The different colors of Croton plants

I was never a fan of Croton plants but lately, I have come to love them.   Five years ago my daughter purchased a townhouse with a garden full of croton, she was not a fan of the plants like me and pulled most of them out.  I took a few home and planted them around the garden.  The colors these plants bring to the garden in full sun is magnificent, I am now a collector.  Who needs flowers with colors like this? 

Flowers in the garden this week

The star fruits are ready for harvesting. It is interesting how this tree has full-grown fruits in the bottom and flowers on top. 

Future projects:  This corner of the garden is overgrown, it has been nearly a year since I did this area ( see what it looked like last January )

Today was time to clean the water fountain

I would like to wish you and your families a happy, safe and healthy Thanksgiving. 

The birds are back in town

Is that time of the year when the garden and the birdfeeder gets busy with our feather friends flying in for the winter season.

This Mucking bird is a year-round resident, one of his favorite treats are the seeds from the bird of paradise tree.

Cardinals are also year-round residents of Florida, but for some reason, we don't see too many during the summer months.  This male has a girlfriend hanging around.

Red-Bellied Woodpecker

Blue Jays don't like sharing the water fountain or the birdfeeder

The Painted Buntings are the stars of the winter season, this is the fourth year they have been regulars in my garden.  Last year we had several males and females.  So far this year these two are the only ones.  These birds are a bit skittish, so all the photos are taken from inside the house and the quality is not that good.

This picture of a Cat Bird was taken with my new iPhone, I was surprised it let get so close.

With the arrival of more birds, we also get more preditors.  No worries we subscribe to the Blue Jay's alarm system.

There are many other birds visiting the garden, but with the thick vegetation is hard to get their pictures.

Forty-six years of living

This is the Florida home where my parents lived for the last 46 years.  My mother passed away a month ago and my father eighteen months before.  They both lived long lives, my dad to the age of 104 and my mom to 96 years of age.  They were both very lucky to have lived and died in the home they loved so much.  This is the only house my parents owned in this country & I lived there for the first five years before I got married.  This is the home my girls grew up visiting their grandparents when they were kids.  This is also the home where I first discovered that gardening was a thing and I really enjoyed it.

I am now in the process of undoing 46 years of living. I always knew that this moment was going to be difficult.  Going through my parents' possessions and deciding what to do with them is very hard.  This week I had a realtor friend come to evaluate the property and to give me some selling pointers.  One of the things he suggested was to spruce up the garden.  I can do that; one last time for my parents since they loved the garden as much as the house.

 This house was built in 1957 & during all this time it has had only two owners, the original owners, and my parents.  Not much has changed to the outside of the house since 1957. The inside and the neighborhood has seen many changes.  I hope the new owners will take good care of her.    

 There used to be a big avocado tree there before a hurricane took care of it.

 The big tree is a Sapodilla tree (Nispero in Spanish) This tree was my parents' pride and joy.  They loved the fruits and the shade from this tree.

I helped my Dad build this gazebo when we first moved in.  After living for 10 years in New England he loved the idea of having a gazebo in the garden.

October is here, changes are in the air

October brings changes to South Florida, the mornings are cooler and the days have less humidity.  Perfect weather for gardening.  

Pictures from the garden

One of my favorite bromeliad flowers,

I have orchids planted on all my trees, sometimes the flowers are a surprise.

A sign of autumn in my garden, the leaves on the ground from my Plumeria tree.

My star fruit tree is full of flowers, you can see the little fruits growing

My garden cat on the prowl, looking for lizards. 

Dinner time at the DragonFly garden

The first Painted Bunting arrived for the winter season.  This is a female, last year we had three males and four females at the feeder all winter long.

Costly garden mistake

Since 1990 when my family moved to our current house we have enjoyed our Plumeria tree in our backyard.  It was the first tree we planted in a grass-dominated yard, a gift from my late father.  Fast forward almost thirty years later and that Plumeria tree has matured to a giant tree overpowering the corner of our neighborhood.  My  house is part of a zero lot neighborhood in suburbia Miami(zero lot homes are individual homes, where one side of the house has no windows and doors and that side is part of your next-door neighbor’s yard) Needleless to say we are on top of each other, this is a way for developers and government to maximize land use in urban areas.  The key to a peaceful existence in this environment is to get along with your neighbors, my family was one of the first families to move in our development and over the year we have had many neighbors come and go.   Currently we have a neighbor that is not happy with my Plumeria tree, he complains about how messy the tree is and that it has become a danger in hurricane season (he is right on both counts)   This mistake is on me, I should have been more attentive to the tree in early years and pruned after each season.  My only solution at this time is to hire a professional tree cutting service (fully insure) to cut the tree, a very expensive proposition. 

Pictures from around the garden

Lady of the night flowers

This croton plant has great color and it stands out among all the green

These bromeliad flowers last for a couple months, giving the garden some color at the end of the summer

Heliconia flowers are year-round flowers and my favorite to photograph

Is Holloween time

Three years ago, this week.

Three years ago, this week, my wife and I visited the Colorado Rockies on the peak of the fall season.  I have visited Colorado many times during fall and it is always a hit and miss.  The season is short, and it can be early, late or very disappointed. This trip was perfect, and we have fond memories of our time there.   I hope to visit again next year.

This week at the DragonFly Garden

I am turning my attention to the front garden.  I finally was able to get some help and trimmed the Powderpuff tree.  

Next on the list is the Brazilian Red.

This time of the year the garden is looking a little tired.  The heat of summer does a number on most of the plants, especially the potted plants.  I am waiting for the end of October, after the end of hurricane season before I start to replace my annual flower plants.  The buttercup flowers grow all year and they are not bothered by our hot weather, sometimes is good to be a weed.