New Beginnings

Today, I announce "New Beginnings" on my blog.  I had recently become disillusioned by Blogland, as I seemed to be attracting more spammers and scrapers than real followers.  Yes, my blog was being repeatedly copied by scrapers, as well as being linked to on numerous sites, some of which I couldn't access, due to the requirement of a login.  I reacted the only way I knew how...adding watermarks and copyright verbiage and monitoring my hits on Statcounter.  But it just seemed to be getting worse.

Simply the Rose

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There is simply the rose;

it is perfect

in every moment

of its existence.

~Ralph Waldo Emerson

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Sunny Weekend + Evil Foreboding

So here it is....  It's official. My little spot o' Florida is under a freeze watch for Monday and Tuesday nights.  I am truly almost speechless.  With five full winters under our belt, I can honestly say this garden has ne'er seen a December freeze.  What does this mean for the rest of winter?

Oh, How the Garden Sizzles!

What gloriously blazing blooms are sizzling in my landscape here at November's end!!  I am submitting this to the Hawaiian Plant Fanatic's Hot, Loud & Proud meme that he hosts at the end of every month.  Pop on over if you'd like to see other sizzling blooms or join in yourself.

November Stars

I've said it before, and I'll say it again.  In this little piece of Florida in which I live, November is prime garden time!  So is December.  I understand from weather records, that it has frosted this time of the year before, but I've yet to witness it (knock on wood!).  The great thing about year's end is that all of the tropicals have been rebounding from last winter's frost all year, and are at their biggest, fullest, and bloomiest right now.  : )   So here it is, my recap of November faves:

GBBD: November 15, 2010

It's time for the worldwide Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day, hosted the 15th of each month at May Dreams Garden.  A bloom meme is quite overwhelming for me in November, which is one of the peak bloom months in my garden.  But I don't have room for dozens of photos, so I must pick and choose the best.  Oh, it's so hard!

Five Thousand Words

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My Favorites...This Month! (September 2010)

Susan of Simply Susan! asks us to share our current favorites each month, but I've found the further we travel from winter, the harder this task becomes.  I do think there must be hundreds of plant species in my garden.  Some day, I will have to catalog the lot of them.  It is unbelievable how many plant babies I can cram in this tiny space.  Problem is, nearly everything looks great right now, and of course, I love 'em all, so it's hard to narrow the faves down to a reasonable number.  Well, I'll give it a go anyway:

Farewell, Sweet Summer....

There shall be eternal summer in the grateful heart. 

~Celia Thaxter

It is difficult to believe that summer ends today.  It seems only yesterday that my garden wakened from winter.  I will truly miss you, Summer.  I will miss those long days.  Oh, how I dread the days when darkness falls early.  Even I, garden-obsessed as I am, will not sit in my garden in the dread black of night.  But seasons must come, and seasons must go. 

Conversations with the Botanically Insane

Oh, shall I admit it?  Shall I let you in on my embarrassing secret?  Yes, I am possibly insane.  I talk to my plants.  Not in the audible way, but that telepathic sort of conversation.  Yes, neighbors, that is what I am doing when I meander around the garden, touching this bloom, stroking that leaf.  Today, I'm inviting my readers in on the conversation.

Hot, Loud, and Proud: August 2010

August has brought my hot garden much needed downpours of rain and shady cloud cover.  It has been a pleasant month.   And now it's time again to search for my best and brightest tropicals for the Hot, Loud & Proud meme hosted at the end of every month by the Plant Fanatic in Hawaii.  Here's what I found today:

Goofy Googles and a Blog that Bings

Here I sat early this morning, on my porch, eating my usual hard-boiled egg, sunflower seeds, and banana, watching the hummingbirds fight over the nearby bottlebrush, trying desperately to catch a photo of one.  Well, that idea is hopeless, for my camera is just too slow.  Then my mind wandered out of my garden and into the blogworld.

Flaunting my Flowers (and Foliage) on Fertilizer Friday

I'm joining up with Tootsie for Fertilizer Friday in this post.  From what I understand, this is just a way to flaunt your flowers, and that is what I'm doing.  (I know...I do that all the time anyway.)  I certainly don't use any kind of store-bought fertilizer, except for on the orchids, so this is not about Fertilizer at all.  Well, I did get some old newspapers yesterday, so I can go cover the top of my compost hill.  They'll smother the weeds that have been trying to grow here and there.  I can throw some leaves we recently cleaned out of the gutters on top.  They are already nicely composted, which means we waited way too long to clean them.  Oh, and I can mix in some eggshells, banana peels, and apple cores that have been sitting in the kitchen.  There, that's my "fertilizer" piece.  Anyway, here are some of the things I want to flaunt in my garden today:

There Goes the Neighborhood!

I don't know what your garden set-up is, but this house has no backyard to speak of.  I think it's pretty standard for Florida, especially when a pool is involved.  But, seriously, what's a gardener to do?  Here on this plot, I have about 10 feet of backyard behind the pool.  Oh, how I long to pick up this monstrosity of a house and move it forward 20 feet!

A Palatable Palette of Pinks

My all-time favorite color in the garden is PINK!  Sometimes I feel like apologizing for such a deficiency in taste and for overusing this brilliant hue...but not right now.  For although my garden is swimming in pink this summer, it is perfectly balanced by an array of whites, purples, blues, and yellows.  So no apologies today.  Just a perfectly palatable palette of pinks:

GBBD: April Showers of Flowers

April has brought showers of flowers to my garden!  Here are a few found on my garden walk this morning.  The garden is finally coming back to life after a rough winter. 

Rainy Days and Mondays

"Rainy days and Mondays always get me down." That's how the old song goes, and I admit, sometimes rainy days do get me down.  And most of the time, Mondays get me down.  But on a warm day in March when a frost-burnt Florida garden is aching to spring back to life, two straight days of downpour are a good thing, maybe even downright cheerful!  As for this Monday, well, it's spring break here (!) and my sister and I took our daughters to the city for lunch, a movie, and a little shopping.  Pretty good for a Monday!  Back in the garden, my spirits were also lifted.  I had been too busy elsewhere to really comb through my own garden the last few days.  But I did find time for a wet walk-through this morning.  I am so happy that there are a few new leaves and new blooms to report, along with some old standbys. 

Words that Inspire - My Interpretation

(Thank you, Noel, for creating this inspiring new meme!  If you'd like to participate, visit A Plant Fanatic in Hawaii.)

"A flower touches everyone's heart."

~Georgia O'Keefe

What a great quote!  Flowers truly touch everyone's heart.  In me, they evoke so many emotions and memories in the deepest reaches of my heart.  To interpret this quote today, I grabbed my camera and my daughter, and we searched the garden for flowers that touched our hearts.  Indeed, this brought back many memories for me, as my daughter has reached "THAT" age and doesn't hang out with me as much these days.  When she was little, she would run all over the garden, while I worked, picking every imaginable flower she could find.  She would pile up her rainbow of colors on the white wicker chair that set on the front porch, and then ask me to take pictures of her colorful arrangements.  Looking back, oh, how I wish I had left the work and run around picking flowers with her!  She has grown up all so suddenly.