July Heat Wave at Logee's

Like most of the country, this past week and a half has been humid and hot. How do tropical plants do in this weather? Mostly the plants, as long as they are kept well-watered, do well and in fact, is a time that our plants rapidly grow. The workers on the other hand get here at 7 am to water plants and get their "hot" work done before the heat of the day is upon them. However, the greenhouses can reach temperatures up to 105 degrees and our staff needs to keep well-hydrated to complete their daily tasks. This year, we are in the middle of building an energy efficient greenhouse so many of our plants are growing outside this summer. Take a look.

Two Angel's Trumpet standards with colorful hanging baskets on either side of our front entrance.

Pelargoniums adding a relief of color to the outside oppressive humidity.


Rows of Bananas growing fast in the heat. Musa 'Dwarf Lady Finger' and Musa 'Double Mahoi' are growing here in 4-inch pots.

A "Hardy Banana" Musa basjoo is rapidly growing in a 10 gallon pot.

Trays of Buddleia davidii 'Peacock'. Some of the flower bracts have gone by and will be groomed before they are shipped.

Solanum quitoense "Naranjilla" a new variety with heart-shaped purple leaves is an unusual plant that produces small orange edible fruit.

Healthy looking "Chocolate plants" or Theobroma cacao are on a cart getting ready to find a growing spot for the holiday season.

A large specimen "clown fig" Ficus aspera grown for its variegated fruit.

"Angel's Summer Dream" Brugmansia is known for its ability to grow and flower at less than a foot. Pictured here it is grown as a standard and is about 6 feet tall.

Papaya's love the heat and can create fruit this size in less than a year. This Carica papaya 'T.R. Hovey' is about 6 feet tall and is a three-year old specimen.

Little papayas shown growing in 4-inch pots.

The new greenhouse structure on the left and hibiscus growing on the right.

Here's a close-up of Hibiscus 'Estelle K'. Its orange blossom is large and magnificent and glows the fiery heat of the sun.

A new colocasia to be released this fall called 'Thai Giant.' It has happily grown in our test gardens for two years. The leaf span will reach 4 feet across by the end of the summer.

Finally, this hardy perennial "Bouncing Bet" Saponaria officinalis 'Flore Pleno'- is growing outside of Logee's retail store and is perky as ever on this 95 degree day.