My Sister's Garden

My sister has a spacious garden in the center of 6 acres in rural Central Florida. She has lots of large oak trees so a good portion of her yard is mostly shade.

A little over a year ago a large oak in her sideyard split and fell to the ground which gave her the opportunity to create a sunny border and grow some vegetables, as well.

Here's a view of that sunny border from the opposite side.

She used the old trunk of the oak as a pedestal for a pot of bromeliads.

Her garden is mostly a foliage garden of lush green plants with flowering plants tucked in here and there.

This spring she created a succulent/agave garden in a hot and dry area.

Her white Angel Trumpet is a real beauty. Sometimes it's so heavy with blossoms that a branch will break from the weight of it.

Here's a new plant that she found at our local nursery. It's a Lomandra. A type of grass from Australia that gets these yellow flower spikes that bloom throughout the summer months.

Right outside of the garden is her horse named Tampa . . .

and a donkey named . . . Donkey! He's in charge of keeping the coyotes off the property, and he's been known to also go after a black bear that insists on visiting too often.

This shady spot is a real little oasis,

with some spiral ginger and pink flamingo plants.

There's lots of lush tropical foliage planted in the shade.

Here's a close up of the exotic bloom of the spiral ginger.

There's plenty of cats and even a dog or two in her garden. 

She rescues feral cats, 3-legged and one-eyed cats, cats with heart conditions and diabetes, neuters them and then releases and feeds them on her property. You might call her the patron saint of the unadoptable cats.

 So, when you visit her house you're apt to see cats everywhere . . . even on top of the arbor. 

She used to grow a lot of vintage roses but as the trees grew there became fewer and fewer, but you can still find a handful of beautiful large bushes of these old-timey beauties.