PSA: this is a Brown Water Snake. It is not poisonous and is a Florida native snake that is not dangerous to people or pets. If you see one, please just leave it alone. It has an obvious rectangular brown pattern. They are often confused with Cottonmouth/Water Moccasin which has a muted striped pattern.

Plant of the day

Suessenguthia (Ruellia) multisetosa -Bolivian Violet is a large, scrambling, flowering shrub from Bolivia. It has showy pink flowers and calyxes typical of the family Acanthaceae. 🌴 🌱

Some photos and a video from the Butterfly Conservatory this am. 🌴 🌱 🦋

Our Brownea macrophylla - Panama Flame Tree has begun flowering. This is one of several related genera and species which are called handkerchief trees for the drooping new growth. 🌱 🌴 #tropicaltrees #tropicalflowers

We are planting colorful foliage plants today in the garden. Neoregelia bromeliads, Peperomia, and Aristolochia vines for hanging baskets. 🌱 🌴 🌺

I’ve been on this planet for almost sixty years, and working with plants for over thirty and this is the first time I’ve ever seen cauliflower flowers.

They’re beautiful like some type of purple coral. 🌱

Photos from our second plant clinic yesterday. We had two attendees, and we discussed a lot of plant problems. Orchid care and diseases, turf grass weeds and management, fungal problems and scale insects.

Some photos from my first plant clinic at Flamingo Gardens. I’m really enjoying helping folks with their gardening and plant culture. We discussed managing fungus in turf grass, the challenges of growing on top of limestone here in suburban South Florida, new insect pests such as Thrips parvispinus and Much more.

The upcoming dates for my garden plant clinics.

I’m now hosting a plant clinic once a month at the garden on Saturdays. I’ll be diagnosing problems and offering advice on proper care and maintenance of landscape plants and gardens..

Flamingo Gardens Plant Clinic

I just finished my first class/lecture. We had 10 attendees which is pretty good for the first time with limited promotion. I spoke about Horticulture in South Florida, in a very general way with a few specific problems and solutions discussed. I also threw in a couple funny anecdotes.

Well it looks like I’m starting to do some semi-formal teaching at the garden next week. I’ll be beginning with a short Introduction to Horticulture class on Wednesday in what we are calling a popup class. I’m excited to be getting back to this kind of thing, as at my previous job … read more

In our garden we have a fairly large collection of Baobab trees which are found in Africa and Madagascar. Pictured is an Adansonia za which is endemic to Madagascar, where it is endangered by habitat loss. 🌱

I guess this is my obligatory greeting and introduction post. My name is Chris, I’m the horticulture director at a botanical garden in South Florida. I’ll post here about happenings in our garden, photos and bits about subtropical and tropical plants, and my other varied interests, like … read more