Cardinal Plants

[Andy Thatcher]

Ebay will be the death of me.

I was sitting at work Sunday with nothing much going on and found myself looking at Cardinal Plants. I was interested to read that they like a moist environment as I have a pond in my garden, yes being Florida with resident gators.

So before really thinking about it I found 20 plants for a very reasonable $26 and ordered them.

Note the before really thinking or even reading the sale,

Turns out I have 20 root balls heading my way as I type from Ohio.

So the question I have is it worth planting them this year in hope that they survive through to next and then flower or do I have a chance of them flowering this year ?

[flrubyluver]

Andy:

Cardinal plants are great for hummingbirds. I doubt that you will have flowers this year but go ahead and plant them and they will come up even nicer and multiply next year. They are perennial and will come back next spring. I have mine in a big pot and we had very cold winter and it came back stronger than ever. I started with one plant last year and this year it sprouted four stalks. One word of caution is that they like it shady so find a shady spot for them.

One nice plant for a boggy area in the pond that likes sun is the Scarlet Hibiscus. It's native to Florida and supposedly the hummers like it...I haven't seen mine bloom yet to see if the hummers like it or not. But, if you want to make a trip over here to Spring Hill, I've got two that you could have.

Happy Planting!

BH
Hernando County, FL

[Andy Thatcher]

Turns out the Ebay seller couldn't count and I ended up with 32 plants, like I am complaining.

Anyway all planted around the pond apart from 2 of them that I am going to pot.

Scarlet Hibiscus...hmmm not seen that one is passing. Will check it out.

I was over at Pine Island last week working, wish I had of known then ! I will take a rain check on your kind offer, I will be back over that way but I do not know when but when I am I will counter your offer with whatever I have in pots at the time.

[flrubyluver]

Wow... bummer.. you did go right by my house to get to Pine Island. Look at the subtopic here on this website under "plant exchange"... I've got an entry for what plants I have right now if you would like any of them.

I might be going to West Palm Beach in the next few weeks ... maybe I can meet you at one of the rest stops on the Turnpike. We'll play it by ear.....

BH
Hernando County, FL