Choice Morsels

My friend, Jacqui, asked me how I manage caring for all my flower beds & garden.  There is always something that needs doing and,  in her case, she has a much larger yard with more extensive landscape she's trying to get established.  I replied, "I just focus on one project at a time." Especially in the summer Florida heat. I can't stay out all day like I could in the cool spring. I have to choose particular tasks on days I have allotted for working outside.  This past Monday, the single outdoor project of the day was hedging & shaping the large gardenia shrub out front. That took about 2 hours and I took a cool down break for 30 minutes somewhere in there. Today's single outdoor project was re-working a small section  of the back bed by thinning out the native day lilies from other locations and moving them to form a border there. I worked for about an hour, then went in for lunch. While I was inside, a summer thunderstorm suddenly popped up a...

The sky to the north was rumbling and grumbling with a promise of a summer shower while I was outside mowing today, but wasn't overhead until I finished. Still hasn't rained, though the thundering stopped. Sometimes it rains in one spot, but not in another around here. Today's Garden Pic is my melon patch! These are the most prosperous melon vines I've ever had! There's a Canary melon called "Amy Melon" in the foreground and against the far back wall and watermelon is next to the left wall between them. All this from a total 6 seeds:  2 watermelon & 4 Amy melon. The block walls, which are new this year, are proving quite helpful for keeping the vines corralled! Otherwise they'd be all over the yard!  You can see the upside down plastic milk cartons that I use for watering & fertilizing. I've had a problem with pests getting to my young Amy melons, but I read in my garden book that setting baby melons on a low, upside  dow...

Or Common Rue. It's also called Garden Rue, German Rue or Countryman's-treacle. It's formal name is Ruta graveolens L. Common Rue This herb is my newest plant acquisition this year and it's quite striking looking with it's lacy leaves and blue-green color. It's classed as a medicinal herb, though I'm growing it strictly as an ornamental shrub in particular to attract Giant Swallowtails, because it's a menu item for their caterpillars.  In my climate, it will winter over as an pretty evergreen and should grow to around 24 inches tall & broad.  It's hasn't flowered yet, but I understand it does flower  small yellow blossoms that are reputed to be quite unpleasant smelling. The plant itself is also reputed to repel many insects. One thing to know about Rue is it should be handled with gloves and long sleeves when planting it.  The leaves have an oil in them that is irritating to the skin, like a very slight stinging or burning, ...

Last Friday I wrote about how Cardinals have figured out how to get inside my squirrel-proof feeder cage that's designed for smaller birds. Last year one male Cardinal figured it out. This spring a female figured it and since then, they've been teaching all their youngsters how to get in and dine like kings, too. Here's a photo of a typical day at the feeder: two juvenile Cardinals sitting on the bottom of the feeder, hogging the feeding holes. (Being too big to sit on the perches!)  A Purple Finch is sitting on the hook above, waiting her turn.  A musing. Today's Good Eating Recipe is one I've got in the slow-cooker right now: Slow-Cooker Hawaiian Meatballs! It's a Pinterest recipe I'm trying out that someone pinned from SixSistersStuff.com.  Basically they're sweet n' sour meatballs and I love just about any recipe that will let me use frozen turkey meatballs! Plus my bell pepper plant presented me with a beautiful green pepper...

  Cardinals are apparently quite clever birds.  I have an Audubon Squirrel-Proof Feeder in the back yard that's designed for Finches, Chickadees, Wrens, Tufted Titmice and other Typical scene at the feeder: Cardinal & Purple Finch such small birds. It's not designed for Cardinals. Yet, I have a few Cardinals smart enough to have figured out how to slide through the bars and dine like kings!   Last year it was only one male Cardinal who knew the trick. This spring I observed a female inside the feeder cage. Since then the pair have raised a couple generations of off-spring and have taught them ALL   how to get inside the feeder. In fact, just this week I observed a male Cardinal teaching his two kids where the seed was by first giving them each a sample, then teaching them how to get inside the caged feeder to get it.  One day the kids were on the fence waiting for Dad to bring them seed from the feeder and, the next, they were taking turn...

The Mama Kat blog writing prompt today is: "Take us to a local spot in your city and show us what we're missing...you'll be saving us thousands of dollars now that we don't need to take the trip!" I live in the Niceville/Ft Walton Beach/Destin area here the  Florida Panhandle.  Despite the fact Destin & Sandestin are popular resort destinations, Niceville and Ft.Walton remain fairly small town.  The tea is sweet and life is slow. It's the sort of place where you'll see a fancy BMW driving down the road right next to a good 'ol boy beater truck with hunting rifles mounted in the back window and empty hunting dog boxes in the back. It's that kinda of place. A central feature of the area is Eglin Air Force Base--the largest land base in the Air Force. So large, in fact, that Hurlburt Air Force Base, on the other side of Ft. Walton, is actually on Eglin property.  But, unless you have an I.D. card or work there, you'll never see it....

Did you have a nice July 4th? Go see the public fireworks? We just had a quiet weekend at home. We don't go to the public fireworks---mostly because it's a mad-house. Parking is terrible. Mobs of people. And trying to leave is a lot like leaving a Disney World Park after the last fireworks show. Plus many people bring their personal fireworks with them to set off while they're waiting for the show--both legal & illegal types. So all that sort of thing is zinging off in front of you or over your head. Not so cool. Anyway today's Good Eating Recipe is Quick Black Forest Cake! Black Forest Cake is basically chocolate cake with cherries and whipped topping. This recipe is for a 9 x 13 pan and is good with or without whipped topping! But whipped topping looks pretty if you're taking it to a picnic or pot-luck! (Photo from Pinterest shows cake with whipped topping!) Quick Black Forest Cake Ingredients: 1 Box Chocolate or Devil's Food Cake Mix ...

Today's Finds are from my Pinterest  Coffee Shoppe Board ! And here's a few Coffee things I love: Vintage Cafe Espresso Bistro Paris Canvas Print Created by Color Bakery of Vermont! Espresso Neon Phone Case Created by photographer-artist, Carrie's Camera ! Coffee Floating Colors Clock! For more visit Cricket Diane! Love Pugs? Then you'll love this "Got Coffee?" Pug Mug ! Created by Pug Minded Designs! Be sure to visit the artists links and see all their works!

Today was mowing day. Also I had to pick up a bunch of clutter from a blustery thunderstorm a couple days ago. It kicked up a wind that pummeled the roof and sides of the house with green pine cones, like little missiles.  Bang. Bang. Thud. Plus threw a bunch of dead branches on the ground. Another thunderstorm will arrive in about an hour. It might undo my clean-up! Today's Garden Pic is one from early spring this year, back when the chrysanthemums I have planted along the front walk under the kitchen bay window were blooming. I have multiple colors, but the white mini-mums next to the Dusty Miller was especially eye-catching. The two together have almost a Christmasy look. Here in Florida, mums can bloom twice a year. I cut them back short after they start turning brown in the summer heat and they come back from the root, then bloom again late in the fall. I'm thinking it will take a good fertilizing in late fall and early spring to get the best out of the...