And Now a Word for Colorful Foliage

When it comes to color in the garden, flowers are my first choice. But I must confess that lately I find myself appreciating plants with colorful foliage. Flowers come and go, depending on the season, but colorful foliage is year 'round. And, in my opinion that makes the garden far more interesting. Plus it's easier to ensure that the yard always has color in it.

A lot of colorful foliage is tropical in nature - crotons, cannas, and bromeliads - and perform well in my zone 9 garden, with the exception of an occassional freeze.

This canna lilies have gorgeous foliage plus an added benefit of bright orange flowers.


This croton performs well in the shady part of my garden.


I love this wild and wacky croton. It's just a kaleidoscope of color.


This speckled bromeliad is new to my garden and hasn't produced any pups yet.


In the sunlight, the pinkish red color is much brighter on this bromeliad.


The bright red center of this bromeliad grabs my eye everytime I pass by it.


Caladiums are a summertime favorite. What a great splash of color in a shade garden. These guys are real GIANTS.


The soft purple/green hues of wandering jew are very cooling.


When placed in a sunny spot, this snowbush looks like its covered in blooms. But there are no flowers, only splashes of soft pink leaves.

With so many choices of colorful foliage, flowers are quickly becoming secondary in my garden.

The Dog (I mean Cat) Days of Summer

Makayla seeks cover from the July sun behind a large green intertube propped up against the screen enclosure. It's the time of year when it's just plain HOT, and we all seek shelter from the midday heat. You've got to get it wherever you can find it.

From the Green Side

At Hoe and Shovel I read about A Look at Gardens from the Green Side at Emma's A Nice Green Leaf, and I just couldn't resist joining in because green is my favorite color. Even though I love flowers and colorful foliage, there's nothing boring about these green leaves which sport numerous variations of green. A quick glance and you'll miss the beauty of them. You need to be upclose to admire the subtleness of "green" leaves.

A new thick, waxy croton leaf before it changes to include sunset colors (see background leaves).

The happy marriage of green and cream on the Pothos.

Deep blue-green coloration of Peacock Ginger.

A striped bromeliad with all shades of green.

Soft hues of blue-green and white sit atop a deep pink stem on this Snow Bush.

This begonia is the epitome of rich dark blue-green with a surprise of deep burgundy on the underside.

This particular succulent is a soft shade of green.

And, this shade-loving Cast Iron plant looks as though someone painted strokes of color on it.

A Summer Day in Maine

On my quest to visit all 50 U.S. states in my lifetime, Maine is the latest. It was on the day before the first day of summer, but it felt more like the end of winter. It was a brisk day in the upper 50's with a boat load of fog to go along with it. But nonetheless, it was extremely beautiful in this quaint northern town.

A glance down main street in Bar Harbor


A walk in the park for a closer look at the flowers.


A beautiful pink peony


and more flowers, of which I am not familiar. It looks like some sort of sage, and perhaps a geranium.


Oh, how I wish I could stay for the entire summer!

myly

A Visit to Green Gables

A visit to Prince Edward Island means a stop at Anne Shirley's (or better known as Anne of Green Gables) house.


And one cannot miss a walk through Balsam Hollow, so aptly named by the young girl with a vivid imagination.


I can see why these woods gave her so much "scope for imagination." They look as though they are out of a fairy tale. Ostrich (if my memory is correct) fern covers the floor of the woodland,


along with a beautiful and delicate blue wildflower.



The woodland is alive with the melodies of song birds and the gurgling sounds of the creek as it passes under the foot bridge.


What a beautiful place to get lost in one's imagination.

Canadian Flowers

We just returned home from our vacation to Canada and Maine. Springtime is in the air with cool temps, lots of fog and beautiful flowers. This photo was taken outside of a sugar shack in Quebec.


A rock garden planted on Prince Edward Island


I don't know what these are but they're beautiful.


A hosta and iris garden on Prince Edward Island


Same garden on Prince Edward Island


Peggy's Cove (Halifax, Nova Scotia) garden in full bloom.


And, the lighthouse at Peggy's Cove shrouded in fog.


I don't know what most of the flowers are with the exception of hostas and irises. I think the pink ones might be bleeding heart (fuschia). Perhaps someone will enlighten me.

The Start of a New Season

It's the start of a new season, and I don't mean a new "gardening season." Nope, on June 1st the 2008 Hurricane season began. I was out spraying some water on my orchids when this bright color among the green grabbed my eye. Yep, the "hurricane" bromeliads were putting out their first bloom of the year - right on time. I guess that's how they got their knickname the "hurricane" bromeliad.


Here's the scoop on Hurricane season from the national hurricane forecasters: "For 2008, the outlook indicates a 60 to 70 percent chance of 12 to 16 named storms, including 6 to 9 hurricanes and 2 to 5 major hurricanes (Category 3, 4 or 5 on the Saffir-Simpson Scale).

The main factors influencing this year’s seasonal outlook are the continuing multi-decadal signal (the combination of ocean and atmospheric conditions that have spawned increased hurricane activity since 1995), and the anticipated lingering effects of La Niña,” said Gerry Bell, Ph.D., lead seasonal hurricane forecaster at NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center. “One of the expected oceanic conditions is a continuation since 1995 of warmer-than-normal temperatures in the eastern tropical Atlantic.”

Summer Can Begin

Memorial Day always seems like the official start to summer here in Florida as the temps reach into the low 90's and the humidity creeps up on us. Summer is not my favorite time of year to do a lot of yard work (did I mention the humidity), so I made one last trip around the yard this morning clipping here, there and everywhere. I had a couple of last items on my spring "to-do" list that I needed to wrap up, and a few more bags of mulch to spread (pine bark only - no cypress). I'm tired, hot and sweaty but my garden looks so nicccceeee.




Now with the aid of my garden helper (Round-Up) I should be able to keep things in check throughout the summer without too much trouble. I will have to do a mid-summer trim because summer showers make monsters out of my plants. And, then there is the weekly lawn mowing that must be done. Most people would think this crazy, but I actually enjoy it (and I'm not one of those lawn perfectionists either). Weeds and crabgrass are okay with me, so long as they're green. But I must admit that the best part of mowing the lawn is when I dive into the pool after I'm done. It is such a refreshing experience.




I'm fortunate to have a very shady and breezy backyard.

This pathway leads from the side yard to the backyard, and both this photo and the one below have "borrowed" landscape from my neighbor. The pink Ti plants and the Lady palm above them are part of an adjoining flowerbed that belongs to my neighbor. We color coordinated :-)
Can you tell I just mowed the lawn?

The cold weather did a number on my Angel Trumpet, but it is making a comeback. However, the Plumeria (further down the picture) is very slow to generate some new leaves. We're keeping our fingers crossed on that one.

The Blooms of May

The riot of springtime blooms is now giving way to the returning heat and humdity of summer. There are still plenty of plants tough enough to standup to a Florida summer, and keep on blooming but Spring takes first place for the sheer volume of blooms. Or, perhaps it just seems that way following the winter months.

Blooming in the month of May are:
Fourth of July rose


Peace lily and impatiens Lotus begonia
A close up of the Lotus begonia

Agapanthus

The caladiums are back. The peacock ginger in the background will soon be disappearing.
The Dancing Lady orchid
A closeup of the Dancing lady and vanda orchid
And, not quite a flower but a fruit, a lemon boy tomato - yum!

A Show Stopper

The agapanthus is so fanciful with its large puff of dazzling blue color that sits atop a tall sturdy stem. At the first sign of buds, I impatiently watched as the stems reached for the sky and waited eagerly for the flowers to pop open. I was not disappointed with the show they put on.

A Place to Sit for a Spell

I photographed this part of my sister's garden on Sunday when we celebrated Mother's Day. It is one of my favorite parts of her garden. This spot is drenched in shade for most of the day, but for now the sun is shining in to highlight this peaceful place where you can sit for a spell with her cat(s).

Neglected Tomato

This volunteer tomato bush that sprouted on its own in pure builder's sand received no fertilizer and only rainwater so far has produced 51 smaller than normal roma (?) tomatoes. It is definitely a hardy variety (unknown) that didn't need any t.l.c. My pampered bushes that I planted can't even compare to this. I'm definitely keeping seeds for this variety that I named "Brawny Roma."