A new look for the back garden

Like everyone else all my travel plans for the fall season changed with Covid 19.  So I need it to come up with a plan B.  Garden makeover,  for sometime I been thinking of making changes to the back garden to be more open for entertaining, specially at nigh.  My first task was to take out the last grass section (is impossible to have grass in a shade garden), the next task was adding lighting (a combination of electric LED lights and solar lights) 

This week I pressure cleaned all the pavers and stone in the front and back garden.  I used to do this job in a day, this time it took me three days (this is what happens when you are retired and can do the job at any time)

The fall migration is beginning , this week a Black-and-wihte Warbler and a Black-throated Blue  Warbler visited my garden.  

Black-throated Blue Warbler

Black-and-white Warbler

There has been a large number of dragonflies in the garden lately, good news for us and bad news for mosquitoes.

Not many flowers in the garden this time of the year, except for the wild petunias (Ruellias) they flower all year-around.

Happy Halloween

 

Squirrels 10 Gardener 0

I have lived in my home for over 30 years, the first 29 years were squirrel free.  The location of my neighborhood had something to do with it, to the east there is a big Interstate highway that keeps wildlife from crossing over and the Florida Everglades to the west.  Last year we got our first squirrel visitor, he liked our neighborhood so much that he brought all his friends, now we are overrun with the little critters and they are not cute anymore.  They have taken over the bird feeders and they love to feast on our fruit trees.  I bet you didn’t know that squirrels love avocados, this year the avocado harvest was plentiful and I did’t mind sharing my fruits, but the mango season was not that good and and a third of all my mangos were damage by our four legged friends.  

My father in his old age, spent most of his time outside in his garden keeping squirrels away from his fruit trees, I used to think that was funny.  Now I am becoming my father. 

Hey that bird feeder is my dining room  

This corner of my garden is looking nice after all the rain we been getting.  This garden bed has croton, blue porter weed, coleus, ferns and elephant ear plant (Colocasia)