The rain is always welcome

Yesterday we had rain the entire day, a rare event for us during the winter season.  These days global warming is changing weather patterns where nothing is rare anymore.  I have been under the weather with a head cold that kept me from work and the garden for the last few days.  Today is the first day I had any energy to go outside with my camera and take pictures. 

Pictures from around the garden

Bananas coming soon to a kitchen near you

Three strawberries plants $9.99, three hanging baskets $24.99 the pleasure of growing your own strawberries, priceless!!!! (the most expensive strawberries ever)  

This morning I took out my macro lens to practice the art of macro photography (I need a lot of practice)  

Wildlife in the garden.

This hummingbird is a daily visitor to the Firebush plant

This snowbird is a Prairie Warbler.

Rambunctious Garden

I finished reading a book this week named Rambunctious Garden by Emma Marris, this book is about the footprint humanity has put on our planet and how it has changed what we today call nature.  Going back to pristine ecosystems, the ways things were before humans put their fingerprints on the land, is not only costly, but it is also impossible to replicate.  The author tells us that we should see nature in our surroundings, from our personal gardens, to the landscape in our highways and the weeds growing in abandon buildings. 

Rambunctious is the perfect word to describe my garden; there is no order to it.  I believe in mixing plants, trees and creating habitat for wild life.  So at the end of the day, you can call my garden a rambunctious contribution to nature in Miami.    

My former vegetable garden

This week at the DragonFly garden.

This weekend I worked on the patio next to the house, the Mexican flame vine was getting old and tired, it need it a hair cut, I also pressured cleaned the pavers and straight it out my storage shed.   

My shed before and after

Hiking in the River of Grass

Every year around this time, I spend a day hiking the trails at Everglades National Park.  Yesterday was a perfect day for hiking; the temperature was in the mid seventies, sunny and no mosquitoes.  This year the water levels seem higher and there was plentiful wildlife out.  I took my Nikon camera and got some nice pictures. 

 Gators are kings around here, they are everywhere where there is water

 This is an American Crocodile, the Everglades is the only place in North America where gators and crocs live side by side.  This big guys looked fearsome.

 Birding is quickly becoming one of my favorite past time.

 These are American Coot ducks, there were thousands in this lake, all swimming in different pods.

The Everglades has been in the news recently, as our politicians continue to discuss funding for the restoration of the natural water flow to the park.   The river of grass is drying up, due to man made mistakes made years ago and now is the time to fix it.  If you care for this national treasure, I urge you to write to your politicians, we owe it to future generations.