Spider Lilies

The tropical spider lily is one of my favorite plants here in Key West because there is just so much going on in one place! First off, they can be HUGE, with giant, wide green leaves and purple striations that look so impressive in a garden landscape. This is a different variety than the general spider lily, which is found throughout the South. This is a behemoth of a plant! The leaves are green year round, but in summer the plant starts really showing off. They produce a large purple fruit....see the photo below. Kinda cool, right? If the fruit isn't removed eventually it will go to seed and make more spider lilies. Then come the flowers. Large and definitely 'spidery' with a heady, strong fragrance that just screams tropical island. There are some very impressive examples of the tropical spider lily at the West Martello Museum (you know, where Robert the Doll lives), in the middle green area, between the garden entrances to the museum. I photographed this plant last week at Coconut Beach resort in Old Town.

In the Garden - What's blooming today

It's a lovely, sunshiney day in Key West! And our plants are super lush from some heavy, seasonal rains. I love walking around with my watering can and clippers....taking inventory, making mental notes on what needs to be tied back or maybe moved to a sunnier spot. Here is a little tour:

I have two hanging pots on the front porch....I think I need more! So far I have one with basil and rosemary, and one with a lovely yellow portulaca.

A neighbor have us a small cana lily plant that has gone absolutely crazy! I need to divide it and spread some around. The blooms are lovely.

A friend of John's gave us an orchid rhyzome and he tied it to one of the palm trees out front. Happy to see it sprouting....maybe we will get a flower!

A bunch of bananas or plantains starts with the large red bloom on the bottom. Our Cuban neighbor calls them 'tits.'

A closer look at the bunch at the top of the stalk. These are tiny Cuban bananas, about as long as your finger.

In the Garden - Signs of fall

Here in Key West we don't do autumn leaves and early morning frosts. Our weather is generally hot and steamy through September. But if you look carefully, there are subtle signs that fall is on its way. Starting the week before my girls return to school, our front walk way is dotted with lovely rain lilies. We didn't plant them....a former tenant did or maybe they are one of those tropical plants that get sowed by the trade winds. They bloom in spring as well, but really put on a show now. Also, there is a subtle shift in the light. I noticed it yesterday when I was in the pool with the girls. The various shades of green surrounding our pool looked like they were getting the sun at a different angle. I look forward to watching for more changes in the coming weeks. I get my mornings back tomorrow, as the girls start second grade. I can take my coffee outside and enjoy the breeze.

Discovery Garden @ Legion Park

This morning my nephew had a field trip to this small park in Hollidaysburg, and we were invited along. John and the girls hit the wonderful playground and I grabbed my phone and visited with some of my favorite northern summer flowers in the Discovery Garden. I love all the tropical foliage and flowers in my yard in Key West, but the flowers I saw today are old favorites, some of the first plants I purchased and planted when I made my own garden. I talked to some of the ladies volunteering their time to keep the garden in shape. They asked where I was visiting from and I said 'subtropical zone 11.' :)

Lavender

Bee Balm

Honeysuckle

Coconut Lime Coneflower

Nicotinia

Chive Blossoms

Shasta Daisies

Hydrangea

Some time outside

I spent a bit of time outside with my plants today, which always brings a smile to my face. The "Grand Duke of Tuscany" jasmine is still blooming. It is such a lovely plant! The buds are striking, and even the spent buds are still lovely....staying in form instead of shedding petals like many flowering plants do.

The red passion flower vine is going crazy, due to some recent rain and lots and lots of sunshine. It will literally cover a fence if we don't use that entrance for a few days, and it features lovely, pea-like tendrils as it looks for anything to latch on to.

 I really need to spend some time cutting dead wood back from along the fence, but in the meantime it is always wonderful to walk outside to be greeted by one of these beauties.

This morning I also had some time to "bedazzle" the outdoor refrigerator. An outdoor fridge in the real world is kind of redneck, but down here, where it is hot and the majority of people fish, it is a staple. When we bought a new refrigerator soon after buying this house, the delivery guys said "Well, I hope you are keeping the old one for beer and bait!" We did. John has a keg system in the house so he always has a cold Sierra Nevada Pale Ale on tap, so the outdoor fridge generally holds bottled water, pinot grigio, La Croix water and juice boxes. So I didn't feel too badly covering it with these girly stickers today.

John built a little "house" for it a while ago, and the vines have taken over. The white shed is also home to our "journey marker" which lists the places we were all born and the cities we have lived in before Key West.

We spend easily more time outside than inside, year 'round. The grill is on one side of this structure, and there is an outdoor dining table on the other side. Kind of an outdoor dining/cooking area, but nothing fancy by any stretch. Just easy and functional.....very Key West. :)

The jasmine in my garden

Jasmine is a fragrant flower that grows in many forms....shrubs, vines and ground covers. It is one of my favorite scented flowers, along with lilac and plumeria (also called frangipani....more on that when mine blooms!) When we bought our house in Key West, we had lots of open space to landscape. My jasmine plants where some of the first I put in. At the fence in front of the house, I have a thriving shrub of 'Maid of Orleans' jasmine, which is part of the Asiatic family. 

The foliage is thick and medium green, and the perfect, creamy white flowers are wonderfully fragrant. Each bloom falls off after a day or so, so there is often a little pile of white buds on the walkway at the end of the day. Back packs and grocery bags are often brushed up against it when we are coming and going, releasing the fragrance into the air. Just lovely! In the back yard, in two spots around the pool, I have a type of 'Shining' jasmine, also in the Asiatic family. The flowers are large and maybe not as fragrant as other types, but are certainly note-worthy due to the pronounced star shape. 

The most impressive jasmine plant at my house is along the fence near the grill. I bought it at the Garden Club of Key West's fall plant sale the first year we lived here. Asiatic jasmine 'Grand Duke of Tuscany' doesn't bloom often....more of an evergreen climbing vine. But when it does bloom, it is truly something to see. And to smell! Large, intricate flowers start as a tight pale green bud, turning various shades of white as it expands and opens. The fragrance is amazing! This plant is also called 'Sacred Jasmine.' Seems fitting for such an amazing bloom.

Green Thumb in KW

I love, love flowers. I have always wanted a cutting garden....rows of colorful blooms to cut and arrange and decorate every room in the house. Instead, I used to bring home armloads of cut sunflowers, zinnias, coneflowers and dahlias from the farmer's markets in Frederick. Our first home was in an urban setting. I tended the ivy that grew up the bricks on the front of the house, but that was about it. Our second home had a large yard and I jumped into gardening with gusto.....an herb garden, hydrangeas, and coneflowers added to the existing peonies and butterfly bushes. A few years later, we put in a large raised bed vegetable garden. Fun, but lots of work, and I was seriously afraid that we might perish in a sea of sun gold cherry tomatoes. Here in our third home, in Key West, gardening couldn't be easier. Put something in the ground, water during the winter dry season and let the short, drenching rains and humidity take care of it the rest of the year. Here are a few of the things growing by the white picket fence that fronts our property. Yellow tropical buttercup, fragrant jasmine, the red flowering trees that line one side, a firecracker bush, and some colorful croton.