Gardening the job that never ends.

We experienced a wonderful cool and sunny weekend in South Florida, perfect gardening weather.  Time to work on my neglected front yard, I trimmed and pull weeds, so much so that I filled my garbage container.  The ground orchids are my anchor plants in the front of the house, and after a summer of plentiful blooms; these plants take on a brownish color during the winter, needing a major trim. I also did some deadheading, one of my favorite gardening tasks (I find it therapeutic).  Now that the days are getting longer, I will be spending more time after work deadheading most of my flowering plants. (A good way to unwind, with scissors in one hand and a beer or a glass of wine in the other)

This week at The DragonFly Garden

My vegetable garden is beginning to recover after it was destroyed by the rainy days in January.  Soon I will be making my lunch salads from the garden.

We had another new visitor to the garden this week, a Black and White Warbler.

I finally got a picture of the Gray Catbird bathing in the birdbath.

Gardening mistakes are part of a gardener's DNA.

Today I rectified a mistake I made two years ago when I planted this mango tree in the wrong spot. I purchased this plant (my third mango tree) at the Fairchild garden mango festival, at the time my garden was at capacity and this was the only area I could plant it. The soil is poor there and the tree is surrounded by competition from outer plants, as you can see two years later the tree looks pathetic.  

The only solution was to switch location with the Kings Mantle bush.  The king mantle is kind of an invasive plant and it thrives anywhere. Now the mango tree is all by itself with no competition.

  This week at the DragonFly Garden

This Angel’s Trumpet bloomed for the first time this week; a tribute to my Dad who is turning 103 years young next week, this plant came from his garden in the form of a small branch, he cut the branch and told me to stick it in the ground (you will see it will grow) My dad is the reason I love gardening, he worked in his garden until last year, these days he has trouble with his vision and movement but he  loves to sit outside and take in the scenery.  I am planning to do a post soon and take pictures of his beloved garden.

Other flowers blooming this week.

This Grey Catbird is another winter resident, these birds are shy and spend most of their time hiding in trees.  Catbirds are hard to photograph, sometimes when other birds are not around; he comes out to eat and take a bath in the fountain.  Soon this little guy will be heading north with all the other snowbirds. 

Speaking of mangos, one of my trees is flowering.  These mangos should be ready in May. 

Bonsai the yoga of gardening

I always been interested in the art of Bonsai; over the years I tried unsuccessfully to grow a few bonsai plants in my garden, and managed to kill most.  As you can see from the photos below, this bonsai was a gift many years ago and by chance and luck it survived.  Today I put some of the knowledge I acquired from a couple of books to work and here is the final result. Not exactly a perfect bonsai, but it is a start.   

The bonsai phase of my gardening career will have to wait for my retirement years.  To do justice to this ancient art, it will take lots of time and patience, something I’m lacking at this time.  I know that I will need to take a few classes and join a local club to consider myself a novice, but It seems to me that anyone that takes the time and has the patience to create such beautiful trees, is a person that is at peace with the universe. (I want some of that)

This week at the DragonFly Garden

Last week we hosted my daughter’s baby shower.  We had over thirty guests, the weather cooperated and the garden was a success.

The guest of honor

These Monk Parakeets visited the feeder this week.  These guys are not native to the area, but have become quite comfortable in South Florida.