This is a white Turk's Cap, one of my new finds. Turk's Caps only come in lipstick red. It's an old, old, Florida favorite that has fallen completely out of favor. It makes a large bush, but readily accepts lots of pruning and flowers prolifically. It seems to be a hibiscus relative. The flowers look like hibiscus that never opens. That's probably why it fell so completely out of favor. It's very self sufficient, once established needs no care. They're often seen around old homesteads where nothing else remains. That's probably another reason they've fallen out of favor. Although not invasive, once established, they can only be moved or re-moved with a back-hoe.
I love them. So do hummingbirds. They either slip their beaks in between two of the loose petals, or failing that, just drill their beak in through a petal. Kids also love them because when you pick one and slowly pull off the green calyx with its attachments it forces a drop of shinning, tasty nectar out of the base of the flower. Kids eat this. I did it when I was a kid.
As I said, they only come in bright red--until this one. Two years ago a white (barely pink) one was discovered and they've been reproducing them out at Valkaria Gardens near here. It's a private, barely restrained, jungle and only open 4 times a year. We went out for the winter open in the hopes of finding some good plants. They're really different here in this sub-tropical world. I have given up any hope of reproducing my beloved lavender hedges---but I can probably replace them with cardamom hedges!! I did not hope to find any Turks Cap because they are so old fashioned and out of favor. None of the nurseries around here carry them. As we wandered down the jungle path I saw the plant above and asked Carla whether that was what I thought it was. Then noticed that it was growing with a red one. We found the pink ones for sale right away, but it took much more wandering before we found pots of red ones, too. I bought both although the red is younger and not yet blooming. They bloom year 'round! Can't tell you how thrilled I was; I've spent so much time trying to find one. They root fairly easily from slips and I was close to stealing into someones yard and just taking a cutting. I predict that Turk's Cap are going to make a big comeback.
But yesterday, we discovered another treasure. I developed a need for a plant called Rangoon Creeper, Quisqualis Indica. It is a rampant, but not invasive, vine often growing 30' in one season. Blooms hang in clusters of small tubular flowers that start white, change to pink, and finish bright, cherry pink, with all colors visible most of the time. It is also supposed to be highly fragrant, throwing it's scent for hundreds of feet. The scent is described as a combination of mango, coconut, and avocado.
The article only gave one source for it and when I looked them up on the net, they weren't a nursery, but landscapers, and rangoon creeper was not listed among their available plants. Carla called to find out if they had any and if they sell plants or just provide them to their landscaping customers. They invited us out, although it took several days for us to arrange a time when it was convenient to all.
This place, Native Habitat Ethnobotanicals, is unbelievable. Did I say Valkaria Gardens was a barely restrained jungle. NHE seems to have no restraints at all except the occasional use of a machete to keep the small paths open. And nothing in there is familiar. We saw no Ixora (a common Florida bedding shrub), no citrus, and only one hibiscus. The hibiscus was obviously an attempt at a blue cultivar (as rare in hibiscus as in roses). We did see bananas, but none like I've ever seen before. The trunks were so big I don't think I could have reached around them and the banana stalks over 6' long. And several of the small bananas. They had palms planted here and there, but none of the common Lady palms, Royal palms, or Washintonia. They did have the rarest of Palms, the Buccaneer Palm, and a beautiful example of the Triangle Palm, and a gorgeous Bismark Palm (giant blue-green, fan type, fronds and a very, very, short base, they are absolutely arresting).
As we entered the first of the jungle trails I noticed a charming bush, about 6' tall, just frothing with little quarter sized white daily type flowers. Frothing the way whitewater froths down the face of a big wave, the way over poured beer froths down a chilled glass, the way root beer froths when the ice cream hits it. "Smell it" he says. So I do. Before you can smell it, you have to brush away a bee. Every one of the hundreds of blossoms had it's bee. And you have to put your nose right down on it to catch the fragrance. When you do, it smells exactly like cake baking. When I straightened up and looked the plant continued on for a good 50 feet, over some plants, under others, just weaving through others. "Oh," I said, "It's a vine." "No," he says, "It's just a bush."
The two men who own the business were extremely nice, very excited by their work, and quite generous. Every time we made a turning in the path one of them would pick some leaves, crush them, hand them to us and tell us to smell them. We smelled a cinnamon tree, patchouli plants, an allspice bush, and Ylang Ylang flowers, among others.
Carla has been in search of a Ylang Ylang tree for ages and the closest supplier she found is a good 60 miles away. She almost turned cartwheels right there in the path. The flowers have long, twisted, flat, petals of a pale green yellow color, hanging like a giant, dead, spider. Very interesting and not particularly pretty. But the fragrance was (and still is) wonderful. It remains true and strong even after the flower dries. It's what they made Channel #5 out of. Next year I have to have one of those. Carla bought a 1 gallon one, about 4' tall for only $10.00.
Besides crushed leaves and flowers to smell, they gave us each a handful of the Ylang blossoms to take with us, a Passion fruit for each of us, and a small hand of small bananas known as the ice cream banana because of its vanilla flavor. They also threw in a pot full of brown-eyed Susans.
I also found the most unusual gardenia I've ever seen. I didn't even peg it as a gardenia. It was a big, sorta lanky bush. It was full of five petaled flowers with long, tubular, necks. It attracted my attention because some of them were white, some were bright yellow, and some were deep gold. Nothing about it says gardenia, except the fragrance. Oh yes, it is most certainly a gardenia. Another on the wish list for next year.
I did buy a flame bush--sorta looks like a very, very, big deep red salvia. And, of course, the Rangoon Creeper ($5.00). The guys came to start putting the fence in today and I hope they finish soon because the guys told me that the creeper hates (their word) to stay in a pot and I am very anxious to get it on the fence. On the fence far, far, away from the lanai in case the scent is overpowering.
I just love this. Carla and I both fall into the category of gardeners that are basically plantsmen. Some people garden for design, some garden for color, some for food, and then there are those of us that garden just so that we can have certain plants. We fall in love with plants one at a time. No matter how carefully we plan a plot, when we run into one of those "gotta have it" plants, that trumps all plans. Usually, we just don't bother with the plan beyond deciding where we can fit the new find. Well, here in a parallel universe, everything is so different that I'm just spinning with joy. Many, many, "gotta haves" and more just tumbling out from every corner!
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