Hi all, its been a little while since I last posted. The garden is continuing to do well, but the freeze the week of Thanksgiving, took out my bellpeppers, eggplant and beans while I was away for the holiday. And oh yeah, my heading lettuce has bolted. Not too disappointed though. There's only so much that one can eat.

I've gotten a year older and was gifted with this awesome gardening flower pot. The gnome is so cute, but unfortunatey it scares our miniture dashund. But, the up side is that I now use the gnome to guard the christmas presents under the tree to keep the dog from chewing on the boxes.

I have been looking at seed catalogs to see what i will plant this spring, right now my "wants" are greater than my budget. Not to worry though where there's a will there is a way. see ya'll later and happy gardening.

Vegetable update

All is well in the fall garden. Having some problems with some bug eating the leaves of my bush beans, but otherwise all is ok. The bell peppers are fruiting like crazy and the single eggplant is well on it's way to maturity.

The Patio tomato has 8 fruit on it now, I can't wait to eat them. The tomato on the left seeded itself from last season's variety. I belive this is purple prince or something similiar, can't really remember. It's like christmas, can't wait to see what it will be.

Can't wait for the Mustards to be ready, they are growing by leaps and bounds leaving the two variety's of collards in the dust. I wonder if it would be tasty to mix the mustards, kale and swiss chard? Probably not, just thinking about it. Also got new plants of parsley (can't find my seeds), purple basil (can't find my seeds) and cilantro (didn't have seeds for this). While walking past the front garden, I noticed that my Thyme plant is now dead. After four years of living in one spot, I moved it and it died. Sorry to see it go, but this is an opertunity to try something new. Happy Gardening!!!!!!!!!!!!

Vegetables, Vegetables, Vegetables

Good Evening all. It has been a busy start to the fall gardening season. This year i decided to repurpose the dogs swimming pool, after extensive cleaning of course. I planted it with purple kohlrabi, bulldog collards, rainbow swiss chard, and kale. I can't wait for everything to get big enough to eat.

In this bed I mixed in a heading lettuce with bell peppers, eggplant, and jalepeno peppers. These few hot pepper plants have produced quite a bounty of peppers. I am also growing a patio tomato plant that I can move indoors with the nights get to cool.

Lastly this bed contains mustard greens, georgia hybrid collards and garden bush beans. The carrots aren't up yet. I am so looking forward to the season. But on a side note, my mallow finally bloomed, it's late but it is here. By the end of the day it was completely pink.

Happy Gardening.

New Visitor

Hi all just heading out to pull up a monster cucumber vine that is taking over the right side of the back yard, when I saw this little frog sitting on the porch railing. It looks like a green tree frog with black spots. I also have lime green ones and off white ones. With all the rain we have had here every thing is still getting out of hand.

The garden is still producing a steady stream of bell peppers and jalepeno peppers. The cuban oregano, has had to be cut back several times. The sweet basil was pulled up today also. I spent some time this morning at home depot, getting new soil for the raised vegetable beds. And of course the weed pulling never ends. Say hello to "Tilk" the speed racer dachshund, the newest edition to the family. So far he has throughly investigated all of the back yard, and just loves the vacant raised vegetable bed.

Here's to the start of the new fall gardening season. YaaaHoooooo. See you in the gardens.

The beauty of the "red" passion vine is really poppin today. I was actually sittin outback enjoying the slightest of breezes when this caught my eye. With all the rain lately this vine which normally does well without a lot of water, has really taken off this year. I have to keep a close eye on it, so it does not invade my neighbors yard. A humming bird nest in it. Also saw my tiny tenant chasing off a butterfly. Still to fast for me to catch on film.

This bleeding heart is fighting for it's spot on the arbor too. It would be nice if they shared equally, but I guess that's not going to happen. Anyway the summer is almost over and I am looking forward to the slightly cooler days of fall. Fall garden seeds have been purchased and are being prepped for the trays.

Roses are still producing new buds. This has been an awesome summer for them. Well gettin past my bedtime. So, I will bid all a good night. Happy Gardening.

Busy Sunday

Good evening all. This weekend was very busy for me. I spent sunday cutting overhanging live oak limbs, that were threatening to cut all sun from my roses.

Now my roses will get plenty of sun, bush up and thrive again. Then i tackled removing the oak limbs from over the shed and almost disturbed this visitor. Yeah, you got it a male eastern tiger swallowtail. It took a long time to find this guy on the net. He seems to really like penta's and giant zinnia's.

It trully was a beautiful sunday and coincidentally, as I was sitting on the porch just watching the yard. A tiny movement caught my eye. It was my resident humming bird. Still moving way too fast for me to get a photo. But it was a very beautiful sight. Happy gardening ya'll, every day in the garden in trully a blessing.

Still hanging on in the dog days of summer. This orange crossandra seems to just love the heat, along with the vinca. Surprising though is the margarita sweet potato vine. You just can't beat it's color. Today we had one of those late after noon thunder showers. A whole lot of thunder and dark clouds but very little rain. Starting to day dream about the fall planting season. I have a few raised beds in the back yard that I am solarizing to get ready for the fall.

Looks like the crape myrtle is really loving the heat this year. It is covered with these pretty pink blooms. I have a lavender one in the back yard, but it doesn't seem to do as well as this one. I enjoy looking at this plant every year. It never disappoints.

Lavender angelonia, never disappoints. It is one of those plants that can take the heat without giving up. The two plants are crowding out their fellow bed fellows. They will be here next year to keep the blooming show going. I hope ya'lls summer is as beautifle as mine. Happy gardening!!!!!!

Still Here

Havin trouble in the gardens with all the rain. It keeps knocking things over, then it gets too hot to do anything, and then the rains start again. Right know everything is a mess.  A few bright spots are still here. I bought a new yellow rose and am excited about gettin it established. Still rearranging the beds. Have to pull out alot of spent zinnia's, blackeyed susan's and of coarse weeds. This bed does not look like this any more. It is so over grown, I am too embarrassed to share. Also i'm on mu new computer and haven't quite figured out how to pull the photo's from my SD card yet. Anyway, promise to be more vigilant at blogging again, once i get this new thing all figured out. Well happy gardening.

Happy weekend all. What an awesome week of rainy days. You just can't beat God's water. There has been lots of growth. So busy just looking at the plants,haven't had time to do much else.

which is taller the kid or the sunflower? Got this in a mixed bag of seeds. My daughter is 53inches tall. I think this has her beat.

This rose is awesome! Constant blooms since winter,just loving this plant. Back to the garden, see you later. Happy gardening

Getting better all the time

Here we are almost halfway through spring and everything is filling in nicely. Color is popping all over the yard. Each day something new is in bloom. I find myself up early and looking around to make sure everything is doing ok. Daylilies are blooming all over the yard.

The colors are absolutely beautiful, the yellow ones are transplants from my mother's home. Daylilies are tough plants. Back to daydreaming, happy gardening.

Orange is the bomb!!!!

Look what's blooming today. This lion's mane is so reliable. Every spring it is covered with these lovely blossoms. It is a favorite of our neighborhood hummingbirds. Early mornings you will find them visiting, they move much to fast for my camera to catch. The new bed is coming along nicely in the front yard. I have had to relocate a couple of coreopsis to the backyard. Enjoy.

whats going on?

Hello all, here it is the week of Easter and it is already hot. The last few days here has managed to kill most of my seedlings. It has been in the upper 80's this week, but it has felt much hotter than normal. I am still working on my garden bed's. Things that I thought dead at the end of last year are making a gradual return. Zinnia's and periwinkle's have reseeded without problem. I have relocated my large lantana from by the mailbox. I guess it's Will be a lot safer for the mail delivery. It's so nice also to see other neighbors out planting also. Well have a good one. Happy gardening.

look at my onions and aloe growing amongst the mums and angelonia. They're leftover from Christmas vacation. I planted them in the ground and they are doing great. Haha

Here it is the first full week of spring. I have started reworking one of the front beds. I brought several plants home with me from my mom's house in Louisiana. I had to get most of the plants into the ground. In this bed I have yellow daylilies, lemon miniature zinnia's, dianthes and a large mullin. I also planted purple iris by the arbor. Still have more plants to put in the ground over the next few days. This is always so exciting. Happy gardening.

mom's yard

Hi everyone I am in the beautiful state of Louisiana, visiting my parents. I arrived to see this exquisite sight. A large purple iris. It is my plan to take a piece of this back to florida as well as a smaller Burgundy variety. There is nothing like coming home. See you later.

This photo does not do this flower justice. It is a must see to appreciate.

Hello All, just gettin ready for the new gardening year. This fall's attempt was less than stellar, collards bolted, cabbage stunted and cauliflower just gave up. I spent last Saturday at the duval county extention "Day of Gardening" event. Had an awesome time. Got some new herbs and tomato's for this years garden. I am so excited to get started. I have several bulbs to get into the ground for the summer blooms and have built 2 new garden boxes. Hope this year we get a little more rain. Found a dead mole in the front yard. Hope this means they are gettin old and no more food for them. Hope I won't have as much trouble with cats this year too. I have purchased and absolutely beautiful weeping youpon holly. Can't wait to get it into the ground. Well happy gardening, will keep you posted about the new front yard.

What a weekend this has been. I spent some time outside in the garden and played a little badminton with my daughter. I also went to the county extension office to register for a gardening class next month. While there I spotted this plant in their garden. I would really like to know what it is. It has red blooms on it that resemble the Mimosa flower. Let me know what you think it is. Keep on gardening.

after the freeze

Well ya'll the freeze has come and several plants did not fair well. My Tropicana is crumpled and sad, I sure hope it comes back this spring. Some of my vegetables didn't fair well either. Well if it can't take the cold it's not hardly to north Florida. Still working on the spring garden menu, I have so many wants that I don't know where to start and that's part of the fun. Back to the books. Happy gardening. Sorry about the photo I couldn't get it rotated upright.

Happy New Year

I just love January, it is the time for planning my spring gardens. December was a very busy month for me, so not much time to blog. Here in north Florida the weather has been mild. Still have plenty of flowers in bloom and butterflies and bees are still visiting the gardens. I found a surprise in the front garden on New Years Eve, a Mullen that I planted two years ago left a seedling. I am so excited about this plant, it has the most beautiful yellow flowers in summer. Of course it does not like our hot summers here, but it was beautiful. Still enjoying fresh grown tomato's from a pot I have in the garage. This year is going to be outstanding, got to get my seed packs together. Well happy gardening yall, will keep you posted.