tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-601648199579646501Wed, 05 Nov 2008 04:03:53 +0000Zone 7 Tropical Gardeninghttp://www.virginiatropics.com/noreply@blogger.com (Broadside)Blogger201251107643http://www.feedburner.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-601648199579646501.post-7104874301686295665Wed, 23 Jul 2008 00:04:00 +00002008-07-28T23:06:46.029-04:00BananasWow, it has been a very long time since I updated this blog! So far, my tropicals have not grown as fast as they have in previous years due to the long, cool spring. The tropicals I have discussed in this blog do quite well in a Virginia climate, but as a general rule; the more heat they have, the more they will grow! Despite the cool start to the year, my hibiscus has done very well and just http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/VirginiaTropicalGardening/~3/349038214/its-been-long-time-since-banana-update.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Broadside)0<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/VirginiaTropicalGardening/~4/349038214" height="1" width="1"/>http://www.virginiatropics.com/2008/07/its-been-long-time-since-banana-update.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-601648199579646501.post-6387648933626387979Sat, 26 Apr 2008 23:15:00 +00002008-04-27T13:17:46.241-04:00Honeysuckle Trumpet Honeysuckle (Lonicera sempervirens) makes a great addition to a tropical garden. Not only does it look great, it also attracts those tropics inspiring hummingbirds! Unlike the invasive Japanese honeysuckle, trumpet honeysuckle (sometimes referred to as coral honeysuckle) is native to the eastern half of the United States. In fact it is listed as endangered in the state of Maine! http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/VirginiaTropicalGardening/~3/278888916/honeysuckle-brings-both-tropical.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Broadside)1<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/VirginiaTropicalGardening/~4/278888916" height="1" width="1"/>http://www.virginiatropics.com/2008/04/honeysuckle-brings-both-tropical.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-601648199579646501.post-5297892813868961976Thu, 24 Apr 2008 00:46:00 +00002008-04-23T23:28:56.394-04:00Winter careSpring careWeather and ZonesIf you've been looking at plants wishing you were just one zone warmer, guess what! The hardiness maps are changing! Later this year, the USDA will release a new hardiness map. The new map is rumored to include 15 zones instead of the current 11, and the a and b sub zones may be eliminated. The current USDA map, produced in 1990, is based on average temperatures from 1974 -1986. The new map willhttp://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/VirginiaTropicalGardening/~3/276606696/hardiness-zone-map-is-being-updated.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Broadside)0<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/VirginiaTropicalGardening/~4/276606696" height="1" width="1"/>http://www.virginiatropics.com/2008/04/hardiness-zone-map-is-being-updated.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-601648199579646501.post-3397041319734284991Sat, 12 Apr 2008 04:33:00 +00002008-04-20T19:31:37.123-04:00BananasSpring careCannasI returned from a business trip to find that it has finally warmed up, spring is here! Tonight I fully uncovered my pink velvet banana, and as you can see it had already began greening up. I plan to take photos over the coming months to make a time lapse movie showing how fast these things can grow! When uncovering fast growing tropicals, I like to throw a handful of high nitrogen fertilizer http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/VirginiaTropicalGardening/~3/268783102/let-growing-begin.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Broadside)1<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/VirginiaTropicalGardening/~4/268783102" height="1" width="1"/>http://www.virginiatropics.com/2008/04/let-growing-begin.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-601648199579646501.post-2799313959110292603Sat, 22 Mar 2008 20:18:00 +00002008-04-20T19:58:53.180-04:00Winter careBananasSpring careCannasIt's finally starting to warm up in Virginia, and while we are not in the clear to completely uncover our cannas and bananas, we can start to work on them now! Over the winter, the mulch placed over the plants to protect the roots from freezing has been packed down from snow and rain. It's very important to allow air to circulate through the mulch to prevent it from staying waterlogged and http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/VirginiaTropicalGardening/~3/256210868/preparing-your-cannas-and-bananas-for.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Broadside)4<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/VirginiaTropicalGardening/~4/256210868" height="1" width="1"/>http://www.virginiatropics.com/2008/03/preparing-your-cannas-and-bananas-for.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-601648199579646501.post-4063324751592201733Thu, 10 Jan 2008 00:03:00 +00002008-04-20T19:20:46.810-04:00MoonflowerIt's still the dead of winter, but it's not to early to think about flowers and tropical plants! Tonight I opened some of the seed pods I collected from my moonflower vine once the first few frosts killed and dried the plant. As you can see, you get a lot of seeds from just one moonflower plant (and this is just a third of the pods)! In late spring I will plant these along the front of the http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/VirginiaTropicalGardening/~3/214110124/moonflower-seeds.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Broadside)0<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/VirginiaTropicalGardening/~4/214110124" height="1" width="1"/>http://www.virginiatropics.com/2008/01/moonflower-seeds.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-601648199579646501.post-8860320196152044746Sat, 05 Jan 2008 23:49:00 +00002008-04-20T19:20:46.811-04:00BananasI have received a number of emails asking where to get banana plants and seeds. In my previous post, Buying Banana plants: seeds vs. started plants I said I have purchased all my banana plants online. The online retailer I've used has been EBay! Unfortunately what is available for bid can be hit and miss, and not a very good option if you are looking for a specific species. There are several http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/VirginiaTropicalGardening/~3/211851841/where-to-buy-banana-plants-and-seeds.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Broadside)0<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/VirginiaTropicalGardening/~4/211851841" height="1" width="1"/>http://www.virginiatropics.com/2008/01/where-to-buy-banana-plants-and-seeds.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-601648199579646501.post-3017687394966294701Sun, 11 Nov 2007 22:42:00 +00002008-04-20T19:49:48.312-04:00Winter careBananasCannasWhen there have been a few frosts your bananas or cannas will look scary! Once they look like this it's time to winterize them before the ground freezes. Here's how to do it (the proceure is the same for both cannas and bananas): Step 1: Move any mulch away from the base of the stems. Step 2: Cut the stems off! It may seem drastic, but it'll be OK! Next spring the new leaves will emerge from http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/VirginiaTropicalGardening/~3/183297366/how-to-winterize-your-bananas-and.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Broadside)0<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/VirginiaTropicalGardening/~4/183297366" height="1" width="1"/>http://www.virginiatropics.com/2007/11/how-to-winterize-your-bananas-and.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-601648199579646501.post-9053239711109123817Sun, 21 Oct 2007 19:40:00 +00002008-04-20T19:50:55.147-04:00BananasDrought care Here is a photo taken today of my pink velvet banana (Musa velutina). If you look at the picture of it in a previous banana post, you can see the growth rate has been phenomenal! However, all good growing seasons must come to an end, and soon the temperature of the soil should drop low enough to slow the growth down (many years it would have already). I'll show you in a future post how to "http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/VirginiaTropicalGardening/~3/173006703/watering-tropical-plants-during.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Broadside)0<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/VirginiaTropicalGardening/~4/173006703" height="1" width="1"/>http://www.virginiatropics.com/2007/10/watering-tropical-plants-during.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-601648199579646501.post-2140691030083109578Mon, 01 Oct 2007 21:31:00 +00002008-04-20T19:20:46.816-04:00Moonflower One of the great things about Moonflower vines (Ipomoea alba) that I touched on in my first post about them is how prolific seed producers they are! If you planted moonflowers this year, you should be seeing many seed pods. Most of the seedpods have probably not dried yet (at least most of the ones on my plant haven't) , but once they turn brown, just clip them off and place them in a Ziploc inhttp://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/VirginiaTropicalGardening/~3/163917176/moonflowers-seeds.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Broadside)0<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/VirginiaTropicalGardening/~4/163917176" height="1" width="1"/>http://www.virginiatropics.com/2007/10/moonflowers-seeds.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-601648199579646501.post-8356415388793585457Sat, 22 Sep 2007 18:30:00 +00002008-04-20T19:24:45.977-04:00Bananas If you have a banana plant for very long, you're gonna have pups! My Pink Velvet Banana (Musa velutina ) has been in the ground for just two months, and has gone from two to 16 leaves and produced two pups! Bananas naturally form clumps of stems, with the new shoots (pups) coming up around the main stem and quickly growing to rival it in size. When you purchase a banana plant, it's most likelyhttp://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/VirginiaTropicalGardening/~3/160065209/taking-care-of-pups.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Broadside)0<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/VirginiaTropicalGardening/~4/160065209" height="1" width="1"/>http://www.virginiatropics.com/2007/09/taking-care-of-pups.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-601648199579646501.post-3002765279296743632Mon, 17 Sep 2007 02:51:00 +00002008-04-20T19:45:24.992-04:00Winter careHibiscus There is perhaps no flower that conjures images of the tropics than the flower of a Hibiscus! Though they look like they have to be strictly a tropical plant, there are a lot of "cold hardy" hibiscus varieties that can thrive in Zone 4 temperatures (my wife's sister has one in her Minnesota front yard!). These great flowering plants are hybrids of North American natives such as the Rose http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/VirginiaTropicalGardening/~3/160065210/zone-7-gotta-have-hibiscus.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Broadside)0<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/VirginiaTropicalGardening/~4/160065210" height="1" width="1"/>http://www.virginiatropics.com/2007/09/zone-7-gotta-have-hibiscus.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-601648199579646501.post-2572764548004196980Sun, 16 Sep 2007 12:31:00 +00002008-04-20T19:45:46.970-04:00Bananas As you can see, this Pink Velvet Banana (Musa velutina) has grown by leaps and bounds since the last post on it 3 weeks ago. It even has a pup! I could take a sharp knife and separate the pup from rest of the plant (it's easy, just cut as close as you can to the main part of the rhizome) for transplant somewhere else, but since I want a clump of stalks here so I'll leave it alone. We are http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/VirginiaTropicalGardening/~3/160065211/mid-september-pink-velvet-banana-growth.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Broadside)0<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/VirginiaTropicalGardening/~4/160065211" height="1" width="1"/>http://www.virginiatropics.com/2007/09/mid-september-pink-velvet-banana-growth.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-601648199579646501.post-9188020133882638519Sat, 01 Sep 2007 00:06:00 +00002008-04-20T19:35:47.412-04:00BananasA quick search on the net will show you lots of different ways to buy banana plants. You'll see a lot of offers for banana seeds and small banana plants (called pups) with varying prices. You can start bananas from seed if it's late in the year or you start other plants from seed during the winter. Bananas have a fairly good germination rate, though it can take them a few weeks. Once the weatherhttp://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/VirginiaTropicalGardening/~3/160065212/buying-banana-plants-seeds-vs-started.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Broadside)0<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/VirginiaTropicalGardening/~4/160065212" height="1" width="1"/>http://www.virginiatropics.com/2007/08/buying-banana-plants-seeds-vs-started.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-601648199579646501.post-4978209449228069510Thu, 23 Aug 2007 23:38:00 +00002008-04-20T19:44:45.098-04:00Winter careCannas Cannas are almost a required feature of a mid-Atlantic tropical landscape. A native of the Americas, its natural range extends as far north as South Carolina. There are many cultivars, making a wide variety of leaf, stalk, flower colors, and plant heights available. Cannas have a rhizome and will grow quite well in most soils, though as with most flowering plants the more organic material in http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/VirginiaTropicalGardening/~3/160065213/cannas.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Broadside)2<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/VirginiaTropicalGardening/~4/160065213" height="1" width="1"/>http://www.virginiatropics.com/2007/08/cannas.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-601648199579646501.post-6492988718738925036Mon, 20 Aug 2007 00:24:00 +00002008-04-20T19:35:52.742-04:00Bananas When I posted last Sunday about my pink velvet banana (Musa velutina) it had 3 unfurled leaves, and one more almost ready to unfurl. One week later there are four fully unfired leafs and another almost ready to unfurl. That's an incredible growth rate for a plant that has not been in the ground long enough to put out a significant amount of roots! http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/VirginiaTropicalGardening/~3/160065214/banana-update.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Broadside)1<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/VirginiaTropicalGardening/~4/160065214" height="1" width="1"/>http://www.virginiatropics.com/2007/08/banana-update.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-601648199579646501.post-7477311195326564084Tue, 14 Aug 2007 00:24:00 +00002008-04-20T19:20:46.829-04:00Moonflower This summer, as an impulse purchase at a local nursery I bought a Moonflower vine (Ipomoea alba). I was looking for a vine to grow up our front porch to give it a classic southern feel. What a great plant it's turned out to be! Moonflower (or Moon Vine) is so called because the flowers open up in the evening and are gone by the morning. They reportedly have a great fragrance that will fill the http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/VirginiaTropicalGardening/~3/160065215/moonflower-vines.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Broadside)1<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/VirginiaTropicalGardening/~4/160065215" height="1" width="1"/>http://www.virginiatropics.com/2007/08/moonflower-vines.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-601648199579646501.post-2641560922099691551Mon, 13 Aug 2007 02:49:00 +00002008-04-20T19:49:41.221-04:00Mulch and compostVirginia soil is terrible when compared to that in my home state of Indiana! There's a lot of clay and in some ares I just use a pick axe (aka a Virginia shovel) since the rocks will just break a shovel! It's going to take me years to get the soil up to snuff, especially for my tropical plants, which need a lot of water but require good drainage. I have a nice compost pile going now. I add a http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/VirginiaTropicalGardening/~3/160065216/mulching-around.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Broadside)1<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/VirginiaTropicalGardening/~4/160065216" height="1" width="1"/>http://www.virginiatropics.com/2007/08/mulching-around.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-601648199579646501.post-1727405073251965916Mon, 13 Aug 2007 02:48:00 +00002008-04-20T19:45:24.993-04:00Bananas I love to garden. Our house has a pool, and I'm trying to make the area around it look like the tropic. That's quite a challenge when you live in Virginia! It may come as a surprise, but there are a lot of tropical plants that can survive in a zone 7 climate. My favorite tropical plants that can survive in Virgina are those of the Musa family, aka bananas! Currently I have two banana plants, thehttp://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/VirginiaTropicalGardening/~3/160065217/going-bananas.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Broadside)0<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/VirginiaTropicalGardening/~4/160065217" height="1" width="1"/>http://www.virginiatropics.com/2007/08/going-bananas.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-601648199579646501.post-1207744142051260032Mon, 13 Aug 2007 02:26:00 +00002008-04-23T20:37:08.496-04:00I have always wanted to have a house in the tropics, so when my wife and I bought a house with acreage in 2005 I started to grow cold hardy tropical plants in our yards. I really enjoy sharing my garden successes and tips with my friends and co-workers, and I'm excited to be able to share them with the Internet gardeners though this blog! -Jasonhttp://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/VirginiaTropicalGardening/~3/160065218/first-post.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Broadside)0<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/VirginiaTropicalGardening/~4/160065218" height="1" width="1"/>http://www.virginiatropics.com/2007/08/first-post.html