Welcome to my zone 9 garden. My roots are deeply planted in the sandy soil of sub-tropical central Florida, where the summers are long and hot, but the rest of the year is paradise!

Monday, February 27, 2017

The Late Winter Garden

Last time I checked the calendar, it's definitely late winter even though it feels like the end of spring going on summer. We really didn't have much of a winter this year at all, and that means less spring clean up in the garden. That's a good thing!

There's lots of Milkweed in the garden and it's all abloom. It has reseeded itself everywhere, and for the most part I leave it where it comes up.  Sometimes, I'll move it to create fuller bushes inside the borders of the flowerbeds. Even the Monarchs are visiting and laying eggs. That puts a smile on my face for sure! 

I've seen this solitary Robin at the fountain a couple of times in the past week. 

The large flocks were through in early January foraging the Camphor berries. He seems to be staying a bit longer to enjoy the sunshine and warmth. 

I've been enjoying a steady supply of tomatoes and kale all winter thanks to temperatures staying above the freezing mark.


The two bushes are so large that they are falling forward, so I've had to tie the plant to the post with, yes, that's an old pair of panty hose - lol! Works like a charm every time! 

New tomato plants went into the ground and planting tower today. Hopefully, it won't get too hot too fast, so that I can keep the tomatoes going for a few months. Very thankful for a mild winter!

4 comments:

FlowerLady Lorraine said...

It certainly does feel like we're jumping into summer already.

Love your yellow flowered butterfly weed. Your tomatoes look wonderful.

Happy Gardening all year long ~ FlowerLady

Anonymous said...

That is one smart Robin! :-) Looks like those are Everglades tomatoes (?). If so, you will have them popping up everywhere like that milkweed. I have them literally all over my garden ~ which I don't mind. We enjoy them almost nightly in our salads . . . and what we don't eat, the birds do (hence the reason they are all over my garden).

I am so thankful for our mild winter too - such a blessing on all my tropical plants.

Have a great week, Susan. Always glad to see a new post from you!

eli

Unknown said...

Hi Susan!
I love your robin photos - he's so adorable! We had a flock of robins in the area and I had one come to my birdbath, but I didn't get a photo. I've only seen robins down here once before, so it was great fun to see the big flock after berries. So nice to have tomatoes! And so nice to be back reading your beautiful blog! Gosh - it's April already! :)

Janice said...


Hi Susan! I enjoyed catching up on your blog. I totally missed blogging this spring...life is just busy. Hope you're enjoying spring as much as I am! _Janice

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