Choice Morsels

These white flowers are called Alyssum and the purple leaves are Purple Shamrocks.  I planted this Alyssum last spring---it wintered over, blooming like snow all winter, and now that's it's spring, it's spreading slowly.  To find things that grow well in Florida is actually amazing---so I was so pleased with this Alyssum, I bought more seed to plant! This second picture is one of my favorite Garden Art Pieces: It's 2 clay pots, a smaller one set at an angle inside a larger one, 2 Chicks and lots of Chinese Stonecrop cascading over the side! And the eye-catcher is the ceramic frog. Dollar Tree has the cutest little garden ceramics! Last year it was these frogs. (I bought 3, each in a different position.) This year, it's mushrooms. I bought 2 red ones, though the garden space I plan to put them isn't ready for decor yet.

Garden photos of the day: My Gardenia Topiary in full bloom! This one wasn't effected by the hard freezes we had, so it's put on a good show! I trained this gardenia into a short tree form, called a topiary! Once it's done blooming, it will be getting a haircut.   Garden Art I love to add unique ceramic items to my flower beds. This cup/saucer is actually a small planter I picked up somewhere. The greenery is a succulent called "Chinese Stonecrop." It's hardy stuff and I like using it all sorts of places. It like ceramic pieces because they hold up well in the blazing sun, don't rust and can't be eaten by termites! I also like recycling regular mugs into garden art. This one is new. A friends Mom gave me this mug planter containing a begonia & palm houseplant, but the mug has no drainage and I keep my houseplants outside in summer, so I promptly replanted the two items into their own containers that do have drainage and added that mug here with C...

Two Garden Pics today: First, my one Gardenia bush is blooming again! It seems to be a variety that blooms heavily in spring, then again less heavily during fall and winter. It's flowers are not as large as the other I have that strictly blooms just once a year, but I have  to give it kudos for enthusiasm! Next, New Garden Art: I kept back a few mugs from my purge in July for charity give-away that I thought would be nice additions to my garden. This one is a very large Cracker Barrel mug that I put in the front bed by the mailbox. I planted Chinese Stonecrop in it and planted sprigs of Golden Creeping Jenny nearby. Both are ground covers that like sun and both winter over. I like the red lava rocks and add them here and there as accents. In the shady spots, being porous, they become homes for moss.

I have several photos today: First, my ceramic cat in a container garden out front, surrounded by a heaps of yellow Million Bells  So pretty in the last rays of the days sun. That Million Bells is just one plant that wintered over, a mere straggly stem when I planted it in it's own smaller pot, then set that in the larger container. It really took off! Million Bells is technically called "Calibrachoa" in a garden shop. I love them!  A Project Accomplished this Week: Re-Paint my Various Garden Objects d'Art These are various metal pieces, stones, pieces of broken block and concrete chunks, some Dollar Tree concrete stepping stones---things I use as accents here and there in my garden. The metal rusts and usually needs repainting every other year or so. I decided to use white paint because white objects are more eye-catching and more light reflective. Finally, a Toad: He tucked himself between into this little spot outside our sli...

Several pictures for today: One of My Black Swallowtail Guests: The late day sun was shining on him so pretty! They've got a very handsome coloration. Of course, they're all off somewhere turning into butterflies now and my parsley, bare stems.  Here's a nice shot of my Purple Bell Peppers. They are very eye-catching in the garden! And my Lady Planter, looking stylish in her succulent hat!

Today's project was cleaning up along this Border Garden Wall. It the marks the border between me and my neighbor, whose  property is higher then mine because it was built for a septic system under it, though a sewer line was put in before the septic system was every used. It was pleasant and partially sunny, so I cleaned up the length of this section, which is about 26 feet plus additional 5 feet of bed with scallop edging.  This part of it has a 18 24 inch bed on top.  It needed raking off, blackberries pulled up, some newspaper laid down and topped with mulch. (I mulch about every two years and in-between, just use mower clippings on top of newspaper, which blocks weeds fairly well.) This bed is dotted with 4 clumps of Asparagus fern, which is nearly the only thing that grows on this bed,  it's so dry and knotty with roots. The reason the Asparagus fern thrives is because it stores it's own water in dozens of little brown bags along it's roots. ...

First Daffodil of the Season! Snapped this today. It's not fully open yet. It was a little cloudy at the time, though sun is out now.  Cup of  Winter Cheer I shot this today as well. This planter cup is filled with bluegreen Chick rosettes and Chinese Stonecrop and surrounded by branches of Purple Lantana and bright green Greek Oregano.  That Purple Lantana has been the one bright spot in my landscape all winter. The chill makes the Lantana leaves a burgundy-touched green, which shows off the purple blooms.  It was just below freezing last night, too, but that makes no-nevermind to any of these. 

This pine tree stump is out front in a flower bed next to my Gardenia bush.  When we bought this house, this pine was about 7 inches in diameter; 28 years later, it was this: 3 years ago I had it cut down and used it as a nice place to set a large container garden.  But termites and moisture did their work, eating it away and, suddenly, this summer I find my container garden flopped over sideways in a hole in the stump.  I moved the container garden to a spot in the ground among the day lilies, then filled that stump hole with dirt and planted it with  Chinese Stonecrop and Hen & Chick succulents---turning nature into garden art! The succulents will eventually take over and be quite attractive. Here's the container in it's new location: It will be much happier here I think. Gladiola bulbs surround that bamboo stake and maybe they'll bloom better. A Dusty Miller and Creeping Jenny are planted on top. Funny Pampas Bent By Hurricane Nate...

This weeks Mama Kat blog prompt: "April Showers bring May Flowers. Show us your May Flowers!" A white ceramic kitty peeks out from behind Hosta that's between Red Saliva and  Pink Million Bells in my front garden container! **** A stone Hippo swims among wood chips beneath  a Curly Parsley in a container  on the back patio! (He's a gift a friend brought back for us from his visit in Africa.) **** In Florida, May brings Easter Lilies! My house was surrounded by dozens of these all blooming at once! **** May also brings Gardenias! This bush is heavy with blooms both new and old!  **** In Florida, May is blueberry season! These are container blueberries. **** My young tomato plants in my veggie garden! The one on the right is bred particularly for Southern heat & humidy; the other is a Roma. Both are determinate, meaning they only grow to a set height.  you look closely you can see Marigold leaves poking out ...

...a cup full of Hens & Chicks!  Old teacups and coffee cups make excellent "Garden Art" for flower beds--especially with hardy succulents & sedums! I see this set of mugs and chicks out of den window when I'm working on my computer!  :) ***** That's it for today!  Since I'll be quite busy on Thursday this week, I won't be doing a Mama Kat! But come back for Friday Finds!

Today, Hubby cleared all the pine needles off the roof mostly to keep the gutters clear, in case we get any rain from this tropical storm brewing Southeast of us. He also polished off the mowing. We may not get any rain, but such storms are large and it's possible an outer-most band might drop a little rain our way. Best to be ready. Also we have our annual termite inspection tomorrow, so I was cleaning up around the edges of the house. Today's Garden Pic is a some Garden Art: It's actually an old wind-chime a neighbor gave me before they moved away several years ago. It was originally all rusted. I happened to have pink spray paint on hand, so that's what I painted with, then brushed it off a little. It used to hang on a tree branch, but that tree is gone, so I randomly set it here against the base of this pine until I decided what to do with it. Then I realized was perfect for this spot, since it blends in nicely with the red block walls on either side. Anyone ...

I'm little better today. Sitting is a bit more comfortable, but still I can't stay here all that long. Today's Garden Pic is a December photo from just before Christmas of my front bed where I have some "garden art" pots filled with either Hens & Chicks or Chinese Stonecrop: All that clover-looking stuff is Shamrocks. How they came to be here I don't know. They just moved in here one spring many years ago and here they remain. They are a most charming grown cover and I try to spread clumps of them around to other shady beds. The pink flowers are Vinca's. I like those because the reseed themselves abundantly. And the wispy, grass like leaves among the Shamrocks to the left are Dutch Iris leaves. All  the spring bulbs have their greenery up at this time of year.

Clathrus Columnatus (Stinkhorn) Ever seen a Clathrus Columnatus growing in your mulch bed or lawn? They're a funny little fungi common to the Gulf Coast, though they've been spotted as far north as Pennsylvannia. They frequent my mulched beds, especially when we've had a lot of rain. When I first saw one, I had to look it up to see what the little stinky thing was! This mushroom's common name is "Stinkhorn," and it's called that for good reason. It emits a mild stink to attract flies, which is how it disperses it's spores. (Most of the black specs in the photo are flies of various sorts.) It's bright orange colored and has this funny architectural form comprised of 3 loops or "columns." Usually about 2 to 4 inches tall. My other picture today is one of my garden art extra-large teacups filled with baby Hen & Chick succulents and some moss that has moved in. The mix of pea gravel, Chicks & green moss just looked so...

Today I finished the last section of the yard for mowing and cleaned up day lily stems from beds.  It was stifling out. A couple days ago I was checking my corner rain garden that's full of Bugleweed to make sure the Hydrangea in the middle is clear---and guess what I found! A tiny baby Box Turtle! It was just a little bigger then the size of  a quarter!  I'm thinking it hatched this year.  Probably right there. Today I put a couple small watermelon rinds under that hydrangea for baby. It's cool, shady and sheltered under all that Bugleweed. I noticed this past week something was drilling into my Zucchini and eating it on the inside, so I lost 4 or 5. I had sprinkle the squash with Sevin dust.  Tomatoes are starting to get ripe. Time to start thinking what I'm going to do with them!  Tacos, spaghetti sauce, tomato-basil soup and pasta salad will soon be on the menu! The last of the blackberries are getting ready to ripen and once they're do...

At our Bible Study up on the Air Force base last night, the trivia question for our group was: "if you could invent an app, what would it be?" All the answers were clever, but my favorite was:   "A Stun Gun App to turn your phone into a stun-gun." One of the other guys wittily replied, "Now, that's one pocket call you wouldn't enjoy very much." Zap! We laughed and laughed. Today's Garden Pics are a stroll through my garden peering at various pieces of "garden art" tucked here and there: First, the ceramic kitty in my front pot: Too bad those petunias later died. They succumb to mildew sometimes. Next, the shoe themed display in the bed opposite my front door: That's German Thyme. And finally, a couple of my Hen and Chicks In Teacups displays: The large teacup pot is my most recent addition. It used to hold my Christmas Cactus, but wasn't big enough. The Christmas  Cactus was re-potted...

A friend asked me recently how do I keep up with all the weeds? At the time I didn't have a good answer to actually, because I've never really gave it any thought.   So, I've been paying attention and what I notice is I weed as I go, while I'm doing other things. For example, all the spent day lily stalks need cutting and, as I cut them, if I see any weeds, I pull them up as I go. My friend is just establishing mulch beds around her home, so she has pre-existing weed seeds still popping up. It will take a whole season of mulch build-up to eliminate that problem. (The heat and darkness mulch provides does that.) My beds are all years old with deep, well established mulch. Still, one cannot ever totally get rid of weeds, except by a layer of landscape plastic, which is practical where you don't plan on making additional plantings that will require digging thru it.   I like my flower beds free to be adjusted and I like volunteer flower sprouts, so I don'...

Today's Mama Kat topic is:   "Something I bought this month that I love." I really love the various pieces of "garden art" I have scattered throughout my various flower beds and pots.. About 3 years ago I happened upon a blue and white ceramic cat at a thrift shop that I just absolutely fell in love with. I had to have him and he became the central star of my large front pot garden. He wintered over fine out there before, but this year it was unusually cold and I didn't realize my little ceramic cat had a solid clay face. Temps here in northwest Florida dropped to 16 degrees and my treasured ceramic cat's face blew off! His ear, too. I just loved him too much to discard and super-glued him back together, kept him in the garage until spring, then put him back in his special spot.  Even so, I felt I should keep my eyes peeled for a replacement,  though I didn't expect a ceramic cat suited to yard art that's neither larger nor smaller then ...