Surprise in the garden

Supposedly the danger of frost has passed for Central Florida and I am happy to be able to get back to my gardens.  Today I spent pruning the roses although it was somewhat difficult.  They are all showing amazing growth with quite a few new buds.  Those I left for pruning after they bloom.   The surprise I got were the dewdrops edging the leaves like a row of pearls.  Below is a sample.

The pansies in the rose garden have fared well over the winter.  Here is one of my favorites:

Another surprise were the blooms already on the powder puff bushes.  Obviously, the cold snaps didn't affect them.  I did find some damage to the snow-on-the-mountain bushes, but there is also new growth so the pruning should be beneficial. 

I still haven't decided what I'm going to do with the stunted magnolia.  The leaves look healthy and there is some sign of new leaf growth, but only the ends of the few branches. Otherwise, it is just not growing and filling in .  I can't give it more sun in its current site, which is why I'm considering moving it.  I only have a week or two to transplant for optimum results, so I must decide soon.

More later....

Hurry, Spring

It's time to resurrect the garden corner.  Other than raking leaves, there hasn't been much to do in the gardens during the past few months.  But I've been doing a lot of thinking about what I will do in the spring.  Some of my ideas include removing the nearly dead azalea in front of the house and filling the void with the stunted magnolia from the corner of the back yard.  It's evident that corner doesn't get enough sun for the magnolia.  The front yard offers more, and the new site is near the magnolia I planted in the fall, which, by the way, is hearty and showing new buds through all the branches. 

The break in the weather -- high 70s for a change -- is just what I needed to jump-start my garden genes.  I spent 2 hours this morning digging out the many weeds in my vegetable garden and reinforcing the fence line where the neighbor's dogs try to dig under.  I was happy to find last year's parsley is still growing.  I will add fertilizer in a few days and that will be all until I'm ready to plant: tomatoes, of course, and cayenne peppers, plus perhaps a new vegetable.  

While I was outside, I also pruned my holly tree.  It had a side branch that was shooting up and competing with the leader.  I checked many of my other plants and was pleased to see that there didn't seem to be much freeze damage, as there was last year.  Moreover, I've been blessed with roses, honeysuckle and bougainvillea blooming continuously.

That's all for today.         

  

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.