Down the Butterfly Path

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If the path be beautiful, 
let us not question where it leads.

~Anatole France

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Garden of Contentment

He who loves and understands a garden
will find contentment within.

~Chinese proverb

Perfect Days of June

"And what is so rare as a day in June?

Then, if ever, come perfect days."

~James Russell Lowell

Piles of Smiles

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If you smile when no one else is around, you really mean it.

~Andy Rooney

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In Celebration of Spring

For, lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone;

The flowers appear on the earth;

the time of the singing of birds is come,

and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land;

The fig tree putteth forth her green figs,

and the vines with the tender grape give a good smell.

~Song of Solomon 2:11-13a (KJV) 

Another Reason to Grow Bottlebrush

I have often spoken of what great nectar plants Callistemon species are for the hummingbirds.  Indeed, without the blooms on my bottlebrushes every winter, I'm not sure I'd even have hummingbirds year-round here in my garden.  Lately, I've been sitting on a chair underneath one of the bottlebrushes in hopes of catching one of the shy, quick-flitting creatures.  Wow, I really don't ever seem to have luck catching a hummer with my camera.  One day recently, I actually caught a Palm Warbler sipping nectar from them, though.  And guess what?  Today, I caught yet another warbler with a sweet tooth!

The Marvelous Month of March

It rained all night.  And this morning, we are still enjoying the downpour.  Oh, how I love a rainy day!  I had breakfast on the front porch this morning, watching the rain fall and the hummingbirds flit back and forth to sip from bottlebrush blooms.  It was a bit on the chilly side, but I knew I was going to love this day anyway.  The rain is much needed here at PITV, especially since we have just put in several new plants. 

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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Meander on a Misty Morn

Were I called on to define, very briefly,

the term art, I should call it

"the reproduction of what the senses perceive

 in nature through the veil of the mist."

~Edgar Allan Poe

Jewels of January

Flowers that are so pathetic in their beauty,

frail as the clouds,

and in their coloring as gorgeous as the heavens,

had through thousands of years been the heritage of children

~ honored as the jewelry of God....

~Thomas De Quincey 

Hindsight is 20/20

You know the old saying, "Hindsight is 20/20"?  Well, I'm seeing things pretty clearly these days.  As I walked through my garden today carefully peeling off sheets and blankets from my tenderest of tropicals, I was seeing everything I had done wrong and everything that should've been different.  If only I could hit rewind and plant this garden again from scratch!

My Great Big Box of Crayons

Color is my day-long obsession, joy, and torment.

~Claude Monet

To Feast Upon Fantastic

Stuff your eyes with wonder,

live as if you'd drop dead in ten seconds.

See the world.

It's more fantastic than any dream made or paid for in factories.

~Ray Bradbury 

Out with the old...In with the new!

My garden is going out in style!  Check out my end-of-the-year photo shoot:

INCONCEIVABLE!

"That would be inconceivable."

"Stop doing that.  We can all relax.  It's almost over."

"As I told you, it would be absolutely, totally, and in all other ways, inconceivable!"

Basking in the Sun

Sunny and Seventy Seven!  Woohoo!  It's about time!  After being holed up indoors hiding from miserable cold this past two weeks, I couldn't wait to get outdoors and feel the sunshine on my skin and in my soul!

My Garden, My Teacher

You are teaching me so much about life, Dear Garden.

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?

A Positive Spin on a New Day

You know, sometimes, I'm just in need of a pick-me-upper.  Yes, I had a Melancholy Monday.  But I rose early this Tuesday morning and got my hands on as much positive reading material I could to put a proper spin on things.  Sometimes a little positive thinking and peaceful meditation is what we need to start a new day.  I have a nature that struggles a bit more than most with that concept of optimism.  My post today is hardly original, as I've gone a little quote-crazed, but I just wanted to share some of the inspiration I found this morning from some of history's great minds.