Congrats on the brug and brun blooms Robert. My gigantea hasn't bloomed since May. I was thinking about getting that brug yesterday but if it's similar to Xena I'll just skip it lol, though I do love a nice double.

Dalai just Y'd and made a bud. I noticed the bud before the Y. I've got a long spike on Sharry Baby and a bud on Cycnoches warscewiczii that I'm eagerly waiting for. Not much blooming besides roses, a few stray gardenia blooms, and maybe a bloom or two on Belle of India.

My first citrus bud bloomed. So excited to see it and smell it. Such a wonderful fragrance. I would grow it only for its beautiful and fragrant blooms. Its ponderosa

Got a goldfame honeysuckle in a 2 gallon pot for just $8 at lowes and blooming as well.

Since we got remnants of hurricane harvey yesterday all my 4 O'clocks are still open in the morning so got wonderful shots of them.

Jasmine grandiflorum and french perfume are going strong.Hopefully none of us get hit with hurricane Irma...The storm looks really bad and even its idea hitting the east coast is really scary.

Late summer blooms of Acidanthera. Pretty AND fragrant!! I know these have recently been reclassified from the gladiolus genera to iris... Or some such nonsense as this. Anyway... I do not generally pay much attention to this folderol. To me they will always be Acidanthera.

Gardenia taitensis 'Mini' from Kartuz Greenhouses. Scent is similar in profile to 'Heaven Scent' but weaker due to smaller flower size. Flowers more often than 'Heaven Scent'. Under my care, it has a strong tendency to get blossom rot.

Osmanthus Fragrans 'Ri Xiang Gui'. This is the first time it blooms after I planted it in the spring. I was so excited to see both of my little shrubs from China bloom so early in the fall until I realized my old huge O.F. was also blooming, and I always thought it was a plain species. Has anybody got O.F. 'Ri Xiang Gui' or other four season varieties in a similar climate? Is it supposed to start blooming around the same time as the regular O.F. and simply reblooms more?

Sabut I live in zone 7a and have an osmanthus fudingzhu. It blooms very reliably during cooler periods of the year. Infact its loaded right now with blooms

Thanks Jasmine, so do I understand correctly that the reblooming cultivars do not start earlier in the fall than the species, but just bloom during the winter as opposed to a few weeks in the fall and a few in the spring?

Yes Sabut..atleast mine does that. It continues to bloom all through the winter and into spring/early summer. I overwinter mine on a windowsill where it gets a little bit of chill. Peak summer it really doesn't do much but once in a while does bloom depending on the weather sporadically. What I have noticed is any fall in temps definitely makes them bloom.

Tom hopefully you are preparing yourself with all the basic necessities. Fingers crossed for you my friend. Just looking at the news and pictures makes the prospect of Irma touching the coast scary. Good luck my friend. Keep us posted about your safety. Take care.

Thank you Jasminegal! I really appreciate the well wishes. Yes, my family and I are prepared. Lots of water and snacks and pet food. I've been through a hurricane before when I lived in Cape Coral. We got hit by hurricane Charlie in August the day before my mom's birthday. It tore down our pool cage and fence but the house was fine. It was hot as hell but later we got a generator. We bathed in the pool with the broken pool cage standing in it. It was a scary experience for a 12 year old. Then we had another hurricane later in August that ripped down our fence again after we rebuilt it after Charlie. I live in Lake County now which is in the central part of the state, about 20-25 miles west of Orlando, so I'm a lot less scared than I would be by the coast. I am praying that the storm spares Florida or at least affects as few people as possible. I just hope it spares our major cities and important economic hubs. What happened in Texas, especially Houston, was so mind blowing and devastating that I can't really imagine the same thing happening here.

True Tom..natural disasters are always so scary. We missed getting hit by hurricane Sandy literally just by an inch. The eye turned at the correct time. Ofcourse we got the rains and the wind but thankfully no major damage. Praying that it won't be anything like Houston.

Well I'm very happy that Sandy missed you! I'm fine with rain and wind. I love rain! I just pray for no flooding and no major damage.

My Brugmansia in flower smell it all over the garden in the evening they start off yellow then turn pink

Plus gardenia crown jewel

Hey guys, it isn't really looking good for central Florida..I live where I put the blue dot. We could get 8-10" of rain. I'm worried the garage will fill up with water and come into the house because water seeps into the garage with our thunderstorms so I can't imagine 10" of rain. The winds were forecast as 80mph, then 90, and now 100+! I never thought we'd see this kind of storm here in the middle of the state. I don't expect devastation but we will see. I'll hold on to hope & faith. The family and I are riding out the storm with our 3 cats and 11 year old dog. Wish us luck!

P.S. I haven't even brought my dozens of hoyas and orchids inside yet.

Oh gosh Tom! Stay safe and take care. I know plants are important but take care of yourself and the family! Keep us updated about your safety whenever you can.

Haha I know I just mentioned the plants as an afterthought and kind of jokingly. I guess I'm still not fully aware of the effects this storm could have on us. Praying it misses us or we can at least escape with minimal damage. No one in my neighborhood boarded up their windows so I guess they share my concern lol. Thank you Jasminegal! I will keep you all updated.

Hope the worst passes you Tom but take care stay safe & neverunderestimate the power of mother nature

Miltonia summer breese mild fragrance

And a oncidum not the one we thought it would be so not fragrant! But still pretty impressive! Flower spike around 7feet

Thanks fragrant..awesome orchids as always. Just had a thunderstorm that snapped a six inch chunk off my sharry baby spike so I'm pissed lol. Last fall I snapped an even bigger chunk off of its spike. Poor Sharry can't catch a break haha. She has two spikes this year.

There's tornado warnings for my area and Orlando. They're saying the eye is gonna come over us. It sucks because it's dark now. Can't see what's happening. Right now it's raining and it's fairly windy. The worst is supposed to come at 2 a.m.

Stay safe Tom! Fingers crossed for you and sending prayers for all of you.

Cycnoches warscewiczii. Of my favorite orchids is blooming indoors. Scent hasn't developed yet but it was amazing last year like instant banana pudding!

Edit: Cycnoches started making its delicious scent today!

Crimson Glory blooming in the garage. Smells like Mr. Lincoln but blooms more. Fragrant even at night which I haven't noticed before in roses.

Thank you jasminegal!! We need it. There's been damage statewide. The keys got the worst of it. Naples had the strongest wind gusts at 140mph. Miami flooded like crazy and there's at least 2 million people without power. It's been going over my hometown of Cape Coral and Fort Myers for most of the day today.

I know Tom. My sons are glued to the tv the whole day watching the news. Really devastating :( The whole nation is praying for you guys and we are with you!

Thank you. We've been glued to the t.v. all day too! We just had a wind gust blow a chunk of panels out of our fence, but we expected that. Everything's fine so far here at home.

We were spared by the storm. Lots of houses in Orlando flooded. There's barely even any debris. Some more panels blew out of the fence and a bunch of other fences in the neighborhood. My little stick of an in ground angel trumpet snapped in half and leaves were stripped off the Hong Kong Orchid tree. My little bottle palm seems to be slightly uprooted and tilting a little. I hope it doesn't die lol. Can't complain at all because we are very blessed!!

Epiphyllum hookeri

Phal Bellina (jungle x coerulea) smells just like fruit loops!

Sweet almond verbena finally putting on some size. Fairly fragrant and does smell like almond oil! I really like it.

Hoya pusilla has a faint fragrance but it blooms a lot.

Hoya compacta

frog on a dalai lama bud. He's been there for 3 days :)

Good luck Mike. I know its really a bad hurricane season..with irma, jose and now maria!

Jasminegal..Thank you and I also have a question for you about your beautiful Osmanthus..I didn't realize you posted any pics until I went back just now..In fact it was yours that made me start a new thread..

Why would yours be flowering so early if you live in a warmer climate further south than I? I have had very cool nights and yet nothing on any of mine and I have several. I just don't get why mines grow leaves and I have to wait until it's almost too cold to keep them out for buds..Very strange..

Thanks Mike!! I'm proud of them so I'm glad you like them! I'm sorry to hear that, I'll pray for your family's safety. I hope your house is ok. We very lucky here in central Florida. Others weren't so lucky, the damage seemed to be very hit and miss.

Most of my Hoyas don't bloom prolifically. Lacunosa blooms the most. Compacta comes close but it takes breaks between flushes. Pusilla is starting to bloom a lot lately too. If you want them to bloom indoors in winter you'll need grow lights. I'd say the key to blooms is maturity, fertilizer and if the darn things feel like blooming! ;)

Mike I think mine started early becoz of the unusual weather pattern we received before and after hurricane Harvey. We had a brief cool down in the night temps below 50's and day temps into 70's and osmanthus reacted to it with a beautiful flush of blooms. Infact it is probably the first time it has bloomed so profusely since I have it. I really don't do anything for it. During peak summer I just place between two vines where it gets filtered sunlight and its happy. And have you grown the fudingzhu from logees? Could be the variety as well..just a thought.

Thank you Mike it is not always easy over here with the crazy weather in the uk (although we are very lucky that we do not suffer from the hurricanes and tornadoes you can get over there :( ) I have found my Hoyas like to be on the pot bound side i only water once a week , twice in the hight of summer and every so often i will do the old trick of placing the whole pot under water until the air bubbles stop appearing. I get 2 good flushes of flowers a year with the odd one or two in the rest of the year

Well I think you guys all do a great job!!

Yes. I just heard from my family there and they told me they are very scared. They only got grazed by Irma and they lost electricity and water for ten days! They just got it back, Now they are going to get hit direct from category 5! They are boarding up as we speak and my home is left to fend on its own since I am not living there...I live about 5 yards from the stream which can be a might river with just 5 inches of rain. The last time they got 5 -6 hundreds of people, buildings and cars got washed down stream and my dad found three dead bodies to boot within the debris piled up against the bridge....So Thanks you for caring and I am grateful that everyone else here is ok.

Question about all of you guys growing Hoya????

After leaving them outside, do you spray them for pests before they come in? Last year when I did not, a couple started loosing leaves severely and during a re pot to check the roots, they were loaded with root mealy bugs..I am scared to have any pf them again, so I am thinking about doing a drench of some sort of pesticide..(

Thanks again

I hope everyone keeps posting their beautiful plant pictures! I've had major surgery and am recovering at my parents'. The bad news is they have absolutely no plants to sniff, the good news is the doctor thinks he got all the cancer. :)

Mike, I'm always on the lookout for fragrant petunias. Thank you.

I asked my friend to snap a pic of the old fashioned vining petunias I started from seed in July. He says they smell wonderful (they're just now starting to bloom). Looking forward to sniffing them when I get home.

That is excellent news Robert i have everything crossed for you :)I am sure you will get the all clear soon and after some good rest you will be raring to go for next spring :)

Thanks, Brian! I've been resting all week and it's so boring! At least I found some Lonicera japonica growing on the back fence line to sniff. :)

Fingers crossed for you Robert..get well soon!

Thank you, jasminegal! They removed the tumor in my abdomen, some lymph nodes, and ended up removing a kidney that was entangled in the cancer. You'd think I would feel lighter after all that but I feel bloated and look like a stapled turkey. Laugh.

Really looking forward to gardening again.

You have such a positive attitude Robert even after undergoing such a major trauma. So proud of you my friend. Lot of hugs and prayers from me.

Dang Robert! That's insane... I'm really glad you're laughing about it. You made me laugh too. I can't say my attitude would be as good as yours so cheers buddy! And here's to gardening again asap! :)

First bloom on Brugmansia 'Dalai Lama'. The scent isn't very strong although is detectable up close. Not very impressed with the form or fragrance.

I have given up on my brugmansia. Can't do anything much now :( Have a meniscus tear surgery tomorrow so no more gardening till next spring!

I'm sorry to hear that Jasminegal! I'll keep my fingers crossed and pray it all goes smoothly! I'm sure it will. I hope my Xena brug impresses me more than Dalai did. I think it will :)

Jasminegal, so so sorry((..How in the world did you do that? If I was there I would give you a hand.

Thanks Mike..I have no idea how it happened. Maybe all the pot lifting on the stairs or some trauma on the knee caused it :( But the good thing is it is all stitched up today and I can get back to gardening next spring.