Pictures from Colorado

My wife and I returned from our mini vacation in the mountains of Colorado. This year the aspen trees were at their peak.

The top of Vail mountain.

Driving to the top of Independence Pass. it can test your nerves.

The top of the world

The Maroon Bells, near the town of Aspen, simply spectacular.

Hiking is one of the reasons we go to the mountains, that's me leading the way.

Taking a ride to the top of Aspen mountain, you can see the town below.

Going away for the weekend

This weekend my wife and I are traveling to the Rocky mountains of Colorado for some R and R. We are planning to do some hiking, photograph the fall colors and take in the cooler weather. This trip is our yearly escape from the heat and humidity of Florida.
I'm taking my new Ipad and hope to do some blogging.
See you soon.

Cheap plastic

Yesterday one of my rain barrels burst out and 50 gallons of water flooded the garden. I learned my lesson never buy a rain barrel made from cheap plastic, it lasted less than a year. I purchased another one on-line last night, should be arriving this week. Today's gardening consisted of some weeding, tree trimming and moving potted plants around.

This is the courtyard by the front gate, I'm thinking a small bench would look good here

A neighbor stopped by today to trade plants. She wanted some of my bromeliads, and traded this plant, she didn't know the name but the red flowers are gorgeous, they kind of look like hydrangeas.

What is happening to my plants in the front yard? The powder puff tree is looking terrible, most of the leaves are cover with a black soot, and I'm not sure if I should cut most of it or leave it as is.

The soot is also covering the palm tree and dropping on the bromeliads below.

The vegetable raised beds are done, it took 28 bags of soil. Planting starts next week, weather permitting.

Meet Maximus

Max is my daughter's dog; both moved in with us while waiting on a short sale home she made a offer 4 months ago.

Lady of the night

I almost lost my Lady of the Night plant last winter during one of those below freezing nights, but this summer it came back.
Within seconds after sundown, the aroma bursts out of these flowers and it goes from zero to full power and is all gone daylight.
This a perfect plant to have while gardening at night.

Your Fall our Spring

For those of us gardening in the Southern tip of the Florida peninsula is Spring time!!!!!! and time to get to work in the garden.
This weekend I stopped by my local Home Depot looking for annuals to color up my garden for the winter. There were not many choices, I planted this vincas in front of the house, where they'll get plenty of afternoon sun.

I got this bromeliad a couple of years ago at the annual Ramble plant sale at Fairchild Garden. I totally forgot I had it, and this weekend I found this bloom among all my bromeliads.
Is that time of the year when we can enjoy our gardens at night. This weekend I added these miniature Japanese lantern lights to the back deck, I want to garden at night (is that crazy?), as the days get shorter during the winter there is very little daylight left when I get home from work. My plans are to add more solar lights throughout the backyard.

Pictures from around the garden

The ground orchids in the front garden are back to normal after last winter freeze.

I put in 10 cu/ft of soil in my new vegetable garden, 20 to go. I am soooo tired

Now I'm deciding what to plant, today starting buying seeds.

More blooming orchids from around the garden, the rain has done wonders to my orchid collection.

Bees and the blue porter flowers.

Labor day in the garden

This Labor Day the weather in South Florida was rainy and muggy. This morning I was able to put in a couple of hours in the back yard, with all the rain in the last few days the plants are going wild. This corner needed some sprucing up. The banana season is done for the year, and it was time to cut and remove the old trees. I counted nine new trees in different stages of growths.
I took out a plumbago tree from this corner that was not working in the shade.

This weekend our oldest daughter got engaged and I was told to get the garden ready for the engagement party next month.

the raised beds are in

The plan for today was to put in the vegetable raised beds, this morning at Home Depot I made a last minute change. The original idea was to do 3 wooden raised beds, but after figuring the time it would take, I changed to cement blocks.
Cement blocks are not very pretty to look at, but they are easy and fast to put in and better for the environment. I have extra paint in the garage, and might paint the outside later.
During the next couple of weeks I will be buying the soil and the beds should be ready for planting sometime at the end of September.
Today I also added a 32 gallon water tank to my rain-barrel, now I have a total of 164 gallons in reserve [I'm ready for the dry season]

To all our friends in the northeast, good luck and stay safe.

Is time to make the donuts

This morning was one of those days, I had planed tons of work in the garden, but my 58 year body did not want to get out of bed. It rained most of the night and I was hoping to have that excuse, but by 7am the rain was gone and it was time to get to work.
If I want to have my new vegetable garden up and running by October 1, I better keep up with the schedule. On today's agenda was taking out the dead grass and get the soil ready for the raised beds.

My local U-pick farmer is already turning the soil and getting the land ready for planting.

I am planning three 4 x 4 raised beds and fill in the rest of the space with containers, originally I was going to put raised beds where my coleuses are now, but this area has shade all winter long and vegetable are not all that fun of shade (this project is getting to big, may be next year) Flowers of the week, these orchids are blooming and they are gorgeous.

I harvested the last of the bananas today, when these dwarf bananas are ripen they are the sweetest bananas you can ever taste.

Back in the garden after a two weeks vacation

Yesterday we came home from a two-weeks vacation on Sanibel Island, before I left; I moved all the plants in containers to the shade, set the automatic sprinklers on and crossed my fingers.

Two weeks for a garden in the tropics is a lifetime, as you can see everything is overgrown and plenty of weeds to keep me busy for a couple of weeks. I was surprised that most plants made it without any problems. I lost a couple of annuals but it was nice to see new bromeliads and orchids blooming, and plenty of rain lilies (according to my neighbor it rained everyday)

I harvested another banana tree today, one more to go.