Hydrangeas Blue

Hydrangeas in Florida May Grow Best Inside

With the extreme heat and sun of Florida, it may be best to grow hydrangeas as potted plants indoors.

Since I moved to Florida last summer, I’ve kept a lookout for my favorite hydrangea shrubs in local garden centers. At least they are not in the “garden” area. I’ve seen hydrangeas in pots inside the Home Depot meant to give as gifts or use as indoor plants. And I think that in this hot and humid climate they may grow best inside.

Screen Shot 2017-04-06 at 2.20.18 PM — Pretty Pink Potted Hydrangea

From what I’ve read, the Oakleaf hydrangea will survive outside in zone 9, so that is one option. It’s not exactly like any of the other types of hydrangea I’ve grown, so it will be experimental if I decide to buy it. Also it seems very leafy, without those big gorgeous flowers like the mopheads have. The Oakleaf seems suited to areas beneath trees where it would get filtered sunlight. And it doesn’t seem to be grown for it’s gorgeous flowers.

Screen Shot 2017-04-06 at 2.22.30 PM — I miss my blue hydrangea (photo is mine)

What I do know is that a hydrangea will grow best getting some morning sun and then shade for the rest of the day. In Florida, during dry times, it will require a lot of watering also. I picture any hydrangea growing in the ground here needing a lot of water.

I’ve read in gardening forums that some people buy the potted hydrangeas that are sold around holiday time, and then keep them inside out of the direct sun.

Screen Shot 2017-04-06 at 2.20.00 PM — I’ve never had a pink flowering hydrangea and this one is lovely.

The trouble with having hydrangeas in the yard down here is that most tropical plants remain lush and green year round. Hydrangeas are deciduous, which means their leaves will fall off for the winter months. For that reason, they will look out of place in a Florida landscape. In the north, everything goes dormant for the winter, so leafless hydrangea plants don’t stick out like a sore thumb. Or will they keep their leaves because of the southern climate?

Someone suggested growing camellias instead of hydrangeas. I’ve grown camellias before and they are lovely plants with a variety of flowers to choose from.

Camellia

Easter and Mother’s Day are both coming up and I suspect the local stores will be offering some hydrangeas for both of those holidays. It could be the best time to find new hydrangeas to grow in my southern home.

In the north, the blue hydrangeas and Pinky Winky were my favorites, but it might be a nice change to have a true pink potted hydrangea.

(Photo credits: Pixabay.com)

I Purchased a Potted Hydrangea in Blue

Now I own a potted blue hydrangea. The local Home Depot had them for sale and they were small enough to not cost me a fortune, so I decided, why not?

Florida Yardscape Must Include At Least One Hibiscus

Now that I live in Florida, my yard must contain the normal Florida perennials. Hibiscus is at the top of that list, and therefore I recently purchased a shrub and recently planted it along the side of the house.

I know that hibiscus will tolerate lots of sun and heat. Although the tag on this one said it was protected from mites and aphids, I notice there are some on the buds. I mixed up a solution of dish detergent and water to spray on the plant, and picked off the buds that were full of bugs. I’ve had to do this for a few days not. It’s irritating that I bought it with the bugs on it. Should have checked closer.

Next to it, I added a rose bush and on the other side a small Desert Rose. In my photo below the plumeria hasn’t been planted yet, but you can see the red poinsettia I bought this past Christmas … the flowers are still red! That one also needs to go in the ground.

rose bush and hibiscus — New Little Florida Garden

I need to get these gardens planted before the weather becomes too hot. I can’t work outside like I used to, and I dislike working in the heat. Digging up this St. Augustine grass is a real chore, and then I must lug the dirt to mix into the dug hole. The Florida “dirt” is mostly sand, so it must be amended with quality dirt and fertilizer. After it was planted I added black mulch.

double orange hibiscus — This Hibiscus Has Ruffled Flowers

The Plumeria Plant Gift, Or Is It Something Else?

Some friends stopped by the other day and they had been to the Farmer’s Market at the Volusia County Fairgrounds. They opened the trunk of the car to show us the wonderful plants they had purchased. They had boxes of little succulents, a bushy croton, tiny African violets, and bags of organic dirt. In the back I noticed three tall stalks in pots with one or two flowers at the top. When I asked what the plant was, our friend pulled one out and handed it to me. “It’s a Plumeria” she said, “Here take it, it’s for you”.

I tried to give it back, and said I was only curious, but she insisted I keep it. She said they were only $3.00 and she had more. The guy who sold them to her told her they were Plumerias.

Now, I have never seen a plumeria plant. I am familiar with the beautiful flowers of the Hawaiian plumeria (frangipani), and know that they are often used to make Hawaiian leis in the islands. I use plumeria (or frangipani) images to create wedding and event stationery for my Sandpiper Wedding store. But I have never had a plant like this. And honestly the flower reminded me more of an Oleander, but the plant itself was like nothing I had seen.

I figured I’d call it a plumeria until I discovered differently. I had already looked up How to grow plumerias, but I’ve had my doubts as to what this plant really is. I’ve never seen plumerias growing in Florida, and I used to have all the favorite local plants planted in my yard when I lived here in the 80’s and 90’s. It doesn’t mean they don’t grow here, but they need a more tropical climate than what we have here in central Florida.

Plumerias need tropical conditions to grow well, and where I live it does get cold.

**** Then, I went shopping at the local Home Depot, and came across plants that look just like my “plumeria” but they were called “Desert Rose“. Aha, I did not have a plumeria. But I had no idea what to do with a desert rose.

I looked up how to care for it.

The Desert Rose is a flowering succulent, which means it won’t need a lot of water. The stem can be very thick, and holds water to be used in times of drought. It does not like cold temperatures, which means I should keep it indoors over the Florida winter. I’ll have to dig it up. It is slow growing, compared to plumerias, which grow fast and turn into small trees.

Right now our temperatures are very warm with daytime readings in the 80’s and overnight in the 60’s and some 50’s. I regret planting it outdoors and will have to spend some money on a decent pot and bring it inside eventually. I’m not sure it will like all the summer rain we’ll be getting soon. It’s meant to be an ornamental indoor plant, from what I gather.

Here are more pictures of the Desert Rose, found at the free images site, Pixabay.

pink desert rose flowers — Beautiful Desert Rose Flowers (photo credit: Pixabay)

March is a Good Month For Increasing Sales

March has consistently been a good month for increasing sales on my Zazzle sites, and this March has been no different. (If you are curious about my qualifications on advising you about selling on Zazzle, I’ll just say that I am a Platinum ProSeller and have been with Zazzle for nearly 10 years.)

I create a lot of wedding invitations and items to match, in a variety of themes. Beach weddings are my big focus, with floral (hydrangeas) designs at BlueHyd running a close second. March may be the time when brides begin to focus on an upcoming wedding and need stationery. I stay busy right into summer, usually, although the past few years have been a bit slower.

So, what is selling now? Zazzlers may be curious about what I am selling and what customers are asking for. Customers do reach out through e-mail, and strange enough, the contact seems to come in spurts. Just the other day I had 6 people contact me about various things they needed. Then, sometimes weeks will go buy without a single contact.

Not every question / request brings a sale, but I did create an RSVP for someone which earned me a nice royalty and also referral money, thanks to the link I included in my e-mail.

How to Get E-Mail Referral Money

Whenever a customer requests an item to be made, be sure to set the item to “direct only” when posting, and send that link to the customer. Usually it will get you some referral money. It’s not always true, because the customer may not follow your link, or the “cookie” may get dropped if they do something else before buying the product. I surely don’t know all the technical gibberish, but sending the “direct only” link is the only way to possibly get that extra money through e-mail contact and sales.

People Have Recovered From the Holidays

Even if you don’t design wedding stationery, and believe me, it’s a very competative field, I think people have sufficiently recovered from Christmas to feel like they have money to spend. Also it’s tax season, and many people have a nice refund which helps with their purchasing power.

Here’s a list of some things I’ve sold this March:

Cloth tote bags with personal customization
Personalized Key rings
RSVP cards
Wedding shower invitations
Beach wedding invitation sets
Blue hydrangea wedding stationery
Bridal shower invitations
Thank you cards
Stickers and address labels

This “Under the Sea” invitation was a big hit this year. I made the design long ago, but sometimes it takes years for a design to catch on.

best seller wedding invitation — “Under the Sea” wedding invitation

So most of my sales have been wedding related. I promote wedding items year round, and have a good selection of various themes available. I tend to sell what I promote most.

But the key is to create and promote what you like to make best. And make every item customizable in some way… that is Zazzle’s thing… the ability to customize. And remember that the items that are promoted, are the items that usually sell, or they bring the customer who tends to buy something.

I also sell birthday party and beach related party (such as Luau) invitations. The designs are uniquely my own. In other words, I don’t just grab a free image and slap it on some stationery. Even when I use something from online, I add my own touch to it.

I don’t want my products to resemble any one else’s designs, and I strive to be as original as possible.

So March is over, and now we’ll see what April brings. I am hoping for more nice sales.

A New Hibiscus Plant For the Yard

Living in Florida means growing at least one hibiscus in the yard.

One plant that every Florida yard should have is the fantastic hibiscus.

A hibiscus will bloom constantly for much of the year in Florida. It loves the sun and does extremely well in the hot and humid climate.

orange hibiscus shrub — Newly Planted Hibiscus Shrub

Hibiscus plants come in a wide variety of colors and types. Some can grow in northern climates, but the ones I refer to here are tropical. They will not die over the winter. It’s not really necessary to know your types (unless you are searching for something specific, or mail ordering) because local stores will sell the types that work in your area of the country, or world.

One problem I remember having is aphids that get on the flowers and plant, but this new hibiscus contained a tag that said it was protected from aphids, white flies, and some other bugs. So we’ll see.

They are easy to plant. Remove any grass in the area and dig a big wide hole. Mix together some kind of fertilizer, bone meal, and or garden soil and add that back into the hole with some of the dirt that was removed. Push the dirt down around the edge of the root ball and then water thoroughly… that means a lot. If the plant still looks great the next day, then you did a good job. Water again, and continue to water well until it gets established.

My new hibiscus has a double orange bloom, which looks like a ruffle compared to the flat types of flower. It was the prettiest flower I saw among the bunches of plants at the local Home Depot. I planted it in a spot that should get a lot of sun year round. Once I buy some mulch, I’ll put that all around the bottom to help keep the soil moist. Then I can water it less often.

orange flowering hibiscus — Double Orange Hibiscus

Although I have mainly been shopping for plants at Home Depot, I prefer to support a privately owned nursery. I am not very familiar with any around here. I’ve already been to Lindleys, and wasn’t all that impressed. One that I plan to visit is Garden Arts and is located on Flagler Ave. Generally I only go to the very touristy Flagler Ave. to eat at Breakers Restaurant. I will brave the crowds to eat a yummy fish sandwich while looking out at the ocean.

Some friends just told me about the Garden Arts nursery and suggested I visit. I have a free parking pass for the beachside lot (yes, they charge to park now!), so I may do just that. Then I will write a review about the place, and visit often … if I like it.

Now that I have a hibiscus growing in my yard, it’s a reminder that I’m settling into my new lifestyle which is a throwback to a very old life. When I see my photos of the huge piles of snow, and remember suffering without power for days during ice storms, I really don’t miss dealing with those problems. Walking out the door, without a coat on, day or night, is quite a sweet change of pace for me.

Yes, People May End Up Reading Your Blog, So Write Well!

My very first blog posts were horrendous. I began writing at Blogger, and never did get the hang of it. The platform was difficult for me to understand, and then I heard about WordPress. I found it easier to write there, and it’s where my main blogs live. It didn’t mean I could write any better though! That is something I have been learning as I go.

Blabbing on about something on a blank page on a computer screen led me to believe that no one at all would ever even see what I wrote. I knew nothing about SEO or social media or tagging. I just wrote whatever came into my head, and it wasn’t very good, but it was honest and probably a bit unique (maybe not in a good way).

People I knew didn’t read my posts, but absolute strangers did, and they sometimes left comments. Those comments gave me the incentive to continue, and to give my readers something worthwhile to read. I wanted to become a better writer, and I had to learn how to do that. For many years I was too busy raising my kids to read a book much less practice any type of writing!

Screen Shot 2017-03-09 at 2.13.31 PM — Once you write, get the post out to the world by having posts automatically linked to your other online places.

Then, out of the blue, I was asked to be a guest writer at a site connected to (the now defunct) Squidoo writing site. I had to write a review of a Squidoo page of my choice (not my own), and have it ready to post on a specific day of the week. We each had our own day to publish. It was stressful, because I was not a good writer. Over the course of the week eventually I got the short article (300 words minimum) ready to submit. Then I would sort of cringe on the day I knew it would go live.

Eventually I had to stop guest writing because my own online business needed more of my time. But, that stint as a guest writer was very good for me. It honed my writing skills a bit, as I had to try to live up to the expectations of the other writers. I wanted to write well. And I knew for a fact, at the very least, the other contributors would be reading it!

Writing with others also taught me what is expected for search engine optimization (SEO). Each post / article had to be a minimum of 300 words, well written, easy to read, and contain original text. This is what I think about when writing these days. That is not to say that I don’t slip out of that routine every now and then.

Everything I write contains at least one photo or picture to go with the story. Occasionally the photography is the story, but blogs won’t get far without some text as well. At first I used only my own photography when writing, but eventually I learned how to use public domain images to enhance my posts, like the awesome photos in this article (credit: Pixabay.com).

I have been overlooking the “featured image” option which shows on WP’s improved editor posting page. Now I am going back through my blog posts to add a featured image to the top of each one.

I Purchased a Potted Hydrangea in Blue

Thank you for sharing!

Thank you for sharing!

Thank you for sharing!

How to Get E-Mail Referral Money

People Have Recovered From the Holidays

Here’s a list of some things I’ve sold this March:

Thank you for sharing!

Thank you for sharing!

Thank you for sharing!