Empty rain barrels

It has been so far a very dry winter in South Florida.  The last time we had a reasonable amount of rain, was at the end of January.  The water from my rain barrels is long gone.  I am using the tap to water my containers and watering the rest of the garden on a need basis, tap water is very expensive around here.  May is suppose to be the start of the the rainy season, I hope is comes early this year. 

Yesterday I did some gardening in the back garden.  I planted rose moss, periwinkle and Mexican heather.  Good plants that can handle our upcoming hot summer months.

Hurricane Irma destroyed my sprinkler system, this weekend I finally decided to fix it.  The work is tedious and I don't have any plumbing genes in blood.

Blooming in the garden this week.

Perfect for this weekend, this hibiscus plant came back from the dead.  After much TLC, this weekend she bloomed for the first time.

 Angel's Trumpets

 My favorite bromeliad plant turns pink this time of the year and is full of tiny purple flowers.  The rest of the year is olive green.

Birds in the garden this week.

The Gray Cat bird, I love this little guy.  These birds are not easy to photograph, they spends most of the day hiding in dense shrubs and trees.  Soon they will be flying north  for the summer. 

I started this winter with visits to the garden from two male Painted Bunting.  It looks like one the males got himself two girlfriends and the other male was sent packing.  (These pictures were taken from inside my home)

Blue Jays are the air traffic controllers of the garden.  They control what birds will eat from the feeders and they also sound the alarm when predators are in the area. 

Retiring to the garden after 50 years of employment

Last week I notified my employer that I plan to retire this summer.  After fifty years of continues employment and the last 23 years with my current employer, It's time to make my garden my full-time job.  I going to miss my work-family and the great company I work for.  I am not going to miss the early morning waking-up and the two hours of daily commute.  My plans are to fill my days with activities and the garden will take much of that time. But I also plan to do the things I've always wanted to do but never had the time for it.  Stay tune and find out.

This week at the DragonFly Garden

I did not have much time this past month to work outside.  The weather was perfect for gardening, but the timing was never right.  This weekend was dedicated to my side garden, weeding and moving plants around. These beds were originally my vegetable garden but the location was never right for growing vegetables.  Now these beds are all about bromeliads and any other plant that can take the Florida sun in the summer and shade in the winter.

Many tasty mangos on the way for the summer

The orange giger tree was knocked down by Irma, but is coming back.

 Giant white begonias

My favorite bougainvillea

Micro photos from the garden

This weekend I was under Dr's order to stay at home and relax, no gardening, no exercise.  The weather outside was perfect for picture taking, it seemed like a total waste to stay inside.
I am a total novice at micro photography, so today was a perfect time to put on the micro lens on my camera and practice.

Cactus flowers

Bougainvillea

Mango flowers

 

Conquering the beast

This weekend I tried to conquer the beast, my Aechmea Blanchetiana bromeliad.  Those of you that follow this blog know that I have a obsession with bromeliads, this one has gotten away from me.  The container where I planted the original plant is cracking from the number of pups growing from the bottom.  I been thinking about dividing the beast, but the spines on the leaves are lethal, they take no prisoners, I have the scrapes on my arms to prove it.  I was able saved several pops to be planted some where else in the garden, 

This was a good time to clean up the other bromeliads in my front yard.

The front yard is recovering nicely after it was destroy by hurricane Irma

The powterpuff tree is blooming again, not as strong as before but I had to cut it back after the hurricane.

The blue daze flowers are a favorite of bees and they look great early in the morning

Other blooms from the garden.

We are in the middle of our dry season, a perfect time for all my bougainvilleas in containers to bloom. 

Cup of Gold flowers

I never get tired of of taking their pictures of my Hibiscus flowers (my favorite)

Angel's of trumpets flowers

Bees are pollinating my mango flowers, looks like is going to be a good mango season.

Only two mango survived from the early December blooms 

This knight anole was photographed in my brunfelsia bush.  These lizards are not native and can be aggressive to our native and smaller lizards.