Greetings Growers & Lovers of Green Things

The Tropical Grower welcomes you to the online version of Our Garden. Check out our What’s Bloomn’ slideshow featuring last week’s flowers, cruz the latest topics at the Blog Page for information, enjoy the Photos, or just check out what’s happening this week in Garden Dirt. While we are Growing Tropical, growing is for everyone, and we’re here to share the green.

Garden Dirt

March 9, 2026

Blah!

I’d like to begin by saying we’re very excited about the increase in sunlight.  We have been since the beginning of the year when it started steadily growing.  We’re growers, and increased sunlight is good for growing planties.  It doesn’t change the fact that today is my least favorite day of the year, the Monday after the clock change to Daylight Savings.  Blah.  

Indeed, you may be just fine, adjusting with ease.  Kudos.  I am not.  While I start most days in Our Garden, bright and early with the sun, my body rejects all attempts to abruptly change my sleep habits.  It’s not new.  It’s a bad sleeper thing.  I sleep poorly on a normal basis.  Today just makes things so much worse.  LOL!

Rising with the sun is not a new concept for growers.  It’s almost as old as people.  Nature gradually increases daytime, little by little, until the days seem almost too long.  We, on the other hand, jump ahead an hour prior to the sunlight increasing enough to support it, forcing our bodies to adjust to an unnatural rhythm.  Aren’t we smart? 

Or, I could just be grumpy because I was abruptly slapped awake by the light in the plant nursery popping on 2 mornings in a row, and we are only on day 2 of Daylight Savings.  Blah!  It’s the little things that make life worth living.  LOL!  I’m just going to have to adjust the timer on the nursery light back for a little bit longer.  Why did I put the plant nursery in my room?  Oh yeah, baby sprouts bring me joy.  LOL!

Around Our Garden

Spring wasn’t just revving the engines last week, it was full throttle.  Go, go, go!  All the brown is quickly being replaced by green.  The Anniversary tree, that’s the Purple Hong Kong Orchid tree, and most of the Bougainvillea that lost all their foliage in the cold snaps, are fully green with leaves.  Woo-Hoo!  

Even the slow recoverers like the Sisters Dracenia, Crotons, and Plantains/Bananas started showing small bits of green.  We did some light cutting on those to test if they were ready for a full trim.  The White Hong Kong Orchid tree is plump with white feathery blooms.  The Amaryllis is flashing red everywhere, and the White African Iris and Candy Cane Amaryllis just started to bloom.  Ahh, Spring.  It also means Spring clean-up.

Spring Clean-up

That’s right, Spring clean-up and prep is in full swing.  If you haven’t started, do some stretches and get out there.  LOL!  In some places, you might even still need a coat.  Here, in the tropical zones, we traded our pants for shorts.  It got too hot before I ran out of steam and needed a rest.

All the Tomato plants killed in the cold snaps got replacements from the dreaded nursery.  We sprouted some seeds a few weeks ago because the plants in the ground were struggling.  It was a good thing because all but 2 of the Tomato plants died.  Most of the Corn was replanted, a little late in the season, and we dropped a couple of Cheyenne Pepper plants.  Otherwise, the Veggies look pretty good.  Woo-Hoo!

Once again, so many leaves to clean.  The South American tree is bare at this point.  So glad.  We’ve got most of the beds and borders fully layered and a full ‘brown’ basket to use in compost.  So close.  There was also adjusting the back berm which developed a little dip.  And of course, weeds.  Those suckers came back with a vengeance.  LOL!  We’re hoping to get to our yearly fertilizer and replacement borders next week.  For more on Spring Prep try: How to Prepare Your Garden for Spring

Harvest

So many more Coconuts.  While we thought the falling of the remaining dead palm fronds were high enough not to affect the 2 remaining Coconut bunches, we were wrong.  We picked up 3 last night when My Son and Hannah came for a walk around the new path we’re working on.  Dang.  Those weren’t the only ones.

Even though it’s going to be a bit before the new Tomato plants produce fruit, the 2 still living are looking pretty good.  The Yellow Cherry has blooms, and the Beefsteak has a little green Tomato.  Hopefully, we’ll have some Tomatoes soon, after a little break.

We also brought in a Turnip, a couple rounds of Broccoli, and a bunch of Oregano.  We have several Broccoli plants now producing.  If things don’t go bad, we should be producing weekly through June.  Woo-Hoo!  Planting succession sprouts a couple of weeks apart has kept the Turnips producing pretty steady.  Like Cabbage, they don’t really mind chilly.  And, our Oregano patch got trimmed back from a 3 ½ to 4 foot circle, to a 3 foot circle.  It likes to grow.

Flowers

We got our 1st Candy Cane Amaryllis of the Season.  Woo-Hoo!  Of course they got the Feature.  The giant petals, each unique, white with stripes, dots, and smears of light pink.  Amazing, even if they didn’t sparkle in the light, but they do.  Although fewer, they are larger than the red ones which makes them pop in all that solid red.  Gorgeous!  We love them.  We are particularly fond of the Amaryllis.  It’s hard not to be.

As mentioned, the White Hong Kong Orchid tree looks amazing.  The Purple one still has a few blooms, high up, but it’s coming to the end of its season.  Dang.  Of course it’s hard to be unhappy about lack of flowers with all the Amaryllis putting on their show.  Also the Cosmos and Glorious Daisies popping colors and attracting the pollinators.  It’s a good time for flowers.  Enjoy!

Check out What’s Bloomn’ slideshow for more flowers or visit Garden Dirt Diary to catch up on what’s been going on around Our Garden.