Summer gardening in South Florida

Today was a typical summer day, it was hot and humid, I was able to put in a couple of hours this morning but by 10am it was time to come in.

Orchids in bloom today 

 Lady of the night bloomed this week

 The first mango of the season, only 4 left in the tree.

 My dog Rosie out in the sun (5 minutes was all she could take)

 This Cloudless Sulphur butterfly visited the garden today

 Today I organised my garden shed

 After

New Rain Barrel

Today I replaced one of my leaking rain barrels; the new wood grain barrel from RTS Home is made with sturdier materials.  The 50 gallons barrel plus the 35 gallons additional tank, gives me 85 gallons reservoir on each side of the house.  I’m thinking of adding another one in the front garden, I can’t stand seen all that water going to waste. 

The South Florida water crisis during the winter dry season is getting worst every year.  The water management people are adding more restrictions and the first to go is garden use. 

If you are considering buying a rain barrel, stay away from these cheap square plastic containers.  I purchased 2 a couple of years ago and both licked in less than 2 years.

This week I noticed that my Orange Geiger tree has flowers.  I got this tree in a county tree give away last year.  In one year it has more than double in size.

The Orange Geiger tree is native of the Florida Keys; the bright orange flowers are a favorite food for hummingbirds.   

See my favorite pictures from the garden this week on my other blog The Viewfinder

Memorial Day at home

Today was a quite day at home, reflecting on the meaning of the day and thinking of all of those who made the ultimate sacrifice

Next week back to gardening, I have several projects in mind.

Photo day

The last couple of days we had torrential rains in South Florida, this morning the wet garden was not conducive for any gardening activity. 

A good day to photograph all the blooms brought on by all the rain.  The clear morning didn't last long by noon the schedule daily rains were back.

The purple allmanda is blooming again, after a severe pruning this past winter

 The heliconia or lobster claw, this plant is a pest but I love the flowers.

Someone told me that this is prayer plant, every year around this time it comes out of the ground and I get these beautiful purple flowers and by September or October they die.

Neoregelia (Fireball) this bromeliad loves full sun and rain

The Periwinkles are growing wild everywhere in my garden.

Monarch butterfly in the Mexican flame vine. (excuse my obsession with butterflies pictures)

Pink angel's trumpet, I also have a white plant and I'm looking for the yellow hybrid

The Plumeria tree is not naked any more

Chasing butterflies

Today I spent most of my gardening Saturday chasing butterflies. There was an unusable number of butterflies visiting the garden this morning, there were Zebras, Monarchs, Julia, Gulf Fritillaries and even a rare Giant Swallowtail.  You will have to take my word for it because most of the shots I took with my fancy camera were blurred.

In between butterflies, I did got some work done, I cut a couple of dead banana trees, and planted a papaya and a mandarin tree near the fence. 

My bougainvilleas are doing well in the containers

Rose Moss are great for hanging baskets and can take our summer heat

   

The succulents love the May sun

This picture is the path in the back of the garden

May is garden for wildlife month

M

The DragoFly Garden is now certified as wildlife habitat.  Is your garden certified?
See how you can do it, from the National Wildlife Federation

Bouganvillea plants belong in containers

I have a love hate relationship with Bougainvillea plants. I love the year round multi color flowers, but I hate high maintenance these plants require. They are aggressive growers needing pruning several times a year, and then there are the spikes. Pruning Bougainvilleas is like going into combat, you always end up with some injuries.

Today I went after my Bougainvillea plant by the front gate.  Below is all I could cut, I'm limited by what I can put in my green garbage bin.  That's two garbage pick up for the week.  I'll finish the job next week.

This week one of my cactus bloomed these two beautiful white flowers.  According the my book this is a Ferocactus Glaucescens, the flowers only lasted one day, but they were stunning. 

End of the season for the vegetable garden

My tomatoes are under attack

Today I discovered that my tomatoes were under attack from hornworms. In the two days that I been away from the garden, these little buggers have destroyed most of my tomato plants. This morning I pulled nine fat green worms from all the plants, and I'm not sure if I got them all. When they are finish with the leaves, they go after the fruits. I had to pulled off several damaged fruits.

My Gerbera daisies are blooming again, I purchased these plants last summer and didn't expect them to survive the winter. The first gardenia of the season.

HAPPY EASTER to all the gardeners in Blog sphere

Thinning the bromeliads

This weekend I worked with my bromeliads in the front garden (Not my favorite work) gardening with bromeliads can be tricky and a nuisance.
What to do with all the extra bromeliads pups? May be a plant sale.
I also made a kitchen garden for my daughter's new townhouse. She is a excellent cook and likes to have fresh herbs around. Her townhouse has a small patio in the back, where I will be designing her garden soon. She is my only hope, that my grandmother's gardening gene will continue in the family.

Good news on the fruit front, my papaya tree has a fruit. There is 50% chance that a papaya tree could turn out to be male and will never have fruits, this one is definitely a she.

Another Saturday in the garden

Today was the hottest day of the year, the temperature and humidity was like if we were in mid summer. Whatever happened to Spring mild weather?

I worked on the front garden pulling a couple months of weeds and replacing the dead impatiens with Mexican heather(a good summer plant).
This is what's blooming around the garden. My favorite bromeliad.

The plumeria is beginning to bloom

Last week I attended an orchid show and come home with this beautiful begonia