Sunday Morning Stroll

Just a few shots from my backyard this morning.

And this just happened :-)

 I used to keep my succulents on this but they were getting way too much water from the orchid run off. So now I have my pretty pots all together!

 Purple everywhere!

 Succulents are now back outside and lined up against the screen porch for protection

 I had them here once before and they did fairly good as long as I don't forget about them

 Each side of walkway. I have a grapevine on the trellises but the caterpillars found it.

 The spider plant started in a pot years ago then the pot cracked and it rooted into the ground. This year I separated it and have it hanging. Has created three aerials since the change!

 My end-of-season sale purchase Vincas. Nice pop of color.

The bromeliad border just finished blooming. I added coleus for color.

Green Thumb Sunday

Daisey on the patio wondering what I am doing
What's left of my succulent garden after two years in what turned out to be a bad spot for succulents. My beautiful big jade tree did not survive the winter.

I've moved my succulents to the screen porch, and the orchids out to the key lime tree, so that I can better control how much water they receive.

This pot is actuallty broken but i like it so much that I am going to plant some string of pearls in it anyway. When my succulents were outside, something kept digging them out of this pot.

Orchids in key lime tree

My "pot" garden ;)

My backyard is a series of border gardens really.

The jasmine arbor freshly cut back.

Another bromeliad border.

Why is Blogspot adding these crazy spacings between my photos? I go to keep going back and deleteing the space but it never leaves it as I set it.

Green Thumb Sunday - My Garden Has Sole

Back in the seventies, when I was in high school, a girl that I knew planted a teeny palm in a ceramic boot. I loved plants at the time, especially succulents, but they were hard to come by since there were no garden centers and mass merchants where I lived like there are today. Plus mostly what I could afford were small plants meant for terrariums...remember those?

Anyway, for all these years (and there have been LOTS of years) I have thought about planting succulents in real shoes. My blogger friend Cinde has a shoe garden she calls "garden of lost soles" and has inspired me to finally use that idea that's been in the back of mind for far too long.
So.....a few succulents.....

Some potting medium...........

And, the star of the shoe, er show................

Fill the toe areas with a little moss........

Add some sole, er soil.....................

Stick in a succulent...............

And this is what you get!

These shoes already look better and all they have is potting medium!

Add a couple trailing succulents in these....................

These bowling shoes were working shoes in their first life....now they have a new job!

After I got home from the thrift shop with the shoes I was a little disappointed to realize these were terra cotta colored and may not look like real shoes :(

Once filled they REALLY looked like shoe shaped clay pots. Bummer...

Water them down and they look MUCH better :)

My little collection. Now what to do with them. I considered grouping them all together but decided to incorporate them into my bromeliad borders since there are some sparse areas. The beauty of these is that they can easily be moved if I changed my mind - much different than planting something in the ground.

Stylish pumps...........

Bowling anyone?..............

Baby boots......................

I don't even know what to call these things other than ugly.

Thanks Cinde for inspiring me! Keep up the good work on your blog - I love it.

Green Thumb Sunday - Fall Colors

OK, so it is still summer here but since it is ofically fall I went outside this morning and took photos of plants with fall colors. It's overcast so it kinda looks like fall if you use your imagination and turn the AC way up! (Click on photos to enlarge a bit)

I forget the name of this shrub. I planted it last year in the spring after Conan the Landscaper clear cut me. I thought it was going to be a mid-height shrub from reading the instructions on the pot but it is way big and that's with a couple prunings. Hummingbirds like it so it stays.

Although I take the risk of making northern gardeners groan when I say this, I can always depend on the orchids for a bloom. This vanda is a bright orange.

My mystery plant. When I boughtit I thought it was in the cacti/succulnet family because that is where the lady hadit placed on her table but now I am thinking it acts more like a bromeliad and Isaw a brom page on the internet with a plant lookinging exactly the same. Beautiful color if it doesn't get too much sun - and it jumps back quickly when moved to lesser sun.

One lone Hibicus but in a beautiful fall color.

And finally bouganvilla, apricot is close enough to orange for a Florida gardener!

Green Thumb Sunday

Turns out I don't have time to go take photos of oak trees today so I am doing Green Thumb Sunday from my own backyard, again. Here's three photos involving my bulbophyllum - each showing a closer view and #3 has a surprise in it!

A little closer..................................
Surprise! Look who has been living in my plant this summer. He is unhappy when I water so I try to be respectful of his home.

These next two photos are shocking. My succulents wreaths are now about 4 years old and falling apart. The last two years I have tried to add more moss, dirt, and even replant the ones that fall out but it is not working. HELP!

Time for the ever-dependable orchids........................

And the final Green Thumb shot is of my old birdbath. It's seen a lot of use in the past 3 years. About a year ago I moved it about 8 feet and I don't believe the birds like it as much. They don't realize it's actually safer for them.