Backyard Orchard and Bee/Butterfly/Hummingbird Garden

[PlainJane]

This is a 4-in-1 low chill pluot but so far only Splash is fruiting.

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[PlainJane]

The only reason the African Blue Basil isn’t smothered in bees is that it’s 6:45 on a cool morning.
The hummingbird was already busy but wouldn’t let me near enough for a picture.

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[PlainJane]

I picked some of the Splash pluots when I heard the mockingbirds bidding on them.
Really beautiful fruit.

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[PlainJane]

I’ll be swimming in figs soon.
Green Ischia.

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[PlainJane]

I’m trying out the newish ‘Skyscraper’ salvias to see how perennial they are.
‘Orange’ is in its second year behind ’Pink’, planted about 5 weeks ago. Not sure I like the colors next to each other but moving will need to wait till fall. Loving the Ajaka basil too.

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Here’s Skyscraper ’Deep Purple’ - a bit of a misnomer as it’s really a dark fuchsia.

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So far so good, and I hope the Skyscraper line is extended.

[PlainJane]

For the last couple of months I’ve been reworking major sections of the fruit/pollinator garden.
Moved the Osmanthus together to concentrate the fragrance. They are blooming now and just heavenly.

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Grubbed out 4 Hamelia which had gone from nice 3ft shrubs to 15ft behemoths despite being whacked back a few times.
Also dug out a 20ft Spicezee Nectaplum. I finally got fruit on it this past spring after 4 years in ground, and it was inedible. Hideous, actually. A shame as it’s a very decorative tree.

I’m really happy with the performance of the ‘Skyscraper’ salvias so more are going in.

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I found the hummingbirds really like Abutilon and it’s much easier to manage than Hamelia, so 6 more went in along the fence.

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The cleared area will be home to a Flavorosa Pluot and Scarlet Beauty plum.

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I moved the remaining blueberries to a new area as they were getting swamped by the Hamelia.
There are 3 southern highbush ‘Springhigh’ and a ‘Windsor’ on the way to fill in.

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[PlainJane]

If you’ve been thinking about planting a fruit tree now’s the time to order. The newest Dave Wilson stock is hitting retailers and mail order nurseries.

I’ve ordered 2 pluots from https://bobwellsnursery.com/ in Texas: Flavorosa and Splash.

I have Splash as part of a 4-in1 graft but it’s so good I decided on a standalone too. Scroll up to see the tree and fruit.

Flavorosa is dark-skinned with ruby flesh. It’s early ripening so should escape the humid danger zone which is Florida gardening.

No hard frost here yet. Blueberries are starting to flower as are the lemon and lime trees.

[karstopography]

@PlainJane You must have a decent amount of chill hours? What do you get do you believe in a typical year?

[PlainJane]

@PlainJane You must have a decent amount of chill hours? What do you get do you believe in a typical year?

I’m in a microclimate very close to the St. Johns River. I estimate we get between 300-350 chill hours @karstopography.

[PlainJane]

Lemon is casting a nice fragrance and the lime is pushing out a ton of new growth. Both will get thinned out after flowering.

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[PlainJane]

New Scarlet Beauty plum and salvias settling in.

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[PlainJane]

I’m thrilled so far with my new Scarlet Beauty plum. I few precocious December flowers have set some fruit and the main flowering started about a week ago. Now I just have to finish clearing out where the 2 pluots need to go.

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[PlainJane]

The blueberry patch is between the lime and dwarf avocado.
All southern high bush types, and looks like I’ll get a modest first crop.

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[PlainJane]

Dwarf avocado ‘Little Cado’ is setting quite a few flowers. So far it’s survived 30 degrees with no dieback at all.

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[PlainJane]

Am so happy with the Scarlet Beauty plum, and though small, the first I tasted had a nice flavor.

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[PlainJane]

The Skyscraper series of Salvia has my vote. The bees and resident hummingbird work them over all day long.
They’ve stood up to heat and humidity extremely well.
Also noteworthy is ‘Roman Red’ in the lower right corner.

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[PlainJane]

More ‘Roman Red’ planted between the lemon and cherry trees. Once the pathway is laid I’ll add more.

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[bower]

I love the contrasting shades of red. Really prolific blooms too!
Edited to add: that's a lot of fruit on the little plum tree! Impressive. (I couldn't see the pic at first, as my internet connection is slow and randomly loads some of the photos but not all. )

[PlainJane]

@Bower, I am just thrilled with the plum so far. It’s difficult to find fruit that will thrive in these conditions and ripen early enough that they avoid the ‘danger zone’ of June to August.
Now if the low chill cherry would start to fruit I’d really be over the moon.

[PlainJane]

Another experiment gone well is using creeping golden oregano to reduce wood chips.
It’s fine in sun/part shade, is stepable, drought tolerant and doesn’t interfere with what it’s planted under.

Here it’s under a Petite Negra fig, spreading out gradually on the pathway.
Started as plugs from Mountain Valley Growers.

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