By robin robinson Key West Garden Club
One of the most unusual plants that will be for sale at the Key West Garden Club's annual fall sale is the goldfinger (Juanulloa aurantiaca), although a better name would be orange kiss, because its flower forms into a long cheek with its calyx forming a little puckered mouth at the end. It is ready to blow you a kiss.
It is an extremely loving vine as it blows these kisses all year long. Don't return these kisses as all parts of the plant are poisonous.
The goldfinger's unusually beautiful flowers droop on the ends of its branches. The flower is long lasting. However, it lacks an odor. You get kisses, but no perfume.
Its leaves are an evergreen dark shade and shaped elliptically with a point on the end. They contrast with the glow-in-the-dark flowers. If you have dinner outside frequently, these digit-sized blooms will not fade out in your garden at night.
Imagine what an all orange-flowering yard would look like at night, especially around Halloween: Fire bushes, helicoids, blanket flowers, firecracker plants, and Geiger trees would light up your party and make your garden look splendid all evening.
In terms of the plant's nomenclature, San Juan de Ulloa is the name of a notoriously dreary, damp prison turned arsenal in Mexico near Veracruz. Aurantiaca means orange.
Juanulloa belongs to the Solanaceae family. Potatoes, tomatoes and deadly belladonna also are in this nightshade family. It was once considered fairly rare in this country, but it can be found in nurseries now. It also can be called Juanulloa mexicana.
Once you own this plant it is fairly easy to propagate. A cutting taken from soft or hard wood will put out roots if planted after dipping in a root hormone. It also can be propagated by air layering.
Goldfinger is a vine/shrub with aggressive clinging roots that allows it to grow on trees. It is semi-epiphytic, that is, a plant that can live on nutrients found in the air.
The evergreen vine/shrub is small. It grows to 6 feet in height and should be planted 45 inches away from its nearest neighbor.
It likes to get its roots fully dry before it is watered again and therefore enjoys the excellent drainage it finds in Key West soil. It grows best in full sun but will tolerate light shade. This plant does not like cold weather and prefers zone 10 or 11 and further south into its country of origin, Peru. It will thrive here in our high humidity.
Because of its bloom's unusual shape, it is not surprising that hummingbirds pollinate the plant. Attracting hummingbirds is always a pleasant addition to life.
The plant can be kept potted on a balcony or porch and always is ready to provide beauty with its cheerful tangerine flowers. Make sure that the pot is well drained and that the soil is dry before watering again. The plant is fairly pest free, but if it gets too much water it will pick up mealy bugs, aphids or scale.
The Garden Club will have nine 3-foot goldfinger plants for sale at a cost of $20 to $25 on Nov. 21 and 22 at the gardens, 1100 Atlantic Blvd. next to Higgs Beach.
Stop by the Garden Club to see the unusual Halloween flower arrangements. The Garden Club is open from 9:30 a.m. to 3:15 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays. The Garden Club also welcomes volunteers to pull weeds, propagate and play in the sandy soil from 9 a.m. to noon Mondays.
Key West Garden Club's master gardener Robin Robinson was a columnist at the Chicago Daily News and syndicated by Princeton Features. Her book, "Peeling the Onion: Reversing the Ravages of Stroke," can be found on Amazon.com. This column is part of a series developed by the Key West Garden Club. Visit http://www.keywestgardenclub.com.