This has been a wonderful summer in the garden. Yesterday, Sam and I were taking a water break, when we had to opportunity to watch a sulphur butterfly laying eggs on my cassia bushes. I have hopes of more sulphurs soon. The monarchs, gold rims and black swallowtails are already a constant presence in the garden, but these will be a nice addition. ( Read more... )

Pictures of the Black Swallowtail Caterpillers. Couldn't get any eating the fennel as it's too fuzzy, ( so here are the ones currently eating my parsley. )

Black swallowtail caterpillars all over my fennel, new leaves on my Cinnamon tree, and a newly acquired Pitanga (Surinam cherry) make for a very happy day!

The rainy season has mostly started in Florida, and the plants are growing nicely. I've been busy expanding the rose garden with Butterfly friendly plants, and now it's more of a mixed-perennial border. Either way, the butterflies seem pleased ( Read more... )

It's February 3rd. Yesterday, Punxsutawney Phil saw his own shadow ( Read more... )

Despite a rather gray and windy day yesterday, the long weekend started off rather nicely. Sam and I popped downtown for a walk along the water, out to Target for new glasses, and over to St. Pete Beach for dinner and a movie.

Somewhere in there, we also managed some snuggling with various creatures and harvesting of 32 lbs of Lemons, as well, as my ( Read more... )

Who requested a picture of the latest Orchid my sweetie bought me to cheer me out of my winter blues.

It's an Oncidium, with a light, sweet scent, and I'm afraid the picture doesn't do it justice.


( Read more... )

Since the weather outside is delightful (Mid 70's, sunny) and I have today off, I decided to treat myself to a walk around Jene's Tropicals, a local nursery specializing in exotic fruits and maybe pick up a new plant. I passed up the Jakfruit (WAY too large for the spaces I have remaining) and the Juju Fruit (Maybe next time) in favor of 2 I've ( Read more... )

So happy to be home, after 2 weeks back to back business travel, with a lost weekend sandwiched somewhere in between (lost due mainly to a sleep-deprivation mini-migraine, not, alas, to a bout of heavy drinking a la the Raymond Chandler flick ( Read more... )

For as long as I can remember, I've wanted a Potager garden. Conveniently, one side of our yard is extremely narrow, preventing more extensive planting, which gave me the opportunity to work with pavers to build a simple pass-thru potager.

Unfortunately, we got a late start with the layout and subsequently the plantings, so I only got things ( Read more... )