Here comes winter

Most of my thoughts about gardening these days concerns what I want to do in the spring.  I'll see how my plants fare over the next few months and what I'll need or want to replace.

After several days of much-needed rain, the grass and plants have greened up and are blooming in a few cases.  No doubt the unusual warm temperatures have been the cause.  My new magnolia (left) has several buds about to open (bottom left and near the top) and the pansies (right) are full of color.

I haven't seen much more of landscaping on my walks to warrant new photos, but other scenes have captured my eye.  Below is a rainbow that seemed to emerge through the cloudy haze above the trees.  It was very ghostly as if not certain if it should appear.

On another walk, I was searching for the hawk and owl that have been frequenting the treetops  but with no luck.  Instead, a mockingbird (left) let me know that all manner of birds are worthy of imagery and posed for quite some time.  I was within six feet and it didn't react at all.

Although there will be no planting for a while, I'll have plenty to do raking the leaves that are now filling the lawns.  At least the weather will be cool for the task.

Happy holidays! 

Plants as sculpture

On my walks and drives through the neighborhood, I have been fascinated with a giant palm that stands in the middle of a front yard lawn (left).  With its current size, it looks like a giant sculpture.

The tree is a Bismarck palm, native to Madagascar where it can grow to 70 feet.  In U.S. gardens in the South, it will grow to 40 or 50 feet.  It is nearly insect-proof and disease- proof. 

Another striking plant I admire on my walks is a neighbor's bird of paradise.  The nearly 8-foot tall bush anchors a corner of the house and is striking when morning sun hits it.  I had no luck trying to grow the bird of paradise when we first moved to Florida, so I really admire others' efforts.

I thought I was finished planting for the fall, but my granddaughter has requested we plant some flowers when she comes to stay with us next week.  That will be fun!

Until then.....

The promise of winter color

What wonderful cool weather we are having!  It makes garden work so much nicer.  I spent Saturday morning planting pansies all around the rose garden for additional punches of color during the winter months, a new rose bush on one end of the garden to replace a dead one, and red geraniums to fill the spot where I had to dig out a dead boxwood. 

The rose bush is a Chrysler Imperial (below) -- red roses with a strong, beautiful scent. It is rivaled only by the Mr. Lincoln that anchors the other end of the oval garden.

I'm hoping the rose garden will balance the yard in color as the front island is exploding with red from the ixora and the bougainvilleas, seen below.

 

The final planting for the morning was an arborvitae that I put in the large urn in the SE corner of the garden in the back yard.  It sits behind the magnolia.  I have a few others, on the side and in front of the house.  I love their spreading "arms" that give such distinctive shape to each plant.  I  hope the new one will do as well in the urn.

That's all for this week.  I'll be spending the next 5 days preparing for and enjoying my daughter and grandsons who will be here for 4 days.

Fall blooms in the gardens

With the high temperatures sliding downward, my plants are showing renewed vigor.  The flowering plants, especially, are rejoicing with new blooms.  Here are some of the ones I photographed this morning.

The honeysuckle has joined the clematis with new blooms.


The climbing rose is really showing off!

I couldn't resist this closeup.

And my dwarf powder puffs are appearing again but I'll wait until the bushes are full for another photo.

Enjoy!

Birds of a feather in the gardens

One of the pleasures of living in Florida is the bird watching, which is so different from that in the North.  Not that we don't have our share of blue jays, cardinals and mockingbirds here, but the landscape on any given day is also dotted with ibis, storks, cranes, herons and ospreys. 

When we moved into our house 30 years ago, we were routinely visited by coveys of quail.  Unfortunately, they disappeared with the growth of the community and loss of habitat.  But I still find amazing the flocks like those below (white ibis) that roam the yards in our community.

Once in a while a majestic great blue heron will leave its watery environment and stride through our yard. Recently, a large owl showed up, perched on utility wires near the house.  I wish I'd had my camera for both. 

I've set myself a new gardening task, which is to take over the fertilizing of my shrubs and trees.  Until now I had been using a service, largely because of my previous work schedule.  I think I can do a better job to specialize the fertilizing for the variety of plants that range from tropical to northern.  To help with the task, I am putting together a notebook calendar that borrows from Web sites.  A very helpful site I found is The Garden Calendar based on University of Florida research and expertise.  It gives Florida gardeners a monthly guide for what to plant and do in their gardens based on Florida’s climate zones--North, Central, and South . It also includes links to other useful gardening Web sites.

That's all for today.

Unexpected corners of beauty

I walk at least a mile around my neighborhood nearly every night.  While the walk is for exercise, I get to enjoy the landscapes of all the homes enroute, watching growth of trees, flowers blooming and any changes the neighbors have made.  Over the course of 30 years, our once-new community has morphed into a settled and mature community,
landscape wise. 

Last week, I walked up a street I hadn't trod for a few years since it's an out of the way cul-de-sac.  As I approached the corner, a cloud of orange and salmon floated over the tops of two trees.  Another look up the street revealed a few more.  What produced this unique sight?  They are Golden Rain trees, also known as flame gold.  You can see them at the top of this column and also at right.  They produce small yellow flowers in the spring and summer and then, in the fall, sport "fruits" commonly called Chinese Lanterns.  These papery husks are held above the green foliage and retain their pink-red color
for many months.

So for a few more weeks, we get to enjoy the fall beauty of these trees.  And I'll go back to looking for more corners of unexpected beauty.

More later....

Out with the old again

After much thought about the condition of the magnolia and repeated tests for any greenness in the stems, I concluded it was dead.  That decision then begged the question, what do I do with it -- replace it or fill the hole?  I decided to try again and yesterday visited my favorite nursery in Brevard.  A half hour later my car was filled with a six- or seven-foot Little Gem magnolia and 2-cubic-foot bag of planting soil. For those who live in states with rich soil, we in Florida (especially near the coast) need to add enrichments to the sand when planting anything.

I put off planting until this morning.  Considering the size of the root ball, I had to enlarge the space I previously allotted for a smaller tree, which meant considerable digging. I had used a dolly to move the tree from my driveway to the site of the planting, but now I needed to maneuver it carefully with gloved hands.  

The first task was removing the plastic pot.  Banging the sides of the pot, which I do with smaller plants, wouldn't work (I tried) so I found a length of thin metal that I was able to wedge down the sides and loosen the roots and soil.  After laying the tree on its side, I gave several hard pulls.  Finally, the root ball seemed to nudge.  I then moved to the bottom end and pulled on the pot.  Another hard jerk and the pot gave way, sliding easily off.  I loosened the roots on the bottom and sides and rolled it toward and into the hole.  Success!  My tree was upright and barely damaged.

I filled the hole in stages, pressing down the soil and watering each level to ensure no air pockets and a solid base.  I hope the tree continues to look as good as it does now, seen in the photo.  There are several flower buds on the tree, so I might get some blooms while the weather stays warm.

The large pile of dirt I removed didn't go to waste as I used it to fill depressions and gullies which my lawn service creates with its huge mower. 

I previously mentioned that I'd done some severe pruning on my rose bushes.  They looked so bare and unappealing for a week or two, but I can now report they are sporting new foliage and a few buds, so they are thriving.  Yea!

I will have more photos next time taken on my walks around the neighborhood.  Fall-blooming trees are at their peak right now.

More later....

More than weeding

On a beautiful Florida fall morning, I was greeted with a cardinal's song in the trees outside.  I'm thoroughly familiar with the many songs and calls of the cardinal because when our family lived in Westfield, N.J., cardinals built a nest in a cedar tree next to our porch.  That nest was inhabited for many years and the music of the red birds was a constant delight. 

This was my morning for weeding the backyard gardens and, due to the cooler temperatures, I was able to wait until 8:30 (after breakfast this time) to start.

This year I have been pleasantly surprised that the mulches appear to have been working in cutting down the quantity of weeds.  So I didn't have to spend too much time at the task.

A benefit of the weeding -- other than ridding the gardens of unwanted herbage -- was identifying any plants that might need replacing and any areas to which I can add more flowers or bushes.  My dwarf powder puff bushes have done so well, I decided I can another against the fence and put two more in a garden on the north side of the pool fence.  I already have dwarf bougainvillea growing there on one end.  I think the powder puff will do well in the rest of the space.

I'm also pondering the idea of more hardscape in the form of concrete pads.  There already is a slab outside the screen door on the north side with a short stretch of grass between it and the arbor.  The grass has been overrun with crabgrass which I have been pulling up.  I think extending the slab would be beneficial for the coming and going through the door, especially pushing a wheelbarrow. 

I am also planning on laying a path of concrete or stone from the driveway to the garden gate to make pulling our new huge trash container easier.  It's a job that will have to be done in stages, during the cooler weather. 

In Florida, outdoor garden work rarely ends.

Ciao for now.

 

The light of fall

Even though we don't have trees turning orange and yellow, I can still tell that the season is heading for fall.  How?  The light.  Perhaps it's the angle of the sunlight, or some other meteorological explanation, but I have always responded viscerally to the light as it falls across my path this time of year.  I especially sense it as I'm driving along tree-lined roads.  There is a stretch of I-95 driving north from here where the divided highway is suddenly encased by trees on both sides, effectively blocking traffic on the other side.  Whether morning or afternoon, I detect the subtle changes in light during each season.  For me, fall is special, it's romantic and exhilirating.  And in Florida, it also means new growing opportunities, as in the clematis I said previously had begun new growth.  Here are a photo of the new flowers plus the honeysuckle berries I said I had noted last week:

One of the September chores I hate to do but is necessary is trimming the rose bushes.  The gardening gurus I've researched say to cut the main stems by about one-third.  I admit to not cutting that much all the time, but I still cut quite a bit where the bushes have many branches and stems.  The exception are my climbing roses where I trim back only to an upward-facing growth bud.  Fortunately for viewing pleasure, the roses always rebound quickly and I know in a few weeks the bushes will be full of new green leaves and stems and flower buds will reappear. I see better growth and flowering through the fall and winter.  The roses survived last winter's freezes better than my other plants.

I will make another foray to the garden center on Friday for grass plugs and check on the availability of the pansies I want.  Saturday is delegated for more digging and planting.  Enjoy your weekend.

Mother Nature surprises

I love surprises, especially in my gardens. 

When I walked out into my backyard this morning to begin another grass-planting effort, I was enchanted at the view before me.  On the arbor, the honeysuckle was waving its arms beckoning me to watch.  Suddenly I spied red berries on one of the arms!  I hope they attract birds that we can also watch.

The other surprise was on the same arbor.  I've shown here before the clematis that was blooming earlier in the spring.  Well, over the summer the main stem had seemed to die.  A few weeks ago, though, I noticed new growth from the ground.  Today, a beautiful purple flower radiated against the green honeysuckle and the white arbor. 
Alongside it are more buds waiting to open.  I don't know how long the honeysuckle will continue to grow, but it will be delightful to have the mix of purple of yellow
for a few months.

All in all, a beautiful start to my day.

I did plant more grass -- two flats of two dozen plugs -- and dug out more crabgrass.  Then I planted a new red ixora in the back corner.  That spot has confounded me ever since the azalea there died.  That azalea was one of the first plants I put in nearly 30 years ago!  I don't know what ultimately killed it but since other plants I've put there have also died, I'm thinking some kind of poison.  Yet, other plants nearby are growing fine.  I hope the ixora survives.

I want to plant pansies for the fall and winter, but garden centers tell me it's too soon.  Our weather is still too hot.  I'll be checking week to week.

That's it for today. 

Laboring on Labor Day

Since my last posting, my husband capped the sprinkler pipe and I filled in the holes as best I could.  The result is that the rest of the sprinklers on that section have ten times the force and two and three times the distance the water reaches.  

On Saturday I planted two flats of St. Augustine grass plugs in the front yard to help fill in the bare areas where I have dug up crabgrass.  I am nearly overwhelmed by the task of removing the crabgrass as I look more closely around the yards.  But I keep telling myself "one step at a time" and "slow and steady wins the race."

Today I had a more positive outlook for my gardens.  I finally got back to planting.

I started a little later than usual (8 a.m. instead of 7 a.m. -- had to sleep a little later on this holiday) but fortunately Mother Nature also slept late.  The sky remained overcast for two hours so the temperature stayed lower (still high, but reasonable).

Filling the space left by the removal of the diseased rose bush in the back yard was the first task.  I hadn't yet decided what to plant there until a trip to Home Depot made the decision for me.  I had gone to the Depot to find more grass plugs and buy a few tomato and pepper plants.  I was cruising the aisles looking for inspiration to fill that empty spot and, although there were many tempting possibilities, I hadn't seen that "a-ha" plant yet.  Then, as I passed the tables of roses, a bright red spot caught my eye (see left).  When I moved in for a closer look I saw that it was a Mr. Lincoln hybrid tea rose.  Mr. Lincoln is my favorite rose to grow (you may remember I have a couple of them in the front yard's rose garden) and I knew that was the one.  So that was the first of my plantings today.

The second planting was the tomatoes and peppers, which is a new endeavour for me.  In past years I have not grown any fall/winter crops.  This year I thought, why not?  It's not as ambitious an effort, more of a test to see what happens.  I have two Big Boy tomato plants and two Super Chili red peppers.  

Before I could plant anything however, I had to weed and clear out the vegetable corner.  The weeds varied from crabgrass to half a dozen other leafy varieties.  It took me longer to weed than to plant the vegetables. But, it's done.

Last of the tasks was pruning the snow-on-the-mountain bushes.  Not only have they survived and grown well, they are putting out a lot of leggy growth that I want to contain.  I've seen too many homes with the plants unpruned that are tall and leggy with new growth on top and bare branches below.  I hope to keep mine fuller.  The pink and white leaves on the new growth is what drew me to the plant in the first place.  Below are the bushes after pruning and a close up of the new growth.

After those tasks were done, I was cleaning up and looking around the rest of the yard.  My honeysuckle vines caught my eye and I photographed the flowers.  Yellow is not a color I usually include in my gardens, but I enjoy these.

That's all for today, and probably the week. 

Digging deep

First the good news:  Not only is that ixora in the front yard green and full, it is now blooming!  What a relief.

The bad news is I discovered that a long-lost sprinkler head --buried under lots of grass -- was actuallyrunning underground, causing tunnels and flooding the area above ground.  I have spent 3 days digging in and around tree roots and finally found the sprinkler this morning.  Naturally, it was broken.  The piping is under a root.  My husband is trying to figure out what to do now.  In the meantime, we will not be able to run the sprinklers in that section and I will try to fill as much of the washed out spaces as possible with dirt. 

What fun is ahead!  :-(

Grass is my undoing as a gardener

As I said in my last post, my next project was weeding in the front yard.  The large island close to the street was the main focus.  I found few actual weeds but more crabgrasses spreading their tendrils in wide circles.  This is the garden that holds my maple tree and the large ixora that was decimated by the cold winter we had.  I'm happy to say the ixora has recovered beautifully, thick with leaves although no flowers yet.

 I'm sure they will return as well as the weather cools.  This plant blooms all winter, providing welcome red flowers while other plants are dormant.

The gardens were quickly done and then I turned to the crabgrass in the lawn.  The closer I looked, the more I saw.  I worked two main areas that are now bare earth (actually, sand).  I intend to dig up the crabgrass  on at least a weekly basis and fill the bare spots with plugs of St. Augustine, if I can find them.  Most of the garden shops I frequent have sod in large squares on large pallets.  I don't have a vehicle to transport that, plus I know what kind of strength is required to cut up the sod.  I don't have that either. 

Also, I'm sure the ground can use restoration.   I'll have to research that.  Lawn care is not my forte, as you can probably tell. 

I'll let you know how that goes in the weeks to come.

Deadly virus sends me out in the early a.m.

I was out in my gardens soon after I woke up this morning to take care of two pressing projects.  The first was to remove a sick rose bush.  I found out a week ago that my multiflora rose in the back garden has rose rosette, a lethal virus that often attacks multifloras.  There is no cure and the best choice is to remove the entire bush.  No other roses are close to it so I probably have saved them.  Now to decide what else I can plant there.  A different type of rose bush is probably safe and that would be my first choice.  Perhaps it will be another Mr. Lincoln, a few of which grace my rose island in the front yard. 

The other project was to "trim" the unwanted invasive vines and other branches encroaching my yard over the fence from the neighbor's yard.  This has been an ongoing battle for years.  The neighbor has a veritable jungle growing in the corner and apparently doesn't care what grows there.  The potato vines and others not only grow over the fence, hanging from the podocarpus lining the fence, but also through it.   The growth in the past 2 months has been rapid and rampant.  I wish I could get into the neighbor's yard to tackle the plants at ground level but that isn't possible.  So all I can do is keep trimming what hangs over the fence line. 

An hour was all I could manage in the heat this morning.  By 8:30 the sun was high enough to feel its presence and I called it a day.  But there will be more as I need to tackle the weeds in the front yard.

Visions not always reality

The date of this blog tells you how long it has been since I've been able to get into my gardens.  I was working inside the house, preparing for a visit from my daughter and grandsons.  Karin spends a week with us each summer to give us grandparents more time with the boys, building memories for us all.  And it's a great time for me to have more one-on-one time with Karin. 

The last time I did any yard work was again pulling weeds (grasses) from the pool garden and pulling up the two tree-form bougainvilleas I had planted a few months ago.  The one in the back corner was completely overrun and devoured by some type of bug; the other just misplaced.  I hate making such errors in judgement when it comes to plants.  My visions don't always match the realities of growth.  Other new plants, like the snow on the mountain, however, are growing exactly as envisioned so I do sometimes succeed.

Despite the rain mentioned last time, our area is still in drought mode, being several inches short of the average rainfall.

Brief respite from drought

Finally -- we just had about a half hour of rain!  Our county, Brevard, is the dryest in the state.  Any afternoon storms that might arise have dropped their water in the surrounding counties, leaving Brevard parched.  My grass, newer trees and bushes can attest to that.  Only able to water just twice a week cannot counter the above-normal temperatures of high-90s.  So the brief rainstorm is very welcome. 

If there is any positive outcome to the drought, it's the reduced number of weeds.  I've only had to spend about a half hour every other week to clear the few weeds popping up.  Nice! 

That's all for now.

Out with the old

A quick glance at the back yard this morning revealed the honeysuckle continuing to stretch its vines over the arbor, the climbing roses in contrast as they sink into their summer hibernation, and the vegetable garden gone to seed.  I'm frequently amazed at which of the plants tolerate the hot and dry conditions that are unusual for this area, and which do not.  Normally, we in Central Florida would be treated to daily thunderstorms and the accompanying humidity. 

This week's chore was cleaning out the vegetable garden.  The tomatoes are gone for the season and weeds had spread amid the cages and trellises.  And so, in less than an hour, the eyesores were gone and weeds expunged to leave only parsley and mint, plus the marigolds along the fence.   A thought: Why aren't the weeds suffering in the drought like the other plants?

I'm still trying to decide if I want to plant a fall crop. 

By 8:45, the sun was high and the heat growing, so I quit for the day.   A quick dip in the pool was refreshing and I was ready for breakfast.

That's all for today.

A Dry Summer

The heat is so unbearable now that I can't bear the thought of working in the yard anymore.  Most of the plants look like they can't bear the heat either.  And where is the rain that seems to be saturating the rest of the county and Orlando?  We here in South Brevard are dried out.  

Two bright spots have emerged, however.  The dwarf powder puffs are covered in blooms and the bulbs I planted last month have emerged into tall, strong leaves.  I don't know if I'll get flowers on them this year, but that garden looks so much better than the weed-filled plot it used to be.  

I'm happy to say, too, that my honeysuckle plant has climbed the arbor side and now I'm trying to coax it across the top.  It has blooms, too, with a light scent so far.  The clematis next to it stopped blooming, though, and it is supposed to flower through fall.   Maybe cooler weather will coax it into another outburst.

The next chore I'll have to tackle soon is clearing out the vegetable garden.  The tomatoes gave up weeks ago when the intense heat arrived.  I'm not sure what my next step will be -- baking the garden?  planning a fall crop?  Any suggestions will be welcome.

Air, earth and water

There is a sense of release in ridding the gardens of weeds, or grasses as mine are mostly. That was my plan for today.

I woke before seven, pulled on a bathing suit, pants and shirt and headed outdoors in the cooler air before the heat of day could intrude. 

My first task was a holdover from last week: climb the tall ladder and trim the crape myrtle branches nearing the roof's edge.  It was an easy chore, taking only a few minutes.

Since my pool garden fills with wild grasses that blur the landscape I have envisioned, my second task was pulling out the grass.  Afterward, I relished the scene as the red caladiums (or is it caladia?) have more than doubled in number and size this year and, in designer parlance, "make a statement" in the center of the garden.  I have caladiums scattered in other gardens and want to add more, especially the red varieties.

That garden done, I headed to the garden along the fence to check on plant growth, pulling weeds here and there.  The garden behind the pool screen was next.  It too was full of wild grasses, embellished with several other spreading weeds.  They were gone in half an hour and I could dead-head the roses as I traveled the length. 

Last but not least today was fertilizing the roses and the magnolias. 

Then came the best part of the morning:  I eased into the pool to cool off, swam a few laps and sat on the steps to absorb the beauty around me. 

Life is good and I am so blessed.

* An added note: I've commented about following in my father's gardening footsteps; today is his birthdate, 99 years ago.

Up on the roof top

Despite my best intentions, I have not been able to get into the gardens for a few weeks.  Both higher-priority projects and physical conditions have interfered.   The physical is always present -- sore hip primarily -- and this time was caused by the higher-priority: cleaning out the gutters on the roof.  What makes the job difficult is the placement of the gutters: below the roof-edge wedged next to the structure of the pool screen.  The only access from the top of the roof.  The only tool I have found to work is a plastic kitchen spatula that will fit through the narrow opening and dig through and force out the layer of matted leaves and grit on the bottom.  Once the bulk is loosened and pushed toward the drain spout, a hose will wash most of it down the spout as well.  It's a tedious chore and not one I can complete in a day like I used to. 

The heat got me the first day, even though I started about 9 a.m.  However, it did engender a thought about a new tactic.  As leaves had scattered across the roof, I ended that day trying to sweep them off and not back into the gutters.   I sure could use a leaf blower, I thought.  And then as I looked at what was left of the job for the next day, I realized the gutters were actually overflowing for an inch or two with very dry leaves.  Yes, I would try a leaf blower, which I would have to buy.

The next time on the roof was not the exact next day, but when I did get up there, I was very pleased with the results of the blower.  I'm not sure my neighbors appreciated the effort, though, because I had decided I would have to beat the heat and started the job shortly after 7 a.m.   The blower cut the time probably in half. 

Fortunately, last week was a dry one.  Now we are getting almost daily showers and, thankfully, no more overflow on the gutters. 

Maybe I'll get back to the gardens tomorrow.... if the rain holds off until after lunch.

Lovely surprises

On my frequent walks around our community, I am often enveloped in a cloud of lemony scent that means a blooming magnolia is nearby.  This morning, as I prepared to mulch my new bed of lilies, I detected the faint scent.  I turned and discovered my magnolia in the front yard adorned with the creamy white cup of the flower beginning to bloom (above).  This is a relatively new tree so the branches are still sparse with leaves, but how joyous that it is blooming again.

After the mulching, I retreated to the back yard and discovered the magnolia there in bloom, as well -- one opening and another bud just above.  This tree is also small because the trunk's leading branch was broken 2 years ago.  It's more of a bush, which I'm willing to accept if it keeps blooming.

As I looked over the rest of the garden nearby, I was happy to see the dwarf powder puffs growing and blooming like crazy (below).  They are fulfilling my vision for the garden, as I hope they will grow taller and fill the back area of the fence with their color.

Too much fun in the sun

As so often happens, I have one project in mind but get distracted and do much more. 

On Sunday I wanted to clean out the small garden on the south side of the house and then plant more than 60 lily bulbs.  All was well at first, but then I decided I would replant my potted tree bougainvillea in the back yard into one end of new garden.  As I walked back and forth from the back yard, I stopped several times to pull weeds in the long garden in the front yard.  Finally I got back to planting the rest of the lilies.  Through all these activities, the sun was walking across the sky and reducing the shade I had started with.

During these trips I stopped twice to rest and drink some water, recognizing some signs of heat exhaustion.  But I continued to finish my project.  When I finally did finish and went onto the patio to rest and drink, I got sick.  I should have known better.

And now I do.  My task for today was to fix the three sprinklers that were flooding, or one if that was all I could manage.  Fortunately, the fixes were relatively easy -- with a little help from my husband to free broken plastic pipe stuck inside the sprinkler head -- and I accomplished all three within an hour.  

Luckily we haven't needed sprinklers for a week since we've been getting steady afternoon rain storms of an inch or more. 

The next step in the lily project is putting down mulch, on Friday, and then I can sit back and watch for the lilies to emerge. 

More later.....

A feast for the palate

Leaving home, even for a few days, reinforces my love for it.  I also see some things in a new light.  I returned home yesterday and was anxious to see what had happened in my gardens in my absence.  There were a few surprises.

First of all, my tomato plants have exploded and I can look forward to a half dozen or more tomatoes in the next week...hopefully more in the weeks to come.

When I turned back toward the house, I was very surprised to see how much my lettuce patch had grown (see photo below).  I picked a bagful which we will enjoy for both lunch and dinner.

The lettuce was an afterthought, suggested by my husband, and I picked up a few plants at Lowe's.  The lettuce was "spring" lettuce so when the growth was slow last month, I thought spring was over for them.  Surprise!  My favorite sandwich is a BLT, and eating one with homegrown tomatoes and lettuce makes it doubly pleasurable.

My package of lilies arrived while I was gone and I will be back in the gardens on Wednesday to prepare the bed and plant them.

More later...

Spring revival

Today was "fertilize the roses" day, and someflowers.  I'm pleased with most of the growth so far, especially the climbers on the arbor in the back yard.  For the first year (out of three), not much long-stem growth appeared, but now the plant is quite leggy.  I hope it gets to the top this summer.

I also have been watching the slow re-emergence of the dwarf bougainvilleas, which looked pretty bleak after the long, cold winter. Until this month only green growth was evident.  They anchor quite a few gardens around the house.  And now the plants in the pool garden, which are under a screen and tend to bloom later, are showing their colors.  Below is the bougainvillea in the pool garden.

Not done yet

Just as I thought I was finished with the planting this season, I came up with more.  I'm planting mint around my tomato plants as I read that mint helped deter some insects.  Between the mint, parsely and marigolds, I hope the insects leave the plants alone.

The other new project is to dig out the area on the south side of the house and make it my lily patch.  There is nothing but weeds in it now and I had wondered what to do with it.  Then I saw an ad for many different lilies in one package so I thought that would be a good place to put them.  I hope so.

New light of day

My gardens are nearly complete for this year, with just a few elements of cleanup and encouragement (fertilizing) left.  One cleanup event was finally getting around (today) to pruning the overhanging tree in the back corner of our yard.  The neighbors have a carabola tree next to the fence and two branches have grown obtrusively into our yard.  The result has been cutting off the morning sunlight needed by the magnolia and other plants in that corner.  The branches also are heavy with fruit, already dropping some in our yard.  The rest of the tree is dangerously close to the utility lines above.  I recruited my husband to use his electric saw.  We maneuvered the 20-foot ladder carefully over and between the plants and tree and the branches were down in a matter of minutes.  They weren't huge, just long, and luckily not near the utility lines.  I'll be watching closely to see what results from the trimming. 

Magnolia and bougainvillea (behind)

Pretty in pink

I wish I could say I grew these lilies, but they were a Mother's Day gift from my daughter Aimee. They took about a week to start opening and not all are open yet. I'm enthralled with the color and size, though. And the heavy scent is delightful, too. I do have some lilies on the edge of my rose garden that are starting to emerge. I hope I have some great photos of those too one of these days. Meanwhile, enjoy the color.

No croaking here

Little by little, my front yard has become home to frogs.  Not the real ones but ceramic frogs that welcome visitors and highlight the flowers. Today, my husband raised the level of display with a water fountain that now sits in the middle of the roses.  It's an early Mother's Day gift because he knew I'd been looking in local stores and on the Web.  When I got home after my weekly Zumba class, he said "Let's go to the fountain place (otherwise known as Landscape Depot)."  What a surprise!  And the best part is that the frog fountain had just come in and was sitting in front.  When we got home, I couldn't wait to get it running, and add My Garden frog to the display.

The day I bought My Garden frog several years ago, I also bought the Welcome frog that sits at the end of the walk near the screen door.  

Then sometime after, I found another one that found a resting place inside the screen entry, underneath the hydrangeas. 

Then, a week ago, I was shopping at TJ Maxx and literally bumped into a display of garden staffs with various birds attached.  Looking them over, I discovered frogs!  There are two standing on a swing suspended from a lily pad (below).  How could I pass that by!

I never intended to collect frogs, or even other garden knickknacks, but these have caught my eye and my heart.... so be it!  There is a whimsical side to me that doesn't surface very often.  Mostly in my garden corners.

Immersed in scent

I love walking out my front door, or walking to the door from the car, and being enveloped in the heady aroma of roses.  Many years ago I experienced that at a friend's house and knew I wanted to have it too.  So my main rose garden is an island about 6 feet from the front walk that holds, right now, a dozen bushes. 

My favorite rose is Mr. Lincoln because not only of its beauty but the strong, heavenly scent it radiates.  Actually, I don't plant any rose that doesn't have a strong scent.  Too many hybrids have lost the true rose aroma. 

I picked a Mr. Lincoln rose last week (at right) that was just opening.  By the time it opened fully, it was at least 6 inches across.  I used to look for antique and heritage roses (my favorite was Othello) but the nursery stopped carrying them. 

I take no credit for the beauty or success of my roses -- it's all in God's hands. 

Not a master gardener

Despite the years I've spent gardening, I am not an expert.  Much of my gardening is based on experiments because I like a particular plant and want to see if I can grow it (like the pin oak tree at right).  Thus, my gardens are always changing as some experiments fail.  But that's okay with me.  Sometimes, Nature affords me the opportunity to change plants.  Case in point is the hard freeze we had in Florida over the winter, not once, but twice.  A few of my plants had weathered such cold in previous winters but not the extremes and duration this year.  I lost several dwarf ixoras and crotons.  The loss of the crotons, however, enabled me to change the look of the garden by adding camellias, another spreading rose bush, a dwarf powder puff and several "snow on the mountain" bushes.  So far they are looking good, even blooming, so I have high hopes. 

I've documented many of the plants around the house in photos I am putting in a set named April 2010 on Flickr .  Take a look if you want.

Anita's Garden Corner

"The Amen! of Nature is always a flower." -- Oliver Wendell Holmes

I come to the gardening life via both parents. My father loved trees and my mother flowers, especially roses. She had a garden of about 100 rose bushes. And my father surrounded our home in New Jersey with about 50 trees. Yet I didn't know I was similarly infected until my husband and I moved into our first home, in Virginia. Since that time, I have been driven to surround myself with colorful flowers and favorite vegetables to larger bushes and trees. Moving to Florida in 1980,however, brought quite a shock as the tropical weather posed new challenges for growing. This blog is the story of my garden life, with its challenges and results.  Let me know yours.  E-mail anitabrt@mindspring.com.