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Pink Aloe Plant in Davie, Florida

This pretty pink aloe plant, in our yard in Davie, Florida, is another low maintanance plant that seems to always be in bloom.1 All images here are fairly high resolution. Feel free to click on the photos for a closer look!

Pink Aloe plant in Davie, Florida; © Tom Truex, 2010
The Aloe plant is as useful as it is beautiful. The cactus like leaves have a gooey sap that’s good when applied to minor burns. Commercially it’s used in lots of stuff.
Pink Aloe, © Tom Truex, 2010
At right is another view of the pink aloe in our yard, zoomed out a bit.
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  1. This plant was originally mentioned in my former blOg at davie.TV, in June 2005, when I was still the Mayor of Davie, FL. As you can see from the photos in this post, taken on July 17, 2010, our clump of aloe plants is still going strong. ↩

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Crepe Myrtle (aka Crape Myrtle)

Crepe Myrtle
Crepe Myrtle
There are, apparently, many varieties of Crepe Myrtle1, under the scientific names, Lagerstroemia speciosa or Lagerstroemia indica. Our tree, in Davie, Florida, is about 10 or 15 years old and stands no more than 15 feet tall. We bought it in a pot at Flamingo Gardens. Some sources describe a taller variety (40 feet) as the Queen Crepe Myrtle. Our tree blew over in Hurricane Wilma (2005). We tipped it back up, and braced it with a two-by-four for a couple of years. I’m expecting it to be history when we have our next big storm. But until then, it has beautiful pink blooms, pictured here.

According to Tropical Trees (Dorthy and Bob Hargreaves, Ross-Hargreaves, publishers, 1965):

Speciosa comes from the Latin meaning “pleasing to the eye.” This beautiful deciduous tree, native of India, in certainly pleasing to the eye. It is valued for its tough red timber, medicinal use, and ornamental beauty. Many in South Florida, Jamaica, and other Caribbean Islands, Puerto Rico, Trinidad, South America and Mexico.

  1. The spelling seems to be equally correct, if either “Crepe Myrtle” or “Crape Myrtle” is used ↩

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Frangipani (Plumeria)

We have two types of frangipani in our yard. One of them has yellowish, creme colored flowers. This is a picture of the one with deep red flowers. These are the flowers used in Hawaii to make the flower-garlands known as leis.

Here are a few facts, based on my personal observations:

Frangipani
Frangipani

  • The tree loses ALL of it’s leaves in summer. You would be sure it was dead, if you didn’t know better.
  • The flowers have a sweet fragrant smell
  • The trees are extremely simple to propagate: put a broken branch in the ground. Keep it watered (or plant it in the rainy season)
  • A sunny, well drained location works well.


According to Your Florida Garden, 5th ed.:1

Size 10-15 ft. Several species of frangipani are common in all tropical countries, grown for their delightfully fragrant flowers. They are all short, stocky trees of spreading habit with thick, stubby branches of soft wood, milky sap, and large, leathery leaves. The species most often seen in Florida gardens are P. rubra, with broad leaves and purplish red flowers, and P. alba, with narrow leaves rolled at the margins and white flowers. Leaves are clustered near the branch tips and flowers are borne terminally all through late spring and summer.

FOOTNOTES

  1. Your Florida Garden, 5th ed., Watkins and Wolfe, 1958, University Presses of Florida, Gainesville, Fla. ↩

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