Choice Morsels

First. is a teacup filled with Hens & Chicks and Chinese Stonecrop. You might wonder about the marbles & pink stones. Well, I was walking one day down the neighboring street and found a someone was discarding an old fish tank full of rocks and marbles still. It was by the side of the road. So I scooped a couple handfuls and took them home, depositing some in all my little cups and pots to give them a bit of pizazz. I like the Chicks and Stonecrop because they can tolerate freezing weather here in Florida. I've seen them freeze solid in ice and thaw out, then keep going like nothing happened.   Next: a Yellow Rain Lily with a Honey Bee These are planted in my rain garden in the back yard. Enough rain water causes them to bloom, though they seem to be more a fall bloomer. This shot is from about a month ago maybe. This past week Hurricane Sally generously filled that rain garden (which did it's job perfectly I made add) and should prompt fresh blooming. I walked out to ch...

 There's a lady around the corner from us with a beautiful yard heavily landscaped with flower beds AND a rain garden. I've thought for a long time that I wanted to stop by to say hello and an unexpected opportunity to do so came up this week when I was out for my morning walk. She was out mowing and weed-eating, so I introduced myself. Her name is Sally. She's a little older then me. It was a great opportunity to talk gardening. Like me, she wants to replace grass with flower beds. She showed me her yard, then we walked down to my house and looked at mine. We traded numbers and she's going to contact me to give me some of her purple asters later in the autumn. So that was neat.  I have two photos today: Purple Shamrocks: The camera really doesn't do justice to the depth of their dark burgundy color, but it does reveal the lighter fushia pattern on the leaves that's less noticeable to the naked eye. They bloom light pink flowers all the time.  ...

Two Great Garden Pics today! Native Lily in the Basil! Not long ago I caught on camera this lovely orange native Day Lily bloom among the Basil leaves & blooms under the bird feeder!  My native day lilies bloom in a profusion in the spring and then bloom sporadically the rest of the season. This was one of those sporadic blooms. This Basil is a volunteer, a Thai type, and is a 30-inch tall clump under the feeder now. So pretty.  Rain Lilies! Turns out all that rain is good for something--it made some of my Rain Lilies bloom! Two this week! There must be around 20 planted in that rain garden; multiple colors: pink, yellow & white. I keep hoping they'll bloom in profusion, but they keep their own schedule. The pink have the largest flowers.

Today's Garden Pics include a blooming day lily and several garden views around the yard: Below is a Rain Lily. It's something like a crocus in appearance. It's a bulb. I bought a mix of yellow, white and pink (this one is a white one with the tiniest hint of pink the camera can't see.)  What makes them "rain lilies" is they bloom after a rain and the ground is wet. Perfect for a rain garden. Next : a post-rain view of my main rain garden with a good view of the Chocolate Elephant Ears  both in the rain garden and in the back right corner of the photo. I love these Elephant Ears! I love the purple color! It really breaks up the heavy green of a Florida garden. They start green when little and turn dark as they mature. They are not a bulb, but have a root system like a day lily. Very easy to split and move. In fact, I split up the single clump I had this spring and moved them various places; apparently they loved it because they look be...