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My brand new "tropical" planter
I have just today finished planting the last additions to my brand new “tropical” planter.
In its former live it was a small pool, though deep enough (27 inches) for survival of the waterlilies in it. I filled it up completely with some low grade compost and good top soil. Now it is a rather large planter. Since we had rather dry weather the last few days, some of the plants suffered wind burn, following the relocation from the protective indoor environment to the dry outside air. Notably the Canna Australia in the NW corner (north is ‘up’ in this picture, just as in maps) and the Ornatas. This image gives an overall view of the planter This photo shows an inventory of all the plants in it as of today, It will probably remain essentially the same throughout the summer, though I expect some vigorous growth to take place soon. :) The inventory as of today: 1. A two year old Basjoo pup, separated fron the mother only yesterday. I wish it luck! 2. A couple of Ornatas, still linked by a common corm 3. Cannas Australia 4. Yucca Filamentosa 5. Costus Woodsonii 6. Dracena Red Star Spike 7. Dracena Compacta 8. Dipladenia Rio Pink 9. Rubber plants 10. Epipremnum aureum 'Golden Pothos' 11. Ricinus Carmencita 12. Petunia 13. Coleus 14. Wandering Jew |
Re: My brand new "tropical" planter
Nice planter. What's the shrub to the right which is outside the planter?
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Re: My brand new "tropical" planter
Eh, from the looks of it, that's not a Philodendron, it's Epipremnum aureum 'Golden Pothos', commonly used in hanging baskets.
There's a petunia behind the Wandering Jew? |
Re: My brand new "tropical" planter
Nice looking, it should fill in and look great in a hurry. We try to put a mint plant around as many of our plants as possible, good for flavoring tea and also helps repel unwanted bugs. Smells great when it gets stepped on. Thanks
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Re: My brand new "tropical" planter
Thank you , Tim, the plant outside the planter is a black lace elder (Sambucus Nigra Eva)
It will come out in a month or so, after the bloom, I planted it to screen the compost behind it, but the compost causes this already fast growing shrub to grow explosively. I just cannot keep it under control :( Tommy, when I bought it it was just "safely" labelled Tropical Plant. It looked like a philodendron to me, but I cannot be sure. I will later today either post a blow-up of the original photo or take a new one, and then you can tell me for sure, but meanwhile thanks. There is nothing between the wandering jew (which I promptly forgot to list:)) and the concrete edging. Thank you, Noah, I have an emotional attachment to mint. I used to collect it from a pond/swampy place, when and where I grew up, and dry it for tea, but here in this yard, which also includes the edge of a large pond, I found it extremely invasive. You just leave an inch long piece of it in the ground, and you have another infestation. I had a devil of a time to get rid of it. Best to all, Olaf |
Re: My brand new "tropical" planter
Hi again, Tommy, I know now, what you were driving at. I had numbered the wandering jew
with 12 and then carried on giving the same number to the petunia. I have now corrected it and given the WJ the number 14. This is a brand new picture of the Epipremnum aureum 'Golden Pothos' (?). Please verify Some of its leaves are also suffering from wind burn and it is not for lack of water, but a problem of adaptation to the dry outdoor air and wind. ...and thanks for the correction Olaf |
Re: My brand new "tropical" planter
Mint does well in containers also. We put window screening in the bottom so roots don't escape and critters stay out. Enjoy your labor.
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Re: My brand new "tropical" planter
Yes, Noah, a container is where mint IMOEO belongs, just don't let it get out of there, if you have
any naturally moist area, or a well irrigated one nearby. :) |
Re: My brand new "tropical" planter
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and Pilodendron both belong to the family of Araceae. So at least I did not call a crocodile 'horse', just by the name of another reptile :) But thanks again for setting me right :) Olaf |
Re: My brand new "tropical" planter
Looks great! Cant wait to see it all fill up!
I think your wandering jew plant is a Purple Heart. They are very close relatives but Purple Hearts are much more cold tolerant (zone 8). Mine survived the winter in the ground here this year, I was very happy to see it come back up! They die back to the roots when temperatures get below the mid 20s. Keep us updated! Should look very tropical soon! |
Re: My brand new "tropical" planter
Hi Alex,
the wiki defines it as follows: QUOTE Three species of the spiderwort plant are known as "Wandering Jew": Tradescantia fluminensis, a shade-tolerant, easily regenerating invasive plant having small green leaves and white flowers, a South American native. Tradescantia pallida, a plant bearing purple leaves, with white, pink or purple flowers; Tradescantia zebrina, a type distinguished by leaves that feature a distinct lengthwise zebra stripe pattern of white and green. Also, (blue) Wandering Jew, Commelina cyanea, a native Australian plant, common from Victoria to Queensland. UNQUOTE It is true, that mine looks very much like the Tradescandia Pallida, but whatever mine is, it does come nowhere near the hardiness to -12^C, which Dave's Garden ascribes to the TP. I have been raising those guys now since 6 or 8 years. Every fall after the first light frost I go out and take some cuttings, which I stick into a jar of water, where they soon grow some roots. Then I plant them into pots, where the soon are ready for another clipping and I stick the cuttings again into water. By spring I have oodles of plants to plant outside. But they always freeze well before the temperature drops to -5^C. Best, Olaf |
Re: My brand new "tropical" planter
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Here is a pic of mine in early May coming back from winter. It has grown a lot since then. I think they are my favorite groundcovers, even if they werent cold tolerant enough to survive the winter here!  Good luck! |
Re: My brand new "tropical" planter
When these two bananas were moved out, it naturally left a gap in our living room so what I did was, take the plastic inserts out of the baskets and stored them away… …flipped the baskets upside down, placed the catch trays on top, fashioned a flower stand out of a tomato cage, affixed a few pots with annuals in them and –viola- gap filled. This fall I will probably reverse it all, put the flower stand in storage and have some small bananas there for the winter again. :) |
Re: My brand new "tropical" planter
This may be an obsolete name, but I have always known the "Purple Heart" as Setcresia purpurea.
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Re: My brand new "tropical" planter
It seems, that some things go by multiple names. (You should hear all the ones I have been called.:)).
I just googled "setcreasea purpurea" Here is what I got: Tradescantia pallida - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Tradescantia_pallida There is some controversy regarding the correct scientific name for this plant species, with certain authorities continuing to refer to it as Setcreasea purpurea or ... |
Re: My brand new "tropical" planter
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Others are gingers, Traveller's palm, Heliconia and the birds of paradise are all in the... banana family. Here's a good one for you - "Split leaf Philodendron" is not a philodendron at all, it's Monstera deliciosa, a VINE! There are a lot of plants that have erroneous names. Mexican petunia is in fact from Asia and is not a petunia. There are tons of plants with names that make zero sense. The Golden Pothos is a dime-a-dozen hanging basket plant in the United States that gets burned in any way possible. It needs absolutely zero sunlight to be as green as possible. Anyway, I love learning things. It's the best reason why the Latin names mean everything, because common names can be used for a lot of different plants. For example, there is more than one kind of 'Bamboo palm'. The Latin tells you EXACTLY what it is. Enjoy your garden! |
Re: My brand new "tropical" planter
Hi Tommy,
Now you are telling me, after I have already surgically removed a couple of severely singed leaves from the Golden Photos :( :)… …and after I have been looking high and low for something to keep the north side of our house green. But thank you very much for a most instructive post! You may be interested to know, that so far the most successful specimen to grace that darkest spot in our yard is a Nanking Cherry (Prunus Tomentosa), which originates in a mountain range in China with high UV exposure. - Go figure More on this story here: http://www.bananas.org/f8/please-hel...rub-15298.html Thanks again for you post, which I will file away. It justifies the reason, why I joined ‘bananas’: To learn! Olaf |
Re: My brand new "tropical" planter
My neighbor has a S. nigra Eva. Beautiful shrub. He gives it a very hard pruning each spring after its done blooming. I'd love to have one; just have to figure out what to pull first. Nice looking garden. When you said it used to be a pool, I first expected a bog garden, which is one of my future projects. Good luck with it, and keep us pictorially updated.
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Re: My brand new "tropical" planter
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Sot of like 'Cocos plumosa', which is incorrect now, for a Queen palm. It's just one of those stupid things people hang on to saying, like PIN number, ATM machine and hot water heater... |
My "tropical" planter seven weeks later
This is how it looks today:
As you can see, I had to make a few changes. The Dracena Compacta in the SW (lower left) corner had to be moved to a shadier location and was replaced by a Castor Bean (Ricinus communis) 'New Zealand Purple' and a mandevilla Also most of the tropical plants, which I bought locally and which were sold for indoors had a tough time with the sun. I also removed the large Sambucus 'Eva', which intruded on the planter in the original pictures. It was simply getting too huge, fed with run-off from the compost, it was designated to screen from view. It was a beautiful plant, but I could not control its growth. I had planted another one at a different location at the same time and it behaves much more modestly. :) You can see in this picture, that the cannas absolutely love the 27’ deep top soil and compost combination, but the bananas are rather ‘cool’ toward it. Actually the “compost is of rather poor quality, compared with mine, but I did not have enough so I bought it from the city recycling plant. In front of the now blooming yucca plant is a Rhizinus Carmencita (#11 in the below photo). Its seed pods are bright red as opposed to the ‘New Zealand” which supposedly had purple pods. This is my first time, so I am not sure. The seeds of both varieties are very different. The SW corner of the planter in close-up. |
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