Choice Morsels

Today's centerpiece garden photo is my flowering Holly Tree! It's always bloomed a little, but this year the bloom is massive! Every branch thick with white flowers1 Those will turn into green berries (you can see some) that will turn red. If I keep watch, maybe I can get a good shot of lots of it full of red berries! (they're edible for birds, so we'll see.) Here's a closer view of one branch loaded with blossoms! Even more interesting is the sheer number of Lady Bugs, flies, Bumbles, wasps and assorted other sorts of bees it's attracting! I've never seen so many Lady Bugs!  (Yellow with black spots) Here's two on one branch. I've always wanted a way to attract them to my garden as they are considered a beneficial insects as they eat other insects. Both the red and yellow Lady Bugs are common in Florida.

I've been making bread about once a week with my relatively new bread-maker and today decided to make some old-fashioned cinnamon & raisin swirl bread. That's basically like making a giant cinnamon roll. It's doing it 2nd rise now, then I'll bake it. Today's Garden Pic is Holly Flowers! This is an Oakland Holly tree and it's going to be loaded with berries! The berries are edible for birds! The tree is about 4 feet high. It's a holly tree of shorter suited to the South, slow-growing, grower, self-pollinating and naturally holds a triangular symmetry without hedging.  All perfect in my book! This week was also Valentine's Day and Hubby got me a HILARIOUS card! I laughed out-loud when I read it. I took pictures and here it is: Outside says, "This Valentine will bring tears to your eyes..." Inside says, "I farted in it! Anyway, Happy Valentine's Day." And he gave me a Mounds bar--my most favorite ...