Thursday 15 May 2008

The Heart of Things

This is a new hibiscus that is really lovely. I don't know the name of it but it is a red double with splashes of yellow. Thank you Wendy Lee Yuen, who sold it to me. It was in bud when I brought it home so I was waiting with bated breath for the flower to open. And ta-da. I am thrilled. I don't have tremendous experience with hibiscus because the mealy-bug epidemic wiped out most on the island. The hybrids were especially hard hit so I am pleased to see that they are making a come back. This is my common orange that I grew from a piece taken from a bush in Brasso Seco (Northern Trinidad mountain range).
The brave new world. The stamen from my large, single pink.
New growth on my staghorn fern. The network of veins illuminated by the rising sun really struck me. So much life-veins and capillaries rushing to carry precious nutrients for growth. Just like us.

This is a croton. No it's not brightly coloured but it is, nevertheless, a croton. Albeit a ridiculously slow growing one. And the shot below is an example of a grumbling calladium. He is beginning to burn because the sun has changed direction and he's getting too hot. If I can keep him hydrated and relatively happy, this too shall pass but I must be careful not to ignore his signs of distress.


On the other hand, this is about as happy as a calladium gets. She is in a basket under the mango tree. She's cool, has good drainage and filtered light. It doesn't get much better for a calladium.

4 comments:

garden girl said...

That's a gorgeous hibiscus! Love the caladium too - they're one of my favorite plants. I have several started under my basement grow light waiting for more warmth so they can go into containers on my patio. The leaves on caladiums are so gorgeous, who needs flowers!

Teresa said...

That hibiscus is anything but common!
The color reminds me of sherbet. You have great photos!

mountainear said...

Who wouldn't be happy in a basket under a mango tree!

Your photographs are stunning.

Raxx - A day in the life said...

Hi there!!

I am a trinidadian living in D'Abadie, a home owner 5 years now and a pink thumb! The thing is i love plants but they dont for the most part seem to love me back! To make a long story short i have been scouring the web to find information on Caribbean gardening and maybe some guidelines and generally any help i can get to garden better, i recently bought some plants and transplanted them, and they are dying! I really do not know what i did wrong.

So can you offer any guidance? Maybe resources on the web or a book i can buy, I love container gardening, in ground gardening and vegetable gardening, i have an OK sized lot so i have some room to play with, when i comes to containers I love flowering plants, If you'd like i could upload some photos of my struggling garden and container plants that I am working with right now. Pleas respond!

Thank you and have a blessed day!

Raquel