My new Mexican Flame Vine

I purchased this Mexican Flame vine last summer at a Florida native plant sale (although with a name like Mexican Flame vine this is definitely not a Florida native). The vine is now in full spring bloom and looking gorgeous!

I was told that this vine is a favorite of butterflies and bees; so far the bees seem to be happy with the flowers.

The bright orange flowers are 1 inch in diameter and appear in small clusters. As they age the blooms change from brilliant orange to almost red. The seed heads resemble smaller versions of dandelion seed heads.

A baby owl in the Garden

Today for the first time a baby owl stuck its head out of the nest and greeted the world. What a surprise! I had no idea we had company.

This is without doubt the coolest thing that ever happened in my garden.

Mama kept an eye on me while I took the pictures. I understand now why she is always perched on top of the fan in my patio; it gives her a clear view of the nest and the entire garden.

The Yellow Tab Tree

This time of the year the Tabebuia trees (better know as the Yellow Tab tree) puts on a show in south Florida. The flowering of the Yellow Tab tree are a sure sign that spring/summer has arrived in our area. Even though the weather has not really changed much, these trees are telling us that our brief South Florida winter is over and watch out!--the brutal heat of summer is not far behind.

Tabs are popular with commercial nurseries and are used in parking lots, streets, and sidewalks. The Yellow tab is not a native tree to Florida since it comes from South America but, for the next couple of weeks, their beauty will make our driving around town very pleasant indeed.

This is my Yellow tab tree, located on the right-o-way between the sidewalk and the street. I planted this tree when I purchased the house (almost 20 years ago!) and it has survived Hurricanes Andrew, Katrina, and Wilma. Every year this is all the flowers I will get. I am told that the reason is probably the watering from my sprinkler system since these trees do better in dryer conditions.

I continue to work on putting my garden back together and am hoping to be finished by next week when we are having a family get-together at our house. As promised, I will take pictures.

Update on Golda the Owl.

She continues to acclimate herself to my garden and patio. I took an amazing picture yesterday, too gruesome for this family blog. Those of you that do not have a weak stomach can see it at My Viewfinder blog.

A new guest in the garden

This small Screech owl has taken residence in my dead palm tree; I am excited to have an owl living in my garden and happy to know that this rare bird finds my small urban garden inviting enough to make it her home. It doesn’t take much to make our gardens refuge for wild life; this dead palm tree trunk was home to a woodpecker last year and now an owl.

This morning she was surveying the garden from on top of the fan in my back porch. I am putting all lizards in the garden on notice to be extra careful especially at sun down.

GBBD March 15

With all the construction at my place, there is not much to photographs. Here are a few pictures I took in the garden this morning.


My Rose bush had many blooms this morning


The new Plumbago I planted last week is doing well; this shade of blue is my favorite among tropical flower.

The first Purple Passion flower, the vine is growing fast and many more flowers are on the way.

Small two-color orchid, I am taking this one inside the house.

Tillandsia Ionantha, this is smallest bromeliad I have and in my opinion the most colorful, this time of the year, for a couple of weeks the color changes to a pinkish red and the small blue flowers come out,

The Spanish Needle weeds are gowning fast and the bees love it.

The White Angel’s Trumpet bloomed this week for the first time this year

The DragonFly garden is under construction

Yes that is right my garden is under construction, you remember back in December when I decided cut down the two bougainvillea bushes by the front of the house and fix the gate. Well the project has expanded (like every project I take on is never that simple) it now involves contraction workers and materials, and as you know gardens and strange workers do not mix.
I was assured the work would be finish today, so when I came home this afternoon “surprise surprise” it was not (fool did you really think they would finish on time) tonight I am not a happy camper, the place is a mess and many of my delicate plants are in shambles. I will post pictures when the project is finish.
Wish me luck

Daylight savings time, a gardener’s friend.

Daylight savings time gives me more time in the garden, is great coming home after work, changing into my garden clothes and getting lost in the garden for a couple of hours. After a stressful day at work there is no better way to unwind.

This weekend I worked on my flowerbeds, and yes that is a beach umbrella in back garden. My taca plant is doing poorly getting too much sun; this is a temporary solution until my plumeria tree grows its leaves back and is able to shade this area of the garden.

In this bed I have four different begonias, one of my taca plant, a plumbago bush and a new ruby fringeflower. I never seen a fringeflower bush before but it looked great at nursery and I had to have it.

A view of my back wall

This year I have something new growing in my back wall, a purple passion vine growing very fast and full of buds, I expect lots of flowers soon. Also in the picture are my two bougainvillea in containers and my rose bushes (not too many roses this year)

Completing the back wall are a couple of hanging baskets with lemon petunias and blue daze flowers.

Battle against the Oxalis weed continues.

My garden continues to be inundated by the obnoxious oxalis weed. I am adding newspaper and lots of mulch in all the flowerbeds, this should hold it until early summer.

In another part of the garden I added the Spanish-needle weed (go figure!) this weed also grows wild everywhere by the side of the roads and in fields. What I like about the Spanish-needle is that pollinators love the flowers, this morning the bees were buzzing all over it.