Plants for the Brown Thumb

RG84

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May 21, 2010
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Almost finished with my patio area and wanted advice on some plants, vines that would not take a lot of maintenance?

 Thinking of hanging ferns, or some type of vine. Also need some plants that have color.

What grows in this environment?
 

LTSteve

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Jul 9, 2010
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Almost finished with my patio area and wanted advice on some plants, vines that would not take a lot of maintenance?

 Thinking of hanging ferns, or some type of vine. Also need some plants that have color.

What grows in this environment?

Bougainvillea!!
 

AlterEgo

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Bougainvillea!!

They get large, and have thorns, so depends on how large his patio is.

Best bet is to visit a vivero and see what they have. Hibiscus are pretty and grow well. We have a pretty trailing vine that has lots of yellow trumpet flowers, but I don't know the name. Bird of Paradise are also beautiful. I'll try to post a pic from my phone.
 

vida

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Mar 18, 2010
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Try mandevilla vine. It has beautiful
trumpet flowers. It climbs and always has flowers. A neighbor thought they were plastic because they were always blooming. This is in Santo Domingo.
 

AlterEgo

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This one is beautiful and doesn't get huge

IMG_0066.jpg

I like aloe plants, and they bloom nicely.  Great if you have a cut, rash, etc., too

IMG_1325.jpg

Some other flowers in DR that I cut to bring inside.  Don't know names, but you could show pic on phone to vivero. The snowball looking ones come in many colors, we have red and yellow   IMG_1073.jpg

We do little to no watering of these, they just grow!
 

JD Jones

Moderator:North Coast,Santo Domingo,SW Coast,Covid
Jan 7, 2016
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Plant some passion fruit/chinola in a corner and in a month or two you'll have a ton of fruit and won't need to install a roof over the patio.
 

AlterEgo

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Plant some passion fruit/chinola in a corner and in a month or two you'll have a ton of fruit and won't need to install a roof over the patio.



Haha!  Mr AE fights a never ending battle to rid our property of chinola, they wind themselves around everything and take over. Just when he thinks he's gotten them all, here comes another one,  laughing at him I'm sure.  
 

RG84

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May 21, 2010
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Plant some passion fruit/chinola in a corner and in a month or two you'll have a ton of fruit and won't need to install a roof over the patio.



If it was that easy. I had to put up bars. Came home one night and someone was on the top of the wall. Would love to have a fruit tree.
 

RG84

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May 21, 2010
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This one is beautiful and doesn't get huge

View attachment 2659

I like aloe plants, and they bloom nicely.  Great if you have a cut, rash, etc., too

View attachment 2660

Some other flowers in DR that I cut to bring inside.  Don't know names, but you could show pic on phone to vivero. The snowball looking ones come in many colors, we have red and yellow   View attachment 2661

We do little to no watering of these, they just grow!



Funny you posted a picture of aloe, just this morning a guy was coming down the street selling aloe plants. I bought 2.

What are the names of the other plants?
 

AlterEgo

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If it was that easy. I had to put up bars. Came home one night and someone was on the top of the wall. Would love to have a fruit tree.



If you have a wall, plant trinitaria all long it inside, gorgeous colors available and they will grow to top of wall within a year and spill over. Thorny too, lladrones avoids them. Flowers year round. 

I don't know the names of our other flowers!  Look for hibiscus too, we have a few different colors 
 

RG84

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May 21, 2010
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Has anyone planted Mint? I would like to try something like that. Has a nice smell and is a repellant to some insects and mice.
 

AlterEgo

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Has anyone planted Mint? I would like to try something like that. Has a nice smell and is a repellant to some insects and mice.

YES! I planted it along the back wall of our raised terrazzo. I knew it would take over the whole area. If you don't want that to happen, keep it in a container. One little 50 peso plant.....now I have huge bushes. I do make my own iced tea, and I always add mint leaves during the brewing, delicious! It does seem to help with mosquitoes.

I also grow oregano, basil, parsley and cilantro.
 

Cdn_Gringo

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Apr 29, 2014
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Mint spreads like wildfire. If you plant mint, put it in a flower pot. If you like mojitos, several pots may be needed.
 

RG84

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May 21, 2010
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YES! I planted it along the back wall of our raised terrazzo. I knew it would take over the whole area. If you don't want that to happen, keep it in a container. One little 50 peso plant.....now I have huge bushes. I do make my own iced tea, and I always add mint leaves during the brewing, delicious! It does seem to help with mosquitoes.

I also grow oregano, basil, parsley and cilantro.

Mint spreads like wildfire. If you plant mint, put it in a flower pot. If you like mojitos, several pots may be needed.




That's what I want, a section of the wall covered in some type of vegetation.
I'm thinking of panels.  4 panels alternating tile or wood with vegetation. In the middle a water wall with a small pond at the bottom