Choice Morsels

Two Garden Pics for you today: First, my Red Hardy Hibiscus is in full show right now!    Next: My Mango Calla "Mango" is it's color. This shot was it's first flower, but it has since put up a second. Gradually the yellow part turns green as it's actually a leaf and not the flower---the flower is inside. It's in my container garden out front. You'll notice it has polka-dot leaves. Not all Calla's have polka-dot leaves, but I chose this for it's leaves in particular, for visual interest, since the leaves remain all season to fall.   Other Things: I'm starting to work on  organizing stuff for a Salvation Army pick-up. I have some furnishings and plan on boxing up the majority of Dave's clothing. I can ask for a truck. I considered trying to sell some of his clothing, but what sells is rather picky and most of Dave's clothing is Walmart---so not that sellable. Plus it would involve me doing all the mailing---tired of that already with the ...

I actually tried a couple new recipes this past week, but forgot to take any pictures! Both were good, so I'm going to make them again next week and try to remember pictures! Lots of steady rain the past 3 days! It's been good for the grass! It was so dry this spring, the grass didn't really get started well. Mowed just the north side today. We'll be having a new sliding glass door put in within a month. Hurricane impact glass. UV resistant. Same company that did our windows is doing the door. The sales guy, Leon, who came to our house reported their business has been steadily booming, because all these people suddenly stuck at home because of the virus decided to remodel this or that. In fact, they've hired more people! Also their glass manufacturer, Simonton, has remained in full production.   So that was interestingly news. Today's Garden picture is a nice shot of a Hardy Hibiscus! It just recently started blooming. It's puts on a pretty stup...

Today's Garden Pic is my huge showy red Hardy Hibiscus! This one is out front in the corner bed behind all the 4 O'clocks. It's unusually tall for a Hardy Hibiscus---7 feet. Plastic Owl On Squirrel Patrol Out Front: A couple weeks ago I noticed squirrels were digging up my brand new Purple Shamrocks and nibbling off the bulb tips at the bottom of the stems. Just the ones in the front beds. And they were eating the whole bulb. So I replanted any I found out of the ground and got my old owl to put out----but he was falling apart and faded from years in the sun, so we got a new owl. It appears to have stopped the problem. The trick with plastic owls is you have to move them every couple days minimum, so Owly here gets shifted back and forth across the yard to stand guard over my beds. Box Turtle Feed: I put watermelon rinds and popcorn out for the Box Turtles nearly everyday now. They come out to spot in the afternoons expecting to find a meal--some...

The 3 days of steady, light rain we had from Tropical Storm Cindy polished off my tomatoes & decimated the Bell Peppers.  The only things that really appreciated all that wet was the grass and the Bush Squash! I picked up some new Bell Peppers and a new Tomato this morning. I'll be putting them in the bed that runs along the South side of our house where I have blackberries & hybrid day lilies. There's plenty of room and it's a bit higher ground. I often use the area as my "back up" garden plot! Today's Garden Pic's: Hardy Hibiscus & Chinese Stonecrop Sedum! Hardy Red Hibiscus : This beauty is 7 feet tall! It is unique, though. Usually they limit themselves to 4 or 5 feet. So it puts on a grand show every summer! Chinese Stonecrop This is a kind of Sedum (sedum tetractinum). It is the most fantastic stuff! Resilient, easy to transplant, grows anywhere and in anything! It blooms pretty yellow flowers in spring, so it l...

We had a nice, much needed little thunder shower yesterday! I recently replanted a mix variety of lettuce seeds in a pot of rich garden soil that I put near the front door in the strawberry bed. Also a short row of radish seed.  The strawberries don't like the end of the bed near my front door, so I use it as an auxiliary garden. I didn't find the lettuce seed performed that well in the veggie bed. Not sure why. Maybe the sun is too intense. But I have gotten good performance from it in a pot--usually one that's more shaded. That's a trick about gardening in Florida--things that like full sun further north, needed partial shade here. Today's Garden Pics are my gorgeous Hardy Hibiscus! This is not the tropical form, which is a shrub, but the tall upright variety that dies back in winter and returns from root every spring. They average 4 to 5 feet tall and run in a variety of shades from light pink to deep burgundy red, plus white and I believe a ...