Choice Morsels

Goooood morning and welcome back!  Almost a new year! Last full moon of 2012 will be this Friday! Did you have a good Christmas? The yahoo poll on that same question today was highest for Christmas being "as expected." I specifically asked for a fuzzy feeling new bathrobe, which my husband got for me and he needed a new belt. He also likes ankle socks---the kind that have a low rise of ribbing that go up the ankle 1 1/2 to 2 inches. And he prefers colors, but that's a challenge in that type of sock. Being a class of sport sock, they tend to be either black or white. Joe Boxer does make a set of red/blue/gray ones, but the color on them disappears inside the shoe, since the ankle ribbing on all 3 is plain black. However, I was lucky to encounter a different brand that had a visible stripe of color in actual ribbing. It was a set of 3, each with a different color stripe in the black or gray ribbing. He was quite pleased.   As for the garden---well, we ha...

I've spent the past couple days following butterflies around with my camera and actually did get some good shots! September is butterfly season in North Florida. It's also dragonfly season. I see them flying around in pairs often, which I guess is part of their courtship ritual. The type of dragonfly particularly common here is called the "Eastern Pondhawk." The males are the prettiest baby blue color. Because they tend to perch and just sit, I find them occasionally willing photo subjects. I captured some very find pictures of a young male Pondhawk yesterday "perched" on the top of an old day lily stem. (Young meaning not full grown in size.) I also have the biggest toad I've ever seen living in my front gardens. I startle him occasionally out of wherever he's hiding--from under the gardenia a couple days ago. My husband has seen him, too, out on the front sidewalk at dusk, under the outside light.  He's at least 3 inches in size from head ...

I'm so excited! I found a Swallowtail Butterfly caterpillar in my pot of Flat-Leaf Parsley! I was just in time to get a couple photos, too, because he was finished eating and resting on a piece of pine straw prior to setting off for his next stage of development! Here he is!        I   put some sticks in the pot, hoping he'd stay in the pot for his crystalis stage---but no, he disappeared. I read that they seek "a secure place" to hide and transform. But---apparently he had a brother, because at the time we were looking at this one, my husband turned around and noticed a second caterpillar above the sliding door frame. He had already spun his bit of silk to secure himself there and was on his way into the   crystalis stage. He still looked like a caterpillar, though--just sort of scrunched up and stiff. I picked him off there and put him in a container topped with cheesecloth. This morning, he is entirely transformed into hi...

  My pink pampas is actually just beginning to put up it's gorgeous pink plumes---this picture below is how it looked last year! I've nicknamed it "Pink Floozy." It's far more prosperous then it's sister opposite it and a stronger pink. It must have put up over 20 heads! And she's loving all the rain we're getting right now, considering pampas is actually a desert plant . However beautiful it looked, I learned the hard way last year that letting it have that many heads is a bad idea. It made it top-heavy and the first gusty thunderstorm in early Sept blew it right over! So to prevent this little problem, I've decided to limit it to around seven fronds----enough to look pretty, but no so many to make it  top-heavy. I snipped the excess out this past Monday. Because this one and the other are so close to the property line, I take extra care to keep them neat. This means getting down under the cascading fountain of blades to trim a...

 Hi! This was yet another Florida rain and thunder morning! Though, it cleared off and the sun came out by 10. Still, yard was too wet for mowing, but there is always plenty of garden up-keep task available! Flowers needed snipping and cleaning up. The Sky Pencil trees and the Coral Bells in the pot needed mildew treatment. I dug up and moved some plugs of grass from one spot in back to some bare spots in front. The landscape ivy along the north wall needed hedging to keep the runners out of the house siding. And, finally, I have vinca's popping up everywhere and not necessarily where I want flowers, so I was pulling the young'uns up and transplanting them to more desirable spots. They bloom till frost and make a good show of color through out fall. I mentioned before I have that beautiful purple, pineapple looking Enygro. Well, it is, indeed, a bee magnet. Lots of honey bees and a couple carpenter bees, which I'm familiar with---but yesterday I saw something that...

For photos, I have two today : First, a nice shot of some of my miniature roses that are in the front corner bed near that large pot with the ceramic cat in it. You can see a couple of my Hoosier rocks. I have a small ring of them around  a pair of miniture roses: one light pink, one dark pink. And by "Hooiser rocks" I mean I toted them here from Indiana. The property we grew on had a valley with a rocky stream as the bottom that Mother and us 3 girls were haul stones up from for Mother's rock garden. Then later, my younger sister, Pat, carted a bunch of those to her home in Terre Haute. Eventually, Mother moved to Terre Haute also and when Pat sold that house, the pile of pretty, garden-sized stones moved to Mother's house. Finally, on a visit home, I decided to haul about 10 here to Florida for my flower bed. So, you see, they are traveling rocks. Second is a photo of Blue Salvia. It's cousin to the showier Red Salvia and you can buy either at an...

Wednesday Garden Photos! Today I have a two views of some of my garden beds to show you: First my Hosta Lily and Ivy bed that runs along the shady north side of my house. These particular Hosta's are called "Giant Hosta's" because they grow into a wider spread then most----but they're not the largest Hosta you can get. There is a huge type. Mine are in bloom right now---3 foot stalks lined with pale lavender blossoms. Strictly an outside display flower. Not for cutting. The green stuff between the blooming Hosta's is a type of ivy for outdoors. It looks nice, but can be invasive. I have to use the hedge shears on it a couple times a year. This bed runs between the A/C unit and the back porch. The trellis you see at the far end of the picture has a red climbing rose on it, something I put in last spring. It's pretty carefree. I just snip the ends finished blooming. The next picture below is the bed that runs along the landscape block wall we p...

  I have 2 Garden Pics for you today: First photo up is another one of the 10 new day lilies I ordered and planted last fall. This one is called "Prairie Fire." It's a strong maroonish-red with a bright yellow throat and the first of the 10 to bloom. At this time, only 2 haven't bloomed yet: the white and one called "Midnight." Day lilies have a broad blooming season, though. Some re-bloom, some blooming only once. Prairie Fire blooms once it appears. However the new yellow and "Grape" seem to be re-bloomers. Day lilies are an excellent flower in the flower bed for care-free areas you want to naturalize or in borders or to use as a medium-high filler in a bed with tall flowers at the back and shorter in front. If you like spring daffodils, they make a good companion planting partner with day lilies, since they come up first, then die back before the day lilies appear. So plant your daffodil bulbs among your day lilies! Next pi...

  On to the Garden Pics of the Day: Below are some Gardenias. Gardenias are a flowering shrub that ranges in size from regular to dwarf. This one is a regular, full size blossom type, which can grow into a tree if you don't keep it pruned and shaped. This bush is, oh, eight feet tall and 10 around at least. It's due pruning this year once it's done blooming.  (Someone asked if it's currrently blooming and it is and has been for nearly 3 weeks now--but is nearly done. The photo is this years bloom.)   I'll probably trim off at least 2 feet. I never got around to last year. Like Azaleas, it must be trimmed quickly after done blooming and not cut again, because it sets next years blossoms before the end of summer. The flowers on this bush range from 3 to 31/2 inches in diameter. Not all gardenia bloom so large. The greenery is very shiny and I find it generally a trouble-free shrub. I really don't do anything to it, but pruning. The flowers sme...

I have 2 garden pictures for you today plus instructions on how to do your own flower arrangement! First up: a photo of my very tall Hardy Hibiscus! Hardy Hibiscus comes in red, pink and white. It's a very good investment for the garden because it comes back from the root every year as tall, leafy stems that bloom all summer. Multiple stems. Being so tall, Hardy Hibiscus is a good background garden plant, though it looks best against a structure, a fence or needs staking to keep it upright. It also tends to re-seed itself readily, however, here in the deep south, mine don't spread themselves around. They just come up from the same ol' root every year. However, my Mother leaves in Indiana and hers spread themselves by seed everywhere. They will thrive in any soil and prefer full to partial sun, that is more sun then shade. To avoid this you just have to dead-head the finished blossoms. Now my Hibiscus in this photo below are unusually tall---7 to 7 1/2 feet at ...

Today's Garden photo is one of my garden favorites: agapanthus or Lilly of the Nile. I like it's because it's a blue flower, considering true blue flowers are a minority in the flower world. Mine are light blue. They do come darker to nearly purple blue and also come in white. It has a circular head full of these small flowers that open a few at time over several days. No, they don't bloom all at once. I grow mine in a pot, but they are fine in the ground. They're a common landscaping feature here in Florida. They bloom once, but their grassy greenery remains as nice texture in the garden till frost, which is why they're so popular in landscaping. They're a fine cutting flower for vases,  though you will need to clean up dead blossoms at they fall off. When I change the vase water, I snip off expired blossoms, which gives the head a interesting pin-cushion look that's nice texture in a vase. That's a little flower-arranging secret: it's not...

I have 2 special pictures of the week for you ! Last fall, I planted an assortment of 10 new Day Lillies, each a different and unique color. Now, one by one, they're blooming and I've been photographing them. Each has a name and I very smartly kept record of those names and where each is planted. First up:  Blueberry Candy It's peachy colored with a purplish-maroon watermark and lime throat. Pretty. Next:  Black-eyed Susan This one is a brilliant, dark golden yellow with the red-orange watermark. This photo is not touched up--it really is this color. Notice the slight ruffling along the petal edges---these lillies are classed as "ruffled daylillies." Most are re-bloomers, meaning they'll put up fresh stems to bloom again later. These are strictly for outdoor beautification. Each blossom only lasts a "day," thus their name. Not a good cutting flower, though I have put broken stems in a vase before. Every b...

  The Garden Pics of the Day I have for you are a couple from my front flower bed.  This bed is nestled in the corner space between the sidewalk and the driveway. It's not immediately in the corner--we laid in about 9 or 10 pavement blocks many years ago, filling in a wider walking space directly in the corner, so the bed extends 5 or 6 feet out from those blocks, running the length of the sidewalk to the corner, around 10 or 12 feet probably.  Even though this bed is at the east front end of the house, there's not entry way here. Just the garage and the bedroom bay window. (The narrow end of the house faces the street.) The front door is actuall on the long, southside of the house, down the longer section of sidewalk after you turn the corner, so it's actually size at a glance is misleading.  All my windows face either east, south and west sides of the house. The north side is a solid wall, which is good, since if a window were the...