Thursday, June 27, 2013

Bromeliads in South Florida

This is the time of year that bromeliads really do thair'thang here in South Flo'rida!  
With all the rain and sun we have been getting the bromeliad's colors are super saturated, new pups are peaking out from the parent plants growing their colony,  new wacked out color combo's of flower spikes are emerging practically from nowhere and they look happy, happy, happy!

So here's to the bromeliads...you just keep on keeping on!
Hope you enjoy our garden o'bromeliads
(I just can't seem to collect enough of them, lol).

Our fast growing watermelon bromeliads are completely
taking over here..anyone need some bro's? :)
These little bromeliad's have taken many  
years to grow just 6 inches high, wow!
When the light catches this billbergia bromeliad at
the right angle, the opaque spots light up like a
stained glass window, hence it's name 'hallelujah'.
I just love how super intense the colors on this bromeliad are.
It reminds me of a delicious candy with that
gorgeous red gloss!
This is what bromeliads will look like when the grow into
each other...a bromeliad carpet.
I am guessing this is an Aechmea chantinii of some form
some form but can't seem to find one like this to
identify it correctly...anyone, anyone?
Here you can see a striking difference between the bright green & white bands inside the aechmea as opposed to the dark & light banding outside.

This is a very elegant & understated bromeliad, aechmea 'maginali',
with super intense hot pink, hot orange & electric purple/blue blooms.
The spotted curly leaved bromeliad is called
quesnelia marmorata.  Watch out for the thorns!
These neoregelia are a super solid, super intense deep
reddish purple, also super difficult to photograph, lol.
Alcantarea imperialis, Imperior bromeliad in the red form.
A mish-mosh of bromeliads :)
I call these aechmea triplettes 'flame throwers'
Note to Floridians, if you have bromeliads in your gardens then you are probably
contributing to the mosquito infestations we experience during the summer.  Fear not, there are ways to be a responsible bromeliad owner...mosquito dunks.  Just a few granules of a mosquito dunk in each bromeliad cup and viola, bye bye larvae!  You can use mosquito dunks in all kinds of standing water.  I just love how affordable, accessible, non-toxic and easy to use they are.
Happy Gardening and Wishing you a Wonderful Thursday!

SB
xoxo

Thursday, June 20, 2013

Sunshine!

Finally, my dears, we have sunshine!  And boy has it shone on us with a vengeance. Yes, yes, I know...Florida is the "Sunshine State" but the past few weeks we have had nothing but rain and thunderstorms.  Great for the ecosystem...not great to work in.  Now we have incredible heat and sun (it's been in the 90's friends)...again great for the ecosystem, not so great to work in, ugh!  So with a few of my "off work" days, I was out in the yard working on unfinished projects which I started before Mother Nature unleashed her fury.  Now I get to post about them...yea for us!

Here are a few pics on the day the sun decided to shine!

Pseuderanthemum carruthersii variety atropurpureum
I had no idea what the name of this was until just recently &
I still have no idea if it has any common name but I absolutely love this plant!
Pseuderanthemum carruthersii variety atropurpureum
Watermelon bromeliads & pseuderanthemum
My various bulb plants had no intention of waiting for me to
put them in the ground for them to bloom.  In front: light pink rain lilies,
stoplight red amaryllis and the beautiful magenta Ellen Bosanquet crinum lilies.
Lady palm (rhapis excelsa)
Lemon-lime dracena
My favorite black-n-blue salvia
Ornamental purple banana
My latest addition to my bromeliad collection....Neoregelia Kahala Dawn
that I purchased from an absolutely awesome nursery, Sunshine Bromeliads!!!!
Go check them out, their gardens are filled with 35 years of love & dedication
plus I guarantee you will leave with some incredible plants!
Various seashells from our beach
Alocasia portora, a huge growing alocasia
Costa ginger with edible flowers, tastes like apple!
This aloe was a transplant from my family's Miami house.
Crocosmia 'emberglow', Cordyline 'chilli pepper'
& false aralia in the background.
 This "Zig-zag" spider spun a concentric circle
rather than radial lines behind the legs.
A new fav to my collection...alternanthera 'party time'.
Well this is just the beginning of many more posts to come, plus it keeps me outta this crazy heat!
Sending you lots of tropical wishes and happy gardening y'all!
SB
xoxo

Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Another Client Landscape

     One of our client's is actually a wonderful little condo close to the ocean here in Pompano Beach.  Their project consisted of several phase's of work to beautify their outdated landscape and bring them up to the city's code requirements.  This job came to be quite complicated although for this post I will simplified it just to the before and after pictures so you can see the incredible transformation minus the drama, lol.  Apparently not only some of the resident's loved the new look, their neighbors and passer-by's did too.

     Though here is where I have interject an awesome little story.  As we were working on the finishing touches throughout the project, I put our company sign in the front of the landscape to let people know who we are.  I have to be honest here and say at this point I was getting down on myself.  Based on how I was being treated I was thinking that the condo folks didn't really appreciate all the hard work we were doing for them.  I felt I cared more than they did and they just wanted us done and out of there....
  ....then I received a phone call from the sweetest young woman who just wanted to say "that I walk by this condo everyday and wanted to let you know how I really enjoy the moment when I pass by this landscape now.  It's so beautiful and I find something new each time I stop to admire it.  It's the best part of my walk and I look forward to coming by.  You did an amazing job and wanted you to let you know that someone noticed."  OH MY GOODNESS, I started crying it was so sweet, her words fell on my ears at a perfect time in my life.  I was amazed that a stranger called just to say something nice.  I tear up again just writing this.  Note to ourselves, always incorporate random acts of kindness in our lives because you never know who and how you can impart something good in someone's life.

Hope you enjoy our condo makeover as much as we did.
This is looking east at the front island area
before demolition.  This area is about
180 ft long x 18 ft deep
This is further down as you walk along the sidewalk.
We removed everything, the old ficus hedges
& ficus trees were in bad shape.
This is the same area of the front island
except now it's completely new.  We used
silver butttonwood trees, bulnesia trees, Queen
Emma crinum lilies, purple starburts, lantana &
red shrimp plants to name a few.
This is further down along the front island area.
We used perennial peanuts around the perimeter
as ground cover, 
blanket flower, persian shield
epidendrum orchids, variegated hibisus 'red hot'
& 'snow' & blue daze are some more of the plants.
This is the center island area in the parking lot
where we removed the pongham trees before
demolition.
The same area with the new trees we planted.  I used
allspice trees at each end with dahoon holly trees all
in the middle along with another sable palm.
This is one of two small areas on either side of
the parking lot driveways, the east side
before demolition.
This is the east side of the parking lot driveway
with the new plants, using the same ones as in
the center island.
This is one of two small areas on either side of 
the parking lot driveways, the west side 
before demolition.
This is the west side of the parking lot driveway
with the new plants, using the same ones as in 
the center island.
This area is the east side of the condo before.
Here we just added to what was already there
to meet the city's code requirements.
The east side afterwards with a new King palm &
 a few sable palms on the side of the building.
The condo building's entry area before demolition
The same area after the new cassia tree, sabal
palm and ground cover plants were installed.
Here is another view of the front island area before
we removed everything & added dirt.
Here is what it looks like after we installed the
new plants & mulch.
Here we are removing the diseased trees
 and old ficus hedges.
Boy did this give us all a good scare, to find
that someone nailed it to one of the tree's.
This is the west perimeter of the parking lot
with two new weeping podocarpus trees
& new eugenia hedge plants
Here is a close up of one of the weeping podocarpus
trees.  Every time I am on the jobsite, someone will
ask me, "what is the name of those beautiful trees!?!"
Here is the front center island looking towards the
west before demolition.
Here is the center part of the front island after we
installed the new plants, trees & mulch.
I was standing on the other side of the street in
order to get almost all of the center island in the
picture.  That's how big this area is!
In this picture I was standing in the center
median of the road but at least you can see a
little bit more detail of the landscape in this one.
A close up of the center island with variegated
hibiscus 'red hot' & 'snow' in back,
 Queen Emma lily, purple starburst, persian
shield & blanket flower in the foreground.
In the background you can see phase II has started.  In the foreground you can see how the perennial peanuts are starting to really grow & spread out.
Here is the back side of the center island before
demolition & tree removal, facing eastward.
Here is the back side of the center island about  8 months after we first planted everything in the ground.
Unfortunately like alot of landscapes, other people maintain this property.  As you can tell they do not have proper training & knowledge as to maintain a landscape of this caliber...soooo yeah that part sucks. Boy how I wish we could have maintained their property for them, it would look so nice!!!  But that's what you get when you only want a "cheap" maintenance service...a 'hack & whack' and a 'mow, blow & go' as they are commonly known in the industry.  Though all in all it still looks great!
Hope you enjoyed my little slide show & tell of another day-in-the-life of a landscaper, lol.

Happy Gardening and Many Best Wishes,

Sheri
xoxo