Tropical punch in Houston garden
November 23, 2025
In Houston last month at my sister’s house, I admired the bodacious foliage of her pool garden. Alocasia’s gigantic, elephant-ear leaves flank a handsome, silvery agave in a tall steel pot.
Swagged on a trellis behind the fire pit patio, Rangoon creeper was in full, sweet-scented bloom.
Its pink and red flowers look ready-made for Valentine’s Day, but it’s not a spring bloomer in Houston. The vine dies to the ground in a freeze, but it comes right back and is glorious in summer and fall.
One more (imaginary) sniff
Cute little succulent pots adorn a table too.
Later, on a walk around the block, resurrection fern (Polypodium polypodioides) cloaking live oak limbs caught my eye.
Resurrection fern gets its name from its habit of going dormant — shriveling and looking dead — during drought. When it rains again, it’s reborn, springing back to life within 24 hours. It’s not parasitic and doesn’t harm the tree. As an air plant, it just makes its home along tree branches, especially oaks, and thrives in the hot and humid southeastern U.S.
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