to see that, but I DID order trees from the Arbor Day Foundation , and when they come in, I'll snap some pictures so you know what to expect.  I floated all about the Internet trying to find out what these trees are like when you order them.  I got 10 trees just for becoming a member ($10), and then I got a discount, and on top of that, I got two free flowering bushes and a free red maple when I purchased my two pear trees at that discount.   They won't ship until the fall or so, so we'll have to wait for that treat.  I think I might have to give some to neighbors, because I don't know if my yard is big enough for them all to grow. Okay, so you can clearly see that my new digital camera is AWESOME, or cheap, but you can see the fruit right?  That's a persimmon tree growing right on the side of the road by my neighbor's house.  Do not try...

I think what I have planted in a pot is a red mulberry.  I know it's some kind of mulberry.  Anyway, my camera is not working (one should be here today), so I can't take new pictures of it.  I want to prune it so that we can reach the berries when it starts growing.  The wild trees up the road are pretty tall and lanky, and there's no way one could reach the berries on them without a tall scary ladder or something. My watermelons I got one small watermelon out of my garden.  New ones start growing then sort of die.  We've had a lot of ran off and on, so I don't know if I've watered them enough or too much, but the new ones look like they rot.  One other small watermelon got a split in it, so I had to chuck it to the wild animals.

I have an early blooming sunflower.  I think it's remarkable that one can plant a handful of seeds on the same day at the same time, but the seeds sprout and bloom at their own pace.  I told my just-about-four-year-old son, Dane to come and look at the flower we planted, and he seemed excited to come follow me.  Our two year old boy, Liam came right behind us to come see the flower.  When I got to the flower, Liam was oohing over it, but I turned to show Dane and he was nowhere in sight!  I heard him in the house, so I went back inside to see him chilling on the floor watching Teen Titans with his older sister while eating popcorn.  See, it's just about summer time, and we've been getting a good deal of rain.  The adults in our family are procrastinating people, and since we live in a rural area where no one complains about the length of grass, we sorta-kinda let it slide a wee bit.  Dane is a fraidy cat for bugs, and with the taller grass, h...

I mentioned in a previous post that I had something growing under the fennel that my neighbor had given me before she passed on.  She had no clue what it was and asked me to tell her what it was when it grew.  It was some kind of bulb, and much to my surprise, today I saw it in full bloom! I kept losing this plant under the fennel.  I thought it had died after the winter.  I had such a hard time finding the slender leaf blade that originally grew from the bulb, that I thought it was gone.  A week ago or so, I noticed the blade a little further to the corner than I was usually looking, so imagine my surprise to see the big pretty purplish face! Thank you, Kelly, for your amazing gift. So, what is it? It's a Zephyranthes or rain lily!  They have a tendency to bloom in spring, usually after rain storms, so that's why they are called "rain lilies."  :)  It's so pretty.