The rain is always welcome

Yesterday we had rain the entire day, a rare event for us during the winter season.  These days global warming is changing weather patterns where nothing is rare anymore.  I have been under the weather with a head cold that kept me from work and the garden for the last few days.  Today is the first day I had any energy to go outside with my camera and take pictures. 

Pictures from around the garden

Bananas coming soon to a kitchen near you

Three strawberries plants $9.99, three hanging baskets $24.99 the pleasure of growing your own strawberries, priceless!!!! (the most expensive strawberries ever)  

This morning I took out my macro lens to practice the art of macro photography (I need a lot of practice)  

Wildlife in the garden.

This hummingbird is a daily visitor to the Firebush plant

This snowbird is a Prairie Warbler.

Rambunctious Garden

I finished reading a book this week named Rambunctious Garden by Emma Marris, this book is about the footprint humanity has put on our planet and how it has changed what we today call nature.  Going back to pristine ecosystems, the ways things were before humans put their fingerprints on the land, is not only costly, but it is also impossible to replicate.  The author tells us that we should see nature in our surroundings, from our personal gardens, to the landscape in our highways and the weeds growing in abandon buildings. 

Rambunctious is the perfect word to describe my garden; there is no order to it.  I believe in mixing plants, trees and creating habitat for wild life.  So at the end of the day, you can call my garden a rambunctious contribution to nature in Miami.    

My former vegetable garden

This week at the DragonFly garden.

This weekend I worked on the patio next to the house, the Mexican flame vine was getting old and tired, it need it a hair cut, I also pressured cleaned the pavers and straight it out my storage shed.   

My shed before and after

Hiking in the River of Grass

Every year around this time, I spend a day hiking the trails at Everglades National Park.  Yesterday was a perfect day for hiking; the temperature was in the mid seventies, sunny and no mosquitoes.  This year the water levels seem higher and there was plentiful wildlife out.  I took my Nikon camera and got some nice pictures. 

 Gators are kings around here, they are everywhere where there is water

 This is an American Crocodile, the Everglades is the only place in North America where gators and crocs live side by side.  This big guys looked fearsome.

 Birding is quickly becoming one of my favorite past time.

 These are American Coot ducks, there were thousands in this lake, all swimming in different pods.

The Everglades has been in the news recently, as our politicians continue to discuss funding for the restoration of the natural water flow to the park.   The river of grass is drying up, due to man made mistakes made years ago and now is the time to fix it.  If you care for this national treasure, I urge you to write to your politicians, we owe it to future generations.

Happy New Year

Today I spent the last day of 2016 walking the garden and taking it all in.  We had a beautiful sunny day and the temperature was in the mid sixties, something rare for us these days.

 This little guy is a regular winter visitor to the garden.  According to my bird guide this is a Northern Watherthrush Warbler.  He is an experience traveler, spending summers in Canada and winters down in South Florida, the Caribbean and Central America.

 Yellow Sulphurs butterfly, they are fast flyers and difficult to photograph.

 This is my lunch room crowd

I like to end the year with this quote from Gabriel Garcia Marquez
"It is not true that people stop pursuing their dreams because they are getting older.  They grow old because they stop pursuing their dreams"
I hope all your dreams come true in 2017.

Merry Christmas and a Happy Hanukkah

From our family to yours we wish you all a Merry Christmas, a Happy Hanukkah and a healthy 

New Year

Merry Christmas and a Happy Hanukkah

Back to the garden after a long layover

I been away from the garden for too long, between a hectic schedule at my 9 to 5 job, the holidays, family demands and weather it has been almost a month since I had any work done in the garden.  Today the weather was perfect and the garden had my undivided attention.

There is always something that needs to be done, and my back garden was in a desperate need for an uplift.  No need to go to the local nursery, I had everything needed from the mulch and the gravel and a few plants that needed to be replanted.

This is my hide away, where I do some of the planting and where all the garden leftovers end up.  Today I cleaned it up and threw away things I will never use and added this low entry frame.  I did it this way so it can hold the branches from my Lychee tree. 

Today at the DragonFly Garden

The brunfelsia tree is in full bloom. Excellent timing, it is at peak for the holidays

 Other blooms from the garden today

 Mourning Doves are the most popular birds in my feeder, I love this picture

UPDATE - My vegetable garden was hit with a week long of rain and is not looking too good, I might have to replant some of the tomato plants.