The Poor Mans Orchid, Epidendrum ibaguense

This was another Master Gardeners Sale Score. This pot of Epidendrum ibaguense , Reed-stem Epidedrum or Poor Mans Orchids was $10. At the Heathcote sale they were asking $28 for a pot this same size. There are so many orchids busting out I have not be able to count how many are in there.

Yellow Walking Iris , Apostle Plant , Neomarica longifolia in Bloom!

Over the weekend we had our Master Gardeners Sale at the U of F ext. office. This is hands down the best show of the year. The only thing is you have to be 1hr early and wait if you want to get anything. They open the gates and it is a mad dash to the back were they keep the plants. The prices are unbelievably cheap. I will be posting some of many finds this week. This is the first. It is a Neomarica longifolia , Yellow Walking Iris or Apostle plant are some of the common names I have heard. This guy was $3. Here are a few pictures from today when I came home an 1 of the blooms was open.

Foxtail Palm Tree Seed Score! Wodyetia bifurcata

Finally, after searching yard after yard it has finally been located. The seeding Foxtail Palm Tree, Wodyetia bifurcata ! This is 1 of those palms were there are a lot of them here, but none seem to be old enough to produce fruit yet. Well on a venture to a friends house I turned the corner and there it was. Seeds on the ground, fruits on the tree, this was the 1st time seeing a Foxtail palm tree fruit, it was a spectacular site in my eyes. The fruits are the size of a large plum and the seed inside is almost the size of a walnut. Since we are talkin Foxtail I bought this little seedling for $1 at the Heathcote sale. This seedling helped me with placing my seeds that I had collected in the rightspot in the pots. I also repoted the seedling. Here are all of my pictures.

The Garden Orchid , Spathoglottis unguiculata "grapette"

Spathoglottis unguiculata "grapette" - Ground Orchid. It is also known as The Garden Orchid. With another stop by the nursery we found a 3 gal pot of these ground orchids. The fragrance is a very strong and smells like grape koolaid. The foliage is palm like and produces successive flowering over time. I have heard that the can bloom year round. We now have 3 different colors of these ground orchids in bloom. Here are the pictures of the latest ground orchid addition.

Another Yard in Fort Pierce FL 2.0

It has been just over 100 days since my blog was started, 5000 visitors and 140 posts later here we are. I spent the weekend trying to restructure my blog. Losing my Widgets, Fighting with templates, and trying to get all of my widgets back again, I finally have a good start with a new look. I still have more stuff to add, but I have a lot of new plants and adventures to tell about as well. I am just saying Welcome to Another Yard in Fort Pierce 2.0. My blog roll will be updated very soon. I have so many new gardening blogs that I am following it is going to be a little bit of a choir getting them all back on here again. So please be patient.

Yellow Vanda Rasri x denisoniana

This is a very large Vanda Rasri x denisoniana , that has a medium size flower, but the plant is huge. It also has a new little plant growing off of it. This vanda was in full bloom when it was purchased. It was so hot that day that the blooms began to wilt in the car. This was a Heathcote Sale purchase last week for $25. I wound up buying 3 vandas from this dealer. His plants were very large and healthy and he only was asking $25. I have seen plants this size selling at orchid shows for $45 and more. He also threw in a bottle of fungicides for my chids'. Here are the pics from the first new vanda.

Huge Onc. Butterfly Orchid

This is an Oncidium Intergeneris Alliance Psy Mariposa Onc. Papilio x Onc. Kalihii 'Green Valley' , Butterfly Orchid . This has a one huge flower. It is called a continuous bloomer, because it keeps growing a new spike and flowering for years. You can see the new spike growing right behind the flower. Unsupported and up in the air this flower blows in the wind a will resemble a butterfly. This is the first flower from this plant. It also has some new growth coming in.

Mounted Phal. Naples nights x (Petite rose x Glad melinda)

I purchased 2 of these Phalaenopsis Naples nights x (Petite rose x Glad melinda) which also have mottled leaves, along with a Dendrobium Cathey Beck, and a Encyclia Atronecium 'Mother's Day' x Enc. cordigera 'Chocolate Violets for an orchid growing project on orchidgeeks . The best part about the project so far is I have the first spike growing. Here is my first project for the growing project. I took a coconut and with a machette I split it in half leaving 1 side still attached. Then I took orchid moss and let it soak in some worm tea water. I drilled a couple holes so I could tie the phals down in the coconut shell. Then I placed each 1 in each side being careful to pack plenty of moss in between the roots. These are the pictures of my project.

Huge 2000 Year Old Cypress Stump

Today at Mckee Botanical Gardens I took these pictures. This Cypress tree stump is huge. It has been in this location since 1932. Click on the picture on the plaque to see the old pic from the 30's.

Palm Tree Pictures

Today I spent driving around with Aaron from AYiFP from job to job and came across some pretty nice palm trees that I took some pictures of. We also made a pass by McKee Botanical Gardens in Vero Beach Fl, but they were closing. They did have some sweet stuff outside though and I took some pictures there also. I have a slide show to show off a few of the palms and then I am going to do a few individual posts on some others palms from outside of Mckee Gardens that were pretty interesting. If you click on the picture it will give you the big picture, but you have to allow pop-ups from this site.

Variegated Shell Ginger , Alpinia zerumbet 'Variegata'

This is another Heathcote booth purchase at 50% off. The variegated Shell Ginger , Alpinia zerumbet 'variegata' cost me $3. It is a large plant with several stalks. I think 1 of the stocks is beginning to grow a flower. Here are a few pictures. The second picture I think is the start of the blooms.

Orange Bird of Paradise , Strelitzia reginae

This is the first Strelitzia reginae , or Orange Bird of Paradise in my yard. It has 1 flower on it right now. It has a unique flower, resembling a brightly colored bird in flight. Due to the shape of its leaves, it was once classified in the banana family. The plant will grow to a height and width of about five feet. It has a trunkless, clump-forming pattern of growth. The thick, stiff, concave leaves grow to about six inches wide and 18 inches long. They are attached to a long stalk that sometimes reaches five feet in length. Born on the same stalk, the flower is a spectacular blossom. Modified leaves, at the end of the stalk, form canoe-like structures, four to eight inches long, from which flowers emerge. As they open, pointed petals of brilliant orange are contrasted with an arrow shaped tongue of vivid blue.

Washingtonia robusta , Mexican Fan Palm ; Dwarf Caryota Mitis , Dwarf Fishtail Palm

These came from the actual Heathcote booth. On Sunday all of their plants were 50% off. So these 2 Washingtonia robusta's cost me all of $6 for both of them. And then I was able to score this Dwarf Caryota mitis or Dwarf Fishtail Palm for $4. I bought a few other plants from this booth but those will be in a different post. So here are some of the pictures of my "deals of the show" palms.