Checklist - preparing for winter in subtropical areas.
Watering. Start reducing the amount you water your plants in early fall, once the temperature drops below 65 °F. Avoid watering your plants during cool nights, as this may cause serious root rot.
Mulch. When a plant is protected by a thick layer of mulch, the root system stays healthy.
No Pruning. Avoid pruning, trimming, or pinching branch tips altogether during the fall and winter which encourages new shoots that are soft, tender, and very cold sensitive.
No Fertilizer. Avoid fertilizers during the winter. The main reason being the same as above for pruning: fertilizing promotes growth of the upper plant parts which should be avoided during the winter months.

Time to clean your yard!
In the South. It's getting cooler in subtropical areas, and garden work becomes even more enjoyable. Your garden now is in the most perfect shape after summer vigorous growth. It is the best time now to run the last trim before winter, as well as last fertilizer application. Clean up your yard without sweating off, add mulch to help plants to survive through possible winter chills. Don't forget to start reducing watering! Remember once temperatures drop below 65F, tropical plants slow down or stop growing and go into winter dormancy sleep.

Up North. When temperatures drop below 45 °F, start bringing sensitive plants indoors or into protected areas. Prepare/cover greenhouse, check availability of covers (sheets, plastic) and condition of heaters. Plants indoors will experience environment change, may drop leaves, and need different care than out in the sun. Reduce watering, check for insects once a week, and stop fertilizing until spring. Remember to pick the brightest spots for overwintering your tropical plants!

Enjoy cooler weather, fresh air, and thank yourself for a wonderful work you have done in your yard!

Growing Mexican Flame Vine as an annual

Q: While down in Fort Myers a few years ago, I saw this plant - Senecio confusus or Mexican Flame Vine, growing over chain-link fencing. At any rate, I fell in love with the plant then and there, only to later see it up here in Wisconsin, albeit down in Madison at The Centennial House, a noted botanical garden. This has led me to believe it may be possible to use this plant up here in the north as an annual. I could really use the orange coloration in mixed containers, etc. What I would like to try to find out is, will it grow and flower sufficiently within one of our growing seasons up here to make the choice worthwhile? Again, seeing it at Centennial House at least leads me to believe it may be possible. China where the flower was admired for its beauty and believed to have medicinal properties that promoted good health and long life. The Japanese Emperor was so smitten with the kiku flower that he adopted it as his personal crest, and it remains the insignia of the imperial family today. The art of growing and displaying Kiku for the Emperor's garden represented by amazing Imperial styles: Ozukuri, Ogiku, Kengai... Imagine growing out of one stem a single chrysanthemum trained to produce hundreds of simultaneous blossoms in a massive, dome-shaped array.

A: Mexican Flame vine is a good candidate to be grown as annual, thanks to these features:
- extremely fast growing
- it flowers in small size and young age
- long flowering period (2-3 months depending on conditions), throughout early Spring into Summer, sometimes it has a second blooming season by end of Summer.
- we keep large mature plants in stock year round, so you can have blooming size specimen as early as spring once your temperatures reach 65F so the plant will feel comfortable and develop quickly.
- easy to propagate - more plants can be made for next year season.

In winter, a potted plant can be cut back and kept in semi-dormant state indoors - garage, enclosed patio, with temperatures around 50F and above. Some gardeners from North prefer to plant a tropical specimen with a pot into the ground (make sure to add extra drainage holes), and when winter comes, it makes it easier to dig it out and save till warm season.

Top Tropicals Video: Ambarella - delicious June Plum

Golden Apple, or June Plum - Spondias cytherea.

This exciting fruiting plant will amaze you with its ability to flower and fruit at a young age. It fruits in winter and holds the fruit up to 6-8 months, long after the leaves have dropped. The fruit appears in pairs and will turn a brushed-golden color as it ripens. Its feel and juiciness resembles that of a mango but with completely different flavor. The Golden apple is used both in sweet and savory dishes depending on its ripeness. When green, the fruit is commonly eaten as is (with or without skin just like green mangoes) with salt and other salty/spicy dips, made into salsas, chutneys, and into juices and smoothies. When fully ripe, the Golden Apple will be deep yellowish-orange in color. When yellow, the fruit is eaten just like an apple or stewed with sugar to make an applesauce-like dessert.

Check out this video: ...

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Growing Exotic Adeniums

Exotic varieties of Desert Roses. Adeniums have many spectacular hybrids. The basic culture is very similar to orchids. A small pot with excellent drainage is a must. Adeniums do not like both over-watering or drying-out. There is a secret how to create a large swollen caudex: raise the plant a bit every time you re-pot it, so that the upper part of roots will be a little exposed. The plant will form more roots that will go down.

To make your plant develop a large swollen base/trunk, you'll need a good quality fertilizer. Fertilizer requirement for swelling up trunks is also used to increase flowering. It shouldn't be too high in nitrogen, the middle number should be the highest (similar to 10-50-10). Never apply fertilizer directly on roots and do not liquid feed when a plant is thirsty: always water first slightly to avoid root burn and leaf drop. Do not wet leaves. Adeniums need lots of light for heavy flowering.

Most hybrids and species start blooming in the spring when the conditions are warm and days get longer, and continue blooming through the fall and winter in warmer climates. Adeniums like a neutral to hard water. Acidic water tends to sour the soil too fast and may cause root rot. Water plants preferably in the early morning, and allow them to drink up throughout the day. Watering can be done daily to every few days. Never allow your plants to sit in a saucer of water, but don't let them to dry out too often - this causes adeniums to go into early dormancy.

Planting instructions for bare-rooted succulent plants. Position the plant in a pot, size of root system. Use only well-drained soil with high content of Perlite and/or sand (cactus mix can be used), water once and keep in warm (75-80F) place in filtered light. Do not water again until soil dries on surface. Once the plant is established and starts growing new leaves (may take a few weeks), gradually move it into brighter light. Then you can start fertilizing it.

See full list of Adeniums - plants and seeds.