Cypress or Eucalyptus Mulch?

Like must gardeners I buy a large amount of mulch every year for the garden.   I used to buy cypress mulch until I read the article below in the Naplesnews on the pros and cons of different types of mulch.  This year I switched to Eucalyptus mulch, yes it is a little more expensive but i'm satisfied that all the mulch sold locally is grown in plantations for this purpose.   So far I’m satisfied with the way it looks and hopefully it will last longer.

Cypress: Cypress mulch is made from Bald Cypress and Pond Cypress trees, both of which grow in Florida’s wetlands. Tests indicated a low settling rate and good color retention after two years. Unfortunately, approximately 60 percent of the mulch sold at retail garden centers is Cypress and many people consider it ‘native’ mulch. That may very well be but production of Cypress mulch contributes to the devastation of our ecosystem. Because the trees are harvested from our natural wetlands, using it in the landscape is not considered Florida-friendly.

Eucalyptus: Most Eucalyptus trees are native to Australia, and are grown on plantations in Florida for the express purpose of mulch production. Studies showed Eucalyptus had a moderate settling rate, meaning it lasts longer in the landscape than pine-straw, but not as long as pine bark or cypress. Eucalyptus is also one of the mulches that showed the least change in color after a two year period.

Friday I woke up to this mess in the garden.  During the night a weather front passed through the area with up to 50 miles per hour winds.  The garden was ok, only a little messy.  

 

Blooming this week.   

The Yellow Buttercup attract many moths and bees.

 

 Blue Porter flowers are in full bloom

 

The Plumeria tree is coming back to life

  Mexican Petunias

Kayaking Miami Canals

I’m taking a few days off from my nine to five job this week.  Today my daughter and I rented a kayak and cruised the Miami canals. 

Mangroves are an important part of our ecosystem, unfortunate they are not in great shape.  We need to do a better job taking good care of them.

No, this is not my home; some people sure live well in this city.

 

We reached Biscayne Bay, you can see downtown Miami in the distance.

The big Easter event is here.

Every year we host many family and friends for an Easter garden party.  This year we have 45 people coming, (Our biggest) I been getting the garden ready for the last two weeks and my wife and daughters have been cooking for the last couple of days.  The weather is cooperating; the forecast is for a sunny day and temperatures in the low eighties.   This is my favorite event of the year, perfect for a garden party.  The weather is pleasant, the mosquitos are not here yet and the flowers are blooming

 

Blooming this week in the garden:

The Mexican Flame Vine.

The white and pink Angel’s Trumpet trees.

All the bougainvillea’s in containers.   

  

The Butterfly Bush.

 

Visitors to the garden this week:

The shy Cat Bird, I was lucky to be at the right place and the right time with a camera.  They are one of my favorite birds; they spend the winter in Florida and summers up north.  These birds love to take a bath and play in garden’s water fountains, they are fascinating to watch.

 

There are many Monarch butterflies around the Mexican Flame vine.  These flowers not only attract Monarchs, but also many Zebra butterflies and lots of bees.

 

We had a large number of Dragonflies flying around the garden this week.

 

I hope you all have a HAPPY EASTER 

Daylight Gardening Time.

Daylingt savings time is my favorite time of the year.  During the week, I usually get home from work around 6:30 pm, that gives me about an hour and half of daylight to work in the garden. 

This week I continued to prune trees, pull weeds and move plants around.  

Before

 After

  

Harvest time.

This year the vegetable garden has done ok but not as well as I expected.  The salad greens are doing well and I harvested many peppers and carrots.  The tomatoes and broccoli have been a disappointment. 

 

Sweet Pea Tomatoes

Papaya Fruits

 

These birds, visited the garden this week. 

Red Bellied Woodpecker

 

Red-winged Blackbird

Lenten season is time to prune the trees.

My grandmother and my father always pruned their trees during lent.  The word passed down from older generations in my family, was that the best time to prune trees, was after the first full moon during lent.  I don’t know if there is any validity to this tradition, but who am I to question my ancestors.

Yesterday I pruned the Brunfelsia and Starburst trees, and next week is the Allamanda and Fire Dragon bushes.  



 

Before 

These flowers are blooming in the garden this week.



 

The birth of a butterfly

We have a centenarian in the family

We had a great celebration in our family this week; my dad turned 100.  One hundred years of a life well lived, difficult at times, but full of love and happiness.  

My dad was the oldest of seven brothers and sisters, born to a poor family in Cuba.  He lived through the Great Depression, worked for an American company at the Guantanamo Bay military base during WWII, and owned several businesses.  At age 54, he, my mom, and I fled Cuba to the United State so I would not be raise in communist country.

My father is also a writer of poetry, a man that had very little formal education, but loves to read and write.  Last year he announced that he was writing a book about his life; we all can’t wait to read it.  I am blessed to have both my parents living. My mom is ninety years old; they have been married for sixty-two years.  Both my parents live alone, with little help, in the same house they purchased forty years ago.

We had over ninety family members and friends gather at a local restaurant today to celebrate dad’s birthday; he loved the party and the Mariachi Band that came to sing happy birthday. 

Happy Birthday Dad.  

 

My Father’s Garden

My father is also an avid gardener; he is the person responsible for my gardening genes.  At 100 he still works in his garden.  Every morning he goes out into the garden to pull weeds, rake leaves, and tend to his plants.  I believe that this love of plants and nature has kept his mind sharp and has given him a healthy body. 

New look for the front garden





For the last month I have been slowly changing the look of my garden in the front yard.  This is theway the garden looked a month ago.  I reported in this blog that the two palms in my front garden were sick and I had no choice but to cut both, this gave me the opportunity to make some changes.

Over the years I overplanted too many bromeliads in the front garden, something my wife always pointed out.  This makeover was a good opportunity to rectified the mistake and have more of a mix of plants like I have all over my garden, including bromeliads.  I was planning on doing some work on the house and the driveway but those plans changed and it will have to wait.

 

Not a gardening weekend

Last Friday night a cold front moved in, bringing over an inch and half of rain.  By Saturday morning everything was a mess and the temperatures were in the low 50, not the best time to garden.  The rain was a welcome sight, we are in the middle of our dry season, and the rain barrels were empty.

These are the blooms around the garden this week.

Today was a perfect day for an art show, and my family and I attended the 50^th annual Coconut Grove Arts Festival (Did not buy any art)

 Not in my house