Garden designer, a new career!!!!

Last week while my daughter was on her honeymoon, I surprised her by transforming  the patio at her new townhouse into a new outdoor living room.

Before

The small patio has very little space for plants and is surrounded by tall trees.  My challenge was finding plants that do well in the shade.

After

My daughter is an excellent gourmet cook so a small cooking garden was a must.

Must of the plants came from my garden

These bromeliads were all from my garden

My daughter Elizabeth is my only hope that my grandmother's gardening gene will go on in the family.  Her gardening space is small but with my help I hope she'll become a gardener, I can wait to spend time sharing my knowledge with her

Eclectic- Experimental Garden

I was asked the other day, what was my gardening style.  My answer was “Eclectic-Experimental.” I don’t pay much attention to mix and matching or color coordination, if I like the plant and there is an open space, it goes in the ground.  Sometimes the experiment works, but most of the times I have to move the same plant several times until I find the perfect spot.  There is not much order or many rules in my garden, I only have two, no weeds or snails allow.

Today, I took out several banana plants that were doing poorly and cleaned the area of old trunks.

 I planted this Persian Shield plant in a pot a while back and unknow to me there were several Caladium tubers in the pot. I kind a like the combination.

Blooming in the garden this week.

Rain lilies

Dragon Fruit flowers

 Help!!! Senior moment I can remember the name of these flowers.

I will be taking a week off from the garden. My oldest daughter is getting married next week and we are all very excited. I hope everyone has a happy and safe 4th of July.

Rain Maker

No gardening this weekend, tropical storm Debby formed in the Gulf of Mexico and it has become a rain maker for South Florida.  It has been raining since Thursday night, this morning I was able to go out and take some pictures before the rain came back.

The butterflies were out in full force, I counted five Zebras, (they don’t mind having their picture taken) there were a couple of Julias and one Giant Swallowtail. (too fast for my camera)   Is satisfying to see that all the labor I put in making the garden butterfly friendly is paying off.

This cactus bloomed last night (Crest of Myrtillocactus) and I missed it, I will be on the lookout for the next flower.

All the rain is doing a number on the Plumeria tree; it has dropped most of the flowers. 

BLOG Recommendation

I am a regular reader of the Cold Antler Farm blog written by Jena Woginrich in upstate New York.  Jena is young writer/farmer writing books and a blog about her life in a small farm.  She raises sheep, chickens, tends to goats, bees, a couple of horses and grows her own vegetables.  Recently she quit her 9 to 5 job as web designer and is making a living off of her writing and the land. The ColdAntler Farm blog is a window into simpler times, the way life us to be, check it out you will be helping a young farmer entrepreneur.   

Going back in time

This week I purchased hand push lawn mower.  No I haven’t gone crazy, and yes I have a lawn maintenance guy that comes every other week to cut and maintain the grass.  The way I see it, the more I expand the garden the smaller the grass area gets.  At some point in the near future the grass will be so small that I will be able to handle it with this push mower.  For now all I need it is for trimming in between cuts. 

This is the future folks, environmentally friendly gardening (unless you have half an acre of lawn) 

Yesterday I weeded the garden in the front of the house, after all the rain we had the last couple of weeks, the weeds and lawn are growing at warp speed.

My powder puff tree is recovering nicely after it was attacked by a fungus last year.  Not too many flowers so far.

 This area of the garden gets full sun most of the day, but the ground orchids don't seem to mind.

 Flowers of the week: White bougainvillea are not as common as the pink but they are as beautiful.

This Canna Lily was dormant in my back garden for a couple of years and this summer it decided to make an appearance.  I thought they were gone for good (Aren't plants great!!!)

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY

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