August Garden Tour!

Hey, what's up garden friends? Jeff here, Tropical Plant Party. How's everybody doing? I hope you're good. I am great. Time for the August garden tour. Why doesn't that flower want to focus? Off to a great start. Not that much has changed out here. Not much at all. It's been kind of dry. It was really wet before. Now it's really dry. You know, go figure, but that's okay. But there are some areas that have had a pretty good amount of growth like these impatiens over here that I planted those impatiens in with that alpinia behind there. The alpinia is the rumbut and they've really taken off almost too much. The pothos are nice and happy. They're spreading all over the place. That's the marble queen right there. The fountain's off right now because, well, it's hard to explain. It has to do with the vlog that's coming out after this video. I have a lot of stuff going on out here and I'm doing some things with the electric, so that's why there's cords and things running over the place. And as always, in the middle of like four or five projects. So, you know, bear with me. That's gardening, right? Nothing's ever done. Nothing's ever complete. These dragon's wing begonias are taking off wonderfully, as are the white caladiums. Look at those. Those have put on all kinds of growth. The cordylans that are behind them, somewhat, not quite as much, but they're still looking pretty good. Those cordylans, they're not the fastest growers anyway, so I'm not too surprised by that. But they still, they give the color. They look nice. Baby tut papyrus, that's put on a good amount of growth. So is the canna australis behind it? I don't know if it's the canna australis. It was labeled as Australian red, which I can't find any pictures of, but it also doesn't look like canna australis to me. It's much more red. I don't know how well it's coming through on camera, but in person, very red. Many cattails doing their thing. There's some various collocages over here and some thalias behind them. Those are red stem thalias. They don't have a ton of color on them right now. All the saracenias, the pitcher plants, they're doing great. And the fish are too. They're nice healthy. Over here with the vegetables and everything, things are a little bit thirsty. Basil basil's doing well. I can smell that from very far away. It's kind of thirsty right now. I'm also reworking my dripper. So some things, their watering got skipped today. I went through and hand watered, but I guess not quite enough. It rained last night, so I don't think I need it to. There are tons of jalapenos over here that need to be picked. And same thing with the spicy peppers. You know, there's this whole row of spicy peppers. They need to be staked up. I'm actually probably going to swap them out. There's still about 70 days left in the growing season. I have some poblanos that are in a smaller container that I'm probably going to switch out over here because I don't need this many Carolina reapers and ghost peppers. That's not necessary. I just wanted a few and the stores never sell them. So there's plenty. These have lots and lots of peppers on them to be picked. You can see the areca palms are doing well. They have filled back out, flushed out with a lot of new growth. I haven't seen any mealybugs on them for a while, so I don't, I'm not going to say I'm in the clear, but it's gotten much better. Over here along the hot tub I have some heliconias potted up. That's the heliconia lady die, the Singapore twist, cordyline fruticosa behind it, with a little vinca coming out the front. It's a nice looking plant. It's just a weird looking plant. I think that's why I like it. Some fresh foliage on the plumeria maya. It's the maya plumeria. I have two of these. I had to move one into a different pot. They're a little bit crowded together. These came in the mail rooted but totally trimmed so they didn't have any foliage on them. They just flushed back out and I'm really happy with it. I think that that foliage is absolutely gorgeous. I haven't really talked about this sansevieria, but it's the, what is it, the masonii? This is the whale fin sansevieria. It was just a single leaf and it's putting up two new growths. I don't know if you guys even know I had this one, so maybe that's why I was here to update you with that one. All of the begonias and everything over here are doing wonderfully. Those alicajas, the luteas, they have just exploded with growth and they're coming towards the sun a little bit, which isn't totally ideal. They still look nice though. They have the contrast I want and they're pretty. You know the alicajas, they don't like as much sun as the calicajas do if you want to get nice growth on them if you live in a really warm climate anyway, but they will still stretch out to get the light. Oh and up here one of my orchids, one of my vandas is blooming and it does not want to focus, but it's the rincoroides Bangkok sunset cross with vanda willis. It's actually one of my favorite orchids that I have out here. This plant even has its own spotlight and somebody asked me not too long ago how it was doing right as it was going into spike, so there's an update. It's got a spike on it. It's looking beautiful. It's not normally hanging up right here from the edinidia. I just kind of did that because I wanted to take pictures of it. See the bird of paradise are doing well. There's a new leaf open up there, open, opening up there, and it's constantly flushing out new leaves. That's really not that big of a deal. There's some curcumas back here. They're doing nicely, really pretty. Lots of new growth coming out of those. Down here this is a water lily that just got potted up like a couple weeks ago. The variety is called southern charm and it's starting to put up new pads, so it's adjusted to its new pot, covered from shipping and whatnot. I am kind of set up a whole entire new area over here that I can't show you because that video hasn't come out yet, but it'll be out the video after this one, so and I'll make sure that the reveal is in the beginning of the video. You won't have to watch the entire vlog to see what's going on over here. The yucca rostrata. Looking good, not much else to say. It's just being a yucca. Hasn't done much, but it is flushing out with new growth, so it's recovered from shipping. This was bare-rooted to me, so I was really happy to see that it was pushing out new foliage. Lots of growth on the creeping jenny and this palm pot that I did, I don't know, back in May. Tropical palm planter. The petunias that were in there did not make it. We had a heat wave that lasted for like a week, and then the rest of summer has been very mild and very pleasant, but that little heat wave did amend. All the other petunias I have out here were fine, but those particular ones, they weren't taking it, which is a little bit surprising because the Iconia begonia did okay in there, and I remember those doing terribly in the heat last year, so yeah, it's what it is. There's a lot of growth out of this Dracaenia marginata tricolor back here, and there's a mandevilla nearby that's decided to grow up there, so I need to pull that off, but that's really enjoying the spot. It's doing a lot of growing. One of my favorite crotons, freckles. Look at that. Not a ton of new growth, but it just I like to show it off because it's cute. Just now getting flower spikes on this Hedichium, which is kind of late, but better late than never, right? I wish it was in flower so I could show them to you, though. Hey, and here's the first crinum lily persophone. Not usually ever in bloom for a garden tour, but it just opened up a spike. It had two spikes. My dog's tail took one of them out, took out one of the flower buds, but it sent up another really big, nice trumpet-shaped pink flowers. I think I talked about it before. The crinum lilies that are hardy to where I live, I'm in zone 6a, 6b, kind of right on the border. Whenever I have to get those, you order them from specialty places. They come in tiny pots, so I had to wait several years to get blooms out of this. This is the third year, I believe, that it's bloomed, and I couldn't be happier with it. It's grown like crazy. It's very cold hardy. It's never had any issues with it in the wintertime, and the flower spikes on it are just so big and so pretty, and they last a pretty long time, too. This has been in bloom for about a week, and it just kind of keeps pulling more and more blooms out and dropping old ones off. Very nice. I've tried a few other varieties of more of the hardier crinum lilies, and this is one that has been the longest lasting out of any of the ones I've tried so far, and I'd like to get in and find some more, but this one, the persophone, multiplies very quickly, so I'll be able to lift it and do some dividing, which I'm excited about, because I can spread it around the garden some more. The keeny teeny collocasias. As always, they're practically invasive. They're all over the place. I've actually even pruned these quite a bit, and they just keep going. They're even popping up in a berm where I would never think these would grow. It's very dark. Bajou bananas getting nice and big. I mean, that's what they do, so no surprise there, but they're getting bigger and bigger. That's a reflection from the sun and those lights. I checked it. I was like, why are those on? They're not. It's just the light. It's sort of the heat of the afternoon. Not the most ideal time to do a garden tour, but it's the only time I had available, so I'm sorry about that. You can see there's a really big nice new leaf opening up there on the collocasia Thai giant. Leucocasia Thai giant. You know, it has a new name. It's reached that point in the year where it's just spitting out new foliage like crazy. Same thing back here with the alocasias. Look at that. They've gotten so big and full. I cannot believe how well these have grown this year. Same thing over here with the sun impatiens. Lots of nice new growth on those as well. Over here, I've planted up some limelight hydrangeas amongst with some other things. They were just watered, so they're perking back up. I just did this like, I don't know, 10 minutes ago, if even. So they're fresh from the nursery, so they're just, you know, looking the way they're looking because they've just been planted up. I have of course been very much enjoying my new berm with my hedge. I'm a hedge owner, finally. Always wanted to be a hedge owner. Yeah, I mean, they have filling out to do. I couldn't get them to space quite right because there were some pipes and things in the ground. I'll talk about that more in the vlog that comes out after this, but it is what it is. I know that it's not a straight line, but the patio's not a straight line, so this berm is actually kind of curved, so it's just following that curve. Everything that I've planted over here in the serenity garden is just really happy, doing wonderfully. Those curcumas, the bromeliads, the philodendron, bipinidifidum, my monstera deliciosa, Thai constellation. This monstera has been throwing out new foliage. Like, I can't even keep up with that. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven. So I'm getting like maybe two leaves a month, which is very, very, very fast growth. So I had talked about moving this to another spot, but it seems so happy. I'm gonna let it stay there. I'm gonna let it keep doing its thing. Keep on, keep on growing. I cannot remember the name of this alacazza, but it's still making me happy. Look how beautiful that foliage is. There's a broken branch there. I'm doing some brush cleanup in the area behind here, so it appears that that fell over, and we had some storms last night too, so that might have just fallen out of the trees above it. I'm not sure. Strawberry vanilla hydrangeas. They're just starting to get their pink on them. They start off white, and then they fade into a pink, and that lasts for a pretty long time. And wow, have these grown. They're gonna need a much bigger prune next year. You know, I had been thinking that they would stay smaller because I gave them a heavy prune this spring, but it wasn't heavy enough. Look, there's not even that much space on the side of the patio for them. Like, you have to dodge them when you walk by, which I'm fine with because they're so pretty, but I mean, it's not really ideal, right? And even though they fade into that pretty pink color, they do always end up with some spotting in them because the pink comes with age. You can kind of see it on this bloom right here. There's a little bit of brown in there, but I'm all right with it. In the long run, it's totally worth it for how beautiful the flower- flowers? How beautiful the flowers are, and they smell very nice too. Highly fragrant. More impatience. These are ones that were planted up around a windmill palm, which needs to be moved because the hydrangeas shading the windmill palm now. Lantana trees doing great. Pollinators are enjoying it. I haven't pruned it just because it's always in flower, and there's always butterflies and bees and hummingbirds on it, so I'm like, y'all can just have it. It can be your plant. It doesn't have to look perfect. It's fine. Oh, and I had a pine tree die. Eastern white pine declined. Things got a little bit too wet, so turned brown, died. It's just- it was a very rainy season. Nothing I could do about it, so got that cut out, and I just kind of threw some alacajas up here on the wall. I know it doesn't look great, but it helps with privacy a little bit. Not much, but a little bit. Supertunia vista bubblegum in there with those sweet caroline- is that what those are? The lime marguerite? I'm pretty sure. Sweet potato vines? Look at that. I mean, they filled out so nicely. They're looking really good. I had talked about how the shape of these sweet potato vines kind of bugs me a little bit. I keep pruning them back, and they just keep shooting back up, so I think it looks like a little bit dumb shape-wise, but I'm totally okay with it, really, because I like the green and the pink together, especially against the blue pot. Okay, camera's overheating. I'm gonna let this cool down for a few minutes. We can go out front. There's not a lot to update out there, but have a look at the impatience. Okay, there's the front yard. We good? No, just kidding. Banana planters have done a lot of growing. Look at those. So much growth, especially from- I'm surprised by this- these kiwi cordylans that are over here. Cordylan fruticosa kiwi. They were in the cordylan video that I did not too long ago, and these were just tiny little things when I plopped them in here. I didn't think they would do this much growing at all, but they've put on a good probably six inches of growth. The lobelias that are in the front of these, the impatience are kind of crowding them out, which, you know, it was kind of a risk putting those in there anyways. When things get really hot here during the summer, I never have great luck with them anyways, but they looked nice. They looked good while lasted. Now this, oh my goodness, it has grown so much. So I'm definitely getting a better perspective of outdoor lighting with these guys, and it's much on the lower end. And I kind of had wondered if the one on the other side of the door would get too much sun. Turns out, it does. It's still growing though, and it's not burning. It's just nowhere near as much. Not at all as full and lush. I mean, this is just tons and tons and tons of growth. These were tiny little things when I got them back in the springtime. Do you guys remember that vlog? Anybody who watches the vlogs? What's that? It's probably like late March, early April. They're in gallon size pots, maybe six inches tall. Sorry, I got a drip line in the way here. The drip line that runs to my hanging baskets. These are massive. So big. Really just gigantic baskets. I do, some of them I've had trouble getting the flowers off the coleus. You know, you want to keep those flowers plucked to keep them grown and bushy. Creeping jennies, doing great. The bacopas, not as much, which I'm not shocked by. When I put the bacopas in here, I wasn't sure how they would do, and you can see right there. They didn't do great. It was a risk. This whole front porch area is just very different this year from not having a big tree to shade it. So things are experimental, and now I know. I did have one, two, there's been some breakage on that Iconia begonia on this side, but that other basket I was just showing you, it's doing really well over there. And the bacopa over here is doing much better too, but the basket wants to be the other way. So it's hard to show you, and that's not exactly how you want a bacopa to look. They should be, the flowers should be much closer together, but considering the direction it's facing, I'm surprised it's even doing that well. And these were two different varieties. This one was like bluebells or snow bells, something from Proven Winters. The other one was just like a purple bacopa. So the difference in variety might have something to do with that. I'm not sure. Either way, even though they came out a little bit wonky, which I'm not shocked by, that's partially because I didn't realize the Iconia begonias that are in these kind of almost have a trailing habit. I thought that they would end up coming upright into the coleus with everything, but they didn't. They just kind of hung out down there. So whatever. Now I know the impatience doing very well. Very, very, very well. You can see the little mini hedge of them. The weeds this year, you guys, have been insane. I am constantly pulling weeds. You can see all the impatience that have self-seeded in here. I mean, they're just, they're everywhere. Yeah, the weeds have been bad this year. I'm human. I don't have time to be out here constantly pulling weeds, but I do. I mean, a few times a week I'm out here and having trouble keeping up, but I always love my impatience. They brighten the shady areas up very nicely. Yeah, you can see where, like, see, I didn't plant those. Those self-seeded. I didn't have any of those. That's all from last year. So, hey, maybe next year I won't even plant impatience. I'll just let them do their own thing, come up on their own. Nah, I don't have the patience for that. Impa- no, don't even do that. So yeah, that's the front. Not much to update on. Like I said, I don't really come out here and do much with the front. I even completely forgot to plant up my boots this year. I'm gonna go ahead and wait at this point and do something for the fall with those that I can transition into wintertime. Probably just like some cabbage and kale or something. Okay, that's gonna do it. I know brief, kind of choppy. I didn't realize that there was a peg loose on my tripod, so sorry. Things were a little bit shaky. I'm still kind of wanting to use some of my newer equipment. I'll do my best to get that all stabilized in post. We'll see. I may not be able to do it. I'll try, though. Like I said, though, there's just, there's a lot of projects going on, so it's like I can only give snippets of the garden. That's all right, though, because it's all the main things. You know, the updates with those supertunias and those sweet potato vines and impatience and the berm and, I mean, you get it. Y'all were just here. Look at how, just look at, look at that. They're so stinking pretty. I love those hydrangeas so much, even though they're wonky, a little bit lean in there because they've gotten so top-heavy. I'll fix that next year. I'm gonna prune them back much, much, much more heavily in the springtime next year, and they won't do that, hopefully. I was hoping there'd be some hibiscus or something in bloom for this video, but everyone's resting right now. Succulent update. Almost got out the clam. It's doing well. You know, the rain has backed off enough that I can probably move these things out from under the umbrella over here, and then they'll look a lot better, because they're starting to stretch, but it's just, it's rained so much this year. I didn't want to put them out where they weren't sheltered. Have I talked about this? What is this? Moroccan fireworks? Brazilian fireworks? Excellent plant. I've had this potted up in with my Eureka palm for, like, four years. The Eureka palm got repotted, but I keep it in there. It does really well. Super easy plant. Do I need to talk? Have I talked? I don't know. Like I said, I hope everybody's doing well, having a great day, great life. Everything's just going beautifully for you. I have my social media linked down below. It's a good place to get a hold of me. I like to keep things updated on Instagram. I'm on Instagram, like, way more than anything else. Oh, and speaking of updates, these are the croton cuttings from a video a long time ago. I haven't updated. They have new growth coming out. This got knocked over in a storm, so I lost a couple of them. I was out of town when it happened, so there's nothing I can do about it, but I think it needs to be top dressed, because there's apparently been a squirrel or someone digging in there, but there is new growth. Those cuttings are doing their thing. I was going to be kicking myself if I forgot to give that update. I keep forgetting. Oh, and there will be another garden tour this month of everything at nighttime, all lit up and looking cool and luminous, so that will be out hopefully in a couple weeks. And don't forget to leave the video a thumbs up. Makes a big difference for the channel, for the video. I really appreciate it, and thank you. And subscribe as well, and hit that notification bell. I upload multiple times a week, and that way you'll know when new videos come out. All right, as always, and most importantly, everybody, keep on growing. Bye-bye.