Weeding, Pandora radio and couple of beers

Not a bad way to spend a morning in the garden.  Today I took on the garden by the front door, this is the first impression new visitors to my garden get and it needed a touch-up.  After doing some heavy weeding, thinning out the ground orchids and moving a few containers around, it looked like new.   

Spring arrived to the land of eternal summer (The Plumeria tree is in bloom)

I am planning a big project for this corner of the garden.  Today I was supposed to start pulling out this giant bromeliad, but I ran out of gas before I could get to it. (May be I’ll hire someone to do it)

This Neoregelia is one the newest bromeliad in my collection, full sun and water in the cup is all they need. (That’s why I love these plants)

Bad news to report, I dropped my Nikon 3100 camera and broke the LCD display.  Is going to cost me over $200 to fix it, I will without my camera for two to three weeks.  All these pictures were taken with my point and shoot camera.  

The winds of March

The winds of March came blowing through my garden this weekend, and my yellow Cassia tree came down.  My favor flowering tree in the garden, I hope it recovers.

 The Cassia in full bloom last Fall

 The Cassia tree was not the only casualty, the old yellow bench was too weak for the strong winds.  I had to make some changes in the back garden, the windmill replaced the bench and I replanted a mango tree where the windmill was.    

I planted this mango tree in a pot last year and it didn't do well. 

360 Video of the DragonFly Garden

We had a glorious early spring Sunday morning today, a good time to do a video of the back yard.  The garden was so peaceful (except for barking dog from my next door neighbor) The potted bougainvilleas are bursting with flowers, the white begonias are in full bloom, and the bromeliads  are taking advantage of the added sunlight.

Birding at Fairchild Garden

Yesterday I joined a group of birders for an early morning tour of the garden.  This was my first time birding and I must say, it was fun, relaxing, and fill with great camaraderie.  The expert birders in the group were happy to share their knowledge with novices like me, and after a while it felt like we were hanging out with old friends.

Fairchild will be holding these tours every Saturday morning for the next two months.  March and April is the time when migrating birds visit the park for a brief pit stop on their journey north.

 I took my camera with my telephoto lens but the birds were too fast for my inexperience eye.  I was able to identified, Yellow-throated Warbler, Gray Catbird, Northern Cardinal, Red-bellied woodpecker, Ruby-throated Hummingbird, (My favorite) Buff-bellied Hummingbird, Monk Parakeet, Mourning Dove, White Ibis, Green Heron, Tricolored Heron and Egyptian geese.

 Egyptian geese are native to Africa south of the Sahara in the Nile Valley.  They were considered sacred by the ancient Egyptians, and appeared in much of their artwork.  These geese are not native to North America, but are becoming popular in park ponds, golf courses in Texas and Southern Florida.  Must were imported as decorative birds. Those that have escaped private ponds or aviaries have established hardy feral populations that seem to be growing in numbers. This family has taken residence at Fairchild Garden.

The Africa Redhead Agama, is not welcome anywhere in South Florida, this cute little guy I am told preys on smaller Florida native lizards.  

 When are we going to have a law in this country that stops the importation of exotic animals?

Saturday was my lucky day, the Bromeliad society of South Florida was having a sale at the park, and look what I came home with.      

Birding was fun, and I’m definite coming back.