What’s wrong with this picture????

I think my days as gentleman (???) farmer are numbered. Last December I planted my vegetable garden and so far mix results.

I planted several tomatoes plants, broccoli, eggplant, arugula and onions. The broccoli and onions are doing well, but the rest has been a bust.

The harsh winter this year has not helped, but I believe the problem has more to do with the soil. Over the years I added many bags of compost, but every year it gets worse, maybe is time to move the vegetable garden to another location or stop all together.

I am not ready to give up this year yet. Today I went to Home Depot and got 5 tomatoes plants (yellow, red cherry tomatoes and big boys) this time I am planting them all in containers.

All my herbs are in containers and doing well so far.

The key lime tree in the container is full of flowers, if we don’t have another freeze this winter we should have plenty of key limes in the summer.

Chocolate Festival at Fairchild Garden

Today my family and I visited the 5th annual Chocolate Festival at Fairchild Tropical Garden. The weather was perfect for an outdoor festival; the temperature was in the low seventies, sunny and not a cloud in the skies, weather like this is why we love living here.

There was plenty to eat and plenty of chocolates. This festival is one of the most popular for the garden and this year was well attended.

Art at Fairchild

My wife pointing out flowers on a tree

My daughter the school teacher

This year the garden is exhibiting the U.S.’s largest outdoor exhibition of works by French sculptors Claude and Francois-Xavier Lalanne. The exhibition, features more than twenty sculptures, including works never before publicly exhibited in the U.S., and they are very appropriate for a tropical garden.

The succulent section of the garden has become my favorite; there is always something new to see.

The Oxalis weeds are back

The Oxalis weeds are back with a vengeance all over my garden. In past years it would bother me to no end, but now as an older and mellower gardener, I am learning to co-exist with the devilish weed.

There are only two options to eradicate them.
Nuke the bastards with chemicals (I am wiser than that) or get down on all fours and pull them one by one (Not enough hours in the day)

I have come to the conclusion that during the winter they will be part of my garden and there is very little I can do about it. I will continue to pull those that mock me, the one’s growing in containers or next to a favorite plant, and the rest can stay.

Smart Oxalis growing among my spiny bromeliads, I won’t touch that one.



Nice surprise, I found this orchid today. This one is growing in one of my palm trees, it gets very little attention from me, may be that's why I have not managed to kill her yet.

The first 2011 GBBD

These are the blooms at the DragonFly garden on the first 2011 Garden Blogers Bloom Day.

My favorite rose bush is starting the year with nice flowers.

The Powderpuff tree is in full bloom.

I like this picture from inside the tree.

One of my three Hibiscuses in containers.

This is the time of the year for the Brunfelsia tree to bloom. This year the weather damaged some of the blooms.

These Gerbera daisies were pink last year and now I am getting white flowers, go figure!!!

All my Lantanas were killed by the freeze last month except for these purple ones that seem to thrive in cold weather.

Organized chaos

My “organized chaotic garden” has been a little disorganized since the last freeze three weeks ago. Today I spent the day cleaning up, moving potted plants and making some changes.

The beauty of potted plants and garden art is that when you moved them around you end up having a new look.

I have plans for this broken water fountain, but I will need to break one of my New Year’s resolutions (I shall spend less money on plants in the New Year)

I found this broken pot in my neighbor’s garbage can, and now is part of my garden. The bromeliads should do well in this type of container.

Happy New Year

The temperatures were back in the mid seventy today, normal for this time of the year. My plans for this weekend are to get back to the garden and clean up the mess left behind by Jack Frost. I have lots of pruning and plenty of raking to do.

(Picture from this summer)

My wife and I are planning a quite at home New Years night, this is one night of the year that I don’t like to be out, so we are opening a bottle of wine and toast the new year while watching the celebration in Time Square.

I hope you and your families have a happy and healthy New Year, and my all our gardens grow in 2011

Ready for round two

We are getting another round of freezing temperatures tonight and tomorrow night. This is the second time this year and we are not finished with December yet.

What is going on with the weather?

This time I am ready.

I covered my succulents and my vegetable patch; I also moved all my containers to the back of the house. The wind tonight is coming from the west and that means that everything in the front of the house is going to get hit.

From our family to your family

Merry Christmas // Feliz Navidad

Where did the butterflies go?

Today I took my camera into the garden; this is the first day that I had any energy to go outside, I been sick in bed with the flu for the last four days.
The garden looks messy, kind of brownish and in need of some TLC, but it will have to wait.

Where did the butterflies go?

Last month the garden was full of butterflies, today this Monarch was the only one I found. The cold weather last week sent them all packing south.

My Plumeria Tree

The plumeria is the only tropical tree in my garden that goes through the four season changes. I kind a like the winter look, but I can do without the messy leaves.

I want some more???

This poor little guy has a problem; there is no more food.

This Gerbera daisy is the only flower left in the back garden after last week’s freeze