Demonstration category - Participant# 401 || 2004 Contest
Welcome to KrolikUdaff-TopTropicals!
click on image to enlargefront yard - ponds and orchids (front patio) - back yard - fruit trees - plants in pots (back patio) - house plants - zoo
As we said, very soon we ran out of space... Well, all plant lovers know what we mean. It's the biggest trouble you can get into, after Frost, Bugs and Hurricane Charlie... The only solution to satisfy our collector's appetite was to grow plants in pots! Here are a few pictures of our Potted Collection...
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How many? We don't know. Hundreds. There was supposed to be a patio... but it never happened since Krolik put her first pot here... |
There is a Hot Tub behind... |
These are probably not the fanciest pots, but we promise to get nice ones as soon as we get that rich! |
First of all, our fragrant favorites! Dwarf Annonaceae Family members, Ylang-Ylangs!
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Artabotrys
hexapetalus - |
Cananga
Fruticosa |
Desmos
Chinensis |
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Michelia can be easily kept in a pot. Our tree bloomed all summer emerging wonderful Magnolia fragrance during the day, and especially strong at night. This tree is grafted and started to bloom right away when we first got it in 3 gal pot.. Another great tree for container culture is Stemmadenia. It likes a shady location, and blooms with wonderfully scented white flowers. The leaves are also very beautiful, glossy, dark-green, coffee-like. |
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Chonemorpha penangensis is also good for container if you have limited space. The fragrance is outstanding at night and leaves are huge, especially if grown in shade (it takes both sun or shade) |
To be honest, sometimes we didn't have luck growing gardenias. Probably because of our tropical summer rainy season when it rains sometimes every day for a month, they get over-watered easily. But these three varieties are real winners! They thrive! Like with Miracle Fruit - the secret with gardenias is to keep them in acid soil, in containers. Only grafted varieties can be planted directly in the ground.
More fragrant favorites:
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Quisqualis indica (rangoon creeper) - is one of the most beautiful vines with fresh fragrance... |
Cornutia grandifolia (Tropical lilac) has addicting scent of leaves! Tobacco! |
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Hibiscus is a flower that requires a picture gallery or collage... We have many different cultivars that deserve a separate page. But this one is very special. Tequila Sunrise El Capitolio blooms non-stop! Hawaiian Salmon is not that profusive bloomer, but is also very beautiful and always has at least 1 flower open. It has nice shiny dark green leaves and is a very vigorous shrub. Unlike other fancy flowering varieties, its branches don't get dry-looking and woody, it always looks green and healthy. |
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You saw one of our Tibouchina's velvet leaves at Pagan's Temple page, and here are the flowers! This giant plant grows in 15 gal container and yet it's begging for more room! The flower spikes are so heavy that the stem bends down... Interesting plant: Mascagnia macroptera (Butterfly Pea vine), The seed pots are even more fun than flowers, they look like butterflies! |
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These vines below indeed need space! We have to cut them back every week to keep them under control... The good thing is that they both are shade tolerant and we actually keep them under a roof. And they keep blooming!
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Thunbergia alata - Black Eye Susan |
Stictocardia beraviensis - Hawaiian Bell |
Argyreia
nervosa - |
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Pisonia alba - Lettuce (cabbage) tree |
Another two shade lovers are Pisonia alba and Brillantaisia guianensis - both with remarkable leaves. Pisonia's leaves are up to 2 ft long, and have bright chartreuse color. Brillantaisia has also large leaves, and their shape is very unusual. Flowers are deep purple, also very unusually shaped. |
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Dichrostachys is the right plant for container. It's a real bonsai. One of the weirdest flowers ever - Ceropegia ampliata - isn't it a real Horny Beauty? Now we can tell you the secret of these flowers. Udaff was so tired of Viagra spam that finally decided to try one... on this plant! As you see, it really works, think before trashing your incoming messages!
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front yard - ponds and orchids (front patio) - back yard - fruit trees - plants in pots (back patio) - house plants - zoo