Musa Sikkimensis      This was a purchase from Plant Delights in Summer 2022. It overwintered in the garage this year and is the second fastest to sprout back.  May 17 Ensete Maurelli     This was a purchase in fall 2022 on clearance. It overwintered in the garage is and always the fasted to sprout back!  May 17 Musa ?     (It was sold as Veinte Cohol but probably a different variety) It overwintered in the house. I separated it's pups and accidentally damaged the top of the stem and had to cut it back down to about 5 ..read more

I love this time of the year. Plant nurseries are absolutely overflowing with plants. It's amazing what a pretty annual can do to dress up a tired tropical plant. Like my Bismarkia. It overwintered inside beautifully, but these dark leaf dahlias really add a needed pop of color.  I'm excited for my Giant Peach mandevilla to bloom. Planted underneath: Calliope geranium "Pink Splash", Truffula Pink Globe, Cuphea Sweet Talk Deep Pink.  These Hibiscus were so colorful! The pink one will go to my parents house. The yellow was for my aunt. The pink are called Cotton Candy wind. I ..read more

 I am so happy I can finally see my fish. What a difference!  Last year This year I'm growing alphina ginger here again (overwintered beautifully in the house), some tillandsias mounted onto my Mendillina magnificarum, and my vanda orchid has a hanger this year! I feel like it's a little more fun than danginging it from a tree. Thanks for looking!  I am really excited for my Musa Sikkimensis to fill out and I'm hoping my Spindle palm doesn't burn, so far it still looks good ..read more

May is a tough time of the year for a tropical gardener in New York. It just isn't very warm! But there is a lot of beauty from our northern plants to tide me over & even the tiniest things in the tropical garden get me incredibly excited!  The snow load was tough on my palms, but the milder winter was very nice. I'm planting a Musa Velutina next to my needle palm.  The bananas are doing wonderful things! Unfortunately my musa (sold as viente cohol but probably not) broke in half, but a new leaf is emerging! It had a large pup that I decided to separate to try in a contai ..read more

My latest garden obsession are daffodils There are more than 26 THOUSAND types of them, my favorites this year are the doubles. Replete has this awesome salmon colored center and the cut flowers are very fragrant in my kitchen. The blooms last a lot longer than my typical yellow ones too. One of the most fragrant daffodils in the world is Sir Winston Churchill. I’m growing it in a container so I can enjoy the scent up close. It’s a short grower that pairs really well with the larger and tropical colors from “Tahiti”. My Camellias are also doing great! This is Ashton's High Rise an ..read more

Even spring bulbs aren't spared from my appetite for unusual plants. There are thousands of different types of daffodils. This my first year growing "Replete". I love the double flowers with orange inside  Daffodil Replete new this year ..read more

Everytime I visit Florida I try to bring some fun plants back & this might be my biggest haul I've ever carried on a plane!  Going Bananas I purchased three new banana plants from an incredible local banana plant grower. The Musa Thai Black was field dug and is already large & showing some gorgeous dark coloration. I'm also trying Musa Sumatrana X Gran Nain, and what I thought was Musa Velutina.... but could be Musa Viente Cohol. We'll have to see. Here they are when I picked them up... Unfortunately the Musa Sumatrana X Gran Nain banana had damage so I decided it ..read more

March is usually cold, cloudy and generally miserable here on Long Island ... but we got a VERY nice reprieve this week. Temperatures soared into the 70s for 2 days straight in my garden & we had a string of 60s too. So I took out the tropical plants for some fresh air and sunshine!  Queen Palm, Singapore Twist, and Camellia Lady palm, Sasanqua camellia (it's been blooming on and off all winter), and to the left, a variegated kumquat. A closeup!  I'm playing around with some color combinations and really like the way the variegated ti plant loo ..read more

 We were blessed with 2 days in the 70s this week here on Long Island and my garden was LOVING it. Here are some photos. My pansies re-seeded themselves on the lawn. This happened one other time when I lived in Florida so it was a fun reminder of the time I had down there!  Happy Cordylines and trachycarpus! All the windmill palms sailed through the winter. Trachycarpus in containers Sabal Uresana had no issues surviving the winter with a trash can and a few lights on cold nights You can see the special blue tinge that makes this sabal such a lovely one. Unfortunatel ..read more

 It was the warmest day since October - our first one in the 70s in nearly 20 weeks! The high temperature in my garden was a balmy 76F and today is in the 70s too. Everything is coming into bloom. Here are a few photos.  First some deer Gorgeous hellebores Korean rhododendron Rhododendron mucronulatum The most exciting find was their giant Edegworthia. Considered a zone 7 plant, this is close to the farthest north that you'll find them looking really good in the eastern US. The smell is INCREDIBLE ..read more