Hi Alex,

Really nice. Its a full time job I bet. I thought your pindo looks bigger. Mine is just starting to burst with a fuller crown - too bad its September:(

Its OK if something was eaten... with all those great plants the small animals have to eat too... LOL. I let the animals have some of my figs.

Thanks greg! The plants definitely do take up a lot of time especially in the spring when they are all being planted and in the fall when they are going in. This time of the year is when I do the least work. I dont have to water them too much because its cooler and often cloudier, and its still too warm to bring them in (But I see the 40s sneaking there way into one or 2 of the nights this weekend, Im not looking forward to that at all!!).
I usually dont mind some animal damage, but I was starting to get worried that it would eat some of my more expensive plants. Fortunately nothing really expensive was eaten! Plus since they destroyed one of the ugly "northern shrubs", it gave me an excuse to dig the shrub up and plant something more tropical there next year! :)
Thanks for looking! Hope all is well in all your yards!!
-Alex

Hello Alex,

Love all of the beautiful pictures!!! I have never seen an Elephant Ear bloom before...Love it!!

The Hibiscus all look great as well as the Plumies...are you going to trim them this fall or will you trim this spring? I'm debating on when to cut them back. I just worry about storing the cuttings for that long...I have some inflos starting to form on quite a few trees (why now?) Especially when the night are starting to cool down...I'll keep my fingers crossed that they make it and bloom before they go dormant.

Thanks for all of the great pictures...hope you all are enjoying all of this rain!!!

Take care everyone!!!

Laura in VB

Thanks Laura!
I usually only prune the hibiscus when there are too many pests to control (which happens every year indoors), but Im hoping that if I constantly keep it from developing bug problems, I can keep it at the size its at now. But regardless, it looks terrible in the spring and usually has NO leaves on it. Fortunately by May it makes its first blooms and has a full recovery by june!
My plumerias also are deciding to all bloom now! I hope I can manage to get the flowers to look nice indoors. It would be really nice if I can keep some of the inflos blooming on them until spring! RIght now every single one of my plumerias beyond the seedling stage is blooming now! I brought one of my plumerias in today so the flowers dont get beat up in the rain and wind. It looks like tomorrow's storm could bring some damaging winds and rain. We shall see!
Im going to post some pics of my new plants on Friday when the weather is a little better. Cold weekend ahead here!
Thanks for looking!!!
-Alex

Hey Alex,

I was wondering about when you were (or if you are) going to trim the plumerias.

Some other Plumie people will trim this fall and some wait until spring, I am thinking about trimming this fall as well. Just wondering about your thoughts...

Laura in VB

Alex, you can be funny.. "ugly northern shrubs" LOL. I can relate.

With the tropical waves of warmth and miosture this week, my palms are still growing well. I see those cool nites coming as well. They predict low 50s at night here. One way to keep them growing fast is to cover them with plastic on the cool nites and let the sun heat up the plant by leaveing the plastic on until 1:00 PM.

We have been expecting a big storm tonight with tropical downpours, 70*, and wind up to 60 mph.

Laura, I dont think Im going to prune any of my plumeria until its absolutely necessary (like 10 or 15 feet tall!). I just dont want to risk cutting off a potential inflo, or stunting the growth. But eventually I will have trim them and when I do, it will probably be in the early spring (maybe march), just before they go outside. That way they can quickly head toward recovery as the warm weather arrives! My largest plumeria might need to be pruned next year (not this spring, but the one after) because its making more branches with this new inflo and it might become way too top heavy!
Greg, thats pretty much what I call half of the common landscape shrubs around here! lol. If a shrub never blooms, never fruits, loses its leaves every winter, or grows into an awkward shape without continuous pruning, then I hate it! The shrub I took out does all of those things and yet is planted everywhere here! I think everyone can relate to those type of shrubs! Some northern shrubs are nice, but a lot of them should be mulch!
We are expecting the same weather here! Heavy downpours, gusty winds up to 60 mph, lots of humidity, and the possibility of a rain wrapped tornado (albeit they would be extremely scattered if they form at all). The wind is really cranking up here now within the last half hour. The sustained winds are probably around 15-20mph, but the gusts are probably already 35-40mph. Cooler nights ahead. I plan on covering some of the plants with this black colored frost cloth that I got last year and I think that might be enough to retain some heat! I dont want any of the plants seeing 40s and upper 40s are a possibility at night this weekend.
Good luck and thanks for looking!
-Alex

Here are a few pics of what Tropical Rainstorm Nicole did to the yard and the cleanup afterward. Fortunately the weather wasnt too terrible here. We missed out on a lot of the flooding but we got a very heavy downpour early Friday morning that brought gusty winds lots of rain very quickly.

Lots of the banana leaves were a little ripped up by the wind

Nothing could weigh this plumeria down enough to keep it from falling over. Thankfully it didnt break!!

My new texas star hibiscus were toppled over in the wind.

Fortunately the weight of this banana didnt hurt the new spear of the trachy below it.

My passion vine was growing on the top of the gazebo until the wind knocked it down. But it still managed to make a nice and healthy flower!

Damaged musa basjoo leaf

Musa basjoo leaves seem to be much more suceptable to wind damage than any of my other bananas. Cavendish handled the wind the best as well as my thai black banana. My ice cream banana handled the wind pretty well.

My new musa saba banana!

Pretty princess plumeria flower bud

Desert rose also making some flowers!

Now these next few pics were taken today....

Butterfly on plumeria

Majesty palm frond that was ripped off in the wind :(

I moved these plants to the table

Tillandsia Cyanea blooms

Plumeria pudica continuing to bloom!

Im just started growing brugmansias very recently and I was wondering if anyone here knew if there were flower buds. I dont really know a lot about these plants yet!

Stromanthe

Papaya seedlings

I covered my coconut palms with a black frost cloth so they could stay as warm as possible at night and it looks like they did because they are continuing to grow and Im hoping it will manage to make 1 more frond before its time to go in which will be in a few short weeks

One of the few things I like about fall are pansies!

Thanks for looking. Unfortunately I didnt take too many pics of my palms in this update, but they will be my main focus as fall moves on. Im going to update this thread for the rest of the season.
I hope that no one suffered too much damage from the storm and that everyone is enjoying the fall weather. It looks like there are quite a few areas with a frost coming tonight unfortunately, but at least it looks like frost is not in the forecast anytime soon by me.
Good luck!
-Alex

Hi Alex,

Sorry it took so long to get back to you. I hear you Alex. I use the same stragedy. I replace meaningless yard plants with ones that give fruit, flower or fragrance. Hence, the Jelly palm is ideal for me:)

We hardly had any real wind from that storm - like you said 15-25 mph. It was just some heavy rain. If I was not shocked and in a rush to teach at my Church the evening the tornado struck; I would have had some shocking photos. The Church is located about 7 miles away and that area was untouched.

Those live shots I saw of park slope of the aftermath of that tornado was pretty amazing!! There definitely had to be some gusts of or at least pretty close to 100mph to cause that damage. At the time when the damage in my yard from nicole took place, winds were sustained at about 35mph and gusts were close to 60mph. But fortunately the lights only flickered a little and the power managed to stay on! Nothing compared to a tornado!
I have a lot of work ahead of me this coming spring! Lots of shrubs to take out (right now Im thinking 6 or 7 and some are pretty mature). I feel bad about destroying the shrubs so Ill try to leave the roots in tact and maybe give them for free to someone. But they arent really doing much for the yard except blending in with all the other plants around the area so its time to start making it a little more tropical! Lots of plants for next year!
I just bought a betel nut palm which should be here in about 2 weeks and I dug up a few plants yesterday so they can begin to establish themselves in pots before they go inside for the winter. Ill post some more pics later today or tomorrow!
-Alex

I just got my betel nut palm and my eaten parlor palm finally put out a full frond! More pics to come soon of those and some other stuff too!
Thanks for looking!
-Alex

You should have seen the hail storm Brooklyn had on Monday. It made the national news. It was violent and everything was shreaded and a mess. My palm got a little beat up. It hailed heavily for a solid 10-15 minutes. It appears that we are having storms all at once that nornmally do not occur but every 15 years.

I saw a video of that! Looks like brooklyn (especially the park slope area) is getting a lot of crazy weather! We just got lightning at times (one cloud to ground lightning strike shook the ground and knocked out the power for a few seconds), but we didnt get that much rain and no hail. I wonder why the heaviest part of every storm seems to be hitting your area. Im thinking its a coincidence, but maybe its some type of microclimate (not necessarily a temperature related microclimate, but maybe something else?). Its really interesting to me, but Im sure that all the people with damage who have to clean up have more negative feelings about the recent weather in Brooklyn!

Im finally able to share a few pics! I dug up a few plants from the ground, and repotted a few others. Heres a few pics of those and some other plants also!

SInce I was digging the plants up around my livistonia, you can finally actually see the livistonia!

As one passion flower closes, another one opens! Ive actually never seen my passion flower opening since it usually opens late at night, but I guess this cooler weather is messing up its flowering a little!

I dug up my variegated Schefflera arboricola and I potted up my new Betel nut palm, and repotted my Ensete "Tandarra Red"

I also repotted my cat palm (which was eaten up by opossums earlier this Fall, but is now getting a chance to grow back!

First brug bloom coming soon!!!!!

Jamaican Poinsettia aka Euphorbia punicea

Plumeria was indoors during this noreaster because I didnt want these beautiful blooms to be destroyed! I love how full this head of blooms is getting!

This was definitely a surprise to me! My Ti plants decided to bloom. Ive never seen them bloom in person, even in the tropics, so Im really looking forward to seeing the flowers on it!!!

New Dioon spinulosum, thanks a lot Dennis!! Very nice cycad and only the second cycad to be added to the yard. Im also going to get a Dioon Edule and possibly try it in the ground next year! We will see! Im definitely expanding both my palm and cycad collection a little bit right now!!

Some of the Maples are changing color now as well as a few other trees, but the majority are still a nice green. Thanks for looking!
-Alex

Hey alex im glad you like the cycad if you want to see my garden in person since i found out you you live close email me

lytkinedennis@aol.com

Sounds great dennis, thanks a lot! I'll email you!
-Alex

Another update! Sorry the pics are a little dark since the sun was setting at the time.
Pretty nice sunset today!

Sabal minor from above

European fan palm from above

Brugmansia bud getting bigger and another bud on the way!

Plumeria inflo

Plumeria flowers

Anturium (sorry if I spelled it wrong)

These were some of my potted cannas and they werent growing or flowering at all so I decided that it was best to just dig them up.

I had a musa basjoo in a huge stone pot so I wanted to dug that up a few weeks before the first frost so it has time to grow a new leaf or two

Pregnant onion blooming again.

Thanksgiving cactus getting ready to bloom (hopefully right in time for thanksgiving)

Close up of the flower buds

Mandevilla still flowering strong. For some reason it grows very few leaves during the warm months and actually gains most of its height indoors or during the spring and fall.

Musa velutina making a pup!

Anyone know whats happening to my coconut palms fronds? Is is from fertilizing, or is it the cold. Maybe too much water and cold? Any help is greatly appreciated! My other coconut palm doesnt have this problem and the spots arent on all the fronds and it isnt very noticeable unless you look closely.

One of the few airplants that managed to survive the winter indoors.

Bromeliad still blooming strong, but no pups yet.

Variegated agave americana

Variegated Agave Desmettiana

Gardenia frost proof about to go through its first winter. Its still growing which might not be a good thing

Blurry shot of the plants

Pygmy date palm, double peach hibiscus, and super dwarf cavendish

Thanks for looking. Lowest temp so far here is 40F and some 70s forecasted for this week!!
-Alex

Alex,
That's a beautiful sunset,I like those that give everything an orange glow.I like the variegated A.americana,I'm getting one for myself.There suppose to be cold hardy for here.I'll probably get the blue A.americana also,I like any plant that has blue leaves or fronds.I would like to have a Eucalyptus but they get very large.Your European fan palm looks like it's doing good,I hope the 4 I have look that good once planted in the ground.My big E.fan palm has much longer fronds than my three 3 gallon ones,I don't know why,it's in full sun.I wish my bananas looked as good as yours.I guess your fence helps block a lot of wind from hitting them.Your back yard looks very tropical looking,great job :)

Thanks a lot Randy!
The sunsets here have been really nice lately which isnt that typical.
The variegated Agave Americana is a great plant! It started off growing a little weird and not proportional, but its really starting to grow well now. I plan on putting it in the ground eventually, but probably not this spring since I dont think it will be that big yet.
I also really want a Eucalyptus, but they really get too big. If I ever need to replace a tree, then I would probably consider an eucalyptus, but since they are hard to find at good sizes, I might just get a southern magnolia instead since they are pretty cheap here and are at good, mature sizes (but not as unusual looking as an Euc!
My european fan palm just started pupping! Im not sure what it is about the fronds on this palm, but they are really nice looking. It is still pretty young (probably considered a 5 gallon plant), but I cant wait until it fills up the area its in! Ive seen some of them with very long fronds and Im not sure why that happens. Mine is actually a little shorter than usual. Maybe the longer fronds are due to better nutrients in the soil? Just a guess though!
My banana plants get hit badly by the wind sometimes, but the fence and tree nearby does help them out a lot.
Thanks for looking! Nice weather here today and for most of this week. Im really loving the 70 degree weather!
-Alex

Wow, Alex!!!! Your gardens and plant groupings are breathtaking! I have some more inspiring ideas! Thanks! Are you located in New York? I'll probably be torturing you with a lot of questions. LOL

Theresa

Looking good Alex!

Nice to see all your stuff is doing well!

Plant that Abyssinian in the ground next year(if you have room)and watch out!(-;

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Thanks a lot Theresa! I live in NYC. If you have any questions about anything, I would be happy to do my best to answer them!!

Jim, I definitely want to get that Abyssinian in the ground. Im thinking of putting it in a 7 gallon nursery pot and then putting that in the ground. That way I can save as much of the roots as possible when its time to dug it up, but many of the roots will find there way to the ground. I think Im going to put all my bananas in the ground next year. Maybe some fruit if Im lucky! If I get any fruit from my Ice cream banana I will be so happy (and happy to share!)

Thanks for looking!
Good luck and Happy Halloween!
-Alex

Wouldn't even bother with the pot,these things will startle you with how easy they are to dig up.

They are basically like giant celery stalks with about 4 times the water.

Mine goes into the basement this year,btw,it got the $*** beat out of it by 50mph wind gust's 2 days in a row,
if I would not have anchored it to a pole it would have snapped like a carrot!

Sounds good. First I need a real shovel and not this tiny hand shovel Ive been using though, lol! I have dug up so many huge plants with that shovel, but it takes me such a long time and my hands are about to fall off by the time Im finished! And I know what you mean, these bananas have a tremendous amount of water in them. When I was done repotting and cutting the bottom leaves off of it, I was soaked because of all the water from the inside of the plant that came out! I can only imagine what 50 mph winds would do to your banana! That must have been a sad sight. When my bananas went outside in March they had every leaf stripped off of them in the wind from a Nor'easter with wind gusts up to 75 mph. Bananas dont seem to be fans of the wind, thats for sure! NIce food analogies too!
Thanks for the tips, I think Im going to consider putting it in the ground without a pot now. Im already excited to see how much it grows! Do you think it would like shade or sun better. Mine is in partial sun, but it seems like it would like more shade, or maybe more water.
Good luck!
-Alex

@ tropicalzone7- Can you take more pics of that one coconut palm with the spots?
I dont think 40f would do that considering thats not very cold. Its been in the 40f's here and there in NorCal,with the coldest night being 38f. My coconut palm hasn't done that and the day time highs were in the lows 60f's do to rain.
When did you first start seeing this? It almost looks like burn spots from either the sun or too much fertilizer. Also has the humidity been low?

With burns on a leaf like that(if they are burns(-;),you have to also consider the moisture/dewpoint,
if there is moisture on the leaf,air temp is 40 but the dewpoint is in the low 30s etc,you can have the
same effect or worse than if the temp would have been in the low 30s.

Heres another look at the coconut frond problem. My other coconut palm saw the same weather and doesnt have this problem ,but it is a different type of coconut (Sold as a Hawaiian coconut palm, but whatever it is, its different than my other coconut palm (which I think might be a Malayan?)).
Thanks in advance for any help! I recently fertilized it if that helps.
-Alex

Interesting... Is it only that one frond, and how old is that frond or those fronds? The spots are probably do to too much fertilizer, but I am not 100% on that. I think my coconut palms are also Malayan ( Golden Malayan? ), however all the tag said was coconut palm.
Keep your eye on it, if you havent taken it in yet, you might want to. If it is a temp or sunlight problem, this should let you know fairly soon.
Hopefully we will find out what it is soon, and good luck!

It was on one frond, but now it is on 2 of them. They are the oldest fronds, but since the previous 2 oldest fronds were eaten by animals, these fronds are actually pretty young. The new frond coming out looks perfectly green. The damage seemed to occur during this recent warm up we had which had temperatures in the mid 70s for about 4 days.
Thanks for the help!
-Alex

Wait, I just realized I forgot to post another pic! Here it is. Sorry, lol.

Thanks!
-Alex

Here are some pics of whats left outside. As you can see, not much. Still no frost though with is very good! Anyone know how they are storing there cannas because the bulbs I decided to dig up early are already wilting a little bit.

Now that all the plants are inside for the winter, you can see all the palms again! Windmill palms are going into there 2nd winter outside and the livistonia is going to see its first winter outdoors this year

Canna still blooming

Its hard to see, but the fronds are really getting streched out since it was in shade this summer (because it was buried by other plants). This palm looks a thousand times healthier than last year (also notice the canna bulbs growing out of the soil now!).

Livistonia with impatiens still blooming.

This windmill palm grew a lot of fronds this summer, but very little height.

Passion vine might give a few more flowers with the warm-up this week!

Oleander is FULL of seed pods! Anyone know how long before they are ripe because one of them (not in pic) has been on since July!

Fig and sun.

Pygmy date palm recovering from spear pull and very badly needs a new pot

Begonia still in bloom.

My newest and largest windmill palm. About to see 1st winter

Sabal Domingensis also going to see its first winter

Medd fan palm and oleander both will see there first winter

Agave

Potted pindo palm

Pindo palm about to see its 2nd winter

Thanks for looking!!
-Alex

Very cold and cloudy day today, but still no frosts of freezes! Looks like a decent forecast ahead with high temps in the 50sF (maybe a 60F or two) and sunshine. I think Im going to start protecting the palms from rain starting from the next time it rains because I do want them to be dry by December.

-Alex

@ tropicalzone7- Hows the coconut palm? I think the spots might have been caused by cool temps. My coconut palm outside has about 3 small spots that look somewhat like the ones above.

So far so good! They are both slowly pushing up a new and healthy frond. There havent been anymore spots for about 2 weeks now. I think that it will hang on until spring when it can go outside and start growing well again!
Thanks for asking!
-Alex

Heres a pic of a few of the things blooming right now. Very nice day yesterday and not a bad one today either. Tomorrow looks cold with a high temperature of only 49F, and Saturday has a low temperature of 35F! Hopefully that wont bring the first frost of the season!

Passion vine STILL blooming!

Cannas not blooming as much, but there are a few blooms on it!

I was really happy and surprised to see my oleander making NEW buds. I might take it inside soon so the buds arent stunted. Do you think I should?

My elephant ear's leaves are really beat up by the wind and rain, but there are still some blooms

Lantana still blooming

Brand new thanksgiving cactus blooming

I thought they were wiliting because they didnt have enough water, but they are still wilting. They have been wilting since I bought them. They were inside for a day or 2 and I figured bringing them outside would perk them up, but that didnt happen. I just repotted them and brought them in. Hopefully they will recover! Any ideas?? My other thanksgiving cactus (one 2 years old and another 4 years old) are doing fine and are a week from blooming).

One of my thanksgiving cactus indoors that is close to blooming.

Begonias are blooming just as well now as they were in the summer! The leaves are a little more torn up now though.

INDOORS, my hibiscus is blooming well and hopefully it continues to do well until spring when it goes back out!

Thanks for looking!!!
-Alex

tropicalzone7, how tall is your coconut in the first pic? It looks amazing!! I have a 4 footer from Puerto Rico and it looks nothing like that.

Thanks Hunter M!
Mine is about 4 feet tall including the pot (maybe a bit short of 4 feet tall). The first one came from Miami Beach, and the Smaller one came from Hawaii. Im not sure exactly what type they are, but that might be why mine looks a bit different. It was about 2 years old in this pic (from germination and 1 1/2 years that I had it)
As of today my coconut palm still looks about the same as it did in this pic from last fall. The only difference is that the emerging frond is now fully grown and a new frond is about to open.
-Alex

The fronds on my 4 footer look like the fronds on your little one. I wonder why? Also If I could go to your yard and see all your tropical plants it would make my week. :D

Hi Hunter! Right now my yard doesnt look too special because its still early in the season, but if you would like to see things when they are at their best (usually August - late September), I would be glad to show you. Where do you live (like how far from NYC)?
-Alex

Alex can I get a tour of the yard too lol. I live on staten island so that makes it easier.

Definitely Dennis! I'd love to see your yard too! I'll email you.
-Alex

Thanks I got your email

Well, I live in north Ohio but I wont be able to go to NYC any time soon because im only 13.:( Ive only been to New York once and that was when I was really little. What I meant was I like all of your plants so much It would make my week If I could see them all. Thanks though. If I do come up to NYC I will definetly message you. Thanks Alex!

-Hunter

If your ever in the area definitely tell me and I'll be happy to show you around! Im going to post some pics next week of the entire yard (It will have the title "End of June 2011 yard pics") so keep looking for it! I would post it sooner, but my last update was only 3 weeks ago and I am a little busy this week.
-Alex

Cool, I look forward to it.

Does your mussa and thai black banana really make bananas? If so can you eat them?

So far I havent had any fruit from my banana plants yet, but my Musa "Ice Cream", My Musa Saba, and my Velutina all will make edible fruit. Thai Black doesnt make edbile fruit, and Musa basjoos do not either. Musa basjoos (and probably Thai blacks too) will make fruit, its just not edbile (very fibery, and holds many large seeds).

Right now Im going to get the deck painted, but after that is all done (by the weekend), I will have some pics up!
-Alex

Hey Alex, when do you think you will be able to post some pics? Not trying to rush you just excited to see all of your plants.

I wanted to post today, but my deck is completely stripped of paint because its being repainted. I dont think the deck is going to end up getting painted until at least Monday because all the rain we got here delayed the whole project a week.

I think what I will do is post pics of the plants in my front yard, and then save the backyard for when the deck is painted (probably Tuesday or maybe very very early Wednesday morning (like 5:30 am!).

I'll post my Front yard today and the rest as soon as they are back in their spots!
-Alex

Alright that sounds fine. I look forward to it