Finally Captured This Black Serpent Digitally

This is one of two snakes that I've seen in my yard within the past couple of months. What a beauty!

Them May Be Giants - Crinum asiaticum 'Giant Crinum Lily'

 What with a break in humid ninety degree temperatures to a breezy relatively dry
 upper seventies. I better take advantage these glorious conditions and do some
potentially back and shovel breaking digging.
.

Giant White Crinum - Crinum asiaticum planted from bulblets eleven years ago
and have yet to bloom. Look great as a Stand but need more sun light and
sometimes covered in unsightly rust.

Nearly broke this steel shovel in two while digging these giants from their lair.

I've read where they don't like to be moved but I have no other choice. Yard
space is at a premium thinking that this very spot could be better utilized by
another. As indicated by this all knowing Bromiliad flouresence pointing to
this same location now vacated by the Crinum and could be the new home
for a Paw Paw tree.

I happen to be rich in brand new t-shirts, what better way to sun shade this Paw Paw
from some potentially damaging sun rays. Bare in mind what was too little sun for these
giants could be way too much for this Paw Paw.

Now, I have to figure where to plant these giants.

Sun Loving Crinum

Sun is not what it gets. Last year I did thin out the sun robbing Crape
Myrtle tree. This year paid off with three blooms to last year's one.

Running about a month late in the season too.

New Addition: Broadleaf Podocarpus - Nageia nagi

A yogi and gardener like myself brought me a plant from her yard. I needed
to trade out pots so as to return the pot and stake along with it's intended
Karma. Right?

 I had ran out of my composted soil and needed some light material to fill
my container that I was using due to the heavy sandy material that was
used and is is ubiquitous here in Florida.

I remember something my father said to me about asking and receiving. As such
was in this case and sure enough my answered was above me residing in the
carport's gutter that was in need of clearing. Not only was this well rotted and
composted but nice and wet from yesterday's rain. Black Gold!

Spiranthes Among The Ruins

What few last sprouts of Horsetail that tried to regenerate but was devoured by
some snails now finds an orchid not indigenous to Florida in it's ruins.

Rare But Not Unseen

Spied this seed pod from a variegated Confederate Jasmine this morning.
















Using a hand truck to move a potted planter from the backyard to one of the
only spot in my yard that has some sustainable amounts of sunshine.

I've seen one or two pods on my standard Confederate Jasmine, but once again
this is was the rare occasion, considering how many hundred of thousands of
blooms this plant produces and so few seed pods.

Thoughts Go Out to All Those In Orlando

An all too familiar news of violence with hope that one day it will become the
unheard of sort of violence.

To find words that already haven't been said. Words that still have meaning in these days
that we live.

Tolerance, Mental Health and Love Thy Self, come to mind.

New Plant Varieties of Tomatoes

A so called Black Cherry Tomato from the nursery of Bonnie Plants in care of Doty's of Winter Haven.

Should this planter look familiar is was nursing some cuttings, which were showing signs of taking but
I know it's track record and they would have stayed had I not found these new varieties.

Purple Cherokee, same source, although it may be too late and too hot but might get lucky.
These are planted a bit closer to the house and get a tad less afternoon sun, hoping that
might make the difference. The Spanish Moss covering is to help shield these tender plants
some shade from our unforgiving Florida sun. That is until these plants get situated and in
turn eat up what ever sun I can steer towards them, knowing that hours of sunshine around
my yard is at a premium.

Thought I would try introducing some minerals in liquid form to help boost and give these
plants a great start. I hope they do a better job for these plants than so called supplements
that are pushed on us humans.

What A Soaker

One week into the hurricane season and already we are on our third named
tropical storm, named Colin. I don't imagine the rain portion of this weather
system has reached it's conclusion, while I survey my property.. Small branches
from the oak tree here and there.

 I did notice that snails were out taking advantage of all this moisture. Will have
to keep a watchful eye on my new bulb plantings for both snails and slugs. I
don't know what preys on sails and slugs. To bad it wasn't Dragon Flies,
 because I've been seeing more and more of those lately also.

Garden wall sentinel.

As for the new bulbs they are getting the best moisture
that nature can provide. What with just a handful of yellowing leaves
from the newly established bulbs. I was more concern with sun scald.
These cloudy last few days helped spare these new recruits to this here
garden, one less peril of the garden life.

Late Spring Compost Recipe

I already had some per-composted Bald Cypress needles that I had scraped
off the carport roof earlier this year. That was my requisite brown (black)
Good thing I still have my debris shovel I had kept from my garage demolition
days. Comes in handy to shovel up this Cypress material.

 The rich footprint where the cypress material left it's mark.

 My Sleeping Hibiscus needed a good trim which provided the other
half of the mix, providing the green (leaves only). Husking corn comes to mind
as I was stripping off the leaves from their stems.

The contributing green source material. There are just two red blooms that
were revealed after the trimming.

I managed to scrape up a small pail of last's year's compost. This provides
the Starter culture for this mix to get off to great start. Not much different
from a Sourdough starter culture for making bread. It wasn't until after I
scraped this together I only realized that there might have been little left
of the compost but what I did scraped together regardless will provide
the needed beginnings of bacteria and other micro biological things that
will get to feast on these gathered nature's offerings.

Not to mention a dozen or so earthworms that were already working away
in the Bald Cypress material.

Chopped up the green material with a machete to some degree. A good
salad tossing to mix everything and a bucket of collected rain water to
bless this union of natural materials and adding the needed moisture to
hasten the breaking down this mass of carbon.

This will be my third year in creating a compost, which comes has come in handy
many times knowing that I have this resource.

This is only filled this composting bin about half full that will get some more over the next
couple of months. With the occasional turning and tossing this material and  the challenge
of scrounging up the needed brown material to balance the abundance of green material.

Silhoetted Blossom and Water Marked Stones

Budha Bamboo Has Landed

It must be going on three years now and finally settled on a letting this wondering
specimen to set down roots. This is a clumping bamboo which is more desireable
than the type than have runners. Trust me when I say you don't want to be on the
receiving end of a runner.

This rather dry and semi shaded location may not be the most ideal but perhaps the
best that is available.

                                   Now let's let time do it's thing.

Towering Ivory

This Yucca's first time bloom for this location. So not only has it's sculptural merits too.

Purple, Green and Seedy are the Theme

Today's catch from my potted garden are some Japanese Eggplant. This is probably one
of the few times where the term 'seedy' may be a good thing. I had just potted some
Eggplant cuttings that may have been premature are my part. Patience has been a term
that some have described or declared upon me behalf, just not in this instance.

As for the Purple Fingerling Potatoes are from our Dixieland Twilight market.

The Eggplant was seedy, which may not be the best for eating, which I will soon
find out. So I collected the seed and put them in some potted compost, which now
are just scrappings by now, yet fine enough for seeds. Far from being sterile as most
guidelines insist.

  

Garden Circle Once Barren

The cycle continues of replanting and waiting for that moment to inspired to create.
I've had the idea to repopulate this garden circle with some Amyrilla bulbs that I've
started from seed, which can take anywhere from five to seven years to produce a
bloom. This collection of bulbs run from four to two years in the making.

Yesterday afternoon after taking a break from some yard detailing in the front yard
and about an hour and a half before darting off to a yoga class. Is when I get that
all familiar spark of wanting to put these bulb and bulbettes a permanent place to
thrive. This task has it's drawbacks, first one being that it can be a hard on the lower
back. To a point of almost not going to yoga, which I was very grateful to have gone
and respecting my body's state of being tasked out.

With a handful of bulbs to go and have to make a decision whether to yoga
or not. Yoga wins out and when I get home to make another decision to
finish planting the remaining bulbs or wait till the first thing tomorrow
morning. I did have trouble getting to sleep last night and a prompt bulb
planting did cross my mind. Nothing that some task lighting couldn't
remedy.

I did wait for the mornings first light along with a dressing of some Bone Meal,
Fertilizer and a top dressing of the remaining Compost should assure that the
approximate hundred and thirty bulbs get a good jump on life. Not to mention
the garden hose dragged across the yard and will stay put for the next couple
of weeks for a daily dosing of some city water.

This garden circle will be barren no longer. I also threw in some Rosemary
cuttings that have taken root and a Florida native plant that shall remain
nameless for this posting. 

Last Flowering Of The Season

The last of the Amyrillas have bloomed and what seems to always be the case
that catches my eye. This year's batch of blooms were a late start and not
the big show that seems to make it's appearance every other year. Having them
shaded by a large oak tree delays their bloom cycle, which to me gets my
attention knowing how other similar flowers in other yards have already bloomed
and faded.

Oh What Alien Life Form Isth Thouest

While on my second phase of house painting , Aluminum siding phase. I came across
this what didn't reveal itself until I zoomed in closely only to reveal an egg cluster.

Still trying to do an internet search on this alien phenomenon.



Army Cutworm Eggs, and so it goes.

Today's Harvest Is Today's Shared Harvest

Today's first meal is from my potted vegetable garden and is shared with
a neighbor who needs a meal even more so and to be remembered in
contrast to the fact that here memory is failing her.

What's Good For The Tomatato

Is good for the Eggplant in regards to taking cuttings. This technique
will be via water as apposed to cuttings directly to soil.

These cuttings have been in water for nearly a month and while sitting
on my kitchen windowsill while one
of them is showing some roots developing.

This photo was taken a week and a half ago with no roots.

The deep purple coloring in the stems of these cuttings are just hint
of the deep purple colorings that these fruits can render.

Today's Reward

While cutting the tomatoes from the vine and looking for any browning leaves
that can be trimmed form the tomato or eggplant. A ripe and nearly foot long
Japanese eggplant reveals itself to me. First admired for it's beauty and mystery
and soon to enjoy the taste that only an eggplant can bring to the table.
I still haven't studied it's rhythm of fruit bearing process. Perhaps I will keep
this mystery a little longer and enjoy the surprise of today's reward.

Third Generation Tomato?

Nearly a month ago I took more cuttings of my tomato plant with hopes
of getting a jump on some tomato plants before the really hot Florida
temperatures bare down on this humble vegetable patch.

I was too generous with watering the cuttings that were placed directly
in some composted material only to to witness their sudden demise due
to too moist conditions setting up for a typical case of rot.

Perhaps second time, now a week into a second set of cuttings. There
are plenty of cuttings were these came from and hoping it's not to late
to start a new. This time these cuttings get one to two misting of water
from a spray bottle a day. Like I said it's been a week and it may not
look like it but they are looking a lot better than they did a few days
a go. We had some rains the last couple of days which brought some
cooler temperature which I think helped. Being under a carport helped
in controlling the amount of water the soil would have received had
they not and would have been back to square one.

Time will tell once again as is always the case.

Nature's Bounty

From this second generation of tomato cuttings that were takin the
first week of January due to a threat of frost that never happened.
Produced a large cherry tomato that is consistent to whats on the
market for this greenhouse grown variety.

 
Chose to pick these weeks before they are red ripened, knowing that the
majority will ripen fine as they do in the industry. I don't have a greenhouse
to protect these from the hazards of the garden variety. With the idea that
this will encourage more tomatoes to fruit and develop. At least that's the
idea.

Now You See 'Em

Native blueberries kind of sparse
this year for reasons unknown,
which only makes these three
berries taste all that much better.

Now you don't. Yum!

It's not often I beat the birds
to these little gems.

My Buckets Floweth Over

The day before yesterday I was doling out the last of my collected rain
water. I only have two five gallon food grade buckets for collecting water.
Used specifically for my potted veggies. This time of the year my veggies
are growing rapidly and there is no way I can keep up with their thirst with
what little water I collect, knowing that we are in our seasonal dry spell.
So needless to say I've been resorting to twice a day drink to keep my
plants from wilting and flourishing.

So these past few days I've been rationing out this collected water to other
potted plants in need of this water. My priorities lie with those that still have
my interest of them being novel for starters. Other notables are seedlings
and cuttings. I had mentioned earlier about a specific plant that had gone
into dormancy and had just revealed a few sprouts the other day when I
was giving a friend a tour of my garden. Those highlighted on this tour
were also those that got the supplemental collection of water.  

As I type this the sound of rain has commenced for a second time this
evening to only reassure my hopes of finding a bountiful supply of
natures best come tomorrow morning.

Feast Your Eyes On This Exotic

It's origins are not from a far off land. This seedling is perhaps one of Florida's
most abundant and redundant source of trees. A tree sometimes loathed and
cursed for various reasons. In this case, the fact that it sprouted up at the edge
of this grassy area. Most likely and credited to an obsessive compulsive acorn
baring squirrel.

What makes this an exotic you ask? First off all, it is a first that I have ever seen.
So that in it self makes it an exotic in my small world of a backyard gardener.
It always surprises me to find another weed of a different nature in someone
else's yard from what I have in my yard.

I've done some lite digging on the internet.to no avail. What we have is a
common Laurel oak seedling with variegated leaves. It's too early to tell
whether this variegation will continue through it's stages of growth, let
alone survive. Along with the risk of possible human tampering that I
may subject this seedling to in the name of preservation. Such as moving
it to a potted culture, which would give it the needed attention that
could prove successful.

I don't pretend to know how this sport materialized. Whether from a latent gene
or even a possible virus. Had it been successful in the past we would
possibly have seen these at our plant nurseries, which make me feel that it
may not live long. I will be one of the first to say that I am not to fond of
variegated plants. My first impression having seen this about a month ago
was , what is wrong with this. Looks sickly and had to examine this to make
sure that it was not infested. Having ruled that out turned it wonder, then
fascination and now curiosity. We've all heard where curiosity could lead to.

Pruning ,Tree Trimming And Winnowing

Heavy pruning of a tree at the side of the house over this past week has
filled my trash cans to the brim. Small shrubs were clipped back to there
bare bones. It will be weeks before they put on a new coat of leaves.
Azalea's are cropped to a sculptured finish fitting that of a modern art
museum's landscape. Trimming the Crape Myrtle trees to thin out last
years growth to let in some needed sunlight.

My potted Cacao tree is doing quite well in spite of the blast of Spring
sun it received , while the Crape Myrtle tree put on a new set of leaves.
The Vanilla Bean Orchid at it's base even turned a pale green, indicating
that it was getting too much sun. I draped some Spanish moss on top
of the orchid to help shade it from the relatively harsh sun's rays.

Said farewell to a potted Bamboo Palm that had been around a long time.
Long enough to have bloomed and bare fruit. It even sat for a sketch when
I took a fleeting interest to pencil drawing. I even gave it  a new spot in
the garden to renewed interest, however short that lasted. As I was releasing
it from it's potted confines. There was a couple new shoots at it's base, but
obviously not enough to prolong it's place here in this constant gardener's
garden.

Itsy Bitsy Teany Tiny...

They all got to start from somewhere. This spanking brand new pine
cone from a potted Florida Sand Pine.

 I've had this Sand Pine now for about five years. This has a nice distinct
broad base of a trunk which is what caught my eye originally.

Only then to be told that these pines are sought out and lend themselves
to the art of Bonsai. For years now with that intention at the back of
my mind. This tree would serve quite nicely as a live Christmas tree
for outdoors. Festooned with some bright LED lights and to never
be mistaken for a Charlie Brown Christmas tree.

Otherwise a rather non descript of a genus can always reveal some
beauty.

Jamaican Cherry Tree - Muntingia calabura Finally Blooms

A month since my first discovery of this plant putting on some
flowers has just now opened. Seeing the bloom is where I can
see where some lazy someone would have called this a Strawberry
tree due to the resemblance in blooms.

Good thing some other
lazy person came up with another lazy resemblance. This time it
is it's fruit and that of a cherry. Otherwise I would have never found
the botanical name to this plant. I must of encountered four other
strawberry tree named plants. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for
common names and for good reason. Hoping that that common name
will lead us to that Latin name for when that common name fails
to pin it down otherwise.

One more time. Second time making up some Green Tomato Slaw.

The Cycle Continues

I was off to a great start this afternoon in preparing the next
generation of Tomato plants. While shoveling the remaining
compost from last season into a large pot and what do I see?

This green Anole, my Gardening Angel. These green Anoles used to
be the dominate lizard before being pushed out by the brown Anole.
So it isn't often I get to see one of these, but when I do, it brings a
big smile to my face and perhaps a blessing on what ever endeavor
that I may take on.

This ten gallon pot took nearly the rest of  last season's compost.

Along with some commercial organic fertilizer to get four Tomato

cuttings off to a good start. These cuttings have not rooted yet, so

I'm taking some risk and added some Spanish moss to shade them

and help them on their way. The Spanish moss should help with

keeping some needed moisture not only as a mulch for the soil

but hoping to trap some needed moisture around the plant cutting

it self.

Which brings me to my task at hand.

Time To Get Creative With Some Green Tomatoes

Nearly three pints of green cherry tomatoes from my potted Tomato
plant. At the risk of waiting for these to ripe and possibly losing some
in the process to rot. I didn't want to pass up an opportunity to create
something out of almost nothing. First thing that came to mind was a
slaw of some sorts.While trying to not fall in to that trap of trying to
sweeten it to make it palatable.

Wine vinegar and pestso to help mask the bitterness and the undesirable
green tomato flavor. Green olives to give it a direction that my mind
wanted to go. Some beans for protein and color, with some yellow
mustard when all else fails. Olive oil and a dash of salt and black pepper.

I was happy that it didn't taste awful. I let it marinate longer in the
refrigerator knowing that it couldn't get worse. While thinking that I
could next time substitute an almost regrettable splash of lime juice
with some fresh pink grapefruit, which will be my next
round. After all, you've seen how many green tomatoes I have.

Florida Earth Day Rain

Received two buckets of rain for my potted vegetables. Best Earth Day Rain ever!

Note the critter jumping for joy too!

So What's Buggin Me

It starts out a couple of days ago. I'm at my potted Tomato plants for
their scheduled, twice a day watering, most days. The last year's four
original tomato plants are on their third crop and looking ragged from
it. Producing a several pints of bite size cherry tomatoes and being
exposed the Florida elements take their toll.


I did take more cuttings even if it will be a close call on getting them
up and running before the sun gets really hot.


I managed to collect nearly a gallon of green tomatoes from this
now decapitated specimen lying horizontally across the back trunk
of my car. What do I find? You think this was an open diner for
our, never fails and first of the worst Florida bugs this year. The
Manduca quinquemaculata, also known as the Tomato Hornworm.


The first sign that something was a miss and dead giveaway.  Hey what
happened to the leaves?

I didn't have to look very far, in spite of their green attire. Not to suggest
that it was camouflage and perhaps this was a covert operation. It has no
qualms eating the brown dried bits either.

Plenty enough greens to go around. there were actually four to be
found. The most I've ever seen let alone on a collection of potted
Tomato plants.

This guy hasn't stopped chewing away, not realizing this could be it's
last mouthful of a free lunch. This guy is really big not to have been
seen before. Note it's red horned tail, hence the name.

I did pick them off with the hopes of leaving them for the birds to feast
on, by scattering them about on some concrete slab open to back yard.

                                                      Look at these posers.

A green jewel of a dump to be remember by to, real class that one.

About a half hour later I did hear a chorus of song birds, not sure if it
was a cat alert or a bug alert.

If it doesn't rain this afternoon I will have to do a quick glance over what
plants I have left to see if there are any more of these green monsters.

The last catch from this batch of Tomato plants.