Flora Journal in Northeast Central Florida

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 ar...

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 y...

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.