Wednesday, December 5, 2012

Off Topic: Florida

I apologize for the lack of updates recently. As some of you already know, we have been in the process of moving permanently to the state of Florida. I've moved myself and the plants and have been living here for about a month now. I'm also sorry that I only have my iPhone on me, the camera is in NY with the husband who will be following me after the holidays. This will temporarily limit my picture taking ability for posts. Moving is never fun, but starting a new job that I really am looking forward to is. I may be a bit busy but at least it isn't cold here, and so far everything has survived the move, so that's something. Here's a few of the (mostly) plant pictures I was motivated enough to take last week.


Tillandsia recurvata, and some usneoides aka "Spanish Moss" in the back starting to grow on this tree.
Both are really growing on almost every tree that isn't a palm though.


I am buying 10+ of these for my yard. They might be my favorite Palm that grows well here.
The label said it was an Adonidia merrillii.

Base of the Adonia merrillii Palm.

The weather was windy and gray, but this was somewhere around St. Augustine.
Palms of all kinds, everywhere.


These Palms grow along highways, yards, parks. Florida has an abundance of these.


This was at Big Value Garden Center in Daytona Beach. THIS IS A "POTHOS" or  really, an Epipremnum aureum. Yes, this is what happens when you can let it grow outside, year round, in hot to mild weather.. I'd say it was for show, but people had these growing up trees in their yards too in the Daytona Beach area. Want.


A Green Anole that got inside the apartment.
These are the only Anole species native to Florida.


Philodendron selloum, one or two of these will be in my yard one day too. I love those long aerial roots.
Close-up of the roots

Castillo de San Marcos,  a national monument from a distance. We were just driving through. I'll have to go see it sometime when I have time to be touristy, as it is the only extant 17th century fort in North America.

Some more different kinds of palms. I feel like I could write a whole blog on just different kinds of palms that grow well here. Actually, I may just take some pictures with the camera (when I have it again,) and just do a post of the best ones if I don't get run off of anybody's yard trying to take pictures.


What kind of plant hoarder would I be if I didn't at least get one cool plant they sell in FL but not in NY? This is Hylocereus undatus x polyrhizus 'Halley's Comet', a "Dragon Fruit/Pitahaya" that bears especially large fruit.


Nice to look at something other than pine trees for a change.

I'm convinced Florida itself is one big, constant struggle between people trying to build homes and infrastructure and nature trying to take the space back. Everything grows well here, including tons of invasive species and people's escaped pet snakes.

10 comments:

  1. Great snaps Melody! Florida looks lush, lovely & tropical, congrats on the move & good luck! I'm sure you guys will have a lot of fun! Wow, spanish moss paradise, so cool to see them growing naturally/profusely like that. Your garden's gonna look awesome with those palms & other exotic plants in it - looking forward to seeing how it develops. Dragon fruits are one of my favs. so looking forward to seeing how it grows too! :) Looks like a lot of palms grow in Florida, are they native?

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    1. Thanks, Ngeun! Everything here is very different from NY, I'm still learning how things work and probably will for a while.

      I wanted a Dragon Fruit for a while, so I'll try and continue to container grow this one until the day I have a yard again and can plant it. There's only about 12 palms native to FL, so many have been planted here for landscaping from other places originally. What's funny to me is that things grow so well that aside from a garbage/recycle pickup day, there is a day where the town will come pick up palm fronds and other debris from trimming the plants on your yard.

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  2. If you run into any Pandanus utilis seeds while you're down there (and you will), um, let me know, okay? I'm sure I can find something around here that you desperately need to have, that I can send in return.

    Also, for the love of god, vote (if you weren't voting already). You're in a swing state now. As you'll be reminded for months at a time, every four years.

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    1. Oh no worries on the voting front. I went from voting feeling like there's no point in voting as NY always votes democrat, to my vote possibly actually mattering here. Issues and solutions matter to me, not sticking to a party, so I'm disappointed I have to wait another 4 years now.

      I will keep an eye out for your seeds. According to some sites P. utilis has an extremely narrow growing range that is the very tip of FL, so I'm not sure how many I'll see where I'm at. I know I either saw P. utilis or one of the other Pandanus species as far north as Daytona Beach so far. There's also a billion landscaping nurseries that sell primarily palms and cyads, it actually might be easier to find one a couple feet tall for sale than seeds. Do you know what season/month they should be ripe in?

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    2. What I found when I was writing the profile apparently said that they produce fruit at the end of the summer. I don't have any information beyond that. When I tried buying some on-line, I think I ordered them in December, so I'd guess that the seeds will keep for a while.

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  3. Hi, I know the feeling of finding your feet in a new place, we moved a few times as well. Things like doctors, dentists, build new relations....takes a while. But there is usually lots of fun too, and I see you are palm..mad!lol! Seems you will have some fun! Good luck!

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    1. Yeah, the palms really prove to me that I'm not at home anymore. There are zero palms growing in the northeast so I'm used to seeing them only when down here, or someplace equally far away on vacation. The novelty has not worn off yet!

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  4. Florida seems like a wonderful place to live in, thanks for sharing the pics. One thing though, the first pic is a Tillandsia recurvata. They're very similar to usneoides when they start to grow, but recurvata forms balls instead of, say, chains of plants. If I go on vacation this month, and I see an upcoming usneoide, I'll take a pic of it to compare. No bad intended, I love your blog.

    Greets.

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    1. It is pretty nice here so far! Thank you for the correction, I am going off other people's ID's as I'm not familiar with the natural flora here yet. Please feel free to jump in and correctly ID anything you are familiar with, there is just as much recurvata here as usneoides as well as all sorts of other things growing off trees.

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  5. oh, wait, don't worry, I found out why you're in florida now :)

    WOW, that is so cool. From what i've heard and see Florida is like THE place to grow tropical things, such as most warm growing orchids ;)

    Sounds like you're having a blast and I'm really looking forward to reading about all your other plants :)

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