Choice Morsels

I've spent the past two days clearing out a spot for my new Night Blooming Jasmine topiary. I wanted the use the area behind the rain garden, which has been a jungle of leaf build-up, native daylilies, flag iris, spider plants (houseplant type), glad greenery and Chocolate elephants ears. The elephant years weren't thriving, so I dug all those up to move. I mowed and clipped everything else to the ground, giving me space to plant the new topiary.  It's the only sunny location I had left to plant it.  I replanted 4 of the Chocolate Elephant ears around it's base, then transplanted a bunch of Ajuga ground cover in the area as well. Everything else will grow back by fall, probably. (The Chocolate Elephant ears turn a rich burgundy color.) We'll see how it does. This is Florida. Soggy is pretty much our middle name. Here's my supply of Ajuga: It's on the north corner of my house among ferns with a Hybr...

Happy Wednesday! Today, I'm doing inside stuff because it rained this morning. I usually re-dye all my black summer capri's  yearly to freshen their color again and, since I have some brown, I did a round of brown dye as well. The only down side is having to clean out the washer barrel afterwards. The light carrot cake with the cream cheese & muscarpone icing was delicious without being too sweet. It definitely will be Monday's Good Eat recipe! Today I have "before" & "after" pics of my back yard rain garden: You can immediately see why I might want one here. This is where rain water gathers, though it does slowly drain out as well as soak in.  A Giant Red Leaf Tropical Lilly in the center here is the star feature for this rain garden. It's just a baby. When mature and filled out, this leafy giant will easily be 4-5 feet tall and wide. It's burgundy-tinted color will help break up the wall of green and it wi...