Petrea volubilis.

Queen's wreath is a real traffic stopper when in full bloom. It's also called tropical wisteria, queen's wreath, bluebird vine, sandpaper vine or its real name Petrea volubilis. The vine on this house was bright blue for two weeks and now it has turned blue gray. It is still beautiful.

This is a close up picture. Notice the true flower is the purple part. There is a pure white form, but it's rare.

Yellow Tabebuia

On Friday March 21 08 Lan of Miami Every Day Photo posted a very nice Tabebuia Chrysantha now it's my turn. These trees are all over south Florida. They bloom for about two months since they don't all bloom at the same time. A tree like this one well be eye catching for about two weeks. They have a problem, a weak root system and are prone to topple over in a hurricane. The town of Pinecrest, just south of us, removed all of the Tabebuia trees in their public land. I guess they don't want to pick up after the next storm. And they used to have some great ones on their main highway.


Since we have different flowering trees through the entire year, spring doesn't have quite the impact that is seen in temperate areas.

The Flower And The Bud

This tree produces flowers on the trunk of the tree right down to the ground. It also blooms on the small branches at the top of the tree. Our Brownea grandiceps from Ecuador is a large tree.

Another hint

This is a close up picture of yesterdays picture, but two days older. Can anyone figure out a general name (like orchid)? But it is not an orchid.

Can You Tell Me What It Is??

For me it means spring. Tomorrow I will show you more.

More Blue Than Jade

This last stem for the season is more blue then I have ever seen. I think it has to do with the temperature.

Another Italian Village Home

It's an interesting house, but the plants hide the beauty of the building. It's hidden behind ficus hedges. The ficus is dieing all over south Florida due to an exotic white fly that just popped up last year.

The Biltmore Hotel Tower

We had some friends from Canada visiting last week. This is there take of the Biltmore Hotel. It looks pretty nice to me.

A White Flower For Easter

This orchid has an easy name, dove orchid. My plant is very large and when it flowers there are a few hundred flowers. It blooms many times a year. But the flowers last for only one day. I have faith that it will give me joy, but I have to be alert for the day that it will come my way.

The House Needs Help

This beautiful home has come to hard times. The elderly gentleman who spent has last years in the house didn't keep up with the repair of the house. The housekeeper inherited the house and she has not been able to repair this home. Nor has she been able to sell the property. The windows get boarded one by one. This house just waits for someone to love it and restore it.

Waterlily 'Southern Charm'

A friend gave me the water lily last fall. It had one bloom but then it lingered all through the winter. I thought that I would lose the plant since they don't rest over the winter here in south Florida. The three flowers opened all at once this Wednesday.

An Old Spanish House

This red bougainvillea will take over. With out trimming it could cover the house in 5 years.

Art In The Park

Botero is an artist from Colombia. All of his work seems to portray fat people or animals. To my surprise the man and his wife are thin, but one of the statues (the head) is a self portrait. The show is at the Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden. The torso might look better with a larger fig leaf - for balance.

The Party Begins

We have a Irish tavern in the middle of town. Once a year the traffic stops to honor an important Saint. The numbers of Irish in the area are sparse, but we had a lot of people dressed in green. The beer started at 4PM and the live music went to 11PM and by midnight every one disappeared. As the evening progressed the short line became a problem. But the long line was even worse, I think people thought it would be cleaner in the tavern.

Of All Of The Tropical Flowers...

Bougainvillea must be the most popular. This red one is a very old variety, but it is the most ofen seen.