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June is here, bring on the sun and fun!
June is the time to get ready for all the summer parties or get-togethers with our family and friends.
I love creating a little oasis on my patio at home, a place where I can sit back and relax with those that I love.
This year I decided to design my own tropical paradise. My trip to Florida this spring had a lot to do with that decision. While visiting all the farms to pick out some cool plants to sell this summer I simply fell in love even more with all the colors and textures that the variety of tropical plants have to offer to our homes.
When our tropical order comes in early spring it brings our tropical paradise to life. Imagine seeing farms full of that kind of color. Truly an amazing sight to see!
Everyone has their own idea of what a tropical paradise looks like. I personally like to use lots of colors so mine consists of lots of hibiscus and Mandevilla. Oh, and I can’t forget the gardenias! The smell from this plant totally relaxes me, so that one particular plant goes right next to my porch swing.
Now if I was lucky enough to have a pool, I would still have all the colors with hibiscus but I would also have to add in a few robellini palms. This is my favorite palm; it just loves the sun and heat so this makes the perfect pool or patio plant.
There are so many tropical plants to pick from to create your own special family tropical oasis. Here’s a list of our favorites
- Yoder hibiscus
- Mandevilla
- Gardenias
- Lantana
- Plumbago
- Canna lilies
- Oleander
- jasmine
- Robellini palms
- Spindle palms
- Majesty palms
- Areca palms
- Bromeliads
- Boston ferns
- Elephant ear alocasia
- Bird of paradise
Can you overwinter your tropicals? The answer is yes!! If you think about it, what do you have to lose?
Here are a few of my Favorites.
Hibiscus, palms, mandevillas, bougainvillea, elephant ears, and canna lilies. To get started let’s break them down into two different categories. The tree category will be your hibiscus, palms, mandevillas, and bougainvilleas. And your bulb or tuber category, those will be the elephant ears and the canna lilies.
Let’s begin with the tree category since that’s the one I get asked about the most. When the nighttime temperatures are consistently in the mid to lower 40’s it’s time to get them ready to overwinter.
*First hose down the entire plant. *Next spray the plant with insecticidal soap and then add a systemic to the soil. This will help with any bug issues you may have going on with your plants. Now it’s time to choose what method of over-wintering is right for you. There are two different but equally effective ways.
* First is the dormant method. With this choice, you will place your tropical plant in a frost-
free garage, basement, or attic. You will water sparingly every 3 to 5 weeks. This is enough to keep the plant’s roots from drying out. It’s surviving but not thriving. That’s just what dormancy means. This method will also have the plant losing most if not all of its leaves so it takes a little more time to get it going again in the spring.
*The second way is the active growing method. This is my favorite way to over-winter. By using this method, I believe it gives your plant the best chance for a faster start in the spring by allowing the plant to retain most of, if not all of its leaves, so if you have a nice sunny spot in your home this will be the ideal place. Just water and lots of suns are what is needed to keep your plant happy. You might need to water a little more than normal during Jan and Feb, as these are the months when the heat in our homes really starts making the air much drier. So remember when your skin starts getting drier it’s time to up the water for all your plants.
* Now for the tuber category.
This one is pretty simple. For your elephant ears and canna lilies, all you have to do is carefully dig them up without causing damage to the bulbs themselves. Lay all the bulbs out on some newspaper and let dry for a few days. This gets all the moisture out of the bulbs to ensure they won’t rot during storage. Then all you do is place them in a brown paper bag with either peat moss or sawdust and then store them in a cool dark spot for the winter.
With all these overwintering ideas, you may put your tropicals back outside for the year once the treatment of cold weather has passed in the spring. We encourage you to give us a call, we will be happy to walk you through it all.
When springtime rolls around there’s nothing like the excitement we all feel here at Van Wilgens when our first tropical truck arrives from Florida. The tropical that gives us the most excitement by far is the Yoder Hibiscus rosa-sinensis {tradewind breeze series}.
The Yoder has quickly become the hibiscus of choice, not only by us but also by many of you. You can tell a Yoder apart from other Hibiscus by the color of their leaves, and flowers. With large dark green glossy leaves and spectacular flowers that come in an array of vibrant colors, you can see why these hibiscuses have quickly become our pick for the perfect full sun tropical plant. Not only are they heat tolerant, but they also are everblooming and will give you tons of blooms well into the fall season. The hard part will be picking a color…my favorite is yellow with an orange center. We have 6-inch potted hibiscus,10 inch bush and new this year are the 10-inch braided trees
Just remember to water roughly every day during the summer months especially, and don’t forget to feed them. Use our Van Wilgen’s slow-release pellets. A little bit around the base of the plant will feed it for approx. 3 months releasing a little food every time you water. They like acidic soil so don’t forget to add our acid water-soluble formula once a month. Remember, food is just as important to our plants as it is to you or me. We all perform better with food in our systems!
Kirsten from our Custom Container department has planted up some gorgeous pots using our Yoder hibiscus this year that is quite impressive. Some of you have decided to do containers just like or very similar to those. We know that those of you that have planted our favorite Yoder hibiscus will be back every year to fill your pots with some more of their gorgeous colors.
You will be HOOKED on them I promise!