Very nice pics, How did you protect your orleander

Thanks Dennis! I protected my oleander with Christmas lights, a frost cloth, and an old plastic garbage bin over it all to keep heat in and moisture out. It took less than 5 minutes to put all the protection on and it worked really well. The lowest temperature it saw was 20F and it had no damage. They are pretty hardy plants!
Thanks for looking!
-Alex

Your off to a great start Alex!

How many Banana plants are putting in the ground this year?

I seem to remember you thinking about planting(pot planting?) some of yours??????

2 nights of 32F here last 2 nights but lot's of 80s in the forecast
should really get things moving.....finally(-:

Great pics, can't wait to see how everything grows over the summer. Thanks for sharing.

Hi Alex,

Your garden seems more advanced than mine, you must be in coastal Jersey. How about your pindo in the ground.

Good job as always Alex. You overwintered a brugmansia without protection? Where do you live? I always had you tapped as a northerner!

Hi Jim! Yes, I finally got some banana plants in the ground. So far I have 5 in the ground, my ice cream banana, my Ensete Maurelli, my 2 musa basjoos, and my musa velutina. I hope they put out a lot of growth now that they are in the ground. I decided not to keep them in pots in the ground and to just put them straight in the ground.

Hi Chadec! I also cant wait to see how everything looks in the summer. So far everything is off to a good start. I'll keep posting pics as the season progresses!

Hi Greg! I think the main reason why my yard is a bit ahead of yours because some of the warm days are blocked to literally just west of Brooklyn because of the cooler water. But Im sure you will catch up because warmer weather is on the way soon! In 2 months we will be in the heat of summer! Its so close, but I wish it was closer! My pindo palm in the ground is still doing well. I just accidentally forgot to upload that pic (and a few others) to my computer. But I'll post it in the next update and maybe it will actually grow a little by then!

Hi Protempsfish! I'm a Northerner (Living in NYC). I just planted the Brugmansia in the ground about 2-3 weeks ago and I overwintered it indoors (but I must admit that I did absolutely nothing and it stayed alive!). I would consider protecting a brugmansia in the ground over the winter if they werent so easy to over-winter indoors.

I also want to add that my crape myrtle is finally leafing out and so are the mexican petunias! I planted some elephant ears and another (smaller) brugmansia in the ground today.

Thanks for looking!
-Alex

Alex--You must have one heck of an indoor growing space for all of those potted plants. I have tried to downsize my potted tropicals in favor of more hardy palms and such planted around my porch. I got tired of hauling stuff in and out every year. I still do have two tropical hibiscus, two tropical palms, bird of paradise and orchids that occupy tight winter space in my south facing bay window.

Do you have to protect your camellia? Mine often will start blooming in December or January if its been mild and then will get zapped with a hard freeze in January or February. This year because the winter temps were more stable and cool, it waited till later in February to start blooming with out burning any blossoms.

I've still not mastered oleander. I've seen them winter over here (coastal Delaware) in protected spots. I was told the one I dug last month because it was all brown might have grown back from the roots. I do want to try another one, but need a better place for it.

Do you dig up all your bananas? My 3 musa basjoo stay in ground over the winter, cut down to the ground and mulched in. I've seen others here just cut them down to knee high stalks in the winter and they seem to sprout earlier than mine. I do have 3 to 9 pups coming up in each location now. I have to split off the farthest outlying pups with a spade because they are spreading too much for the location. I root them and give them away.

Anyway really a beautiful garden you've got! Keep up the great work.

Hi Wetsuiter! I wish I had a large indoor growing space. Basically I just stuff plants wherever they fit and hope for the best. Of course my favorites (and the most sun loving) will get the best window spots. I think Im at capacity now with plants so Im really not sure what I will be doing this year. I have about 6-7 months to find a place to put all these plants or else I'll be leaving some out to fend for themselves.
This is the first year that I had the courage (and the time to clear a large area) to put the bananas are in the ground. I still havent decided what Im going to do when winter comes, so I'll have to see how much they grew. If they are gigantic I might cut them (especially the basjoos), protect them, and leave them outside.

I never protected my camellia and they are actually surprisingly bulletproof here. If they weren't so expensive and slow growing, I would have a ton because they are really carefree plants for me. My camellia gets full sun year round so that alone should have kept it from doing well, but thankfully it likes its spot enough to survive the winter and bloom well every year! I think Im going to cave in and replace my now dead Sabal Domingensis with a camellia since it was in a shady spot and a good microclimate. The one problem I have is that sometimes during mild winters it does try to bloom a bit early (but more like mid march for me) and then a night in the 20s will damage the flowers that have white fringes on the outside.

I love oleanders! I wish they didnt need protection here, but they definitely do, but I dont mind because it seems to really pick up where it left off so I think its worth it. During most winters they would be outside of there protection most of the season, but this past winter was especially brutal so I think it was inside of its protection more than out.

Thanks for looking!
-Alex

Good call!

They grow 10x faster in the ground and out of pots.

You may want to mound a little ring around them(like a well)
so you can really (deep) water them when it's hot.

One of the funnest plants to watch grow during the summer,
any plant that can grow to 12'+ in one summer season is
tops in my book although,my Castor beans and Arundo donax
can/will give them a good challenge!

I think you are right Alex there is a western edge to the warm air that comes up the east coast in the Spring. It harbors very close to the mainland at first. It does penitrate into parts of Staten Island because when I drive to NJ via the Gothels Bridge I notice its more in full bloom. The cool wedge block originates from NE of Long Island; Brooklyn is squeezed in between. So many times in April/early May we will see 70s for half a day and then drop to 62 in the afternoon and pop back to 70 in the evening when the seabreeze drops off. Usually this cooling pattern breaks down by early-mid May here in the city and a week or two latter on Long Island depending how far out you live. My sister lives in Cape Cod MA and she notices it takes a long time for things to warm up there.

Thanks Jim! I was thinking about some castor beans also, but I might not have enough room! Im not going to put a ring of soil around the bottom of the bananas now because the soil is still very moist here and the soil is painfully slow draining (I dug a hole for one of the banana plants a while back and it took 3 days of sun and 80s for the water to dry up in the hole and it wasnt a lot of water either!). But if they get dry during the hot summer months, I will definitely be doing that!
Greg, Staten Island has definitely been getting hotter than Brooklyn which is pretty crazy since they are both right next to each other! Parts of Suffolk County were only in the 50s when we were in the 80s. Thats roughly 200 miles and roughly a 30 degree difference. But in a way its good for things to take a while to warm up because the plants have time to enjoy spring and not get sunburned. Plus I must admit that I like the fact that I dont have to water my plants every day yet! And its also nice in the Fall because the coast takes longer to cool down by the coast so when people have dead gardens for the year in November inland, people by the coast still have some more time to enjoy frost free weather!
-Alex

Alex,

I would try keeping the hardy banana (musa basjoo) in the ground over winter. In the fall when you get your first freeze/frost, cut them down to the ground. Let is dry out a few days and and let the cold night are signal it to stop growing. Mulch it in with a few inches (maybe more in your area) of your favorite shredded root or bark mulch. A good snow cover will actually protect it from any bitter cold. If your banana gives you some pups this summer in the ground, you can always cut some off (cut deep with a sharp edging spade) and root them to bring in. That way you have a back up for next year. Last year, my clumps of bananas had five and six plants each and the tallest topped my porch roof by November's freeze. I love your little potted dwarf banana!

My castor beans come up like weeds every year. I don't even have to scatter seeds in the areas where I have had them planted before. Some of the seeds from a mature plant drop by themselves, but I always harvest pods to scatter elsewhere. They get so tall by mid summer, I often have to cut the top off so a new leader. Otherwise, they end up falling over even with being tied to a stake.

I didn't realize Camellias were hardy to the NYC area. I always thought we were close to their northern limit. I've never seen them in any NNJ garden or garden center. They are pretty plentiful and affordable down here as most houses seem to have a few. There is one fine specimen over on one of the main roads into town that must be 15' tall. It is absolutely smothered in red-pink flowers every February and March. My two spring bloomers out front are about 10 years old and I try to keep them pruned back to about 6 feet so they don't block too much of the font porch of my Victorian house. They are done blooming for the year and I have pruned them already. I'm counting on them to help shelter my new Med Fan Palm--tucked between them-- next winter.

Thanks wetsuiter, I will definitely try that with at least one of my basjoos, maybe both if they give me enough pups to use as backups just in case. Last year one of my basjoos was already starting to make 2 pups, but they never broke the soil because of indoor stress (maybe they will break the soil now that the plant is enjoying the outdoors again!). Thanks for the compliment on the Super Dwarf Cavendish! It might never get tall or fruit, but for some reason, I just love the way it looks. It was also the first species of banana I ever tried out (but unfortunately my first banana plant died of aphids).
I think NYC is probably the northern limit that most camellias do well on the east coast. I took a picture of the large camellia I saw on Long Island. I'll try to get that uploaded! I took a picture of the trunk on it too and its pretty huge for such a slow growing plant!
-Alex

The 10 day forcast has been revised from mid 60s to upper 60s maybe 70ish. I'll take it. My tomato plants need 70 at least. Placing them in direct sun helps too. So far not 80* days in site here in NYC?

Alex,

how did you overwinter your ruellia? I left mine in the ground in zone 7 VA and it did not appear to make it.

Garrett.

The forecast is definitely starting to look better Greg. Today was only suppose to get to 69F, but I think it ended up getting into the mid 70s. It was a very nice and mild day. I hope we get to the 80s soon because even though all my plants are starting to grow, its really going to take a good solid 2 weeks of 80s to get them to start looking lush and full.

Garret, I wouldnt give up on your ruellias yet. I overwintered mine in my unheated, dark garage which did not get below freezing, but trust me, it got cold! It managed to hang on to some green leaves, but most of them dropped. I was getting worried that most of the plant didnt make it, but its sprouting quickly now. Im sure that plants in the ground will sprout slower than in pots because the soil temperature is much lower in the ground. Give it a little longer and see, and if not you can always overwinter them indoors because they have no problems at all! I love the mexican petunias. I divided the plants you see in the picture so now I have another planter of them. I might be able to divide them again if they start growing well soon!

Im going to post a few more pics soon, maybe tomorrow of sunday because I got a bit more planting done!
-Alex

As promised, here are some more pics!
I just got some beautiful Livistonas for a very great price and I love these palms. Im so worried about where Im going to put them this fall. I have to figure something out, but they will take up a huge amount of space in the house (they are by far the widest plants I own!)

Nighttime pic

The size of these fronds are huge! I put an ordinary 6 inch pencil for scale.

A look at the trunk which is also pretty massive.

The livistonia in this picture survived the winter. It was a beautiful green when I took it out of its protection for the year, but I uncovered it too early and a low temperature of 20F did some damage as seen in this pic.

Also, heres my new jasmine

My Musa Saba is in the ground now! It keeps on leaning over. Anyone have any advice for this problem? The same thing happened when my ice cream banana was at this size and I just staked it up and it grew out of it in a few weeks.

My brugmansia is growing every day, but my ti plant (part of it is seen in the left of this pic) has no signs of growth since I pruned it. It could be a few more weeks before leaves start to show up, but in 2 months, it should bring a lot of color to that part of the yard.

The last plant to leaf out on my entire block is my crape myrtle. But it survived the winter with flying colors, and this was not a good winter, and its not in a good microclimate (actually I cant get much of anything to grow in that spot).

I love Pansies! The pansies are looking much better than they did in my last pic which I took only a week ago. Things are definitely growing faster now!

My other pansy (a dark blue with white trim) is blooming for the first time since this fall).

View from a seat under the gazebo by my pool (it will look much nicer when the pool opens tomorrow. I just hope we start getting some 80s soon so the pool can actually be used!)

I just looked at my old pics above and almost everything looks like they put out a good amount of growth. I cant wait until things start really growing fast!
-Alex

Esp the Coconut!

In the 80s to possibly 90+(one day) the next 4-5 days here,
that ought to get thing moving in the right direction.

Looking good there Alex!

Wow, 80s and 90s by you, your yard is going to be a tropical jungle in no time if you keep getting temperatures like that. Unfortunately that heat wont be coming here, but it will be getting warm soon enough! I hope your plants are going to make the best of the warm weather and I'm looking forward to seeing some pics of them soon!
Thanks for looking!
-Alex

Here is a link to some photobucket shots I took around Lewes & Rehoboth Beach Delaware today. Some are my garden, some are neighbors and some are of this great B&B in Rehoboth Beach that has some of the largest Windmills I've seen in this area--and they are flowering now!

Sorry I don't know how to post pics directly here. And forgive that I posted the link on two related topics in this forum. But here is the link.

http://s1206.photobucket.com/albums/bb444/Wetsuiter/Delaware%20Hardy%20Palms/

Nice pics wetsuiter! Those Windmill palms look flawless and so do all the others! Thanks for sharing!
-Alex

I'll post some pics of them when they start growing Alex (-;

I planted a Saba this year too-can't wait to see how much these grow in a season,
after all,they are supposed to be one of the worlds biggest Nanars!

Saba and Ventricosum are putting their first leaves out.

We had temps in the mid/upper 80s when I planted my Bananas/Colocasia etc.

It promptly got cold after that,my plants have dealt with hail,50 mph winds
and 2 nights(back to back)of 32F-they are ready to move it move it-rough spring.

Hello Everyone...

Hi ALex..

Love all of the pictures...your yard always looks wonderful...

You truly do an amazing job with overwintering all of your plants/trees...

I love the "Divine" Look at that inflo...Fabulous!!!
The cold temps that are around will not hurt it...My Divine is pushing..as well as a few others..

Everything looks great!!!

You make me want to repot everything...LOL

The pollen here has been terrrible...my allergies cant handle it right now...but i do love the spring!!!

Ill take the itchy eyes...just to have the warmth...Ahhh!

Hope everyone is doing welll..

Take care..

Laura in VB

Hi Laura! Thanks for looking! The pollen has been much worse here than any other year I can remember. Everyone seems to be complaining about it (which definitely isnt unusual!). But one thing that people were mentioning that seemed true was that all the trees here started blooming at once! Usually spring is spread out, but this year lots of things bloomed at the same time which really rose the pollen. But like you said, as long as there is warmth, I dont mind the pollen! I'll definitely be posting some Plumeria blooms in about a month and a half! Im hoping some of my other plumerias start making blooms soon too. Usually inflos made after late July do not reach their full potential.

Jim, I think things are really going to start taking off by you really soon! Over here, my ice cream banana and ensete are both slowly pushing up a new leaf. One of my musa basjoos has not grown in about 2 weeks and my other musa basjoo just put out its first official outdoor leaf.

Some other things I noticed is that my orchid that I mounted onto a tree is making 2 pups already! I think it might bloom this summer for me! Also, my fig tree is growing some pretty nice sized leaves now. Its going to be fun to watch it grow! Rain is still in the forecast for basically all of next week. At least it will keep the pollen down, give everything some water, and maybe a warm up will follow!

Thanks for looking!
-Alex

My Saba and Lasiocarpa have both put out full leaves in 2 days.

The Abyssinian grew 2' in the past 2 days,2 days of 90(+)
weather got it moving big time!

Looking good TZ. Regarding the Cast Iron Plant, aren't they leaf hardy in Zone 7?

I planted two huge ones in my mini-jungle. Tropicalia on the cheap.

Jim, your bananas are growing way faster than mine! Your so lucky! So far I think my fastest banana has been my musa basjoo and ensete. We will see if thats the case when the weather warms up!

Thanks Jacklord! Yes, cast iron plants definitely seem leaf hardy in a zone 7. I started mine from roots so it only grew 2 leaves by the time winter came. Fortunately, none of those leaves were even discolored! The only problem now is that I see absolutely no signs of new growth. When people said these plants were slow growers, they werent kidding!

I got a purple Cordyline australis ("spike plant" as they are called by nurseries here) and I got a new palm that I think Im going to need a bit of help ID'ing. I'll post that on another thread soon!
-Alex

That's just wrong! Your yard looks like the middle of Summer to me. Nice. Congratulations.

Thanks arctictropical! I will admit that my yard is looking fuller a lot earlier this year. The plants did much better indoors this winter than last winter which is why I think they look so decent so early. I still have to add some annuals and other flowers. I might be starting that this weekend (as long as it isnt a complete wash out with the rain forecasted!). But the yard is never finished so I'll be working on it all summer of course!
Thanks for looking!
-Alex

Alex

Wish I could take the credit like it was me but....
in 80 and 90(F) weather I think the Bananas are pretty
much forced to grow whether they want to or not! LOL

Back to the 60s by the weekend though-looks like-so
back to (?),hopefully they have some momentum now-

Hey Alex,
Your palms look like they didn't miss a beat from last year.I'm glad you showed that vinca.I have that vine taking over my back yard.I never knew what it was,it has pretty little purple flowers on it,but LORD is it invasive.The only difference between yours and mine is mine has solid green leaves,yours looks variegated.Keep your eye on it,there's places where it's three feet thick in the very back of my property.I don't know where it came from,but I want it gone.I've sprayed it with roundup,burned it,poured bleach and ammonia on it,and it still comes back every year.I like the look of all your other plants,but that one.The same goes for crape myrtles,they pop up everywhere,dont get me wrong.I have two big ones,a white one and one I call watermelon color.I wish palms would pop up like them,I wouldn't mind some fortuneis or some palmetto volunteers.Maybe in ten years or so they will start popping up since it seems like everyone is growing them now.Talking about heat it's been 90* plus for the last three days.I wish I had a pool,I'd have it opened up days ago.Love the Spindle palm.Well I hope your Banana starts doing better.
Randy

Thanks for looking Randy! I love my pool! I finally got it cleaned today and its ready to swim (and the water temperature is in the 80s too!). I'll be posting some pics later tonight or tomorrow of my new palm (a gigantic 10 foot tall Alexander palm!) I bought tons of flowers today to fill up some pots so I will post pics of those too eventually.
I love the vincas, the flowers are so beautiful. Right now I have at least 40 flowers on all of them. They are extremely invasive. They have covered 15 feet from a single plant in 4 years, and It not in a wide open space, and it has been completely weeded out a few times. Now its popping up in other parts of the yard too (where I dont even plant vincas!) and they are also coming back from where I planted them in pots as annuals. Once you have them, they arent going anywhere! They are beautiful and perfect for the spot I have, but I can see why people would hate them! I have a variegated one, but there are green forms also.
I would love some volunteer palms. It will probably be a reality by you, but its a bit of a dream this far north.
-Alex

Heres my Alexander palm!

Thanks for looking!
-Alex

How do you post a pic. I have lots of them

You have to make a photobucket account (which is free) and post your pics onto there (you can get a wire for your camera and download the pictures onto a file on your computer. Then click the upload button on photobucket and chose the files with the pictures you want to share). Once your pictures are on your photobucket account you can click on the pictures and look for 4 links that will be on the side of the picture (in greenish colored boxes). Click on the 3rd one down to copy the link and paste the link onto a message here. When you preview your message you should see your pictures and not the link.
Good luck. Looking forward to seeing some pics!
-Alex